The past few months I have been blessed to witness the life and business transformation of a dear client of mine.
The first time I met Norina was in early October last year. I was involved in a project with an NGO helping underprivileged Malaysian women, in low, single-income households, to grow their businesses.
Norina is a bright young woman raising two school-aged girls and supporting her elderly mother from the profits of her small, home-based business. She was eager to grow her initiative into something bigger with the help of a business coach.
I got to know Norina at an event where the NGO’s program beneficiaries met their business coaches for the first time. Although our backgrounds could not be more different, we quickly developed a strong bond over our common goal – achieve a breakthrough in her business.
Fast-forward nine months, as Norina’s business coach, I have witnessed her unfolding from a shy single mum into a confident, unstoppable entrepreneur.
How did all that happen? What made this transformation possible?
We started our coaching journey together with setting a challenging yet motivating goal for Norina’s business.
I guided her through a visualization to direct her mind’s eye from the pressing everyday issues to a more compelling future full of possibilities. I taught her not to project her past to the future, instead to see it as a learning and build her future deliberately. This mental shift enabled her already at this early stage to notice new opportunities and to come up with novel ideas for her business.
On our second session, I asked her to list all the reasons why achieving her goal was important to her. Connecting with her higher purpose and finding strong reasons why to step out of her comfort zone and follow through with her plans was helping her to stay committed throughout the journey.
Only once we had worked out what we were aiming for and why, then did we start creating strategies and plans on how to get there. The key here was for her to understand the importance of planning and calculated risk-taking, instead of jumping right into something new.
I helped her with procurement and production plans; marketing, sales, and distribution strategies; as well as pricing and finances.
Last but not least, we kept a close eye on her business performance, evaluated every single channel and revenue stream and made the necessary adjustments to her plans when needed.
The most exciting and rewarding challenge for me as Norina’s coach was to equip her with the mindset she needed to win her future.
We identified her key strength that will fuel her future successes. We listed the skills she needed to learn to become more effective, tweaked some of her existing patterns of behavior, and built the necessary habits that would enable it to happen.
During our deep-learning sessions she learned how to overcome her fear of failure, as well as uncovered her self-limiting beliefs and successfully reframed and replaced them with empowering alternatives.
Did everything work out as we envisioned it? No, absolutely not! It has turned out a lot better than we could have imagined in our wildest dreams! Norina has managed to grow her home-based initiative into a multi-location business, and to multiply her income by 20. Yes, by 20!
Looking back, she says, the key to her incredible business transformation was having someone by her side who believed in her and guided her during this challenging journey. A coach, who was there to dare and challenge her to become the best version of herself, encouraged and supported her during difficult times.
Norina’s transformation has touched many lives. She has become a true inspiration for her family and community. Her mother could finally stop worrying about their future and she inspired her kids to have more ambitious dreams and to seek bigger challenges.
Norina’s achievements are remarkable. Are they replicable? Absolutely! You can achieve the same level of success if you are committed, persistent and ready to step out of your comfort zone.
Start by dreaming big!
Andrea
