A Facilitator's Journey: Real Life Stories – Details, episodes & analysis

This episode is a story about discovering your passion for learning, working out how you can leave the organisation you work for, become a freelancer and work as an associate delivering workshops for others and then testing the idea of finding your own clients.

Karen Sargent is an occupational psychologist who is passionate about helping leaders and employees create results and not burn out.

Join Kirsty and Karen as they talk about what it is really like being a freelance trainer, the benefits of associate life vs managing direct client relationships, how easy it is to think life is greener on the other side of the fence. They explore topics such as consistency, defining success, financial planning, building a network, overcoming limiting beliefs, and investing in personal development. Karen generously shares her experiences and insights, offering valuable advice for those considering a career as a freelancer.

1. Inspiration and Journey into Learning and Development
2. Transition from Corporate Life to Freelancing
3. Exploring Different Approaches to selling and Lessons Learned
4. Navigating Challenges During COVID
5. Lessons from Outsourcing Sales Leads
6. Importance of Consistency and Authenticity
7. The Pitfalls of Creating without Action
8. Financial Planning for Freelancers
9. The benefits of Building a Network

My invitation to you is to grab a cuppa, join me on the pink seat, and tune in your ears.

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A Facilitator's Journey is a podcast that looks at how you run your business as a facilitator or trainer.

You started this work because you have a passion that you want to share with organisations. However, there is the small detail that you are now running a business and this requires a whole other set of skills and knowledge.

Join me, Kirsty Lewis, Founder of School of Facilitation, as I interview trainers and facilitators about how they manage their businesses. I will explore how people run their finances, price their work, scale up, scale down, decide to retire, market themselves, manage clients, and much much more.

Key Links:

Connect with Karen on Linkedin HERE

Visit the Work Joyful website HERE

Visit the School of Facilitation website HERE

Connect with me on Instagram HERE

Connect with me on Linkedin HERE

contact@schooloffacilitation.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is about what it is like to be a facilitator who travels the world, who works and has lived in multiple countries, experienced the nonprofit and education sectors through to corporate organizations.

Romy Alexandra is a learning experience designer and facilitator. She has been in the world of facilitation for over 19 years and has visited over 80 countries.

Kirsty and Romy explore what it is like to work and live in different countries, the trials and tribulations of travel and local authority paperwork to set up a business, and the need to pivot during lockdown having moved to a new country.

Romy generously shares insights into her life as a facilitator, how she balances the work with self-care, and the importance of staying true to your values.

1. How it all began
2. Working Internationally and Traveling - It's not all glamour
3. Our go-to Self-Care Activities
4. Navigating the Challenges of Starting a Business in a New Country
5. Continuous Learning and Personal Growth
6. Building a Successful Business Based on Values and Impact

My invitation to you is to grab a cuppa, join me on the pink seat, and tune in your ears.

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A Facilitator's Journey is the podcast that looks at how you run your business as a facilitator or trainer.

You started this work because you have a passion that you want to share with organisations. However, there is the small detail that you are now running a business and this requires a whole other set of skills and knowledge.

Join me, Kirsty Lewis, Founder of School of Facilitation, as I interview trainers and facilitators about how they manage their businesses. I will explore how people run their finances, price their work, scale up, scale down, decide to retire, market themselves, manage clients, and much much more.

Key Links:

Connect with Romy on Linkedin HERE

Visit Romy's website HERE

Visit the School of Facilitation website HERE

Connect with me on Instagram HERE

Connect with me on Linkedin HERE

contact@schooloffacilitation.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's episode, Kirsty and Claire Vintiner discuss various aspects of freelancing, including valuing oneself and one's work, reframing budgets, setting boundaries, and having great client conversations.

Claire Vintiner is a coach, a facilitator, and someone who isn't afraid to bring leaders and organisations together to play a transformative role in addressing people, planetary and systems challenges. Claire has experienced being an associate as well as working with her own clients.

As the conversation unfolds, Kirsty and Claire emphasize the importance of evolving and continuously working on one's relationship with money. They also highlight the significance of trust, both in oneself and in the process, and the power of saying no when necessary. They discuss the process of client conversations and how to effectively engage with clients through open questions, deep listening, summaries, and probing questions to understand the clients' needs and objectives.

Here are some of this episodes themes

1. How We Value Ourselves and Our Work
2. Understanding the Worth of Your Work
3. Building Comfort with the Reframing of Budgets
4. Setting Boundaries and Saying Yes or No
5. Having Great Client Conversations
6. The Client Conversation Process
7. Asking Questions
8. Summarizing and Paraphrasing
9. Probing on Answers
10. Building Rapport and Small Talk
11. Asking the Next Logical Step
12. Budget Discussions
13. Proposal vs Concept Note
14. Winning Work on Quality

About the School of Facilitation Podcast, A Facilitator's Journey: Real Life Stories

A Facilitator's Journey is the podcast that looks at how you run your businesses as a facilitator or trainer.

