Nichola Day has over 15 years’ experience of teaching and supporting people’s wellbeing in education, business, and community. As an autistic businesswoman herself, she has a special interest and expertise in Neurodivergence. She now works one-to-one with neurodivergent people, helping them to break free from cycles of overwhelm & burnout and create self-care routines that support their own personal growth & empowerment. She also creates online courses for those in this population and has more recently launched a self-care membership community for sensitive, neurodivergent people that offers a range of self-care & personal growth tools, including Therapeutic Yoga. She believes that the neurodivergent community has a vast amount of skill & talent that is hugely undervalued, unsupported, and underused. It is her mission to educate the wider population about neurodivergence and support the wellbeing of this population, so that they thrive & flourish.
Can you share a brief overview of your career journey and the key milestones that have led you to your current leadership role?
After studying Psychology at University, I initially began my working life as an Assistant Psychologist. I have always had an interest in Psychology and found myself working with children and young people with Autism. This then led me to re-training as a schoolteacher, where spent 10 years on my working life. Yet there was a yearning for something more. I had always managed anxiety myself as a part of life and this is what led me to Yoga to destress and learn more about myself. Through a lot of inner work, I realised my calling was elsewhere. I re-trained as a Yoga teacher and built a successful wellness business, consisting of Yoga classes, workshops and retreats. After even more inner work, realisations, qualifying as a Yoga Therapist and receiving a late diagnosis of Autism & ADHD myself, I have more recently refocused the business to offer tailored, online offerings for other sensitive, neurodivergent people. This includes online courses, classes and a membership site.
What do you believe are the most important qualities or attributes that a successful business leader should possess, and how do you embody them in your leadership style?
Passion, Integrity & Compassion.
In my line of work, it is important for me to inspire others to believe they can improve their wellbeing, mental health & self-care. To do this I must be passionate about what I speak and teach about, it needs to come across in every offering I put out there. This is why I spend a lot of time sharing videos with short teaching points or thoughts about all things yoga, wellbeing, self-care and being neurodivergent. I also aim to show integrity, through being honest, open and showing up. I try to show this through listening carefully to customers, responding to the needs expressed and committing to something wholeheartedly. At the heart of my business is compassion, because that is what it is about – caring for others, and inspiring them to care for themselves. I show this directly through how I operate with clients, but also in my writings and other teachings. It is also imperative for this to include compassion for myself, which I believe is also crucial for me to share, so that I might just inspire someone else to be more compassionate towards themselves.
Can you describe a significant challenge or setback you’ve encountered in your career, and how did you overcome it to achieve your goals?
During the pandemic, it was like my business was forced into a complete pivot. Like many in my industry, I went from working with lots of people face to face to moving online and many in my audience were not tech savvy. I lost a lot of business. However, in time I grew to appreciate how much better this way of working was for me as a neurodivergent woman. So when things started opening up again, there was huge expectation for my business to return to how it was operating. After a bit of time, I decided to go almost completely online, which has been a lot harder than I anticipated. Yet with a lot of perseverance and new learning, I now have a growing community and business is improving overall.
In a rapidly changing business landscape, how do you stay informed about industry trends and adapt your strategies to remain competitive?
It is important to me to keep up to date with what my target audience are thinking, feeling and wanting. To do so, I make sure I am following key influencers and content creators in the wellbeing & neurodivergent space, as well as what is generally trending on social media. I also am part of various networks in my industry, which allows me to keep up with what is being spoken about. As well as this, as a Yoga Therapist I access recent research articles in my field to understand what the latest findings are to ensure that my offerings are based on the most up-to-date research. All of this, as well as looking at my analytics across my social platforms helps me to shape what I then go on to speak, teach and write about.
How do you manage your small team effectively, and what strategies do you employ to ensure both you and your assistant are working at your highest potential?
I am not sure how relevant this is to me, as my business is just me plus one assistant! However, with my one assistant we schedule frequent meetings where I share and remind of the values and goals of the business, my why and mission statement and allow for sharing of ideas. I also believe in utilising a person’s best skills rather than trying to pigeon-hole them. My assistant therefore takes on tasks best suited to her skill set and passion, leaving me to do the same with mine!
How do you balance short-term financial goals with long-term strategic planning for the growth and sustainability of your business?
Through planning time each quarter to assess both short-term and long-term goals I stay focused on the longer term aims of the business and can keep them in mind as each quarter evolves. If something shifts in the short term, I can assess in the moment how to adapt, where to put my time and energy and ultimately how longer-term growth might be impacted.
Can you share an example of a major decision you had to make that had a significant impact on your organisation? What was the outcome, and what did you learn from the experience?
A major decision I have had to make was to pull back from the retreat side of the business. This was a massive decision because this part of the business was very profitable, but ultimately not in keeping with my longer-term goals. The outcome was initial reduced profit, but greater freedom to develop the online course side of the business. This then led to gaining a contract with a major course provider in North America. The learning from the experience was about being willing to take a risk and listen to my gut instinct.
What role does innovation play in your business strategy, and how do you foster a culture of innovation within your organisation?
Innovation is at the core of a lot of my offerings as I champion a new way of supporting neurodivergent people with anxiety, overwhelm & stress. I also welcome new software and other tools that can make business easier and will always give them a go if I feel they could save time, money, or offer value in some other way.
How do you handle ethical dilemmas and make difficult decisions when they arise in your role as a business leader?
I always drop my awareness to my heart and my gut. Wisdom here can always be trusted, even if the message is difficult to hear. Failing this, I will seek advice from a trusted fellow businessperson in my industry.
Looking to the future, what are your top priorities and goals for your business, and what strategies do you plan to implement to achieve them?
My priorities are to continue growing my community on YouTube, my membership site, my email list and creating more online courses. To do this I will continue to stay informed, listening to my audience, as well as writing and speaking about the use of therapeutic yoga and other wellbeing modalities for the neurodiverse population. I will also be creating and publishing small free offerings to attract those who would benefit from my work to me.
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