Category: Business Growth
Do you need a business plan?
Today I want to share with you some great tips about business plans. No don’t stop reading just yet, just in case that’s giving you the heebie-jeebies! I have been talking to lots of people recently about the need for a business plan within a small business. Are they actually relevant and a good use of time or are they just corporate bull and wasting time on something that’s going to get shoved in that bottom drawer, never to be seen again? And even if you love the idea of having a plan, often it’s much easier to write the plan…
Are You Open to Feedback?
If we’re open to it, life constantly teaches us lessons about our business, even in ways that we really don’t initially see the relevance of at all. A few bazillion years ago, I used to be an athlete. I used to be a sprinter. I ran for England and for Great Britain; I was a National Schools champion three times, an Under-23 European Cup winner, and ran for the England Senior team in amazing places like Rome, Moscow, and Gateshead! And I know you’re probably thinking, “What on earth has that got to do with business, and particularly with your business?”…
When to plan, and when to get cracking!
I’ll let you into a secret. I’m really good at helping clients to get on with the things they’ve been putting off and holding them accountable to taking action. But I go through all the same mental faffing myself when I want to make a big change in my business. This month I’ve started something new that I’ve been toying with for a while. I’ve been umming and ahhing; thinking it through; considering all the ways I could get it wrong; trying to come up with the perfect strategy and basically avoiding getting on with it! So I thought it would be…
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…
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…
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…
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….
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…
The Power of Asking Great Questions
I want to let you into a secret this week that could save you lots of time and energy in your future sales meetings. It’s a great trick that could make those meetings feel much less stressful, run more smoothly and hopefully become a lot more lucrative for you too. Because I know that sales meetings for many people growing a business, are a thing of dread! But they really don’t need to be. The simple fact is that without making sales, a business simply can’t grow. But there’s a way to manage these meetings so that you can feel professional…
How To Write A Super Simple Business Plan
Do you have a business plan that feels like a living, breathing guide for your actions every week? Or is it one of those things that you created once, tucked away nicely in the bottom drawer and have never looked at since? I know that a huge number of people running their own businesses wish they had a plan, and feel like it’s something they should definitely do, but they simply don’t know where to start. How many pages does it need to be? How much detail should it have? How many years ahead should it forecast? And how can…