Mentorship matters: Victoria wants more women to ask for help
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Introducing Victoria Nicol, the founder of My Language Connection - a specialist provider of business and technical translations, based in Glasgow.
32-year-old Victoria hit the news in 2022 when her translation agency My Language Connection expanded into the Middle East.
With a strong, experienced team, Victoria's business grew to a seven-figure turnover, just a few years after she borrowed £10,000 through Transmit Startups.
As part of our focus on female founders in March 2023, we asked Victoria to tell us about what’s driving her ambition, and her hopes for female entrepreneurs in the future.
About me….
I was 26 when I started My Language Connection. Before then I had only ever been employed by other people.
I previously ran a sales team within another translation agency, until that company was liquidated. I saw a gap in the market and wanted to continue to follow my passion, but with greater freedom. So I decided to start a business of my own.
About my business…
My Language Connection enables businesses to communicate internationally and build a global client base through our professional technical translation and interpretation services.
Some of our competitors are very tech-driven, but we’re a small team and we focus on building relationships and providing a higher-end, personalised, quality service.
We break down language barriers and support people to develop a shared understanding across communities and businesses.
"A big part of what we do is healthcare translations, where we're helping to bring about cultural awareness and behavioural change on behalf of our clients.
This involves understanding the way that people from different backgrounds and ethnic minority groups interpret and respond to information, including medical advice and guidelines.
My Language Connection now has an on-the-ground presence in the UAE, allowing us to develop our existing relationships with Asia-Pacific clients, as well as a strong hold across the UK, Europe and the US."
About being an entrepreneur (who happens to be female)...
It's funny, when you start your own business you end up working harder for your own clients and team than you ever did for someone else! Especially when you're trying to build a reputation, hire talent, deliver great work for your clients and develop more business and that same ethos across your team. You have to work hard but it’s worth it to make a positive difference and be recognised for that.
Having stability, having security, and having the ability to create that for yourself is very empowering.
It can be hard to feel confident enough to apply for finance, funding and grants and take the risk of getting turned down. You worry that you might not be taken as seriously as male entrepreneurs, because females in this space are still the minority.
As a woman, you feel like you have to prove that you have the drive, you can manage the volume of work and that you’re capable of producing work to a higher standard than your competitors. Once you can prove that, you can go out and grasp that funding and grow it!
About the people who’ve supported me…
A big part of who I am today is a mentor who I worked with closely in the early stages - Angela Mckillop - she was just brilliant. Angela has a lot of experience within the construction sector, which is a male-driven environment. She helped me develop my self-worth so that I could grow as a leader.
I have felt 100% supported by other women in the Glasgow business network, every Scottish network I’ve been part of and at events across the UK.
The support you get from other women who are all doing the same thing is incredible.
My Business Advisor at Transmit was Michelle and she was really supportive. We’re still in touch on LinkedIn!
About barriers...
The agency I’d worked for had a female co-founder and director, and I felt that I was treated equally as a female member of the team. But I've worked in previous roles where I've not been treated equally and that was very disempowering.
I think there are some barriers when it comes to things like promotions and salary increases - men are a lot faster to put themselves forward, even when they don’t “tick all the boxes”. I think it’s a confidence thing.
Women sometimes focus so much on ticking all the right boxes when we could be asking for what we want!
I've always encouraged my team to open themselves up for development and to help me look at areas where we can promote them within the business.
My hopes for future female founders…
I think that women in the UK need more mentorship. There also needs to be more understanding that it's acceptable to reach out to other women and say, “Hey, can I have some help, please?!”
A lot of us don't want to ask for help, because we're fearful that someone is too busy. I think we can really help other women by saying, “I'm available, reach out for a coffee and I can talk you through some of the challenges that business owners face."
A good, experienced mentor can help you get funding, help you learn how to make sales and get cash into your business to grow.
We need to keep talking about it, sharing our knowledge and working together to normalise entrepreneurship for women.
A lot of women still feel like they have to choose between a family and starting a business of their own. Bringing a business idea to market does take huge amounts of time and energy, and to scale it takes even more. But if you've got a good support network, and you've got a good team around you, then there's no reason why you can't do both.
However, the system and society really does have to change to help to support this to become more normal: to minimise things like the gender pay gap and help increase equality.
Business ownership is for everyone and it's the most freeing and empowering thing to have that control over your own career.
Has Victoria's story got you thinking?
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