Show notes

Katerina: Hi, Henriette

Henriette: Hello, hi.

Katerina: Hello. Great to see you and to have you on the show.

Henriette: Oh well thank you so much for having me here, I’m really excited to be here and to share some of the things that you want me to share with your audience in order to inspire them and motivate them as well on their journeys.

Katerina: Yeah, I guess the first question I want to ask is How did you become a business strategy coach?

Henriette: Oh gosh, okay so it started when I was working in corporate, I was about 11 and a half years in the interior design industry almost 15 years actually, but for one particular company I was working for them for 11 and a half years here in London in the UK. Very fortunate, worked for an amazing company… loved my job and apart from just being in the design industry I did a lot of project management, I travelled a lot, you know, I worked on some of the most luxurious yachts I’ve seen… some of the most amazing mansions, that you can ever imagine. And, and those were just kind of the things that I absolutely loved about my job. However, with that I kind of hit a ceiling where I felt that I wasn’t really going any further and I wasn’t quite developing in the way I wanted to develop on a personal level as well.

And since the age of 13, I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but obviously with being in corporate life got comfortable you just settle for what you have. But then when I kind of hit that ceiling I was like, oh yeah maybe I should try becoming an entrepreneur and just seeing what it’s like. So I worked on my business while working full time and I started… the skill that I had that I knew was I was very good at teaching, but also because I knew that I had a very good strength where I could take things that are complicated, dissected and put it back together in a way that is so easy to understand, but also to implement, and that’s where the strategic business coach from…

Now, it started first with, I knew I wanted to be a coach I didn’t know what kind of coach… And then it kind of led to business coaching and then with the strategies and what you can do, that’s where I just, you know, everything took the flame from there and I was just so on fire and the energy was there and I knew… this is where I wanted to go. And when that kind of took shape while I was working full time I realised that this is definitely where I wanted to go. Everything in my guts told me that this is the direction. And that’s why I decided to hand in my notice and go full time into my own business, and it was so scary to do, as I’m sure for those who’ve already taken that leap as well you know.

But what I did is in order to make up my mind to make sure that I don’t go back and decide oh no no no no I’m not going to do this, I made a list of all the pros of starting my own business and I made a list of all the cons of leaving the full-time job, and the pros far outweighed all the cons of leaving my full-time job. And it was at that moment I was like, this is what I needed I needed this evidence in order to make that decision. And that certain three and a half years later, here I am in my full-time business and I’m loving every minute of it.

Katerina: Right. Oh gosh, that’s the problem with a lot of people when they get comfortable in that corporate job. How do you make this change, how do you… I mean it’s a lot of unknown, isn’t it? and uncertainty because you just think, Oh my god, what if it doesn’t work out or… What’s going through your mind at that point in time?

Henriette: Well, and one thing looking back now obviously because you know hindsight is a brilliant thing but looking back now, one thing I always say is when you sign up for entrepreneurship you actually sign up for a lot of self-development. And yes, it’s great to have a business and to run a business and to make money from it. But the one thing that people don’t really emphasise is the fact that when you go into business you actually go through a lot of self-development and it’s up to you to decide how much self-development you want to go through. So I started with, you know, doing a strengths-finder test just kind of figuring out what other skills and strengths I have, and… then when I was into my full-time business…

Oh my gosh, I made so many mistakes, and those mistakes because you know I always say there is no such thing as mistakes only lessons, and they work points where I just cried and I said to my husband, nothing is happening I am just not getting the clients that I want or I’m just not making the money that I need. And then I was like you know hands… My head in my hands thinking okay I’ve got to go back, I’ve got to go find another job. I wasn’t gonna plan and go back to my same job because you know that felt like a step backwards. And my husband just kept on saying no, he’s like no, you’re not going to find a job, you are going to make this work. You’re so passionate about what you’re doing and bless him he is so supportive and he kept on pushing me as well and with that, you know, went through all the hurdles and I decided one year on after I started my business I was like, never going back to find a job. I’ve put so much effort into what I’m doing.

And finally, after my first year, I could see the results I could see things coming back, but it has to do a lot with the personal development that I had gone through and I needed to have gone through in that first year in order to set my mind as to where I’m going, but also change so many of my beliefs, because coming from a corporate world you do have certain beliefs, and you have to change those beliefs now that you’re working for yourself. So that was a big lesson, and that is definitely something that I think anybody should learn and take on board.

Katerina: Yeah. So the strategy is, is interesting that you’re focusing on strategy because a lot of business owners, they, they kind of… They start doing a lot of tactical stuff with their business they run Facebook ads, they do these digital, they posting stuff without a real strategy behind it. What is the importance to think strategically when you run your own business?

Henriette: Yeah, and throughout the years of working as a strategic business coach and, oh my gosh, and let’s face it, the shiny object syndrome is happening everywhere. Hands up, I’ve been there, I have gone and just, you know, grabbed a strategy here, try it out, grabbed a strategy there… try it out, grab something here, try that, or somebody is saying here’s a new platform to try and try this out. In the end, you’re just so overwhelmed because you’re trying so many things you’re starting something you’re dropping it and you’re starting something you’re dropping it. And that made me realise like isn’t there’s just way too many strategies and everybody’s pitching and saying their strategy is the best, so I really did some research and some homework. And after talking to my audience and so many of my clients, I came to narrow down and realise that they’re actually really just four strategies in business. And these are the four strategies that you need to make a success.

