Business owners and entrepreneurs in Belfast will be encouraged to examine the self-doubt, limiting beliefs and fear of failure that can stop them taking action in their businesses at the latest Jennymount Business Park networking event later this week.
As part of its monthly networking series, the North Belfast business park is hosting Getting Into The Entrepreneurial Mindset on Thursday October 22.
Taking place from 10am to 12pm in the Lanyon Building, the event will bring together host Tina Calder of Entrepreneurs Unleashed, transformational coach Deborah King and hypnotist Turan Mirza for a practical discussion about mindset, resilience and moving forward in business.
The session will explore how imposter syndrome, limiting beliefs, self-doubt and fear of failure can influence the way entrepreneurs make decisions and respond to challenges, as well as practical strategies that can help them recognise unhelpful patterns and take positive action.
Tina will also give attendees a raw and unfiltered look behind the scenes of her own current entrepreneurial journey, including the business achievements and failures, difficult periods and moments when she considered giving up.
Nicole Doherty, property manager at Stanvale, the company that owns the Jennymount complex, said: “There’s a lot of focus on the practical skills people need to start and grow a business, but being an entrepreneur also means dealing with uncertainty, setbacks and making difficult decisions when you don’t always know what the outcome will be.
“At Jennymount we believe supporting businesses also means creating opportunities for the people behind them to connect, learn and talk honestly about some of the challenges they face.
“Our monthly networking events are about giving people practical information and access to different perspectives in a relaxed environment. This session is an opportunity to think about the mindset you bring to your business, recognise some of the things that might be holding you back and hear practical ideas for moving forward.”
Transformational coach Deborah King will explore how the beliefs people develop throughout their lives and unhealed emotional experiences from their past can influence their current lives and what they believe they are capable of achieving….
Originally from County Armagh, Deborah spent years trying to work out what she “wanted to be when she grew up”, moving through roles ranging from cleaner and call centre adviser to communications, retail, the public sector and managing a group of international interns in Orlando, Florida.
A chance visit to a holistic health and wellbeing fair eventually led Deborah in a completely different direction.
Conversations with two therapists prompted her to consider whether she had been living with depression, something she initially dismissed but later came to believe had affected her for more than 15 years.
She went on to train across a range of disciplines and now works as a transformational coach, helping people examine limiting beliefs, subconscious fears and patterns that may be affecting the decisions they make.
Deborah often uses the familiar story of the bumblebee to illustrate her approach to personal empowerment.
According to the popular story, the relationship between a bumblebee’s body and wings meant it shouldn’t theoretically have been able to fly. While that interpretation of the science has long been regarded as a myth, Deborah believes the story itself remains a useful metaphor.
The bee isn’t aware of what other people have decided should be impossible. It simply flies.
For Deborah, it’s a reminder that people don’t have to have everything figured out before they begin, nor do they have to accept their own or other people’s limiting beliefs about what they can achieve.
Deborah said: “For a long time I genuinely thought life was just the way it was. I felt not good enough and there were things I wanted to change, but I didn’t know HOW to change them. For a long time I didn’t even realise change was possible.
“We all have subconscious beliefs running in the background. They can come from our upbringing, things we have been taught, experiences we’ve had or even other people’s limiting beliefs that we have taken on as our own.
“You don’t have to have absolutely everything figured out before you move forward. Part of becoming empowered is becoming aware of what’s holding you back, challenging whether those beliefs are actually true and remembering that you have far more resources within yourself than you might realise.
“I want people to leave thinking about what they have accepted as being impossible in their own lives or businesses and asking themselves whether that belief is actually serving them.”
While Deborah will explore the beliefs people carry with them, hypnotist Turan Mirza will look more closely at the subconscious patterns behind behaviours such as self-doubt, overthinking, procrastination and fear of failure.
Turan is a hypnotist and clinical hypnotherapist who uses hypnosis to help people understand and change patterns of thinking and behaviour.
Having trained with practitioners around the world, he has presented at international hypnosis conventions including Hypnothoughts Live in Las Vegas, The Hypnosis Convention in Zurich and the UK Hypnosis Convention in London.
