Keep your spirits up!

December can often be quite a depressing time for a lot of businesses. Let's face it, people in general are more concerned about Christmas, presents, parties and having a bit of time off - and usually they're more concerned about this than buying your products or services.

Although I think most of us understand it, it's still quite demotivating when no-one buys your product or service no matter what marketing does.

December and January usually are a bit quieter than normal in your business, but don't despair. Do what you should be doing at this time of year. Namely:

1) Planning for the New Year
2) Doing some marketing for the New Year
3) Last minute admin (sending out Xmas cards, notifying customers of opening hours etc)
4) Me time - having a bit of a break and recharging your batteries
5) Thinking about how you can get quick wins (such as selling low-cost products for January sales)

Doing this work when things are a bit quieter will set you up well for 2009!

This is our last blog of 2008, as we're trying to clear everything off our plate, so we can have a break over Christmas too.

So, on behalf of everyone at Exceptional Thinking, we wish you a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.

Why you should focus on one business idea

I meet many business owners who have two or more businesses or ideas. They may be working on opening a cafe while selling alternative therapies or doing PR while also doing coaching or have several internet sites selling very different things.

Several businesses are often started at once because a business owner believes that if one doesn't take off maybe the other one will. It could also be that one business isn't bringing in as much money as it should and so the business owner starts up another business that can supplement the income. Or it could just be that they've got bored with the first business and another idea that looked more interesting came along at the right time.

I can completely understand the attraction to starting more than one business, but it also has it downsides too. For a start, you're splitting your time, energy and money between two or more businesses - it's impossible to do them all properly and often end up where one idea is neglected or worse all the ideas are just picked up and put down occasionally.

Also, it's difficult to tell what someone does if they have lots of business ideas going on at the same time. How can someone possibly refer a customer to you if they're not sure what you do? It also weakens your credibility - how can you be an expert in all of those fields (P.S. it doesn't matter if you are an expert in all of these fields, it matters that people don't BELIEVE you are).

I know it's hard and I know it's scary but focusing on just one business idea will actually create more results than if you spread yourself across many ideas. You'll be able to concentrate on it properly and give it the time and energy it deserves. And yes, it might not work straight away but you'll be able to tweak it until it does rather than focusing on something else.

Give it a go...you might be pleasantly surprised!

What do you think of the 2.5% VAT cut?

What do you think of the 2.5% VAT cut? It seems to have sparked a lot of debate on other sites. I think the main issue with it is the inconvenience that it will cause to small business owners for not much benefit. For instance, many small businesses will:

• need to update price lists
• need to update literature
• have to upgrade accounting software to ensure 15% is included in there
• lose additional cashflow that VAT brings

And I'm sure you can think of half a dozen more disadvantages. Not to mention the fact that very few larger businesses will pass the saving to their customers while many small businesses, particularly those in service businesses will have no choice.

I know there is not much that I, or anyone else can do about it now, but it would be interesting to hear your views.

The Lowest Form of Marketing

I had an experience the other day that I hate with a passion. I consider it to be the lowest form of marketing and what's worse the person doing it often has no idea that's how they're coming across.

The technique is to pick holes in what someone else has done in an attempt to sell their own products and services. So for instance, if you ask for comments on your new website (as I did once), these people would tell you how terrible it is and pick hole after hole in it and then point out how they could do a better job for you.

The other day it was presentation skills - unfortunately the person concerned then had the cheek to follow it up with an email reiterating what she could do for me. And received quite a curt response from me explaining why I wouldn't be using her services, but that I could help her improve her marketing technique (let's see how she likes it).

So, if you ever get experience of this marketing technique in the future, please don't put up with it. It's a terrible form of marketing and the person concerned deserves to know that it's bang out of order. And if you've ever done this yourself (which I hope you haven't), make sure that you never do it again in the future...

The Art of Setting Goals

I was with a client the other day who was talking to me about setting goals for her business for the coming year. She was pretty stuck on how to do this - from how she should word the goals to what they should be. So let me explain:

Goals in your business help keep you motivated and focused. Whenever I don't feel motivated, I know that 9 times out of 10, it's because I don't have a clear goal to achieve. When I set a goal, I always feel much better.

Goals should be for you and you alone. Don't worry about what anyone else might think. You don't have to share them or let anyone see them. I recommend that you write them down and then carry them around with you (in your wallet or your purse) so you can look at them often.

When you write them down, they don't have to look pretty or be spelt correctly - as long as you can look at them and know exactly what you mean, that's ok.

But, and this is a big but - you must BELIEVE that you can achieve them. If you find yourself writing down a goal and then thinking 101 reasons why you can't achieve it, scrap that one and start again. In order for goal setting to work for you, you must believe that you have a fighting chance of achieving them - if you don't believe this, who else will?

They must be goals that you are really passionate about and want to achieve. When you write them down, they should make you feel excited and feel that you'd happily get out of bed for no pay to get them done.

Feel free to set personal goals as well as goals for the business - make them challenging, but believe you can achieve them. Set some, but not too many - more than 6 or 7 in a year may make you lose focus.

And remember that Barrak Obama had a dream too - to become President of the United States. Now, I'm sure that he had people saying to him "you'll never achieve that" or "what if", but he believed and his dream has come true. So what's your dream?

Do you watch business programmes?

I've just finished watching "The Restaurant" and along with programmes like "The Apprentice" and "Dragon's Den", they provide a great insight in how not to do things.

But, I'm constantly amazed by how many business owners don't watch them.

I know that we've probably had enough of reality TV shows in the UK and I know they can get a bit repetitive too. But, if you're in business, they can give you ideas, provide opportunities and most of all help you learn what not to do.

After all, they're on TV - let them make the mistakes and you learn from the experiences and put the right stuff into practice in your business.

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.

