TWO friends put corporate careers behind them to launch a business coaching entrepreneurs.

Sarah Hickling and Dawn Hart set up Your Time Coaching, mentoring small businesses in everything from positive mindsets to time management.

Sarah, a career coach in Blandford, and Dawn, a life coach and yoga teacher in Sherborne, meet local clients in person and offer consultations via Skype or Zoom to clients all over the world.

The pair had both enjoyed careers at shoe retailer Clarks, based in Somerset, Sarah said, before starting their business in 2016.

“We always knew we could do something together because we had a similar outlook,” she said.

“We didn’t know quite what it would be and we never wanted it to be in a corporate environment.”

Sarah consulted a coach herself after leaving Clarks. She ran an independent shop before going into business with Dawn, who wanted to change career after having a baby.

“The big thing we always loved through Clarks was being a troubleshooter, the person to go to, and that’s what we were both very good at but we didn’t know how good we were at it until we left,” said Sarah.

The pair consult individuals at any stage from changing jobs to developing businesses. “It can be just a small thing or quite a dramatic change,” said Sarah.

“I’ve helped a client recently who said she got sucked into being an accountant at and she said ‘There’s something not quite right, I’m not enjoying it, it doesn’t make me excited and happy’. She’s now going to be training as a nurse. She was on good money, but she said it’s not about the money.”

As well as one-to-one consultations, the pair run five different workshops on subjects such as mindset, time management and planning.

There is a free “netwalking” group on the first Thursday of each month in Sherborne, enabling like-minded people to network while enjoying the fresh air.