Clare Standen

Longforgan-based Claire Standen is a life coach who aims to help women build resilience through coaching and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). She works with individuals and organisations offering workshops, talks, online webinars and one-to-one sessions.

Getting started

Having been employed for her entire adult life, Claire only recently made the leap into self-employment.

She says “I was led here by a desire to help women who’ve left their unhealthy relationships to rediscover their power.

“When I left my marriage in 2017, I realised I had a lot of healing to do and confidence to regain, and that it would be a massive investment in myself to do so.

“I believe that every time you take a step forwards, you should reach back with one hand to help someone else on their path and I’ve been on a mission to help other women invest in themselves ever since.”

The enterprise journey​

Claire’s journey got underway with a course in Neuro-Linguistic Programming which helps people gain flexibility in their thinking, allowing the recipient to start to see opportunities instead of barriers, solutions instead of problems.

She explains: “We humans use about 10 per cent of the intelligence available to us in our everyday thinking, and I opened up to the deep intelligence within, which has taken me from struggling to make ends meet to starting my own business.

“Now I want the same for other people who might be feeling stuck or disempowered.”

Support

Throughout her enterprise journey, Claire says she has had a huge amount of support from various sources. As well as her network of friends – who she says “have always been there, and I really can’t emphasise enough how important that’s been” – she has also received advice on marketing and finance from community-based enterprise support organisation GrowBiz.

Claire explains: “I heard about GrowBiz through another amazing Perthshire business, Molke. I modelled for Molke for a while and saw how integral GrowBiz had been in their growth and success. 

“GrowBiz provides such a valuable service. They go out of their way to support new businesses. I have a young family, and the advisers fit into my availability, coming out to my home and giving so much valuable information. 

“One of the great things about it is that you contact this one organisation and they have a wealth of information and advice at their fingertips. So it cuts out time-consuming searching and gives you that confidence that you’re supported. 

“I think the way that GrowBiz has adapted to work with rural businesses is fantastic. I know that I would have otherwise struggled to source the contacts and information I’ve received through GrowBiz, and it’s services like this that help people believe their business idea will work.”

Another valuable source of support for Claire has been her life coach. As she says: “I don’t just talk the talk, I also walk the walk and have my own life coach! She helps me stay accountable to myself, and pushes me beyond my own limits and into my potential.”

Looking to the future

​Claire continues to work on her personal and professional development, doing numerous business and mindset courses, which she says help her to focus and keep going through the hard times.

And she has big plans for the future, including setting up premises in Tayside where women will be able to come for the respite and help they need to heal from emotional trauma, and, she says, “gain confidence and the drive to go back out there and make the most of their lives”. 

Claire says: “The hardest thing about running your own business is keeping your nerve. We all have times when we feel less hopeful or less optimistic. I have to be deeply connected with why I started this mission in the first place to get through those times. 

“I know that other women see me continue to thrive and that they know that there is a path they can follow to achieve the same. I just have to keep up the strength and determination to beat that path, day in, day out!

“I will need a team of dedicated, inspirational people to be partners in my vision of the future, which is much bigger than just me. I envisage some of them being past clients of mine who have benefitted from the empowering and life-changing service I provide.”

For further information see Claire’s website www.theindependentsinglemum.com or search for ‘The Independent Single Mum’ on social media.