So, the first strategy is really your visibility strategy so visibility is all about how you showing up not just online physically as well. But let’s talk about online business because that’s the majority of the time what a woman would do or what you know entrepreneurs would do. So showing up online. The first entity people will think, oh, Facebook, you know, Instagram, great social media is a great place to show up and be visible. Yes, but what about your website, what are you doing about your website to be visible. What are you doing about getting featured on other podcasts, online magazines or the shows how you showing up. Are you showing up consistently? In order for people to start taking note of you. Public speaking — that’s like the top of the pyramid when it comes to public speaking, how much public speaking, are you doing?

Now obviously when the fog is lifted you can go back to doing that, and it is not difficult it is just about confidence. Now I always talk about the three C’s clarity, commitment and consistency. And once you have those three C’s in place your visibility strategy will work for you, but you have to see it through and you have to choose just only one area or two areas the most. We’re going to show up consistently don’t try all of them, because that’s where overwhelm comes from.

The second strategy is obviously your attraction strategy, a strategy so that’s where your content comes into play. So whether you’ve got a blog or a podcast or a YouTube channel whatever you have in regards to content that you’re putting out there, in order to attract those ideal clients or customers to you. That’s what you’ve got to concentrate on, and again the three C’s come into play that clarity, commitment and consistency you have to be consistent with the content in order for people to take note and attract them to you.

The third strategy, your relationship. So this relationship is with your potential customers, clients, or even with your existing audience. And that comes down to communication, how are you communicating with those people in order to for them to really get to know who you are and to realise like hey this girl knows what she’s talking about I wonder what else she can do. And so that’s where you really start, but by having that kind of communication with people that’s where something becomes so much easier, but that leads you then to your fourth and your final strategy which is the transformation strategy. That is basically the service or the product that you’re offering your potential customer or client in order to take them from where they are to where they want to be.

And that is actually one of the most important strategies because if you can really solve somebody’s problem or really help them, they’re going to go like, oh my gosh this is amazing you’ve honestly helped me. What else do you have to offer what else can you help me with, so you get those recurring clients coming back to you? Or you’ll get them going like, you know what, Susie over there she had exact same problem as me. I’m going to tell Susie to come to you and work with you. Hey, great, you get referrals. And then on top of that, you also get amazing reviews, which then goes back and enhances your visibility strategy.

So if you almost look at it as a circle that kind of work hand in hand, you start with your visibility that leads on to your traction with your content leads on to the relationship you’re building with your audience that comes back to the transformation which is a product or service you’re offering, and that enhances back your visibility strategy again. So it’s kind of like a loop, almost. And I say that if you only have these four strategies available, and within one of those strategies choose one entity or two at the most not to overwhelm yourself, but then to work on that get clarity on each and every one of them, commit to them and be consistent — you will see the results and I promise you you will knock that ball out of the talent, it will be amazing if you just stick to it.

Katerina: Yeah. So, every week, how do you work with your clients every week, you give them some set of tasks and then you check whether they’ve achieved something or not?

Henriette: Oh, I love to challenge my clients.

Katerina: Yeah because you have three parts in your programme — its strategy, mindset strategy and action right?

Henriette: Yeah, absolutely. I call those the three elements of success so basically if you think about it. Think about this big door, you’ve got this big door in front of you and the other side of that door is all your dreams, your goals your biggest desires that dream business you want all the kids, anything you want is behind that door, and you just need the three things — you need a key, you need to open up the lock, and you need to open up the door.

Now the key really represents the mindset and this is where people go like okay so where do I find my mindset, how do I change my mindset, how do I do this. Well, basically, you don’t need to search for that key you can create that key from scratch and that’s why I say that the first year of going through that self-development really has helped me. And I thoroughly believe that it’s not the end, everybody still is on a journey where they develop their mindset on a continuous basis and you have to allow yourself to still you know create that key and finesse that key. The second… the second element is obviously the strategies. Now, if you look at a lock inside a door, a locking mechanism is coming little pence inside are the key lines up with those little pence and turns, all the keys line up, and the lock is open.

So, every one of those pens really represents the four strategies that I’ve just spoken about. And then once that lock is open you can open up the door and you can walk through it, and that’s where the action comes in. But this is where I see people sometimes standing in front door and they are so scared because what if everything happens at once. What if you know everything just goes and everything is happening in my business is going too quickly. You know, I might not be able to cope with it.

This is where the fear of success comes in, or even the opposite of that could be true where people go “Well, what if I open up that door there’s nothing, these dreams and all these things I thought about… it’s not really there”. That’s where disappointment and fear of failure come in. But I always say you know what, if you don’t take that first step through that door, you’re never gonna find out. So you just have to go for it and I always refer to the action as seeing it as you’re getting a reward. So for every small step you’re taking you to know whether it’s a smaller step… let’s face it, let’s say you’ve been holding off sending an email to a potential client because you’re so scared what if they reject your offer or what if they never reply to you, you’re going to be so disappointed.

