Five Minutes With… Louise Wheeler of LC Consultancy

We chat to Louise Wheeler, founder of LC Consultancy - an Isle of Man based Learning and Development (L&D) and Organisational Development (OD) consultancy.

Tell us a bit about LC Consultancy…

L C Consultancy Limited is a Learning & Development (L&D) and Organisational Development (OD) consultancy.

The main element of my business is the learning and development side. I specialise in leadership development and have Approved and Accredited content with The Institute of Leadership. I create all my own content which means it’s not only bespoke, it’s fresh, new and can be delivered in different formats and through different channels, meeting the demand of face2face and virtual learning.

The majority of my audience is Corporate and a large number of businesses on the IOM have offices globally. My ‘virtual journey’ has taken me to Malta, UK, Costa Rica, South Africa, Canada, Switzerland and Malaga. I’m also a qualified level 7 executive coach and mentor and spend time working with managers and executives either on a 1-1 or as a team. It adds a different layer to the business whilst still supporting individual growth and development.

The other side of my business is the OD work which involves me working with businesses to help create cultures, imbed corporate values and create systemic people frameworks. I’m just as passionate about this type of work as I am the training side. Based on my knowledge and experience across these 2 key areas enables me to step into organisations and support them with the alignment of people frameworks and strategy through training and development initiatives.

How did you come to be running your own business?

Whilst working as a Senior Talent Lead, an opportunity presented itself which was too good to let pass me by. This is where my new adventure (an adventure I’m still enjoying) begun. I took a leap, leaving a well-paid, full time, senior role and started my own company. This was something I had dreamt of doing for many, many years – I was scared and excited at the same time.

In October 2021, L C Consultancy (L C are my initials), was born. And that’s when my passion; ‘supporting people to be the best they can be’, became my world. The company I left were super supportive, setting me up with my tech and also offering me my first contract which spanned 9 months. My first year in business was hugely successful. I worked with a fantastic Mentor from the Micro Business ‘start-up’ scheme with the Department of Enterprise. Having this wonderful female Mentor for my first 12 months in business and a solid 9 month contract was a fantastic start for my personal growth and the start-up of my brand new business.

What has been the most challenging part about getting to where you are today and how did you overcome that challenge?

Apart from the constant worry of bringing in money to pay the mortgage! The biggest challenge I faced in the beginning was thinking that I needed to do everything within the business. I quickly learned that that was impossible for two reasons:

1. I didn’t have the time

2. My brain was just not big enough to take in all I needed to learn and do!

So, I learned what I enjoyed, what I was good at and were my skilled areas were and, alongside that quickly learned the areas I wasn’t good at and quite frankly had no desire to learn about! I now outsource the things I need/must to have done like my financials and year end, website build and maintenance etc.

What have been your highlights so far? 

I have 4 to share, 3 of which have happened this year, in year 3 of my business.

1.      I’ve built and still maintain my business and clients based on word of mouth – I realise I’m very lucky to have this type of reputation and custom.

2.      Earlier this year I was awarded a Fellowship with The Institute of Leadership. I have been working in this space for over 15 years, so this achievement was both an important professional and personal milestone for me.

3.      In February this year I was selected as a Mentor for the Santander Women Business Leaders 2024 programme. I’m still supporting two fantastic UK women business owners and I’ve learned so much from this experience.

4.      I was a finalist in October for a UK Soloprenuer Award with WomenWho. This was a huge achievement for me, not just as this was my first award but also to be a ‘finalist’ along with being up against many successful UK women business owners. Safe to say I was the only IOM business owner there!

In the same month I was announced as Director of the Year with the IOM Institute of Directors in the category of Young and Start Up – to say I was shocked was an understatement (in fact that’s still not sunk in)!

What words of advice would you give to another woman who's considering setting up her own business here on the island?

I would say know your purpose, know your competitors’ offerings and make a plan. Stay focussed and keep to your plan. The early years of business are tough and without a solid foundation there’s potential for you to be second guessing yourself.

The other piece of advice goes hand in hand with my first piece, in terms of creating a support network around you to keep you focussed on your plan. Have people you can talk ‘business’ to (from my experience partners and close friends are pretty rubbish at that)!

You need people that know you and your purpose, those that will be cheer leading you along. These people are generally not your ‘friend group’ – you need honest conversation when running a business and I really appreciated (and still do) those people and the support they offered/offer me.