Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal and business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Sally Chapman, Founder of Shine Coaching, located in Musbury, Devon, UK.

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

I founded Shine Coaching in July 2021, and as the business and brand have evolved, I now have a number of ways in which people can spend time with me and work with me. I offer online and face-to-face 121 coachings, mainly but not exclusively to HR professionals. I also offer online HR Group Supervision programs for people working in HR, as well as collaborating with another coach in our partnership, Rebel & Shine, to offer our own HR Leadership Group Coaching Program.

In addition to my work with HR professionals, I present regular online workshops sharing my Shine coaching model with people. The audience is wide, ranging from other coaches to hr folk to anyone looking for more success and happiness. I've also created and developed my own Coaching to SHINE app, which is available for £4.99 in all app stores.

Tell us about yourself

As I mentioned, I founded Shine Coaching in July 2021, but prior to that, I had no idea how to start or run a coaching business. You could say it is like many things I do. I go in headfirst and fully committed! Prior to coaching, I predominantly worked in HR roles up to the senior management level for about 12 years, which was a profession I sort of fell into and then fell in love with. And before being in the world of HR, I worked in a variety of roles, from a pub landlady to a self-employed gardener, and in the early days, even as a pig farmer! So, I had quite an eclectic background and a squiggly career in coaching!

But it wasn’t until mid-2020, during the pandemic and feeling rather burned out, that I realized that I had fallen out of HR and that I was holding on to an outdated version of what success looked like to me, which had been to climb the corporate ladder and become this awesome HR Director. When I started to question myself and have coaching, I became very aware that this version of my success was not making me happy or living in line with my values anymore.

So, I made the big leap to leave the corporate world and train to be a coach. When I started my training, and even when I founded Shine Coaching, I was still a little unsure of what type of coach I would be. All I knew at this point was that I loved finding out what makes people tick and helping them to grow, develop, and discover their strengths, dreams, and goals, and, most of all, helping them "shine."
As the months went by, I realized I was drawn to HR.

I still held such passion for the profession and the people that worked in it that I knew I wanted to help them stay as in love with HR as I had been. Now that I have built my brand, Shine, and receive feedback on a regular basis from so many different people about how inspired they are by what I have achieved so far, this inspires and motivates me to keep doing what I am doing: coaching people to SHINE!

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Creating a really strong brand. I have not had any experience in marketing or branding, but when you do something you are passionate about, and it comes from the heart, I found it relatively easy to 'brand' myself as Shine Coaching. I am so proud to have created my own coaching model, SHINE, and now I share this in regular online workshops and get amazing feedback from people.

I have also developed my SHINE model into a Coaching to SHINE app, which I did myself, and having had no technical help or be technologically minded. I am super proud of this achievement. It's really important to me that coaching is accessible to all, so my SHINE workshops and app are my way of sharing coaching with everyone.

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

It's just you, so it can be quite lonely at times, especially when a lot of the work I do is on my own. You don't have the team feedback and camaraderie to keep you going and know when you are doing a good job. There isn't anyone to share the ups and downs with, and running a business on your own can be a rollercoaster of emotions.

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

  1. Build and cherish your support network—families, friends, like-minded professionals, etc.—and ask for help. People love to help others.
  2. Don't think you need to know it all before you start - your business will evolve as you do.
  3. Adopt a 3-legged stool approach - so have at least three strong strands to your business so that you don't just rely on one strand for your income.
    That way, the legs of the stool can hold each other up.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://shinecoaching.org.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SallyShineCoaching
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sally-chapman-shine-coaching/

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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