Andy, Colour and Sound Creative, Newcastle NSW

Today we are introducing you to Andy who is the small business owner of Colour and Sound Creative.

Andy started working with Dylan, his Many Rivers business coach, a few years ago because he was feeling overwhelmed by the volume of tasks that a small business owner has on their plate. He reflects that Dylan and the Many Rivers team helped him plan and prioritise his tasks.

“It makes a huge difference to feel like someone is in your corner. Running a business on your own can feel a bit isolating at times. So it is great to have a mentor there. I am so grateful that an organisation like Many Rivers exists. An organisation that supports businesses like mine without requiring us to pay. I think the mentoring is enormously valuable.”

Continue reading to hear more about Andy’s business journey with Colour and Sound Creative.

Meet Andy

I have been operating as a freelance photographer and video producer for six years now and my business is called Colour and Sound Creative.

The business had been operating for a few years when I first met Dylan, my Many Rivers business coach. I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things I needed to be across in order to have my business running as it should. Dylan and I started to meet semi regularly over coffee to talk about what challenges I was facing, and I found that enormously rewarding from the start.

There are a few different reasons why I wanted to start my own business. I really enjoyed making things and freelancing was an opportunity for me to make video and photo content and pursue the things that I am interested in. I hoped that building my own business would enable me to build a lifestyle around doing the things I really love doing. The flexibly of running your own business meaning that you can ultimately create the job that you most want, even if some days it doesn’t feel like this!

Working with Many Rivers

With Dylan, I have received mentoring, it really helped me think about my work. When I first started working with Dylan, I was making progress but was feeling overwhelmed. I wanted to refocus and reorganise my business in order to take it to the next level. Dylan is a really excellent communicator who is very easy to talk and get along with. He made it easy for me to talk to about things that could be difficult to talk about such as cash flow. It makes such a big difference to feel like there is someone in your corner when you are trying to balance so many things.

I have also been working with a Many Rivers mentor, Ben. He has been working with me over the last few months and helping me prioritising what I work on. He has been helping me make decision about things I will and won’t work on that have been part of a structured long-term plan rather than a gut instinct. Ben has given me mentoring on setting long term goals and working back from this so that I know what to prioritise. There will always be more to get done in your business.

Running your own business can be overwhelming with the sheer volume of things that you need to handle. To have someone there to talk things through with you is enormously valuable. To help organise that into a structured plan instead of a big, overwhelming, tangle of never ending tasks. The mentoring has helped turn that into a structured plan that has helped enormously to not only manage my business but also enjoy running my business.

Biggest Challenge

The biggest challenge isn’t any one thing. It is the aggregate of many things. Just knowing that everything that needs to get done in the business needs to be done by me. I need to be competent when it comes to bookkeeping and financial numbers, marketing, sales, networking, as well as the job itself – the media production side of things.

Biggest Success

Over the last few years, launching Colour and Sound Creative was a major milestone. Launching the business has allowed me to make a living through my photography and video content. It has also allowed me to work with clients that are doing really great work that I respect and admire. For example, the CSIRO and the Australian Conservation Foundation. It is wonderful when I feel like my work is helping these organisations that are doing great things in the world.

Future Goals for Colour and Sound Creative

I have been able to do some work for organisations that are really contributing to society positively. I would love for that the be the entirety of my work. In the long term, I would like for Colour and Sound Creative to be a force for good in the world. Not just a way of making a living.

Follow Andy on Facebook or Instagram if you would like to stay updated with his business journey.

Thanks Andy for sharing your story with us. We can’t wait to support you on this journey to achieving your future business goals.

We want to encourage more and more people to take that first step towards building on their small business ideas, or their existing business.

We’re here to support you the whole way.

CLICK HERE to see if Many Rivers is right for you

Did you love hearing about Andy’s business journey with Colour and Sound Creative? If you would like to read another, read about Yandi, a fashionista and small business owner of fashion brand, Rep Kulture from Perth WA.