Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in coaching but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Gwenno Dafydd, a Master Public Speaking Coach located in Cardiff, Wales, UK.

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

I am a Leadership and Master Public Speaking Coach, and I work worldwide via Zoom. Most of my clients are senior women who are just under the glass ceiling level and who want to break through to the board level. However, I will work with anyone who is in a rut and realise they are not firing on all pistons.

Tell us about yourself

I have had two parallel working careers since 1980 - one in the creative industries as a broadcaster, performer, writer, and Creative Director and the other in leadership development. All my skills are brought together in the individual and tailor-made packages I create for my clients. My motivation is to develop every person I work with to their full potential. As I see them grow in confidence in their own abilities, it makes me supremely grateful and happy that I have the skills and possibilities to do this for them.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I have had a career that stretches over the last forty years and more. It is impossible to pinpoint my greatest accomplishment - there have been so many. Obviously, unleashing other's potential is tremendous, but I have also had some phenomenal success in my own creative life - e.g. I have taken my self-penned one-woman show about the French singer Edith Piaf to the West End in London, where I had a sellout show with a standing ovation and two encores. I am the author of 'Stand up and Sock it to them, Sister: Funny, Feisty Females' which is a deconstruction of the glass ceiling through the prism of my passion, that of women in comedy. Have a look at my Linktree link, where you will find some evidence of some of the work I have been doing recently. https://linktr.ee/gwennodafydd and https://linktr.ee/coctel for some of the songs I have co-written. All my leadership and public speaking coaching is based on all the skills and experiences I have gained throughout my working life, in both creativity and education..

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

To constantly give 100% of yourself and to spring back from rejection and disappointment - you have to have the hide of an elephant. I have worked through pleurisy and COVID (in fact, I did my one-woman show with COVID - although I didn't realise it at the time, and ended up in the hospital the next day). 'The show must go on' is so true if you have a business of any sort.

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

  1. Start as early, that is, as young as you can. I work as a Role Model for the Welsh Senedd Government Big Ideas Wales Project, and we go around schools and universities in Wales promoting entrepreneurship. I had little business ideas going on when I was a teenager. https://businesswales.gov.wales/bigideas/profile/gwenno-dafydd-williams
  2. Find your passion, make it your profession, and you'll never work another day - all my creative work is something I love and never feels like work. Find something you can stick with all your life, and it won't seem like work; it will seem like fun.
  3. Find something that is recession-proof. e.g., hair grows, gardens need to be tidied and trimmed, people always want entertainment of some sort even when times are hard and won't skimp on funerals and weddings. (I do a lot of preparation work for Best Man speeches).

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://gwennodafydd.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gwenno.dafydd/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gwennodafydd/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GwennoDafydd
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gwennodafydd/

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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