#EntrepreneurMonth: Adelé Green empowers women to step into their own
Green is the author of Can You See Me Naked, a blog award winner, has over 250000 downloads of her podcast “Naked with Adele” for feminine leadership and sported her own newspaper column called #askADELE in The Saturday Star with a segment on Mix93.8fm.
“I believe that every woman can put herself first. Following her heart, allows her to give so much more. And, for the lady who is willing to access her authentic voice, unlimited energy, money and emotional freedom awaits.” says Green.
We chat with her to find out more...
Can you tell us a bit about your company?
“Life Philosophy” was chosen because I wanted something that would still mean something 20 years on. I chose it in 2009 to allow me to work with my vision for my coaching practise even when it expands into other fields of personal development in the future.
When, how and why did you get started?
In 2007 three incidents prompted me to finally leave the corporate sector as a professional buyer. I was a young mother and struggled to relate to the business world separating money from business decisions which affected real people’s everyday lives. My newly found sensitivity as a mother leads me to explore ‘what was wrong with me’ and instead of finding a problem I discovered a whole world of personal development.
After a sychronistically experiencing a flow of events I qualified as an ACMC (Associate Certified Meta-Coach) with the International Institute of Neuro-Semantics and founded my full-time practice as a coach. I immediately added to my toolbox an Applied Kinesiology Diploma, NLP and Psycho-Somatic studies. At the beginning of my coaching career, I had a very lofty philosophical approach to business, working in my business rather than on it.
What is the core function of Life Philosophy?
Life Philosophy is in its essence about our lives and our hypothesis of how to live it. We have ideas about how life works, but without questioning our success rate we won’t grow and develop. The point of the name was to encourage people to ask the right kind of questions for personal development.
What are some of the obstacles you've had to overcome since starting out?
In the beginning, my challenges were around running a business from home and juggling family needs. Children do not understand “work” time and business ethics. Being professional as I was used to was initially hard. I soon shifted the business to professional medical practice and then an independent office in an upmarket business area. It is only once I decided to shift the business online that I embraced the home office again.
Coaching is a feast or famine kind of business. You can make a good margin, but without a well-structured marketing strategy that you implement with consistency your income is as rewarding as you are able to exchange time for money.
The most important lesson for me was understanding how to stay visible using the evolution of technology without losing the essence of a personal touch. And engaged audience even a small one is more valuable than a huge following. I currently have several social media network of 80,000 contacts strong and it is growing every day.
What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?
Don’t buy into the sales pitch that upskilling is only about how you deliver quality in your business. A business needs more than great reviews, it requires a business model that allows you to keep growing and most importantly to effectively flow money through it. Work on your business developing your entrepreneurial skills specifically for your industry.
This requires a business coach with a robust track record rather than training for the average small to medium business. There is too much emphasis on marketing hype and too little on actual recording and interpreting of money in the business.
What has been your proudest achievement thus far?
In 2014 when I published my first solo book Can You See Me Naked it was but a small token of a huge undertaking that was completely unplanned, took huge personal growth and courage to open myself for public opinion and the physical evidence of a lot of work.
Opening my inbox to find people’s personal transformation after reading the book means more to me than the 10 five-star ratings on Amazon.
What does the future of entrepreneurship look like to you?
The online industry will grow and with it the challenge to find the best way to meet our own business needs by choice rather than chance. To yield the leverage of being online is already late for some.
The future for me is to truly learn how to connect with my audience on a deeply personal level. Before now it was too much and what was communicated in blogs before can now be a Facebook story. So much depend on our ability to scan what is credible and relevant. As women, the internal process requires the confidence to know with absolute certainty how to put ourselves and our message out there authentically.
What would you like to see changed in the South African startup landscape?
In SA, many results depend on mentorship. Funding without mentoring is wasted energy. As a coach, I often walk alongside potential future leaders who are still learning to believe in themselves. Over the 12 years of coaching I have seen some women regress, some embracing family life after a startup career and many excel in the corporate executive level.
When it comes to being an entrepreneur the field is even for everyone. You achieve results based on your wits. Funding and mentoring go so far. Creating the right image is too important for people and they waste money and energy here instead of learning how to structure their business for risk and the healthy flow of money, both receiving and giving.
If I could change something it would be to build incubation programs that last from 5–10 years for people who already started a business.
Symbolically, if a caterpillar transforms and you open the cocoon too soon to help it out, it won’t survive the harsh elements. It is the same with helping people. Let them first commit, risk and be all in. And then from that point, you assist them. Too much goes to waste. We can learn from our mistakes and stop rewarding look-like achievements.
What do you believe are the traits an entrepreneur needs in order to succeed?
The answer is surely industry related. At the core, I would imagine a stubborn drive to succeed is important. I grew up hearing the words: “n Boer maak n plan” but I now believe it should say the mark of an entrepreneur is someone who will always find a way irrespective of the obstacle. You need to be motivated, positive and have a very clear goal.
The criteria for choosing to be an entrepreneur is as important as the reason you serve because there are many ways to serve and you can change what you do easier than you can meet your needs which created the business in the first place.
Tell us about your biggest struggles as an entrepreneur, as well as some major highlights.
I love to empower through writing and talking about the issues women face. At first, I dealt a lot with women in relationships who were so dependent on their partners financially that they could not leave. Now I deal with those same women by giving them the means to create their own business and independent money following their hearts. It solved my problem too because now they have the resource to pay me.
I have a strong desire to serve and that's was how I ended up doing so much work publicly through blogs, podcasts, newspaper articles and interviews. None of these paid the bills. To pay the bills I had to solve my client's problems. I am happy to finally offer the solutions through online courses and one on one coaching courses so everyone can benefit no matter their budget. As I grew over the years my resource platform grew as well.
Would you encourage someone to become an entrepreneur? Why?
Being an entrepreneur is something you are, rather than something you do. It challenges you to grow. I highly recommend it. But if you are of the opinion that you need to be funded or educated then you will always require education and funding to grow. So if you have expectations rather than independent goals then don’t do it. Go and make someone else’s dream come true. Entrepreneurship is about the risks you take. It is rewarding but not easy.
Where would you like to see Life Philosophy in the next five years?
My business in five years should see at least two more books published around female transformation and money consciousness for women. There is a huge gap in the market for real-life solutions and the insecurity women still have. Because women want what women want – to follow their hearts, be glamourous and feel appreciated for good work.
