It’s that time of year when we tend to reflect on the years (or in this case, decade) that have been & start to plan for the new year & new decade ahead.
And the question arises,
‘What will the new decade bring?’.
So, first of all, Happy New Year & Happy New Decade! I truly hope you have had a wonderful Festive Season or are even still enjoying it?
In terms of what the decade will hold, well only you can decide! You have the choice to make anything of it that you will.
After closing The Common – The Entrepreneurs Playground at its Parnell location at the end of last year, I have been taking a small break to refresh & work on the next steps.
I’ve looked back over the last 10 years and realised that whilst it has had its ups & downs, I am very proud of what I have achieved & I’m very grateful for everything that I have in my life. It was fun to look back a little before looking forward & making choices about what I want for the next decade 🙂
Back in 2010, I was back in a Corporate role (after a spectacular business failure), working for TOWER, heading up the Marketing & Digital Marketing Teams.
In my spare time, I was a Member of the Institute of Directors was a Trustee for the Life Education Trust an Advisory Board Member for Generator, The Course Director for the Certificate of Digital Marketing for the Marketing Association, a lecturer on the Marketing Association’s Certificate of Marketing Management & also a Business Mentor with Business Mentors.
How life has changed since then in my business world!
Just a few highlights from the last 10 years in Business:
- Continued to be a Trustee for Life Education Trust – now in my 13th year
- Left Corporate world & started contracting & coaching – set up Ventell, which is still going strong after many years
- Got approached by & worked with The Icehouse (One of Forbes Top 10 incubators worldwide) as a Business Coach & Workshop Facilitator for 7 years
- Chaired & sat on several Advisory Boards for various clients
- Sat on the Board of several organisations supporting women in business & at home – Professionelle, Women on Boards & Plunket
- Did numerous keynote speeches, workshops & conference chairing around Australia & New Zealand – my favourites being MUV Talks, LinkedinLocal & the various Liquid Learning & Aventedge conferences
- Mentored with several start-up programmes, such as Lightning Lab, O.VenturesJudged several awards, such as the EFFIEs, Marketing Association Awards & The Orchard Start-up Competition
- Helped set up & became the Co-Chapter Lead for The Culture Collective in NZ
- Through my work at Ventell & The Icehouse I helped over 500 business owners to lead a better life & create a sustainable business that they love
- Set up The Common, to support my bigger goal of helping 10,000 Entrepreneurs every year & whilst it hasn’t taken off quite as I had hoped we achieved some amazing things: Employed 8 people, who didn’t have jobs before The Common; helped 5 interns to get their degrees; held 60 educational events for business owners; coached over 75 businesses towards success; hosted over 220 businesses in our space with over 300 events, workshops or off-site strategy sessions; had over 15,000 come through our doors for events & workshops; supported over 120 events through free or heavily discounted event space
- And finally, at the end of 2019, I became a professional EOS Implementer & started Business Traction
On a personal level, much has changed too.
I have lost 2 of my 3 family members – my darling brother, Marcus, and my Mum. That was heartbreaking & there is not a day that goes by when I don’t think of them in some small way.
I have also been engaged 3 times – I think 3rd time is definitely lucky!
Plus I have sold my family house & then sold my rental house & car to fund the new businesses & moved into a small rental unit that has taught me a lot about possessions & what’s really important.
The highlights in my personal life have been:
- I am now engaged to the true love of my life. I didn’t know what love truly was or what it was like to be loved & supported unconditionally until I met Steve ♥️
- I have seen my Niece grow into a beautiful young womenI
- have formed a newer, stronger connection with my sis (sister-in-law) Cheryl
- I have come to peace with my relationship with my Dad & am appreciating it for what it is
- I have added 2 puppies to my family – Apollo & Artemis
- I have taken up tennis, photography, skiing & cycling again – in varying amounts of enthusiasm throughout the 10 years 🙂
- I got to go to India for the first time – on my bucket list for a long time & I managed to do it through making it a business-funded trip so even better
- I have spent amazing times with friends & family
- I have made new friends & had lots of adventures
- I have learnt a lot about myself & grown as a human being
I couldn’t have done all that I have done without the amazing support of family, friends & colleagues. There are way too many to mention here but if you’re reading this & you have helped then I want to once again tell you how hugely grateful I am to you
So, where to from here?
Moving forward, it’s all about choices. It’s one of the biggest lessons I have learnt over the last 10 years – you get to choose how you respond & react to everything & you also get to choose what you want out of life.
I choose to:
- Continue to pursue my passion of helping Entrepreneurs to achieve a life & business that they love, through my EOS Implementation & through a re-invention of The Common
- Continue to make time for my passions
- Continue to go on amazing adventures
- Continue to love with all my heart ♥️
- Start to take more time to look after myself so that I can be helpful to more people
I like to remind myself every day about choices, with the Holstee Manifesto – which sits proudly on our dining room wall – https://www.holstee.com/pages/manifesto
If you are a Business Owner or Entrepreneur & would like someone to chat to about your New Year & decade ahead & what choices you can make to make it the best ever then just jump over to my booking site & book a time – https://www.businesstraction.co.nz/book-online
