Barrie has bought the local franchise of ActionCOACH, which claims to be the No.1 business coaching firm in the world.

Educated at Mainholm Academy, Barrie started off working in accountancy in London, but subsequently returned to Scotland to study for his BA honours degree in business and management at the University of Paisley, to which he added certification from the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) and a Diploma in IT from UCLA in California. To round off his impressive array of qualifications, Barrie has just recently returned from the United States, where he completed the final training for his latest role as a business coach.

During the course of his business career to date, Barrie has successfully managed projects and organisational change to positively impact business success. He has coached business leaders at executive and director level, bridging complex reporting and management relationships, and acquired a proven track record of innovation, cost reduction and improving performance standards. Now Barrie is committed to consistently raising the performance of SMEs in Ayrshire, as well as promoting their business through his network of contacts.

Barrie says: “I will be working in five key areas: sales, marketing and advertising, team building and recruitment, systems and business development and customer service.

“My goal is to help small business owners spend less time working in their business and more time working ON their business. In the end, they'll be spending less total time working and will be making more money. I’d also like to help them put the fun back in their business and their life.

“As a small business owner myself, I know what it is like to worry about the day-to-day survival of the business and making the amount of money needed to run my business and personal life. I understand what it’s like to put in long hours and wonder what happened to the dreams and vision I had for my life and future.

“I am here to help you change all of that. I will work with clients to redefine their dreams and vision, and then help put into place the necessary systems, strategies, and tactics that will allow them to turn their business venture into a thriving, successful one.

“I define a successful business as a commercial, profitable enterprise that works without you. As a business coach, I will function as an unreasonable friend who tells it like it is and keeps clients working on the path toward their dreams.”

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