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Can your children teach you to believe in yourself

I believe children can teach you to believe in yourself. Here’s why:

Today my eldest son, age 16, started his GCSE exams. He walked out of the door having had a good night’s sleep, a good breakfast inside him, and having done his paper round and had some exercise and fresh air. He was calm, relaxed and confident, having packed his bag yesterday.

He totally believes in himself and his ability to do the best he can in his exams, which stretch over the next 5 weeks (one week off for holiday/revision in the middle). Yes, he could have done more revision, but as he reminded me, he made choices about how to manage this time.

It’s not just about  mindset. It reminded me that so often as a business owner you don’t always believe in yourself. But you should.

Just like my son, you’re ready for the next step:

  • you’ve done your preparation work & researched your market with the products and services you’re selling
  • you’ve got your systems and structures in place to take payment, and your ready to supply the customer with what they want
  • you’re fit and healthy, and making time for you within your weekly schedule to maintain your mental and physical health
  • you’ve got your daily routine to ensure that nothing is missed in your business
  • you’ve got your business and life goals in focus, and you’re working towards achieving them

3 tips to ensure you believe in yourself

  1. Ensure your personal core values are also within your business values. If they aren’t you’ll feel that your business isn’t totally a part of you. Yet it is. You are your business, so you must ensure your values are incorporated into your business. If you don’t believe in yourself how can you expect your customers to?
  2. Keep track of your business numbers and don’t let anyone distract you from your business. You know you and your business best. If you can’t afford something this month that you think will help your business in the long run simply be honest with yourself and put a bit of money aside towards it next month. Don’t be distracted by special offers, or experts saying you “have” to do something. You know what’s right for your business. Don’t jump in. Take time to think about it before making a decision
  3. Have the right support team cheering you on. Whether this is your understanding family, a group of friends or a focused business support group, or more likely a combination of support, when you’re struggling to believe in yourself, they’ll remind you how special and talented and focused you are. It’s easy to forget why you’ve set your business up, but your business cheerleading team will keep you on track, and boost you when you need it.

What else can our children teach us as business owners?

children help you believe in yourselfAs parents we teach our children lots of things, and we hope to inspire them with confidence, so they grow up to be sure of themselves, and believe in their abilities. So isn’t it fascinating that when they turn round to us and say, “you’re great at that Mum/Dad”, that it inspires us and confirms what we know deep inside? That we’re doing a good job as a parent, and a great job as a business owner. Those simple words remind you to believe in yourself.

I’m sure there’s lots of other things our children can teach us. I’m often blown away by what my boys teach me. It’s a collaboration isn’t it? Learning together so we benefit from each other. That’s why I love the Business Cheerleading Club so much I think – a collaboration of business owners, learning together, just like my family 🙂

I’d love to hear what your children are teaching you and how you’re using that within your business. Let me know by leaving a comment:

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How we think has an impact on our business

Did you know that how we think impacts on how we communicate with others? You know that each one of us is unique, so does it make sense that each of us thinks in our own unique way?

Each of us thinks in a different way, but how do others know how we think? Yes we communicate, but we generally communicate in the style to suit us, not our listener, so will what we say come across in the way we intend?

Thinking, learning and communication are linked so closely aren’t they? Yet, do we really understand how we think and use that to our advantage in our business and personal lives?

Understanding how we think

I had a wonderful conversation with Helyn Connerr who shared some insights into how we think differently from each other. She called it a “cognitive model” of thinking, learning and communicating. Her Mercury Model describes 12 different ways the mind thinks, we we all fit into.

The Mercury Model accurately describes how our minds tick. It’s all about individuality in thinking and learning. Helyn Connerr

how we think and communicate

 

You may have yourself experienced difficulties at school, where you didn’t ‘learn’ in the same way as your peers. We all know of stories where children are “tossed out” or “written off” because they come across as disruptive in the classroom, but later turn out to have an entrepreneurial streak and are seen as a “success” later in life (we want talk about what success is here. I’ll keep that for another day!).

If you’ve ever felt unfulfilled in a job you’ve done, or you’ve been misunderstood, even by those close to you, you’ll now what it feels like to want to shout out “that’s just who I am, I can’t help it if I think this way. Why don’t you understand me?”

What would you do differently in business if you understood your mind better?

This isn’t about auditory, kinesthetic and visual learning styles. What we’re talking about here, is something much deeper. I’ve learnt myself that the Mercury Model is a quick and easy way to assess yourself and others, and then be able to use that understanding of how your mind ticks, to communicate in the right way with the other person.

