Today we’d like to introduce you to Meredith Davis.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’ve always had an inclination for wanting to make people feel their best and I’ve found a way to do that through photography and coaching. I work with female entrepreneurs and business owners to create money-making marketing and branding images, and walk them through the fun and tough parts of running a business through coaching. Funnily enough, I stayed in a corporate job I was unhappy with for four years, and it took getting let go for me to get the nerve to take my business full-time. That was in August of 2017 and I’ve haven’t looked back since. I’ve been able to surpass my old corporate salary in a short time and I’m working with incredible women. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, but I’m more inspired and more motivated than I’ve ever been.
Has it been a smooth road?
Merrily Creative Company existed under many different names and business models throughout my 4 years at my corporate job. I always had that entrepreneurial bug, but fear of failure held me back from truly going for it. I figured if I never really gave it my all, it wasn’t really failing. And then, one day, my world got rocked when I was unexpectedly let go from my assumedly stable corporate job. I spent one day pouting on the coach until I realized, this (not being fired, but having the freedom of choice), was what I had wanted all along. With a completely unknown future ahead of me, financially and otherwise, I had the opportunity and pressure to make my side-hustle a real business. So, that’s what I did, and I haven’t looked back.
There are days and weeks when I want to pull my hair out and I doubt myself and tell myself I should start perusing the job boards. It’s not easy, but you have to force yourself to work through the days when your mind is full of doubt because if you don’t, you’ll stop making money, and that’s not a pressure you feel with a corporate job. My friends tell me running a business must be so great because I have no one to answer to but myself, and while that does come with a lot of benefits, I remind them that the only thing I have to answer to is my bank account, and that comes with its own set of pressures.
My advice to anyone beginning their entrepreneurial journey is to accept that you will never get it all done, learning to fail with grace is imperative, and that you must make a practice of keeping things in perspective!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Merrily Creative Company story. Tell us more about the business.
I am a multi-passionate entrepreneur with a single focus on helping women grow personally and professionally. This means branding photography, business coaching, hosting The Merrily Show podcast, and hosting a new series of networking events focused on connection and growth called Cocktails & Connection.
Photography – I specialize in personal and business branding photography for women and female entrepreneurs. Our culture is experiencing an incredible wave of female empowerment, and I want to help women capitalize on everything that makes them feel powerful. For some, this means a personal branding session complete with hair and makeup, killer outfits, and posing and lighting that fit their personality. For others, it means investing in professional photography that will take their business to the next level. Either way, professional photography is just one tool to help women feel they are very best.
Coaching – I work mostly with service-based female entrepreneurs in one-on-one and small group coaching sessions. I help them make smart, profitable goals and keep them focused on achieving those goals. Anyone running a one-woman-shop knows how difficult it can be to make decisions and feel confident in the moves you’re making because there is no one there to bounce ideas off of or to really understand the ins and outs of your business. I become that person and guide the women into learning how to quickly and efficiently analyze a situation and make the best decision with the information they have on hand. I never tell them what to do, but instead, present them with a variety of options and potential outcomes, and then let them use their best judgment to decide where to go next. With this method of coaching and accountability, women are able to grow and scale their business far more quickly than doing it on their own.
The Merrily Show – The Merrily Show is a podcast for female entrepreneurs about what it really takes to run a successful, profitable business. Episodes include solo episodes where I dissect and give advice on relevant topics, guest interviews and speakers from women at the top of their fields, and real on-air coaching calls with some of my clients. It is available on Spotify and iTunes!
Cocktails & Connections – I created this networking series with a focus on actually creating a true connection between attendees that will last outside of happy hour. So much of my own success can be attributed to my current and growing network, that I wanted to create a space that fostered that kind of connection for others. At each event, we have a guest speaker and small group activity designed to help the women get to know each other and each other’s businesses, as well as other tools throughout the evening like conversation cards and speaking, prompts to encourage the women to have meaningful conversations. I had the first event this past Wednesday, May 16th, and was very encouraged by how well it went and the feedback I received. I am planning the next event for mid-July.
What do you feel are the biggest barriers today to female leadership, in your industry or generally?
My answer to this question is three-fold. First, I think we are completely inundated with invaluable information and resources. If you google something like, “How to use Facebook ads”, you will drown in results from unqualified sources that are giving basic, untested information in an effort to get you to join their email list. The internet is a truly amazing resource to be able to teach ourselves every skill we need in order to run a business, but it is not loudly enough discussed that these resources need to be filtered and examined and looked at with a critical eye before being taken to heart.
Secondly, most women are still suffering from the ingrained subconscious feeling that we don’t deserve to be loud and in charge and at the top of our game. It has been culturally and biologically wired within us to keep the peace and to be polite and those feelings often keep women from standing up and saying, “Hey! I’m really good at this! Pay attention to me and pay good money for my service or product because I am worth it!”. So a lot of limiting beliefs come in to play. And then going even deeper, some most entrepreneurs won’t recognize that they have those self-limiting beliefs because they are naturally extroverted or not afraid to speak up or think they are beyond that, so it’s these micro-moments of hesitation or choosing pride first or whatever it may be that they’re not acknowledging that end up holding them back.
Thirdly, and we are making huge strides in this area, is a community and general support. The huge wave of entrepreneurship is both helping and hurting small businesses. It’s great because more and more people are encouraged to start their own business every day, but it also dilutes the credibility of small businesses to the general market. On a smaller level, anyone running a small business needs support; from their spouse, family, friends, and a general community. I am very lucky to have nothing but supportive friends and family around me, but many of the women I work with are living with or surrounded by people who doubt them and don’t believe in what they’re doing. Additionally, finding a community of peers is imperative to being able to vent, brainstorm, learn and grow. That’s one reason why I opened my coaching business up to small group coaching, and have created the networking series.
Pricing:
- Creative Portrait Session – $275
- One-on-One 90-Day Coaching – $678
- Small Group Coaching – $135/month minimum 3 months
Contact Info:
- Website: www.merrilycreativecompany.com
- Phone: 678-471-9007
- Email: meredith@merrilycreativecompany.com
- Instagram: @merrilycreativeco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MerrilyCreativeCo/
Image Credit:
Merrily Creative Company
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