Find Your Center Amidst Change

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Sayre Darling, Business Coach and Strategic Advisor of Sayre Darling, LLC, located in St. Paul, MN, USA.

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

I am a business coach and strategic advisor to emerging leaders and their companies who want to invest in their leadership development. My customers are forward-thinking, change-minded (early adopters), wanting to build the future of their company around their high-performing middle managers.

Tell us about yourself

I started my business working in marketing and communications more than 20 years ago. In working with more than 75 clients over 10 years, I learned that what causes the most workplace dysfunction, employee disengagement, workarounds, failed change initiatives, and stress is the lack of leadership communication skills among executives and emerging leaders.

What motivates me is helping my clients experience those "ahHA!" moments when they get unblocked and learn to reframe a situation, are able to handle difficult conversations, understand how to manage up to their supervisor, lead change and create greater accountability with their teams.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Balancing the need to stay focused in order to make progress on my goals while at the same time remaining detached enough from my business to know when I need to make adjustments and pivot to remain current with the changing issues and needs in the workplace.

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

Learning what you don't know, you don't know. Just because you have the skills and strengths to deliver your service or make your product doesn't mean that you know everything to build a business. In my experience, it takes time to learn how to build a business when you don't know what you don't know.

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

Learn that what you want to say (in sales and marketing) isn't as important as what you need to say in order to be heard. That means talking about your customer's aspirational and inspirational goals and how your product/service helps them achieve them, not what you do or how you do it.
Don't do it alone. Do what you do best, and hire others for what they do best. It's difficult to create momentum in your business when you are trying to attend to every detail in every aspect of your business.
It's more about finding the most effective step for each of the business-building processes and then doing it consistently day after day, week after week, than it is about chasing prospects and customers.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.sayredarling.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sayredarling/

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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