You started this work because you have a passion that you want to share with organisations. However, there is the small detail that you are now running a business and this requires a whole other set of skills and knowledge.

Join me, Kirsty Lewis, Founder of School of Facilitation, as I interview trainers and facilitators about how they manage their businesses. I will explore how people run their finances, price their work, scale up, scale down, decide to retire, market themselves, manage clients, and much much more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this conversation, Ged shares with me his journey of leaving the world of retail and starting his own business. We discuss the challenges he faced in his early years and how he managed to overcome them. Ged emphasizes the importance of accountability and external motivation in driving his success. He also talks about his strategies to expand his reach and find new opportunities. Ged's story highlights the resilience and determination required to build a successful business

Ged is a Negotiation skills trainer and GSCOP specialist. He can be found commentating on the world of Retail on the BBC, writing in the Grocer or the UK papers.

We discuss a myriad of topics

Leaving the World of Retail

Year One: Starting the Business

Year Two: Getting By

Year Three: Financial Struggles

The power of external Motivation and Accountability

How Finding New Contacts and Opportunities is Essential

Building Relationships and Staying Relevant

The Power of PR and Using Media to Build Credibility

Utilizing Introductions and LinkedIn for Networking

The Power of LinkedIn for Business Growth

Resilience and Adaptability in Business

Grab a cup of tea and take a seat on the pink chair, enjoy!

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A Facilitator's Journey is the podcast that looks at how you run your businesses as a facilitator or trainer.

You started this work because you have a passion that you want to share with organisations. However, there is the small detail that you are now running a business and this requires a whole other set of skills and knowledge.

Join me, Kirsty Lewis, Founder of School of Facilitation, as I interview trainers and facilitators about how they manage their businesses. I will explore how people run their finances, price their work, scale up, scale down, decide to retire, market themselves, manage clients, and much much more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Gairdner started out in the corporate world in a variety of roles from commercial to marketing for a well known drinks brand and then diving into Banking in 2007 as that world started to collapse. He chose to leave corporate life to help a coach build their business and from there joined Heresy Consulting.

In this episode two parts of the conversation with James jumped out at me.

The first is his challenge to me as to whether I run a project shop or a business.

The second was a quote from Elliot Jacques which suggests the way we construct our businesses is a mirror of our psychology.

Both conversations have me thinking more about what it is I am doing in my business which is both supporting and hindering SOF's growth and development.

We talk about

1. The mental and emotional transition that occurs after leaving a corporate
2. Why James wanted to build a business vs evolve his craft
3. The benefits of having products in your training business
4. The difference between being a business and a project shop
5. The triangle of projects, retainers and being a trusted advisor
6. The relevance of referral fees
7. Elliot Jacques thinking that we construct our businesses as a mirror of our psychology
8. Why developing a reflective practise benefits us, our business, and our clients
9. Why facilitators and trainers should have supervision

Come on in and have a listen.

If you enjoy this conversation let us know, hit subscribe, leave a rating or review

https://www.heresyconsulting.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-gairdner-1192a76/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is about moving from working in-house to becoming a B:Corp business, how associate relationships benefit from transparency and communication and how niching is beneficial.

Phil Walsh is a man with a big heart who works with purpose-led organisations as a facilitator.

The conversation in todays podcast follows the natural curve of Phil's career. We cover a multitude of topics:

1. How to grow your facilitator or trainer skills in a corporate
2. Our love of NLP
3. Leaving the corporate world and finding those initial gigs
4. The world in 2007!
5. A Kirsty rant
6. Associate green and red flags
7. Why niche and the benefits
8. Finding direct clients and professional persistence

Grab a cup of tea, tune in your ears and take a seat on the pink chair

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A Facilitator's Journey is the podcast that looks at how you run your businesses as a facilitator or trainer.

You started this work because you have a passion that you want to share with organisations. However, there is the small detail that you are now running a business and this requires a whole other set of skills and knowledge.

Join me, Kirsty Lewis, Founder of School of Facilitation, as I interview trainers and facilitators about how they manage their businesses. I will explore how people run their finances, price their work, scale up, scale down, decide to retire, market themselves, manage clients, and much much more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kate Jones was a consultant with PA Consulting until she realised she needed to make a change and get out. For the last 11 years she has run Neon a boutique consultancy which aims to help leaders create more deeply human organisations.

In this episode, Kate and I discuss why she chose to leave the corporate world and how she thought she had associate work lined up, but it was retracted. What to do? Resign or Stay?

