Monday Motivation: Success Is No Accident

Success is no accident. Good strategy will help get you there, and good habits.

Give your business the best chance to grow and prosper. Too many businesses struggle and often it’s down to a few simple mistakes. Mistakes made by many before.

It’s important to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gordon-lindsay-115b95124_good-strategy-will-get-you-there-follow-activity-6931591968909082624-yeQo?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web

Good luck with your business. Have a great week.

Thanks for reading

Gordon
www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk
makeyourbusinessbetter@gmail.com

www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk/help-sheets/

Please check out my website for lots of useful stuff for anyone running a small business, starting up one or just thinking about it. Quick practical help, much of it free, many time and money saving tips to help you make your business better

Wednesday Wisdom: Boost Your Brain Today

Practising yoga brings many benefits.

But did you know it actually makes your brain work better too?

Give your brain a boost today.

#WellbeingWednesday with Sabrina and @HarvardHealth

Give your brain a boost this week.
Try a little yoga.
Feel better.#MentalHealthMatters @SabrinaRomanoff @Envolvewellness @NASPTweets #Wellbeing #wellness #mentalhealth #selfcare #health #meditate #mentalbenefits #benefits https://t.co/8j2s8bMBY9

— make your business better (@makeyourbusine1) October 6, 2021

Good luck with your business. Hope you are all having a great week.

Thanks for reading

Gordon
www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk
makeyourbusinessbetter@gmail.com

www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk/help-sheets/

Please check out my website for lots of useful stuff for anyone running a small business, starting up one or just thinking about it. Quick practical help, much of it free, many time and money saving tips to help you make your business better

Monday Motivation: Trust in Yourself

Learn and Grow

Trust yourself.

Learn to live with doubts and uncertainty.

Turn the fear of the unknown into possibility.

The very essence of 'trusting yourself' is the ability to sit with doubts and uncertainty so we can learn and grow from them. To understand how being able to hold that state is the key to turning our fear of the unknown into the space of possibility. pic.twitter.com/SmurjBo7Di

— Rachel Botsman (@rachelbotsman) June 17, 2021

Good luck with your business. Have a great week.

Thanks for reading

Gordon
www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk
makeyourbusinessbetter@gmail.com

www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk/help-sheets/

Please check out my website for lots of useful stuff for anyone running a small business, starting up one or just thinking about it. Quick practical help, much of it free, many time and money saving tips to help you make your business better

Wednesday Wisdom: Work Smarter

• Rule 1 of running a business: never run out of cash
• Rule 2 of running a business: never forget Rule 1

Cash flow management skills are essential for your business to survive and prosper.

Please take 5 minutes to read about 6 skills you can learn today.

#WisdomWednesday with Melissa

6 Skills You Can Learn Today to Improve Your Cash Flow Management 💵📈💷@melissahcpa @ForbesWomen @Forbes #Entrepreneurship #kaizen #improvement #smallbusiness #business #businesstips #BusinessOwner #WednesdayWisdom https://t.co/cccVoKD4ip

— make your business better (@makeyourbusine1) September 22, 2021

Good luck with your business. Hope you are all having a great week.

Thanks for reading

Gordon
www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk
makeyourbusinessbetter@gmail.com

www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk/help-sheets/

Please check out my website for lots of useful stuff for anyone running a small business, starting up one or just thinking about it. Quick practical help, much of it free, many time and money saving tips to help you make your business better

Monday Motivation: One Customer at a Time

Stephanie Stuckey, CEO and granddaughter of founder of Stuckey’s Corporation, bought the family business in 2019.

Since then she and her team have been working hard to turn around the company, one customer at a time.

Please read Stephanie’s story.

Be inspired.

https://t.co/EtKKk8jZsR#MondayMotivation from Stephanie and her dad

"Can't go broke making a small profit."

Turning around the family #business, one #customer at a time.📈

An #inspiration to us all. @StuckeyStop @StuckeysPecans #motivationmonday #inspirational #teamwork

— make your business better (@makeyourbusine1) October 4, 2021

Good luck with your business. Have a great week.

Thanks for reading

Gordon
www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk
makeyourbusinessbetter@gmail.com

www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk/help-sheets/

Please check out my website for lots of useful stuff for anyone running a small business, starting up one or just thinking about it. Quick practical help, much of it free, many time and money saving tips to help you make your business better

Wednesday Wisdom: There’s No Such Thing as “Soft Skills”

Human Skills

There’s no such thing as “soft skills”.

They are human skills.

Please follow Simon on Twitter and LinkedIn for lots of great content to help you and your business.

