Thank You!

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Fiona

Over the last couple of months a couple of my strategic partners have really helped me beyond the normal level of service I would expect. This blog is to thank them.

Firstly, my great friend Trevor Lever (Trevor Lever Consulting) really helped me to get some perspective on a tricky client issue I had. Just before meeting with said client I luckily bumped into Trevor in his office at Starbucks, Wells. Because I know Trevor so well I was able to really talk through my concerns and bounce around some ideas with him. This really helped prepare me for my meeting – which meant I got the results I needed.

When we work on our own it is difficult to be totally subjective and to think through issues which affect our business in a logical way. Having partners like Trevor is a real boon and makes running my business a less lonely experience. Thank you Trevor.

Secondly, my excellent IFA Andrew Stinchcomb (Integrity Financial) is really helping my husband and I to put together a robust financial plan for the future. He is always coming up with wheezes to make us better off financially. He has saved us thousands in pension fees and is now looking at how we can pay off our mortgage earlier – without paying anything extra! Now you will think that that is his job: and it is. However, Andrew is unusually  generous with his time and energy. Thank you Andrew.

Finally, my web designer Jeff Bevan has been working tirelessly to keep my website up-to-date and running efficiently. Now he is my husband, and living with the client is certainly a way to keep the pressure up. However, Jeff does a lot more than just what I ask him to – he is always on the look out for ways to make my website better. Thank you Jeff.

I believe a small business is much more than just the business owner and their clients. It is the cloud of goodwill from strategic partners and suppliers too.

Fiona :)

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Start the year as you mean to go on

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Fiona

There is no sign that 2012 will be more ‘credit worthy’ than 2011 was.

It is unlikely that the banks will be any more willing to lend money than they have been during 2011. The state owned banks in particular are struggling to make money and are fighting hard to strengthen their own balance sheets. To do this they are deciding to take on only that debt which is guaranteed. Consequently normal owner managed businesses will continue to find it hard to get financing from their banks.

This means that companies must do all they can to ensure that they are in control of their own destinies – particularly when it comes to money.

Here are some tips you can follow to ensure that you don’t have any financial surprises in the coming year:

1. Firstly, have a fully thought through cash flow forecast showing when you expect money in and out – including any larger fixed asset purchases you will need to make.

2. Secondly, assuming you are not a bank, give credit to your customers with care. Don’t give credit at all unless there is a clear business case for doing so. If that business case is there, check with credit vetting agencies that the customer is credit worthy. Once you have agreed the credit terms make sure you have them clearly laid out in your terms of business and on any invoices you send out. Finally, make sure you have rigorous debt collection procedures and FOLLOW THEM.

3. Watch your spending and ensure that you only spend where there is a business case for that spend. Questioning every £ that goes out of your business (and this means before an order is placed with a supplier not once the company is committed) will make a surprising  difference to your bank balance.

4. If you are making any large purchases think about the best time to make the spend. If you buy in haste you are likely to pay more than if you have time to make a considered purchase. You might also want to look at using HP or lease financing rather than using your working capital.

5. Keep bank fees down by prudent use of credit cards (always pay off the balance in full when it is due!) and by looking to pay, and be paid, in ways which are cheapest for your bank (and you) to process. This means use cheques only if strictly necessary and cash only as a last resort.

By being aware of your business finances and taking an active roll in managing them you can help ensure the financial health of your business.

Fiona :)

 

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What do you resolve?

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Fiona

Once again it is that time of year when we all resolve to be better in the New Year.

Unfortunately, it is not the done thing to make resolutions for others – as Karen in Outnumbered tried to do – so I cannot resolve for my sons to keep their rooms tidy or to play on their computers less. So I will have to stick to resolutions for myself.

As with many of you top on my list is to get a bit more active and eat more healthily after the Christmas excesses. I would also like to budget better on a personal front and stop being tempted by sales and other tactics employed by shops to part us from our money.

On a business front I am going to try to blog more consistently – once every two weeks will be my target.

To be honest though, I think January is the worst time to make big promises to ourselves to change. The dark days and miserable weather are not conducive to positive thinking – and I certainly think winter is the worst time to try to lose weight.

So my advice to anyone who is thinking of giving themselves big challenges in 2012 is to make some small resolutions in January and then aim to start making any big changes in the spring.

I find that by saving big things to March/April the positivity induced by the lighter days and better weather helps to ensure my resolutions get off to the best possible start. I am not saying that I always keep on the right course, but I certainly stay in it longer than I would do if I started in January!

Good Luck

Fiona :)

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All Change!!

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Fiona

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The new year brings a change of blog address and a rebranded blog site for Bright Business Thoughts.

For your information if you have come from my website link the new address is:

www.brightbusinessthoughts.co.uk

Welcome!