Hassle, hassle, hassle

OK - be prepared. Here's me being grumpy (probably because of all the rain we've had recently). Why is it that whenever you want to do something, it's always hassle? Let me give you an example. Looking at my costs recently, I decided to change a couple of suppliers - one was my bank. They wanted ID (fine); they wanted me to fill in a form (fine), but then they wanted me to contact all my customers who pay by standing order to inform them that I've changed my bank details (hassle!). That in my book is hassle for me as I have to add it to my to-do list and hassle for my customers who have to mess around changing the standing order.

Yes, I know I could make it simple for my customers and it would only take me a few minutes, but why is it that all the processes are set up to be hassle for people. To be perfectly honest, this is the type of situation that just puts me off doing something.

I personally think that doing business with someone else should be as easy and as straight-forward as possible. You should come away from that deal feeling happy that you've swapped supplier or bought from someone. Not frustrated and annoyed.

It's interesting how bureaucracy and paperwork get in the way of building a good relationship with the customer. Come on guys, go back to basics and try to understand how your customer is feeling when they buy from you!

Any thoughts on my moan?

Plan now for September

Mmm, it seems that August is counted as a bit of a nothing month as far as business is concerned - September's when everything picks up again isn't it?

Although it's easy to think this way, if you're quieter in your business or taking some time out, that's when you should be doing your planning for between September to December. If you leave your planning until September though, you won't be able to hit the ground running when September starts.

Here's how to do a quick plan that you can just stick up on your wall. Your plan should be no longer than two pages so that you can remember all the information on it and use it proactively.

1) Write down three personal goals and three business goals that you'd like to achieve between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009. These goals MUST be things that you're really passionate about - they must be things that you would happily get out of bed for without getting paid. So, when you've written your goals have a think about whether they make you passionate. If the answer is no, go back and reassess.

2) When you've written your goals write down where you are now with them. Give each a percentage score between 0 and 100% where 0% is nothing has been done and 100% is the goal is completed.

3) Then you need to write down how you will achieve each of these goals. Break each goal down into individual tasks - the aim being that if you completed all of the tasks, your goal would be complete. Once you've written your tasks, you have an action plan then to help you work through your goal.

Unless you're going for funding, this is a very quick way of writing a business plan for your business that you will actually use.

Why you shouldn't feel guilty about having a break

Why is it that when you run a small business, you feel guilty about having a break? Don't worry - it's not just you. It's me too and it seems to be all the small business owners that I speak to as well!

Maybe it's something to do with our upbringing that rewards us for working hard and not taking a break; perhaps we worry that things won't get done in our absence or that new customers won't come through the door; or possibly something else...

But, whatever it is, many of us do feel guilty about having a break from our business. Here's 5 reasons why you shouldn't feel guilty:

1) You actually (believe it or not) deserve it. Especially if you've worked hard all year. It's a good thing to reward yourself and keeps you motivated .
2) You'll be amazed how much better you'll feel after the break - you'll be refreshed and raring to go.
3) When you're on your break, it's also likely that new ideas will come to you - remember all those promises you've made to yourself to work 'on' your business, not 'in' it. Well now's your chance.
4) I'm always surprised whenever I leave my business that I seem to get new customers while I'm away. Maybe it's because you do a whole heap of work before going away to clear your desk that tends to come to fruition while you're away.
5) Finally, everyone else has a break so why shouldn't you?

If you're having a break this summer, make sure you go away and enjoy it and not feel guilty about doing so.

How are you different from your competition?

Whenever I ask small business owners this question, I'm always intrigued by the answers I hear. From "cheaper" or "great service" to "we've been established the longest". I've even heard people naming their competition and insulting them. Let's have a look at some of these points:

Cheaper - if you're cheaper, ask yourself the question of why. It's very unlikely that I'm going to use all of your competitors, just to find out you're the cheapest one is it? Just because you are cheaper, there is absolutely no guarantee that's going to get you more customers and in fact if you are cheaper, you're going to have to get more customers. To give you an example - let's imagine your target is £100. If you charge £20, you would need 5 customers to get to your target. If however, you charged £50, you would only need 2 and if you charged £100 you would only need 1. When you're starting out, charge the same as most of your competition and then work on building your reputation so that you can put your prices up.

Great Service - to be honest with you, if I was going to use your products or service, I would expect you to have great service. This isn't good enough as a reason to stand out.

Been Established the Longest - so? I don't care how long you've been established as long as you can supply me with what I want and do so with great service. If however, your experience shone through, that might impress me.

Insulting your competitors - not a good idea. I'm not sure how willing I'd be to work with you if you had just insulted a competitor. You don't know who I know and for all you know, my best friend may be the owner of a company you're talking about.

So how can you stand out? The easiest and quickest way to stand out from your competition is to let your passion for your business shine through and strive to do your very best by your customers and your staff. Think about what you would get out of bed for in a morning without being paid and this is what your passion is - and this is how you stand out from your competition.

Business Books I recommend

Quite a few people have been asking me recently what business books I would recommend. So here goes:

Get Clients Now by CJ Hayden - brilliant book giving a step by step guide of how to do your own marketing.

Getting business to come to you by Paul and Sarah Edwards - Great if you're stuck for marketing ideas.

Getting things done: The Stress-free Art of Productivity by David Allen - One of the best business books out there about how to manage your time.

Anyone can do it: Building Coffee Republic from our kitchen table by Sahar Hashemi - really good book on starting your own business that takes you through step by step what needs to be done.

Sales on a Beermat by Mike Southon - easy to read book, with some good tips.

You can't teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar by Sandler - this book completely changed the way I did sales. Really good read.

The E-myth revisited by Michael Gerber - this one should be on everyone's bookshelves.

Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port - Great book to help you redefine what you do with some great marketing tips.

I'll add more business books as I read them.

Helen

Why you should be promoting your business now

Speaking to many small business owners over the last few days, I know that quite a few of them are thinking about winding down for the summer right about now. The school holidays are coming up at the end of this month and I’m sure many people are thinking about going away during them.

The business – well they may look at a few emails or clear up some paperwork, but nothing serious will be going on. The pieces can be picked up in September when the kids go back to school.

