Ana McRae is known as THE entrepreneur coach that can help people build wealth alongside freedom and fulfillment, not at the expense of it.

McRae, Entrepreneur Coach & Founder, Ana McRae Coaching Corp., is based in New Brunswick and has worked with entrepreneurs over the past nine years both in a coaching capacity and as a management consultant.

“I’m a business coach. I work with entrepreneurs that are running small businesses with small teams and they’re looking to grow. Typically, these clients are high achievers. They have very big visions for their businesses,” she says.

“They see all the ways in which they can improve them. But they’re also overwhelmed by their current day to day. I really help them put in place the foundations that they need to scale their businesses while freeing up their time and energy to be able to live their life outside of their business.”

McRae says being an entrepreneur always has its challenges.

“In recent years, I think people went through a lot with the pandemic and a lot has started to shift in terms of what they are and aren’t willing to tolerate any longer. I think entrepreneurs these days are more burnt out than ever. They’re more overwhelmed than ever. They’re really struggling to balance their business and their life and that’s causing a lot of frustration,” she says.

“When entrepreneurs come to me, one of the biggest challenges I see that they’re facing is that they are exhausted quite frankly and they want to grow their business but due to everything that’s been going on in the world, it’s gotten more challenging than maybe they were used to in previous years.”

McRae will be facilitating a panel on business growth strategies at the Atlantic Business Transitions Forum in Halifax on April 9.

“I think it’s an incredible event where people are gathering to really talk about the future of their business and as someone that loves to support entrepreneurs in growing their business,” says McRae.

This will be her first time attending one of the Forums.

“I think most business owners are eager to grow. I think it’s part of the fun in the game for them. But the things that most often get in the way is one that they’re just not focusing on the right things or they’re focused on too many things, especially the high achievers that are eager to grow. They really believe that doing it all is what’s going to create that exponential growth but in reality they end up spreading themselves too thin. They start to feel stuck,” she says.

“And that’s why I would say one of the biggest keys to growth is really prioritizing where you’re focusing and making sure that’s strategically aligned with your growth goals rather than trying to do everything, every idea that comes to mind, or everything that you see working for other people. It’s really important to have a strategy and a plan that’s specific to your business and your goals.”

She has worked with entrepreneurs who have sold their businesses in the past and most of the work has focused on defining what they wanted to do going forward once they transitioned out.

“It’s hard to step out of the entrepreneur identity once you’ve been in there. What I find is most entrepreneurs that have sold, they’re selling for different reasons. Some might be supporting retirement but many others are looking to fund their next business adventure. One of the reasons I see people often selling is because they burned out in their old business. They got tired of what they had to sacrifice in order to create that success. So a lot of times they come to me looking to reevaluate. How do I build a business this time that’s going to be sustainable long term? That I’m not going to want to burn down when I burn out.

“We really look at how to build a business that’s both profitable but also personally fulfilling for you.”

McRae says when people have decided to move on the first thing they have to do is define what’s non negotiable for them when they’re exiting their business. It could be a financial target they want to achieve to make it worthwhile. It might have something to do with their values and looking at what the business would be like once they are gone.

“The second piece really is to look at what’s important to you going forward. Why are you transitioning out of your business? And there’s usually both positive and negative in there. How do you make the next business that you’re jumping into or starting up, even more successful and enjoyable than the last one. How do you learn from your mistakes and really create something that you’re proud of. A legacy that you’re thrilled to leave.”

She says the uncertainty in the economy is causing people to pause. It’s causing them to reconsider what’s the right thing to be focused on right now.

(Mario Toneguzzi is a veteran of the media industry for more than 40 years and named in 2021 a Top Ten Business Journalist in the world and only Canadian)