Life Coach Profile: Lynette of Pink Skills.co.uk

Lynette Allen
Lynette Allen

Name of Business: Pink Skills 

Your Name: Lynette Allen

Tell us about your family: I’m married to Nick with two cocker spaniels, William and Grayson, they’re almost 2 and we live in Essex by the sea.

What did you do before coming up with your business idea and how was it making the transition?

I started life as a secretary for the NHS and left to follow my dream of becoming a singer and dancer.  I travelled all around Greece as a result for almost three years before coming back to England and working as a Conference Manager in a hotel.  It was then that I knew I needed to work for myself.  I trained to become a Reflexologist and started up my own company in 1999.  I trained as a Life Coach shortly after that and coached celebrities before being heard on Radio 2.  It was this interview that led to a 3 book deal with a publisher and so I’m also an author now too.  Making the transition from employed to self employed was a risk because at the time I was buying my first house but I did it and have never looked back.

When did you launch

1999

How did you get started?

Whilst working as Reflexologist, I was invited on to one day work shop for marketing small businesses, run by an organisation that trained Life Coaches.  It dawned on me that I’d been coaching myself for a quite some time, I just hadn’t realised that was what I’d been doing.  Coaching seemed a very comfortable and natural transition for me, so I decided to qualify and soon added that to my business.

What research did you do before launching?

Reading…I was like a sponge I couldn’t get a enough information, the more I read the more I needed to read, I still had my reflexology business and it became apparent that  when people were in the safety of a comfortable place, they talk.  These days with the net and blogs, reading and researching my field is a huge part of my work.

How have you funded the business?

Now and again life takes a certain road, one might say fate takes a hand.  I got invited to participate in a, game show, we all want our ten minutes of fame and so I went along, and to my delight I won £5,500 so this enabled me to kick start my business.  I never took a loan or borrowed money and still haven’t to this day.

How do you promote your business? What has worked best?

I promote my business in a number of ways, the internet has opened up a whole new business world and I have embraced it wholeheartedly.  I have my own website, business blog, I twitter and use Facebook for business – these are just a few of the ways I work and now coach my clients to do the same to market their businesses.

I’ve written three books, which means I’m often in the media/on radio and clients come to me that way too.  For me, though you can’t beat the old fashioned way of face-to-face networking.  Just getting out there and talking to people, I enjoy it so much plus I often give talks up and down the UK.  .

What has worked well about your business?

I would say a combination of things.  I’m based at home, I have organised life in such a way that I have my own office, so I actually feel like I go to work.  I have my two puppies around me all day and they love it because when I need to clear my head it’s leads on and off we go.  We’re a close family and I see them quite often.  I think put all this together and it makes me a grounded business women.

What has been your biggest challenge so far? How have you dealt with it?

Harnessing my entrepreneurial spirit so it’s useful!  I do have lots of ideas and almost most are flawed in some way, I do seem to manage to pull out the ones that are viable, but that’s my challenge, scrapping ideas and running with others – knowing which ones to choose!  It’s quite a juggling act, sometimes I drop a ball but most times I keep them all in the air.

How do you fit in work with the family?

I do have to keep quite strict hours of work during the day, but after 3pm most days, I’m around for my family, dogs and husband!

What advice would you give to someone else wanting to work in this area?

Go for it!  There’s nothing better than working for yourself  and if anyone is interested in training as Life Coach, I run the UK Coaching Partnership with Meg Reid – you can see what we do at http://www.ukcoachingpartnership.typepad.com

If you have a flexible working business opportunity, please explain briefly what you offer and how people find out more.

I’m working on something at the moment but it’s a bit early to announce yet – hold this space!

Your website link.

www.pinkskills.co.uk

Special promotion for Family Friendly Working readers: First  coaching session reduced from £150 to £75 – just mention family friendly working reader

More from Family Friendly Working
Socialising with those in emotionally demanding jobs will make yours more emotionally demanding too
Socialising with people in work who have emotionally demanding jobs is highly...
Read More