Anna's Fruitful Founder Story
Fruitful Founder™️ Story: Anna Hewitt
From feeling lost and uncertain to having a clear blueprint, consistently attracting dream clients, and feeling confident and excited about the business again.
Name: Anna Hewitt, Career and Leadership Coach
Business: Steps into Strides
Website:https://www.stepsintostrides.com/
Where I was: I felt lost, stuck in a cycle of procrastination and comparisonitis and struggling with inconsistent sales, all while longing for a clear and authentic way to build my business.
Where I am: I love my business again! I now have a clear blueprint for sales and marketing and a ‘me-shaped’ formula for attracting dream clients that actually works! I’ve signed 7 clients with steady enquiries coming in every month.
“You've got the perfect combination of a shit-ton of experience, knowledge, technical know-how and the skill of being able to hold the theory but see how to apply it uniquely to each person's business.
Now I’ve got a blueprint. I’ve got a strategy. I’ve got a heartbeat. It works. I have a me-shaped formula and I am attracting my dream clients. I am saying NO more to shitty associate gigs and badly paid work! I love my business now!”
Before joining Fruitful Founder™️…
I felt a bit lost. My work-life balance was ok but I was procrastinating a lot and I didn't really believe in my business or what it was. My comparisonitis was in overdrive and it felt like I was making it up as I went along. Some things were sticking and some things weren’t, which meant sales were inconsistent and patchy.
I had lots of discovery calls but they weren’t always my dream client. It was starting to impact my confidence and make me panic about the sustainability of my business. I was also working 50% of my time for another business as a freelancer in a completely unrelated field and it was making me miserable.
What I really wanted to do was create a sense of a heartbeat in the business and a blueprint for generating leads and sales, while also doing things that felt authentic to me as a big value of mine is authenticity.
My hesitations were…
Would this work? Would I get clients quickly enough? I’ve done stuff like this before and they’ve not made a difference at all so that seed of doubt enters your head. As a coach, you feel that you’re shoulder to shoulder in a very crowded market and I thought ‘Is Sarah going to be able to help me find my lane? What if there isn’t a lane for me? And what if I create my lane and nobody bloody wants it!?
What made me say YES…
I knew I wanted to go all-in on my coaching business, dial down the associate work and focus on my business. When I took that safety net away, it was clear there were things I had to work on to get the business where I needed it to be. I had a niggling feeling that I wasn't optimising on my greatest asset - me! This felt like a last-chance saloon.
My biggest takeaway from the programme…
The science behind the ideal client (Goldilocks!) and how you describe it as clients being at the right time to buy from you. Before starting my business, I had worked for 20 years in a marketing agency so I understood lead qualification but I couldn’t apply it to my business. I was doing an ok job at generating leads - a bit patchy and inconsistent but I had clients. Some were absolutely right but some weren’t. It meant my confidence was up and down. This work however has really shaped how I talk to people now. Energetically, it’s made a BIG difference in how I show up on discovery calls and how I sell in a way that doesn’t feel unethical and unpredictable.
The BEST thing about working together…
Feeling completely held. For me, you've got the perfect combination of a shit-ton of experience, knowledge, technical know-how and the skill of being able to hold the theory but see how to apply it uniquely to each person's business. You're not overly attached to it being done in a certain way but instead are focused on how you can help us find the way that works for us, always holding the belief that it will be the route to better results.
After working with Sarah…
I love my business and I feel ambitious about it and my potential! The fear of uncertainty is there but I recognise that is part of running your own business. A lot of the internal noise, doubt and resistance has dissipated and I no longer feel paralysed by it all. Now I’ve got a blueprint. I’ve got a heartbeat. I know what to do in terms of sales and marketing activities. I have a me-shaped formula for talking about what I do and who I work with and I’m attracting my dream clients. I’ve signed 7 clients since and am getting 1-2 enquiries every month now. I feel positive about the future and I am saying no more to shitty associate gigs and badly paid work!
What I’m looking forward to next…
Growing the business, developing more services to help my clients and exploring how I can collaborate with others.
I’d recommend Fruitful Founder™️ to…
Coaches who have been in business for 3 years or less and are feeling frustrated with lead generation. I would say it’s important that you have some client experience and something to sell.
The most important thing you should know about working with Sarah is…
Sarah knows her shit, she’s genuine, brilliant at strategy and well-experienced. There are no BS claims of 6 figures or it being super quick and easy. She makes complicated concepts so easy to understand and apply and it gets results in a way that actually feels easy and good.
Fruitful Founder isn’t a sticking plaster or a quick fix. It’s a long-term investment in your business as well as in time, energy and resources but it WORKS.