How we think involves:

• The learning environment: including noise, temperature, familiarity, safety or colour.
• The nature of the information itself: like traditional/innovative, significant or abstract.
• The delivery: for instance repetition, fun, fast/slow pace, visuals or interaction.

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. Albert Einstein

What tools do you currently use to develop your team? Do you consider mental dynamics? It’s not something I thought about before I was introduced to Helyn’s work. An example Helyn shared in our conversation of a team she worked with who had four similar minds working together and they couldn’t generate new ideas as they always looked at information in the same way. She thought the idea was amazing, but those 4 similar minds couldn’t make it work.

To understand your own way of thinking, you will need to take a look at the books Helyn has written, as there’s too much to share in this space. I can assure you though, that understanding how we think will change your perspective in all areas of your life and business, so a little investment in money and time will reap rewards.

Fish can't climb trees tells us how we thinkHelyn suggested Fish Can’t Climb Trees for business owners. If you’re also a parent, you may also want to look at Learning without Tears (which was my first introduction to the Mercury Model). You can also work with Helyn one to one, or get her involved with your business or work team, if you’d like to understand how everyone thinks in a holistic way.

Helyn will be sharing further insights in a Business Cheerleading Club workshop later this year.

I’d love your thoughts on your understanding of how we think & how you currently manage this in your business. What have you learnt from my conversation with Helyn that you’d like to explore further?

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Do you review your business regularly?

Whatever your starting point today, you are where you are. It doesn’t matter what’s gone before. It doesn’t matter that that promotion worked, but the one that cost you loads in time and effort flopped. What’s important is that you learn from reviewing your business regularly.

review your business regularlyThe aim of your business review…

…is to look at everything through the clear eyes. I know you love everything about your business. And you spent months on ‘that’ particular part of your business. But really, as you review, have an open mind and open heart to look, see and listen.

How to review your business

So, “what do I review?”, I have clients saying. OK, it’s not flippant, but you do need to review everything in your business. Not every week, or month, but regularly.

  1. Review your business financials – are they what you were expecting at this time? Have you had more income in one area of your business that was unexpected, over the budget or plan you’d written?
  2. Review your customer service – whether you’re a one wo/man band, or have a staff team, what are the customer service issues that have come up. Is it a process issue that needs fixing, or a communication one? Is there something that’s not working quite right?
  3. Review your products and services – are they meeting your customer requirements? Are they profitable (or will be profitable once you hit x sales)? Are they what your customers are asking for? Is there something you’re being asked for that you could provide?
  4. Review your website – is your website working correctly? Do you have any errors showing on your webmaster console? Are you going to fix them, or do you have a web support person who does this for you? When was the last time you added content to your website? Are all your products and services up to date & still available? Are there any old products still listed which need removing?
  5. Review your staff / team – is everyone doing what you want them to do? To the standard you require? Are they value for money & adding value to your business? When was the last time you spent time with each team member to review your business goals and where they fit into that in your strategy?
  6. Review your business targets – targets are there to be aimed at, but things happen. New products come on the market; customer tastes alter; you change focus of what your business is about

 

How often should you review your business

Well that’s very much down to you and your business. We know you’ve got enough on your plate with ensuring all areas of the business are running smoothly. However, reviewing should be part of your business cycle that’s a standard part of at least your monthly schedule.

Some areas will only need a quarterly or half yearly review, but others you’ll want to spend more time on. For example, if you’re spending money on online advertising or social media support, you’ll want to know that this is bringing you the return you want.

All our businesses are different, so we’ll all have different priorities for review. We’ll all have different systems, but that’s fine. It has to work for us and our business.

Have we missed any areas for reviewing in your business? Please let us know in the comments below.

If you need help with your own business review, let us help you get clear. Book some time with Tracey-Jane & let’s get reviewing.

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Common sense GDPR for your business

Data protection and GDPR is a business process that you should be integral to your business. There are no exemptions for small and micro businesses. However, GDPR shouldn’t be scaring you, as it’s a business process for you to use and store your customers information, safely and securely.

GDPR – it’s a process for using and storing information

Annabel Kaye, KoffeeKlatch

NOTE: Replace DATA with the word INFORMATION and the process will make more sense for your business

common sense gdpr with annabel kayeI recently interviewed Annabel Kaye from KoffeeKlatch who as a employment law expert has been helping small businesses work through contracts and legal compliance since 1989. Since last summer, Annabel and her team have been sharing a common sense GDPR approach with small and micro businesses.

We like common sense & believe we share a common sense approach to business & our business support to you.

