Entrepreneur, business coach and South West Wales business leader Bernie Davies added ‘bestselling author’ to her list of accreditations when she topped the Amazon charts in 2020 with her hotly-anticipated second book, ‘Your Business Your Way’. However, in 2021, it’s Bernie’s latest business venture, publishing house ‘Your Book, Your Way’ that has people talking.
We caught up with Bernie to see how both she and the region has fared during the pandemic – and it seems both Bernie and South West Wales have met the challenges of the pandemic head-on, with new start-ups, business growth and business success despite the challenges.
Bernie explains:
“The pandemic has been tough on many, but despite this, we’ve seen lots of successful start-ups in the region – and my new publishing business is one of them!
“The publishers of my book, were fantastic, however the success of ‘Your Business, Your Way’ was also partly attributable to my own contacts, planning, marketing and business expertise.
“Trust is hard to gain in business – and the entrepreneurs I work with trust me implicitly and often recommend me to others. After my own book launch, I found myself inundated with new authors who wanted to work with me.
“The support and consultation with these authors eventually led to me setting up my own publishing house – mid pandemic – and because ethics are so important to me, the launch of ‘Your Book, Your Way’ has come with the blessing of my own publisher, who I still introduce to clients as an option for them.”
‘Your Book, Your Way’ is thriving, with a book series and 6 global authors totalling 12 books, scheduled for 2021, with more set for 2022 and some really exciting titles in the pipeline – the first, “A Shy Girl’s Guide to Networking by Melitta Campbell, is inspirational, instructive and power packed and launches on May 4th.
It’s certainly been a busy year for Bernie, and there are no signs of slowing, with Bernie continuing to support businesses via the Swansea and West Wales Introbiz network, which she runs alongside her husband, Commercial Director and Ted X Swansea Curator Mark Davies, as well as being appointed as an Excelerator Coach on the Welsh Government’s business Excelerator programme, which has been supporting entrepreneurs to grow their business to a £2million turnover and 10 employees within just 3 years. Bernie has personally been working with 7 of them. Bernie also volunteers as Welsh Government Business Wales Mentor.
However, the new publishing business is Bernie’s passion and whether creating business or telling stories, Bernie firmly believes that Wales has it’s own inspiration:
Bernie explains:
“In Wales, we have a strong creative heritage, with writers and poets like Taliesin, Dylan Thomas and Dafydd Gwilym. We have scenery that rivals anywhere in the world, and we have a people rich in resilience who have sung with powerful voices as they have overcome challenge after challenge through history.
“It’s hard not to be inspired to create here – whether that is creating a business, finding creative inspiration to help that business thrive or creating a book – as a mentor, it’s my job to guide the creator towards success, so publishing is not as different as you may think.
“I have always said that everybody has a business in them. I’ve now added ‘everyone has a book in them’ to my list of phrases. Everyone has a story and now, as a publisher and mentor, it is a real privilege to help my clients bring those ideas to fruition, creating their own part of history.
“It’s still their business, their story. I’m just here to help them tell their story – their way.”
To learn more, visit https://berniedavies.com/
