We were lucky to catch up with Susanna Reay recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Susanna thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
As a business coach, working solely online with amazing fellow solopreneurs and small business owners, my focus is on helping create signature solutions, which are offers that encapsulate the essence of their values, beliefs and serving clients in a very flexible manner.
We lean into their passions, prowess and personality to ensure everything is aligned. Rather than creating boring business plans, we create a business manifesto that combines values with productive behaviours to move the needle every day and get people through the tough moments.
Design is an integral element with all the offers, as expertise is visualised into unique frameworks that their clients can instantly follow, so they achieve the results they are looking for.
Susanna, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m Susanna Reay* award-winning business clarity coach, speaker, writer, dot connector, idea catcher and so much more. I’ve been supporting expert founders build their authority brand business for 20+ years so they can serve their solutions online to many.
(* If you’re wondering how my surname is pronounced, it’s “RAY” as in “SUN RAY”. I follow my name and bring rays of light into your business.)
I bring a unique perspective to business thinking, informed by my professional training in design and business strategy, multi-cultural life experiences and strengths as a divergent visual thinker.
I capture your ideas and clearly structure them so you can create a thriving business that is aligned to you.
I believe that running a business should be fun, empowering and led with integrity.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Living outside the Box
Half of my life has been spent living and working across the globe: 3 continents, 5 countries and 20 cities to be specific. This does not include travels for work and vacations. Today, the magic happens from my home studio, in the beautiful countryside south of Oxford in England, UK.
Life outside the box started as a child when my father took up entrepreneurial opportunities that led us across the oceans from the UK to America then Australia. This early on, built up an inner clarity compass as I quickly had to lean in, observe and see how society worked.
Being immersed in a culture, gives you real time to observe and understand what is going on. Holiday makers just skim the top level of a society, so cannot truly understand what is happening below the surface. When you take time to explore and really go deep, draw out what you see in front of you, documenting it – then you get to see the real picture.
Every time you move cities, and countries, its like a rug has been pulled out from underneath you and you have to start again, this built my resilience in multiple ways, as both a mother and a business owner.
You get used to asking the stupid questions as you are starting at zero each time, trying to find your way around. This resilience has built int to support I provide clients.
As it’s the same in business, understanding what you and your business need, to gain real clarity, starts with conversations. Clarity Conversations to be precise. And those start with asking the basic questions and leaning in, actively listening.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Since 2002, I’ve been supporting entrepreneurial start-ups, coaches and consultants to gain clarity and direction for the next stage growth in their business. My clients come from all over: Australia, Europe, America and the UK.
Building global connections has always been at the centre of my business, and clients come through me serving high value presentations online in other peoples communities, and showing up consistently across the platforms where my clients are. These days the majority of my time and clients come through Linkedin one way or another as even in person networking ends with people asking to connect there.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.susannareay.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susannareay
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susannareay/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SusannaReay