Skills like effective confrontation, empathy, and patience are not soft skills. They are human skills, and they must be learned. Organizations often overlook their best internal leaders because they don't place enough value on these crucial interpersonal qualities. pic.twitter.com/7rvLK2c3K7

— Simon Sinek (@simonsinek) July 15, 2021

Good luck with your business. Hope you are all having a great week.

Thanks for reading

Gordon
www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk
makeyourbusinessbetter@gmail.com

www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk/help-sheets/

Please check out my website for lots of useful stuff for anyone running a small business, starting up one or just thinking about it. Quick practical help, much of it free, many time and money saving tips to help you make your business better

Monday Motivation: 10 Ways to Improve Your Business Today

The Basics

The following 10 items might sound very basic. Surely everyone does them already? You’d be surprised how many business owners don’t do them. Some of them will be your competitors.

Discipline

In my experience, the difference between the successful businesses and the unsuccessful is the successful ones are prepared to do the basics and have the discipline to do so. The basics are not sexy, some are not very exciting, but they will help you make your business stronger and more resilient.

Resilience

A resilient business is a stable business. A resilient business is more likely to survive crises. A resilient business is one that has measures in place before a crisis hits.

Do the basics, do them well, and keep doing them.

10 Ways to Improve Your Business Today

1. Customers – Try to get quick feedback with every sale/invoice/receipt. Think of ways to ask your customers/clients what they think of your current services/products. Are they happy with your customer service? What improvements would they like to see? Do they think your service/product is good value for money? Would they prefer an improved quality or a lower price? If customers can see how hard you are working to be a success, most people will want to help. You just have to give them the means to do so. Ask them.
2. Employees – Consultation and participation. Talk to your employees, find out what they really think and what your customers/clients are saying to them. Set up a suggestions scheme, get ideas flowing. Arrange regular meetings which lead to improvements and real change, not just “talking-shops”. Your employees are the eyes and ears of your business. Use them well.
3. Review – Look at the previous 3/5/10 years accounts and prepare a plan for the next 5 years. Write down the headline information; sales, profits, cash, debtors, stock. What do you notice? What issues need to be addressed? Using the previous years’ figures, now enter figures for the next 5 years using the same headings. Do they look realistic?
4. Get Organised – Look at your current procedures. What particular problems are you having? Identify what needs to be improved. Make a plan.
5. Sort Out Your Paperwork – Lost and/or mislaid paperwork costs you time and money. Both are precious. You can’t afford to waste either.
6. Regular Bookkeeping – Ensure all income and expenditure is processed and up-to-date, including the reconciliation of all bank and credit card accounts. It will help you keep things organised and to ensure you have enough cash to pay your suppliers, employees, tax, etc. Rule 1 of running a business is never run out of cash. Rule 2 is never forget Rule 1.
7. BookkeepingPLUS – Prepare basic management accounts including a financial drivers summary, simple cashflow statement, profit and loss account and balance sheet. It will let you see how your year is going, check your profits, and help you keep a close eye on your cash. Know your sales, profits, cash, and if appropriate to your business, who’s not paid and how much stock you hold, every month. These are all things that have an affect on the health of your business. It is easy to neglect credit control and stock control if you are busy with other, more fun, things but they will cause serious problems to your cash reserves if you are not vigilant with both. Build resilience into your business. This won’t happen overnight, it takes time, but it could help you cope better with future disruptions.
8. 6 and 9 Month Tax-planning Review – If your bookkeeping is complete, why not use it to see if there is anything you can do to reduce your tax bill before your financial year-end? What’s your profit likely to be? Estimate your tax bill too. Is there anything you can do to reduce the profit and tax bill before the end of your financial year? What equipment do you need to replace? Think about it before your year-end. Be prepared.
9. Prepare Year-end Accounts and Tax Return in Good Time – It will let you know, nice and early, what your tax bill is going to be. You then have plenty time to make sure you have or are putting enough cash aside to pay your tax when it’s due. It will also help you budget for next year. For many small business owners, their tax bill is often one of the biggest expenses of the year. Why would you not want to know what it is, sooner rather than later? There is no benefit to you in leaving it until the last minute. That’s when nasty surprises happen.
10. Update Your 5 Year Budget Plan – Is there anything in the past year that indicates that the sales, profits, cash figures need amended? A budget plan doesn’t have to be fancy, or detailed. It is to help you plan for the future. Why not record the previous 5 years headline information and use it as a guide for the next 5 years as a roadmap to get where you want to be?

Competitive Advantage

If you have the discipline to do the basics which some of your competitors don’t do, you will have a competitive advantage over them.

You can then build a stronger, more resilient, business.

Plan

So, make a start. Make a plan. Get everyone in the business involved. Get ideas flowing.

Do it today.

Make July the start of your recovery to help your business build back better.

Good luck with your business. Have a great week.