We’ve seen, and heard, many scaremongers about GDPR which has turned businesses off, rather than supporting them to go through the review process of how you manage and store information in your business. So, here’s our common sense GDPR suggestions for you to get to grips with what you need to do in YOUR business.

Common sense GDPR tips for your business

  1. Schedule a couple of hours a week to work on your own common sense GDPR processes for your business
  2. Download and use the simple plain english checklist from KoffeeKlatch
  3. List all your business software, then check their approach to storing information e.g. If you use an online or cloud based system, you need to know where & how they store their information. Most support services are being very clear about GDPR so you shouldn’t have any difficulty finding what they’re doing in response to GDPR, like Mailchimp
  4. Think about your business. What information do you NEED to enable you to run your business efficiently? For example, if you have an online shop, it’s likely you need customer name and an email address, and possibly a phone number for any order queries.
  5. Thinking about your business, how long do you need to retain customer information? You will need to retain accounting records (and evidence of VAT sales) for the required time, so don’t be ditching customer records each year!
  6. If a customer signs up to a newsletter about your local service, that means, “a newsletter about your local service”.
  7. Those people on your current lists, are you happy that you can explain how they got on your list even if you’ve not got the hard copy of the original sign up form?
  8. Think about your own personal information. How do you want your own information to be stored and used by other businesses, doctors, charities, employers? Do you want it to be respected? Now think about how you can respect the information of your customers within your business, and keep it safe, without it costing you the earth in time or money (and it shouldn’t be doing either).

I’m creating diagrams of each part of my business so I can see what information I get from potential customers, existing clients, and past customers. I’m writing down all the different systems I use. I like to see things in front of me, but that may not work for you.

During the interview with Annabel, we talk through marketing CONSENT, with an example from one of our members, which is the biggest question we’re getting in the Business Cheerleading Club, where we talk through & support individual business situations.

What common sense GDPR tips would you add?

Confused, or are you all sorted with your information processes? Taking a common sense GDPR view is the best way to move forward, wherever you’re starting from at this point in time. 

Common sense business support and encouragement is available in the Business Cheerleading Club, open to any business owner looking to grow your business. For detailed support, please use the KoffeeKlatch GDPR support.

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Building a strong brand starts with you

I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Sashka Hanna-Rappl last week about branding your business. Sashka helps businesses create their soul brand, capturing your uniqueness, so that your ideal customers can find you through the strong brand you create together.

Sashka helps you create a strong brandApart from having fun and sharing stories in our half hour together, Sashka shared some ideas for business owners as to how to create a strong brand, using your life purpose as the starting point. She calls it reverse marketing – starting with you, not your customer. It’s not the usual way of creating a strong brand, that you’ll find with many marketing agencies, or branding specialists.

However, it works.

Just think about it. If you can capture all your passion for your business, plus how your product or service helps your customer, then that’s it isn’t it? All in one go, you’ve created something that is identifiable to potential customers and they understand why buying from you is just right for them, and not your competitor.

How to create a strong brand

We all know, and can list strong brand names. We often know the stories behind how the brand grew, or started, or how it developed. Think of Apple and Steve Jobs. Whether you buy their products or not, can you feel the essence of the brand from the story you know? Simple, effective, giving the customer something beautiful and strong to communicate with others/listen to music easily.

Sashka’s advice about creating your brand, from reaching into your soul first, may sound a bit unusual. So think about that now too. If you could get your passion, your story, the why you run your business, and the benefits of what you do for customers into your brand, do you think you’ll sell more?

Yes, I think that’s right too.

People buy from people, and we all love stories, so why not think about our business in the same way. Why should our business, which is what we want to earn our living, and create a pension for us and our family, not benefit from all the things we love & attract us to buy the things we want in our lives?

Know your Life Purpose. Sashka said, “this isn’t your why”. Now to my mind, it’s the WHY that Simon Sinek talks about. It’s not, “I want to buy the extras so we can go on holiday”,or, “I’m creating a pension pot so I can travel when I retire”.

What are your Core Values? The things which are running through your body all the time. The things which without them you feel lost. In Sashka’s workbook, she says, “Your values are your Zone of Genius in Communication. This is where your inner strength and energy will often come from”.

Listen to Yourself. What others think isn’t important here. Not your partner, nor your customers. Starting with yourself can seem selfish, but if the words your using for describing your business aren’t coming from you, or are your words, they won’t sound genuine. Listening is so important to business owners.

Know that words can change. When you’re working on this reverse marketing to get really clear about who you are, and why your business is different, remember that you’re in charge. Your words can change, remember our conversation about words that sell? You are allowed to have some fluidity in the words you use, even though your core values will remain the same.