Even if you just take that small step and send that email to that potential client with your offer… you know, you’re gonna feel great about it, or let’s take another example. Let’s say you have been putting off doing a Facebook Live for so long, and you finally decide right, I’m going to do this I’m going to show up and do a Facebook Live. After you’ve done that life you got so bad you know. Nothing has caved in, lightning hasn’t struck, I’m still alive and actually, I feel pretty damn good about doing this, and that’s called confidence so the rewards that you get for every small step that you’re taking forward is confidence. So I always talk to my clients and think about the confidence, think about the reward that you’re going to get for every actionable step.

And then I challenged my clients. And I always say I give you a nice kick up the butt. Because people say yes I’ll do it and they get so excited when you talk to them. And then as soon as that call is finished, they go like, oh, okay, I’m a little bit scared, and that’s where all the excuses start coming back. So I challenged them in order to make sure they commit to it, I say right… when are you going to do this what is your deadline, when do you want to commit yourself to finish this and a half completed.

And then they go like really, you’re sure I was like yeah, look at your diary, put it in your diary right now. And then I put it in my diary as well and they’re like, “You do that?”, so I guess so. Next week Friday if you want to have that Facebook life was done. I’m going to put it in my diary and I’m going to check up with you next week Friday to make sure you’ve done it. And that kind of gives them that sense like hey I’m not just being accountable to myself to see it through I’m not accountable to somebody else as well because I promise I’m going to do it. It’s so much more to be so much better to be accountable to somebody else than just to be accountable to yourself because it’s so easy to break a promise to yourself right. That’s where the action really comes into play.

Katerina: That’s true. That’s me doing Facebook Lives. I’ve started a couple of weeks ago but I was like, I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that and there is always something else to do and I’m like, “Oh, I’ve got to do it, I’ve got to do it”…

Henriette: Oh, I’ve got some great tips on Facebook Live, trust me.

Katerina: Yeah, cuz I’ve started my group, kind of from zero… I mean it’s just a small group but it’s yeah, I’m getting more and more requests to join. How do you start if you have like zero audiences? I mean that’s a question right… for people who start from scratch. How do you make yourself feel comfortable talking to… I’m coming from an academic background and I used to talk in front of 300 people… big audience, I feel really comfortable… talking to this, you know, having eye contact and stuff like. I know how to establish rapport. But how do you do this if maybe no one is watching? That’s a question right?

Henriette: Okay, so when you do Facebook Lives obviously there are two things to consider. The first thing is how consistent, are you going to show up. Now I’m going to show you a silly example here but and… Okay, let me just grab this here is just a basic calendar that I’ve printed up with all my Facebook Lives on it. So, all I do is I just decide that on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays, those are the days that I show up on my Facebook page or my groups, etc. and I literally go and I plan weeks in advance, I’ve got about five-six weeks of content that where I show up every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11.30 UK time, that’s when I show up on my Facebook, and I put it on a scheduled advance so people can see it with scheduling that you do obviously on your Facebook page or group.

And then people can see Oh shoot, so, you know, today is Thursday so on Friday, she’s going to come up and she’s going to talk about this. Oh great, so at 11.30 she’s going to be there. So people start seeing that you have scheduled and these are the times you’re going to show up. Now here’s the other thing it comes back to commitment and accountability because now that you’ve scheduled it. Now you have to show up because it’s already it’s in the candidates and Facebook and it’s showing everybody in the group, or people on your page that this is when you’re going to show up. And then you’ve already got your topic so I’ve already got five-six weeks topics planned out for every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And I’m committed to it because it’s in my calendar 15 minutes before 11.30 I’ve got my reminder coming up and say you’ve got a Facebook live in 15 minutes I’m gonna go quickly put on the makeup you know make sure everything already and then we go and record it and we get it set.

And it’s all about scheduling being prepared in advance because then you don’t have to think 15 minutes before you go live what topic do I have to talk about what am I gonna say what do people want to hear, you’re so confident showing up because everything is already backed up you’ve got everything planned out for you. So it comes to commitment now here’s the thing if you’ve got a small group — that’s okay. Nobody’s going to start checking you know we’re not going to have any live show ups, but the replays are there. Okay, people don’t have to see your Facebook Lives, just to have that engagement, they can see that the replays afterwards. The idea is to be consistent to keep on showing up. And that’s where people are going to go like, Oh, that’s her again.

