Dr Richard Norris author of ‘Hoof it!’ offers advice on marketing your business
In this short clip, Dr Richard Norris explains why SMEs need an offer and how to reach their target market.
Dr Richard Norris has also written a book, Hoof It!, Seven Key Lessons on Your Journey of Success. The book is a charming and imaginative business and life parable centred around Vic, an orphaned wildebeest, who must endure the challenges and dangers of his first migration. The book is written in the parable format to appeal to school children.
Three Mistakes Small Business Owners Unwittingly Make and How to Avoid Them
Gloria Murray from Murray Associates (www.murrayassociates.co.uk) reveals three tips from her book ‘Seven Mistakes Small Business Owners Unwittingly Make and How to Avoid Them’. Podcast recorded in Glasgow on 11 August 2011.
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How Quality Training Can Improve Business Performance
Judith Warren from Ellerton Training (www.ellertontraining.co.uk) gives an overview of how quality training designed around your business can improve your company’s performance and profits. Podcast recorded in Edinburgh on 28 October 2010.
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Rachel Bridge ‘How to Make a Million Before Lunch’
Rachel Bridge is the Enterprise Editor at The Sunday Times where she writes about entrepreneurs and small businesses. As part of her job, she has interviewed dozens of successful entrepreneurs. Many have started a business with a modest outlay and resources. These meetings inspired Rachel to write this book, How to Make a Million Before Lunch, and a solo show at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2010. I first became of aware of this book and the Fringe show in the Scottish newspaper Business 7. I was intrigued by the title and idea behind the book. As a graphic designer the title and cover had already won me over, and I expected the content to be equally engaging.
Of course, making a million before lunch is unrealistic, but it’s a compelling title to encapsulate the notion of earning serious money from a business that’s only a few years old. The book is aimed squarely at individuals who are going into business for the first time, and ultimately aim to generate a multi-million turnover or sell the business at some point in the future. Some might wish to do so at retirement, others might wish to exit within a few years.
If you wish to start a business, then this book provides 20 shortcuts for creating a booming enterprise – along with practical advice and the pitfalls to avoid. These 20 shortcuts were abridged into nine key points for Rachel’s Edinburgh Fringe show in August 2010.
Rachel Bridge’s Fringe show ‘How to Make a Million Before Lunch’
Rachel structured her show using time which was marked with the aid of a child’s toy clock. The day starts at 5am – as there is no time to waste until lunch at 1pm. Each of the nine shortcuts is explained in around five minutes and includes the mention of a successful business to back up her key point. Many are well known consumer brands such as Eat Natural cereal bars and Burts Chips (crisps) and she generously handed out these products at the end of each ‘hour’ on the clock. A nice touch which was appreciated by the audience. Another freebie was chocolate money courtesy of A Quarter Of which I will write about later.
Rachel is an experienced public speaker and the show was well presented and entertaining. One of the shortcuts that sticks in my mind, is her warning not to invent a new product if you are a first-time entrepreneur. None of the Dragons’ Den panel are inventors after all.
Taking new products to market is hugely expensive and time consuming and should only be considered by an established business who have a mountain of cash and resources. Apple launched the iPod, and latterly iPad, after being in the computing industry since the seventies. They have billions at their disposal can easily afford the best talent, engineers, lawyers, R&D, etc.
Even successful companies can get it wrong. Sir Clive Sinclair’s electric vehicle the Sinclair C5 only sold over 12,000 after much expense (£12 million), research and publicity in 1985. Rachel’s demonstration of the driver’s close proximity to the ground and traffic reminded everyone what at laughable concept the Sinclair C5 is.
The book
After attending the show I read the book within a few days. It was easy to read and compelling. I was keen to find out about the other eleven shortcuts that weren’t included in the Fringe show. For me, the main theme of the book, is to think about starting a business with the sole purpose of making a substantial amount of money by avoiding traditional approaches and mind sets.
