With her new book "The Amazing Race to Entrepreneurial Freedom" set for release at the end of August, Georgina Terry is definitely living her passion.

Burning with a desire to help entrepreneurs, aspiring and existing, to achieve their dreams, Terry is the Director of her own company, Business and People Development Associates Limited, which coaches people and organisations in business and career development.

Originally from London, and born to a Trini mother, and a Sierra Leonean father, Terry came to Trinidad in 2001 on a work assignment, as an expat. Falling in love with the country, and her significant other, during the six years she spent here (she'd only visited twice before at the age of two and twenty-one), Terry decided to start her business in 2007, and stay in Trinidad.

Three years later, this self-described passions to profitability expert, who is also a qualified accountant, change management consultant, and owner of a mobile, spa business - The Pamper Suite Limited, has built a solid reputation, as someone who really helps you to get into the right frame of mind for business.

In "The Amazing Race to Entrepreneurial Freedom", Terry talks about defining your purpose and vision, developing your business idea, and transitioning from an employee to an entrepreneur. Everyone is "the CEO of Me Limited", she says. Here's her advice on making that step from employee to entrepreneur, and channelling your passion into profits.

O: Who is Georgina Terry? I'm curious to hear about your family, where you live now, have lived in the past, the whole lot!

GT: Who am I? I am a loving, reflective, funny, shy, passionate, visionary, powerful, ambitious, determined, crazy, sometimes fearless, warm, loveable, social, giving, spiritual and inspirational person. Years ago, I would have answered an accountant, a sister, a daughter, businesswoman, consultant, coach etc, but these are what I do, not who I am! So many of us can't/ don't make that distinction. We make what we do part of our identity and then when change occurs and that piece of 'us' is no longer there, that is a husband/wife gets divorced, for a mother/ father the kids leave home or an employee loses his or her job, we feel lost and don't know who we are any more.

I believe this all starts when we are kids, when we are asked, "What will you be when you grow up", and the answer expected is about the external role, rather than the internal - self. I am the eldest of four siblings and we were brought up to believe that we could do and have anything we wanted in this life - the only limitation would be in our minds. So with this 'gift' - I really believe our parents gave us an amazing gift, because we really believed what they said and it worked and works for us.

Only in my twenties, did I find out that not everyone knew that their only limitation was in their minds. So my business allows me to help people know this, believe this and help them make their dreams become reality, so they can have the lives they deserve and desire.

O: How would you describe what you do?

GT: I will share with you what two people have described what I do. I am a carbon extractor. According to Wikipedia, "carbon filtering is a method of filtering that uses a piece of activated carbon to remove contaminants and impurities, utilizing chemical adsorption". When people ask me to work with them, I help them to release their toxins (e.g. limiting beliefs, fears, 'bad' behaviours, disempowering thoughts etc), which helps to purify their thoughts, which allows room for new perspectives, new behaviours, review and understanding of values, inspired actions, clarity of vision and purpose, and the unleashing of passion! Or alternatively, I stir up greatness in people to help them turn their passions into profits.

O: You tell others every day to live their passion, but how did it happen for you?

GT: As far back as I can remember, I have been interested in helping others achieve their career ambitions. Even when I was a Financial Controller at PricewaterhouseCoopers, I had a team of 22 people, and I really took the time to understand their career desires and then helped members of the team to achieve them. 

I remember when one of my team members told me in an appraisal review, that she wanted to become a manager. She had been in the firm for 20 years, but had not been promoted above supervisor. I asked her how much she wanted it and agreed to work with her, to make this a reality. It took about a year. I remember when I got the approval for her promotion; I gave her the letter and said, "Aren't you going to open it now?" She said, "No. I want to open this with my son".

She had tears in her eyes, which made me become tearful too and at that point I realized how much this meant to her, her life and her son's. That was the moment it started, but I did not realize it at that time.

When I moved in the consulting world in 2001, I worked for a company whose business model combined consulting and coaching. This is when I found out, that what I enjoyed doing and what came naturally, actually had a name and was a profession! It also combined my two professions, developing and achieving tangible business results.

But the real aha moment came when I was reading "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success" by Deepak Chopra. It was the seventh spiritual law  - 'The law of Dharma', which means 'purpose in life' that brought the clarity. There are three components of this law - 1. Discover your true Self, 2. Express our unique talents, and 3. Service to humanity. This is when I knew that I had found my passion and my purpose in this life! I cried when the realization hit.

O: You have worked in several different sectors and interacted with thousands of people over the course of your career, so I'm curious to know, do you notice any trends in entrepreneurship among young people today?

GT: I volunteer as a business mentor for Youth Business Trinidad and Tobago www.ybtt.org and I have noticed that young people I have been exposed to are brave, innovative, creative, flexible, open to opportunities and possibilities, they take quick action, they are open to diversification and they believe that they can and they do.

Photography by Mark Lyndersay of http://lyndersaydigital.com. Mark is a professional photographer and writer working in Trinidad and Tobago since 1976. His column on personal technology, BitDepth, has been continuously published since 1995. He is currently pursuing a photo essay series about how Trinidad and Tobago pursues its culture and festivals called Local Lives. Both series are archived on his website at http://lyndersaydigital.com.