Thanks for reading

Gordon
www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk
makeyourbusinessbetter@gmail.com

www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk/help-sheets/

Please check out my website for lots of useful stuff for anyone running a small business, starting up one or just thinking about it. Quick practical help, much of it free, many time and money saving tips to help you make your business better

Wednesday Wisdom: Trust and Truth

“Building trust requires nothing more than telling the truth.” Simon Sinek

Please follow Simon on Twitter and LinkedIn for lots of great content to help you and your business.

Building trust requires nothing more than telling the truth.

— Simon Sinek (@simonsinek) September 6, 2021

Good luck with your business. Hope you are all having a great week.

Thanks for reading

Gordon
www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk
makeyourbusinessbetter@gmail.com

www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk/help-sheets/

Please check out my website for lots of useful stuff for anyone running a small business, starting up one or just thinking about it. Quick practical help, much of it free, many time and money saving tips to help you make your business better

Monday Motivation: Give Your Business A Health Check Today

Health Check Questionnaire

Comparing your latest year with the previous one, answer the following;

Non-financial

Customers / clients	More	Less	About same	Don’t know
Number of new customers / clients each year
Number of customers / clients leaving each year
Repeat business from customers each year
Customers buying once and not returning
Employees	More	Less	About same	Don’t know	Not applicable to my business
Staff turnover

 

 

Financials
Sales	Increased	Decreased	About same	Up & down	Don’t know
Profits	Improved	Deteriorated	About same	Up & down	Don’t know
Cash	More	Less	About same	Up & down	Don’t know
Debtors	Taking longer to pay	Taking less time	About same	Don’t know	Not applicable
Stock	More	Less	About same	Don’t know	Not applicable

• How did you do?
• What things need to improve?
• How are you going to make that happen?

Health Check template

3 Steps To Health Check Your Business

1. Find your previous 5 years accounts
2. Make cup of tea or coffee
3. Fill in the template

Create an Excel template – enter the data from your accounts and Excel works out the figures then presents a summary of the information on one page.

Pages and pages of information distilled and presented on a single page that you can use to help you with future planning and decision-making.

Clear. Concise. Useful. Helpful.

Why would you not want that?

Good luck with your business.

Thanks for reading

Gordon
www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk
makeyourbusinessbetter@gmail.com

www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk/help-sheets/

Please check out my website for lots of useful stuff for anyone running a small business, starting up one or just thinking about it. Quick practical help, much of it free, many time and money saving tips to help you make your business better

Monday Motivation: Build Back Better, Improve Your Resilience, Take the 4 Week Business Boost

Boost Your Resilience

Strategy will get you there.

• Recover quicker
• Recover better
• Build back better

Build back better so your business is stronger and better prepared for dealing with future challenges and crises.

Good strategy will get you there. 

Week 1 – Customers
Week 2 – Employees
Week 3 – Financials
Week 4 – Make a Plan

Get everyone involved
Ask customers for feedback
Ask employees for suggestions

Customers

Questions – some examples
How can we improve our customer service?
How can we improve our customer experience?
How can we improve our customer care?
How can we help our customers become more successful?
How can we make our customers more delighted?
How can we reward our customers for their loyalty?
How can we get our customers to buy more?
How can we get our customers to buy more frequently?
How can we get our customers to refer their friends to us?

Employees

Questions – some examples
How can we involve our employees more?
How can we motivate our employees more?
How can we reward our employees more?
How can we inspire our employees more?
How can we educate our employees more?
How can we get suggestions from our employees to make our business better?

Financials

Questions – some examples
How can we achieve more sales?
How can we achieve better profits?
How can we have more money in the bank?
How can we persuade customers to pay quicker?
How can we have less cash tied up in stock?
How can we improve the current position?
What has been happening over the previous 5 years?
Where do we want to be in 5 years time?
How are we going to get to where we want to be in 5 years time?

Make a Plan

5 Steps to Make a Plan

1. Review all the information
2. Consider all the options
3. Decide on the best ones
4. Put the changes in place
5. Monitor the results, and make adjustments if required

And keep monitoring results.

If you don’t monitor and measure, then you can’t manage, so you won’t improve.

Every Business is Different

No-one knows your business better than you and your team.

Get everyone onboard. Get ideas flowing.

Create your own list of questions to the answers you want and need to know.

• Build back better
• Be prepared
• Become more resilient

Good luck with your business. Have a great week. 

Thanks for reading

Gordon
www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk
makeyourbusinessbetter@gmail.com

www.makeyourbusinessbetter.co.uk/help-sheets/

Please check out my website for lots of useful stuff for anyone running a small business, starting up one or just thinking about it. Quick practical help, much of it free, many time and money saving tips to help you make your business better