HOW DO I MAKE MY BUSINESS WORK?
Small and micro business coach MARISA GUTHRIE explains how she can help small photography businesses grow and become more profitable
Hi marisa, tell us a bit about yourself…
I’m a business coach to small and micro businesses. One way or another, I have been running businesses for nearly 28 years across many industries and sectors. Since setting up my coaching business in 2008, I have worked with hundreds of business owners, many of whom are artists, creators and makers.
What is a business coach and how do you help your clients?
Crucially, I am not a consultant, so I don’t tell people what to do! As a coach, I believe that you already have answers to the issues you are grappling with. My role is to facilitate you being able to find those answers. That doesn’t mean I don’t hold my clients accountable.
I spend a lot of time getting to know you and your business, and together we create a strategy and a plan for your business. My job is to hold you accountable to that plan so that you move closer to your goals. Working in this way means my clients see the changes they wish to see because they have bought into the whole process. It’s hugely satisfying and such a privilege to be invited to be a part of that.
Why do you choose to work with small and micro businesses?
The majority of business activity in the UK comes from small and micro businesses, (typically one-person enterprises or up to 10 employees) with some estimates quoting as much as 80 per cent of overall businesses. That’s a huge amount!
But because they are usually self-funded, have limited budgets and little infrastructure, these businesses are the least able to access any specialist kind of support, such as working with a business coach. I’m using my skills to address that inequality and level up the playing field for these hard-working business owners.
For any pro photographers or aspiring photographers out there who are reading this, what services would you offer and how could you help them?
For every kind of business imaginable, there is a business coach, and we all do things slightly differently. The work I do focuses specifically on helping people create profitable businesses that they love running. This might sound obvious, but we’re all aware of those ‘get to six figures in six months’ type of coaches. While that kind of growth is possible, it isn’t likely because what those coaches don’t tell you is that you will need to work 80+ hours a week to get there and, if you do that, you’ll be burnt out and hate your job.
What I am interested in is helping people create fulfilling and sustainable businesses. Businesses that facilitate the owner’s personal goals and bring them joy, while being of service to others. That’s why my strapline is “Increase your profits, do more of what you love.” If you build a profitable business that you don’t enjoy working in, it won’t be fulfilling. Equally, if you love what you do, but you aren’t making enough money to support the life you want, it’s not sustainable.
Through providing sustainable growth programmes, I help business owners create the businesses they want. To show them specifically how I do that, I offer a free two-hour business review so we can really explore exactly how I can help them and they can leave with actions they can take and implement straight away.
Are there common mistakes that micro business owners, such as photographers make and what advice do you give them?
Confusing sales and marketing is something nearly all business owners struggle with. Often, there is a big emphasis on marketing, but there is no strategy around any kind of sales process, so it is left to chance with an ‘If I build it, they will come’ kind of mentality.
Of course, we need good marketing to get people to our business, but if we don’t know what to do with them when they get there, we won’t see our businesses grow. Luckily, this is something I can help with. None of this is rocket science, just something that requires a bit of time and strategy.