Empowering Entrepreneurs with Peggy McCartha
[00:00:00] Aicila: This week on business as unusual, we're joined by the multi-talented Peggy MacArthur, a seasoned entrepreneur coming from the photography industry, peggy shares, her journey from running a successful portrait business to creating collaborative communities.
[00:00:14] Aicila:Today she's focused on the Global Business Plaza, a vibrant ecosystem designed to empower creative entrepreneurs and online businesses. Throughout our conversation, Peggy reveals the secrets to running a profitable business while having fun, the power of community and entrepreneurship, and how the Global Business Plaza is creating meaningful connections and fostering success. Tune in to uncover valuable insights and strategies for thriving.
[00:00:00] Aicila: . Welcome to Business as Unusual. I'm here today.
[00:00:02] Aicila: with Peggy MacArthur. Peggy is. A multi-talented entrepreneur. She had a 20 plus year portrait by Peggy Photography Business. She Has
[00:00:14] Aicila: a community for photographers in education called Time Benders. She has a world creation space called Quintas Sphere, and currently she's here today. to talk about the Global business. Plaza.
[00:00:27] Aicila: Welcome to the show, Peggy.
[00:00:28] Peggy: Thank you. And to clarify one thing, I am actually a certified professional photographer for 36 plus years. Who's counting, what's a decade?
[00:00:40] Aicila: I mean, so you started when You were six I understand that.
[00:00:44] Peggy: yes
[00:00:48] Aicila: and,
[00:00:48] Aicila: peggy and I, I've been fortunate enough to be in on d different projects with Peggy and community with Peggy. And I'm just really delighted that you're able to join me today to talk about the Global [00:01:00] Business Plaza because it is such a great space. And, I would love for you, you can obviously talk about all of your businesses and I would love to have you describe at some point in this moment, a little bit more about the Global Business Plaza and what created, why did you create that?
[00:01:15] Peggy: I've been doing, I've been my own boss for over 36 years. In that, there's been a lot of times where I was very alone.
[00:01:25] Aicila: Mm-hmm.
[00:01:25] Peggy: was I started obviously before the internet. It's not like you could jump on and co-work with people. So it was a very solitary type of a thing, and.
[00:01:36] Peggy: I never, I didn't come from corporate America. I, right outta high school, I interned with a photographer and then I immediately started my own studio, my own business. But a lot of people have come from that structure of corporate America where they think, oh, well, I'm really good at this one specific talent, so I'm going to do that.
[00:01:58] Peggy: I'm gonna leave corporate and I'm going [00:02:00] to, I'm gonna make money doing this thing that I'm passionate about, which. I, I believe we all should be doing. I believe that if, if we all made money doing what we loved, we would live in a happier world. But,
[00:02:13] Aicila: I super agree with that.
[00:02:14] Peggy: Exactly. But here's the downside to that is a lot of times people don't understand what it takes to run a business.
[00:02:22] Peggy: Mm-hmm.
[00:02:23] Aicila: Mm-hmm.
[00:02:23] Peggy: so they focus on, well, if I'm the best for me, a photographer, if I'm the best photographer, people will just show up. They'll just come. Right. Like if my prices are right. They think the, the two main things they think about are their price and their talent, and that's really probably. Really low on the scale of what it takes to run a business.
[00:02:45] Peggy: And so I, I came to GoBrunch, the platform that I've built the Global Business Plaza on. Because, I started a community called Time Benders, training creative business people how to run a [00:03:00] business. Because it's two different things and. I'm the first to admit the first 15 years of my business, I was lucky and I ran a very profitable hobby.
[00:03:08] Aicila: Hmm.
[00:03:09] Peggy: But when
[00:03:09] Peggy: the economy changed, when things, when, when the way we consumed photographs changed, I was really scared. I thought I was gonna lose my business because I didn't understand. What it took to run a business. It was very fortunate that, I learned, I learned really quick. I was like, all right, I'm gonna be a business person.
[00:03:29] Peggy: I'm going to do this. Because my option was that, or flipping burgers like that was, I had no other education. I had no other place to go with my life. I decided I was going to do this, and I was very fortunate in the fact that I, I did, I was able to recover and, and continue my business. However, during the pandemic I started working with photographers and teaching them a few things.
