The mindset of small business

Nov 29, ’11 9:53 PM

Author Lorraine Allman Categories Business Infographics, Business Psychology, Micro Business, Small Business / SOHO, Small Business / SOHO

I recently came across a couple of interesting INFOGRAPHICS relating to small and micro-enterprises in the UK and USA which I would like to share with you. The first is from the UK based on research from Smarta – the DNA of Sole Traders. In a nutshell it says that UK sole traders are ‘motivated by freedom; are web-savvy but use a spread sheet to do their accounts; go to bed late, don’t have a pension and don’t like the government’.

DNA of a Sole Trader

The second is the US ‘Small Business Happiness Index’ indicating that 77% of micro-businesses are happy or extremely happy that they work for themselves; have more customers than they did at the start of the year; welcome expert advice on a whole range of business issues and rely heavily on referrals as the most effective marketing tactic.

Given the economic climate world-wide and the lack of support generally for micro-enterprises (by this I mean businesses employing 0-10 people, including sole traders) it’s a wonder we’re not all shutting up shop and yet the number of new business start-ups continues to grow. In the face of adversity, feeling the pressure of economic downturns, established small businesses are clinging on and making the best of what they have, and it would appear remaining optimistic and positive about working for themselves.

Later this week, the Enterprise Rockers web site re-launches with a brand new look and clear mission – to make life better and fairer for micro-enterprises. For this to succeed, the positivity and energy of small business needs to be channelled into supporting each other through inter-trading, improving the quality and value of essential services, and finding a united voice which stands out loud and clear that micro-businesses matter, that micro-businesses make a positive difference to our communities, our economies, and to the general wellbeing of our countries. The tenacity, resilience, perseverance, flexibility and absolute self-belief in what they are doing make micro-business a force to be reckoned with.

There is much to be learnt from the mindset of small business – isn’t it time to start listening?

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The Best Biz Mentors Can Be A Tad Crazy

Nov 23, ’11 2:30 PM

Author Tony Robinson OBE Categories Business Ideas, Business Mentoring, Business Startup, Business Trends, Entrepreneur, Getting Things Done, Home Business, Micro Business, MumEntrepreneur, News, Personal Business, SOHO/SMB/SME/Micro, Self-employed, Sole-Trader, Start-Up, be successful, grow your business, start-up in business

My Dad

I reckon my first business mentor was my Dad. He started his own business, working from home, because, like many people I know, it was the best way of earning a living. His health was very poor so he had to pack in his job. In the five years between me being 13 and 18, when he died, he built a very big business. It was always a micro business, like 95% of the businesses today in the UK.

It became big in income but never had more than six employees. It was a sales agency in the wooden box and pallets industry. Many years later, when I started my own business, I realised that nearly everything useful that I’d learned about enterprise had come from my Dad as my business mentor.

He was an unlikely ace business mentor. My Dad left school at 14, picked everything up as he’d gone along, and was a complete eccentric, a showman and a storyteller who instinctively turned anything formal into a party. At football, Hull City, he had a seat just behind the Directors’ box so that he could hurl abuse and one-liners at them from start to finish. I wouldn’t sit with him.

Corporate Crackers

The point is that what I’d learned in Senior Management, even Managing Director, at two major American multinationals didn’t help me much in my own business. This was despite having received the very best business training and completed two Post Graduate Diplomas in HR Management and Business Administration. All this was next to useless in my own micro business as against the valuable help I gained from my mentors.

My business partner of twenty five years, Clare, felt the same thing. She hadn’t realised it at the time but her corporate jobs and training hadn’t prepared her for running her own business but what she’d learned from her Dad, who had his own property business, was invaluable.

No surprise then that we decided to have a mentor, another micro business owner, for our first couple of years in business. We gave him our corporate contacts and in return he asked us wise questions which stopped us doing many of the foolish things we were about to do. No money exchanged hands although a heck of a lot of money went behind the bar during our, frequently scheduled, mentoring sessions.

Sitting or Standing Up Mentors?

One of the many theories I have, which perversely academic research and government policy has yet to pick up on, is that if you’ve got a primarily ‘standing up’ business you’re best to have a mentor that has a ‘standing up’ business too. ‘Standing up’ businesses would include most building trades, cafes, shops, blues bands, chocolate makers, ice cream makers and micro-breweries.