Well, if you really want to have a successful business, I’m going to advise against that – you should be promoting now to get business in September. Otherwise you’re in danger of getting into the feast or famine situation.

In reality it takes a good couple of months from the time you start promoting to see business coming in and if you wait until September to start promoting, you’ll see the results in November or December rather than when you want them.

So, even though you may plan to wind down a little over the summer, doing a little bit of marketing may well pay dividends when it comes down to it…

What should you give away for free?

One of the questions that I'm often asked is should I give away information for free and if so, how much should I give away?

For years now, I have been giving away free information, but I remember being told by a Business Consultant about 3 years into the business that I gave away too much for free and I should scale back. So, promptly following his advice that's what I did - but what I found is that this didn't work for me. I found that in my business, giving away things for free enabled me to establish my expertise and make people aware of me, so I went back to doing that and I've taken this approach every since.

What I did scale back on though was how MUCH I gave away for free. Prior to my conversation with the Business Consultant, I used to give away most of my knowledge and now I have put some boundaries in place so that I know in my own mind what I'm happy to give away for free and what's not ok. When I meet someone who asks for some advice, I'll happily give away my time and information up to my boundary, but no more.

In terms of what you can give away for free, you could give away samples, free information (in the form of an e-book or a tips sheet), your time, a free audio recording (podcast) and so on. I would advise though sitting down and deciding in your own mind what you're ok to give away free and what you're not - then put this into practice and don't give away for free anything you're not comfortable with.

Then when you do decide to give something away for free, do so and don't begrudge it - just be happy that you've helped someone else out.

Should you blog?

Blogging has become very popular in the last few months and even the most non-technical of my clients are now talking about using a blog to promote their businesses. But, what exactly is a blog and should you set one up?

You’ll see lots of slight variations in what a blog is if you have a look, but I like to think of a blog (or a web-log) as an on-line diary, where you can record your thoughts, opinions and useful information. You can set one up for free using sites like www.blogger.com and getting started is fairly easy even if you’re not technically minded. Many people are also setting up blogs instead of a website too – you can’t blame them – it’s quick, free and you can add and change the content whenever you like!

Setting a blog up though is the easy part. Then you have to look after it. I updated my blog once a week, but many blogging experts would tell me that’s not enough. Ideally, you should be updating your blog three to four times as week. Granted your blogs don’t have to be long, but it’s still a time-consuming activity in your busy world.

And then there’s the problem of what to write about. I tend to get inspiration by talking to my clients and contacts and writing about something they’ve said that has interested me, but I have to admit that sometimes I sit there and think what should I write about this week? Having said that, if you write a newsletter or articles, there is absolutely no reason why you couldn’t post this on there. I also express my opinion about various things in the news or things that have annoyed me – being careful of course, not to betray confidentiality or give away any names!

The other consideration is whether you will get business from your blog. Well, you can certainly monitor whether or not it’s being read and where people have found out about your blog. But whether you’ll get business from it is another matter – what it does do is build your credibility as an expert within your field and give people an idea of what you’d be like to work with. People may very well decide to use your company as a result of seeing your blog – but don’t expect instant results.

Finally, you’ll also have to think about promoting your blog to make sure people actually see it – the blog will automatically be sent to search engines like Google, but often that’s not enough (as there are thousands of blogs out there). So, many people choose other ways to promote and tell people about their blog like adding their blog to their website and email signature and business cards to name, but a few.

So, should you blog? You should certainly consider it if you like writing and expressing your opinions and realise that a blog will help you establish your credibility rather than give you immediate customers. You also need to put it into your diary to update it on a regular basis so that you don’t forget – there’s nothing worse than a blog that has been set up 3 months ago and not updated since.

If, on the other hand, you hate writing; have no time to spare; and are not sure what to write about, I would say blogging is probably not for you and you should have a think about other methods to promote your business. Blogging should definitely be used in combination with other marketing methods and not in isolation.

Still not sure whether or not it’s for you…that’s fine. Go onto sites like www.blogger.com and have a look at some of the blogs that have been written – you can even search for blogs that are related to your industry. Don’t forget that you can post comments to blogs that interest you, so start doing this first. This will give you an excellent way to get your name out there and also decide whether or not blogging is for you.

Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) gives help and advice to established small businesses on their marketing and to people setting up in business.

Why you should stick to one business idea

Something that’s really common amongst small business owners is running two or more businesses. I see people who own a massage therapy business also run a greeting card company or someone who owns a networking company who also own a florist and so on. Two or more businesses happen usually for one of two reasons:

1. Either the first business isn’t making as much money as the person would have liked and they believe another opportunity will be the one that will make it big, or
2. The first business is hard to get going and the business owner gets bored and frustrated with it. When the second idea comes along, it’s more exciting and interesting and the person’s motivation levels are rejuvenated again.

Or it could happen for a combination of these reasons. The problem occurs when the second business idea doesn’t meet expectations and then the business owner creates a third or even a fourth idea. I’ve met business owners who are running seven or eight business ideas and suddenly reach crisis point because they don’t know what they do anymore.

So, why then should you stick to one business idea? Perhaps, these people are right – maybe it does take two or three ideas before you make it big and isn’t it possible to be able to run several different businesses simultaneously?

Well, here’s the thing – and you may disagree here (all opinions welcome), but I’ve worked with hundreds if not thousands of business owners and I really, honestly can’t recall a time when I’ve seen two or more business ideas work simultaneously. The best and most successful businesses work when the business owner concentrates on one thing and one thing only.

But, I hear you cry – what about those people who are doing PR and training or coaching and management consultancy and are really successful? Well, I would argue that if you look closer at their businesses, you’ll find they are running one business in different ways. For instance, a PR professional that I know teaches PR, works on PR on a one to one basis with her clients and has e-books on her site about PR which she sells successfully. She’s even just branched out into offering workshops to teach PR professionals how to be successful. But, everything revolves around PR – if I was recommending this business owner, I’m very clear on what she does.