[00:03:55] Peggy: And what I realized is I was not alone in that lot of businesses, [00:04:00] especially creative businesses, had no idea what it took to run a business. So I started the TimeBenders. And then as I was working with creative business people, I met other people also on the Go brunch platform, and I was seeing the trend, Hey, I'm really good at my thing and I'm really passionate, my thing, but how do I get people to come see me?
[00:04:25] Peggy: And so I, I decided I really wanted to help business people, but really focus on people that are on this platform that I'm also equally in love with. It's a virtual platform. It's a lot of fun. It's very interactive, but how do we get people to them? So I created the Global Business Plaza, which gets all these different businesses all in one place.
[00:04:53] Peggy: And there's a directory, but it's more than just a directory. It's a whole ecosystem. It's its own [00:05:00] community. We have networking events, we have workshops, we have get Shit Done sessions. We have everything to help businesses not be alone and be able to actually run
[00:05:14] Aicila: run business.
[00:05:15] Aicila: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I, I am a member.
[00:05:20] Peggy: you are a
[00:05:21] Aicila: full reveal here, everybody of of the Global Business Plaza and I really am enjoying the opportunity to network and as well as the ways it's really bringing me closer to the people that I wanna work with.
[00:05:35] Aicila: And that's something I'll, I'll put in a plug for Peggy here. She's just really good at that. She's really good at building successful and good communities. Yeah. so before you get too embarrassed,
[00:05:48] Aicila: will you share, uh. a, a Story is there a person or an example? You can give to someone in the plaza and how that's worked for them?
[00:05:56] Peggy: Well, I, I believe you've actually got some new clients [00:06:00] through this. Mm-hmm.
[00:06:00] Aicila: mm-hmm.
[00:06:01] Peggy: There is a, another person I'll, I'll, I'll save her name, because I didn't get permission to, to call her out here, but
[00:06:09] Aicila: she.
[00:06:10] Peggy: Wasn't really sure she even
[00:06:11] Aicila: liked
[00:06:12] Peggy: brunch platform for really running a business.
[00:06:16] Peggy: But I started working with her and not only has now she built the majority of her business on the platform, but she now she's like, I can't not be in the Global Business Plaza. Like she has made so many clients, so many friends. And I think that's the big thing is when you're on a platform that you love.
[00:06:38] Peggy: That's great. Like having a pretty platform, whether it's a website or whatever it is, having, having a pretty thing isn't going to really help you. The thing is, is are you drawing the right people to you and are you making money? Because at some point, if you're not making money and you're not drawing the the correct people to you.
[00:06:59] Peggy: [00:07:00] It's gonna get old and you're gonna need to move on. So I think that's one of my goals is to show people that you can have fun and make money. It's a lot of work. I am, I'm probably too hands on because I really do push everybody. I'm like, you need to do this, you need to do this.
[00:07:18] Peggy: But the thing is, is we're seeing results. Tons and tons of businesses are starting to make money, starting to get clients because we're building this community where we know each other and I'm like, oh my gosh, you need this. Well, I know somebody that does that. Let me introduce you. And it's that, that organic.
[00:07:36] Peggy: Introducing people that, those referrals that are actually meaningful. And it's not because you, we have a quota and you have to refer so many people. It's because it just is what happens when you get to know each other and work with each other. And it's just been such a, a fun, fun thing. Like, I knew it would be effective, but I didn't know I was gonna have so much fun.
[00:07:58] Peggy: Like, I knew [00:08:00] people were gonna grow and, and their businesses would be highlighted and, and they could do things. I didn't know that I personally was going to enjoy myself as much as I do. Like all of the people that are in the plaza are just topnotch business people. They're geniuses. They all are just so ama amazing.
[00:08:19] Peggy: And when you give them permission to be amazing, it's, it's
[00:08:23] Aicila: it's, just,
[00:08:24] Peggy: it's an
[00:08:25] Aicila: a
[00:08:25] Peggy: experience.
[00:08:27] Aicila: wonderful I think that's a, A definition, a definition of success. I could get behind having Fun while being successful, and you know? how I am about games, so. You do a lot of work with, creative entrepreneurs and online businesses. Would you share a couple tips that, that you have seen? You've shared, some so you could just summarize those if you wanted. A couple of things that you could say, wow, these are. things that I've really noticed that have helped people to be successful while having fun?
[00:09:00] Peggy: I, I a hundred percent believe, that, that we were not meant to do
[00:09:05] Peggy: to business business alone.
