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Name: Emma Heptonstall
Business: Emma Heptonstall The Divorce Alchemist, divorce counseling and coaching
Industry: Coaching & Consulting
Location: York, England, United Kingdom
Reason for starting: I started The Divorce Alchemist having had a legal career that left me feeling frustrated. I was a legal adviser to Magistrates’ in the UK. This meant that I had to be impartial and not support parties directly. Having trained as a coach and mediator, I knew that my passion and skills lay in supporting clients directly but I wasn’t sure how. I just knew I didn’t want to be a lawyer anymore. I left employment and did various coaching roles until last year I found my passion. I was good at various types of coaching and did a lot with small businesses, supporting website building and niching but I knew it wasn’t my thing. When I realized what my thing was, bang! I get up everyday with passion and purpose.
Related: Read about another entrepreneur helping to counsel those going through family break-ups here.
How do you define success? For me, success is being happy with the results I create in my life for myself and those of my clients. If I support one woman or one family when experiencing the trauma of relationship breakdown, in a way that allows them to deal with their issues and move forward, that is a success. Success is my purpose and boy, has it taken time to find it! I was good at seeing it in others, not in myself.
Biggest Success: I became clear about my purpose in October 2014 and within 3 months, I have developed my own website, crafted several coaching programmes and guest blogged on UK and International websites for women and families. My client list is building. When I worked without passion, I did not achieve these results. Finding my passion and purpose is my biggest success.
Related: Read about an entrepreneur helping women find their purpose here.
What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it? My biggest challenge was understanding how to take my idea and build on it. In order to do this, I invested in business coaching which is on going. I believe that it is this support and guidance, coupled with my passion, that has allowed me to develop my business idea in just 12 weeks. I get clarity, support, feedback and the push I need to keep myself on track and ensure that I dream big and don’t play it small. Taking so long to find my passion caused me to doubt myself and my self-esteem took a real battering, I hadn’t been used to not knowing what I was doing or where I was going.
Who is your most important role model? Jane Tomlinson is a real inspiration for me. She was a Yorkshire lady who, when diagnosed with terminal cancer ran several marathons in the UK for charity. She outlived her life expectancy because she refused to quit. My journey to finding my passion has been long, hard and incredibly expensive. But with the love and support of my family, I’m on my way and there’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll succeed.
[box_light]Website www.emmaheptonstall.com
Twitter @DivorceAlchemy
Facebook www.facebook.com/TheDivorceAlchemist [/box_light]
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Edited by The Story Exchange