Transformative Retail Business Mentoring

Business Mentoring

6 months of business mentoring for small business owners who want a trusted adviser on hand as they evolve their small business

Power Hours & open inboxes
As well as our Zoom sessions, you'll have unlimited access to my support by email & WhatsApp.
Simple, transparent pricing
£2990 plus VAT, and there is a payment plan available.
Zoom & resume
Each session takes place totally online and you'll have the option to playback later
What business mentoring offers

A trusted adviser offering business mentoring

When someone tells you “oh wow, you’ve built such an amazing small business” – does a part of you wish they knew how lost you sometimes feel?

I know how hard you work, how badly you want to succeed, how much you believe in the potential of your business, and how much progress you’ve already made.

But at some point – between juggling orders, suppliers and the relentless need to keep up on social media, you’ve begun to feel overwhelmed. Sound familiar? I’ve love to help.  

My business mentoring has helped many small business owners gain confidence and clarity.

Working with me

What my business mentoring offers

6 months support, a full review of your business, and on-tap support to make the changes you need to help your business flourish

We’ll kick off the business mentoring process with a review of an in-depth questionnaire that I ask you to complete before working together. Covering a range of topics, the questionnaire will provide me with the context I need to help identify where things are working really well, and where your areas of development are.

It’s a unique opportunity to find out how your business is performing compared to my extensive experience of product businesses.

Based on our discovery work in the first session, we’ll create a bespoke action plan for you and your business, identifying what actions you need to take in the short, medium and long term to address any issues we’ve uncovered.

We’ll also set key actions for you to complete during our time together to help give you accountability and clear check-in points for future calls.

The focus on the next two calls will be all about sales. Again, this will be tailored to your individual business, but the types of topics we might cover will include:

  • Creating a simple but powerful sales forecast to help keep you on track
  • Looking at your “break-even” point as a business to understand how your sales and your expenses align
  • Planning your key sales and marketing activities in a clear, easy-to-use format to help you get organised and move from being reactive to becoming proactive.
  • Analysing your current and potential sales channels to identify potential areas of growth.
  • Looking at how your team structure can support that growth.

 

At the end of each call, we’ll identify the key actions you agree to take before our next call, to help keep the momentum going and keeping you accountable for making real change in your business.

Our final two calls will be focused on your plans for the business in the short, medium and long term. This will be entirely bespoke to your business. By the end of our time together, you’ll have a clear plan to move you forward, and feel confident that you are putting into place what you need to get there.

 

The goals clients have achieved through business mentoring

How business mentoring helps

Consistent sales growth

Creating a robust sales strategy that encourages consistency and sustainable sales growth.

Strategic planning

Getting off the rollercoaster and into the driving seat of the business with a clear plan in place.

Identifying drains

Finding the areas where time, money and effort are being spent in less than productive ways.

Proactive business

Reducing your stress and be better prepared for peak selling seasons

Financial planning

Getting clear on key numbers to monitor in the business and how to evaluate the business performance yourself.

Founders vision

Ensuring that you are building a business that fits your definition of success, and no-one else's.

Support needed

Working out what structure and resources will help you hit your goals, and how these fit into your finances.

Confidence and motivation

Supporting you as the business founder, equipping you with knowledge and confidence.

Testimonials from former business mentoring clients

Kind words from business mentoring clients

How determined and creative small business owners just like you have found the business mentoring program.

I've worked with Catherine as part of her membership and as a 1-1 client and she has really helped me get into the numbers of the business (something I'd very much shied away from previously) Catherine is a real wealth of knowledge when it comes to running a product based business and I felt fully understood and supported at a time when I was questioning how best to grow the business in a manageable way
Lauren Derrett
Founder
I can't recommend working with Catherine enough! I've been working with her on a one to one basis since 2020, and I credit working with her with transforming my business from kitchen table start up to award-winning brand. She is incredibly knowledgeable, thoughtful, supportive and practical.
Paula Warwick
Founder
She is extremely knowledgeable and very analytical, but also understands the human element involved in running a retail business. I have found her to be very calm and clear and her advice has been really useful. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her.
Donna Nichol
Founder
I worked with Catherine for over a year and am always so impressed with her professionalism, creative ideas and knowledge. As a 121 mentor she was so helpful to me and my business and I really valued all of her support.
Rebecca Yates
Founder
I have worked with Catherine for many years to help me work strategically on the business. She has been a massive help in giving me clarity on everything from profit in the business to growth & moving to our new unit in 2021. She has a great way of making you see things clearly and I always left the meetings with new focus and lots of ideas as well as being really motivated in the next steps for the business.
Helen Dukes
Founder
Who will benefit from business mentoring

Business mentoring offers support you need as your small business changes

Creative and innovative product businesses who want expert input and clarity into improving the way that their business runs.

Suitable for those that sell online or offline, wholesale or direct to the consumer or a mix of all of those.

The process is tailored to you and your unique business and is designed to help you fill in any “blind spots” you might have as the founder.

Mentoring is suitable for established businesses looking for expert support, as well as early stage ambitious start-ups.

Independent businesses' favourite retail expert

A selection of my fabulous clients

Gayle Mansfield Designs

West Sussex

Disko Kids

Birmingham

White Rain Designs

Hertfordshire

Neon Marl

Bedfordshire

Olive and Frank

Wirral

Acorn & Pip

Huddersfield

Mama Shack

Ashford

Cositas

St Albans
All about business mentoring with Catherine

Small business and retail expert, passionate about helping you grow

Since 2018 I have worked with hundreds of creative product businesses to grow their sales, manage their inventory, unlock their profit potential and build businesses that last.

In 2023 I was voted in the UK’s top 5 sales advisors by Enterprise Nation. I founded The Resilient Retail Club to share my more-than two decades of industry experience with the most exciting sector of the retail industry – businesses just like yours.

I am a supportive mentor, and love nothing more than working closely with small business owners to help them make real changes to their product business.

Ready to get support?

Let's talk

The next step with business mentoring is a free, no-obligation call to find out more about how I can help

Frequently asked questions

Want to know if business mentoring is right for you?

If you don’t see the answer to your question right here, please get in touch, we’d love to help.

I usually take on mentoring clients on a rolling basis as other clients finish their time with me.  My next availability will be from September 2023, so the mentoring will run from September to November, take December off, and finish in January to March.

I only take on a small number of clients at a time, so I suggest getting in touch to join the waiting list for September if you are interested.

Absolutely, I have run many sessions with two people.  Zoom works very well for hosting multiple people at a time.

Yes, any session where we meet on Zoom is recorded and uploaded to a shared folder for you to access afterwards.  Many people prefer this as it means that they don’t need to take so many notes.

Yes, you are welcome to pay in 6 monthly instalments of £525 plus VAT

Typically these sessions are held on Zoom, which has the added benefit of being able to record the session for later review.

However, if you are based, or willing to travel, to South East London, I am sometimes able to meet in person.  Feel free to ask!

News you can use

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