Also take the example of a successful coach who also does training. It’s not just any training though – it’s training involving coaching. She’s also involved in a coaching network and speaks on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Professional Development (CIPD) on coaching. Anyone who meets her knows she is a coach and knows how she can help them.

So, bearing that in mind – here’s my top 3 reasons why you should stick to one business:

1. Taking on a new business is the same as starting a new business.
Your new business will take time, effort, focus, motivation and possibly money to start up and get off the ground. You’ll need to give it at least 18 months of undivided attention and treat it like it’s your baby. OK, I’m absolutely sure you can do this…but, what happens to your first business while you’re doing this and what happens when you get bored of this new business idea or it doesn’t get off the ground as quickly as you want it to? Will you then start another business?

2. No-one will know what you do.
When people ask you the question of what do you do – what will you tell them? Will it be I do x and I also do y and sometimes I do z? Or will it be, I do x and here’s how it can help you? If you have two or more business ideas, believe me no-one will be quite sure what you do and how you can help them. If you don’t believe, try asking a few of your trusted contacts who will give you honest feedback…

3. Jack of all trades, master of none
One of the reasons that’s often given to me as a reason for not choosing just one business is the fear that they won’t be able to use all the skills they have. This is absolutely not true – just look at the PR and coaching examples above – they will use all their skills and much more. If you focus on one thing and take this one idea to the market in different ways, you’ll be amazed at the results and the difference.

OK then, if you already have two or more businesses what do you do? My first suggestion is to stop and decide which one of these businesses you’d really like to focus on – and then (brave step this), let go of all the other businesses and really throw your heart and soul into this one business. If you’re not sure which business you should focus on, get the help of a coach or a business mentor to help you.

And if you’re considering taking on another business – stop and really think about it. Are you sure that’s the best decision? Are you prepared to drop the other businesses you have and focus on this one 100%?

Think very carefully about taking on a new business – I know it’s exciting and improves your motivation, but it may only be a short time until you get bored with this one too and then are you going to be looking for that next big idea?

Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides help and advice on marketing and business planning for small businesses and people starting up a business.

Free recordings on starting your own business

We've busy recording a series of three recordings which will be "Planning your own business", "Writing a plan and getting funding" and "Kicking off your business". Better still, they're all completely free, and I'll tell you how to download them below. Feel free to pass them onto any of your contacts that might be interested too.

This month, we've released the first of our free recordings "Planning your own Business". To download it, simply go to http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk/Own-business.php

Feel free to pass this onto any of your contacts who are also starting their own business too - but make sure you tell them to fill in their contact details using the form if they haven't already done so - otherwise I won't know that they also want to receive the other two free recordings as well.

Are Sales People Born or Made?

When I started this business, five and a half years ago, I think I would have given up very quickly if I thought sales people were born. I was terrible at sales – it was very definitely a skill I had to learn. I’m sure like anything else, there are some people who don’t need to be taught anything about sales – they just naturally know what to do and how to do it. But, not me. It was something I had to learn how to do.

I read books, went on courses and spoke to my dad (who was a top sales person in his company for a long time), but none of these really helped. And then, one day I went on a course where the tutor said “All sales is, is listening.”

That was the light bulb moment. From that day forward, I stopped talking and started to listen. And then, when the person had finished talking, I just asked a few questions and listened again. Very soon I realised that if I just listened chances are that the person would just tell me exactly what they wanted and how I could help them. Listening helped hugely and started to make selling an easy process for me. That is, until I encountered my next problem…

People started asking me questions and ones that I didn’t have an answer too off the top of my head. Questions like “Exactly how would the service work” and “How much does it cost?” My standard answer tended to be “I’ll come back to you with that”.

The problem with not having the answer there and then was that I would leave the person assuming what the answer would be – so if the price was actually £500, the person would assume that it was much lower, say £200 and therefore get a shock when I told them the real price.

After the penny dropped that this was happening, I drew up some frequently asked questions for myself; putting down all the questions I was often asked and then writing down and memorising the answers. This way I could give people the answers they wanted there and then and it saved a lot of hassle in the long run as people could immediately tell me whether they were interested in what I could do for them and whether the price was ok.

The third main problem I faced was timewasters. I have lost count of the times I’ve spent 2 hours in a meeting for it to have ended with “I’m sure I can refer people to you” and no sales. For a long time, I prided myself on getting two meetings a week, but realised after a while that there’s no point in having a meeting if I hadn’t made sure beforehand that they were actually serious about buying my services.

How do I do this now? Well, first I have a chat with the person on the phone to check whether there is anything there. 15 minutes on the phone is very different from 3 or 4 hours in a meeting! If I’m still not sure, I’ll send them a short questionnaire to complete and send back to me. If they do this before the meeting, chances are high that they’re pretty serious.

My final tip and something that’s really helped me is to review my sales after each meeting. I always ask myself four questions so I can learn what I’m doing right and what’s gone wrong. They are:

1. What exactly happened and why did it happen that way?
2. What did you learn from the process?
3. Did the person buy? If so, why did they buy? If not, why didn’t they buy?
4. How would you do it differently next time?

I’m not a natural reviewer. My style is generally “Ok, it didn’t work. What can we do now?” instead of “Ok, it didn’t work. Why not and how could we do it better?” But, I have to say that reviewing what’s happened and being honest really helped me see what the problems were in my sales process and get some idea of how to fix them. And as usual, it’s the little things that make the difference.

So, if you’re sat in your business, thinking that you need to get more business into the pipeline, I’d encourage you to ask this question – if you sat down with 10 people, how many of them would you turn into business? If the answer is don’t know, find out! If it’s less than 7, you need to look at your sales process as I have and work on increasing the number who turn into customers. There is no point increasing the number of people in the pipeline, if you’re going to let 8 of them get away when you sit down to meet them.

Good luck with your sales. Let me know how you get on.

Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides marketing and business planning advice and support to small businesses and people starting their own business.

Keep in touch with your customers

It's all too easy when you're busy and there's lots going on to not have time to keep in touch with your customers. I can almost hear you saying to yourself "Oh, they'll be alright. I'll contact them next week". But it's very easy to keep saying this to yourself and forgetting to let them know what's going on.

Even if you're doing work for these customers behind the scenes, don't forget that it really helps how customers think about you if you just send them a quick update - email will do just fine, if you really don't have time to contact them by phone...but make sure you do!

The danger is that customers forget about you too - occasionally they might think "I haven't heard from x in a while", but they'll also be thinking "Well, it's not my place to contact them" and they'd be right.

And if someone else comes along that can do the same job as you, but promises to keep in touch a bit more - your customers might be tempted to swap. Even if they don't desert you for another supplier, it's quite possible that you'll have issues with payment or something else later down the line.

It doesn't hurt to keep in contact with your customers and at worst takes 5 minutes of your time. So, if you're reading this thinking that there is someone who you should contact - do it now, before it's too late.

How to make sure you get paid on time every time

In my business we have a rule. The rule goes something along the lines of: We do the work we get paid for doing the work. That’s it – no exceptions, no arguments. If on the rare occasion, someone isn’t happy with the work we do, we’ll look at this and go out of our way to sort it out, but this isn’t (in my book) an excuse not to pay.

This policy has worked really well for me – we’ve only had one problem payer in the last 5 ½ years. All of our clients are up to date on payments and it’s very rare now that we have a late payer.

So, I thought in this article I’d share with you some of the things that we do and hopefully it will help you as well. Here are my top ten tips:

1. Send your invoices out on time.
I was having a chat with a client the other day who said he’d ordered some business cards about 18 months ago and he’d only just received the invoice for them. Good grief! Rule number one in my book is to send your invoices out on time. My invoices always go out on the 1st week of every month no matter how busy we are and then clients have 14 days to pay them. Come on guys, make sure you have it in your diary to send these invoices out as soon as you’ve completed the work.

2. Make your payment terms very clear
Our rule that I told you about at the beginning of this article is made very clear to all of our clients before we start working with them. They all know that we hate bad payers and that we will refuse to work with them if they are. Making sure everyone knows when they will be sent an invoice, when they are expected to pay it and what happens if they don’t is the key to making sure you get paid on time, everytime. If people are not clear on what’s expected of them, are you surprised that they don’t do what you want them to do?

3. Ask for deposits
A good policy to get into the habit of doing is to ask for a deposit upfront before any work has even started. It’s quite usual these days to request this and can prevent a lot of problems later down the line. At least then, if they don’t pay any further money, you’ve been paid for the work you’ve already done. Deposits of anything up to 50% are fine – try it and see if it works for your business.

4. Set up Standing Orders
Another great way to make sure that you get paid when you’re supposed to is to set up a Standing Order. Psychologically in the customer’s mind, they’ll have already committed to paying you every month then and it’s highly likely then that you will actually get paid. To create a standing order, simply ask for a form from your bank and then type it up on your PC so that you can email it or send it out to your customers.

5. Lead by example
There’s no point hassling other people to pay your invoices unless you lead by example and pay yours. This means that you give out a strong message that you pay your bills on time and that you expect people to do the same for you.

6. Have a policy in place if people don’t pay
It is well worth having a process in place that you can follow if people don’t pay you i.e. that you’ll call them, then send them a letter, then send them a sterner letter and then finally threaten and take them to the small claims court. Having this set down in your terms and conditions make your clients aware of the penalties of not paying.

7. Chase, chase and chase again
If someone owes you money, all the rules about hassling people go out of the window. Chase, chase and keep chasing – every single day if necessary until you get the result you want. I once worked with a client who owed lots of money to different people. He told me that he paid those people who shouted the loudest and ignored those who were quiet. So hassle away.

8. Use text messaging
This is by far one of the most effective techniques we have to get money out of people. Phone calls can be left to go onto answering machines; emails and letters can be ignored, but for some reason everyone looks at their texts. If you’re finding it hard to get in contact with some, try texting them and see what happens.

9. Use someone else
If you don’t feel comfortable chasing people for money, get someone else (like a book-keeper or credit controller) to do it for you. And if you’re really stuck, get a friend or a partner to do it for you. With difficult payers, often just hearing someone else’s voice can do the trick. Also, if they’re not answering your phone call because they know the number, try calling from someone else’s mobile.

10. Come down on them hard
If you’re dealing with problem payers, make sure you follow through on your policy for non-payers and come down on them like a ton of bricks. Not paying you is never acceptable, so don’t put up with it.

While it’s hard dealing with someone who owes you money, being very clear about what your expectations are is the first step and then making sure you follow through on your actions if they don’t pay. Try it today and don’t put up with bad payers.

Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk/) provides help and advice to small business owners and start-ups on marketing, market research and business planning.

Should you raise your prices?

There are a lot of small business owners out there who really put off raising their prices. They will argue that they need to remain competitive or that their customers wouldn't use their services if they raised their prices and a whole host of other excuses.

But I want to put a point across to you about what's been happening out there recently. Don't know whether you've noticed, but fuel, food and energy prices have gone through the roof recently and show no signs of abating. These 'bigger' companies have no issues about raising their prices even if it means their customers suffer or their public image is badly affected. They're simply increasing their prices because they don't want their profits to fall. Nice attitude eh?

Now I'm not suggesting for one second that you should act like these companies in the way you behave towards your customers and certainly not that you should raise your prices just for the sake of it, but I do want to make a point.

If the cost of living has gone through the roof, are you being fair on yourself if you're charging the same prices as a year ago (or in some cases much much longer than that)? You should be reviewing your prices on a yearly basis and nothing is more true than at the moment.

Bite the bullet and look to raise all your prices by 10% - at least. For existing customers just notify them that as of x date, your prices will increase and stick to this. And don't worry too much if they say they don't want to work with you any more. If they leave you simply because you're reasonably raising your prices, chances are that they won't be the customers you want to work with anyway.

