Press release: Suzzanne Laidlaw finds her destiny in helping others to achieve theirs

From overcoming a life threatening condition and working too hard to just get by, Suzzanne Laidlaw’s paradigm shift just over a decade ago is seeing her living her dreams and helping other small business owners to live theirs. She has grown her business from humble beginnings, has her sights set on publishing her first book, and was recently recognised with the Global PlanningCLUB Award at the 2019 ActionCOACH® Global Conference which took place in Edinburgh, Scotland, in August.

Suzzanne grew up helping her father with the family business and later went on to start a small business with her husband. It was only after being diagnosed with a life threatening condition, Endometriosis, and restructuring the business, allowing her and her husband to take a full year off work, that she realised her destiny was to help others to achieve their business goals. She took the decision to follow her destiny in 2009 and has never looked back.

“I was diagnosed with a condition that was quite literally eating up my organs one by one. My husband and I decided that we really needed to change our business model so that it could be a commercially profitable enterprise that worked without relying on us. We restructured the business which later allowed us to take a year off to live our life fully without any commitments. We backpacked the world with our two young children.

“When we returned and I had managed to beat my condition, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. We sold our business and I decided to become a business coach so that I could help other business owners to get to a position where they had the freedom of choice and the power to step away from their business if they want to, or have to, like we did. People are so often faced with life-changing challenges. When life throws them a curveball and smacks them in the face, they need to be in a position where their business works for them, not the other way around,” explains Suzzanne.
She remembered being inspired by ActionCOACH founder Brad Sugars when she attended one of his presentations when he visited Perth in 1990. She called her business coach and told him that becoming a coach was the direction she was destined for. He agreed that she should follow her passion. She flew to Queensland to do some due diligence and then went to the United States to undertake extensive coach training.

“I have never looked back. Taking this path has allowed me to join my two life passions; my love of business coaching from when I was a child, and my love for coaching. I have always been involved in sports and sports coaching. I understand the purpose and the value of a coach and how they can transform the journeys of others and prepare them for greater pursuits.
“I love being able to help people push themselves harder and break beyond the invisible glass ceilings that they have in their minds. There is no greater honour than helping people exceed their own expectations and flourish passed what they believed they ever could have achieved.”

She says that as a business coach, her biggest challenge was overcoming her own self-limiting beliefs, particularly when starting her coaching business from scratch after the GFC (global financial crisis).
“With a huge debt of $1.8 million to service and a family of six to support, I struggled to believe that I could ever be successful and build a client base to support my business and life goals. I have now learned that self-doubt can be your biggest hindrance. You have to believe that anything is possible. You just have to put your mind to it.”

Since those early days of uncertainty, she has grown both as an individual and as a coach. She has worked with business owners across diverse industries, from accountants, landscapers, IT professionals, web designers, manufacturers and wholesalers to retailers, consultants, a vet, a café owner, and so many more. Over the years, she has stacked up several awards including ActionCOACH Executive Coach of the Year in 2016; the award for Global Leader for Business Planning Award 2015, 2016 and 2019, and the award for Asia/Pacific Leader in Business Planning in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

She was also nominated as one of Western Australia’s most inspiring women in 2016, with her story published in the book by Creatavision Publishing, 16 Inspirational WA Women. An article based on her story was published in the 2017 sequel book, Extraordinary Business Women.

Accolades are not what drive her though. Seeing her clients succeed beyond their own expectations is what inspires her.“Coaching is about helping people. It is not about you or your ego or anything else. People understand having a sports coach, so it’s not difficult to draw a parallel line with business coaching and I feel blessed to live my authentic purpose and help others in doing so.

“I just love seeing my clients exceeding their goals. When we sit together with their business plan, their budget and goals, and we look at them a year later and realise they have smashed their goals to achieve more than they ever expected, it’s a great feeling to know that my coaching has made such a dramatic impact on their performance, profitability and lives,” says Suzzanne, who is also the WA Master Licensee of Engage & Grow, a company focused on improving employee engagement and culture within workforces.

