Author: RC-CMS

The last day of February this year is Shrove Tuesday, popularly known as Pancake Day. It’s a movable feast, sometimes in February and sometimes in March depending on the date of Easter, and traditionally marks the last day of indulgence before the fasting of Lent begins. 

In Britain, we rather quaintly mark Shrove Tuesday by eating pancakes, a tradition arising from using up ingredients forbidden during Lent. Elsewhere, the French Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) and the Italian Carnivale (Farewell to Meat) tend to be celebrated more boisterously, but the principle’s the same — one last fling before the lean times start.

Lean Times 

Set periods of fasting, such as Lent or Ramadan, are easy to plan for, but lean times in business are harder. And make no mistake, they will happen, even to the most successful company. Ultimately, we have no choice but to depend on other people for our income. We can be proactive in winning business and ensuring we get paid, of course, but it’s always someone else, private customer or company, who has to say yes. 

Our business may be subject to seasonal fluctuations. Obviously, if we concentrate on something like Christmas gifts, this is only to be expected, but many businesses have traditional low periods during the year, often due to customers’ fluctuating cashflow. 

We can also be subject to wider and longer-term issues. Any company connected to the construction industry, for example, will be affected by the housing market, which in turn will be affected by mortgage interest rates and ultimately by the overall state of the economy. 

Planning for Lean Times 

With the exception of choosing a naturally seasonal market, none of these are factors we can control. It’s obviously vital not to blow our entire boom-time budget, but to keep some of it back for when leaner times come. 

Just as important is a marketing strategy that allows for lean times as well as good times. When business is rolling in, it’s very tempting to feel we don’t have time for marketing activities, whether networking, Google Ads or chasing leads, but this is looking at marketing the wrong way. 

Whether times are good or bad, we’re marketing not for now but for the future. Of course, we may get lucky — a lead we chase could offer a contract on the spot, or we may run into someone at a networking event just when they need our service. Generally speaking, though, the fruits of marketing belong to the future — perhaps to the lean times. And that’s just when we need them. Enjoy your pancakes!

 

2016 is almost at an end, and what a year it’s been! Every year has plenty happening, but not usually such extremes. We’re finishing the year with plenty of uncertainty, but we’re business-people — it’s up to us to turn uncertainties into opportunities.

Events of 2016

The world hasn’t been a safe place for some time, but conflict across the Middle East and the migrant crisis have got worse during 2016, while the increase of international terrorism has polarised opinion. Several countries have experienced political upsets, none greater than Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be as extreme in office as he was campaigning.

And we had our own political bombshell in June, where predictions were overturned and we voted to leave the EU. No-one knows how it’s going to play out — whether we’ll have a “hard” or “soft” Brexit, and even who’s going to start the process. It’s likely to remain up in the air for some time — though one result of the referendum is that we now have our second female prime minister.

The list of people we’ve lost seems longer than most years — among many others, iconic musicians such as David Bowie, Prince and Leonard Cohen, great actors like Alan Rickman and Gene Wilder, “national treasures” Sir Terry Wogan and Victoria Wood, and “The Greatest”, Muhammad Ali. We’ve no doubt also gained people who’ll be special in the future, but we’ll only know that in retrospect.

It hasn’t all been gloom, though. In August, the UK had its best Olympics medal tally for a century (including two more golds for Hertfordshire’s Laura Trott), while Andy Murray enjoyed a triumphant year, including a second Wimbledon title, ending as world number one.

2016 and Business

Despite all the uncertainties, there are clear signs the economy’s improving, especially for SMEs that are willing to be imaginative and seize the initiative. I’m in a position to see a microcosm of the national situation in the local (and sometimes less local) businesses I help to find leads.

Though, like all years, 2016 has seen fluctuations, with some very bad weeks, overall I’ve seen some great companies reaching out and grasping new opportunities. The business is there, if you work hard for it.