Track your marketing

Whenever you do some marketing, you should always find a way to track it if you can so that you know whether or not it's working for you. There are a couple of ways you can do this - try using a code that people have to tell you to order their products or services; use a voucher that they have to hand in to you; use different colours for things (i.e. if you're sending out leaflets try putting one set of words on orange paper and then different wording on blue paper); or try the old fashioned tried and tested method of asking people.

Whatever you decide to do, tracking your marketing is crucial so you can see whether it's working for you or not - that way you'll know a) where to market your products and services in the future and b) if you are going to spend money, you'll know what's likely to give you the highest return on investment.

Why not try tracking your marketing and see if it works for you?

Pre-qualifing people

I was asked a question this week about sales. "Is it just a numbers game?" my client asked. "If I sit down and talk to more people about my business, surely I'll get more business..."

My response was "Well, it's not quite a simple as that."

About 2 1/2 years ago, I had this same thought for my business, resulting in a really hard drive by me to get two potential clients a week that I could sit down with. And I did it! I was really proud of myself - that is, until I look at the number who were turning into clients and realised that it was only about 2 out of every 10 people I was seeing.

In other words, it really didn't matter how many people I was seeing on a weekly basis because the number actually buying from me was so low. So, I realised that there must be something actually wrong with my sales process.

After analysing and reviewing my sales in depth, what became clear was that the people I was seeing were not really interested in buying from me. They wanted some quick tips, or they wanted referrals, but they didn't actually want to buy my services. I needed to weed out this type of person - not that I didn't want to speak to them, but I needed to find some way of not spending at least an hour and a half of my time with them.

What I started to do was put in place a phone call before I met the person. This served a number of purposes - firstly, it allowed me to start building a relationship with that person. Next, it helped me to understand what they wanted and if it was a quick tip, I was able to give them that over the phone and finally, it helped me to pre-qualify that person, so that the people I actually sat down with for an hour and a half were serious about buying my services.

By pre-qualifying people I now see at least one person a week but I'm turning around 8 of the people I see into customers. I'm happy with that ratio!

So today's tip - don't worry about how many you see - increase the number of people you turn into customers!

How often is too often?

Talking about following up via phone last week, I had a chat with a contact of mine yesterday about following up by email and sending out email flyers and newsletters. He was asking the question of how often is too often?

Good question - and a difficult one to answer. Generally, I tend to think that if people are interested in what you're offering, they'll continue to subscribe to what you're sending out if they think it is of use either now or in the future.

If they're generally not interested, then they'll either just delete it or unsubscribe from your emails and that's fine too - surely you'd rather communicate with people who are genuinely interested in what you do?

People who I send out emails too generally get send a combination of three things: a newsletter, a monthly tips sheet and if they're based in Gloucestershire, Bristol or Birmingham some information about the workshops that we run. Depending on how I met them or what they've asked to subscribe to, they may get one of these emails or all three.

If you feel that you'd like to receive more tips or valuable information from us that you're not currently getting (i.e. if you're receiving information about the events, but would also like to get the newsletter or monthly tips) just let me know on helen.dowling@exceptionalthinking.co.uk and I'll happily change your subscription settings so that you do in the future.

The last thing I want to do is annoy or upset anyone and I'm sure like me, you'd much rather I communicate with you if you're actually interested in hearing from me, so if you're not, that's fine - please ask to be removed by emailing me on helen.dowling@exceptionalthinking.co.uk and I'll take you off our database immediately.

Chasing people

I often get asked if you can follow people up too many times so that it seems like you're chasing them. And the answer to this question is yes as proved by an experience early this week when after chasing a potential client, they politely but firmly told me to 'go away'.

I think the main issue with following up is that the UK as a nation is very bad at saying no to people, so consequently we tell people "give me a call back in 2 weeks" or "I'll be speaking to my manager at the end of the month - give me a call back then" and if you're organised in your business, you dutifully follow up with the person at that time.

If only the person we're talking to would have the confidence to say "no, I'm not interested right now, but I will get in touch with you when I am', we'd know when to leave well alone.

Unfortunately, until that situation changes, we're left with no choice but to follow-up (or chase) people. Does that mean you shouldn't follow-up? Absolutely not and believe me if you don't follow-up, you will definitely NOT get the business.

But I would (for your own sanity) observe the rule of 3 - that is, if someone you've followed up with has given you an excuse three times for something, then they're not ready to buy just yet. With these clients, just drop them a quick email every 6 months or so to see how they're getting on. You'll feel much happier and you'll also know where you stand.

And if all else fails, they'll soon tell you when they've had enough - as this client did with me!

Loneliness in Business

Running a small business can be an incredibly lonely experience. Let's face it, we're all quite sociable really and even if we don't need to be around people all of the time, too much of our own company isn't good for us. I don't know about you, but if I've spent a couple of days in the office on the trot, I'm usually climbing the walls. So, here's my top five tips to making your business less lonely:

1: Go out! Go and see a client, go to a networking event, go running - whatever it is, if you're feeling lonely, the worst thing you can do is stay in your office. It's only going to make you feel worse. Even if it's the last thing in the world that you feel like doing, I promise you that if you go out (preferably to somewhere where there are other people), you will feel much better!

2: Join a group. One of the reasons that the breakfast networking events are so popular is that people are part of a group and they don't feel so alone. Could you join a group too? There are plenty to choose from - type BNI, BRX, 4Networking, NRG into Google to find a group that might suit you. You can also type in "local networking events" and see what comes back. Joining a group will help you see that everyone feels lonely at some point, but there is a way of getting over that feeling.

3: Get a business mentor or coach. A business mentor or coach is someone who can help you with your business. You should be able to bounce ideas off them and they should help you to reach a solution, although they shouldn't run your business for you. And of course, they're someone to rely on if you're feeling lonely or struggling in your business. Business Link usually run low-cost mentoring schemes. Check them out to see if there is one in your area.