[00:09:06] Peggy: I think that business is a team sports. I I think that it, I did business alone for many, many years. I watched my par parents do business pretty much alone for many, many years, and I know how lonely that can be.
[00:09:20] Peggy: I mean, statistics say most the, the suicide rates for entrepreneur is just skyrocketed for any other kind of career because it can be so isolating and you put all of your, all of your hopes and dreams into this one thing, and then if you can't pay your bills. It's, it's just devastating. So when you surround yourself with people
[00:09:44] Aicila: that,
[00:09:45] Peggy: that are one, encouraging to you, but two, they are really good at something that you're not in your business.
[00:09:53] Peggy: So they can teach you or you can help each other. You find that person, we have an amazing, [00:10:00] marketer in our community. And she is a genius at doing that. And I hate marketing. Like I don't like, even though I'm a visual person, I am a photographer. I hate creating like social media posts and all the cute little fancy things like that is not, that is not where I wanna spend my time. And she loves it and she's good at it and she makes it easy and fun. And she's like, oh, let me just make templates that you could use. It's like. Okay.
[00:10:29] Aicila: Mm-hmm.
[00:10:29] Peggy: know, and you, you meet those people and sometimes it's like you hire another person.
[00:10:36] Peggy: Sometimes you, you help them and they help you. But the thing is, is you are no longer alone and it doesn't, you don't have to feel like a failure because you realize that there's those things in business that you're really, really good at some people are really, really good at networking. Some people.
[00:10:52] Peggy: Are great at networking, but terrible at following up. And
[00:10:56] Aicila: And other people
[00:10:57] Peggy: at that. So we remind each other, Hey, [00:11:00] it's the whole package. We all have to do these things. And when you're in that and you're reminding each other, Hey, let's, let's do this. Let's work on this together. It just elevates, when one rises, we all rise and it's, it's.
[00:11:14] Peggy: An amazing feeling to have a bunch of friends that three months ago you didn't even know. And now you can't imagine not talking to them at least once a week, if not more, and going and checking out what they're doing. And, and I believe that that's really the key. Another key is I 100% believe that if you are passionate about something, you already have everything inside of you that you need to make it
[00:11:39] Aicila: make it happen,
[00:11:40] Peggy: including the connections.
[00:11:43] Peggy: The people that you're gonna come in contact with in your lifetime, that are there for a reason to help you succeed in what you you wanna do. I think if, if you're, if you can dream it, you can do it. If, if it's something you wanna do, you wanna do it because you have that gift.[00:12:00]
[00:12:01] Aicila: I second that? I love it. Thank you. What does success? look like for you?
[00:12:09] Peggy: Success. I am, I'm, I'm grandma now. I'm grandma two times. And so success has, changed over the years and I think that's, I think success is an ever evolving definition but to success to me right now is
[00:12:25] Peggy: is freedom.
[00:12:26] Peggy: You know, freedom to be able to travel and see my grandkids, freedom to be able to travel with my husband and go do fun things and, make sure that everybody's taken care of.
[00:12:37] Peggy: And make sure that the people that I care about are
[00:12:40] Peggy: are.
[00:12:40] Peggy: care of. Because, we've talked about this a lot. I love empowering other businesses to succeed. And when I see other people succeeding, that means that I too am successful because I had, I had a part in that. And so I feel like success is really watching the people that I love moving forward all the [00:13:00] time.
[00:13:04] Aicila: Yeah. This is my new favorite question.
[00:13:08] Peggy: Oh,
[00:13:09] Aicila: What advice would you give your 18-year-old self.
[00:13:13] Peggy: Hmm. My 18-year-old self was already like signing, already doing her first internship. Learning to be a photographer, think I would have given my 18-year-old self permission to not be perfect and to realize that business, understanding business is something that is important.
[00:13:42] Peggy: Because at 18 I was like, I'm a photographer. I don't need any of that nonsense. I just need to be really good at, I, it was all about, it was all about the, the picture, it was all about the experience. It was all about capturing these images. I really honestly, [00:14:00] 100% believed that that was the most important part and, I wasted.
[00:14:06] Peggy: I wasted a lot. I, I've left a lot of money on the table the first 15 years of my life because because I had a lot of clients and I was very busy and I had no clue how
[00:14:20] Peggy: how to,
[00:14:22] Peggy: to actually that into a decent pricing structure, to turn that into anything that would've been, really life changing.
