Wow. I made it to five whole years, and for me this is a huge milestone as many don\u2019t get this far.\u00a0 But what a year it\u2019s been.\u00a0 I would say in all honesty it\u2019s probably been the hardest year, and that includes the ones where I couldn\u2019t pay my bills.<\/p>\n
Why? Well, it was easier because it was just me, I had to worry about but now have six \u2013 yes SIX -people working for me and it\u2019s terrifying!\u00a0 The pressure and responsibility I feel to pay their salaries or invoices each month is huge, but I have to take a step back and remind myself that I have actually been doing that for the past 18 months already, even as costs have risen. Somehow it doesn\u2019t seem to get any easier, but I\u2019m always learning.<\/p>\n
Speaking of lessons learned\u2026 it was the first thing I said last year and has been even more relevant this year:<\/p>\n
No one tells you how hard the growth of a business is<\/strong><\/p>\n Literally no one.\u00a0 Yet when I speak to other business owners they either have been or are going through many of the same things as me.\u00a0 I mean, shouldn\u2019t there be a support group or something?!<\/p>\n What\u2019s made this even more prevalent this year is having a team.\u00a0 It\u2019s tough, everyone responds differently to information, feedback, and training.\u00a0 Some are introverts, some are not, some communicate well, others can be challenging.<\/p>\n But the next thing I\u2019ve realised is:<\/p>\n You can\u2019t be friends with your team<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve always believed that if you look after your team, make them feel valued, they\u2019ll be loyal and work hard for you.\u00a0 I was kind of right, but what you can\u2019t do is be their friend.\u00a0 I got myself into a situation where I didn\u2019t raise issues because of the friendship I had with one of my team, which ultimately led to the end of our working and personal relationship.<\/p>\n Could I have handled it better?\u00a0 Absolutely.\u00a0 Do I regret the outcome?\u00a0 Absolutely not.\u00a0 It showed me the loyalty I felt was not reciprocated and the response made me realise that it probably worked out for the best.<\/p>\n Communicate, communicate, communicate<\/strong><\/p>\n While I\u2019m pretty good at communication, (we chat in Teams and have a weekly team meeting), I\u2019ve realised that I assume people understand what I have meant without confirming.\u00a0 Now it falls on both of us to do this but communicating your expectations clearly will ultimately lead to fewer issues down the road.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s the same with clients. I\u2019ve learned over the years to be as specific as possible when it comes to what I will and won\u2019t be delivering on projects.\u00a0 This means the client has less room to take advantage of an open and unclear scope of work which results in scope creep on my side.\u00a0 If you are ever unsure, always clarify. It will save you time and money in the long run.<\/p>\n Delegate, delegate, delegate<\/strong><\/p>\n I have improved massively on this from last year, I\u2019ve had issues trusting people to do the work they have been tasked with to the level that I needed; however, I have a great team in place now who I can place my trust in, and who I\u2019m letting manage parts of the business process without having to check in on everything they are doing.<\/p>\n Which moves nicely on to\u2026<\/p>\n Having the right people in place is critical<\/strong><\/p>\n This is possibly THE most important piece of advice I can give you, and if you don\u2019t find them the first-time round, don\u2019t give up \u2013 keep trying!\u00a0 I went through four virtual assistants (VA\u2019s) in two years and had all but given up until coming to the realisation, and a discussion with my coach, that it wasn\u2019t a VA I needed, it was an executive assistant (EA)\/business manager.<\/p>\n I needed someone that was exclusively working on my business and supporting me, and that\u2019s what has made the difference.\u00a0 So, if you\u2019re struggling to fill a role, review if it\u2019s really what you need, or is it something else?<\/p>\n Because once you have those people in place, it makes delegation so much easier, and the trust comes naturally.<\/p>\n And once you have this in place, it becomes easier to follow the next piece of advice:<\/p>\n Don\u2019t BE the business<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m not 100% there yet, but I am now passing on my knowledge and skills to my team so that all this information is not just sitting in my head anymore.\u00a0 It\u2019s a slow and steady process but I feel confident in letting go.\u00a0 I can still be the FACE of the business; I just don\u2019t have to be the business itself.<\/p>\n The money in the bank account?\u00a0 Not mine.\u00a0 Not anymore, it belongs to the business now.