Citing the statistic that around 80% of small businesses fail within five years, Suzzanne says that business owners should have an up-to-date business plan. As the old adage goes “Failing to plan is planning to fail”.
“Looking back, I realise that my husband and I should have commissioned the help of a coach when we first watched Brad Sugars’ presentation back in the 1990s. However, at the time, our business was doing well and we thought we knew it all. It was only when we got dealt a curveball that we realised, we were not prepared at all. We were working for our business, but it was not working for us. Like most business owners, we did not have a business plan.

“It is so important for business owners to have a really clear plan of what success looks like for them, accompanied by a clear budget and broken down strategies. There’s no point having a plan if it’s not broken down into granular, realistic goals to achieve success. A business coach can help with that. Having a business plan will give you a far greater chance of success. Also, never lose sight of your goals, both personal and in business. We often encounter business owners who have lost sight of their goals and why they went into business in the first place.”

Suzzanne, who is a proud ambassador of Opportunity International, an organisation that provides micro funding to families in third world countries to help end the poverty cycle, is a goal setter and a goal getter. A keen sportswoman, she has participated in triathlons for about 20 years and represented Australia a number of times. She holds these accomplishments close to her heart.

“My top business goal this year is to publish my first book by the end of 2019, so I can help more people to achieve their dreams. My big audacious goal in life is to be a millionaire of hearts, to touch, move and inspire one million hearts before I leave this earth. I want to leave a legacy of having inspired people to be better than before from the knowledge, experiences and awareness that I impart to them.

“Another dream that I’m excited and motivated to achieve is having an online global presence within the business planning realm so I can help people worldwide to be more proactive in planning their businesses,” she says.
When asked who she would like to be if she could choose, Suzzanne says: “I’m happy to be me. I don’t want to be anyone else. As Oscar Wilde once said, ‘Be Yourself. Everyone else is already taken’. Be authentic, be yourself. There is no point being anything other than honest and true to yourself.”

About Suzzanne
Suzzanne was born and raised in Perth, Western Australia. She attended Newman College where she was always heavily involved in a myriad of sports. She met her husband when she was 17 and married him on her 20th birthday. They have been married for 30 years and have two beautiful children, Hamish and Eve. The couple also helped to raise their goddaughter Caley. Suzzanne has been an ActionCOACH business coach since 2009, helping business owners across Western Australia to achieve their business aspirations. She represented Australia in the World Triathlon Championships in Vancouver, New Zealand, Australia and London, and swam solo (20km) in the 2006 Rottnest Island Channel Crossing. She has completed several full marathons (42.2km run) as well as the grueling Busselton Ironman in 2007 & 2008 (3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run). Exercise, yoga and health based activities are a huge part of her life. Meditation is also non-negotiable in her daily routine.
Make contact with Suzzanne here if you have more questions:
https://suzzannelaidlaw.actioncoach.com
https://www.actioncoach.com.au/team/suzzanne-laidlaw/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzzannelaidlaw/?originalSubdomain=au

Ends

Issued on behalf of ActionCOACH. For further information please contact Azelle Evans at azelle@themailroom.com.au or +61 (0)451 710 095.

About ActionCOACH
ActionCOACH is the world's largest and most experienced business coaching firm. Founded in 1993 by Australian-born entrepreneur Brad Sugars. ActionCOACH is based in over 80 countries, serving the needs of thousands of business owners and entrepreneurs. ActionCOACH Australia and New Zealand is managed by CEO Paul Henshall.
The ActionCOACH coaching programs are designed to optimise business through guidance, support, accountability and mentorship. The ActionCOACH formula has been tried and tested and proven successful in diverse industries all over the world. ActionCOACH continues to deliver on its promise to partner with its clients to guide them in growing successful businesses that are sustainable and profitable, enterprises that work without them. For more information visit https://www.actioncoach.com.au