[00:14:31] Peggy: And business changing. So I, I, I would focus on the business and focus on not being perfect.
[00:14:39] Aicila: That's really great advice. And I will say also, what. You made me think of something I, several years ago, I was trying to hire someone for a job through the nonprofit that I worked with. And I literally couldn't get them to let me hire. them. And so when you [00:15:00] said that a leaving money on the table, I thought was so interesting that they were so committed to the to the mission and what they were doing. They legitimately couldn't hear me saying, We have funds. We can hire you- those words, there was always like a almost a, a, deflection. well, what about the like giving me more education instead of simply saying, okay. . I was gonna second that. Like, when you forget that you're in business, and I was gonna say whether I'm guilty of this or not, you can sometimes respond to A, direct inquiry with a, with basically talking the person out of spending money with you. Which is, they're gonna spend it somewhere. They have a need. But you actually can talk them out of it.
[00:15:46] Peggy: about that a hundred percent. And I, I was guilty of that, beyond, I was also guilty of, telling, you know, telling people, like people hiring me, but not
[00:15:57] Peggy: not
[00:15:58] Peggy: getting the money.
[00:15:59] Aicila: Yeah. [00:16:00]
[00:16:00] Peggy: Like they would come, I would do a photo shoot and nothing was said, and they would leave and I'd be like, well, that's where they didn't pay me. , and then, you know, I would maybe email them like, Hey, I, I need you to pay me.
[00:16:11] Peggy: And it was, it was nothing for me in the early two thousands, to have invoices out for three to $5,000 all the time. All the time. I had that much money out there that was not actually being collected because I had no idea , now you're paying me before I work. Now it's all signed, it's all set up.
[00:16:37] Peggy: It's all because that's part of, of running a business. But I've also been guilty of just literally talking people out of it or talking people down. They want this. And I'm like, I could probably do this, this, this, and this and this. And, they came in wanting this big package and I talk 'em down to
[00:16:53] Aicila: Mm-hmm.
[00:16:54] Peggy: um, yeah.
[00:16:55] Peggy: And that's because I didn't realize I was running a business. I thought I'm trying to, [00:17:00] do this thing that I'm passionate about and I want them to like me and I wanna make sure I, and you start, you start. Talking out of your own pocketbook, your own wallet, instead of saying, Hey, this is my service.
[00:17:11] Peggy: This is what I
[00:17:12] Peggy: what I
[00:17:13] Peggy: I mean, if you go to the grocery store, they don't care. What you can afford and what you can't. These are the prices, and if you want the thing, then you need to pay the price. And that's a tough lesson to learn for a lot of creatives because we don't like, we don't like money, we don't like that money conversation.
[00:17:31] Peggy: until you get that figured out. In place then it's tough. But once you get a system and you realize - Hey, this is what I do, that the first thing I say is, how will, how will we be paying
[00:17:43] Aicila: take that?
[00:17:44] Aicila: Yep. I think that's great advice. And it is true. A lot of creatives And I, I feel like there's also this idea that. If you love something, you shouldn't need to be paid for it.
[00:17:59] Peggy: the starving artist [00:18:00] syndrome.
[00:18:01] Aicila: Well, and just Even
[00:18:02] Aicila: moms, you know, like we, we don't pay, we don't value childcare. We don't wanna pay childcare providers a living wage or I'm trying to think. There's a, there's many thing teachers. There's a lot of things where people show up in service and, and be, we, we sort of as a, as a society in some ways diminish that your passion, your joy and your service are Somehow going to replace. the need for income. And I do agree that that fulfillment has its own reward. However, I can't give my fulfillment to gas station, to, to drive my car, or whatever. So until we have a little more more like fulfillment in, in the, in the regular commerce. world, we, we Can't just rely on that for things that. Bring us joy. and, And passion projects.
[00:18:57] Peggy: yeah, the bank, uh, seems to want cash for the [00:19:00] mortgage.
[00:19:00] Peggy: Not happiness and fulfillment. It's
[00:19:02] Aicila: Yeah. weird, I mean, I think it's wrong for sure. And it's the world we live in, that's what we're dealing with.
[00:19:08] Peggy: Exactly.
[00:19:10] Aicila: What's something you're excited about in the global Business Plaza? Are there any events coming up or new deals or anything on the calendar that you wanna let people know about?