Similarly if you’re in a ‘sitting down in an office’ type business then choose ‘a sitting down in an office’ type mentor. I’m definitely not saying only get a mentor from a similar trade or industry, only government and BigBiz think in sectors, but do get someone who really understands what you have to do each day.

Oh and beware of men in suits if you’ve got a ‘standing up’ business’ or you’re a woman. I’m sure there are exceptions to these rules of mine for choosing a mentor but there won’t be many.

Sir Jimmy Fixed It for Us Every Day

Wrestler, DJ, marathon runner, TV presenter, volunteer hospital porter and the greatest charity fund raiser of all time, Sir Jimmy Savile, died recently. He was buried in Scarborough, where I live. Thousands turned out to acknowledge his real achievements for the people of Britain both at his service in Leeds and his burial in Scarborough. He was truly a man of the people, an inspiration to many of us, and the very same person on the telly as he was in the cafes and streets of Scarborough.

He made us feel better about life and he genuinely helped many thousands of people through adversity. He was eccentric to the last. He was buried in one of his trademark track suits, in a gold coloured coffin placed at an angle in the grave, so that he ‘could see the sea’. He was also a highly successful micro business owner, millionaire and a cracking volunteer biz and personal mentor.

Two of his proudest possessions were on his mantelpiece in his Scarborough flat. They were individual letters from Princess Di and Prince Charles thanking him for his help to them, as an informal mentor.

Lots of my business owner friends seem a bit crazy. The craziness is often just appearance and behaviour that shows we’re our own boss with our own values, passion and beliefs. Some can wrongly view this, like Sir Jimmy Savile was viewed, as not professional or not to be taken seriously. We are passionate about what we do and it’s bloody hard work doing it but we can be very useful business mentors too.

Get Mentoring

My businesses have benefited a great deal from the handful of business mentors I’ve had down the years. Most of the mentoring I’ve had is over the phone or nowadays by Skype. I usually contact my mentor when I’ve got a problem or see an opportunity that I want to talk through before taking a decision. I’ve also had a great time and learned a lot as a mentor to others. I have had some training on being a better mentor and I’m going to do some more shortly.

There are lots of places around at the moment where you can find a mentor or get some training to become a better mentor yourself. One such place is the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs, which I help run, and you can find out more here about Get Mentoring – free mentor training and free mentors.

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Are All Politicians Bad Parents?

Oct 29, ’11 5:27 PM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Business Startup

My son came by today and was telling me about what was happening in his life and I must say I’m a very proud parent, like many of us. All the hours, days, weeks, months and years of support have paid off for me and especially my wife.

It all got me thinking about business start-ups and how much help and support they need to flourish and become successful, a bit like a child. Invariably it brings me back to the fact that micro businesses are not valued or understood by the state and especially by politicians.

Micro businesses are the driving force in job creation and the future model for employment, self-employment. Over 32 million freelancers in the EU and 24 million in the US, are a stark reminder that we are not talking about a small minority here.

Question is why our politicians don’t get it – are they all bad parents?
Sign the e-petition and ask the question.

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Should I stay or should I go?

Oct 29, ’11 5:04 PM

Author Lorraine Allman Categories Micro Business

Conferences, networking events, too-good-to-miss social media training opportunities…

Let’s face it, there are plenty of activities to distract us from everyday business life that promise to promote and improve our businesses, to make connections and hopefully secure sales along the way. If like me you live in a rural area then many of the really high-profile events can mean a day out just for travelling. Working smarter, not necessarily harder, is essential when you’re a small business, so working out the true value of attending an event and whether the investment of time and money will get the results you want is essential.

I recommend using the following three point plan:

1. Do your Research
Whatever the event, always do your research in advance to find out as much information as possible.

Who will be there?
What’s on the agenda? (invited speakers, topics, workshops)
How many people are attending? (for training this will give you an idea of how tailored an event can be to your own situation or whether it will be a ‘one size fits all’ type session)
What are the demographics of people attending in particular do they fit your target market of customers and suppliers?
Will anyone from your target list such as possible collaborators and/or key influencers be there?

