nilofer merchant

"Onlyness is that thing that only you can bring to a situation, the collective combination of all your experiences, hopes, dreams, achievements, setbacks, meanderings and accidents of birth."


So what is my "Onlyness"?

What are "the collective combination of all [my] experiences, hopes, dreams, achievements, setbacks, meanderings and accidents of birth" that bring me to do this work?

And, just as importantly, how does my onlyness support you as you launch your business?

As a business strategist, I have worked with a lot of business owners to help them to grow their businesses.

In almost every conversation I have with a business owner, they talk about how incredibly hard they worked for the first few years of their business because they had no clue what they were doing.

After I had a number of these conversations, I decided to create The Midlife Launch Co. so that I could provide new business owners with a business plan, a website and all the business tools they need to get their business off the ground together with a marketing plan in place so that they don't waste years trying to figure out how to run a business and making the mistakes that so many of us have made in our entrepreneurial journeys.

When you're starting your business in your 40's or 50's, you don't want to waste years reinventing the wheel or embarking upon a steep learning curve when you really don't have to.

I've been doing this for 15 years. I started my first business at the age of 37 and am starting this business (my fourth business) at the age of 52. So please trust me when I say that I know a thing or three about all the elements that need to be in place to start a business (as well as all the things that can and should come later).

The Midlife Launch Lab brings together my 15 years experience as a business owner, my training as a business strategist, my obsession with creating websites, my background as an attorney and my passion for empowering women to build their legacy through the businesses that they create. 

I'm very passionate about building successful businesses that make a difference in our communities. That element of making a difference feels more important now than ever.

I have chosen to work exclusively with aspiring female business owners in their 40's and 50's as I am passionate about helping women bring together their decades of experience and their natural talents and interests to create a business that only they can create. Something that will become a significant part of their legacy.

At age 26, I moved from London (where I was a trainee attorney) to New York for six months. During the past 26 years, I've gone from being a lawyer to a serial entrepreneur with some stand up comedy and improv thrown in for good measure.

I have 15 years of experience in the trenches as a business owner.  I started my first business at the age of 37, my second business at the age of 48, my third business at the age of 50 and this business, my fourth, at the age of 52.  So please trust me when I say that I know a thing or three about starting a business as a slightly more mature entrepreneur!

In 2005, after being an attorney for a decade, I started a business called The Creative Groove Studio offering music, art and dance classes for toddlers and a preschool prep program for 2-3 year olds. It grew from one class a week in a church hall to a business with 100+ students each week, a staff of 10, two studio locations and a revenue of $200,000+ per year.  

I learned a lot from building that business - I learned what worked incredibly well (I was very clear on my story and my customers' stories which meant that my business story resonated) and I learned how much I got in my own way (no business strategy or planning, zip, nada).  

I worked incredibly hard because I wasn't clear on the things that only I could do. For years, I did everything in the business - from the $10/hour jobs to the $300+/hour jobs. It felt like I never switched off. When I started to hire staff, I overpaid everyone because I valued their time way more than I valued my own.

​I also spent way too much time doing things that I should have hired someone to do. 

What I learned from those years and what I now share with all of my business coaching clients is that your most effective and most satisfying role in your business will be doing the work that only you can do.





If you would like to learn more about my entrepreneurial journey, keep reading ...

"Work at its smartest means doing that work that no one else can do. When you are doing something well that others want, and you are the only one who can do it, you will be uncommonly rewarded. Your greatest job is shedding what you don't have to do."

Kevin Kelly

During the first decade of building Creative Groove Studio, I pursued my interest in coaching. I became a Master Life Coach trained by Martha Beck, a branding strategist trained by Reach and, in 2016, a Quiet Power Strategy certified strategist trained by Tara McMullin, author of Quiet Power Strategy and creator of the What Works Network.  

When I was 48, I started Ink: The Story Studio which took everything I had learned in the previous 11 years of running Creative Groove Studio to help other creative business owners to start and grow their businesses with less unnecessary effort. 

When I was 50, I started The Midlife Courage Lab, offering coaching, courses and community to women in their 40's and 50's who want to make the next chapter of their life the happiest and most satisfying chapter yet.  Some of my Midlife Courage Lab clients are starting their first businesses which inspired me to start The Midlife Launch Co. as I feel especially passionate about supporting midlife women to launch businesses as effectively and with as much ease, joy and success as possible.

As a Master Life Coach and a Quiet Power Strategy® business strategist. when you hire me you get two coaches for the price of one. Because the more I do this work, the more I learn that the business stuff and the life stuff are completely intertwined. You can't work on one without working on the other (especially when you are starting a business in your 40's or 50's and blending decades of experience with the unknown territory of entrepreneurship).

I can help you to create a successful business by being more you.  While also helping you to get out of your own way.  So that you can reach your full potential and so can your business.

I want you to have the time and energy to live a life that you love.  

​Doing work that feels meaningful and important to you. Creating and maintaining satisfying and fulfilling relationships and friendships. Supporting causes that you hold dear.  To build successful businesses that make a difference in our communities - which feels more important now than ever.

​It would be an honor to support you to launch your business.

Sal xoxo