14+ years ago when I started the business I made so many mistakes. I had NO idea what I was doing!

My first mistake was that in my mind I was doing something that would fail, so I kept it quiet so that no one would find out about it when it did!

Ultimately that plan did fail and people found out about it and it took off and went from strength to strength.

My next mistake was that I never dreamed this would grow beyond one or two students so I kept all the information inside my head which just created issues when I did start to take on more and more students.

I've now created a couple of books: 1 for logging my hours, 1 for logging new student information. They're not fancy or flash, but they have saved me hours by keeping all my information compiled into one place.

Another mistake was my pricing. When I first started I priced myself at £10/hr including travel to people's homes, resources, preparation, etc (one family even used it as babysitting for the child I was working with and the younger daughter as the mum would head straight out the door and catch the train into London, reassuring me that the babysitter would be there before I left!)

But by undervaluing myself I was undermining my experience, degree, courses I'd taken etc which people probably presumed you got what you paid for when actually I was pouring my heart and soul into building this, so that it didn't fail and people couldn't wouldn't judge me.

I think one of the things that I am still working on today is how I present myself to myself and others. I am an expert at saying I am "just a tutor". Is there such a thing!

But actually I own a tutoring business that has roughly 12 other tutors working with me. I have written 2 books (not the two mentioned earlier but one on becoming a tutor and one on learning styles), I have created courses, the business is now seeking its first franchisees, we are getting our tutor training accredited to give credibility to the franchisees, but also to those who don't want to work under our business model but still want that reassurance as they get started.

Confidence doesn't grow overnight. It's not a decision that you can go to bed tonight and think, I need to be more confident and wake up tomorrow and be that new person. But you can work on it day by day and keep those around you that will support you in this and cheer you on.

Finally, change from listening to the voice that asks you: "should you get a proper job?" or "who are you to do that!" to the voice that says "give it a go, because you never know what might happen if you do..."