2017 and Beyond

The uncertainties aren’t going to go away anytime soon, but nor are the opportunities. I wish all of you exciting growth in the New Year — and I hope I’ll be able to play a part in helping some of you achieve it.

Now that the children are back at school, women all over the country will be juggling work commitments with the school run. An increasing number of fathers are starting to share responsibility, but childcare is still predominantly seen as the mother’s job.

Assuming that none of us are really ‘Supermum’ in disguise, how do we cope with the double role?  Half of our workforce at The Resource Centre are working mothers and we combine work and family life with a sensible, straight forward approach.

The Emergence of the Working Mother

It used to be straightforward — not fair, but straightforward. The husband went out to work and the wife looked after the children. In any case, if any further childcare was needed, there were usually grandparents close by.

There are very good reasons why that’s no longer the case. Quite apart from the recognition by most women that they have as much right as men to a career, it’s become increasingly difficult to manage on one salary. In any case, many mothers don’t have the choice. A report last year suggested that a third of working mothers are the family’s main breadwinner.

Professional childcare can help, and is pretty much essential these days, whether it’s from nurseries or after-school carers. It can be expensive, though. So how can a mother cope with work as well as her children?

How to Make a Go of Being a Working Mother

It isn’t easy to combine the two roles, but there’s no reason why, with a bit of flexibility and creativity, you shouldn’t get it right. And the good news is that you’re not going to be psychologically damaging your children. A study reported in the Telegraph two years ago found teenagers whose mothers worked displayed no more anti-social behaviours (such as smoking) than those whose mothers stayed at home.

One crucial thing is to make the most of the time you do share with your children, whether that’s evenings, weekends or holidays. That’s the time to enjoy family life, not to catch up on work, whatever the pressure. Your children may have been away from you all day, but it’s important they know that’s their time with you.

Working practices today are changing (slowly, but they’re changing) to be more flexible, more accepting of the need for a work-life balance. Above all, if you find the means to work for yourself, many of the jobs done online or on the end of a phone can be fitted around the needs of your role as a mother.

Your children are crucial to your life, but your career can be important too. With good planning and commitment, there’s no reason why you can’t give your attention to both.

Since June, we’ve plunged into almost unprecedented change. The vote to leave the EU has moved the goalposts we’ve been playing with for the past forty years, but even so no-one seems to know where they’ve been moved to. What will our relationship be with Europe and the rest of the world? Or will “Brexit” be prevented by some means?

On top of that, we have a new prime minister and a largely new cabinet, and may or may not soon have a new opposition leader. The new prime minister is the second-ever female holder of the office, which has to be encouraging whether or not you support her policies. Meanwhile, the economy seems to have gone into freefall, and it’s hard to tell how temporary this might be.

Scary times!

Change is Everywhere

Any kind of change can be frightening, whether it’s personal (new home, new job, new relationship) or public. It’s not for nothing that the Chinese saying “May you live in interesting times” is actually a curse.

But we couldn’t exist without change — literally. After all, change is the reason why we’re not still single-celled organisms floating in the sea. And the need to evolve and improve ourselves isn’t just a necessity, it’s also a wonderful opportunity.

The Positives in Change

Have you ever worked in an organisation where the philosophy was “We’ve always done it this way, so why change?” The problem is “that way” may work well under certain circumstances, but circumstances don’t remain constant.

Nor do opportunities. Handwritten ledger books, for instance, worked excellently for a long time, but the introduction of accounting software, from Excel upwards, quickly turned them into a slow, time-wasting chore.

Change for change’s sake is just as bad, of course, but keeping the tried and trusted method without examining alternatives is a missed opportunity. And, according to evolutionary theory, missing opportunities can be fatal.

Change in Business

Whatever long-term effects the current changes produce, businesses need to adapt to them, and SMEs will do so in a different way from the major multinationals. That concerns us in two ways, as not only is our business an SME, but so are a lot of our clients.