2. Decide your Outputs
Think of outputs in terms of tangibles that you want to achieve as a result of attending the event. For a training session this should be fairly straightforward e.g. to be able to use Twitter and Linked In for your business and/or increase quality of followers and interactions.

For events such as networking or conferences aim for realistic targets such as meeting key people from your influencers, supplier, and customer groups. With networking events in particular you need to be realistic and patient, they require a longer-term investment in developing contacts and relationships rather than securing any immediate gain.

If you’re attending an exhibition then outputs will vary depending on why you’re there. As an exhibitor be absolutely clear about your expected return on investment (preferably number of sales or at the very least good quality leads) as they are not a cheap promotional activity. As a visitor, plan your schedule in advance and stick to it – for example meet Head of Sales from x company, establish communications with x company, participate in x workshop to get noticed, and so on.

3. Decide and publicise
You’ve done your research and worked out what you want to achieve from attending the event. If you’re still unsure about going at this stage then it’s probably best that unless you’re missing some key information, you go with your gut instinct and say no. If you decide not to go, try to follow-up with someone you know who did go to the event and find out what they thought of it, whether it was worthwhile in terms of outputs (potential leads, contacts etc.) so you’ll know for another time.

If you decide it’s the right event to go to then make sure you tell your networks that you’re going. For one thing they might be there too so it gives a great opportunity to meet up with for example suppliers in person, as well as communicating the fact you may not be as contactable as usual on that day. Using social media networks to publicise your attendance can be beneficial to other companies hoping to speak with you (you may be on their ‘outputs’ list!), as well as making connections in advance of the event to make it more worthwhile.

So the next time you’re thinking about going to a business event, use this three point plan to help you decide whether your investment of time (and money) is going to be worthwhile.

Do your research
Decide your outputs
Decide and Publicise

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Micro Biz Matters

Oct 12, ’11 4:45 PM

Author Tony Robinson OBE Categories Announcements, Micro Business, News, Small Business / SOHO, Small Business / SOHO

Sign My Petition

Here’s my e-petition http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/18396

If you’re a UK resident you can sign the government e-petition I’ve started. If you’re not in the UK you may still find this blog about our UK campaign, to get a better and fairer deal for micro business owners (less than ten employees), of interest.

This e-petition is already ranked 14 out of nearly 500 government accepted e-petitions on business issues. Over 6,000 readers have read my blogs on this subject in under a week. Hundreds of micro business owners have already joined me in collecting signatures for the e-petition.

I’m Not An SME

The petition calls for government to reveal what they’re doing to support micro enterprise owners (those with less than ten employees and including start-ups) and not lump us into the disrespectful, meaningless and deliberately confusing term ‘SMEs’. Government use the term SMEs as a ‘catch all’ for their policy targets, in fact 99.9% of all businesses in the UK are SMEs.

The term SME allows them to meet their SME targets without including micro enterprise owners in the policy initiative or programme.

The media and institutional spokespersons will conveniently re-interpret ‘SMEs’ to mean ‘Small Businesses’. Everyone can then pat themselves on the back that they’ve done their bit for small businesses.

Small Business Owners are different from Corporate Managers

A career in corporate management and as a public official is usually about power, influence, large departments of employees and big budgets. They only get the big bucks by climbing the corporate, status, power and staff responsibility ladder.

In 25 years of running my own businesses I haven’t found a small business owner that runs their business for the above. Yet, our having less than ten employees is to large organisations and most government officials that we’re ‘not serious’, not ‘growth oriented’ and ‘lack ambition’.

This is wrong as it assumes a corporate model for business expansion. Ambitious micro enterprise owners often expand through bootstrapping, partnerships, acquisitions, using independent contractors and even family members and friends. Staff recruitment is not the only way neither is it my preferred way to growth.

Big Is Beautiful to Government

95% of all businesses in the UK are micro enterprises. There are 4.5 million. As the owners of these businesses we need to get together to ensure we’re able to compete on a more level playing field with the large corporates. Mostly we’ll do things ourselves but from time to time we need to work as a large team to get government policies that are fair to us.

