Victoria Brown
Victoria Brown is a Story Coach. She empowers and inspires business leaders to share their personal stories in the workplace to help create a deeper connection with colleagues, peers and network.
She believes EVERYONE has an interesting story to share, they just need to find it.
- Tell us a little bit about your business… / or the organisation you work for.
I’m a Story Coach, which means I work with leaders and business owners to find and share their story effectively, so they can create a deeper connection with their team, industry peers and network. I do this through 1-1 Coaching sessions and Consultancy.
- How did you get into the industry?
I was a journalist at the BBC, a corporate comms expert and a stage entertainer in France. Sometime later, when I was working as a self-employed copywriter, I realised there was one thing that tied all these things (and more) together: I am obsessed with story and believe stories are the essential ingredients creating connection between us as human beings.
So, after studying to be a coach I decided to rebrand myself as a Story Coach.
- What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in your industry?
I’m not really sure what my ‘industry’ is. Am I copywriter? Am I a coach? But I’d say the biggest opportunity as someone who has their own business is for you to shape what you do. When you’re used to asking for sign off every time you sneeze, it’s extremely refreshing to get to make all the decisions yourself and decide on your direction. The flipside when you work for yourself is that you are solely responsible for keeping that engine going. Which is why I find it helps to create a supportive network and habits and processes to keep yourself going.
- How would you describe your leadership style? (if not in a leadership role talk about your working style)
I don’t currently have a team, but I like to incorporate all the things that are important to me into my working day. It would be pointless setting up my own business and not doing things the way I want to.
Learning, flexibility, autonomy and creativity are core values for me, especially as I have two young boys and I need to be around for them. So, I make sure I incorporate these things into my week by blocking out time for them, and leaving plenty of space, too! As a business owner you have to be intentional about what you want from your business, as it won’t happen by accident.
- How do you get the most out of the people who work for you? (or work with you)
It’s about tailoring your approach. For me it’s important to get to know clients and their personal needs and goals. Everyone has different learning styles, confidence levels and skills. An important part of taking on a new client is meeting with them and getting to know how they tick.
Part of that is getting them to identify their own values and personality types. And a big part of getting the best out of them is knowing how to communicate effectively with them and not being afraid to hold them to account when you need to. I’ve helped a lot of people get over blocks by holding them to account, even if it’s uncomfortable for me or them. If they want to achieve a goal and something’s holding them back, they often have to sit in discomfort to get through it. It’s my job to not them shy away from this…and they can come out of the other side so much stronger when they do.
- What are the most crucial elements to your business running smoothly and being successful?
Not trying to do or share too much! As a perfectionist (and chronic helper), I want to give ALL my knowledge out to people. But this is impossible, and also confusing as hell for my audience. I often have to rein myself in to focus on a specific topic, as I know it is far more actionable for my clients.
- How has the past 12 months been for you?
A revelation. Within the last 12 months I’ve pivoted my work into Story Coaching, qualified as an ILM level 7 coach, completed the Natwest Accelerator, grown my network massively, took on some amazing clients and started writing a book.
But it’s not all easy. There are always challenges.
Putting myself into new rooms and meeting new people has been a game changer for my business. As an introvert, it’s not something I find easy. But because I’m clear on my purpose (empowering leaders to share their stories) I can dig into that and push on through the bits I find tough. I know from experience that the magic is always in the discomfort zone, so I push myself to get stuck in!
- What will the next 12 months look like for you or your business?
I’m working on my new book – which will empower leaders to share their own personal stories in the workplace. And I want to relaunch podcast around my new niche. I also want to become more visible and am looking for speaking opportunities. So, if anyone wants to run a workshop or speaking session about the power of storytelling, tap me up!
- What are the highlights of your career so far?
I could say the time I produced radio shows at the BBC, was the breakfast show newsreader, lead the comms on big change projects for a FTSE 100 company or played Roxie Hart on stage on a French campsite.
But I think the thing I’m most of proud of is keeping going. Starting a business is hard. Keeping it going is harder when the novelty wears off. Getting your head down, finding a way to make it work and not giving up when the going gets tough. That’s hard. And kudos to anyone that manages it.
- What’s the biggest professional / business mistake that you’ve learnt from?
Underestimating the power of the local network. When I first started my business, it was around the time of the pandemic. Lots of my clients weren’t local and they didn’t need to be. I had Zoom for goodness’ sake! I didn’t start to build that local network until last year, and it was a gamechanger.
I hadn’t appreciated that people simply like to do business with local people. Selling services and connecting with local businesses is so much easier than trying to connect with people further afield, as you already have something in common.
Always start local first.
- What’s the best piece of professional / business advice you’ve been given or would like to give?
Clarity comes from taking action. It’s very easy to freeze up when you can’t see a clear path…and you just end up getting more and more stuck. The only way to get unstuck is to do something, anything! That goes for anything in business – whether it’s strategy, writing a content post or creating a podcast. As Anna says in Frozen “Just do the next right thing,” and with each step you’ll get more clarity. Until you too end up saving your village from a magical curse (or something like that).
