Conscious Entrepreneurship: May I introduce Sharon Bolt, “The Mindset Media Expert”
Sharon Bolt is known as the mindset media expert. She helps coaches, consultants and entrepreneurs to get ongoing publicity, so they get in front of thousands or even millions of their dream clients, as the go-to authority in their niche. She also focuses on helping them change their limiting beliefs, sabotaging behaviours and negative expectations, so that they attract the best media opportunities, feel confident and reach their full potential.
Sharon has been a business owner and Entrepreneur for over 20 years. Her businesses have included Complementary Therapies, Dog Training and PR, and during the last 14 years she has contributed to more than 50 different local and national newspapers, magazines, TV and radio shows and has received over £1.5 million ($2 million) in free publicity and free advertising.
Sharon is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur.com, has written for the HuffPost and has been interviewed on some of the top podcast shows from all around the world, she is also the co-author of 2 highly acclaimed books called ‘Successful Women in Business’ and ‘Every Entrepreneurs Guide: Running Your Own Business.’
Sharon has been featured on BBC and Channel 5 TV Shows and has had a regular slot on BBC Radio since 2008 where she answers the listeners’ questions.
CAREER — What led you to your particular career path?
The reason I got into publicity was because I’d been personally interviewed many times in the media, so I knew how powerful getting media exposure was.
My first media appearance was on BBC Radio 2, with millions of listeners, when I had no website… no subscriber list… and no dog training business, which was the topic I was being interviewed on!
That was back in 2007 and at the time I had a successful complementary therapy business, but I was passionate about dog training, after getting 2 parson terrier puppies a few years previously, and was wanting to transition into a brand-new career.
I had recently returned from a 3-week spiritual pilgrimage across India, I had done some soul searching during that time and I came home wanting to follow my dreams and make an impact in the world. When I heard the radio host say he was going to get a dog training expert on the show the following week I believed I could help the listeners, so I pitched the show (3 times!) and was finally invited on!
That one interview launched my new career overnight, got me A-list celebrity clients and made my transition into my new Good Dogs! business easy and effortless.
It was also the start of my publicity journey and several years later Get Free Publicity Today was also born.
TO THRIVE — When you see yourself thriving: Do you see yourself opening up opportunities for others along the way to participate in your success, and how?
As was mentioned above, I’m known as the Mindset Media Expert as I help business owners and entrepreneurs to get ongoing publicity, so they get in front of thousands or even millions of their dream clients, as the go-to authority in their niche. However, I also focus on helping them change their limiting beliefs, sabotaging behaviours and negative expectations, so that they attract the best media opportunities, feel confident and reach their full potential.
You see… I can give you ALL the strategies that gets amazing success, I can even set up amazing opportunities for you but if your mindset is blocking, if you have limiting beliefs playing out, self-sabotaging behaviors or you suffer from imposter syndrome then even though you say you want BIG success, on a deeper level you’ll block this success.
That’s why when I work personally with business owners I help them to get clarity, to obliterate fears and insecurities and replace them with feelings of empowerment, invincibility and confidence instead.
For the people who work with me I hold nothing back, nothing excites me more than watching my clients thrive and reach their full potential.
ADVICE — What kind of advice would you like to give to an aspiring entrepreneur who feels limited due to their background or lack of resources?
Here are 4 of my top tips…
1. You can’t do everything on your own — Ask for help and look for ways to outsource, you can hire very talented people at affordable prices on Upwork and Fiverr.com — I definitely wish I’d known about these sites when I first started running a business.
2. Learn to love technology — Like most people I started out dreading technology, feeling anxious and not having a clue what to do. I realized that viewing technology this way wasn’t helping me, so I decided to change my mindset and embrace technology instead. I signed up for courses so I could learn more and it wasn’t long before my confidence grew. Since then I’ve created online courses, private membership platforms and have built 7 websites!
Now, I’m not saying you have to do this all yourself (as per #1 above!) but feeling confident around technology is a learning curve well worth conquering. Nowadays I have great appreciation for technology and how it gives me both personal and business opportunities.