Oh, she’s there again. Oh, she’s there again. I wonder what she is about to go and check out this go. That’s where the engagement starts coming in, and that’s where people are going to start realising that this person is going to value to offer, then after a while, the algorithm would start picking up and say Okay you’re consistent you showing up on it on a regular basis. And now what they’re going to do is they’re going to start showing your Facebook Live to more people. And Facebook also has a great thing where if somebody goes live and you’re following that person. It gives you a little notification saying hey, you know, Katerina just went and did a life, you should go and check it out. Here’s the link. So what are people going to do they’re going to go oh let me go and see what she’s talking about I saw her a couple of times. Then we get to see what she’s talking about now. Yeah, and that’s how you build that engagement, and it will take time. It is not going to happen immediately but it’s up to you to be consistent in order to make sure that it will happen.

Katerina: Yeah, I mean I had this… Just like you described, I had… I did a Facebook Live last week I thought, or the week before and it was about self-acceptance and it was kind of almost well, it was a bit emotional because I talked about several things… may be referring to what was happening in my childhood and stuff like that and one girl, she checked it out like a week later, and she said “Oh my god, the book, you were talking about it it just was like amazing”… like two weeks later. So yeah, I think it’s great advice from you to be consistent and not be afraid of… and I guess just show up. I mean, I’m not that consistent to show up three times a week, once a week is a start for me.

Henriette: Well, the good thing about showing up is also you can download the videos as well and you and I spoke about repurposing earlier on, so that video you can start with purposes, you can put it on a blog you know to get it transcribed, put it on a blog put it on Medium that kind of things. So, it is not just about doing a video, it’s about thinking of it further and what you can do with that video after you’ve downloaded it because it’s valuable content that you’re sharing. So, apart from just using it on Facebook, there are so many other ways you can repurpose it again.

Katerina: Yeah, so you sound like a very confident person. Are you afraid of anything?

Henriette: Oh yes, oh yeah, I am scared of so many things… I am one of the things… um, we’re all human beings, I’m not perfect, in any way, I’m scared of failure. And I will say it hand on heart… I’m scared of failure I’m scared that one day my business will not be the business that I imagined it to be. And, but then as soon as I have that kind of fear inside of me I got like no no no no no… why do I have to steal why do I feel like everything is tightening up inside myself. #

And then I go back to my affirmations, I meditate every morning, I have my mindfulness moments where I will just be calm. And then I started meditating I go back to that moment where I’m just calm and I look at all the stuff. And I even have a vision video that I made myself where I put a bunch of images together, and I have my affirmations and I’ve got an awesome song that goes with it…. just get you energised so every morning I would watch that video.

And it’s to do with your mindset. So what I’m doing is I am ingraining new passageways in my mind as to where it is that I’m heading. So if I have these moments of fear, I know now going through a lot of self-development that those are just things of my ego trying to prevent me to be successful. And as soon as I diminished that ego and say hey, you’re not the boss of me — my dreams and where I’m heading that’s where my focus should be, then that fear just immediately dissipates. And it’s not just a fear of failure I’ve got so many other fears. I even had at one point… oh Okay… I’m going to be very honest… I had at one point where every time I pitched… I hated pitching my service to a client. And, and I never got, I never got that client to sign up with me, and I was like what am I doing wrong… what am I doing wrong.

And then one day I heard a podcast with somebody saying you’re using the law of attraction against you. And I said, What do you mean what am I doing using the law of attraction against me. And it came to the fact that because I was so eager and I needed that money because let’s face it, you know, I’ve left my full-time job I don’t have that salary. All I could use was the money that I’m making and it was coming through in dribs and drabs. And I was so eager to make that money that my energy was showing that because it was so eager… my, my potential clients could feel that without them really knowing it without me knowing it. And that’s what pushed people away.

So instead of using the law of attraction to attract my client to sell authentically — I was using it against me and I was pushing them away. And so what I always tell people is the lesson that I learned there is, instead of going in and sell it… go there to have a conversation. Be authentic and say to people from the beginning listener, with your permission, can I offer you a package in order to sell my service to you. And if they say yes, then say, Great, okay I’ll send the details over to you if they say no, then that’s fine, which leads you to be tied to the outcome. If people buy from you, or if people want to buy from you — great. People don’t want to buy from you — great. It’s up to you as to how you see that and since I’ve had that kind of notion where that scared feeling what if people don’t buy since I’ve had gone through that kind of emotion and realise what I was doing wrong… everything dissipated and now I’m so relaxed where honestly it is the easiest thing for me to do now is to get a sale because I’m having a conversation, and to sell on webinars to sell on workshops, because I’m not tied to the outcome. And that’s where I learned really what the law of attraction was and how not to use it.

Katerina: Yeah, I’ve recently watched some webinar with some girl who was teaching coaches how to bring high ticket clients, and she even shared this sales letter. And so I started reading and I thought to myself, that’s not very ethical because in the sales letter was kind of… how to dissipate objections or something like that. It was just a hard sell is like almost oh you don’t have money, where can you borrow? Can you put it on your credit card, and it was so hard to sell, and she claims to be a lot of money and millions and she even showed her screenshot of her Barclays Bank, you know, bringing like half a million but I’m thinking, that’s not very ethical right if you just kind of go after people and almost like “put yourself into so much debt but give me the money”.