[00:19:20] Peggy: March 11th and 12th is the World Building Expo. Now, that's not necessarily part of the Global Business Plaza, but it's actually what inspired the Global Business Plaza, and this is our one year anniversary. I do these expos every single, single quarter, so this will be the fifth expo. Now, in December we had 64.
[00:19:43] Peggy: four
[00:19:44] Peggy: Exhibitors, 64 booths in the World Building Expo and 387 attendees. And normally the expo is a two day event in December because of all the holidays, it was just a one day event. So imagine [00:20:00] how many people come when it is a two day event. It is a time of inspiration, a time of networking, and. A time to stumble upon your new best friend or that person that you've been looking for, that it has all the answers to your questions, whether it be a coach, a, a, a consultant, who knows what it is.
[00:20:20] Peggy: But we have so many businesses that show up and it's a lot of fun. It is like any other kind of expo. It is, I believe it is the biggest virtual expo out there, so it is a lot of fun. You can go pick up a ton of. Freebies and meet a lot of people just like you would in a real live expo. And the reason that it was the inspiration for the Global Business Plaza is that's what I wanted the expo to be, is a place to shine a light on these businesses.
[00:20:52] Peggy: But these expo only happens once a quarter and it really wasn't enough that Expo grew into the [00:21:00] Global Business Plaza. So at the Expo you will be seeing a ton of people from the Global Business Plaza and you'll get to talk to them and find out how awesome it is to be a part of an amazing community.
[00:21:13] Aicila: I'll be there. I already have it on my calendar.
[00:21:16] Peggy: Yes, you will.
[00:21:17] Aicila: I even have things on your calendar.
[00:21:18] Peggy: You do.
[00:21:22] Aicila: So You have a couple? I know. that since we are podcasters, would you talk a little bit about the voices of the plaza?
[00:21:27] Peggy: Ooh, I would love to talk about the Voices of the Plaza. One of the things I do with the Global Business Plaza is I want to give voices to the, the businesses in the plaza. So every Thursday at 10:00 AM Pacific time, we go live and we focus, we, we spotlight one business from the plaza and they get to tell us about what they do, tell us a little bit about their journey. And it's always a time of discovery for me because I think I know these people and then I ask 'em a question and I'm like, well, I didn't [00:22:00] know that about you. It's a really fun, it's a real conversational podcast. And it really lets you get to know what these people are up to, how they are using their platform and their virtual business.
[00:22:13] Peggy: A lot of these businesses are hybrid. They do in-person and virtual, and some are just virtual. We have e-commerce, we have coaches, we have, I mean, you name it. We have a huge diversity. We have media people, just, just,
[00:22:28] Aicila: just
[00:22:29] Peggy: the amount of diversity and fun things that we come across.
[00:22:37] Aicila: uh, and for Folks who are listening.
[00:22:38] Aicila: how do they learn more? Follow you, get in touch. Join The. plaza.
[00:22:44] Peggy: The best way to find me is go to global business plaza.com and check it out. That's the plaza. And scroll down all the way to the bottom. There's a searchable directory, but all the way at the top on the left [00:23:00] hand side, there's a little button that says, find out if we are good for you, and click on that and schedule a tour with me.
[00:23:06] Peggy: I would love to show off. The Global Business Plaza. Talk to you about what you're doing with your business and see if you might be a fit.
[00:23:15] Aicila: I love. Well, Thank you so much for talking about your awesome creation, which I have personally benefited from and uh, catching us up on what's coming up. See you guys to, so tomorrow everybody check out the expo and I'll talk to you next week.
[00:23:29] Peggy: Thank you so much for having me. It was so much fun. I can't wait to see you guys at the expo.
Aicila: If you enjoy Peggy's passion for community as much as I do, then go check out the Global Business plaza@globalbusinessplaza.com. Discover there, how you can be part of a supportive ecosystem that moves you from surviving to flourishing.
[00:00:21] Aicila: Next week on business as unusual, join me and guest Aviva Lebo. We delve into the transformative power of mindset shifts and the collaborative magic within peer groups to overcome leadership challenges.
[00:00:33]Aicila: And thank you for tuning into business as unusual. Remember, in this ever evolving world of modern business, it's not about fitting in, it's about standing out. See you next time. Stay curious, stay innovative, and always keep it unusual.
