Happy Shiny People

Also, as an eternally happy bunny, I want EVERYONE to be happy.  In Penny’s World, everyone rides around on magic unicorns, there’s no meanness, injustice or nastiness, no rude or bad people, everyone is content, and everyone is equal. Everyone has their own magic unicorn.

So how does this sparkly, Utopian vision translate to becoming a business coach?

I was the quintessential, stereotypical IT sales professional. Driven, ambitious, no messing, safe pair of hands, trouble-shooting, over-achieving, pathological problem-solving, high-earning, well-respected Suit. Keeping it simple, selling it big, saying it like it was.

As it goes, I am still all of those things, except the IT Sales Professional, of course…  Oh, and the suit. Thank goodness. NOW, I am an entrepreneur. An actual ENTREPRENEUR.

I did love my corporate IT career – but, somewhere deep down, I had always wanted a clinic or maybe a salon of my own.  Always intrigued by aesthetics and cosmetic dermatology, I loved facials – and then discovered chemical peels. Astounded by what customised, clinical skin care and advanced skin treatments could achieve, I never looked back and threw myself into learning everything about skin.

Then one day – or should that be once upon a time? – my husband Phil kept me company on my visit to Karen Betts, for my annual colour refresh on my tattooed brows.  The rest is history… He was entranced, so there and then decided to sign-up to train with Nouveau. He was a natural, with a real flair and talent for making his clients look – and FEEL – amazing.  I set up Davis Permanent Cosmetics for him – a dedicated permanent cosmetics clinic. Later, I developed a skin clinic alongside DPC.  After acquiring our own premises and working incredibly hard, to my delight DPC Clinic went from strength-to-strength.

Do. Or Do Not. There is No Try…

It was soon time for life-changing decisions. Should I leave my amazing job – and forego the enviable six-figure salary and matching perks to join DPC (MY baby) and continue the growth? Or should I take my impending promotion, leaving DPC and my husband and member of staff to it, see if they continued to grow without me? It’s not a cliff hanger – of course I left my job. Colleagues were scandalised. ‘You’re leaving to become a beauty therapist’ they cried.  I didn’t bother explaining, simply left on great terms, with a big smile and a cheery wave and went on my merry way…

I could say I never looked back, it was a no-brainer, our dreams came true, there was no incredibly difficult and turbulent time. I COULD, but that would be a big fat fib. NOTHING worth having comes that easily. We were skint building up the business, I was nose-to-the-grindstone studying whilst working all hours. I sold the contents of our loft, I sold my jewellery… some months we panicked we couldn’t pay the mortgage – but we always did. Then, we started turning a profit, and began to grow…