Like so many women, Steph found myself in a career predicament when she became a mum. After more than 15 years as a corporate Executive Assistant, she still had the drive and ambition to deliver good work and help businesses thrive. But her need to spend more time at home being present with her daughter made it seem like she had to choose – career or family?
Steph knew she couldn’t be the only one trying to find a balance between continuing to build a successful career and giving herself the time, grace and permission to be the present parent She’d dreamt of becoming.
Thank you for joining us here at The Corporate Escapists. Please introduce yourself to our reader. They love to know about you, your passion, and how you came to find and follow your passion.
Hi my name is Steph Gobraiel, I’m an Online Business Manager and I call myself the business chaos whisperer. It was fate that led me to my passion, after I had my little girl, I needed to re-invent what I did for a living.
Bob Proctor once quoted ‘To believe in the things you can see and touch is no belief at all. But to believe in the unseen is both a triumph and a blessing”. How important is it to you to have the belief within one’s self?
This has been a large part of my journey, believing in oneself is crucial especially when running your own business because if you don’t it will reflect to other people and you can’t expect people to buy or work with you if you don’t believe in yourself first.
Tell us what the word “Entrepreneur” means to you?
Entrepreneur to me is a journey that includes first and foremost personal growth then business growth and direction. As someone once wisely put it, I built my business all on my own.
What has been one of the biggest business ideas you have had and how did you have the trust and hope within yourself to implement it?
Taking my skills and passion from the corporate world, transferring and translating it to the small business world. It takes time to have that faith I worked with a coach and it’s an ongoing process it’s not something that just stops because business is ongoing
Running your own business can be scary. Success requires moments of trust and hope to push through to the next level. Tell us one of the moments you have had to push through to take your business to the next level?
I believe success requires not only moments of trust and hope but to actually leave your comfort zone because when you do that’s when you are taking your business to next level. For me a big one was recording videos and showing up to my audience. People can’t get to know you if you don’t build that know, like trust factor.
What is your favourite quote about inspiration?
I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.
—Estée Lauder
Sometimes you hear people say aren’t you lucky – well no I put in the hours it’s just not seen by everyone hence working behind the scenes.
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to start their own business?
Small business isn’t for everyone, It’s not going to be easy road and it’s all about how much perseverance, commitment and passion one has. It’s all about the long game in business for example building your networks, that know like trust factor and so much more takes time.