Henriette: I guess a lot of it has to do with your authenticity and with what you are aligned with. Now I didn’t push people to make a sale, I will talk about the objections that they have but I always feel that people need to make a decision on their own. And, and, almost nine times out of 10, people will make a decision and say yeah okay that’s great. I want to work with you because not only is it the fact that I’m doing a cold sale because I hardly do cold sales, I mean if I do get a client who signs up from us the first time they hear from me and they buy from me — that is great, that is a bonus. But the majority of the times I’ve already gone through those stages of building a relationship with my audience. So people really get to know me. They can either connect with me, or they don’t. And that’s Okay.

If they connect with me and they feel that this is somebody that I can really trust this is somebody who’s got the same values as me. That’s where the conversation is really… selling conversation, so to speak, and it is not so much where you’re pitching because let’s face it, the word pitching and the word sale does have a negative connotation. So I refer to conversations having that conversation and selling through that. And then if people say yep great, where do I sign up I’m like — awesome, if they say, I don’t think I’m ready, I’m going — awesome. You know, either way, because they might not be ready now but they could be ready later on. And so there’s a difference when it comes to hard selling as to what is aligned with you, who you are.

Now I’ve even had people who wanted to sign up with me who said “Listen, I can’t afford you, I honestly don’t have the money”… I’m like, that’s okay, maybe you can go and think of ways you can get that money I’m not going to tell you “Listen, do you have a credit card who make a loan”. That is not my decision. It’s not my place to say because that’s who I am, but I will say “Hey, that’s fine if you need some time to think about it.” I’ll give you that time and I’m sure a lot of people would hear this and go like nope I wouldn’t do that. But this is who I am okay so I’m talking from my personal experience.

And then, I don’t say listen, go and think of ways you could possibly get the money in order to sign up with me because the benefits of you signing up with me is obviously outweigh the financial aspect, and I prove it to them and I show it to them, and then it’s absolutely still up to them to make that decision. So I don’t force it. I give them that option. And then it’s up to them as to what they want to do.

Katerina: Yeah, or the opportunity cost of not doing it.

Henriette: Exactly or the opposite of that.

Katerina: Yeah, so if you break down this three area of your business philosophy — mindset, action and strategy, which of these three are the most important to focus on first-hand? Or are these three are all equally important and you should focus on all three aspects? Strategy comes first, or the mindset comes first?

Henriette: I think, you know, start off with the mindset, but then strategy and action should follow hand in hand, immediately there afterwards. And if you think about a see-saw going up and down. If you think about that mindset and strategy is on one side and action is on the other side. I’ve seen so many people just sitting on mindset and strategy and planning and planning and planning and not taking an action, and that means you just understand one side, and then I’ve also seen the opposite way so many people don’t go through mindset, don’t go through changing and self-development, and don’t even worry about strategy, they just go all in action. So you tipping completely the opposite, they don’t even know what they’re doing, but they taking the action and they’ll just say “Come with me. I’ll handle it.”

And that’s also not right because obviously at that point you’re also just tapping to one side. You need to find a balance, and you need to balance that seesaw constantly between taking the action but also making sure that mindset and strategy is working hand in hand. So, if you’re just starting out in business — think about your mindset, you know get somebody who would help you. But here’s the other thing… if you just do my strategy and then, as you then as you take the action what you have learnt and then as you learn, as you take the action then everything else will fall in place. Strategies will change… they will get better they will become more consistent and your mindset will develop at the same time. And the more that happens, the more action you’re going to take so it’s always constantly working and building up one after the other. And so, equally, I would like to say that all three of them have to walk hand in hand.

Katerina: Yeah, because sometimes you just think oh it’s impossible and then you think, okay, I’ll give it a try. And then you do something like, oh, I can do this. So your mindset and you know your attitudes start changing at the same time. I did that with some cold calling from my… when I did my PhD… I had to call and ask for interviews and stuff like that. It was terrifying at first because you know how do you pick up a phone and just start calling people up. But you know once you’ve done a couple of times you kind of start getting confident.

Henriette: Yes.

Katerina: I guess action is also a big part of it.

Henriette: Absolutely. And that’s why I said that the reward that you’re going to get with every small step you take is that confidence, as you said, you know, the first couple of course was so scary but then after a while, you go, I was fine you know just another call I’ve got to do… just another call I’ve got to do. But if you look back at that, how many doors haven’t opened up for you then afterwards…

I mean, you, you kind of stepped out of your comfort zone thereby picking up that phone and making that first call, but then by stepping that one step out of your comfort zone, you got confidence, and then you took another step out of your comfort zone, you got more confidence. And then people need to realise that nothing is gonna happen for you within your comfort zone, everything that you want the opportunities, those doors that are going to open up for you that’s literally just one step out of your comfort zone. And I’m sure you know from making those calls you had that the results are even better results than you ever would have expected.

Katerina: Yeah, it’s actually helped me. When I started my Amazon business, it actually helped me because I joined Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and I was going to this breakfast… you know them, those sorts of meetups and stuff like that. And, yeah, just kind of… standing up and just like you said pitching or, you know, just talking about who you actually, you know, gave me some more confidence I guess, and you can use these skills over and over again and just kind of fine-tune them and

Henriette: Yeah, absolutely.

