Stratford Training celebrates 18 years!

Thank you.

Thanks to everyone who has wished me for my work anniversary. It has been 18 years since I founded Stratford Training & Consultancy. The journey has been full of ups and downs and I gained so much of experience throughout this journey.

The beginning

When I started in 2003, I worked from home. It was a quick decision to leave my previous employment. So, for a good two months I was wondering what lies ahead of me; should I join an organization and be an in-house training staff or should I start on my own?

Actually I wanted to start my own my own but I was not sure if that was the right decision. When I spoke to my husband about it, he advised me to start on my own. At this time, my elder daughter was about 13 months and I wanted to spend more time with her. So, working on my own would give me more flexibility and opportunity to spend quality time with my daughter.

So I registered my company. Honestly, the first few months was CRAZY! I did not know where to start. Believe it or not, from June to December 2003, I only had two training programs. Luckily I was working from home, so there was hardly any overhead cost involved.?

I had to do everything on my own - registering the company, creating the logo,??creating the stationery design, etc. Since it was a. private limited company, I had to find a company secretary. Even the time I did not make any money, I had to pay the company secretary dutifully! I had to pay from my own savings. That was painful!?

It was an interesting but lonely journey. Of course, we didn't have LinkedIn at that time. Linkedin was officially launched in 2003, the same year I registered my business.??So I couldn't seek help as easily as one could today. I called friends to ask for help. Some helped, some didn't.?

I read somewhere that the first one year is crucial for a business’ survival. If you get through the first one year, then there’s a higher chance to survive.?

I was feeling bad as I was not contributing to the household expenses.??But my husband was super cool about it. He told me to concentrate on my work and not to worry about the expenses. He would advise me to keep trying and to put in more effort to reach out to clients.?

I had to come up with my own client database. And again, every day I would make cold calls, get rejected, make cold calls, get rejected, repeat. You get the drift, right?

Was quitting an option?

At times I got demotivated and doubted my decision. Many days, I would make cold calls, just to get cold answers!!! LOL

Over the first few years, there were times I have thought of quitting. Yes. Honestly, at times I just wanted to quit, throw in the towel and surrender!!!

?I’d think to myself, “just join an organization as a training manager and you don’t have to worry about marketing or sales. You’ll get a nice office and a steady monthly income”.

#WFH

But something told me that I should not give up. I kept telling myself that this is what everyone goes through. Everyone who starts a new business has to go through this initial phase. So I soldiered on. Working from home (WFH) is not something new for me as I started WFH from 2003.?

The temptations were there. I was working in a corner of the bedroom. So at times when I was tired and frustrated, I would just go to sleep. And at times, I would feel so lazy and would pace around the house. Later, I would feel guilty for wasting my time! *face palm*

Luckily, I didn't have to worry about taking care of my daughter as she was taken care during the daytime by my mother in law who lived nearby. So there was really no excuse for me not to focus on my work.?

Slowly and steadily my client list grew. I became more confident and I concentrated more on work. I felt motivated when clients gave me work, especially new clients. After about three years, I decided to work from an office. Simply because some of my clients were from MNC’s and GLC’s.??I wanted to have my own office address.?

Show me the $$$

But I did not have much saving. Where was I going to get that much of money? I was embarrassed to ask my parents or siblings. I kept thinking about it. Then I came across a book titled “The Success Principles” by Jack Canfield. The book taught me about setting goals and making your dreams come true.?

Basically it says that if you put your goals on paper, you have a higher chance of. realizing them. I got excited and started writing my goals in a book. And as mentioned in the book, I wrote in detail everything I wanted to achieve. I described meticulously my dream office - the size, the interior, the training room, the layout, the chairs, the tables, everything I could think of.?

So there I had my goals of getting an office and I wanted to get the office desperately. And I had made a rough estimate of the cost. Based on the costing, I had to save at least for a year before I could rent a place. I spoke about my ideas to my husband. He listened and he said it was a good decision.

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it" ~ Paolo Coelho

For a?few days, I used to think about it. You know, as Paolo Coelho , the famous writer said, “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it".?For me it actually happened!

After a few days of speaking to my husband, he told me that he was going to give me some money. A substantial amount actually, enough to pay my rent and utilities and survive at least for 6 months. And he told me to start looking for a place.?

I was overjoyed. My dream was going to come true. The next few weeks, I looked around for an office space.??I wanted somewhere near my home so that I didn't have to drive through the traffic. I could also save on petrol and toll and the headache and fatigue driving through the traffic and come back exhausted. I was fortunate to find a place 5 minutes away from home. I used to say my office was “two songs away” from my home.?

This place was recommended by my husband’s friend who was also working at that area. Luckily at that time, there was an office unit available. I contacted the owner and we spoke and signed the agreement. And I have been operating from that office space till now. It's been 10 years and it has become my second home. My landlord has been very kind in giving me a rebate for some months during this pandemic as business has slowed down. That is very kind of him. Recently he told me that he's very lucky to have a tenant like me who is very prompt with payment and very cooperative.

Advice to the young people, pay all your financial dues promptly, no matter how broke you are. Your financial commitments should motivate you to go to work and make money and settle these dues. You can negotiate for reduction or the payment terms, but don’t accumulate debt.?

So moral of the story, if you want something really badly, write it down. Think about it, dream about it, speak about it and God willing, you will get an answer. For me I got an answer in the form of my husband who generously gave me the money. I didn’t have to pay him back!?

