Natasha McCreesh led a varied 20 year career in buying, product development and brand marketing before taking the step to launch her coaching, mentoring and collaboration business, PiP to Grow Strong in 2014. And while there is a plethora of business coaches, it is Natasha’s career journey, speaking the truth and her commitment to only work on projects which bring her (and others) joy that makes Natasha stand out from the competition.
With the belief that growth cannot come from passion alone, the acronym ‘PiP’ was derived to challenge her clients to put their ‘Passion into Perspective’, enabling them to clearly see and understand that different perspectives create not just growth, but sustainability. Natasha walks this talk by taking groups of leaders out to Liberia in West Africa, deepening self-awareness and leadership by being in service to local emerging leaders on economic growth projects and a community school build.
Amongst other things, Natasha can help strategic projects get kick-started, aid personal and professional growth or help teams experience a greater connection to their work.
Having dropped out of university, a route she didn’t want to take but was encouraged to by her parents, Natasha began her professional career in retail before moving up the career ladder into buying and retail manager roles.
With her career taking her around the country, it was in one role with a young baby and working 12 hour days to juggle that she realised things needed to change. Contacting a recruiter, she was put forward for a role double her salary which led her to start understanding and valuing her worth.
Natasha went on to become the Marketing Controller for Jacuzzi Group Worldwide, where she led teams across buying, product development, design and brand marketing to grow new products and channels, increasing sales and profits along the way.
It was during a period of corporate restructure where Natasha felt completely out of control of her own future that planted the idea to have her own business. Although the restructure saw Natasha go on to become the Brand Manager for Jacuzzi, a role which she very much enjoyed and continued for the next 2 years, it was this role which reinforced her vision of starting her own business.
While Natasha wanted to start a business, she didn’t want to carry on down the same career path. Instead, she wanted to take her passions and create something which not only sat comfortably with her ‘truth’ but challenged her too.
How long have you been running your business and what does your business do?
I set up my coaching, mentoring and project collaboration business in 2014. As you can imagine, it’s not all been plain sailing. I endured a slow first year, making little money to support myself and my teenage daughter. I also worked with many individuals who weren’t as committed to the growth of their businesses as I was, which while I found challenging, it enabled me to really define what my ideal customer looks like.
Fast-forward four years and I have doubled my turnover year on year. I now work with business leaders male and female from a range of different backgrounds, all with one thing in common – passion for making a difference in the world, either on a local level within their business and people, or globally on a passion project.
I have built my business around my core values of freedom, collaboration and thankfulness rather than a “niche”. I partner with my clients on their projects and missions. I am with them beyond our coaching sessions and I connect them with who they need to connect with to grow strong. As a result, I have attracted a variety of sectors and size of organisation; from IT Architects to Creative Arts Charities, Accountants to Film Makers it doesn’t matter, kick-starting projects and connecting to vision and purpose follows the same path, I am the critical friend on that path.
What or who was the inspiration for the business current path you are on?
I’d always seen the value in coaching and mentoring, and developing strong collaborative relationships. Throughout my career, I had always enjoyed developing teams and encouraging my direct reports to come up with their own solutions, of course with my support and through motivational questioning. I also had a great mentor early on in my career, Stuart Singleton. He taught me a lot about self-leadership, commercial values and managing tricky conversations. He also encouraged me to think bigger; he painted a vision of what he believed I was capable of achieving in my career, more strongly than I could have for myself at that time. This stuck with me.
A group of festival organisers from Sheffield, Tribe of Xanadu, influenced my decision to leave my safe career without worrying about the financial uncertainty of leaving corporate life. I looked at how they lived fun, vibrant lives with limited resources and knew that everything would always be ok.
My career journey also showed me that I loved being part of creating for the future, working in buying, product development and marketing is all about future potential, this excites me. Now, it’s speaking my truth and committing to only work on projects which bring me (and others!) joy that makes me, and my business stand out. What I love most about what I do is that I am able to focus each and every day in supporting others to grow strong.
What is the one bit of advice you wish you’d been given before you started your business?