Katerina: Yeah, this… great… I think it’s it’s what you’re saying is really useful for a lot of starting entrepreneurs as well. So, if, if someone has, has a dilemma, right now, whether they should leave their nine to five job and start a business or maybe because a lot of people are now… you know, they lost their jobs and then not quite sure when they should start a business or maybe we should they should go back to work when they’re allowed to go back to work. So, what would be your advice to people who are in this situation where they kind of… can’t decide whether they should continue with full-time employment or they should maybe give entrepreneurship a try.

Henriette: Okay. And I would suggest the first thing is, don’t just quit your job and start your business immediately, okay, because here’s what’s going to happen and I’ve seen this so many more times. You are going to lose an income, which means that you are literally cutting off everything that’s keeping you going. You are cutting off that financial kind of helping you pay your mortgage, how do you put food on the table, how do you pay for your expenses. And that financial security could even help you know to build your business because of that money that you’re getting from your day job. You are going to be able to use some of that and buy resources, you’re going to be able to use that to buy some of the programs, systems that you need, to buy and invest in a coach and a mentor and that is so important.

And so my suggestion is if you do have a full-time job and you want to start something on the side. It isn’t going to be easy, but don’t quit your full-time job, and I’ve had women come to me it’s like, I’m working in environments that I just cannot stand going in in the morning, it is toxic. And I honestly don’t want to cry every day I go to work. And then I say, okay, think about it this way how long have you been at that company already say for instance you’ve been there for two years. I do understand, but if you quit your job now you’re literally cutting off your financial security, and my suggestion is… is start your work, start your business running on the side nobody needs to know about that this is you working on your future. Start working on it… on the side… take the time to develop take the time to get a coach get a mentor and the salary that you’re making you know can help you financially obviously support that, and pay for that kind of expenses.

Because once you’ve really then started building your business which is exactly what I did once you start building your business, you see the money coming in. You got it. Okay, this is it now. Now I’m getting to a point where I’ve got money coming in a feeling that I can be a little bit more secure financially to go and quit my job. But here’s the other aspect from an emotional and an intellectual level.

Now you’re going to feel a little bit better going into work every day because you know this is not your future anymore… you’re working a business no this is your secret for yourself. You’re secretly working on building your future along the side. So now when you go into work and something happens and you’ve got that horrible email and you go like, Okay, this is, this is not where I’m going to be forever. I’ve got my plan, I know where I’m heading to. And you know what life at works become actually so much easier and sometimes even a bit more enjoyable because you can secretly laugh about the things happening where other people go crazy and other people get upset and you go like this is fine, it’s just another day. I’ve got a bigger picture of where I’m working towards.

So my suggestion is don’t quit your job immediately, you need that financial security in order to support yourself and also on the other aspect and I’ve seen this and this has happened to me. When I quit my job I had no income. The first thing that happened to me — my self-confidence dropped because I ran out of money fairly quickly, where I had to go and say to my husband the amount of money, and I cried. My husband said, “Don’t worry, I’ll look after you.” But my confidence hit rock bottom because I was always a girl who could look after myself financially I never had to ask anybody for money. But then when I quit my job and I went full time into my business, I didn’t look at that part. And it was so hard when my confidence hit rock bottom. And I had to build it up again. And so that is my advice to you.

Now, let’s look at the other aspect of that because you mentioned this as well Katerina, with what’s going on, you might have lost your job. So again, the first thing that has happened is your confidence again is rock bottom. You feel like, well, why did this happen to me, didn’t I work hard enough, why, why did they let me go I was… I was there every day I was on time every day I worked my butt off for this place. and you feeling like they didn’t value you. Now, I want you to think about it in another way, see it as an opportunity that was given to you to go and start fresh to go and start your own business. And you can so easily do this yourself. And, you know, there, there are so many ways to go and reach out to people who’ve already done this I mean look at Katerina, look at what she’s doing now. She’s incredible at what she does, she can give you so many tips as to how to start a business. There are so many other coaches and mentors out there about how you can start a business.

And yes, this is not a get rich quick schemes and that kind of things. It is things that are going to take time. But as soon as you start thinking … listen, I’ve got to see this as an opportunity in order to do something amazing with my life now rather than to sit on the sofa and think, why me, why me — that’s where you’re gonna roll, and that’s where you’re going to make a success.

Katerina: Yeah, I agree with you completely… I actually… what you’ve just described happened to me maybe a couple of years ago and I actually treated this as, like, they’ve shut up the department. I used to work for a university and they shut down the department. And actually, a lot of people kind of… they became so anxious and they were stressed. And I kind of thought, well, maybe you just gave me a favour because I now can sit down and plan. And, you know, like one, one door shuts another door opens and stuff like that and you can plan for the future so yeah maybe they just giving you a favour by getting rid of you.

