Wisdom & Experience: a She Business Interview

It’s the month of Wisdom and Experience, and I have been blessed throughout my life to learn from the wisdom and the vast, collective experience of my mentors - and from here to be able to share my own experiences and wisdom with our incredible She Business members. In the spirit of sharing, I touched base with two of our members who work in very different fields - both of whom have immense amounts of wisdom and their own unique experiences from which we can all learn something valuable.

Sarah Denby - Jones is a Marketing Strategist & Mentor for impact driven business owners & entrepreneurs.  She helps people get straight to the heart of what matters most to set you & your business apart, effortlessly attract your perfectly aligned customers and create a business you love - on your terms. “For entrepreneurs who want to make a dent in the world we give you a (heart shaped) hammer “

Carmen Almenara is a chocolatier who is committed to creating little bits of deliciousness and to help you delight your customers..partners...staff in the most delicious way!

These two women are fine examples of how true alignment to your vision brings you that much closer to your dreams. What I loved about this interview is that it really proved to me that our experiences shape us - so let’s make our experiences what we want them to be - endlessly positive, transformative, impactful.

Let’s make our lives exactly what we want them to be, because ultimately we’re creating our future selves, today.

Suzy: When you start to feel busy / overwhelmed / in chaos, what do you do to pull yourself up and out of it?

Carmen: By acknowledging the feeling, re-centering and taking action. I find that once I start taking action - one thing at the time - I move out of the feeling of chaos.

Sarah: Calm is my super power of choice in those situations. Time to pause & take 3 deep breaths. Inspired by “between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom” - Viktor E. Frankl

In that space, I ask myself these Questions; what is the real priority? What needs to come first? What could someone else do? And whatever is simply a distraction - dump it. Then I chunk the priorities into manageable, small steps and get started.

If that fails I was taught a great technique to break your state. You’ll laugh - but go with the flow. Find a comfortable seat. Lean back. Look up to the ceiling and smile - your biggest, brightest, craziest smile (best to do this in comfort of your own home or office before everyone thinks you’ve gone mad) State broken. Back to work!

Suzy: If you could go back to when you started your business and do one thing differently, what would that be? And what would be different now?

Sarah: The benefit of Hindsight! I honestly don’t have many regrets as the mistakes and challenges have made me who I am today and that’s a good thing. But having said that, I wish I had seen how the internet would take off and productised our knowledge online.

But I think the main thing I’d do differently is actually to put less pressure on myself. I was in my mid 20’s when I started my first business. The age insecurity was heavy. I felt I had to know all the answers and worked practically 24/7 to prove I could do it all. The one thing I wish I’d done was worry less and cut myself more slack to make time for other things in my life beside the business. I’d have got a mentor so I had a sounding board and someone to stand back and give me that independent perspective that comes through experience.

Carmen: I would develop sales and marketing skills from the beginning. What would be different is that I would be targeting the “ideal clients” and not just relying on word of mouth alone.

Suzy: Knowing what you know now, tell me what you'd say to 20-year-old you?

Carmen: I would say: You have more choice than what you think you do, and you “know" when something doesn’t align. You can feel it in your body… listen to it.

Sarah: I’d start with finding your own definition of success rather than what someone tells you it should be.

No one else will ever have your unique blend of strengths, talents and experiences. When you truly believe in something you owe it to yourself and the world to go out there and do it. There is no point settling for something less than you were put on this earth to do. Find the courage to back yourself. Be confident to own who you are & share your truth – no apologies, no regrets

If you follow the entrepreneurial path, it isn’t an end result, it’s a journey - full of highs and lows and there will be times you want to throw in the towel. Don’t. Keep persisting. Let your dreams pull you in the direction you want to go.

Remember there is no such thing as an overnight success. It takes hard work and dogged persistence. A business is not an island - the better you know your market and your customers, the more likely you are to succeed. You need to enter the conversation they are having in their heads.

Opportunities come up when you have an open mind and you commit yourself to action. The secret is to see possibilities where others see problems. So keep your mind open, have the courage to speak out and say yes to things - that networking event you’re not sure about, the weird idea from left field, the speaking engagement that freaks you out.

And in the process always be kind and generous. Sharing openly what you know is often unexpected and hence immensely powerful. Business and life are all about relationships. That needs us to listen, to be present, to care and to trust.

Final thought - remember that nothing has meaning except for the meaning you give it. Let's always be immensely grateful for what we have and create memorable moments for ourselves and the people we serve.

Suzy: What is the single greatest accomplishment in your career to date, and what lead you to reach success in that area?

Carmen: There have been many happy and successful chocolate stories, but to me, my greatest accomplishment to date has been to stick to what matters most… my commitment to the journey. Achieved thanks to the support of my family, friends and my team.

Sarah: What I’m most proud of in my entrepreneurial career to date is that I had the courage to back myself and follow my instincts that there was a better and different way to do things in my marketplace. It wasn’t only me; the business was built by a team who shared my beliefs and values. The things that made the biggest difference to our success;

• People. Relationships are the currency of business and they were at the heart of everything we did. We invested time in really getting to know our clients and their business problems. Our clients knew that they mattered to us, that we would always go the extra mile to deliver them the best possible outcome. We said YES and then we’d figure out how.
• Purpose. We had a clear purpose and took the norms not as rules but as a start point. We believed we could change the way people saw marketing and that what we did would get them a better result and lasting positive impact.
• Passion. We were immensely passionate. That gave us the energy to hustle and persist when times got hard.
• Focus. We focused on specific niches. By sectors, by shared beliefs, by readiness to change, by budgets! We focused on the things that made the most difference. We focused on creating opportunities by anticipating what our customers needed and creating solutions to solve those problems

Suzy: What book/s are you reading at the moment?

Sarah: "We are all Weird: The rise of tribes & the end of normal" – Seth Godin and "Osho Meditation Series: Say Yes"

Carmen: ”The husband’s Secret” by Liane Moriarty and "Fractal Time” by Gregg Bradden

Suzy: At that moment that we all get to, where you felt like quitting and really had to fight to stay in the game - what kept you going?

Sarah: Nothing goes right all the time that’s for sure. We had one year, early on, in our business when we were strapped for cash. We had mortgaged our homes to raise funds for the business so there was no more funding available and if we failed we’d have lost everything. Quitting was a conversation we had. What kept us going was our belief in ourselves and what we were doing. We simply weren’t going to quit. Maybe it was blind faith or stupidity but you have to keep putting yourself out there & take consistent action every day. Fortunately about 6 months later the momentum turned. I learnt a big lesson; you just have to keep believing and stay at it!

Carmen: I developed a mantra that helped me stay in the game when going through challenging moments: “This is one of those moments where most people would be tempted to quit… I will take one more little step”

Ladies, thank you so much for sharing with us. For all you shepreneurs out there, if you’d like ongoing inspiration from these two passionate businesswomen, you can follow Sarah Denby-Jones on Instagram and Facebook, and Carmen Almenara on Instagram and Facebook.

If you’d like to participate in a SheBusiness Interview, or would like to nominate someone who feel has powerful insights to share, please email [email protected]