Already put 60 people through her Writing Materials course.

Name: Kath Bilsborough

Business: Together with her business partner, John Hughes, Kath has started a business training educators how to write effective materials for their students or for publication. 

Website: www.writingELTmaterials.com

Problem: Kath knew she wanted to create a business of her own that could utilise the skills and experience she had to generate her own income, but she didn’t really know where to start, or the steps she needed to take to get there. 

Result: She and John have now had more than 60 people go through their materials writing course, and have lots of ideas and plans for creating new offers, including elements of passive income to free up her time as she gradually approaches retirement. 

We’ve run a few courses already. We’ve had about 60 people on our courses. My presence on social media, especially LinkedIn, which is where I mostly am, has changed greatly from virtually non existent to having more than 15, 000 followers.

So I learned all of that and had the confidence, if you like, instilled in me from doing Rachael’s course.

Before joining Designed to Flourish

I knew that I wanted to set up a company, and I had certain goals in mind, but I just didn’t know how to get from A to B, if you like. And when Rachel’s group program came along, I thought that is perfect for me. I felt I needed help with some very specific things. So for example, the nuts and bolts of running a business. I didn’t really know anything about it.  And then I didn’t know how to market myself. I thought I’d never be able to do that. I didn’t know how to have a social media presence, and lots of other little things. And they were all in the programme.

So I thought. Wow. Perfect

Did you have any hesitations about joining the programme? 

My one hesitation was that I thought it was expensive. I thought that’s a lot of money to spend on myself. Now, it’s funny because if one of my kids had come along and asked me to pay that amount of money for them to do, a professional development course, if you like, I probably wouldn’t have hesitated.

But because it was me, and I’m always kind of last on my list, I was more hesitant. And then I started thinking, What will this money give me? And I kind of thought, am I worth it? And eventually I thought, yeah, I am worth it. And if it all goes well, I’ll recoup that money, which is exactly what happened.

But that was my one moment of hesitation. And it didn’t last that long because I spoke to Rachael. And when I had a clear idea of what it could do for me this course, I thought, yeah. It’s an investment. It’s not just buying something. It’s an investment in me. So well worth it. 

What changes have you made as a result of doing the programme?

Since doing the course, lots of things have happened. John and I have set up our business. We’re actually a registered business now. I’ve become much more confident about what we’re doing, and I suppose all of it goes back to, to doing the course.

We’ve run a few courses already. We’ve had about 60 people on our courses. My presence on social media, especially LinkedIn, which is where I mostly am, has changed greatly from virtually non existent to having more than 15, 000 followers.

So I learned all of that and had the confidence, if you like, instilled in me from doing Rachael’s course.

And the big one is having our courses up and running and planning new things for the future as well. Having a blog, a YouTube channel. Everything’s changed.

 

What would you say to anyone considering doing Designed to Flourish?

If anybody is watching this video and thinking, I’d like to do that course, but I’m not really sure, I’m sitting on the fence, I don’t know what to do. Firstly, I would say talk to Rachael. That’s what I did.

When I was hesitant, I had a meeting with Rachael and I asked her some questions and we were very open about things and very honest. And I came away from that call thinking, I’m doing the course. I’m doing it because she convinced me and she answered all my questions.

And maybe ask other people who’ve done the course. I’ll be very happy to answer any questions. So don’t be afraid to reach out. 

What are you looking forward to in your business? 

So we’re developing new kinds of courses, intensive courses, thinking about how we can help people in other ways. And we don’t really know what the future holds, but we’re both very excited about where it’s going.

And it all leads back to Rachael Roberts and her group program.

Want to design a business model, offer and marketing strategy that could completely change everything for you? Find out more about Designed to Flourish here.