When I visit my parents, especially over the weekends, my father would ask how I was doing. I guess he was worried that I had made a mistake starting on my own. He was worried that I didn't have a steady income and I would get into financial difficulty. I always assured him that I was doing OK and managing well (though at times I wasn’t, as I didn’t want him to worry).

Love thy parents

If your parents are against your career choice, it's mainly because they are concerned about your future. As children, we need to assure them that we are confident and we will be successful. Seek their approval and blessings. For me it was important to make my parents understand what I was doing. I used to talk to my father about some of the clients I was working with and some of the programs that I was doing and he would be very happy when he heard that.?

A piece of advice that I would like to give the young people: appreciate what your parents have done for you and show your appreciation.?

In my family, we would give a small portion of our first drawn salary to our parents. I continued giving a small token to my parents every month. And when my business was doing well and when I took a bonus, I would also give my parents a generous token. This assured them that I was doing well. I strongly believe that to be successful in whatever you do, you need to have strong faith in yourself and blessings from your parents, and from your creator.?

If you’re fortunate, you will have the support and guidance from a few people around you. I believe they are the gurus who have been put in your path to guide and nurture you in your journey. I too have come across some gurus in my life and I’m greatly indebted to them.

I am fortunate to meet some wonderful clients and have worked for well established organizations. Sometimes when I look at my client list, I'm amazed at my own achievement! I'm proud that I had provided services to such huge organizations.??Some of them have engaged my services for more than 10 years.?

Each time I delivered a training, I felt good about myself and I felt inspired.??The actual satisfaction came not from the feedback form, but from participants who reached out to me personally to thank me for the knowledge and skills that I've shared. More importantly, for sparking the interest in improving their skills.?

As some of you know I conduct communication skills programs. When someone reaches out to me and tells me how much they enjoyed the session and thank me for inspiring them, that is the true testimony for me. That’s the time I tell myself that I had made the right decision.?

My clients.?

Some of my clients have been very supportive. They have given me ideas for improvement and encouraged me to try new methodologies.??But more importantly, they trusted me to conduct the program well.?

Adding value

On my part. I try my best to meet my clients’ requirements and needs and I always strive to add value to the participants and my clients. I offer complimentary follow up sessions and a comprehensive report at the end of every program. I still do. It's time consuming to prepare these reports but I know that they add value to the participants. These also give some idea to the clients on what else they can do to help the participants improve their skills.

The need to improve my skills

There were many skills I had to improve to do my job well and to improve my business. For example; marketing skills, selling skills, building rapport, especially with clients and enhancing my training delivery skills to make them interesting and engaging.

Edutainment

As you know, nowadays training is not just about learning, it's about making it engaging and fun for the learners. It’s edutainment. You need to make the learning experience enjoyable if you want to get the participants’ involvement and engagement. For someone who is not very creative, I had to think hard on ways to make my. trainings more enjoyable. But at the same time, they have to be effective as well. I learned a lot by attending trainings conducted by others. I watched videos and I learned from the Internet.?

Continuous learning

Over the years I had enrolled in many programs to upgrade my skills. I ioined. A 6-month program to get a certificate in training. Then I enrolled in a certificate in coaching program. I also enrolled in short programs like NLP, sales programs. marketing programs, attended talks and webinars that are closely related to my areas of work. Till today I listen to podcasts and watch videos to continuously improve my skills.?

My journey has not been easy, especially at the beginning. But it has been memorable. I enjoyed meeting every person. I learned a lot from them. I learned a lot from the rejections. They toughened me up. I developed thick skin!!!

This shall pass too

Don't ever buckle or make a u-turn when you face tough times. That is the time for you to pick up yourself and march. Life is never a straight, happy line. There are sometimes crooked paths, full of obstacles. My mantra has been. “this shall pass too”. Nothing lasts forever. Not the good times. Not the bad times. So if you are going through a bad time now, hang in there. Reach out for help. If you need support, just ask. With social media nowadays, you have more avenues to get advice and help. Those who help you are your true friends.?

My happiest moments are when my clients contact me again and ask me to conduct more programs for them. My clients know that I will keep my promise and I will try my best to deliver. I will try out new things. To see how best to maximize the effectiveness of the program. I have taken up challenges and suggestions by clients to do things differently. I'm always open to new ideas. And surprisingly, these suggestions have brought positive results which makes my client and participants happy. But more importantly, which makes me think, “why didn't I think of this before?”. LOL.

What's next for me?

Initially I had planned to retire at the age of. 60 but I feel my mind would be idle and I may get memory related problems. So I plan to deliver training as long as I can. Also, I plan to write books and deliver keynote speeches.?

In the next few years, I hope to produce at least two books a year. I will also keep on learning and improving myself. I hope to keep on adding value to my participants and clients. And keep on helping my participants maximize their potential because their success is my success.

So this has been my journey for the past 18 years. If you are thinking of starting on your own or have just started on your own, don't ever give up. Persevere. Hang in there and seek help if you need to. And when you are faced with challenges, don't ask “why me?” Ask “try me!” and rise to the challenges.

Life is not all about successes, it's also about failures.?

Of course most of the time, we hear of people talking about their successes. But I also acknowledge that we will go through some failures in life. Learn from each failure. At that moment, it could be painful for you. But focus on what it is trying to teach you. Focus on what we can learn from those mistakes and how we can improve ourselves. Focus on how we can be a better version of ourselves.?

Every person, each experience that we go through, is valuable. We don't meet people randomly. We meet them because they have something to teach us. Embrace your successes and your failures. These are all part and parcel of life. Thank you so much for reading this long post.?

This has been my journey for the past 18 years and I wish to go through another 18 years successfully. God willing.?

Thank you.