Introduction
There is so much I have learned over the past few years of Wyseminds, about early stage entrepreneurial life. There are also many parallels with my journey opening up Specsavers in an incredibly competitive market place, facing every day with external forces beyond my control. (Or so it seemed at the time.)
You and your business are definitely unique, but the way business grows is not. Understanding this process helps us to understand how we can make our own growth pattern more seamless. If we understand how something grows we can support it, feed it in the right way.
As founders we are such a key part of this journey, there is so much we influence, both good and bad.
I wanted to focus my writing looking out through your eyes, as founders. I will bring in my insights from working with many great women over the past few years, adding in my own experiences opening up Specsavers in Northern Europe.
I know one thing for sure, and that is whatever we hear about business, whether it be difficult economic times, the challenges of being heard and seen as female founders, falling consumer confidence, political instability or the impact of war on our everyday lives, there is a real sense of personal responsibility. We must each ask ourselves, what can I do to improve my situation? What am I responsible for? What can I change?
Whatever the external forces we are fighting (or at the very least facing), I want my next blogs to make us curious and ask different questions of ourselves. As I said at the start, we are all unique, but by sharing stories we can ask our unique selves the right questions. Ensuring we are best-placed to knock on that next growth door with greater clarity. Doing so on our own terms, being heard as business leaders so that we can make the positive changes this world needs.
We start by looking at how we think about growth, and how the future picture shapes our success.
Welcome to ‘Growth begins with you’ part 1.