I look forward to reading your comments and I hope you like the new look.

Fiona :)

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May your days be merry and bright!

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Fiona

Christmas comes but once a year and can be a time of mixed emotions. We use this time of year as an opportunity for reflection and hopeful anticipation for the new year. So what of 2011?

This year seems to have been a strange mix of contradictions. The economic downturn seems to go on without any let up; but for several businesses I know 2011 has been their best year ever! Most retailers rely on the Christmas surge in consumer spending to fund the rest of the year; but this year has seen huge pre-Christmas sales – what will this mean for the high street in 2012? The government is keen to see investment in small businesses; but uses the banks, who are busy propping up their own balance sheets, as the vehicles to supply this funding. Consequently, many good businesses are finding funding a struggle. In short there is a lot of uncertainty which is likely to remain through out 2012.

So what does that mean for business owners.

Firstly, I think that it is more important than ever to have a proper plan for the year ahead so that you, the business owner, are able to reduce the risks to your business. The strongest businesses rely as little as possible on banks for funding by keeping on top of their debtors and planning expenditure. They have clear objectives and know what they need to achieve to meet their stake holders’ individual goals. Their owners know what their own particular weaknesses are and seek help to mitigate them.

Secondly, I think it is easy to become overly gloomy. There are opportunities out there and small businesses are often more able to take advantage of them than larger ones. This is because small businesses are much more flexible and can take decisions quickly without the burden of cumbersome management structures. So, if your business is doing well don’t listen to the doommongers – be confident in the future and carry on doing what works for you.

Many business owners have a support network, but they don’t necessarily recognise it’s value. We are continually looking to make new contacts without properly getting to know existing ones. By having a strong, trusting, connection with key strategic partners, we can build a solid foundation of support for us and our businesses. A reciprocated support network can make all the difference to a small business surviving or not.

As regular readers will know I run the Billy No Mates Christmas lunch. This year’s bash was the best ever with over 30 people signing up (although a couple were ill on the day). It was a super opportunity for micro business owners to tap into the local support network in a fun way and realise they are not completely on their own. A note for your diaries – the 2012 bash is on 21st December.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a very successful 2012.

Fiona :)

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Plan it, Janet 2

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Fiona

It has been a little while since I blogged and part of this has been because it is the silly season and I have been very busy. Part is because I have struggled for a theme to write about – so I have decided to go back to an old friend.

As regular readers of the blog know I am passionate about business planning. I am constantly amazed how little business planning seems to go on, but how the energy released once a business embraces proper, strategic planning can lead to really powerful results.

I am currently running a 2 day business planning workshop for the Soil Association. Some of the group have done planning before – others haven’t. However, by the end of the workshop everyone is engaged and contributing to the exercises. The reason for this is that they are all passionate about their organisation and want to achieve the best they can. They have different areas of expertise which are all critical to the associations’ success, and are able to bring this to the planning process.

At the end of the two days each of the three groups have made good inroads into producing a business plan for a real project. More importantly they have a clear idea of the extra information they need to get hold of if they are going to complete meaningful plans to be presented to a third party – be it a director or an outside agency. There is also a great energy which will see the business plans moved forward.

You can achieve the same in your business by taking time out of your day-to-day work to really review your business and where it is going. If you involve other employees/managers in your review and planning exercise, you may well find that ideas and energy flow in a way that you have not seen before.

However, if your business is not worth this time out, I would suggest you review why you are in the business you are in.

As always I would extol you to work smarter and not harder – and part of this is having a robust plan.

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Engage your inner entrepreneur!

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Fiona

It’s funny that one of the side effects of a recession is often that more new businesses are created than in good economic times.

There are several reasons for this:

Firstly, people who are made redundant may use their redundancy money, and newly found free time, to launch a business idea they had been thinking of for a while. Whilst they were in employment they did not want to take the risk of leaving their safe job to go into the more risky world of self employment. But once the safety net was gone they were prepared to give their new idea a go.

Secondly, as they say ‘necessity is the mother of invention’. People can become more creative. In a world of constant change and instability entrepreneurs can take advantage of others’ indecision to take advantage of opportunities.

Also, people who have been out of the job market for a while and need more flexibility than traditional employment can offer, look to start their own business to enable them to have the flexibility they need. Examples of this are parents returning to work after looking after their young children, or other carers. When the economy is buoyant and jobs plentiful it is easier to find flexible employment opportunities – these opportunities often fall by the wayside when times are hard.

However, just because there are more businesses starting out does not mean that they will be successful. In my experience there are several reasons why a business will succeed:

1. The business owner has properly investigated their chosen market and taken the time to understand what their customers are looking for. They have a properly thought through business plan investigating all areas pertinent to their business.