4: Find something that inspires you. When I find something that inspires me in my business, it's a great feeling - I find that I'm buzzing with idea and can't wait to get on and do something about them, which leaves no time for feeling lonely. Why not read an inspirational book, go and watch a professional speaker, download a podcast or watch a motivational video? Finding something that is motivational and inspirational can make you feel a whole lot better.

5: And finally, if all else fails...why not team up with other small business owners that you know and try to help each other? All of us feel lonely from time to time and I will guarantee that they'll be others feeling the same way. Speak to small business owners at networking events etc and see if you can meet for coffee. Better still, get a small group together and see if you can meet to help each other out. A word of warning on this one though - make sure it doesn't turn into a moaning match, which will make you feel worse. Make the focus on helping each other out.

There are loads of other tips about motivation in my e-book "How to re-kindle the passion for your business". Find out more details at: http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk/Survive-Course.php

New programme

We've just launched a brand new marketing programme that we're really excited about - it's called the (absolutely) everything guide to getting all the business you can handle.

Aimed at small business owners who are really, really serious about growing their business and getting new customers, we've put together a programme where you will receive:

a) An intensive one-day event that helps you to put together a marketing plan for your business.
b) The opportunity to work with me personally over 6 months to grow your business.
c) Access to the e-books I've put together on a variety of subjects to do with running a business.
d) Resources to make this year the best ever!

There's only room for 15 people on this exclusive programme and 5 of the places have already been filled. Interested? Find out more by going to http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk/Marketing-Day.php

What do you want to see in our newsletters?

Feeling much better this week, so I wanted to find out more about what you want to see in our newsletters and tips sheets. Let me know what topics would be useful, whether we communicate with you too much or too little or what burning issues you have that you would like us to cover. Whatever it is, let us know...

We're also thinking about running some free teleseminars (workshops over the phone). Would these be of interest and if so, what topics would you like to see?

Be nice though - feedback is great, but only if it's constructive...

The joys of running your own business

Well had some positive and negative things happen this week. The positive thing was that we have been trying out pay per click or Google Adwords, with some great successes. We've only invested a small amount at the moment, but if results continue how they have been been doing, we may well carry on with this.

On the negative side, I have a cold - again! This is the second time this year (I usally get one every three years or so) and I'm not very happy. I hate colds with a passion!!! So, I can't breathe, can't sleep and yet because I run my own business have to carry on - hence the joys of running your own business. Who said eating heathily was good for you!?!

Do we need another bank holiday?

I had an email today from a member of my staff asking me to sign up to a government petition for an extra bank holiday. While I'm sure the team want another bank holiday, I'm not sure they're thinking through the possible implications of this.

Because let's face it, I really don't want an extra bank holiday. Why? Quite simply because it creates havoc with the business. People just don't want to buy around bank holidays - they want to enjoy time with their families and that's fair enough (if it was just one day).

But bank holidays don't tend to be just one day do they? People tend to take the week off too and use the short working week to maximise their holidays. And with the new school calendar meaning different schools have different times of the year off, that's even worse!

I must admit that I always find it interesting that when people are working everyone wants another bank holiday and then when people become self-employed, they change their views! I'd be interested to hear what you think.

Why is my marketing not working for me?

There is nothing more frustrating that doing some marketing and finding it doesn’t work for your business – especially if you’ve spent money on it. Not only is it annoying, but it’s also demoralising and pretty soon when you’ve exhausted all the ideas you had for marketing your business, I can completely understand why you’d think that marketing was a huge pain.

But why isn’t your marketing working for you? Let’s look at some common reasons and see if we can put them right.

REASON NUMBER 1: TARGETING THE WRONG PEOPLE

The easiest way to find customers for your business is to go where they go. The most common reason why your marketing isn’t working is that you don’t know enough about where your customers go. Let me explain. If you were targeting mothers for instance, common places you might find mothers include doctor’s surgeries, mother and toddler groups, post offices, schools, nurseries etc. If you were targeting HR Managers, you might go to CIPD meetings, read Personnel Today, go to HR conferences etc.

Sounds easy doesn’t it. But, I meet far too many businesses who tell me that anyone is their customer or are appealing to the end user rather than the person who buys their services (i.e. the employee rather than the HR manager who will pay for what they’re selling).

Solution: Go back to basics. Really define who your customer is. Think about what motivates them and what frustrates them. Then think about where they might go to buy what you’re offering and make sure you’re in these places when they’re looking.

REASON NUMBER 2: NOT EVERYTHING YOU DO WILL GET YOU CUSTOMERS
Whenever you do any marketing, there are three objectives: a) Get awareness of your business b) Build your reputation and c) Get customers. Agree? Problem is that many of the marketing ideas you’re doing already are probably better at getting awareness of your business or building your reputation. PR for instance is great for awareness as is advertising; networking is great for awareness; doing a talk is good for building your reputation; sending out leaflets is good for awareness and so on.

You can get business from these methods, but it an extra step – capturing contact details!! If you do some PR, you’ve no idea who has found your press release really interesting but didn’t get around to calling you, let alone who might have looked at it. Therefore, you need to build some mechanism in each of your marketing methods to get contact details of people who are interested.

So in a press release, you might offer a free sample or a free newsletter; in a talk you might offer a free summary of your presentation and so on. If people give you their contact details, they’re telling you they’re interested – then all you need to do is follow-up.

Solution: Without contact details your marketing ideas will do little more than build your reputation and the awareness of your business. In each marketing activity you do, find some way of capturing those contact details.

REASON NUMBER 3: NOT DOING MARKETING

Ah – caught you! I know it’s hard. I know you have 1001 other things you want to do. But, the simple fact remains that most small business owners who say they aren’t getting as much business as they would like are not doing any marketing. They may dabble in it, but they probably aren’t doing it consistently.