I’ve seen many business owners spend a lot of time, and money, on getting business cards & paper, and websites built around words that someone else created for them, which didn’t feel right. It was a clumsy way to start their business. Some pulled through and made it work. However others, it didn’t start with them, and the customers didn’t come as the business didn’t attract the right people.

Be You. Be Honest. Sometimes we don’t know exactly why we’re being drawn to a particular colour, or image, or word. Trust yourself. You’re a business owner, and totally in charge of yourself and your business. Give yourself some time to create your strong brand before sharing with others.

Are you ready to create your brand?

Let’s start with Sashka’s book, Soul’d Out, and/or a Find your Why session. I’ve used both of these methods, hand in hand to create the brand words I use in my business. They feel right to me, and hopefully you can see my passion for helping other business owners succeed come through. There’s still work to do. There’s always work to do.

Don’t be afraid of being you, and sharing your soul, to create your strong brand. Your business will thank you.

I’d love your thoughts on branding & how you’ve created your brand for your business.

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What happens to your business when you’re not in the mood?

We all have days, and weeks, when we’re “not in the mood” to work, to talk, to play, to network, to do business, to serve customers. Really, it’s true. Don’t hide.

There’s many reasons for this not being “in the mood”, some of which are:

  • hormones (males and females are both affected)
  • moon cycles (whether you like it or not, moon cycles exist and affect our daily lives)
  • energy (or lack of it, which in turn can be caused by a number of factors)
  • holiday (just back from one, or about to go on one)
  • emotional challenges (children, parents, partner, friends)
  • unwell

is your business always in the moodSo, what happens in your business when you’re not in the mood?

I’m asking rhetorically really. You don’t have to confess, unless that will be helpful for you. I guess I’m asking you to reflect and review your business, and all aspects of it, so that when you are having an “off day”, your customers won’t notice, and your systems will pick up the slack.

Tips to ensure your business is always in the mood

  1. Support team. Having a support team around you is crucial. Whether it’s family, friends, or staff (on-site or remote), people who can pick up the slack, or the important tasks when you’re not around will help keep customers happy and the business running smoothly.
  2. Email auto-responder. Setting this up, as soon as you know you’re not “in the mood”, will ensure that you can get on with getting yourself back on track, and customers can be still be served efficiently. Do you have another team member you can encourage emailers to contact, using a click through link ideally – a general office email that you know will be checked?
  3. Answer machine message on your phone. This should be fairly easy for you to set up, and amend as your circumstances change. Again, referring callers to another number which will be answered, or giving a clear idea when you’ll get back to them, will help keep everyone informed and happy.
  4. Ordering supplies automatically. Whilst you want to control costs, there’s nothing worse than running out of milk, or toilet rolls is there? So, having some stock items for staff, or for your customers, on regular order that you check every couple of months in your stock review, will ensure nothing is missing, even if you are.
  5. Directory of contacts and contractors. When you’re not in the office, can your team contact your IT support, or plumber, or suppliers, to ensure that the business can function. Having a list of contacts and approved contractors, (even if they are your friends who help out), will ensure that if your partner has to take control whilst you’re unwell for a short time, they can do what they need to keep things running smoothly. Your contacts and contractors will also be more sympathetic as you’ll have built a relationship with them which always make things run more easily.
  6. Be honest….as honest as you can be. With yourself as well as those around you in your family and support team. If ‘life stuff’ is happening sometimes we don’t know what’s going on, so regular reviews of how best to run your business with the facts you have about your situation will serve you, your customers and your business in the best light. If you need to cut your hours, be honest. Cut them. You can only do your best, and be your best if you have the right energy and support to carry out your business tasks.

Every business is different, and each of us as business owners will react in a different way to the situations we face day to day. Whilst we are our businesses, our business can often function without us being involved 24 hours a day, or 7 days a week.

I often say to clients, “what happens when you go on holiday?”. If we can sort out the right support and structure for our business to run whilst we’re away on holiday, we can put systems and support in place for those times when we’re not in the mood, due to life’s little challenges.

Whilst being “in the mood” for business may sound flippant, we’re being honest. We’re just trying to get you to think about the wonderful customers you’ve got and how they’re going to be supported if you’re not around. The Business Cheerleading Club could be part of your support structure. A safe place for your support, and also ideas as to how you can get the right support whilst you’re away, or not on top form. You never know, you may even meet your ideal assistant, or collaboration partner there! That’s certainly been our experience so far.

What tips would you add to our list? What do you do to ensure your business is always in the mood?