He was also selected by Small Business Saturday as one of its #SmallBiz100 in 2021 and spent more than two years writing a weekly newspaper column.
Turan’s route into hypnosis began on the streets, where he initially practised street hypnosis before moving on to stage shows and eventually being asked whether the techniques he was using could help people make changes in their lives.
He now also provides training to people new to hypnosis as well as experienced hypnotherapists, with a stated aim of educating people about the uses and effectiveness of hypnosis.
For the Jennymount session, Turan will focus specifically on the role mindset can play in business and how subconscious fears can influence confidence, consistency and people’s willingness to take action.
Turan said: “Mindset is a crucial part of any business. People can look incredibly confident on the outside while privately battling self-doubt, imposter syndrome, overthinking or fear of failure.
“The interesting thing is how those fears then show up in our behaviour. Fear of failure can become procrastination, avoidance or perfectionism. You can tell yourself you are waiting until something is ready when really there is something going on underneath that is stopping you taking action.
“A lot of what I do is about helping people understand those subconscious patterns and showing them they aren’t necessarily fixed.
“Hypnosis is one of the tools we can use to interrupt those patterns and help people move away from fear and towards greater confidence and clarity. I want people to understand a little more about how their mind works and start recognising what might actually be happening when they feel stuck.”
Host Tina Calder will bring another perspective to the discussion by talking openly about mindset from inside an entrepreneurial journey that’s still unfolding.
A Jennymount Business Park tenant and founder of Entrepreneurs Unleashed, Tina will discuss some of the highs and lows of running businesses and the difference between the polished version of entrepreneurship often presented publicly and the reality behind it.
Rather than focusing solely on successes, she’ll talk about failures, difficult decisions and the occasions when she nearly gave up, as well as why she believes resilience, perseverance and determination have been central to surviving difficult periods in business.
Tina said: “There have been plenty of times throughout my entrepreneurial journey when I’ve thought ‘I can’t do this anymore’ or questioned whether I should keep going.
“I think we do entrepreneurs a disservice when we only talk about the wins, because that creates this completely unrealistic picture where everybody else seems to be confidently smashing their goals while you’re sitting behind the scenes wondering what the hell you’re doing.
“I want to talk about some of the things that went wrong as well as the things that went right, the decisions I got wrong, the moments where I nearly gave up and what made me keep going anyway.
“Resilience, perseverance and determination can sound like motivational buzzwords until you are in a situation where you genuinely need them to survive. For me this isn’t about telling people to just think positively. It’s about how we acknowledge what’s happening, learn from it and find a way to take the next piece of real action.”
The event will also give attendees an opportunity to consider some of the ways imposter syndrome and uncertainty can affect entrepreneurs.
Tina said the discussion isn’t intended to suggest there is one ideal entrepreneurial mindset or that people should ignore genuine challenges by simply thinking more positively.
Instead, the session will look at how greater awareness of thoughts, behaviours and recurring patterns can help business owners consider what is within their control and identify practical actions they can take.
As with other events in the Jennymount monthly networking series, there will also be time for attendees to meet other entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals from across North Belfast and beyond.
The programme is designed to provide a relaxed alternative for people who may find traditional networking events uncomfortable or overly focused on pitching.
Attendees will have the opportunity to briefly introduce themselves and explain who they are, what they do, what they offer and what they are looking for.
Those who are new to networking will be given a simple formula to help them introduce themselves, while anyone who would prefer not to speak will be welcome to pass without judgement.
Nicole said the aim is to create an environment where attendees can learn from both the speakers and the other people in the room.
The session will include time for conversation and networking, with tea and coffee provided and free on-site parking available.
Jennymount Business Park also offers flexible offices, serviced workspaces, hotdesking facilities, meeting rooms and training spaces for businesses and professionals at different stages of their journey.
Getting Into The Entrepreneurial Mindset takes place at Jennymount Business Park’s Lanyon Building, North Derby Street, Belfast BT15 3HL, on Thursday October 22 from 10am to 12pm.
The event is free to attend.
To find out more or register go to eventbrite.co.uk