Are Bigger Customers Always Better For Your Business?
Have you ever had that conversation with yourself about chasing bigger customers? About how much easier business would be if you could make the same amount of money (or more) but work with a lot less clients? Because let’s be honest, who doesn’t love that idea? It’s quite possible that working with bigger customers will actually become a necessity for you at some point if you’re going to scale your business. Because working with lots of small customers could mean that you reach your physical capacity a long time before you reach your income targets! In my experience though, it’s a lot harder…
Is winning an award on your wish list for 2019?
Do you ever feel like an unsung hero? Owning your own business can be a double-edged sword – especially when you’re the one writing all the cheques, keeping the ship running and fighting for the vision that led you to set up in the first place. Unlike passing your driving test, buying a new house or marrying your one true love, there’s no Hallmark card for keeping Dave in Accounts in gainful employment for the past 10 years! In the first flurry of your new venture, your bravery probably inspired a good pat on the back from your nearest and dearest; but,…
Active Cheshire’s top 10 tips for getting active at work
Now we all know we should be moving more, the benefits of being active are endless; helping to reduce stress, weight loss and generally living a happier and healthier life. There aren’t many issues being physically active won’t help. But let’s face it, you’re not alone if you feel that going for a run or the gym isn’t really your cup of tea! Or you feel low on time or motivation to do it. It doesn’t have to be an extra burden, so why not think about getting active where you spend most of your time… at work? So if…
How to Delegate like a Pro – Go Back to Basics!
When it comes to delegating, can you guess the one simple mistake you can easily avoid? Mmm thought not You see it’s so easy to overcomplicate everything these days that we often overlook the basics. Anyone can delegate. After all, it’s not hard. Delegating well, however, is a whole different story! Imagine you’re in need of a hotel for a business trip. You call your VA ‘Book me a hotel for tomorrow night in London’ Job done!. Delegated. Off your radar. Until you arrive at 9 pm and find you’re in a broom cupboard at the wrong end of town and they don’t even serve food that…
5 Classic Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Marketing is so important to a growing business isn’t it? But that doesn’t mean that it’s quick or easy, and it definitely doesn’t mean that every type of marketing you do will always generate results. If only it were so simple! If only you knew exactly which type of marketing was the right one for your business instead of having to waste time and money working out all the things that don’t work first! Just in case you’re in the same confused boat as bazillions of other people I speak to about this, I thought I’d share some advice about the most…
How Can I Get Everything Done?
Do you ever have one of those days, or even one of those weeks, when you feel as though you’ve worked absolutely non-stop? You’ve barely come up for air let alone eaten properly. But you still feel as though your to do list is a massive, insurmountable beast that will never, ever be finished! Firstly if this does sound familiar, don’t panic, it’s a bit of a natural side effect of growing your own business so it actually means you’re very normal. This is a challenge that I help almost all of my clients with though, so I thought it would…
4 Reasons Your Price May Be Costing You Money
I’ve been talking to a lot of people recently about the things they find most difficult about growing a business. And finding the right price for their service is something that keeps coming up again and again and again. It’s a real dilemma, and finding a way to define exactly what your price should be can feel like a minefield. So I thought I’d share some tips about the most common mistakes people make when setting their price. And I’ll give you a clue – most of these relate to being far too cheap rather than being too expensive! 1. Too…
4 Tasty Business Lessons From A Food Fayre
Are you like me these days and you find yourself looking at things that are nothing whatsoever to do with your business through business eyes? I have a feeling that sentence reads like a bit of a tongue twister so I’d better explain! Last weekend I visited Beaumaris Food festival and bought lots of lovely tasty things. As happens most of the time these days though, I found myself looking at everything from a business perspective. I like doing this because sometimes observing a totally different industry can give you a surprising new perspective on your own. And I find that…
Do you have clarity?
I think one of the biggest things that gets in the way when you’re trying to grow a business is feeling completely bamboozled by the number of ideas you have, and the volume of ‘stuff’ that you know needs doing in order to get you there. ‘Idea overload’ is definitely something I’m guilty of myself sometimes! There are always new products or services to be developed, better content or images that need adding to your website, systems to organise your finances so everything is under control, social media platforms to crack, new networking events to try out and it can…
What Does Value Really Mean?
Do you ever have that sinking feeling at the very moment you’re about to tell somebody your price, when your conscience jumps in with the ‘can I really charge that’ doubt? Am I worth that? Do I really deliver that much value? I know this is something that happens to a lot of people (I was only having a conversation about it yesterday) and it’s one of the major reasons that a lot of small businesses miss out on sales that should have been a certainty. You see, two things tends to happen when you have these doubts about your own price….
The Most Important 20 Minutes Of Your Day
Are you one of those naturally well-organised people who starts every day feeling focused, motivated and completely clear on what you’re going to achieve that day? Or are you like the majority of people who start their day by trying to work out which of their 8 billion priorities they should work on first and questioning how on earth they’re going to make a dent in their list at all that day? If you’re more like the second person don’t panic, it means you’re perfectly normal! It also means that the tips I’m about to share will be particularly relevant…
Scheduling Your Way To Becoming More Organised
Are you somebody that loves to have a really detailed schedule for the next few days? Or are you like lots of people running their own business who crave freedom, fluidity and variety in their days? A lot of my clients prefer this approach because often they’ve left behind a job or a corporate role that gave them little or no choice about how to manage their day and left them feeling penned in or held back. So they really value the ability to have free reign over what they do each day. But I’ll let you into a secret. If…
How Do I Hire My First Employee?
I’ve been talking to my good friend and long-time business associate Claire Bentley from Bentley HR recently about the trials and tribulations of taking on your first employee. It’s such a pivotal moment for any business but it can easily seem as though there are a million hoops to jump through to be certain that you’re going about things in the right way. Claire has helped a number of my clients with this over the years so I really value her advice. And she proved just how incredibly helpful she is by putting together this quick starter guide for you. Claire Says: Employing…