\u00a0 The responsibility of paying the team?\u00a0 Not mine, it\u2019s the business. \u00a0Although I\u2019m still working on letting go of the responsibility on that one\u2026<\/p>\n Don\u2019t undersell yourself\/the business<\/strong><\/p>\n I often forget to look at the value from the client-side, and the services that we provide. \u00a0We could save them months of time, if not years in some cases, plus drive profitability, and that\u2019s not including the cost savings, yet we charge based on our time, rather than what the value to the client is.<\/p>\n I could quote the same piece of work to two different clients, one would accept and the other would reject it, so I\u2019m learning to not take this personally anymore.\u00a0 At the end of the day, if you don\u2019t ask, you don\u2019t get.<\/p>\n Cashflow is a b@tch<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s getting slightly easier, but at the same time my overheads are so much greater I need to be pulling in bigger projects.\u00a0 And if they don\u2019t pay on time, it\u2019s a nightmare.\u00a0 Last year I had to threaten to publicly post about a client to get paid, it was a nightmare, but also an effective tactic and so I have since used it again as a last resort.\u00a0 Unpaid invoices are sadly not uncommon.<\/p>\n You can put as many plans and buffers in place as you like but if several invoices are all late at the same time, you\u2019re in a pickle.\u00a0 Having a couple of months of money in the bank is a great idea and I\u2019m working towards it but every time I put something away, I need to use it to cover something else.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s just call it a work in progress\u2026<\/p>\n Things still take a long time to come together<\/strong><\/p>\n This never changes.\u00a0 Your timeline is not your client\u2019s timeline.\u00a0It may be important for you to get that project, but it might be low on the list of priorities of your client \u2013 always keep working to build up your pipeline while balancing the fine line of not overloading yourself with too much work.<\/p>\n Most of our projects take months, rather than weeks to materialise.\u00a0 This is tough when you have a small workload or cash flow issues, but as we\u2019re growing it\u2019s getting easier to manage.\u00a0 And quite often there will be an unexpected project that pops up which always helps.\u00a0 Being aware of this is the best preparation you can have.<\/p>\n There will still be meltdowns<\/strong><\/p>\n This never goes away, regardless of what stage you\u2019re at, it\u2019s perfectly normal to question absolutely everything you are doing, feel overwhelmed, and both a success and a failure at the same time.\u00a0Many times I have questioned if I was doing the right thing, should I just give it all up\u2026 but I would be miserable if I had to go and work for someone else \u2013 I\u2019m pretty much unemployable.<\/p>\n You need a coach<\/strong><\/p>\n I say this every year and as each year goes by, I am more thankful for having my coach.\u00a0 She has helped me navigate new and tricky waters this year and has been invaluable.<\/p>\n I never believed in coaches until I met Vicki Connor (connorcoaching.co.uk)\u00a0 \u2013 a straight-talking no-nonsense coach.\u00a0 She\u2019s developed my tone, language, thought process, helped me curb my limiting beliefs, and manage those meltdowns I just told you about.<\/p>\n She has undoubtedly helped me progress forward at a rate faster than I could have achieved alone, I cannot recommend getting one enough, but it has to be the right one for you.<\/p>\n Not everyone will be your cheerleader<\/strong><\/p>\n As sad as it is, not everyone will celebrate your successes with you.\u00a0 It can be for many different reasons, but it\u2019s important to remember it\u2019s not anything that you have done, you just keep being you, working hard, and being awesome.<\/p>\n Aim high<\/strong><\/p>\n Aim higher than you think you could ever achieve and just go for it.\u00a0 Say yes to as many opportunities as you can, and if you\u2019ve never done something before, well just figure it out.\u00a0 Because of this, I\u2019m now a published author of \u201cBetween the Spreadsheets\u201d, a TEDx speaker, and I\u2019ve been listed as a DataIQ100 thought leader.<\/p>\n I\u2019m growing my business in ways I never thought possible and speaking at events all over the world online and in person and getting paid for it.<\/p>\n Never in my wildest dreams\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wow. I made it to five whole years, and for me this is a huge milestone as many don\u2019t get this far.\u00a0 But what a year it\u2019s been.\u00a0 I would say in all honesty it\u2019s probably been the hardest year, and that includes the ones where I couldn\u2019t pay my bills. Why? Well, it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n