This month’s inspiring businesswoman is Kerry Metcalfe. She supports small business owners with business and marketing strategies and is the founder of The Business Mums Club membership, helping mums in business to thrive. Read on to find out about the best piece of career advice she’s received, and what she’d tell her 20-year-old self.

What was your first job? Did you enjoy it?

Aside from little part-time jobs during college and university, my first ever ‘job’ was an apprenticeship at a large marketing and web design company. I absolutely adored this job, and I genuinely think that if I didn’t get the support from that company during my time there, I wouldn’t have followed my passion for marketing as much as I did.

What do you do now?

For the past five years, I’ve supported small business owners with their marketing and business strategies to ensure their business works around their life, not the other way around. Being a small business owner can be tough. I think having someone in your corner, as your number one cheerleader, guiding you through the decision-making processes, helps so much, which is what I provide for my clients.

I’ve always had a passion for marketing, and studying graphic design in college and university certainly helped with my creative flair!

You can find out more from my website, or come and say hello on Instagram or Facebook on my page or The Business Mums Club group.

How do your services help small business owners?

I help take out the overwhelm in your marketing and business strategies. They don’t have to be over-complicated; however, I think there’s so much noise online, so it can be overwhelming when you don’t know the best solution to your problems. I help my clients put the wheels in motion with those ideas they’ve had but never actioned, launch new services and gain more time in their lives so they can truly experience the work-life balance we all crave.

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve been given? How did it help you?

Nothing is ever a failure; it’s always a lesson learnt. I suffered business burnout quite early on in my journey, and everything that I help my clients with now is the exact strategy I wish I’d known in my first few years of business.

If a launch doesn’t go the way you’d hoped, don’t give up. Have a strategy session with yourself, look at the data, figure out WHY it didn’t go to plan and create a solid strategy to re-launch it, knowing what you know now.

If you could give your 20-year-old self one piece of career advice, what would it be?

If it scares you, do it sooner! I’d always dreamed of having my own business, and I genuinely think that if it wasn’t for the circumstances in which I started (being made redundant), I wouldn’t have had the guts to take the plunge. Nothing in life is ever 100% secure, and being employed and self-employed can both be hard, scary situations to be in… choose your hard!

Which do you prefer, tea or coffee? Beach or pool? Seaside or countryside?

100% coffee! Even though I only have 1-2 cups a day, I genuinely don’t think I could go a day without it.

Pool for sure! I’m a little bit OCD, and the thought of being on a beach for 10 minutes but washing it out for 10 hours makes me want to cry.

Seaside. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about seeing the ocean that just calms me.

What’s your dream job or client?

My dream client is a new mum who wants to build a ‘freedom’ life for her and her family… without the BS.

As a mum of two, I love nothing more than guiding mums from an idea to a business and watching them not have to choose between climbing the corporate ladder or picking their kids up from school… You CAN run a successful business!

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