We had the pleasure welcoming Niyc Pigeon (26), founder of Optimal You  to share her learnings and excitement of founding her passion, why she started her company and how she overcame obstacles on her path tonight at Slabs in Marylebone, London.

Here are some key points Niyc made:

1) She wanted to learn leadership skills, so she started a running group called ‘Park Run’ which now has over 5,000 members. If you want to learn new skills you can always set up the environment to learn if you can’t find it elsewhere.

2) To start a business is to put yourself totally out there. You put all your personality into it and you expose yourself to criticism. (But it’s nothing to be afraid of!)

3) Surround yourself with people who support you and get a mentor. She was afraid of what people would think when she started her company but found out soon that most people were supportive.

4) Sometimes you learn more from negative experiences than positive.

5) You must learn to trust your gut feeling. She doesn’t always know what she wants the outcome to be but she will do what feels best at the time. Time will tell and you don’t always need to know the outcome or where exactly you want to end up.

6) Don’t think you need to have everything ready – now. Starting a business is a process (like any learning or development). It is always evolving. It is much more easy to improve on something you created even if it wasn’t perfect at the start.

7) Sometimes you just have to make a decision. It doesn’t matter what the decision is, you just have to move on.

8) ‘My business is who I am. It is how I live.’

9) Niyc works long days often starting 5 am. She loves what she does so she is inspired to get up and do it. She delegated non-critical tasks and is very aware of how she spends her time. She schedules all tasks into her calendar, including reading and writing.

10) It is important to create a calm, un-cluttered environment that you enjoy to work in and to keep your energy levels high through good nutrition and fitness.

… Well, I guess she’d say that :), but we believe it is true.

All in all, very inspiring evening and lots to take out!

~ Miisa & Jennifer