We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Maggie Sarfo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Maggie below.
Alright, Maggie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?
I’ve been in the world of business growth and personal development for around 20 years so it’s fair to say that I’ve had the opportunity to see quite a number of trends.
Some come and go; others stay for the longer haul.
One trend that has definitely got my attention for a few years now and rapidly gaining momentum is that of values-led or conscious business models.
I’ve seen this with my clients (from start-up entrepreneurs to larger corporates). I’ve also experienced it within my own business.
There’s a growing trend toward companies aligning their missions with broader meaning and value that align with social or environmental purposes beyond just profit-making. This approach emphasizes creating value for self and others, contributing positively to teams, stakeholders, clients, communities, and addressing global challenges.
Let me share my story with our client Sam N, Founder of a values-led company that has grown exponentially.
Not long ago I was approached by the founder of a wellbeing company to provide some advisory and mentoring services for her. A journey that started with self-development progressed rapidly to exponential business growth. The ultimate was not just 4X profitable business growth but a deeper connection to herself, the business, others, clients, partners, community and values.
Sam had run a successful company for 10 years and was at a point where she felt that there was much more to her and the business. She just wasn’t sure how to find the key to unlock this next phase.
She was finding it challenging to align her evolving purpose and values into their culture and business model for growth.
With an ambitious drive and vision but not knowing where to start, she appointed my company Meres Consult to enable them to:
– establish the future service roadmap
– increase growth by exploring untapped markets and
– find a business model that generates revenue without always exchanging time.
Within just 3-6 months we experienced these transformational results. We did some work around aligning her values to that of the business. We then embedded this into the culture, vision and mission of the business and communicated this within the business and out into the world, which led to:
– Expansion into a larger premises and 400% profitable growth in one year
– Happier repeat longer-term clients due to a human-centered approach
– Implementation of recurring revenue model that shared financial rewards fairly among associates.
As with most of our clients, the results always exceed our expectations.
As Sam says,
‘We now feel more aligned with our values, purpose, business growth, team, profits, relationships, finances and much more.’– Sam N, Founder and CEO, Wellbeing Services Company
I strongly believe that aligning our business growth with values and the right business/organizational models can lead to happier clients and teams, satisfied stakeholders and higher profits.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Most business owners or leaders who provide meaningful services/products to others, often avoid growing in a big way or are not sure where to start. To support you with this, I enable you and your business for transformational growth via 1:1 mentoring, group workshops/keynotes and other services.
The results always exceed our expectations. In the case of my client Charlie, not only did his business grow. It did by multiple fold.
He says, ‘Thank you for helping me to be more brave.’
Bottomline: when you work with me and my company Meres Consult, growth meets transformation!
Here’s a link for a complimentary introductory call for us to explore if we’re a good fit to work together on your personal or business growth. You can also share it with someone that you feel needs to speak with me today.
Explore Call: http://bit.ly/MCExploreCall
About Maggie Sarfo
Maggie Sarfo is an international best-selling author, Keynote/TEDx speaker, advisor and mentor for inspirational individuals, entrepreneurs and leaders and brings over 18 years’ experience in leadership, growth and transformation to her audiences.
Her work with world class firms like Gartner, WPP, GLG, Blake Morgan LLP, The Wellness Universe and other small to midsize companies has led to the successful delivery of numerous business growth and people transformation programmes.
Majority of her clients become hugely successful in their roles and businesses or transition happily.
Maggie also deals with purpose and mission development (personal & organisational), and loves talking about the intersection of emotional intelligence and AI.
She is CEO of Meres Consult (a business and personal growth consulting firm). Based in London (UK), Maggie serves clients globally in person and online.
Connect with Maggie:
Website: https://meresconsult.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-sarfo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maggiesarfo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maggie.sarfo
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
The life of every successful person, whether a business leader or entrepreneur is never a straight-line trajectory. There are zig-zags along the way. There are epic (perceived) failures along the way, as well as ecstatic successes! What matters is how we deal with and learn from the failures in order to catapult to the next level of success.
True successful people often have a form of thermostat that can limit how much love, abundance, success and creativity they can allow into their lives in equal measure; as they get more successful.
Be aware of the importance of balance. We are meant to have it all, not have imbalances in any area of our lives. What stops us is this internal thermostat that causes majority of people to self-sabotage when all aspects of these areas are about to line up at a higher level.
I have certainly experienced this and seen a breakthrough. I have certainly seen it in a number of clients and most successful people I know.
I would recommend two books by Gay Hendricks:
1. The Big Leap
2. The Genius Zone
These two books will enable you to break through any perceived glass ceilings you’ve unconsciously set for yourself so you can attain a full happier life in all aspects – love, abundance, success, creativity, health etc.!
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I spent 15 years in the corporate world before setting up my business 7 years ago. I actually started on a bootstrap with not much capital. I used most of the money from my last wage to hire a US-based business coach who understood digital marketing. My vision was to grow a global business so I knew I had to learn how to go to market digitally.
I got baptised at the deep end and was asked to do many (cringe-worthy) social media live videos and vlogs :)
Looking back now, I am so grateful for them because they prepared me to bring my unique voice into the world. I delivered a TED Talk last year. Even though I’m London (UK) based, my first clients for the first two years of my business mostly came from US, Australia, Canada, Europe and UK.
I had to unlearn keeping up appearances and learn how to show up, speak up and be my authentic self in order to attract the true clients who aligned with my message. They are who I am meant to serve.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://meresconsult.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maggiesarfo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maggie.sarfo
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-sarfo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73tLVf75EfJUM2E9-smIyw