Our business advisers regularly help customers start and develop their businesses. Recently, Wendy Foster, one of our business advisers, helped Jody McNaboe with her business as a vision coach and tutor, to take it to the next level. We caught up with Jody to learn more about her, her journey and what her future plans are.
Thank you for taking the time to talk to us! Could you start by telling us a bit about your business and the work that you do?
I am a growth mindset coach and tutor. Growth mindset is understanding that the mind is not fixed and that learning and beliefs can grow and improve with effort and using setbacks as opportunities. I help children (and some adults) to develop positive behaviours which can help them with their approach to learning and/or powerful emotions.
As a CBT practitioner, I use the principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to help people to understand that the language we use can affect our outcomes. I use this to help clients develop tools such as perseverance, more readily accepting challenges, and developing resilience alongside their learning.
“When I am stuck on something, I think ‘I can’t do this yet!’. YET is the magic word that needs to be put on the end of every negative sentence.” – Vision Coach and Tutor student
What does a typical week look like for you?
As I mostly work with children, I run sessions after school. These can be one to one sessions or small groups. I also go in to schools to support some children. Every session will have a growth mindset activity and at the end of sessions children are encouraged to reflect on how they have used a growth mindset in the session to help them to develop their learning and grow their brains. Then they get to pick a smelly jelly bean sticker with a growth mindset statement such as ‘Effort makes my brain grow’ or ‘I challenged myself’.
What inspired you to start your business?
As a primary school teacher, I could see that some children were not accessing learning, easily giving up, saying unhelpful things about themselves or struggling to regulate themselves in order to learn. A school counsellor introduced me to CBT and with my growth mindset training, I could see the positive impact it had on children’s wellbeing and progress.
At the beginning of the pandemic, I decided to leave teaching to retrain in CBT, NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming) and Life Coaching. Wendy gave me lots of tools to help me understand research, building a business plan etc, and she was always just a call or an email away.
“It’s hard to learn stuff if you’re not happy. It has helped me not be afraid to be myself and has helped me enjoy going to school.” – Vision Coach and Tutor student
What is the main challenge you have faced so far while running Vision Coach and Tutor?
There can be challenges at times. Most of my work happens after the school day has ended or on a Saturday, so there is a relatively small window of opportunity for sessions. Getting schools on board with funding stretched can also limit the time I have in schools.
I absolutely love the work I do, however, the administration of being self-employed is my least favourite activity – for example HMRC and also developing policies. I have done at least two of my tax returns so I am getting better and I have decided this year to engage the services of an accountant. Wendy has also helped me fine-tune my Terms and Conditions, so that I can, for example, protect my time and value by avoiding last minute cancellations.
Being self-employed with no work colleagues can be isolating at times, so I am grateful that my husband Bill has been a great sounding board for me. I have also joined a running club to meet new people and get fit. I have purposely made some connections with other educators/coaches in my local area so that we can share knowledge and I can also make introductions for people I can’t facilitate. I know that I can ask for help through this support system and there isn’t a problem I can’t sort.
I appreciate that by word of mouth I have become so busy, I am just unable to help everyone, although I run a cancellations list which can help facilitate this somewhat!
I would like to set up an automated booking system which can help me become more efficient to offer out sessions to non-regular clients during term time and the holidays. Wendy has given me some ideas about how to manage it, so I can spend less time sorting the logistics of this which can be demanding.
“I was really scared about doing my SATs but using my growth mindset has made me much more calm and confident. I have learned to stay positive and keep trying.“ – Vision Coach and Tutor student
On a more positive note, tell us a bit about your biggest wins and what keeps you going?
I have so many positive stories. I am proud that I have managed to create a business during the pandemic and that it has grown. I have seen the mindset change of so many children which has positively impacted their learning journey. This has led to successful outcomes in how they think and feel about their learning and themselves; results such as SATs, or admissions in to a selective school.
I have helped children who experience powerful emotions to learn to identify and manage their behaviour in a positive way which will help them as they mature and grow. I love hearing the comments from parents about how much fun children have, how they develop their self-awareness and the change that they have brought about for themselves.
I was asked to give a talk at our local library on International Women’s Day about what I do. I asked all the young ladies I worked with to add their voice and how they use a growth mindset. Hearing their empowering responses made me feel very emotional. Wendy offered to listen to my presentation before I did it so I was really grateful to her for this and she gave me some really constructive feedback to make it even better. I have also made some new friends with some of the parents which is great.
“Jody is fantastic. My son has been working with her for a while now and… he got his best school report ever this year. Jody teaches more than academics and also explores attitudes to learning through growth mindset. She is very positive and my 9 year old learns more about himself at every visit.“ – parent of a Vision Coach and Tutor student
We’re glad SBREC and Wendy have been able to support you on your journey! What does the future hold for Vision Coach and Tutor?
I have lots of ideas. As I mentioned above, I have made connections with some local educators/coaches. We are very lucky to live in a great community and I am in the very early stages of creating an EduHub so that we can share resources and bring together like-minded educators who can see the benefit of using growth mindset in their own work with others.
I am also keenly developing my own understanding of neurodiversity and how I can help children with conditions such as ADHD, autism, dyslexia, etc. reach their potential and challenge societal perceptions around these learning differences.
It’s been great to hear from you, it’s so inspiring to see your success and how you’ve brought your vision to life (pun intended)! As a final question, what advice do you have for anyone thinking about starting their own business?
Just do it! Speak to Wendy or one of her team as a starting point. It’s all a learning curve. Learn from mistakes! Celebrate success! Ask for help! Take small manageable steps! Challenge the voice in your head that might say things like ‘I can’t do it!’ And finally be kind to yourself and notice when you need time out and make sure it happens – I’m getting better at this but it has taken some time.
I recently heard a quote which really impacted me and have since shared it with many others – ‘Just be a tiny bit more brave than scared, and you’ll be ok!’ I love that!
“At first I fake it ’til I feel it… If I say ‘I can do this,’ I start to feel like I can and then gradually I achieve…“ – Vision Coach and Tutor student
See more from Vision Coach and Tutor
Connect with Jody on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jody-mcnaboe-b7620825/
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