Henriette: Yeah it’s entirely about how you look at the situation. Now I promise you, those people who are going to sit and sulk about what has happened to them — they’re the ones who are going to go out there feeling very sorry for themselves, their self-confidence is rock bottom and they’re just going to go and crawl in to find any job available which is the lowest paying job, and it is going to be a job that you absolutely hate but hey you’ve got a job. And unfortunately, that’s what’s happening and then people are really not enjoying life because they’re just grabbing any job that comes their way, rather than looking at it from another perspective and say hey, maybe me losing my job is a blessing in disguise because now I can finally go and do what I’ve always wanted to do.

And this is where you start asking yourself those questions. Okay, so what is it that I always wanted to do. Now I need to think about it now I need to plan. What do I enjoy doing in life you know, where can I make a difference? What are my skills, what are my strengths, and that you can use to create your own business, you don’t have to have a shop, a brick and mortar business in order to have a business you can create your skills and create a business from your skills and your strengths, just like I did? I became a strategic business coach, and I didn’t develop products and start trying to sell them on the road or in markets and things. I’m using my skills as services in order to help other people and you know that for me is the biggest blessing in disguise because I know I can help people. And I’ve had people come back to me is like. Thank you so much. I am so glad that I clicked on that video that you had or I’m so glad that I managed to see that email and click on the link and just got in contact with you. That’s what fires me up, and you can do exactly the same.

Katerina: Yeah. So looking back at the time where you started your coaching business, are there any mistakes that could have been avoided?

Henriette: Yes. Oh yeah. And the biggest mistake I made was when I just started, everybody was talking about building online courses and I was like, that’s it, I’m going to do an online course and I was full-hearted into building my online course and eight months down the line I was still building my online course and the biggest mistake I’ve made. And also when the online course was finished. Finally, after eight months, and I went out there and I was like, saying to people. Oh, I’ve got an online course go and check it out and, you know, try and buy it and you know market it, and nobody bought, and I was crying my eyes out. And that’s where I quickly learned that the first mistake I made was, I wasn’t building an email list I wasn’t building an audience a community of people who really want to know what I’ve got to offer.

And the second thing that valley realised fairly quickly was, I had no idea what I was doing marketing-wise, so invested in somebody who helped me with my marketing, and I immediately started building an email list. And now my email list is too full capacity where I’ve got great engagement with my email list and not everybody on an email list will always engage with you but it’s like the same your glass is either half full or half empty, how you look at it.

And, and yeah and now I make myself, you know, 80% of the time for my email list and… And if I didn’t go through those stages of realising that I had no clue what I was doing marketing-wise and went and invest in a mentor or a coach and some online courses do to improve my marketing. And then secondly, immediately what I did is I started building an email list. And those are the two things that I would highly suggest to anybody who wants to start an online business. Those are the first two things you need to invest in.

Katerina: Yeah, I mean, you’re saying that it was kind of, yeah, no one wanted your course because… I guess we can ask people as much as we want, whether they want to buy something from us and then we say yes because they don’t want to hurt us. But then the true… the true test is whether your product will actually work and be sold is actually to put an offer in front of people right.

Henriette: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, but that’s also the other thing because here I was just talking to people on Facebook… like I said I had no clue what I was doing marketing-wise I was just putting it out there on Facebook… I was paying so much for Facebook ads, trying to do webinars and trying to sell my course and, and that was all cold selling okay if you think about it because that was a cold audience they had no clue who I was. All of a sudden here I am talking to them about things and they go like, yeah, but who are you, and you have no relationship with them.

And it’s only through building a relationship like I said earlier on that you can start really selling because people then go through that know like and fright but know like and trust factor, where they feel like hey, I believe Katerina… I’ve seen her show a couple of times. I know what she’s talking about. And you know if she can prove to me with the benefits that she can help me. Oh my gosh, by all means, I’m in, where do I sign up, and you kind of makeup people’s mind is not by… it’s not by persuading people, you’re just showing people the options, and they making up their mind for themselves, but they will not buy from you and they say no to you.

It’s like if I go and stand on the corner of a road with a box, and people pass them in as I hey do you want to want to buy what’s inside the box and they got like, what’s inside the boxes like you gotta find out but you gotta pay me 50 pounds. And I got to like what I don’t know you. I don’t know what’s inside the box How come I need to give you money for whatever is inside the box. That’s kind of the same thing, but if I know Katerina… if I come to you, Katerina with a box and it’s like, hey, look at what’s inside the box you know you get all these benefits and I start unwrapping the box and I start showing you what’s in the box and all the benefits you can get no say 50 quid.

What do you say Katerina was like, oh yeah I trust you, you know, we’ve known each other, we’ve had the conversations already and, and I like what’s in the box so yeah here’s 50 quid thank you very much for my box. And, and that’s the difference so when it comes to starting a business you have to build that email list and you have to communicate with those people on your email list. In order to build that relationship. And then once you’re ready to sell your services and your products. That’s when people will start engaging with you and they want to know more. Some people will buy immediately and some people will not and that’s okay. They might buy at a later point because some, some people take a little bit longer to build that relationship in that connection with you. And that’s absolutely fine. You’ve got to be okay with that as well.

