Entrepreneurial Journey: Sarah Parkins

Sarah founded two businesses, Birch Cove  and Kadence Group. Both focus on generating well-being in business from early stage startups to long established corporations. 

Birch Cove helps established businesses generate more well-being across their ecosystem through advisory, expert programming, and gifting services. With rising numbers of employees burning out and facing chronic well-being challenges, organisations are restructuring to position well-being within the core of their business strategy and operation.

Kadence Group enhances early stage startup well-being for entrepreneurs through cohort-based learning, world-class coaching, and alumni community. To build healthy businesses that are durable, sustainable and profitable we must grow healthy leaders first.

Sarah's Journey

Prior to her entrepreneurial life, Sarah spent 16 years working with larger organisations where 13 of those years were in the London finance industry and New York’s Wall Street. 

As Sarah’s purpose came into focus she became an active full-time entrepreneur in 2016 and co-founded her first business in strategic gifting for business, leading to the curation of thousands of gifts for Fortune 100 companies to solopreneurs. Birch Cove was the second business Sarah founded after she became inspired from client conversations about the well-being of relationships.

“Now both businesses, Birch Cove and Kadence Group, focus on well-being in business, why it’s important, and how we generate it. Birch Cove arrived first, and then Kadence Group took shape a few years afterwards - with a different target audience but a similar focus.”

Challenges

Sarah faced many challenges when setting up her businesses, particularly when juggling lots of things and being responsible for a variety of different activities across the business.

“As a founder you wear multiple hats on any given day: sales, client acquisition, prospect and client management, operations, accounting, accounts payable, systems development, technology management, product development, R&D, hiring, talent management, tax management, financial management, strategy development, and not least leadership. It can be overwhelming and having clear boundaries with yourself and others is critical."

Sarah emphasises the importance of going with your gut intuition when faced with difficult decisions or feeling you are being pulled in multiple directions.

“The vision for your business is key and trusting your own instincts and intuition becomes the driving force behind action and growth. If you did everything people tell you to do as a small business, you would not have a business.”

Words of advice

“Learn to let others help you, learn to receive.”

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