An Interview With Marisa Guthrie ‒ Business Coach

Before setting up her coaching and mentoring business in 2008, Marisa was involved in running businesses for nearly 20 years. A serial entrepreneur, Marisa has set up several businesses and social enterprises, including a cross-party think tank and a business networking organization for women. She was also CEO for a health charity and a business policy advisor for the local and national government.

Marisa's work closely supports entrepreneurs in bringing their authentic selves to their work and helps them feel comfortable in their professional identity and business brand. Her mission is for small business owners to do business differently.

Marisa Guthrie, Business Coach

Who is Marisa?

Hello Brainz Magazine! In my professional life, I am a business coach to small and micro businesses who want to make money and change the world. I’m a wife and mum to my daughter and stepdaughter and we have recently moved to rural Devon in the UK which is the most beautiful place on earth, so I count myself very, very lucky!

Everything about who I am, my identity, and what is important to me, is tightly bound up with my business. There is no separation between how I think and feel about the world and how I express myself through my work.

A client recently said to me that they want to be ‘on the right side of history’ meaning that they want to be remembered for doing the right thing when it counted. We are facing untold challenges in the world right now, especially since Covid. Climate change, polarised communities, mental ill health on the rise, a broken political system, a threatened free press, huge challenges that it feels like we can’t do anything about.

But I believe that when business is used for good it can change society for the better and create communities dedicated to action. Everything I do in my work, and everything I stand for and am committed to in my life, focuses on how I can support businesses that are trying to make the world a better place. Who are using their platforms, however small, to solving problems for people and planet?

What is it that you do for your clients?

Coaching, and particularly business coaching can often be seen as a way of fixing something that is wrong. That if you use a particular technique, or tool, that it will provide the answers to all your questions. You just have to do it ‘this’ way.

My take is a little bit different. I will often say to clients that I believe that they already have the answers to the questions they have. My role is to walk alongside them as they uncover the answers themselves. Working in this way has several benefits for the client. It saves them time and money as they get to what they need so much quicker than if they were trying to find the answers on their own.

It means they are working from an empowered place because we are working as a team. It’s not a, “I tell, you do” kind of deal. I respect the personal and professional journey they have been on up to this point, taking into consideration who they are at their core, and what has led them to this point.

Coaching in this way means that they are developing and transforming on a personal level, not just professionally. They are changing with their business in ways that they can use in their personal life. I often say that along with the right strategy, what we need to succeed is the right mindset. You can throw all the business tools you like at a problem, but if the business owner struggles with mindset around a particular issue, things are not going to change.

Working with who the person is, warts and all means that we can throw light on all the things that are holding them back, in life, as well as business, and uncovering that brings all kinds of benefits.

Who should hire/work with you?

Anyone who is invested in using their business for good, in whatever capacity. I have a membership programme called Doing Business Differently because that is what we are trying to do. We want to do it differently from the way it has always been done. Business isn’t just about shareholders and profit. It’s an opportunity to improve society and the lives of other people.

I also talk a lot about being yourself in your business, being authentic, and not trying to emulate others or how you think it ‘should’ be done. Working in this way is not only more relaxing, it’s actually better for the bottom line as we attract more clients and prospects who are drawn to our values and what we stand for.

We want to use our businesses to solve the problems we see in the world, making a difference and leaving behind something better for future generations.

Also, being an entrepreneur is hard! We are much more susceptible to burnout that our employed counterparts and it can be a really lonely place. Entrepreneurs are often rebels, highly capable, driven, and ambitious, and find it hard to ask for help. But it doesn’t have to be like that. We all need support and business coaching and mentoring provide that vital lifeline when you feel you might be floundering.

I practice what I preach and I have had a wonderful mentor for over 15 years who has seen me through everything! I know that she has my back, and without her I wouldn’t be where I am today. All business owners deserve that kind of support. Plus, it’s more fun when you can share the journey!

What is your big goal? Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

I want to change the world! I’m kidding – but only partly….! Especially since Covid it feels like we are moving in to a new era of Capitalism. I’m no economist, but it feels like the system is broken, but it’s the only one we have, so I want to use my skills, albeit in a very humble way, to try and work with what we have and create something new and different.

My children are often my greatest teachers and I feel that this next generation is unencumbered by the systems, models, and institutions we have lived with for so long. Their worldview, driven by technology is completely different to me, and my generation. Supporting them to help them create something new is one of my main drivers.

I also want to work with more people across the world through my membership programme. Business coaching is very expensive and can be too onerous an investment for many business owners.

Working with more people through online group coaching and through creating a community of like-minded business owners means I can work with many more people and have a greater reach and impact with my work. I want to move away from business coaching being elitist or inaccessible.

In 10 years from now, I will be working with 1000’s of people across the globe, of all ages and backgrounds, coming together around one central idea – to do business differently. Will you be one of them?