We all want to increase sales, but how many small businesses actually wow their customers? It’s called customer service in old parlance. “If Michael is representative, I know immediately I want to do business with that company.” I’m sitting in a busy reception, typical me several minutes early. People watching…fascinating! There is a steady stream, ...…
Round about now you should be up to full speed for the year, right? After the turkey and the chimes of the New Year, the children back to school, it’s all your time once more. Nice idea! Your time might not really be your own, but it is time to get the year off to ...…
Everyone defines success in his or her own way. The one thing that successful people have in common is that they did define it ahead of time. As we near the end of another year, we should reflect on our journey and restate our desired destination. Or in other words define our own success. Following ...…
Possibly the busiest and most challenging month of the year for Mums running their own businesses Bringing in new business in order to afford a great Christmas for the children, while delivering on all orders before it gets silly, preparing for and celebrating the holidays not to mention setting things up for a bumper year ...…
I don’t mind looking at the accounts to help me determine future strategies, analysing figures to see what is working and what is not, but recording transactions, entering petty cash vouchers…yukkk. I get a kick out of creating a new page on our site, but I consider routine admin on the site a boring waste ...…
If an interested friend asked you how your business is doing, would the answer be “I have no idea” or “15.7 carrots and four thirds”? I hope it wouldn’t be the former, although for an alarming number of businesses we talk it actually is. On the other hand, if the answer were the latter, your ...…
If a child lives with encouragement, he or she learns to be confident…what words does your child live by? My daughter’s school is about to have a new head teacher and last week he spoke to parents. He emphasised discipline, learning and parent support as the 3 cornerstones he believes combine to produce great kids. ...…
Business or family, which is more important to work on? Not such an easy answer. The family is more important but is that where the work is actually needed? The head or the heart. The yin and the yang, there are always two equal and opposite forces at work or the world (‘our’ world), or ...…
To balance work life and family is a daily task for Mums (and single Dads) running their own business. A moment’s distraction turned into 30 minutes on things that still had to be done, but not right then. Back at my desk, it took a few minutes to get back into gear. So how can ...…
How to go from a standing start to actually taking money from people. If I asked you to pop out and get some bread, what would you do? You would decide where to go (corner shop or supermarket), how to get there (walk or car), whether or not you have money, keys etc., go, buy ...…