Top 10 Tips on running a business

At a networking event yesterday, we were all asked to share our top tips for running a business, so here are mine:

1) When you're running a business, it's really important to brush up on your time management. Turning up late to meetings is not going to do you any favours and neither is not doing what your customers have asked you to do. Make sure that you prioritise your work and leave plenty of time to do things. It's always better to exceed expectations.

2) Do some marketing each week - the more marketing you do, the more you will see results in your business. Put aside some time to do marketing every week. I personally find it's better for me to do 1/2 an hour a day rather than 2-3 hours a week.

3) Do what works for you. We all hear that x, y or z has worked for someone else and feel that we should be doing that for our business too. Rather than doing that though, do what works for you. If someone else has tried cold calling and it's worked really well for them, but you hate the thought of it, try something else.

4) Do bits of tasks regularly - rather than letting your finances, marketing, admin etc build up and then have to spend ages and ages on it, try doing small bits of tasks on a regular basis. That way you'll get it all done and it won't stress you out.

5) Team up with similar businesses that share your target customers - what can you do together? How can you refer business to each other?

6) Get out there as much as possible - go to networking events, meetings, workshops - whatever you can find. Not only will you learn something, but getting out there really helps you to stop feeling lonely.

7) Be passionate about your business - the more you enjoy running your business, the more this will come across to others. Who doesn't want to work with someone who's energetic and loves running their business?

8) Never, ever give up. No matter how tough things seem, there is always a way through.

9) Have a hobby. Running a business can be all consuming. Develop another interest for yourself - it will help you to take your mind off the business and will give you a break.

10) Trust your instinct. If something 'feels' right, go with it and if it doesn't, stay clear. You'll be amazed how often you'll be right.
8)

You go Peter!

I don't know whether any of you heard Peter Jones from Dragon's Den speaking on Breakfast this morning. When asked about the economy, he said that it wasn't as bad as everyone was making out, but that if we carried on we would talk ourselves into a recession. He was challenged quite heavily on that point by the presenters and said that yes the banks are in trouble and the share price wasn't great, but that wouldn't have an impact on the vast majority of us. Peter said that we needed to maintain confidence to keep spending, but we were in danger of talking ourselves into a recession if we were not careful.

I couldn't agree with Peter more and he echoes the sentiments I've been saying for some time now. So ignore the news and let's be positive!

Don't panic Mr Mannering

I know there's lots going on in the economy at the moment and it's easy to see all those news stories and media reports and panic about what impact it will have on your business. In fact, a couple of my contacts have already decided that the end is in sight for their business and have effectively given up.

So, this week I wanted to say to you "Don't panic". Now, more than ever is the time to remain confident and strong and believe that it's not going to have any impact on your business. Yes, I know the banks aren't having a great time at the moment and the markets are reacting to this, but there's still plenty of money in people's pockets out there - people are just a little more reluctant to spend it.

But then again, aren't people always a little reluctant to part with their hard earned cash? You need to use good marketing and believe (especially at the moment) that your business will be alright. After all, if Tesco can have £1 billion profits in the first 6 months of this year, you can make a good profit too!

So, don't panic, stay strong and be confident that everything will be fine.

Is it possible to be too busy...?

Whenever I teach a business start-up course, I always give an example of a business that put one advert in his local paper and got over 1,000 responses. He was swamped and couldn't get back to all the enquiries in time - demonstrating that it's possible to be 'too' busy.

Most businesses would love to be in this position, but over the last week or so, I've experienced it and I have to say it's not the best emotional state I've been in. I've been running around like crazy and it's only now that I've managed to get a bit of a handle on things and see a way forward.

And I have to admit that I did the worst thing possible - panicked and ended up doing less than I would have normally done. Re-reading one of the best time management books ever "Getting things done" by David Allen has put it back into perspective again for me (as it always done) and I'm actioning things quickly again now - but it was touch and go for a while.

Experiencing this over the last week or so, has definitely made me look at planning for the future and consider how we're going to scale up without letting things slip. So, big tip (and lesson) for this week is that future planning is definitely worth thinking about - before it actually happens.

Jumping on other people's successes

In my business, we run workshops for small business owners on every aspect of marketing. Each time we promote a workshop though, I usually get a fluffy of activity from lots of small business owners who supply whatever the workshop is about asking whether they can come and speak on the workshop or whether I can tell the participants about their services. Another popular choice is the suggestion of teaming up with another business to run a workshop together.

When this happens, it always makes me think about the positive and negative aspects of jumping on other people's successes. And, I know I'm not the only person this happens to - some of my clients who run successful workshops have the same thing happen to them.

From another businesses point of view, teaming up with someone who is already successfully running workshops is a great thing to do. You get access to a whole room full of people who are already interested in what you sell; you get their contact details and can follow-up with them afterwards; you get to talk about your services in the room and selling ultimately can be so much easier.

Now the negative side - think about how it looks to the company who are already running successful workshops. They've done all the hard work getting people to turn up on the day and you just turn up to tell people about your services.

While this strategy may seem to have immense benefits for you, I have to say it's something that does annoy me and the answer back to people who ask this question, is I'm afraid usually no. I don't have a problem with people coming along to the workshop, paying for their place and then telling people about their services - it's the cheek of asking whether they can come along and overtly sell their services when I'm the one running round like a headless chicken organising everything, getting bookings and making sure everyone turns up.

So, before you make a request to jump on the back of other people's successes, just have a think about how it might come across and consider paying for your place on a workshop instead. You'll still get the same benefits AND your services will be much more likely to be recommended by the person running the workshop as a result.

Lessons in not giving up

If like me, you watch the US Open Semi Final between Nadal and Murray, I hope that you're inspired by the results that can be achieved when you set your mind to not giving up, no matter what.

When Murray walked out to face Nadal, the whole world didn't believe that he could win the match. In fact, I don't know that many Brits who actually like Murray because of his attitude. However, despite all odds, Murray believed that he could achieve the impossible, and achieve it he did.

I think this is a big lesson for all of us in business - no matter how tough it gets out there; no matter how many doubting Toms tell you that you won't achieve what you want to - believe in yourself, never give up and go out there and achieve the impossible.

Choosing a business name

Choosing a business name is one of the hardest things to do in your business because at the end of the day, you want something that the vast majority of people will love. Problem is that in reality, not everyone is going to like your business name - in fact, some people will hate it.

What matters is what YOU think; after all, you're the one who is going to have to live with your business name and use it everytime you answer the phone. You're the one who's going to have to use your business name in your logo and on your website, so it's really important that you like it.

So, trust your instinct. Remember, it's not what the business name is - who would have thought that McDonalds was associated with burgers or Tesco with supermarkets? It's what you do with the name that counts. You can build any name into a brand, which is what McDonalds and Tesco have done.