Interview with Christine Gouchault, CEO of Nordic Data Intelligence and Mors Business, author of Business Mum book
Interview by Marija Butkovic @MarijaButkovic
Christine Gouchault is a mother of four and a business owner. She is the CEO of Nordic Data Intelligence and Mors Business. Christine has created a community for self-employed women in Denmark with more than 400 members. Through counselling, workshops and lectures, she helps newly started businesses find their place in the market. Christine previously had her own recruitment agency in Paris and has 14 years of experience within human resources, sales and marketing. She holds a master’s degree in communication and advertisement from INSEEC Paris. In addition to this, she is a certified master, business and life coach, and volunteers as a mentor to the entrepreneur students at Copenhagen Business School.
Christine, when did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I first realized that I wanted to become a writer, when I wrote my thesis to become a Master Coach. For the first time in my life, the words just kept coming to me and I felt the flow. Until then everything I have written has been very short. In High School I used to say, that anything can be written in one page - with a big handwriting.
Tell us a bit more about you and your projects so far.
I’m an entrepreneur. I started my first business in Paris when I was 25 years old. Since I have started several companies. I currently hold “Mors Business” a Danish community for business mums where I do counselling and workshops and I’m the CEO of Nordic Data Intelligence that I’ve recently founded. Besides that I’m a mum with four kids (5,5,10 and 12) and and great husband.
How long did it take to write a book ‘Business Mum’?
It took about three months. My editor gave me a really short deadline if I wanted it published in the fall and so I just had to prioritize writing to get it done.
I already had all the content in my head and “just” needed to interview 10 inspiring business mums to connect my methods to real life stories.
What is your work schedule when you are writing?
On week days I went exercising after I put the kids of at school and then wrote from 10am to 5pm and again in the evening when the kids were put to bed from 20.30pm to 23pm. I often wrote in the evenings as well during weekends.
Where do I get info or ideas for my books?
Succeeding as a mum and a business owner is a subject and a message that I’m really passionate about. My content is based on my experience and then I decided to interview women that inspire me, to show my readers all the great role models that are out there and hopefully inspire them to follow their dreams and create their own success with the tool that I share.
What do I like to do when I’m not writing?
When I’m not writing I work on my business which mainly means spending time with customers and networking. Otherwise I spend time with my family and when possible we love to travel. I’m actually sitting in the beautiful Austrian mountains enjoying the snow and sun while doing this interview, and soon I’ll go back out on the slopes with my kids.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in writing your book?
That I was capable of doing it, and that you can write a good book in a short time if you know your subject well. From the interviews with the business mums, I was happy to learn that they all listen to their intuition or heart to make decisions, and that I helps them succeed. I had “feared” that they would only refer to business strategies, but they didn’t. Following your heart, taking massive action and asking for help will get you a long way no matter what business you are in and what resources you have.
How many books have you written?
I’ve only written Business Mum, but I had to write it twice for it to translate well from Danish to English.
Suggestions to help their readers become a better writer if so, what are they?
Write about something you are passionate about.
Think about the reader when you are writing. What’s in it for him/her? What’s the key message(s) you want to get across?
Just write, the edit it later. If you want every sentence to be perfect from the beginning it will take forever to get it right and you won’t get into a nice work-flow.
Do you hear from your readers much? What kind of things do they say?
My readers write to me sometimes, but mostly I meet them when I do workshops and public speaking. The general feedback is that they love the real life stories and the fact that the advice and methods are down to earth and easy to apply in real life. And that they use the book as a guide to build their business and find solutions when they meet an obstacle.
Is #womeninbusiness movement important to you and why?
Yes, it’s important because we still need more female role models and a better balance between men and women in business.
Best advice to female entrepreneurs/women in business?
Follow your heart, take massive action and learn from your mistakes rather than trying to do things perfectly the first time. You learn faster and get better results when you do things.
No one succeeds on their own, so don’t be afraid to ask for help, whether it be moral support from your partner, advice from fellow entrepreneurs or paying an accountant to help you with your bookkeeping.
Who are your 3 inspirational women in business?
Marie Forleo. I love her online universe and inspirational videos for entrepreneurs.
Kris Jenner. You can say what you want about the Kardashians, but they’ve build an amazing empire. Kris and her daughters show how powerful women can become and still have time for fun and family.
Margrethe Vestager. A Danish mum and politician rocking it at the EU commission where she takes up the battle against all the big tech firms like Google, Amazon, Facebook… to make them respect our personal data and pay taxes.
For more info about Christine, check her website.
Follow Christine on social media: Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn
Purchase Christine’s book ‘Business Mum’ via LID Publishing website here.
Join us for our March meetup - Balancing Motherhood and Business - and you can win Christine’s book!
This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder and CEO of Women of Wearables and co-founder of Kisha Smart Umbrella. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship and diversity. Visit marijabutkovic.co.uk or follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic @Women_Wearables @GetKisha.