You see if you really want your marketing to work for you, you should be trying 5 (yes 5) marketing ideas at once and putting a system in place to capture contact details so that you can follow up with people.

If you really don’t have time, find a marketing person to do some marketing for you (you can always contact us you know) which frees you up to do the things you like doing.
Solution: Do marketing (or if you really don’t like it, find someone to do it for you).

9 times out of 10, the three reasons I’ve outlined above are the main reasons why marketing doesn’t work for small business owners. Think about the solutions I’ve mentioned and try putting them in place for your business. Good luck.

Exceptional Thinking provides marketing help and advice for start-ups and small businesses. For more tips and ideas, go to www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk and sign up for the free newsletter.

Don't let 'being too busy' put you off...

Just recently several small business owners have said to us that they've been reluctant to do some marketing for fear that they'll be 'too busy' and they won't be able to cope with the workload. This is a common misconception about marketing, so I thought I'd clear it up:

Firstly, if you start doing marketing today, it will probably take at least three months to actually see the results. And that's if you work really hard at it! New business won't come all at once; it's more likely it will gradually build up over time and you'll be able to cope with it.

I always say to business owners who tell me that they're worried about being 'too busy' - let's get you there first and then we'll worry about that. If you end up being too busy, you can choose to stop marketing, be more selective about who you take on as a customer or take on some additional help - being 'too busy' can always be dealt with.

Don't fear being 'too busy' - you can always deal with this. And remember it's always better than being 'too quiet'!

For more advice and help on managing your time in your small business, check out our new e-book "Managing your Time" at http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk/Survive-Course.php

Do you need a website?

A question I've been asked a lot recently is when you're running your own business, do you need a website? Mmm, interesting one this because I think the answer to this question is not always. If you think about it, there are quite a few industries out there that don't have websites and get away with it - builders, plumbers etc. My builder doesn't even have an email address (he says computers aren't for him) and yet it's never affected his business.

But, the interesting thing about websites is that there is a perception at the moment from the general public that if you don't have a website you're not a 'real' business. So, bearing this in mind, it seems that it is good to have at least a web presence out there.

How do you create a website though and where do you find a good designer? Well my advice on this one is that you shouldn't spend a lot of money on your first website. Why? I guarantee you that a few months after it's gone live you'll hate it. Lots of reasons for this - in a few months you'll find out what you really sell and you'll want to change it; you won't like the text; you'll have criticisms from friends and family and so on.

So, get your first website done as cheaply and as easily as you can. See if you can barter with a contact of yours or whether your mate can do it for you. Don't worry about getting it perfect - just get something up on the internet. Then, when you decide a few months down the line that you'd like to sort it out, now is the time to spend money on it.

In terms of choosing a website designer, I would go out and talk to no less than three. Pick the one that you feel comfortable with and understands your needs. They might not be the cheapest, but liking them is more important when you've already decided to spend the money. The other thing that I think it's well worth investing in is the services of a copywriter. A copywriter is someone who writes the words of websites, brochures, adverts etc and will bring your customers needs to the forefront - don't forget we tend to spend money on the design of the website and forget about what other people will read. Check out Google to find a copywriter near you.

The ups and downs of running a business

When I first started my business, I had a mentor who used to say to me "show me an entrepreneur and I'll show you a manic-depressant" because sometimes you're on top of the world and other times you're on rock bottom. And how quickly this switch can happen - one minute you're bouncing along full of the joys of spring and the next you come crashing back to earth with something as simple as a phone call. Can you resonate with this?

I was just reminded of this today after having a great day with lots of things going right and then arrived back to the office to a letter informing me that we hadn't won a major contract.

So, how do you cope with the ups and downs? My favorite way is to exercise - this always makes me feel happier. What about you? Let me know your top tips to getting yourself back up when everything feels like its going wrong?

What is a SME?

The more I run my business, the more I get irritated with the term SME (Small to Medium Sized Enterprises). Why? Well, a SME can be any business between no staff members right up to 249 members of staff. There's a world of difference between the two. Someone with no members of staff (the vast majority of SMEs) will have completely different issues and concerns that someone with 1 member of staff, let alone 249.

I was with a group the other day that was being led by a guy who clearly did not understand small businesses. The only problem is, the group he was addressing were all small business owners. He thought that the sole problem the business owners faced was dealing with members of staff and forgot about all the other areas of running a business - i.e. marketing, time management, strategy, finance and actually running the business.

And that's the problem when I hear small business owners say that their customers are SMEs too - who do they really mean? Usually when I dig down, they're trying to attract medium sized companies and certainly not one man bands.

So, my challenge for this week is, if you've been using the term SME, try to really narrow down who you're talking about. Do you mean one-man bands or a business that is much larger than that? What issues, motivations and frustrations might the company you're trying to target have? And if you really mean SMALL businesses, make an effort to get to know about them...they do not have the same issues as medium sized companies and the way they think is completly different too.

I'm very happy to help people get to know about small business owners - just contact me and ask!

Work / Life Balance

Happy New Year to everyone!

I'm sure like me, you've been setting your New Year's Resolutions over the last week and a bit and (hopefully) trying to stick with them.

Quite a lot of my resolutions this year are about me - what I want to do personally and have very little to do with the business. It got me thinking - can you truely run a business successfully and have a life?

Over Christmas, I read Gordon Ramsay's New Book "Playing with Fire" which was a good read and highly recommended. But, it's clear from the book that he throws everything he has into his work and lives the personal life to Tara (his wife). He asks a question later on in the book about whether or not you want to really be rich and successful and implies that if you do, you will need to make some sacrifices.

My take on this is that yes, I want the business to be successful and want to make money, but I'm not sure I'm prepared to do that at the expense of other things - because at the end of the day I want to have something more to talk about than the business on my death bed!

But, I'm also aware that the more you focus on other things aside from the business, the more difficult it is to thoroughly devote yourself.

So, I ask the question again - is it possible to truely run a successful business and have a life? I'd certainly be intersted in your thoughts!

Helen