Book publishing success for Business & Marketing student

Anna Barwick is a chartered certified accountant, business consultant and coach, and student on Falmouth University’s Business & Marketing BSc (Online) degree. With decades of entrepreneurial experience in running successful businesses, and numerous awards to her name, she is a champion of positive psychology, which is the focus of her recently published book, Achieving Well-being for Optimum Success. 

Over the last 25 years, Anna has owned various companies and has used her expertise to coach other businesses to excel. Initially working as a chartered certified accountant, she soon discovered that many of her clients needed support with more than just accountancy. As small start-up businesses, they didn’t necessarily have the broader business and marketing skills needed to succeed, or the budgets to employ marketing specialists. “The more I supported them with business coaching, the more I realised just how much I was enjoying that side of things”, she tells us.  

To give her clients breadth of support, Anna was keen to sharpen her marketing skills, and was delighted to find an online degree in business and marketing that was directly relevant to her practice. “I feel it’s very important for me to be able to give my clients well-rounded and in-depth advice. So, I was looking to bring my marketing skills into the 21st century – I'm a mature student and things have changed a great deal since I started out in the world of work! I really liked the breadth of topics the course covers, and it felt so aligned to what I do; a lot of the people I work with are businesspeople who focus on wellbeing and sustainability, and this course encompassed those facets in addition to marketing strategy”, she says.  

In addition to the rich syllabus, there have been lots of conversations and insights that have really made me think, and that’s what I love.

Business coaching with an added slant of positive psychology is the focus of Anna’s book, Achieving Well-being for Optimum Success, which she was inspired to write shortly after starting her degree at Falmouth and which was published earlier this year.  

Covering the importance of overall wellbeing to success in the business world, it is written from a positive psychology perspective, and focuses on goal setting, productivity, engagement and accomplishment. As Anna explains: “I’ve always focused on individual wellbeing, and one of the first topics we covered on the course was wellbeing in corporate settings. As I was getting stuck into the background reading, I felt compelled to revisit my own expertise. So, in part, joining the course at Falmouth inspired me to put pen to paper. I have also seen a big increase in general awareness of and interest in wellbeing in the workplace – of its role in getting the best out of people and people getting the best out of themselves – and that also inspired me to write the book.” 

Beyond enhancing her knowledge and providing a springboard for her book, Anna is relishing how the course is encouraging her to think outside the box. “I am really enjoying the diversity of specific subjects covered within the fields of business, marketing and sustainability”, she tells us. “As a cohort we are encouraged to consider ideas from lots of different and sometimes surprising angles. For example, something that was particularly eye-opening recently was learning just how much Co2 emissions are created from data storage. In addition to the rich syllabus, there have been lots of conversations and insights that have really made me think, and that’s what I love.” 

With ambition in abundance, the course is helping Anna to focus on her next steps. “I may decide to go on and do an MBA, but at my age, I’ll have to see how I feel in a couple of years' time!” she tells us. “Whatever I decide to do, I will certainly be using the knowledge I have gained on the course to continue to help others. I have always worked with individuals in a coaching capacity, so I’d be keen to try my hand at working with teams of people. In the past I have run multi-million-pound companies, and with this degree under my belt, in addition to my previous qualifications and experience, I think I could really help companies with corporate wellbeing.” 

Learn more about Business & Marketing BSc (Online)