Think twice about having an office, shop, premises or staff. If you can work from home or sell online then this is recommended, especially when starting out. Opening a shop is a dream for many, but it is really necessary? For example, a new shop has opened up in the city centre where I live. They sell retro sweets that were popular in previous decades (Refreshers, Kola Kubes, flying saucers, etc) and other hard to find confectionery. The shop is amazing and well presented, but the city centre lease, operational costs and staff will be a big financial commitment.
In the book, Rachel explains that a similar retro confectionery business, A Quarter Of started a few years ago, but avoided the high street shop approach and instead sold the sweets online. From a modest outlay of £80 for sweets and a website built by the owner, the business now has an annual turnover of £3million. The owner and his family have since moved to Spain as he realised with today’s technology he didn’t have to be tied to the UK.
For the first-time entrepreneur there are many things that might seem necessary but really aren’t, and some are a complete waste of time. This book suggests what to avoid and contains numerous anecdotes on how other entrepreneurs discovered opportunities and grew them into successful businesses.
While many have been lucky to cash out in a few years, some have taken much longer and made huge sacrifices along the way. Rachel warns that she has interviewed entrepreneurs who have risked financial ruin or lived in a shack for 15 years in order to make their business a success. To be on the safe side, she suggests starting the business in your spare time and then quit the day job if the business can provide you with a livelihood.
Whether you are in business or thinking about starting one, I am sure you will gain valuable insights from this book. It’s business jargon free and well-written. I find myself dipping into chapters again whenever I need inspiration or motivation in running my own business.
Speaking to Market Your Business by Moria M Beaton
Moira M Beaton from Moira M Beaton (www.moirambeaton.com) offers advice on speaking effectively to market your business. Podcast recorded in Edinburgh on 25 March 2010.
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Why go to Networking Events?
Craig McKenna from Growth Academy (www.thegrowthacademy.com) gives his views on business networking and why it’s worthwhile for attendees to sell to one another. Podcast recorded in Edinburgh on 2 February 2010.
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Yield Big Profits from Small Changes
Derek Mair from Action Coach (www.actioncoach.com/derekmair) explains how small strategic changes to your business can make a big difference to profits. Podcast recorded in Glasgow on 2 February 2010.
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‘The E Myth Revisited’ by Michael E. Geber
The E Myth Revisited. Why most small businesses don’t work and what to do about it. A book by Michael E Geber
Many people become self-employed for a variety of reasons or circumstances. However, if you aim to grow your company and focus on the wrong things in the business, it will eventually end in disaster. It might take five or ten years for this to happen but the day will come.
In becoming a one-man business they haven’t really created a business, they have merely created a job. The E-Myth means the entrepreneurial myth. The myth being that most people who start small businesses are entrepreneurs. The fatal assumption that an individual who understands the technical work of a business can successfully run a business that does that technical work.
The problem with many small business owners is that they end up doing the wrong kind of work. As a result, most of their businesses end up in chaos – unmanageable, unpredictable and unrewarding.
This book helps the self-employed or small businesses with how to plan and build a better business. A business that earns more money, and more importantly, a business that does not need the owner to be there all the time. Anyone would agree that your business should be just a part of your life and not consume all of it. Although, it is very easy for it to become the latter. This book shows how to avoid the pitfalls and what to focus on.
The author uses the dramatic device of using an interview with Sarah who is struggling to run her business, All about pies. Sarah has taken on all of the responsibilities in the business including the technical work – making the pies. Sarah soon realises from talking to the author that she must look at her business differently in order for her to achieve everything we wants for the business and her life. Once the author has explained that she must focus on systems and the components of the business rather than the technical work of the service. Sarah therefore, must stop making the pies and hire someone to bake them to her exact specifications, freeing her to manage the business.
However, it is not as simple as that. Sarah needs to make sure everything about the business works well and meets the customers’ expectations time after time. She needs to introduce a culture and systems that keep her staff motivated and all the components of the business working together for a common goal. She needs to plan for growth and manage any expansion effectively. The E-Myth gives an insight in what Sarah must consider if she wishes to do all this, and there is plenty to think about. It is an on going process that requires a lot of innovation and trial and error.