2. The business owner gets proper professional advice in areas they are not expert in. This means they do not make the wrong decisions through lack of knowledge/skill.

3. The business is properly funded. In the days when banks are very reluctant to lend money it is foolish to start a new business unless the money is available to do it! Using own funds first is the cheapest and safest way of starting a business. If bank funding is needed it is important to make sure it secure is before spending starts!

4. The business owner is passionate about their business. There are much easier ways to earn a living than running a business and it is passion and drive which will ensure momentum is maintained in the early days. If a business owner is not passionate about their business proposition it is very difficult to keep up the energy required to see it properly established.  Also it is much more difficult to get any one else interested.

Running your own business is by no means an easy option but it can be completely liberating.

Fiona :)

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The debt crisis!

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Fiona

You don’t need me to tell you that times are hard.

Increasingly companies who thought they had weathered the worst of the recession, are finding that they are struggling to carry on any further.

In some cases their customers are struggling, or have gone bust themselves; in others their banks are refusing to play ball and are withdrawing their overdraft facility.

If you are thinking the worst with your business it is very important that you don’t the following:

1. Stick your head in the sand! Ignoring the problem is not going to make it go away. If you don’t take control of the situation it may well end up taking control of you!

2. Do anything rash! As bad as ignoring the problem is taking rash action can be worse. I have seen business owners take on high interest debt to save a company which is beyond saving. This has left them personally exposed and, sometimes, bankrupt as a result.

3. Keep your staff in the dark! In my opinion is morally right to keep your staff informed of the business situation, and is also sensible from a business view point too. Firstly, you may think that staff do not know the business is in trouble, but in my experience your very behaviour is likely to alert them – certainly irate calls from creditors will. It is better for them to hear the truth from you than to imagine a worse truth themselves. Secondly, if you keep them informed, and hopefully on your side, you are more likely to hold onto them than if they feel, perhaps erroneously, that there is no future and leave anyway.

DO SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP AT THE EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY!

If you don’t know the exact financial position it is important to find out what it is from your accountant. You will need to look at both your business and personal finances together as they are inextricably linked.

If you suspect the situation is bad talk to a debt specialist – they will be able to review: where you are; what your options are; and the order in which action should be taken. Chris and John from Lightside Financial, for example, are fantastic at getting to the nub of what needs to be done.

Finally, do what your professional advisors advise! It may be unpalatable medicine or even terminal from your business’s view point, but it will almost certainly enable you personally to come out of a terrible situation as painlessly as possible.

Fiona :)

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Party time cometh!

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Fiona

I am a great believer that as business owners we have to give ourselves a break every so often.

We often do not celebrate when we have done particularly well, or when we have come out the other side of a particularly gruesome time.

In traditional businesses the office party has become their opportunity to do just that. The business owners provide the environment for employees to kick back and enjoy each others company in a fun  way.

Of course the staple office party comes at Christmas.

But if you work on your own you don’t have anyone to party with. Five years ago I tried to address this by starting the Billy No Mates Christmas Bash in Wells, Somerset. The idea is that business owners who work on their own, or with just one employee, can come along to a Christmas party. It is NOT a networking event but just an opportunity for some ‘letting down of hair’.

Each year this event has become more and more popular – little wonder when there are so many one/two man (and women) businesses in the country.

So why don’t you come along? If you don’t live in Somerset why not start your own Billy No Mates where you are?

For more information please visit www.fionabevanfinancialmanagement.co.uk and click on Billy No Mates Christmas 2011.

Fiona :)

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What do YOU really, really want?

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Fiona

I have been working with several clients recently reviewing their business plans and working on various ‘what if’ scenarios. This has got me thinking about what motivates business owners and impacts on their decision making.

Over the years I have had clients who have expressed goals for their business, which it turns out were not their goals at all, but goals they believed they should have.

One particular example was a very focused, dynamic and forward looking client who was (and still is) a super businesses person. Their business was becoming successful and they had some surplus cash to spend.

During one of our regular reviews they expressed the wish to get a new car. Now I already knew they also had plans to expand their business and to buy a new house. Given there was only the money available to do one of these things, I asked which was the most important to them to do.

They immediately said expanding their business was paramount – which, incidentally, I knew they would say.

They have since gone on to do just that!!

It turned out that the reason they wanted a new car was, not because it was particularly important to them, but because they had picked up along the way that successful business people have new cars.

The lesson of this story is to look hard at what motivates YOU. What does success look like to YOU?

After all it is YOUR business and should be delivering against your idea of success not someone else’s. That is why we start businesses in the first place rather than carrying on in employment where we are working to achieve someone else’s dreams.

Fiona :)

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