Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Steve Smith, Founder of GrowthSource Coaching, located in Lake Forest, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

GrowthSource Coaching is a boutique business and executive coaching company located in Orange County, CA. We offer customized professional development services to small business owners, company executives, and aspiring managers. Our goal is to help them assess their capabilities, focus on their most important skill improvements, and become confident in operating at a higher level of performance and satisfaction.

Tell us about yourself

After 30 years in the consumer products manufacturing industry, I decided it was time to put my expertise to work running my own business. Quite by accident, I was introduced to the coaching industry. In 2008, I bought into a fledging coaching company. They were young, but I fell in love with their methodology for helping entrepreneurs successfully start and grow their businesses. In 2011, the company folded, and out of sheer desperation, I forged ahead and started my own version of a coaching company. I considered this occupation the only thing I wanted to pursue and an answer to my childhood dream of one day owning my own business. Two months after the other company went bankrupt, I launched GrowthSource Coaching. I backed away from working at the start-up level and blended into my area of expertise: leadership and management. This focus became the lion's share of what I provide today and enabled me to become of of the most recognized coaching services in Orange County. My motivation each day comes from the insights and accomplishments that my clients share. Every time they win, I take a victory lap!

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Adapting my experience from the corporate world to starting and running a successful small business. Surviving and rebuilding my business from a failed franchise operation was no small feat.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Using your time for your highest and best activities. Having a vision and sticking to a strategy that will get you there takes a tremendous amount of commitment. The biggest lesson I have learned that supports this is how to say 'no' to people and have them be OK with it. Committing yourself to things that do not support your core business will kill your efforts to stay on track.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Become a specialist, not a generalist. It's easier to establish dominance in a market niche than have to battle with big market competitors.
  2. Know yourself extremely well. What are you good at? Work with your strengths and pay others to do the things you are not good at.
  3. Understand the financial flow of your business. Know how your business makes money and have the financial resources to keep yourself going until the business shows signs of making money. Start early cultivating relationships with financial institutions. You will need their help at some point.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.growthsourcecoaching.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GSCBusinessCoach/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GSCoaching
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachstevejsmith/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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