If my petition is successful it will be debated in parliament and we can get a policy that ensures they do reveal what they’re doing for micro enterprise owners against larger companies. For example: on bank lending, public sector procurement, employee training, de-regulation, employment tribunal claims, employment incentives and start up support (against corporate bail outs).

News last week in the UK that the government is going to provide a hotline to a Minister buddy for the top 50 Corporates’ CEOs sums up how close the relationship is. It’s not even clear anymore who tells who what to do. The media is financed and run by large organisations so we can’t expect any favours from them either.

We Need the Power of Plenty

None of this is surprising as micro-enterprise owners tend not to fund or facilitate our political system, apart from as tax payers and tax collectors. Neither can we offer people lucrative positions before nor after they leave government. Add to this the fact that most senior civil servants, Ministers and senior management in large organisations haven’t a clue as to what it takes to start and run a business and it is evident that it will always be an uphill task trying to get fairness in policies, procurement and regulations for micro enterprise owners.

It is important that micro business owners get together from time to time to right wrongs which impede their ability to succeed. In the UK ‘the wrong’ is that over the last 15 years I estimate that 90% of the £billions of government support has gone to 5% of businesses with over 10 employees. The survival rate of new start-ups should be a very important issue for government but it’s not.

Hold Your Head High

I firmly believe that because we really care about getting the best from our staff and limited resources we are better at people management than most corporates. Because we want to walk down the street or meet our fellow business owners we’re better at paying for goods and services on time. I know we do more for our communities and are better at starting, managing and growing businesses than corporate managers.

My petition also proves that we’re better at networking and helping each other than corporate managers. Make sure you build your networks for when you need to right wrongs and protect your small business.

Finally, please, please sign the e-petition

My petition asks for clearer communication by government on the contribution and benefit of its policies, programmes and support/employment/skills bodies to micro enterprises.

Please sign it http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/18396 and then get all your friends to do the same

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Wealth Warning – Working with BigCos and Government

Oct 4, ’11 2:49 PM

Author Tony Robinson OBE Categories Business Trends

The scariest words for small business owners

The scariest words, for most of us, are ‘Hi, I’m from the government and I’m here to help you’. and/or ‘I’m from BigCo and I want to buy from you’. Let me explain why I think most small business owners need a wealth warning about dealing with large organisations and government bodies.

Last month I celebrated, with my business partner Clare Francis, 25 years of starting and running our own micro enterprises.

Micro enterprises are 95% of all businesses in the UK and are classified by government as having less than ten employees. For twenty of those years I’ve also been trying to get a fairer deal, a level playing field with larger businesses, for micro enterprise owners/owner managers.

It’s not that we can’t succeed by ourselves – we do and we’re proud of our independence. It’s just that government give 90% of their help and funding for procurement, regulations, employment, business support and skills development to the 5% of UK enterprises that are bigger than us. Yet there are 4.5 million of us micro enterprises and we provide a third of all jobs. It is unfair.

I’ve started a government e-petition to ask government to report what they’re doing for micro enterprises. I hope you’ll sign it at: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/18396

Building Successful Relationships with Large Organisations

However, for twenty five years my own business has supplied government and large organisations with products and services. So what have I learned over all this time that I can pass onto start-ups and other small business owners?

My top tip is don’t waste your money and time in trying to gain an informal, preferential or parity relationship with government agencies and large public or private sector organisations, including banks. Make it strictly business, be very wary, very professional, negotiate with what is low cost to you and high value to them and confirm everything in writing.

To do the above is harder than it may seem. When they want something from you they can be very persuasive and very disarming. I’ve seen many supposedly hard-nosed celebrity entrepreneurs turn into pussycats when confronted by the power, status and hospitality of the largest companies and government.

Don’t Panic. Be Alert.

Recently we asked about 800 micro enterprise owners (the Enterprise Rockers @EnterpriseRocks) to nominate the large organisations and government bodies that they felt were micro enterprise friendly. We only got 4 nominations: Apple, Co-op, British Library and ACAS.

Of course you may need, like my business does, government agencies and large organisations as your customers but just be very careful how you build the buyer-supplier relationship.

Firstly, it is unlikely you can ever get into their trusted circle of preferred suppliers, certainly not for very long.

Secondly, they can be difficult customers because what the people, you’re dealing with, are performance measured on is not likely to be in your interest.