3. Not everyone is your customer, even the ones that are in your target market — The people who don’t like you and the ones that don’t resonate with you are not your people or your customers. You don’t need to try and convince them to like you, you don’t need to try and win them over or change their minds, let them go and instead focus on the people that you are a good match with and who you can help.
4. Recognize and celebrate the small wins — It’s easy to get caught up with where you want to be and that it’s not happening fast enough, that you brush aside the small wins that you’re frequently having along the way. Interestingly, by focusing on, and being grateful for, the small wins you’ll find that you’ll get to where you want to go faster as success breeds success.
DRIVE — Do you sometimes feel bad for “wanting more out of life”, and if so, why? What is your personal motivation that leads you through the hardships of entrepreneurship?
Truthfully, no I don’t feel bad for ‘wanting more out of life!’ I believe we all deserve to reach our full potential and have our dream lives. That’s why I like to continually ‘work on myself’ so I get out of my own way!
CHALLENGES — Entrepreneurship is very challenging. We each have our own coping mechanism. Mine is humor. What is yours? Can you share a story?
When I did my first interview on BBC radio (the one I told you about earlier) the radio station was really pleased with the interview, but not everyone agreed! And I had to learn early on how to deal with the ‘haters’ who are not happy for you when you dare to put yourself out there.
It did knock my confidence, but after doing some soul searching, I made a strong decision NOT to let people I’d never met before hold me back, so I picked myself up, dusted myself off and have never looked back — I’m so pleased I did as I would have missed out on so much otherwise.
My motto is: “Never take criticism from someone you’d never go to for advice. That rules out all the people you don’t know, all the people who are not living and doing what you want to live and do and all the people you don’t regard as an expert on your topic.”
As Steve Jobs said, “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”
INSPIRATION — Is there an entrepreneurial book or podcast that inspires you that you would like to share with our readers?
There are so many wonderful podcast shows to listen to but one of my favorites is ‘Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast’ with Amy Porterfield. Amy covers topics that are really helpful to business owners wherever they are in their business journey, as well as mindset techniques and personal stories that are inspiring to the listeners.
There are so many amazing books too, one of my favorites is ‘Ask and it is given’ by Esther Hicks. I totally resonate with the law of attraction and have aligned with this way of thinking for years, it has given me many miraculous, joyful and exhilarating experiences.
YOU — Is there anything you would like to share that we have not asked you here?
Yes, when I heard I was going to be interviewed on BBC Radio 2, I only told a few people in advance.
Why?
Because people reflect back to you what it would feel like for them if they were in your situation. I didn’t want other people’s fears, doubts and ‘What if it goes dreadfully wrong’ scenarios projected at me. I didn’t want to be influenced by others. I believed it was going to be fun, people were going to be lovely to me and it would have a really good outcome… and that was my experience.
I suggest that when you have an unusual idea, feel inspired to do something a bit different or would like to make a big change in your life, to be initially selective of who you share the information with. This is often a ‘fragile’ stage where you could easily be influenced or swayed by other people’s fears and doubts, so my suggestion is to ‘handle it with care’ and be choosy of who you tell.
Mindset is crucial to your success, the famous quote by Henry Ford sums it up nicely;
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”
My advice is, when something feels right, when you ‘know’ don’t look for approval or validation from other people or even second guess yourself, go for it — success is there waiting for you!
THANK YOU!
Connect with Sharon Bolt on LinkedIn.
Demee Koch about the MEDIUM interview series on CONSCIOUS ENTREPRENEURSHIP:
Conscious entrepreneurship for me is about building a sustainable business that values and respects the resources used and makes an effort of giving back to society.
I believe we need entrepreneurs to really get involved in the causes close to their heart.
This is why I reach out to entrepreneurs that aim for more than generating profit. With this interview, I aim to share entrepreneurial purpose-led passion to inspire others.
Looking forward to learn from you. Reach out to me via LinkedIn.
Demee ❤︎
