Want to know a secret? Here is the truth about why I started my business 

My clients are incredible human beings, filled with love for others, and motivated to make change happen. Yet, when I ask them to share with me why they started their business, there is often an awkward silence followed by a series of generic answers. And I know there is more than what they casually mention. In fact, lots come out during our sessions. 

I was once in their shoes: knowing why I wanted to start a business but not necessarily wanting to share why I was the one to have started my business. 

For all entrepreneurs, that’s a romantic story to tell. And like all romances, it requires a good level of internal digging. Once you’re on the other side, you realise how beautiful it is to share your story and how worth it is. 

Acknowledging why you started your business is an ongoing process

Let me start with a premise. I work independently, mostly online and mostly with women of colour. But I wasn’t able to fully express why I started a storytelling coach business until I started writing my book. Which starts like this: 

How many eureka moments can you have in a lifetime? I can count at least three in mine. The first was when my middle-school teacher traumatised me in front of the entire class. The second when a coworker referred to my skin complexion as being a persuading feature to present to stakeholders. The third was when after receiving multiple awards, dinners with Nobel Prize Laureates, travelling the world and fundraising thousands of pounds, an interview in Oxford made me feel like an impostor.

The more I dug into the contents of the book, the clearer I became about why I wanted to work as a storytelling coach. And in case you don’t know what a storytelling coach does, I can help you out by telling you what I do: helping underestimated entrepreneurs to leverage their stories into their marketing and communication material to be more visible on their own terms, connect to the right audience and boost their confidence. 

This is what storytelling has done for me

So here is the first truth about why I started my business: to give the gift of freedom to other people who for their race, heritage, gender, and age have been underestimated or unheard. 

Although that might be the first reason, there are at least 21, which you can happily explore below. 

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Here is the truth about why I started my business

For me: 

1. To be free
2. To be me 
3. To feel in control of my finance 
4. To speak my truth 
5. To merge my love for stories with writing and coaching 
6. To avoid having to compromise my choices 
7. To be able to travel whenever and wherever
8. To constantly grow as a person and as an entrepreneur 
9. To make sure I change my workspace scenery 
10. To choose who to work with

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0OeuoyBTuq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

For entrepreneurs: 

1. To make your stories more visible 
2. To let you know there are other ways to market yourself 
3. Because your success is our collective success 
4. Your work deserves the front page of any magazine 
5. To give you permission to be yourself  
6. To help you make the change we both want to see 

For all the little Bea out there: 

1. To see themselves reflected in professionals 
2. To let them know they can achieve whatever they want 
3. To give them permission to be themselves 
4. So that they learn to take control of their narrative  

And although the list could go on and on, I’ll stop here. You get the idea, don’t you? 

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Why does this matter? 

Because for each truth about why I started my business, there are infinite stories to tell. And as entrepreneurs, we often think we have no stories to tell and if we do, we might feel they are not that interesting. 

Our stories arsenal is virtually infinite and its effect is worth the effort. 

Now tell me, why did you start your business? 

Let me know in the comments or send me a message. 

Photo: graciously taken by Yana Binaev for the project No Bleach for Me