Meet Innovative Woman Sylvia Henderson founder of Idea Success Network and CEO of Springboard Training LLC. Her passion is getting people to recognize their own brilliance and take action on their ideas.
1. How/why did you begin your business?
Life was good in the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. I was well-paid in a technology career for 23 years. One morning in 2000 I sat at my desk at my Fortune 20 company and could not sign-in to the system. Several of my peers encountered the same. Soon that morning we had an all-hands meeting. Some people went into one room; others into another. There were a lot of strangers lined along one side of the room I entered. I wondered who they were. Our second-line manager took the floor and told us that we would no longer have our jobs when we left at 5:00pm that day, and that there were people in the room who would help us through our “transition”. We had the day to pack our things and say goodbye. Shock. Fear. Disbelief. Questions. Panic. “This isn’t happening to ME is it?”
A couple weeks later, during a mid-week afternoon, I was riding my motorcycle on the back roads of Southern Maryland when I realized I would otherwise have been at work at that time. Woo hoo! My friends soon asked me if I believed in the motivational messages I’d espoused over the years. You see, it’s easy to offer that a setback is a setup for a come-back (as Willie Jolley says in his programs) when times are good. Do we really believe that when things go wrong? So I had to decide whether I truly believed, and within a month after I was “transitioned” I started Springboard Training…a professional development consulting business that included contract corporate training, speaking, and mentoring as services. I wrote my book Hey, That’s MY Idea! a few years after that.
2. What has been your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
Identifying my biggest challenge is a challenge! I’ve faced, and overcome, a plethora of challenges since being full-time in my own business. After giving this question much though, I have to say that my biggest challenge is me…myself. My biggest challenge is getting out of my own way. I know that it’s a cliché to be in one’s own way, but it’s the truth. We sabotage ourselves in ways we don’t even realize or want to admit.
I’ve invested a LOT of money over the years on seminars, workshops, conferences, coaches, advisors, and the like to figure out why things weren’t working the way I expected them to work. With all the guidance and advice I received, I found myself implementing only what felt good – or what was seemingly easy – to implement. The tough stuff often got dropped or excused-out. And I KNOW better because I move other people through their stuff! I think many readers who are coaches and consultants will recognize that the very things they help others with they sometimes don’t follow. I certainly realized that. And still do, at times. But I’ve overcome a lot of getting in my own way by getting into the “right” mindset. I stopped comparing myself to others; stopped beating myself up for where I am (because where I am is way ahead of where I’ve been); invite tough-love accountability; and limit how much I work alone. I avoid trying to be perfect, yet remain professional; discipline myself to do what I have my clients do and use some of the tools I developed for my clients; and overall…have fun. I’m past that “midway point” in a century of life and my overall perspective has evolved over the years.
3. How do you define SUCCESS?
- Living a lifestyle that suits me.
- Giving to others as befits me.
- Having fun.
- Sharing and spending quality time with my life partner.
- Loving and enjoying my true friends.
- Being financially comfortable into my 90’s (long family history).
- Travelling the USA (all 50 states) by motorcycle and motorhome.
- Staying healthy.
- Pursuing hobbies.
- Leaving a legacy.
4. If there was one thing you wish you knew before you began your business, what would that be?
How simple a business plan can be and how key it is to have one.
I dislike paperwork! I was daunted early on in my business by seminars on starting businesses. They invariably recommended that we have a business plan, and then went into the complexities of such a plan. I was overwhelmed every time, even though I have an MBA. In business school – at least in the 1970’s – we had no training on entrepreneurship or starting our own businesses. The seminars I attended typically talked about business plans for getting financing, which are complex plans. I steadfastly avoided them, thereby running my business by the bright shiny objects method of letting the next cool thing dictate what I did. It took YEARS to figure out my focus, niche, audience, and more because I did not plan in the early years. This is coming from someone who is a systems and process person! However, I am also a creative person who would rather be doing what I love to do, and do that well, than working on the infrastructure of my business.
Only after a lot of soul-searching and kicking myself for the many mistakes I’ve made – plus learning that I didn’t need a complex business plan to help me focus the direction of my business – did I seriously create a plan and discipline myself to follow it. To help others who are like me, I’ve created a program called “Create Your One-Page Plan” to teach what I do and share the tools that I developed that I use, myself.
5. What makes you an innovative woman?
Ironically with the name of this publication, innovation is my world. Ideas are my business! However, it’s not only getting ideas; it’s getting people to implement them. Innovation = action, not just coming up with ideas. I believe – based on knowing my own strengths as well as clients telling me over the years – that I’m an innovative woman because I am gifted with a balance of both a creative mind and a systems & processes mind. My creative mind delves in ideas; vision; goals; plans; intentions; what-ifs. My systems & processes mind thrives on milestones; strategies; action; results. I’ve asked myself “What can I do—in my world of consulting, mentoring, training, speaking, and writing—that no one else is doing?” Bringing people’s ideas, which are really thoughts and intentions and plans, into the world – and even giving ideas to others that can add to their lives – and working with individuals and groups to bring their ideas to reality (for income and impact) – is what makes me an innovative woman.
To learn more about Sylvia vist www.IdeaSuccessNetwork.com or connect with her on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter .