Each week, we ask small businesses key questions. Here we speak to Morag Ormiston, owner of business consultancy and healthcare firm Moonstir, based near Peterhead
Q. How and why did you start in business?
A. I started the business fully in June 2020, following redundancy from my global HR manager role. I have a long-standing passion for developing people and organisations, with a desire to design, build and restore businesses and individuals by creating bespoke solutions to meet specific needs. It made sense to use my combined qualifications in HR, health and wellbeing, and psychotherapy to offer local support to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Q. How did you get to where you are today?
A. Hard work and constant study. I started off in primary school teaching, but there were limited vacancies when I graduated. I met a lovely woman who inspired me to go into human resources and that was the start of my HR journey. Moonstir, an anagram of Ormiston, has been developing in my mind since completing my MSc dissertation on work-life balance in 2005.
Q. Who helped you?
A. I have learned a lot from experiential learning on the job, at charities, via formal courses and from my network of friends and colleagues. I would not be where I am today without a supportive family, and my dogs to make sure I take time out for walks and cuddles. Formal networks such as the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and Business Gateway have helped build my confidence and keep me right, and I have also helped myself by believing I can succeed and visualising my dreams.
Q. What has been your biggest mistake?
A. I have learned from any glitches on my journey. Perhaps spending money on some courses I felt I needed to build my confidence, but only validated my experience and knowledge, has cost me some cash and time which could have been better spent.
Q. What is your greatest achievement?
A. Combining all I have learned and all I believe in to establish Moonstir. I am free to develop the business, with experts in our field, in a way which meets my own values, and those of the people we support. This feels like a massively empowering step in my career.
Q. If you were in power in government, what would you change?
A. It would perhaps be to ensure more resource to support small businesses, or vulnerable individuals, so there is more balance between those who survive and those who thrive.
Q. What do you still hope to achieve?
A. Working with qualified professionals to implement our employee wellbeing offering is high on the agenda. We believe everyone has the right to physical, mental and social wellbeing, with options to learn, work, support themselves and their families to the best of their ability. If we can proactively engage with businesses and individuals to manage their physical and mental health and wellbeing, we have the opportunity to change so many people’s lives for the better.
Q. What do you do to relax?
A. I enjoy playing with our family dog and watching wildlife. I especially love sewing and sharing my creations, or asking for projects to do. Having my Facebook Page for Sleekit Sewlutions has been a real support for allowing me the opportunity to create. I also enjoy chilling out with a crisp white vino and bending my husband’s ear about what I’ve been working on.
Q. What are you currently reading, listening to or glued to on the TV?
A. I prefer listening to music while sewing to watching TV or reading, but you will find me watching Strictly every year.
Q. What do you waste your money on?
A. I don’t generally waste money, but it could be argued I have too much fabric – there’s always a need to create. I don’t think I would have Sleekit Sewlutions running the way it does without my living room being converted into a workspace. I also spend money on memberships of professional bodies, which I don’t always get the best use out of. FSB is not one of those I have to add.
Q. How would your friends describe you?
A. Dedicated and passionate about what I believe in, supportive and caring, driven to succeed and hard-working. They would say I hate parties and avoid dressing up. I think they would also say I am talented in what I do – but ask me to do something like a quiz, and I’ll avoid it because my general knowledge is rubbish.
Q. What would your enemies say about you?
A. There are some people who say I am direct in the way I talk – I prefer to consider myself as honest, being able to critically analyse and reflect back with clarity but in an empathic way. They may also say I work too hard and don’t rest enough.
Q. What do you drive and dream of driving?
a. I drive myself to succeed for the benefit of others, which has included many years of study, practice and reflection. In terms of a car, as long as it has heated seats and works reliably I don’t care.