 

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Are you managing difficult conversations at work

Difficult situations are never easy to deal with. Some will need us to have a difficult conversation, which makes us feel uncomfortable. We may prefer to avoid the conversation, or the situation altogether.

What happens then? If we avoid it?

The situation often gets worse. We feel worse about the situation. Other people may be affected, and not feel great about whatever it is that’s going on.

At home we may find we’re taking our work frustrations out on our partner and family. They may get frustrated with us, and a spiral of uncomfortable and difficult conversations may happen. We may shout and get upset. We may not sleep as well as usual.

All because we’re not managing difficult conversations at work effectively.

How to approach difficult conversations

Whatever our approach is, the first thing to remember is:

  • the conversation needs to happen

If we avoid having that conversation, the situation will get worse, and it’s likely that feelings will get out of control from the original situation that occured.

When managing difficult conversations, it’s important to remember to:

  • listen to the words that are said
  • listen to the words and actions not said out loud
  • listen to your feelings

Listening is such a skill, that many people, including business owners, forget to use it. Allowing someone to talk whilst you simply listen, allows them to say what’s on their mind.

Having the conversation, to move things forward, is often more important than the words used. I’ve known people put off having the difficult conversation as they spent so long on trying to find the right words to use, that the situation was overtaken by other events, and everyone involved felt much worse.

It’s not always easy managing difficult conversations at work,  but we must do it. It the issue is affecting your work place, it may also be having an impact on other staff, partners, and most definitely customers. If there’s an “air” about the workplace, it’s not always comfortable for others, and good work is unlikely to be happening. Your top quality customer service may also be affected if you’re not managing the situation as well as you could be.

At the end of the day, it’s your business & you’re responsible for all that goes on within it.

Managing difficult conversations at work – Workshop

Managing difficult conversations with Simona Frumen

The hardest part, in my experience, is starting the conversation. Once you’ve started, the people affected are happier that it’s being talked about.

That’s why our next Business Cheerleading Club workshop is all about How to Start that Difficult Conversation, with expert mediator and lawyer, Simona Frumen. Anyone can join this, by booking your place , (if you’re a member of the club, this is free for you & details will be sent later this week). The workshop will be recorded if you can’t join live, and you’re welcome to ask any questions, or share a situation you need help or advice with, in advance.

As a mediator I was leading their difficult conversations without shaming, humiliating or hurting the parties involved.When we resolved their issue, they were so grateful for the relief they felt.

Simona Frumen

Club members get the opportunity to share situations and get help from other business owners to work out the next steps, and get support when managing difficult conversations at work.

What’s your experience of managing difficult conversations at work? Le

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Why conversation is important to us

I love talking and meeting people and having a conversation. It helps the world go round, don’t you think?

If you don’t have a conversation with your client, how will you know what they want, and if you’re the right business to serve them?

How do find the right supplier, or negotiate the right deal for your business? You have to have a conversation.

I was looking at ways to help business owners learn tips and tricks to improve you improve your time management, or learn how to do something. I know you don’t have much time to go searching for what’s right for you. There’s so many courses and tutorials and youtube videos available, but what’s going to work for you?

Conversation with experts

in conversation with Sarah Arrow blogging for business tipsLast week I decided to have conversations with some experts I know in different areas of business, and personal development. My goal is to spend no longer than 30 minutes with the expert – they’re busy and so are you – getting a couple of #tipsforbusiness owners from them from our conversation.

I love learning, and spend a lot of time reading, and watching tutorials and webinars. But I’m sometimes left with more questions than I started with! I want to ask “what does that mean for me?”, “how do I do that in my situation?”. So, this way, I can do the asking!

We’re carrying out these conversations on our Facebook page as a live interview. So they’re free for anyone to watch, and ask questions during the conversation (or in advance if you can’t come live). We’ve created quite a list in a short space of time, and are now getting experts booked in for conversations in April. It’s wonderful how so many people are wanting to share their tips with others so we can all learn and do better in our lives and business.

Every conversation is recorded and will be available afterwards. For our Cheerleading Club members, they’ll have them in the club resource centre. We’ll also be putting them on our YouTube Channel, and of course on the Facebook page, so hopefully they’ll be easy for you to find what you need.

What would you like to learn from a conversation

So whilst I’ve started learning and having amazing conversations with fantastic people, we’d like to hear what you would like to learn from a conversation with….Who? Who would you like to have a conversation with?

If we can all have more conversations with each other, we’re bound to understand each other better, learn more, and help each other more aren’t we, and grow all areas of our business too?

That’s a dream I’m having at the moment.

Join our conversations & let’s grow together. A full list of our events is here on our Events Page.

 

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