“When I hit Burnout, I needed to take time to focus on ‘Brand’ Me - Deborah O Grady, The Brand Coach.”

As the daughter of an entrepreneur, I has always been enterprising - at the age of 7 I remember discovering that rhubarb could dye your hair and believed others needed to know about this so packaged it up and sold it as a ‘new product to market’ to my friends and family! At 10, I organised my own mini festival, bringing together multiple different stall holders in a local field and creating my own products to sell - marketing it with flyers and door drops and co-ordinating a team of people to bring it all together and raising money for a local charity along the way – ‘Ambitious’ – yes - absolutely!

However, despite my early enterprises escapades, I didn’t dream of becoming an entrepreneur, I was happy to enter the rat race working my way up the corporate ladder. Kicking my career off at the biggest ad agency out of London I worked within every department, cutting my teeth on accounts such as Seven Seas and McCains, and learning every element of how a brand is taken to market. 

Due to my drive, ambition and being a quick learner, I quickly saw myself move up the ranks - gaining vast experience from some of the best ad agencies in the country.  Having been on the winning team of the First Direct brand back in the 90’s , evolving the Silentnight brand to No.1 in its market, bringing Nivea to men and Irn Bru to boys,  I soon became well-known for creating and rolling out brands that pack a good punch! 

However, after I had my daughter at the age of 36, following multiple miscarriages and a diagnosis of Celiac Disease, I felt the need to run away from the rat race and felt a deep longing to be more connected to my work and use my skills in a different way - but, I had no idea what that looked like…

After being asked to help create a ‘healthy’ kids drink full of sugar. I turned them down and fell out of love with the ad industry, in this moment, I realised I wasn’t prepared to compromise my own values to use marketing to deceive audiences. I needed to rethink my career direction; I ran a successful branding agency, but felt a lack of purpose, so I took a year out! Yes a whole year! 

Having stopped and removing myself from the fast pace, high-powered industry I realised I had hit burnout, and needed to realign.  So, I decided to head to Switzerland on a Spiritual retreat. 

Everyone believed I had truly lost the plot – my husband included! I realised that despite marrying the man of my dreams, and just having moved to our dream house - I still wanted more – I wanted to find a career I loved and felt truly connected to. So, with renovating costs spiralling I quit my high paying clients and committed to my own self-discovery.

I explored holistic therapies and trained in holistic health coaching, particularly loving the life purpose training.  I decided to train as a coach with a focus on life purpose in the hope of finding my own along the way, which thankfully I did.

It was whilst on a coaching programme that I met my first client, who begged me to help her set up her business and create a brand and that’s where it all began.

When setting up my own business, I struggled with imposer syndrome, as transitioning from being at the top of my game in employment to starting from scratch as a business owner really triggered my anxiety; this was an uncomfortable place to be. This is why helping my clients now to connect with and create a strong brand is so important to me - as I know that with this comes confidence and clarity - something I am passionate about empowering more fellow entrepreneurs with.

I now bring my knowledge and experience to the online entrepreneurial market, working to excite, educate and empower ambitious business owners either starting out or looking for next level growth. I am now passionate about helping others make the most of their full potential. 

Deborah’s 5 Top Tips on how to overcome burnout and focus on you:

1.Listen to your body, its normally tells you before your mind notices;

Those aches and pains and a fatigued feeling when waking up despite having a full 8 hours sleep. 

2.Cut down or cut out the coffee, if your adrenal glands are already in overdrive you don’t want to tax them even further.

3.Clear your diary and get away, alone if you can and do some soul searching. Reconnect to your joy, do something that lights you up.

4.Book that course, sign up to a challenge, learn a new skill. We all have that something we’ve been interested in for a while but never have time to do. Invest some time in finding out more about yourself.

5.Take up meditation in some way, be it ten minutes in a morning, a walk in nature or however you can fit it in. Meditation is the road to finding yourself. Connecting to the stillness of your mind will help guide you on your next big adventure.

It’s time to believe in yourself! 

For more information please see:

www.thebrandcoach.co.uk

www.instagram.com/deborahogrady

www.linkedin.com/in/deborahogrady