Business Business Memberships Business Mentors/Coaches

Interview – Fiona Sim, Productivity And Business Strategist

05/12/2024

539 3 minutes read

I am interviewing business owners who are member’s of Maddy Alexander-Grout’s Invisible To Influential membership in the run up to Christmas.

Invisible To Influential is an inclusive business membership that helps you to get more visible in your business and make more money.

All designed for neurodivergent brains, Maddy the founder wanted to help neurodivergent people in an easy to understand format.

Every month you get masterclasses on things that will help you to grow your business, you get your content reviewed 4 times a week, tips on specific platforms to help you to grow.

Discounted tickets to Visible Fest , Discounted 1:1s with Maddy, missions to help you to hit your goals.

It’s £10.00 a month currently. On 6th December 2024 the price will increase to £27.00 a month but once it does, details of a 50% off discount code for WGTD website readers will be posted that will reduce the amount to just £13.50 a month.

You can cancel anytime. But the support you get within this community is unparalleled.

https://stan.store/maddyalexandergrout/p/join-invisible-to-influential

Now, here’s what lovely Fiona Sim, Productivity And Business Strategist had to say…

How did your business start and when?

When my eldest daughter (now five) was a baby we decided we wanted to home educate and in doing so I realised that I wouldn’t be able to go back into a traditional job role. I spent the next few years trawling through the job sites looking for jobs that would be flexible enough to work around my family, but I just couldn’t find the perfect fit. I then started looking into starting my own business. I had a few different business ideas but never seemed to be able to get anything off the ground. At the beginning of this year, I did an online course that taught me all the things I had been missing and in August I qualified as a Certified Business Strategist and partnered with The Business Success Company as a franchisee.

What have been your biggest business challenges?

My biggest business challenges have been my fear of putting myself out there and having to learn to be accountable only to myself. It’s taken a lot of big mindset shifts and a lot of work on myself to get me to the stage I am now and I’ve had to learn that doing the work once doesn’t mean that I won’t have to do it again. I have to constantly check in with myself and check in with my thoughts to keep my motivation up and not lose sight of the big picture. It’s been really hard to get myself into the mindset of a business owner and keep myself there without going off track.

What advice would you give to anyone thinking of starting their own business?

Start with the big picture and work backwards. Work out your ultimate goal, what is it that you are aiming for in starting this business? What do you want your life to look like? You’ll be able to work backwards from there, figuring out all the steps you need to take to get you to that goal, always keeping your big picture goal in sight. This will help you keep up your motivation and your enthusiasm for what you’re doing.

What is the best thing about being in Maddy Alexander-Grout’s Invisible To Influential membership?

I’m very new to the membership, but already I can feel the value of surrounding myself with all the lovely people who are part of the membership. Maddy has built a very welcoming, comfortable, and uplifting place to be.

What tips do you have for any business owners dealing with overwhelm?

My top tip for any business owners dealing with overwhelm would be to take a step back, reevaluate what it is you’re trying to achieve and then work backwards, breaking your goal down into small, manageable steps. Then just focus on tackling one step at a time remembering that small consistent steps will add up moving you closer to your goal.

Are there any recent wins that you would like to tell us about?

It might seem bizarre to some but buying a whiteboard and being able to see all my business tasks, ideas and goals written up in front of me every day has been a game changer. Now instead of searching for multiple bits of paper that my children have hidden all over the house, I can go to my whiteboard and find what I’m looking for.

Do you have anything exciting coming up that you would like to tell us about?

Yes! I plan to run my first round of the Certified Business Strategist course in the first half of next year. I can’t be any more specific than that right now, but I’m very excited about it!

Which activities do you enjoy doing in your leisure time?

Ah, you’re all going to think I’m crazy, but I love to swim in the rivers and sea and in Scotland it’s always freezing! There’s just something so invigorating about swimming in cold water, I can’t get enough of it. Aside from that anything that involves being outside or eating chocolatey baking, and I’m there.