Day in the life of a business owner: Coralie Sleap, Keystone Crescent
Coralie Sleap
Coralie has founded several businesses including Drink, Shop & Do –a multi-faceted events venue; Time + Space yoga studio & Keystone Crescent – a members cocktail club. She is also a freelance consultant focused on problem-solving for businesses.
I wanted to go into this career because …
I trained as a designer and learned to observe how people interact with spaces and became interested in how an environment could change the way we feel. Designing service-based businesses allowed me to give a complete experience to my patrons, and get great fulfillment by brightening people's day.
A typical day for me …
Recently it’s been being woken up too early by my super cute new puppy!
I try to do something physical to start the day especially if I’m WFH, either gym or yoga or teaching yoga. At least once a week I’m in Keystone Crescent to meet with the manager and check on things. I spend the first half of the week doing routine things, mostly meeting with my team for their reporting, troubleshooting and planning. Then I spend the rest of my time working on anything else that might be going on, either consulting work or planning the marketing for the bar, recruitment, or industry events.
The biggest challenge of owning my business is …
Having the inner resilience it takes to separate your mood from how well the business is going. This was actually easier when I was running three different brands at the same time. One would always be having a bad week but it felt less personal when you had others in the mix.
Most of the time I feel like I get to decide my workload, but sometimes things happen in the team and you just have to drop everything and pick up the work.
But the biggest reward is …
Being able to choose the work I do and the work I delegate.
“Failure” in business isn’t always a bad thing …
As long as you learn from what went wrong.
The best career advice I’ve received was….
Don’t make your hobby your work. I wish I’d listened!!
The advice I’d give to women wanting to set up their own business is …
Write your vision and values: your core purpose. Even if it’s only you in the business it will help you get clarity and communicate it with others. And just get started, there is no right time. Commit to learning everything. Ask for help. Listen actively. Network. Find mentors or a career coach.
The three qualities I think you need for this career are …
Determination, open-mindedness to test and learn, and problem-solving abilities.
The best thing about my job …
Delighting customers, developing the team, and mostly having control of my own time and terms.
What I do to switch off …
Yoga, travel to sunshine, read.
If you’re interested in becoming a member of Keystone Crescent, visit the website here.
