Mentor Insight No. 7 - Shirley Hensher
Shirley Hensher applied to volunteer as a Dorset Business Mentor in 2019 and has since been providing invaluable support to the business owners she has been linked with. Shirley offers us an insight into her role as mentor, written during the Covid pandemic’s third national lockdown.
“I moved from Swindon to Bournemouth in April 2019, bringing with me my online coaching business. I was keen to develop the community and business links I had enjoyed in Swindon and by chance came upon the volunteering opportunity at Dorset Business Mentors via Reach Volunteering when looking for local NED and Trustee positions. With a career in retail financial services (with Egg, Nationwide, Lloyds and AIG) and now as a professional coach, I have finance, strategy and risk on my CV but perhaps not the depth of experience in these sectors or as a business builder myself, which many of my fellow Dorset Business Mentors have. However, I coach owners of a variety of businesses and I know that the value of a mentor can come from just having an outside perspective on your business, someone to share ideas with and get some support and accountability.
So I applied and in August 2019 and met the first mentee I had been proposed for, a garden designer. She was followed quite quickly afterwards with a coastal property management company, then a well known stately home (which opens to the public), and a virtual FD. Notably a diverse mix of businesses, I have supported them by drawing on all my experience and, where necessary, the wider mentor community and my own business network.
My garden designer is going great guns, and taking a break from mentoring after a very productive period where we worked on creating and maintaining boundaries with the customer, upping her pricing (several times) and getting focussed on attracting the business she really wants rather than just getting business. My coastal property mentee has also taken a break as she has no business to speak of at the moment: momentum was building, the strategy and vision was there but COVID then came along.
I am still working with the stately home I first met in February 2020. Despite the difficult circumstances, the small team has benefited from my support in keeping them accountable and finding expertise from amongst the mentor community to support their strategy development.
In the Summer I started working with Paul at Enrich Accounting who set up his business in January 2020. A numbers guy, he needed help with developing his proposition and marketing so took advantage of Dorset Business Mentors’ three-month business triage offer in the first national lockdown before deciding to continue for a further year. We’ve worked on priorities for building the business, using social media and developing the business proposition. I review his draft material and plans and keep an eye on his wellbeing. It has been a joy to see his confidence grow as a business owner and networker.
Paul says; “Shirley is always available and helpful, pushing me in the right direction, but also ensuring that I recognise the small steps of progress made along the way. It is too easy to beat yourself up for what you haven’t done and forget your achievements, however small”.
It may seem odd or even foolish to give away for free through Dorset Business Mentors what I do for a living but it has introduced me to some great local businesses and the wonderful people behind them whom I would never have met otherwise. It has also helped me to find my place in the local business community and to feel I am making a contribution to it, which is what it is all about for me.”
If you are interested to know more about mentoring and how we select one mentor from over 130 volunteers to suit you and your requirement, please give us a call for an informal chat on 01305 221 268