Taking baby steps

Every day I’m trying to do something that is a small step towards creating Sparkle. I know it won’t simply happen over night. I know it won’t happen easily and I know it won’t happen by accident. I also know I’ve got a lot to learn about being the Director of my own company. As I said last week though, I put pressure on myself to succeed and my standards are set high. I believe that this will help me to make this a success but I have to keep moving forward. I can not afford for the time to disappear unutilised.

I’m spending all of my spare time reading things, asking questions, talking to people and getting involved in personal development opportunities where I can. I’ve opened my mind to areas of opportunity and chances to develop my skills even further.

I’ve had my first career coaching session this week with Lisa Jelly which was fantastic.  She’s someone I found via a LinkedIn post a few weeks ago and I suppose it has been another one of those lightbulb moments really. It is so useful to have a coach at such a key point in my life. I’m really enjoying that relationship, in Lisa’s words she wants to help me get clarity and calmness in my life. I’m up for that! So, what else have I been up to?

Well, I met a graduate at a CIPD event recently and I’ve since met up with with her in a mentoring capacity.  I’ve also signed up to the CIPD steps ahead mentoring programme and have matched myself with a student that I’m due to meet soon. I’ve supported a charity with a grievance and I’ve registered my company as a limited company and bought my domain name.

I’ve done lots of other stuff too but my point is this, there’s loads to do, lots to build and lots to learn but I have time to do it if I focus. I’m trying to stop the overwhelm crippling me. It would be easy to let it! My coaching with Lisa is helping me with this point actually!

There is so much I don’t know about being a business owner but in a short amount of time I already know so much more than I did! That excites me. The possibilities excite me. At least one thing is for sure. I know HR! I keep imagining how hard this must be for people starting from scratch. A new business and new services or product. It’s a blessing I’m taking my love and passion for HR and simply offering my skills in a different way to different people.

A couple of weeks ago I was sat thinking through what my purpose is, why will Sparkle HR exist, what makes me different? It was during this reflective moment that I remembered something I have learnt about in my current employment. That is a theory by Simon Sinek called the golden circles.  I’m sure many of you are familiar with this but if not check him out. His theory is simple but effective, in my opinion anyway.

It looks like this:

Simon says 2 things that are currently ringing through my ears daily.

1. People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
2. The aim is not to do business with everyone but to do business with people that believe what you do.

So with that I set about thinking about my why for Sparkle. When I had completed that I felt so liberated. It felt like a huge achievement. I had purpose. I am now clear why I’m doing what I’m doing. That night I had a few celebratory cocktails with friends.  It felt like a very small but very significant milestone.  I will share my why with you in a future blog. It might continue to be tweaked slightly over the coming weeks so I don’t want to share too soon!

Thinking about the golden circles let me give you a great example. Take Katy, she’s someone who gives me beautiful HD brows every month. Over the years I’ve been to many salons to get my brows done. Why stick with Katy for the last 3 years? (and I will do as long as she is trading) Simple. I like her, she’s fun, creative, talented, ambitious and a normal woman with 2 young children. She has a huge ambition and a dream that she’s succeeding at. Why wouldn’t I want to support that. I don’t go to her because I have to. I go to her because I love everything she stands for. I don’t buy what she does. I buy why she does it. It just helps that I leave with great brows 😉

Interestingly enough my lovely friend and colleague Tom, sent me a link this week to a guy that has his own jeans company.  Tom knew it was the kind of thing I would love, me and him are similar in the way we work and where we get our passion from. So I knew I had to watch it. The guy was called David Hieatt. He’s similar in his approach to what I’ve been talking about here. He cares about his customers and he knows why he’s doing what he’s doing. He’s not in it just to sell jeans. He wants to offer employment back to his local town. He’s passionate about people not being obsessed with themselves and suggests that giving back is more important.

I could not agree more!

In a fast world don’t be slow – David Hieatt

Love Laura x