Small Business Success Stories

Business Sanity’s Small Business Success Stories

I’ve helped hundreds of business owners & professionals, develop leadership & communication skills, increase sanity, productivity and profitability in their businesses.  Here are some of their small business success stories:

“When I started working with Susan, I was preparing to take over the company where I had worked for 20 years, and was nervous about making the transition. She helped me learn to articulate and think through the challenges I faced in order to plan my responses; taught me how to manage my time better by prioritizing and delegating; persuaded me to improve our financial tracking and taught me how to understand the numbers; guided me in becoming a better leader and big-picture thinker, and increased my confidence ten-fold. Now we are growing and I couldn’t be more excited or happier about going to work every day. Thank you Susan! -Carrie Sykes, Pres., Schwalbe and Partners, Inc.

“Susan taught me how to think about my law practice as a business. She helped me to build confidence in my role as a business owner and boss, showed me how to use my financial records as profitability tools and focus my marketing on a select target market so I attract more of my ideal clients and cases. I would highly recommend Susan to anyone who wants to run a profitable, sane and productive business. Thank you Susan!” -Lisa Eisenberg, Attorney

“Before working with Susan, I did all of my business online, never feeling comfortable enough to pick up the phone and speak directly with customers.
Her coaching helped me helped me get out of my shell, to understand the difference between sales and marketing, and the importance of reaching out and focusing on people.
Because of our work, sales are up, I’m more comfortable dealing with clients and new prospects and profits have increased 50%.”
-Martin Cross, Patent Translations

“When I started working with Susan, I was completely wedded to the idea that I was a “practicing attorney” rather than a small business owner, which meant that I often failed do any long range business planning or to maintain solid control of my firm’s profitability and finances. Susan cured me of that and has helped me create a business plan for myself and for my small firm, and the results have been dramatic. I set a very specific goal for how much I wanted to be earning annually, and with her help, I was able to meet that goal far more quickly than I dared hope. Susan is excellent at getting me to see past the day-to-day anxieties and the feeling of being overwhelmed to be able to set concrete goals and figure out the manageable steps to achieving those goals.

Also, one of the hardest things for me to overcome was the ridiculous idea that marketing is only for products or non-professional service businesses, but not for lawyers. Susan has done a magnificent job of making me see that no matter how good you are at what you do, if no one knows you’re out there, you simply cannot succeed. She has made me enthusiastic about promoting my firm and myself and helped me see where to put my efforts to achieve the best results. Best of all, she keeps at it. If I start to lose sight of the big picture, or fall into old bad habits, she always brings it all back into focus.”
-Erica Bell, Esq., The Law Office of Erica Bell

“Working with Susan has made a major impact on my ability to manage my time and organize my priorities! My employees even noticed the change. She is a rare mix of kind + firm. Our time together has made me a more confident manager.” -Alex Fine, Co-Founder, Dame

“Prior to working with Susan, I went along aimlessly without a plan, not really concentrating on where my business was going or taking action on it, allowing events to just happen.
Because of our work, I have more business, improved relationships with clients, and learned how to better balance my work and personal life.
Susan helped me to create a plan, to define what I really do for my customers, manage my time, build structure and become more disciplined.
She gives me a fresh perspective and keeps me clearly focused on both my goals and values.
Each time I work with Susan, another door opens; therefore, I would recommend that you not only work with her when things are tough, but also when things are going well so that your business and your life will flourish even more.
If you have any doubts about the benefits of working with Susan, please don’t hesitate to call me.”
-Carl Navarro, JCI Graphics

“It’s one thing to have services to offer. It’s another to understand how to shape those services into a viable business. And Susan has helped me in every aspect of developing my business – from big picture tasks such as financial planning and maintaining client relationships to dealing with day-to-day challenges.
She’s perceptive, candid and intuitive, and has provided support that I can count on.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to any friends looking for business assistance.”
-Richard Staub, Richard Staub Marketing Services

