An interview with Mari Ashted, Founder of Your Business Collective
Mari is a Chartered Accountant, Financial Advisor, business owner for over 10 years and the Founder of Your Wealth Collective an Accounting, Wealth and Business Advisory Practice in Brisbane - she also happens to be one of our clients! Your Wealth Collective was established by Mari with the purpose of “enabling individuals and business owners to contemplate, visualise and build greater financial futures”.
With this in mind Mari now is expanding her offering and has set up Your Business Collective a new mentoring collective for business owners. Where Mari will bring industry experts to the table, to discuss real issues business owners deal with daily. I love to support initiatives like this and I have assisted Mari in building a sub brand under her umbrella brand of “Your Wealth Collective”. As I am passionate about giving business owners the tools and contacts to build their brand or product – It has been such a pleasure being a part of this and supporting Mari in her business. I worked with Mari to create the branding for Your Business Collective, which compliments the Your Wealth Collective Branding nicely.
I interviewed Mari to find out a little more about her experience with mentoring and what gaps she sees and how ‘Your Business Collective’ will help to fill that gap.
Who was your first mentor and what did you learn from this experience?
I have had quite an unconventional mentoring journey, although I always wanted to have a mentor, I never officialised this. One experience which really comes to mind formed out of a client – accountant relationship. I would meet with her as her accountant but then over coffee we would talk for hours about business and new things she was doing. She had a very interesting history - volunteering for boards and non for profits. Things I have always been interested in working towards in my career
I've learnt that the one thing you should spend a lot of time doing is understanding client needs – get to the root of the issues. Arrange face to face meetings, establish a good relationship and take the time to get to know them as a person. As a mentor your roles is not to tell your mentee what to do. You are a guide and a sounding board, to help them make their own path & hopefully share your experiences to help make a difference.
If you could choose one mentor (absolutely anyone) who would it be?
Richard Branson – His energy is electric and the way he is so passionate but still seems relaxed and fun. To be that driven is something I really strive for.
What do you think most people who seek a mentor are really wanting to get out of it?
Someone to provide guidance and support – most people (including myself) want to know if they are on the right track and if not to call it. As a mentor you must be truthful, not to offend but to be the sounding board that people who are too close (family & friends) to be for you. Mentors should support from a holistic point of view – business and personal life is intertwined and should co-existence. You can only operate business if you are looking after both sides of your life if you neglect yourself personally everything will fall down.
Why did you start “Your Business Collective”?
In this world of running your own business a lot of the time you are alone. Making decisions can be difficult if you don’t have someone to test out your ideas with – how will you know if it is a good idea of not? It can be tough and lonely ride and what better way to grow your network and knowledge by having a group of like-minded business owners to lean on.
Tell me a little about what you will be offering and maybe even a sneak peek at what topics you will be covering?
The centre of this offering is a monthly event run by Your Wealth Collective, where we invite special industry guests to present on topics that affect small businesses. For example; we might invite you Carlie, to share some of the ways you can grow your business through design & marketing. How to create a digital marketing campaign, how to leverage Facebook groups and potentially how to write a social media plan.
This monthly meeting will be supported by a Facebook community where you can ask experts questions or test your ideas. This is a great opportunity to make lasting business contacts and an opportunity to collaborate with other business owners.
If you interested in joining “Your Business Collective” please like us on Facebook. If you have any questions please get in touch.