Get good at filtering fast! Don’t waste time being around people and doing activities that don’t serve you. You have to be pretty single-minded on your “one thing”.
Get good at filtering time wasters and drainers, get good at filtering ‘opportunities’, get good at filtering what you spend your time on. Growing strong in business is directly connected to how good you are at filtering. Trust your instinct on that.
What challenges have you faced running your own business?
The biggest motivator for me has been an overwhelming desire not to go back to a 9-5 daily grind. Of course, there have been challenging moments; it took me five months to get my first paying client, who paid the grand total of £360, I couldn’t believe I’d left my £75,000 a year career for that! But I celebrated it, and that’s vital. I genuinely don’t see myself as facing or dealing with obstacles and, especially with the benefit of hindsight; I can look back on my snake and ladder moments and see that even the difficult experiences were never really obstacles, only lessons to learn. I’m an eternal optimist and have faith that progress is always being made.
What do you see as your future business challenges?
Year on year since launching PiP to Grow Strong, turnover has doubled and the intention this coming year is no different. With the underpinning commitment to only do work that brings me joy, I’m upgrading my clients. It’s really important for me to continuously take stock of who I choose to collaborate with, coaching is a two-way commitment, so I’m thinking bigger and bolder about the people and organisations that I am prepared to support.
I have recently launched monthly breakfast reflection sessions, which help attendees reflect on where they find joy in their work and to help them lead more fulfilling lives. Following on from the success of the first session, I am also opening up the opportunity to take this format into organisations and facilitate this once a month, in-house with businesses. It’s fun, it’s simple and I love breakfast!
What would you like to leave as your business legacy?
That it is possible to do work each day that brings you joy. That you can be your own choice architect for that, no one is stopping you from creating joy in your work, even if you are part of the 9-5 system. I aim to infiltrate organisations all over the world with this message and show them the way to live it!
In tangible terms my business legacy will also be a thriving school and community agricultural scheme in Duwehn Town, Liberia, built through collaboration between global and local leaders. Leaders create leaders and I want to see more globally aware and considerate leaders showing up. That, for me, is a powerful legacy to contribute to.
What is our biggest business achievement/success so far?
Without question bringing the first Leaders in Liberia to life in 2016. After being introduced to London-based coach, Simon Crowe, who had a vision to run a leadership programme in Liberia, I challenged him to make it happen, and with my collaboration it did. We now partner on this and four trips have been made since!
The stakes are high, not only does the programme allow its participants who travel from around the work to develop their leadership skills, it also aims to support the local community in becoming self-sufficient and to move forward after many years of civil war and ebola. We challenge all of our leaders to become change makers in their country providing a lasting legacy instead of focusing on short-lived investment.
The sense of achievement I feel when I notice the exchange in leadership lessons between our emerging Liberian leaders and the leaders we have brought with us from around the world is satisfying. I can’t wait to see who will be joining us on our next trip in November 2018.
When you are not running your business, what do you do to relax?
I’m passionate about self-care, so I love to take time out for myself either by going on retreat or just for a massage. Art and music culture are important to me, so visiting exhibitions and going to gigs feeds my soul. Recently myself and my partner began to build a record collection, buying whole collections from people all around the country, so cleaning and listening to vinyl is fast becoming a meditative practise for me!
What is your biggest achievement outside of business?
Keeping my daughter alive! Seriously, she turns 16 this summer and I have no clue how that happened. I carried her and birthed her which is pretty miraculous in itself and now she is my biggest lesson in life. I learn most about myself through her.
What would you be doing if you weren’t running your business?
That’s the most difficult question! Five years ago, I couldn’t see life beyond the corporate 9-5 and now I can’t see life without some kind of entrepreneurial pursuit. If it wasn’t this business it would be another, I can see that clearly now.
If I did have to go back to ‘work’ it would be for an organisation that had social impact at its core or involve music and art in some way.
If I didn’t have to ‘work’ I would be cleaning records at home, in between continuing to take people out to Liberia and continuing my work with the community out there.
