Alexandra Walker is a Life Coach, Author and Musician based in the North West Highlands of Scotland. She had the life of her dreams, graduating top of the science faculty at St Andrews University. Achieving a Doctorate in Applied Mathematics. Demonstrating a flair for music that saw her perform Grieg’s piano concerto and composing and producing a successful musical. Then rising to leadership positions in the civil service and charitable sector in the heart of London for 15 years.
What motivated and inspired you to start your own business?
I was on a successful career path in London for fifteen years, and people had always said I could achieve whatever I wanted in life. However, it became clear that something was profoundly wrong, as I began to suffer from crippling insomnia and a range of mental health conditions. It would be a long journey until my eyes were opened to my father’s emotional abuse that had dogged my entire life. I can at last truly describe myself as a Damsel Not In Distress, and I have set up my own business to help other recovering souls make their journey to wholeness and their life’s true calling.
Tell us about your business.
My mission is to help as many people as I can to transform their lives and walk their personal path to peace, freedom, and purpose. Damsel Not In Distress provides online self-study courses, group programs, and 1:1 coaching to help people with different aspects of their journey to recover from past challenges. The three core values of the business are depth, creativity, and adventure: I believe that finding wholeness and freedom requires deep understanding and connection, a creative approach to uncover greater insight, and an adventurous spirit where we need to be brave and can also have fun along the way!
Where is your business based?
My husband and I live in the North West Highlands of Scotland. It’s an area we fell in love with over the past fifteen years – we’re surrounded by hills here, which is lovely since hillwalking has been very important in my journey and recovery.
What were the first few steps you took to get your business up and running?
It is important to me to serve people ethically and knowledgeably, so I supplemented the coaching skills I had picked up during former leadership roles with several qualifications: two diplomas in life and wellness coaching, and two diplomas in counseling.
One of the first things I did to launch my new business was to self-publish my first book, Reclaiming Christmas. This tells the story of how the joy of Christmas was stolen from me by the emotional abuse I faced, and how I reclaimed the season as my own by liberating my mind, emotions, body, and spirit! I also set up the new business website and started to build my Instagram and Facebook profiles by telling my story.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness of your business and getting new customers?
I think the area I’m working in requires a great deal of trust since people are dealing with some pretty challenging issues, and looking at those issues requires them to be vulnerable and open. Therefore, the most effective way of raising awareness and attracting customers has been to share my story openly and honestly. This helps people have the confidence to approach me since they can see I have grappled with and overcome issues to which they can relate. I also hope they can see that I offer an inspiring approach whilst not sugar-coating things or making them seem easier than they really are.
What have been your biggest challenges so far?
I have had two major challenges. Firstly, I have been setting up my business in the wake of my father’s death in 2023 in very difficult circumstances, since we were estranged and he was an alcoholic. The process of pursuing my business dream has undoubtedly been part of my healing journey, but it has not been without its ups and downs as I have been processing the final stages of a very complex journey with my father.
The other challenge I’ve faced is one that is common to many entrepreneurs – setting up a business single-handedly in the early stages requires getting to grips with a crazy array of completely different tasks and skills!
How did you overcome these challenges?
In terms of processing the circumstances of my father’s death, I have found that it has been very important for me to listen to my intuition, that still small voice inside, so I have known what I needed to do when. Sometimes, getting immersed in setting up my website or creating a new course was very cathartic, at other times it was important for me to prioritize getting rest and giving myself some time to recuperate.
With juggling different entrepreneur demands, I have found two things particularly helpful. Firstly, searching for great resources and people to guide me – for example, a great legal membership and experts to help me get to grips with social media and marketing. Secondly, segmenting my time so that I prioritize the creative side of my business which is my real motivation for doing all this, whilst also mastering all the other stuff that can’t be ignored if one wants to have a thriving online business that can actually serve people well!
What is the best advice you have received recently?
When you are procrastinating and just not getting down to what you know needs to be done, imagine yourself at the end of the day settling down to sleep. How will you want to look back on your day and what will you want to have achieved as you lay your head down on your pillow? This perspective has consistently helped me to turn around less productive days.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
There’s a lot to get to grips with in setting up a new business and a very loud market of people who will tell you they have the one perfect solution that will ensure your entrepreneurial success. There’s a lot of great stuff out there, but I’d suggest taking some deep breaths and not just running headlong into the next tempting offer, and the next, and the next. If possible, find an entrepreneur you trust who’s a bit further along than you are, who can help you navigate all of this and make wise decisions about how to learn more about online business without buying every course out there…
What are you currently learning about for your business or looking for help with?
There is so much received wisdom out there about knowing exactly who your ideal client is i.e. who you’re really here to serve. I completely get the concept, but it’s taken me a bit of trial and error to get to the point where I can articulate this more clearly, and I’m sure there will be more refinement over time! I’m now working on how to convey this even more clearly in my messaging and social media, so the people I can particularly help really identify with what I’m saying and the products and services I’m offering. I love experimenting, so am looking forward to the ride
What are your goals for the next few months and how are you striving to achieve them?
My goals are to get started on writing my second book, launch a couple of new programs, and get greater visibility through media work.
I would love to sell my programs and books to support at least 1,000 people this year so that they can move forward after life challenges and fully flourish and blossom! After a very busy end to 2023, I’ve done the classic January task of setting out my goals clearly. I think there will be two keys to success – one is finding the synergies between my goals so they all work and build together, and the other is finding even better ways to organize my time.
What is your favorite business tool or resource?
I really love Descript as a tool for editing course videos – I find it super easy to use and it allows me to remove any mistakes I may have made, add captions, generate transcripts, and add a whole load of fun and engaging visual features!
What social media outlets do you use? List them below.
- Facebook: @damselnotindistressltd
- Instagram: @damsel_notin_distress
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