6 minute read
JESS WAVES HER MAGIC WAND
A helping hand
Many of us dream about setting up our own business but it takes courage and commitment. Jess Monro is just the person to hold your hand if you take the leap. Mary meets her
SOME PEOPLE ARE really talented at making something or offering a service which can be quite unique. And often in the back of their mind they have the long held desire to - rather than work for someone else - set up on their own. Other people have this thrust upon them by circumstances but whatever the situation, setting up your own business is a leap of faith and takes courage, commitment, luck, hard work and skill.
You may be very good at doing tattoos, making clothes, cleaning or clairvoyancy but be absolutely useless at actually running a business (probably because you’ve never done it before). Or more probably, just not have the time to concentrate on the marketing, social media or admin as you are too busy actually delivering what you set the business up to do. But this can mean, if your customer service skills are poor including replying to emails and phone calls, the business can suffer before it’s even really started. This is a real conundrum for many small businesses and many fall by the wayside because of it. A small business is just that, and funds won’t be available to employ someone to pick up the slack for you.
Meet Jess, the answer to all your problems – or most of them anyway – whose motto is ‘supporting little businesses with little budgets and big dreams.’ Jess Monro set up her own small business, The Little Business Fairy in Stamford in September 2022 to help small businesses locally, and has been busy ever since; her skills are in demand.
The Little Business Fairy, ie Jess, provides all aspects of assisting a business, most of it virtually. Social media, marketing, management, admin, business consultancy, invoicing and planning all come under the umbrella of The Little Business Fairy. Basically, whatever is needed to run a business, Jess can provide. This is impressive as it means a small business owner need only go to the one person for everything they require and Jess inspires confidence as she’s got a great way with her.
But what qualifies Jess to offer such a service? Experience of course. ‘I was very lucky I had a well paid job working for someone and basically running his nine businesses. I did all the planning, day to day running including emails and phone calls, finance, marketing, social media and everything else you could think of. The businesses were all different and it was challenging but over time I realised I was
no longer getting any job satisfaction.’
This lack of job satisfaction coincided with a move to Stamford for Jess four years ago and a fresh start. She fell in love with the town and the area and its small businesses. We are very lucky to have so many around here. The move meant working from home, which she had always done and then, of course, we went into numerous lockdowns. This proved to Jess that it was time to think of something else to do. ‘I was working from home doing 50 hour weeks and just not enjoying it. I love Stamford and its small businesses which defi ne the town. And these businesses need to do well to help the town thrive. The job I had was running a very well established corporate business but I wanted to help small businesses that needed a helping hand. I had got to know a couple of local tattooists at Eden in Stamford who became great friends. Whilst chatting to them I realised I could help them organise themselves as they were excellent at doing tattoos but weren’t making the most of their booking systems and were struggling.
‘I persuaded them to let me do the admin and booking side of the business and the rest, as they say, is history.’ So much so they have told Jess that she has transformed their lives and brought the love back to their business of designing and tattooing as they had been worrying about the admin, returning calls and bookings side of the business to the detriment of doing the tattoos.
And that was the beginning of The Little Business Fairy which has grown through word of mouth and recommendations. Jess is a self-confessed geek and loves doing spreadsheets, designing logos, setting up websites and new systems to improve the effi ciency of her client’s businesses. She also meets all her clients and will usually see them monthly depending on how local they are. ‘I love the face to face meetings after working alone for so long but can still do zoom calls too if need be.’
As a bit of a geek Jess loves nothing better than analysing costings and has saved some of her clients hundreds of pounds by doing so. She’s there to help you take the leap and her initial consultation is free when she will sit down and talk to you about your plans, be it starting a business from scratch or off ering advice on how to move it forward. ‘I call myself a bit of a business cheerleader, always there to off er support, off ering words of encouragement. But I am also the voice of reason saying if something isn’t going to work. Once I start working with a client we set out plans and goals. I know it’s hard running a business alone so I am there as back up. And that might mean ‘politely’ giving them the push to achieve those goals, even simple things like making calls and setting up systems, or using the ones I have set up. By having me there to motivate them can mean a lot; it’s someone to be answerable to so gives that little push if needed.’
Jess off ers packages ranging from one hour to about 10 hours a month. She charges £15 an hour or will work out a package depending on hours and skills needed. Jess now has 10 businesses on her books with numbers rising steadily. They range from medium Alison Stead, to tattooists, a personal trainer, parenting coaches, a telecoms provider and a cleaner. ‘I love that the businesses are so varied, as are the tasks, and everyone wants me to do something diff erent so my days are never the same. I can be a sounding board for people and am always on the end of the phone to off er advice (within reason!) and as I’m slightly removed rather than being a partner or parent, I can be impartial.’ I think we all need a Jess in our lives and if you are a small business, you defi nitely do and you know she will always be honest with you and off er sound advice.
www.thelittlebusinessfairy.co.uk @thelittlebusinessfairy