“When we first met Susan, we had been in business for several years and were at a point in our growth where we wanted to clearly define the long term vision and direction of our design business. Lots of opportunities were presenting themselves, and we wanted to determine where to best focus our energies.
Susan’s help was invaluable in guiding us through the steps and providing a structure to see where our personal designs met our professional ambitions. She helped us to formulate a plan and find a common language so we could more easily find answers that were meaningful and productive.
With her help we clarified our mission, vision and a strategic plan to move us into action. Once we were in the implementation phase, it was helpful to check back from time to time to measure our successes and make sure we hadn’t veered off track.
Our work with Susan has been a great experience that we got a lot out of. All meetings were productive and we have both appreciated her guidance throughout.” –Gregory Buntain & Ian Collings, Fort Standard

“Before working with Business Coach Susan Martin, I was overwhelmed by all the projects I wanted to do and how to accomplish them. She helped me figure out the steps I needed to take to bring them to fruition.
She’s been incredibly supportive and clarifying. It’s been amazing to find someone with whom I can discuss both my business and personal life.
Susan’s helped me stay clear and focused on my goals, balance my work and personal life, and gain confidence and a greater feeling of self worth.”
-Liz Hinlein, Film Director

“During the course of working with Susan, my approach to business has changed. She helped me to refine my professional and personal goals, and I’ve been able to deal with problems that had long gotten in my way. In a few months, I’ve seen my business and my confidence grow significantly. Thank you Susan.”
– Ruth Seidler, JollyBe Bakery

“Before I hired Susan, my business was suffering because I didn’t know what to do next or how to do it.
After working with Susan, and through her gentle but firm support and holding me to my goals, I have moved forward by leaps and bounds.
My subscriber list has more than doubled …I’ve produced a new product, re-designed my web site and have more balance and confidence in the future.”
-Dale Kurow, Career Coach

“I highly recommend Susan’s program…my agents are demonstrating increased confidence and professionalism, they have improved follow-through and organization and they have made significant improvements in their listening skills. Most importantly, they are bringing in more listings!”
-Julie Kestyn, Kestyn Realty

“…Before we worked together, my clients would often start to clear clutter but never stay around long enough to set up the systems to stay organized. I needed a way to get them to commit to the whole process for both of our benefits.
With Susan on my side, I created packages that were met with immediate and overwhelmingly positive results. In fact, I have gained three new clients in the two weeks since I started offering them! My clients are happy and so am I.
Thank you Susan!”
-Matt Baier, Matt Baier Organizing

“Susan really helped me to focus in on what was important to the long term health of my business.
Previously I ran things a little “catch as catch can”. I did not have a coherent marketing strategy or proper marketing material. Susan helped me re-conceive how I presented my service to potential clients. And it worked. Within a few months I was getting more business as a direct result of the actions she recommended that I take.
She also helped me re-think how I used my time and work more effectively and efficiently. This resulted in both more productivity and more free time. I would definitely recommend Susan.”
-Edward Antoine, Antoine Education

“I had been running my own business for about three years with mixed results. While I had a great client base, I had trouble managing employees and was terrified of growing too much too soon. I was putting in way too many hours with little result.
With Susan on board, we developed systems and strategies to make sure employees were well managed (without being micro-managed!) and to ensure important client tasks were not falling through the cracks. She also helped us refine our marketing message which has helped us to clearly communicate the benefits of using our services to the type of clients we want to work with.
I’ve reduced the amount of time I devote to management issues, so that I’m working less and enjoying it more. Now I can devote more time to providing better service to current clients, and have the confidence to let my business grow again!”
-Ean Murphy, Moxie Bookkeeping

“Susan has helped me gain confidence in my role as a boss and to understand what I really need from my employees. She’s walked me through the hiring process and helped me to create a hiring and interviewing strategy. She has also helped me to see situations from the big picture perspective. Because of this, I’m able to be both firm and empathetic when dealing with difficult employee and client situations, which has been very useful.”
-Chris Page, Solutions Property Management Professionals

Hi Susan!
Just wanted to thank you very much for the time and attention you gave to help me start my business. You gave some good ideas on resources that I didn’t think about. I also appreciated your encouragement and understanding on how daunting starting a business can be; you helped me focus on specific tasks to keep me connected to my goals and stay motivated – just what I needed! I felt you really listened and really tried to help, and you seemed to be able to grasp what my specific business’ success would be dependent on and advised accordingly; great session! (Business Strategy Session)
Thanks again!
-Y. Beyer, Permanent Makeup Technician

