2025 was my first full calendar year of trading as Boost and Beyond Business Solutions. On the face of it, I was a small start-up business. The truth is that really only the business name was new. I’ve been doing this for ten years now. Circumstances changed at the end of summer 2024 and meant that I was now trading under a new business name and without the support of a franchise operation.
Rather than see this as a negative thing, I saw it as a positive. The franchise had served its purpose, and I’ve no regrets about joining it. But it was time to move on and create something that worked for me and gave me the future I aspired to.
My strategy was simple: to use my wide and varied experience gained over 30 + years to help other business owners grow their businesses through the two strands of Boost and Beyond. Business support is what I had been doing for eight and a half years. Business mentoring was something I have done for most of my working life in various guises and was formalised in my last six months with the franchise. Business mentoring is where I see my future, and I will continue with the business support where time and skills allow, with a handful of long-term clients.
Here are the five lessons I learnt:
1. Say yes
When you’re establishing yourself in a new direction, saying yes opens doors you didn’t even know existed. I’m not talking about saying yes to everything that comes your way, regardless of whether it’s right for you. I’m talking about saying yes to opportunities that stretch you, that make you think, “I’m not quite sure how I’ll do this, but I’ll work it out.“
Earlier in the year, I was asked to do a presentation for one of my networking groups. I haven’t done that kind of thing in a long time, and I felt the familiar flutter of nerves. But I said yes. I pushed through, delivered the presentation, got some lovely feedback and a new client off the back of it. Had I said no because it felt uncomfortable, I’d have missed that opportunity entirely.
This year, I said yes to networking events where I didn’t know a soul. I said yes to client work that required me to learn new skills. Each time I said yes, I learned something new about my business, about my capabilities, and about what I actually wanted to be doing.
The interesting thing about saying yes is that it builds momentum. One yes leads to another. One conversation leads to a referral. One event leads to a collaboration. When you’re building or rebuilding a business, that momentum matters enormously.
There is a caveat. You need to be discerning and say yes to things that align with your values and your vision. Say yes to opportunities that will genuinely move your business forward. Say no to everything else. The difference between successful business owners and exhausted ones often comes down to knowing which opportunities deserve a yes.
2. Invest in yourself
Anyone running their own business knows there are points where you will be running on empty. Moments in time where you will question what you have done and why you have done it. You might get to the point of physical and mental exhaustion. You might want to give it all up and go and get a “proper job”.
My antidote to this is to invest in yourself. As a sole trader, I’m the major asset in my business. It’s no good if I go down, so taking the time and money to look after number one is critical in my book.
For me, that means learning time and downtime. From the start, I wanted to adopt a continuous approach to learning and development. I don’t know it all. Who does? And some of what I do know could do with refreshing from time to time. So, in my case, by joining the Association of Business Mentors, I’ve opened up a rich seam of learning and development, and I’m loving it. The community aspect alone has been worth every penny. Being surrounded by other experienced business professionals who are all committed to excellence in mentoring has raised my game considerably.
The downtime is still a work in progress, but I have diarised one day a month that is dedicated to me and my business. Yes, I’ll tackle some admin as and when I can in the week, but the stuff that needs deep thought and reasoning will wait until my one day a month where I turn off the email and the phone and focus on me and my business. It’s not a luxury, it’s an essential.
This investment in yourself extends beyond formal learning and scheduled time off. It means working with your own coach or mentor. It means taking proper breaks. It means knowing when to push through and when to step back. Your business can only be as healthy as you are.
3. Stop the noise
Call it comparisonitis, call it imposter syndrome, call it what you will, but you must try to cut out the noise that surrounds us daily. Noise to me is stuff that makes me think I’m not doing well enough because someone else looks like they’re doing it better or being more successful, have more clients, or are earning more money.
Social media has amplified this noise to deafening levels with people sharing their wins, their growth, and their success stories. What they’re not sharing is the sleepless nights, the growth worries, the client stability issues, and the proposals that went nowhere.