We’re likely to be presented with both problems and opportunities, and while it would clearly be unwise to ignore the problems, the challenge is to look for the opportunities within them.

What will they be? If I knew that, I’d be advising the government, but I’ll be doing my best to see opportunities, not problems, in every change that comes.

 

 

England’s national day is a strange one, celebrating a saint who, if he existed at all, had nothing to do with this country. The stories say he was a Roman soldier from what’s now Turkey who was put to death for being a Christian, and his selection as England’s patron saint was for complex reasons.

The one thing everyone knows about St George is that he slew a dragon. The legend, which has also been told about numerous others, tells that a princess was offered to placate a fearsome dragon, but St George arrived in the nick of time, fought and killed the dragon, and rescued the princess.

The Dragons of Business

Any business, especially an SME, faces numerous dragons in its attempts to make its mark in a highly competitive field. Cashflow and human resources can be tricky, dangerous dragons, but the really big, fearsome one is finding customers in a highly competitive field.

It’s all very well for large corporations, who have entire departments for each part of the business, one of which does nothing but tackle this conundrum. If you only have a handful of employers, or even just yourself, it isn’t so easy.

Where To Find Customers

It really depends on what your business is, and who you’re aiming to sell to. If you’re in retail, that could means you have a shop on a reasonably busy street. You still need to persuade people to walk through your door, though, rather than the door of another shop. In any case, you may not have a shop — a good deal of retail is done online.

If you’re offering a service, particularly a business-to-business service — printing or web design, for instance — it’s even harder. Your potential clients have to know you’re there before you can start trying to convince them you can offer a better service than your rivals. And, if you don’t find a way of making them see, it’s just like a great big dragon blocking the way.  Here at the Resource Centre we are continually promoting our clients, letting others know exactly what they can offer.

Get Rid of Those Dragons

If you’re a one-man-band, or even have a couple of employees, the chances are you’re very good at what you do, and that’s what you want to concentrate on. You need someone else to find you potential customers — and it just so happens that’s what we do.

We don’t claim to be knights in armour, let alone  saints, but maybe we can slay one or two of the dragons threatening your business.

 

Valentine’s Day is looming, and some business sectors don’t need to ask what it has to do with them. If you’re connected with greetings cards, chocolates, flowers, hospitality or catering, you’ve already geared up for one of the busiest times of your year.

But what about the rest of us? Perhaps the whole idea of romance isn’t quite so out of place in the business world as it might seem at first sight.

Finding the One

We’re all looking for new clients, whether they’re members of the public to buy our products or other businesses that need our services. But clients don’t just fall into our laps, any more than relationships do.

There are lots of ways to find a romantic partner, usually requiring some degree of effort — socialising in the kind of places your ideal partner might frequent, going to a speed-dating club, even placing a personal ad.

In the same way, we have to go out and find clients. The value of advertising our services varies a lot depending on the type of business, but there’s also networking. Depending on the meeting, business networking can feel either like socialising or speed-dating.

Or then there’s the recommendation — a friend setting you up with a date, a colleague giving you a lead. But that will only happen if you’ve already cultivated the original relationship.

Courting

Finding the One is only half the battle. You also need to get them interested in you. Would you start either a personal or a business relationship with someone you’ve just met and don’t really know? You have to court them.

The idea of courtship in romance seems a little old-fashioned nowadays, but that’s only the formal, ritualised type of courtship. You don’t want the One to forget about you, so you keep in touch, suggest doing things together, give them presents.

You may not give a prospective client physical presents, but you can offer advice and help, and you should certainly keep in touch. Not like a stalker, but take every opportunity to remind them you’re there. And eventually you may get what you’re hoping for — a contract.

Old Married Couples

These days, Valentine’s Day is as much about celebrating existing relationships as forging new ones, and it’s important not to take such things for granted. Business relationships are polygamous, of course, but don’t focus so much on finding new ones that you ignore those already forged. Remember to value and celebrate those, as well.