“As the owner of a consulting practice, working with Susan helps me stay on track. She keeps me focused on growing the business and reaching out when I’m preoccupied with day-to-day project work. She’s also helped me to develop the patience I’ve needed when things have taken longer than I had hoped and provides a weekly sounding board to help me organize my thoughts.
When unresolved issues are sucking up my mental energy, it helps me to clear my decks to know that I don’t have to resolve them right now; instead, I can discuss them during our next coaching session.
Building a business has inevitable ups and downs. Susan has been there as a touchstone, to help me celebrate the good things and to remind me of my accomplishments during the bad times. She’s the only one who really knows how hard I’ve worked to get where I am today.”
-Ted Hill, THA Consulting

“I work in a tough, fast paced, high stress environment and field and was at the end of my rope ready to resign without a plan. I was swamped with e-mails, endless conference calls, last minute projects and with little understanding from leadership. I was under such stress that I could not think clearly and was over reacting to every situation that came up. I felt hopeless, lost and dreaded every day… (more)

“When I first met Susan, I was having trouble making a living through my work as an independent journalist for NPR-style radio programs with notoriously low budgets. I wanted to increase earnings and productivity, better track my finances, have more time for family and creative pursuits, and land assignments for several of my “holy grail” programs.
Susan encouraged me to pitch new segments, increase my “pipeline” of work opportunities, and reach out beyond public radio. She also helped me set up systems to track income, time and spending.

As a result, I produced for two of my “holy grail” programs and worked for a high-profile commercial radio news program. On top of this, several public radio programs have asked for first refusal rights on segment ideas.
My income has increased 35%, productivity is up, I have clarity around my finances, improved communication and more quality time to spend with my son. Most importantly, my relationship with my family has improved through all of this.”
-Trey Kay, Independent Radio Producer

“…I was able to launch my business with much more confidence through my work with Susan Martin!”
-Rachel Green, Esq., Re Solutions, Mediation Legal Services

“When I started my business I knew I was going need a lot of help setting up my website. I turned to Susan Martin at Business Sanity for her expertise in small business marketing. I got a lot more than I expected from Susan. Not only did she help to find a web design that I could customize, saving me money, she also helped to me focus on what I really wanted to offer. Additionally, Susan helped me to find my point of difference from my competition so I stand out from others. Her technical skill, her marketing savvy, in addition to her unflagging support and encouragement, made Susan indispensable. I have gotten excellent feedback from those who have visited my site and I already have 2 leads!”
-Paula Ochs, Chrysalis Clinical Supervision and Training

“Working with Susan helped remind me of why I do what I do, and to help me love it again. She helped me reconnect with my inspiration and vision and helped me realign myself with my mission. She is warm and practical at the same time and not afraid to dig into the muck to find the way through it. I liked the way she helped me set goals and be accountable to those goals. I didn’t always do what I said I would but at least I had to think about it. As a small business owner, it was really helpful to have a coach and guide at my side working with me and it was so important to have someone outside of my business, family, and friends to discuss ideas and issues with. It made a huge difference. Thank you Susan!”
-Julie, owner of Acupuncture Practice

“I have a deadline-driven business and often get consumed by those day-to-day tasks that need to get done NOW. In the process, I easily lose sight of long term planning and marketing. Susan’s expertise in time management and strategic marketing has helped me to set aside time to grow and improve my business and better focus on the type of clients I want to attract.” -Victoria Brush EA, Tax and Accounting Services

“Susan helped me to find clarity and get back on track when my personal training business was on the rocks. She was able to turn an intimidating situation into a manageable one in a very short period of time. When you are ready to start making positive changes in your business whether it is solving current problems or thinking big about the future, give Susan a call!” Zoe Levine, The Thriving Body

Thanks for taking the time to read through my client’s small business success stories.  If you’re interested in getting business results like this apply for a Business Sanity Strategy Session today.