Thirdly, they hold the aces – you can’t afford to sue them but they can afford to sue you.

Take as an example late payment. Many of us are sick and tired of late payment from large organisations but daren’t complain to the media or go to court because of fear of losing future business.

Most large organisations, including government, don’t admit to late payment because they’ll claim that the supplier hasn’t done something they should have done – even if it is just having sent the invoice to the wrong person. Your bank won’t help you out of the late payment fix as they will only lend to you when you don’t need it.

Some of my close business owner friends, over the years, have gone from elation to struggling for survival because of this. A couple of them have gone under.

I’ve seen hundreds of small business owners totally shocked by the power large organisations have to make or break the business they’ve built.

Your lifeblood is your business building time

Large organisations can also suck the lifeblood out of your business. That lifeblood is your time. Corporate and government executive culture is about project management, bureaucracy, status, power, perks, quality processes, risk averseness, budget spending, supplier savings, building empires, career progression, corporate politics, constant online/offline communications and meetings, bloody, meetings. They are not focused on earning a living through satisfying customers in the way we are.

So achieving a win/win relationship with large organisations, in the private and public sector, is a matter of balance. Don’t let them take too much of your time. Avoid them becoming your survival income stream and/or preventing you getting other work in their sector. Stick to arm’s length, tightly worded, agreements. Be a consummate professional with them.

Ensure you make a profit by costing in the time they’ll take from your business building activities. Continue to maximise your time for winning new customers and keeping existing customers. Constantly improve your cash flow. Bootstrap, rather than borrow, wherever you can. Good Luck.

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It’s more than only about the cloud

Sep 29, ’11 8:11 AM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Business Psychology

I went to a Kleinwort Benson Entrepreneur Forum last night and invariably cloud computing came up as a discussion point. On the way home it got me thinking about what makes my customers special, is it all about cloud computing, do they get it or is it even important to them?

We recently had looked at our client base and we looked at how old businesses are and how long clients had been with us, how many had gone out of business and so on. The mortality rate of our clients is way below the national average, in fact over 23% lower.

Surely that must be the result of our great cloud computing small business framework – software, e-commerce and services – right?

Wrong, the fact is our clients don’t care about anything like that. The don’t care about cloud computing, having the greatest and flashiest website or our services.

They care about their business, they care about their clients, they care about their staff, they are passionate about their business, they love doing what they do and most of all, they are focused.

Software, website and many other things are mere distractions to them. They expect us to do our end of the deal, to provide them with their small business framework and apart from that get out of their way.

To our clients, we are just a small cog in the finely tuned machine they call their business.

That is what makes them different and successful.

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The Small Business Blog Is Changing.

Sep 26, ’11 4:48 PM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories SME-Blog

After five and a half years writing articles about small business issues on this blog, I am going to follow many of my fellow bloggers and open my blog permanently up to a select group of interesting and relevant authors for my readership.

In the next few weeks I will start introducing new authors with the aim to make my blog even more relevant and offer more insight into other aspects of running a micro business or small business.

I hope you will enjoy the new content. As always please come and join me (us) on our Facebook page for comment and discussion of the topics covered or anything else related to small business.

First up is Adrian Swinscoe, his first contribution will be on Wednesday.

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Small Business Cost Cutting:- Fire Non-Essential Staff

Aug 5, ’11 11:54 AM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Business Cost Cutting

I think it is no great secret anymore that the world economy is going to take a “little” longer to recover, due in part to the incompetence of some of our beloved and distrusted politicians.

What are you doing to tighten your “business” belt? As I have discussed before, changing as much of your fixed cost (cost you have every month, no matter how well your business is doing) to variable cost (cost you only have when you are making money too) is essential – one way of doing that is to reduce you labour and staff costs.

Ask yourself is every member of your team fully utilized, what is your ROI on each of your staff and don’t forget to look at holiday costs, sick costs, infrastructure costs for the employee, health insurance and employer contributions.

Finding business partners, including freelancers and home businesses, to perform those jobs and task for you if and when you need them, should be part of your business model.

Having to fire staff is never a pleasant experience for all concerned, but having your business go under because you have not tightly controlled your overheads will be much more unpleasant, trust me!

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