So You Want to Start a Business

Ingrid Thompson is the Founder of Healthy Numbers – a training, coaching and consulting business that helps people start and grow their own businesses. With a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in business from the University of Queensland, Ingrid started out working in large corporations as a management accountant, a role she really loved. An opportunity to move from accounting into training and development was a major career shift and led to Ingrid studying for a Diploma in Adult Learning before completing her Masters in Coaching Psychology. When it came time to leave the corporate world, Ingrid returned to accounting as an outsourced CFO for Small and Medium Businesses. In doing so, she found the people she most enjoyed working with. Many of the clients she was working with were really good at what they did, they just didn’t know much about running a business and in many cases Ingrid was called in to “sort out this mess”. Ingrid thought “What if people knew more about being in business before they start a business?”. In her Corporate training role she had set up the “Manager/ Supervisor in training” program and thought some thing like this would be great for people before they get started in their own business. Over time she has developed a seven step system for people thinking about starting a business – and that’s what’s in this book. Since starting Healthy Numbers in 2003, Ingrid has worked with almost 1,000 businesses across a range of industries – health and wellness, travel, manufacturing, retail, clothing, real estate and more. As well as working with people to start and grow their businesses, she has helped a number of businesses to scale and negotiate the sale of their business. She has even saved a few people from bankruptcy. Ingrid hosts a popular podcast, ‘So You Want to Start a Business’, and has developed an online program of the same name. She has also created a niche program, ‘So You Want to Start a Pilates Business’, specifically for Pilates Instructors who want to start their own studio. Ingrid currently resides in Sydney, Australia, with her partner and their 3 cats. She loves wine, yoga and surfing.