That is not where your business wealth is, or where your worth is. Your wealth and your worth lie with you and only you. Your family, friends, clients, and network connections value you for you, not for anything else, so own that and move on. I did, and it felt liberating.
I’ve had to be quite ruthless about this. I’ve muted accounts that I felt were noisy. I’ve stopped attending events where the culture is all about who’s bigger and better. I’ve focused instead on building genuine relationships with people who want to collaborate rather than compete. The energy shift has felt good for me.
Your business journey is yours alone. The clients you work with, the way you deliver your services, the income you generate, the impact you make – these are all unique to you. Stop measuring yourself against someone else’s yardstick and start celebrating your own progress. Run your own race.
4. Stay flexible
Being rigid is hard work; being fluid is much easier.
I started last year with certain assumptions about how my business would develop. Some of those assumptions proved correct. Others didn’t.
Having a plan was still essential. Without it, I’d have been drifting. The plan gave me direction and purpose. When opportunities arose that weren’t in the plan, I asked myself why I was considering them. Did they align with my goals? Would they move me forward? Sometimes the answer was yes, and the plan needed to adjust. Sometimes the answer was no, and I stuck to my original course.
This flexibility extends to how I work with clients. I don’t have a cookie-cutter approach because each business owner has different needs, different challenges, and different goals. Some mentoring clients need monthly check-ins to maintain momentum. Others benefit from intensive quarterly deep dives involving the team. Some want detailed action plans. Others prefer strategic conversations that let them work out their own next steps.
I adapt my approach to suit the individual whilst maintaining my core principles. Being flexible enough to meet clients where they are, rather than forcing them into a predetermined framework, has been important.
Flexibility means being responsive to what’s happening rather than what you thought would happen. The business landscape changes constantly. Your ability to adapt, whilst staying true to your core purpose, determines your survival.
5. Have faith in yourself
If you don’t have faith in yourself, how do you expect anyone else to have faith in you? If you don’t know something, learn. If you can’t do something, find someone who can help you.
You can make this work, and you can be proud of what you achieve along the way.
Sometimes you need to remind yourself of those small and large milestones, as it is all too easy to focus on the here and now and not look back and say, “Hey, I did that.”
Every day I record a WWW in my work diary, a What Went Well? It might be a new client, a problem solved, positive feedback, a target hit, or simply getting through a difficult conversation. I look back at those entries weekly, and when I need more reminding, I can go back as far as I like. The evidence is there in black and white, and I am making progress.
Self-belief isn’t arrogant, it’s about backing yourself to work things out. It’s about trusting that the experience you’ve gained, the skills you’ve developed, and the values you hold will see you through whatever challenges arise. It’s about knowing that even when things go wrong, you’ll find a way to make them right.
Looking ahead
These five lessons have shaped how I run my business and how I support my clients. Every business owner I work with is on their own journey, facing their own challenges, building something unique. But these principles, say yes to the right opportunities, invest in yourself, cut out the noise, stay flexible, and have faith in yourself, apply across the board.
I’ve likely walked in your shoes at various points in my 30 + year career. I’ve experienced the isolation of running a business alone. I’ve felt the weight of responsibility when cash flow is tight, and clients are demanding. I’ve questioned whether I’m good enough, whether I’m charging enough, and whether I’m making the right decisions, and I’ve had to rebuild when circumstances changed unexpectedly.
That lived experience, combined with my professional expertise across multiple industries and business types, puts me in a strong position to support you through whatever challenges you’re facing. As a mentor, I help business owners formulate and make progress against their business strategy. I offer advice and guidance, support and challenge where needed.
I’m your person in your corner, your sounding board, someone to lean on, someone to celebrate with. I’m walking alongside you on your business journey.
If you’re at a crossroads in your business, if you’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed, or if you simply want an experienced sounding board to help you think through your next steps, I’d welcome a conversation. You can find out more about my mentoring services here or get in touch directly at debbie@boostandbeyond.co.uk.