Katerina: No that’s actually a good strategy, I was actually yesterday I think I was reading some book and something just came into my mind thinking, oh I wonder because obviously I used private label manufacturers to sell my product on Amazon in the US and I thought… is there a website for like private-label online courses, and guess what there is one. You can buy an already put together course, pay a $500 license… And yes, you can tweak it and change it slightly but I guess in the last couple of months with people staying at home, this whole market of online courses just exploded. And there are so many offers. So… and there are so many coaches as well. How do you stand out from from the crowd? How do you win your competition?

Henriette: That’s such a great question. I love that. And I didn’t… I didn’t talk about competition. And I didn’t use the word competition because I think it’s a little bit overrated. I talk about collaborations. And there’s a beautiful saying that I always use now because I heard it one day. It’s a rising tide lifts all boats. And this is where collaborations are so amazing, because if you talk about competition, immediately, you’ve got a negative connotation. And you’ve got negative energy pushing and negative energy within your body as well because you know, let’s face it, you just don’t feel good about it.

And so when I get a client coming to me, it’s like “Listen, I want to be a photographer, and I love taking photos. I want to be a professional photographer. But there are so many photographers out there. How do I stand out from the crowd?” It’s like, simple answer, just be you. You see every business whether there’s a whole bunch of other photographers, whether there’s a whole bunch of other strategic business coaches, every business is unique because you as an individual is unique. You’re as unique as your DNA, which means you as the business owner have a unique business. Yes, it is a photography business as an example, yes, you take photos, yes, you take portrait photos or baby photos. But you are unique because let’s face it, people don’t connect with brands people connect with people. So if you want to attract clients, if you want to attract your customers, it’s about who you are.

Let’s take an example. If you think about Coca Cola, it’s a brand, okay? Immediately when I say Coca Cola, you’ve got an image of a bottle of coke in front of you, but you don’t know who the owner is of Coca Cola. You don’t have that connection or that relationship with those people. Think about Chanel. We don’t know who owns Chanel, we know Coco Chanel started Chanel. But before Chanel started becoming a brand, it was Coco Chanel, she was the individual she was the person behind that brand and people connected with her, with her story with what she’s done, how she’s developed that business. And that’s the same for you Katerina as an example. So say there are so many people doing what you’re doing out there.

But at the end of the day, you’re unique, the way you talk, the way you describe things, the way you explain things, the way you do things in your business is entirely unique to how the next person next door to you is doing it. And that’s what attracts people. So when people say that there’s so much competition out there, so that’s fine, that’s okay. Because it all comes down to who you are. You’re attracting your clients, you’re attracting your people that you want to work with. If those people have got the same values and they’re aligned with who you are, they will become your clients or your customers. Then there’s some other clients and people that go like, Ah, you know, I really want to work with her, but I really enjoy this other person, I really connect with this other person. So I’ll go and work with that other person. And that’s okay. Because not everybody is made for everybody. Not everybody’s got the same values as everybody.

So, competition is really overrated. And if you think about competition, you are limiting yourself and you’re not thinking about the abundance. There’s enough for everyone. And this is where collaboration comes in. If you do have a competitor… let’s take a photographer, okay? If there’s a photographer and she’s starting her business and she’s got this other photographer, she might even say “Listen, I want to collaborate with you, I want to learn some of the things that you’re doing rather than us being competitors. I’m not here to steal clients or those kinds of things, you know, not that conversations. I want to learn from you… maybe can I can help you out one day to see how you’re doing things. So I want to learn so I can, you know, use that in my business one day.”

And that’s where collaborations are absolutely powerful. And I’ve seen this time and time again, I just so many collaborations with so many female entrepreneurs and you know what, the energy and the excitement and the willingness to work together to have the same outcome far outweighs any competition that you would ever have. And the possibilities than the doors that opening up is endless.

Katerina: I think it’s brilliant advice. So any final word for… because obviously this podcast is specifically focused on female entrepreneurs, any particular advice for female entrepreneurs?

Henriette: You know what, when you start a business, you need to have fun. You need to enjoy it. If you are not enjoying it, then you need to go and figure out why is it because it’s something that you’re doing, you’re running a business that you’re not aligned with? Or is it because you may be not have the right strategies, and you’re just slaving away hour after hour, feeling like you know, gosh I would just work in a corporate job. And you need to be absolutely in love with what you do. And that’s why I said when I started realising that strategic business coaching was the thing for me, everything in my gut pointed the right way. My energy became so vibrant.

I love waking up in the morning going over what’s happening on my calendar today. Who am I going to meet today? What are the calls that I’ve got signed up and I love planning things where I’m completely… I’m a little bit of a control freak. Okay, I will say that I love planning things where I’m in control. And I’m going, you know what, I’ve got this amazing workshop set up. I am so creative, and I love just being in there and creating the content and showing up and being so passionate and energetic about what I do. Because that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. So, honestly, one last bit of advice. If you go into business, make sure that you enjoy what you do.

Katerina: Thank you so much. It was absolutely fantastic. Thank you so much for coming to the show.

Henriette: Oh, thank you so much.