A business must start somewhere and in order to get established the owner will probably work long hours doing everything to get the business off the ground. However, you can’t live like that forever. This book provides advice and insights into how to leverage that kind of fledgling business into a mature one.
The thing is, managing a growing business is not easy and can be traumatic. This is because the owner is often not equipped with the knowledge on how to manage their business through the various challenges. Fear, ignorance and a lack of certain skills can stop the owner from talking the business to next level.
A growing business will usually take the owner out their comfort zone, and if they don’t like this, they will simply revert back to the stage in business they felt more comfortable. For example, downsize from 20 to 5 staff, or a size where the owner feels they have control over everything.
If really want to expand a business you need take on an entrepreneurial perspective and focus on the right areas. This book points out the subjects to address with a significant portion of the book devoted to franchising and creating a turn-key operation.
A turn-key operation is a business where anyone with the right training can take the keys to a business and run it successfully from day one. Operations like this have training manuals that have considered every detail of the business and perfected systems in place. These are then shared with a buyer or franchisee.
The favourite case study of business books, McDonalds, is used to demonstrate how to create a successful turn-key operation. While you may not respect the food they serve, you should respect it as a business, as everything is done to exacting standards and repeated the world over in 30,000 restaurants.
Even if you don’t wish to franchise your business you should manage and structure it as though it were the prototype for 5,000 more like it and make it a business that someone might want to buy. To achieve this the owner must introduce a interdependent program which consists of:
- Your Primary Aim (overall life goals – what do you want out of life)
- You Strategic Objective (define the goals for the business)
- Your Organisational Strategy (create an organisational chart and define the roles for each person in the business, even if its just a few people)
- Your Management Strategy (manage your business to achieve the best experience for your customers)
- Your People Strategy (create the right culture for your staff)
- Your Marketing Strategy (delivering a promise your customer wants to hear and doing it better than your competitors)
- Your Systems Strategy (how to integrate the things, actions, ideas and information to produce a desirable result).
Many of the systems and ideas that you need to introduce into your business needn’t cost a fortune.
You can introduce staff handbooks to explain exactly how their jobs should be carried out and offer incentive schemes to motivate your employees. McDonalds for example, cook all their products to the exact same standards in all it restaurants to ensure the customer’s experience is always the same.
If you own a shop you could change how your staff greet your customers. For example we all usually hear “Good morning sir/madam, how can I help you?” The reply will often be, “I am just looking thanks!” Alternatively, the assistant could ask if they have ever shopped at the store before. If the customer says “yes” the assistant could reply, “May I show you this weeks special offers?” or if the customer says “no” a response could be, “May I show you around our store and help you find what you are looking for?” This approach would create more interaction between the customer and the business and consequently opportunities for sales.
Details like this, no matter how small can make a big difference in a business, and these are the responsibility of the owner. In the early days of McDonalds Ray Kroc would fuss over how long the fries stayed in the fryer, or how the pickles were placed on the burger – McDonalds still do this and nothing is left to chance. Everything is tried and test before becoming the standard at every restaurant on the planet.
How customers feel about your business is also crucial. Sometimes the experience of buying the product is more important than the product or service itself. We all know that the experience of staying in modest B&B is vastly different from a 5 star hotel – both are just beds for the night. Nonetheless, many people prefer the 5 start treatment because they want the experience. Again, the experience of the business is the responsibility of the owner and he or she will need to spend a lot time perfecting their customers’ experience.
I would recommend that novice business owners read this book. We I first read it, especially chapters such as ‘The Technician’s Phase’ it related exactly to my experience of being self-employed. On reading the book several times it has given me the basic tools for taking my business to the next level. I owe debt of gratitude to the business coach for recommending I read this book in the first place.
How to Network Effectively
Richard Thomson from TW Associates (www.twassociates.co.uk) offers advice on how to network effectively at events. Topics include the importance of good hand shakes, building rapport and meeting up after an event. Podcast recorded in Edinburgh on 19 May 09.
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