The conversation continues and we dive into these topics:

1. Leaving the corporate world
2. The serendipity of finding the first piece of work
3. Experiencing loneliness as a freelancer
4. Why community is important to elevate loneliness
5. The need for professional development
6. The benefits of having a supervisor
7. How do you find work now?
8. What happens when client work is quiet?

Come on in and have a listen.

If you enjoy this conversation let us know, hit subscribe, leave a rating or review

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About the School of Facilitation Podcast, A Facilitator's Journey: Real Life Stories

A Facilitator's Journey is the podcast that looks at how you run your businesses as a facilitator or trainer.

You started this work because you have a passion that you want to share with organisations. However, there is the small detail that you are now running a business and this requires a whole other set of skills and knowledge.

Join me, Kirsty Lewis, Founder of School of Facilitation, as I interview trainers and facilitators about how they manage their businesses. I will explore how people run their finances, price their work, scale up, scale down, decide to retire, market themselves, manage clients, and much much more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode explores what negotiation is and how we can have better negotiation conversations. I noticed that sometimes selling and negotiation do not come easily to facilitators and trainers hence my desire to talk to Mark. I want to start to share what you can do when you find yourself in these situations.

Mark Davis is known as the Cultural Navigator. He weaves negotiation and cultural intelligence together supporting businesses with their negotiation skills, cross-cultural communication, and Leadership development.

Mark and I wend our way through this conversation thinking about a fictitious negotiation with a client. We pull out a variety of skills, behaviors, and mindsets that can be adopted to enable there to be a positive outcome for both you and your client.

1. What is the difference between Selling and Negotiating
2. The language of selling
3. What to do when you meet someone from purchasing?
4. The different skills and behaviours we can use in a negotiation
5. What are the three things to prepare for your negotiation
6. Negotiation as a ritual
7. Three questions to ask in a negotiation
8. The benefit of using summaries
9. Assumptive statements and how to use them to gain clarity

Pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and enjoy the listen.

Connect with Mark on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/culturenavigator/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Richard Bellars and Darren Hilton join us in a captivating exploration of partnership dynamics as they unveil the intricacies of their collaboration through The Sourcery Project. Let’s embark on a journey exploring the essence of fruitful partnerships, learning from the experiences and insights of these seasoned professionals.

Through candid conversations, Richard and Darren illuminate key aspects of effective partnership formation, including:

• Establishing shared values and leveraging individual strengths
• Cultivating synergy to achieve collective goals
• Embracing vulnerability and anticipating challenges
• Harnessing transformative frameworks like Theory U for innovation
• Utilising profiling systems for enhanced communication
• Navigating the practicalities of financial management
• Offering sage advice for aspiring partners on their journey

With Richard's emphasis on regenerative leadership and values-based influence, complemented by Darren's passion for nature and human potential, the episode offers a rich tapestry of perspectives and practical wisdom.

So, grab your favourite beverage, settle into the pink chair, and immerse yourself in this insightful conversation on the art of successful partnerships.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode talks about the different relationships we have within our businesses - working with a sibling, our relationship with ourselves, leaving a business partnership that no longer works, and our relationship with goal setting and systems.

Meg Bolger is a facilitator, author, and creator of The Facilitator Cards.

Meg and I have a candid conversation about

1. What it's like to work with your sister and know you are responsible for someone else's monthly salary
2. The processes she uses in her business, weekly and monthly
3. Goal-setting and how goals pop up for Meg and how she grabs them
4. Her neurodivergent diagnosis and being creative
5. The different relationships we experience in our businesses. We don't always talk about these easily and yet they are a core part of our everyday world
6. How you process a business divorce in your early 30s when you weren't expecting it and more importantly what you learn

Grab a cup of tea,

Take a seat and enjoy.

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About Meg:

Meg Bolger is a facilitation geek passionate about social justice, teaching facilitation, and creating resources for a more beautiful world. Meg is the captain of Facilitator Cards, co-author of Unlocking the Magic of Facilitation, co-creator of The Safe Zone Project, and many other resources for facilitators and social justice educators. Meg lives in Vermont where she tries to get into the woods everyday and keep up with her three nephews.

​Learn more about all of Meg's work at MegBolger.com

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About the School of Facilitation Podcast:

A Facilitator's Journey is the podcast that looks at how you run your businesses as a facilitator or trainer.

You started this work because you have a passion that you want to share with organisations. However, there is the small detail that you are now running a business and this requires a whole other set of skills and knowledge.

Join me, Kirsty Lewis, Founder of School of Facilitation, as I interview trainers and facilitators about how they manage their businesses. I will explore how people run their finances, price their work, scale up, scale down, decide to retire, market themselves, manage clients, and much much more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.