BrandMe! Spotlight - February 2020

Natalia Nicholson - Founder & MD of Straight Talk to Success

How to Keep Growing as a Female Entrepreneur

I’ve been an entrepreneur for over almost 20 years. To be honest, I fell into where I am today by accident. I started with an online multi-culture bookstore that went bankrupt. It was horrible, but I tried again and started a cleaning business which was successful, but it was through this that I realised that I still wasn’t content. I needed a purpose to go with my success.

My Path

Eventually, in my line of work I took notice of business advisers. So from there, I tried coaching. It was challenging because people saw me as a fairy godmother. They thought I could sprinkle fairy dust and change their lives but that’s not really how it works.

To make things more formal, I then got into corporate training because I realised my passion was truly business. I loved being an entrepreneur.

So, I went to China and designed my own range of candles and then learned how to sell online.

That’s what took me everywhere from reading books, taking courses and attending summits in San Diego. All that education brought me into digital marketing.

So essentially, the candles lit the way to my new path.

Now I get to do both training and have a business. I didn’t know this was the direction I would end up going in, but sometimes things just fall into place like a jigsaw puzzle. We know we have to do something but we don’t always know how we're going to do it. I’m a firm believer in many routes leading to a destination, so when we have a goal, it's important to remember that there are many ways to get there.

Evolving is a natural part of life. We're always getting to know ourselves. The entrepreneur that started this journey at 23 to the one sitting here at 41 are both so different, but I know myself a lot better now than I did when I was younger.

How I Plan to Change Lives

One of the things that I want to continue to achieve is to change people’s lives, to inspire and motivate them. Especially from my world in the UK, being a woman of colour and having that struggle, being able to help others with their own struggle is what inspires and motivates me.

I was always the underdog so I disliked bullies, so if there’s anything I can achieve with my journey it’s to change lives.

Right now I have Straight Talk to Success (STTS), a freelance business and digital marketing agency and various companies that I offer my training services to be it Google, BT, Start-up Britain and more.

The training would be my biggest accomplishment, knowing that I’ve helped businesses and people and changed their lives in how they see e- commerce.

To inspire, educate and help them understand human to human digital marketing.

I think when anyone mentions the word ‘digital’, it’s thought about in a very mechanical way like it’s a program. We look at analytics and data then put them into categories, forgetting the human to human element. It’s only until you understand the difference that your sales will rocket. This is all just grass-roots business done in a technological way.

Juggling Business & Family as a Woman

As a woman, we wear many different hats. In our house, we have to know how to discipline and be there for our children, which for me, is about creating that balance with them to keep them growing and learning but also keeping boundaries in place. While being a wife on the other hand, as a businesswoman, we have to find ways to make our husbands feel included and just as important, if not more so, as our business.

Then you go to the business world and it’s the same thing, but in a different way. As a woman, I notice we still have to be mindful about how we make men feel to get the outcome we want. I think any woman could understand that it doesn’t really change once you leave the house. Just like at home, you have to create boundaries too.

There are times when your children need you as much as your work, and you have to give a piece of you away. You have to get up extra early or stay up late nights. There’s something you will have to sacrifice for each one and neither are never going to be completely understanding, so we just have to do our best with a happy heart.

The Daily Grind

My day never goes according to plan. A typical day as an entrepreneur means being prepared for all the things that get thrown at you. No matter what direction the day takes us in, what really important is that we stay centred. As long as we've done things to move forward then that’s enough.

Having said that, although a lot hasn’t gone according to plan in my life, it’s those challenges that have given me experiences that I’ve learned and that have helped me to grow. While I do recommend planning to try avoid failure, it’s through mistakes that people learn to rise up again and make themselves better. Even the bad things we go through in life shape us for our future.

So, my advice for anyone is to keep going at it. Nothing is easy in this world and if it were, everyone would do it. For every time that something goes wrong, you have to take that and learn from it. It’s just the law of life.

www.straighttalktosucces.com

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