I nearly gave it all up!

I don’t need to tell you that running a business is hard, I know you get it!

The long days, trying to do all the things, nights with no sleep, worry that you won’t make the money you need... and the rest!

When I sacked my corporate job to work on my business full time, I had more than enough work to keep me busy but when those projects came to an end, I had a heart-stopping few weeks while I looked for my next clients.

And it kept happening again and again. I’d get so caught up with the work on my business that I forgot about working on my pipeline, I’d skip the networking events and neglect my social media.

I’m a certified introvert.

I love working with my clients but working on building my business wasn’t my strong point.

I found the whole sales and marketing process stressful and if I’m honest, I procrastinated.

So when a corporate client offered me a job (for the third time!) I engaged in the negotiation, I thought about how nice it would be to just have one job!

To focus on delivering the best to clients and having a team to deal with all the rest and provide cover when I took a break!

It was looking very appealing.

But I remembered what I’d be leaving behind.

My freedom, taking my girls to school, meeting hubby for lunch and taking on the projects that appeal to me, to name a few...

I decided it was time to build a team to take on the things I wasn’t so good at and so I hired a virtual assistant to tackle my marketing and systematise my sales process.

It changed my life.

My VA’s email folder is called ‘Lifesaver’.

Without feeling the need to constantly work on the sales and marketing elements of my business, I was able to focus on the stuff I liked, this has lead to me writing a book, being featured in publications and podcasts and still delivering bespoke HR solutions.

Are you ready to build a team that frees you up to take you business to the next level?

Grab our FREE guide to hiring your first or next team member.

Are you ready to thrive ?

Towards the end of last year, I took some time out to rest and plan for 2021 but if I’m honest I found it hard to plan with some much uncertainty, especially with at least another 2 months of homeschooling in my future.

But as I reviewed last year using the Year Compass method, I realised that I’d achieved 90% of my 2020 objectives because I had full clarity on what I wanted to achieve and a vision board above my desk to remind me.

Do you make vision boards or mind-maps?

One of the first things that I have my clients complete is a personal objective plan, you thought it’d be a business plan or people plan, didn’t you? Well, I start with you because I believe that your business should work for you, not the other way around.

Last month I started working with an amazing business owner, who wanted to build a team to support his growing business in preparation for the birth of his second child. Before our meeting, he had completed our personal objective plan template, which detailed his short, medium and long-term goals for Faith, Money, Business, Relationships, Health and Fun. If you want a copy just click here.

Once he’d completed it, it made deciding what help he needed within his team much easier, as he could balance his skills and the time that he had available, with what was needed in his business.

It meant that we were able to structure his team for growth and create new, interesting roles to attract the very best candidates.

Here are five things that you need to do, as you plan for the year ahead:

1. Be clear about what you want, we start our businesses to have freedom as well as financial reward. If you want to work 3 days a week and take the whole of August off write it down

2. Plan your business in alignment with your personal short, medium and long term goals. To get to the place where you can take the whole of August off might take a year or three, what steps can you be taking in-between?

3. Details the resources you’ll need as you progress through your plan; staff, training/skills, office space, equipment etc

4. Plan in milestones and make sure you celebrate achieving every single one!

5. Write in pencil, things will change and deadlines shift but you will get to your ultimate goal

If you need help building or structuring your team for the year ahead, Schedule a FREE Team Strategy Call with us and come away with some actionable tips.

Three things NOT to do when Interviewing

I got an excited call from my career coaching client Lola, she’d got an interview for a role that she really wanted and was so excited! We prepped questions and techniques to stay relaxed and off she went. I then received an emotional call from her after her interview, the first thing she said was “I DO NOT want to work THERE!”. Turned out that the panel threw question after questions at her, didn’t smile or show any positive body language, or even offer a glass of water! Her experience put her off that company for life!

Here are THREE things that you should NEVER as an interviewer: 

One – Don’t make it all about the candidate’s skills 

Remember that interviews are a two-way sales process, don’t just throw out “Why do you want to work for us?” and “Why are you the best person for this role?” questions. Tell the candidate about your company, why it’s a great place to work, who’ll they’ll be working with and most importantly how you see the role developing. 

Two – Don’t be a scary interviewer 

Interviews are stressful enough without adding to the situation. We’ve all been in that sweaty palm, heart racing situation (sometimes as an interviewer!). To get the best out of a candidate, you want them to be at ease. Make them feel comfortable and indulge in a little small talk to develop a rapport. You’ll get more genuine responses and better insight into what they’d be like to work with. 

Three – Give feedback 

Even if a candidate isn’t right for you right now, they may be later on, or be able to recommend someone to you. They’ll only do that if they’ve had a great candidate experience and a big frustration for job hunters is a lack of feedback; after all how can they improve if no one tells them what needs improving!

Spend 5-10 minutes on the phone or writing an email with specific feedback, give 2/3 positives and 2/3 areas for development.

If you are planning to start or build your team get our FREE recruitment cheat sheet, giving you all the do’s and don’ts of interviewing to keep you legislatively compliant, with sample questions for you to ask.

Are you Time Poor ?

I’ve been building my CEO skills, with a course to ensure that I know my business stuff as well as I know my HR stuff; and I’ve found that the biggest challenge that I and my fellow business owners have is time.

Time to create, deliver and do all the things that you need to make sure your business runs smoothly.

Can you relate?

It’s so easy to say I’ll do that when I get the time, but to be honest you don’t find time. You have to make time!

I worked with a Manager that was over-worked, he had the budget to hire some more people into his team, but he didn’t have the time to recruit. I’d find candidates and by the time he’d looked at their applications, and shortlisted, they’d have found other employment. He’d miss telephone interviews for client emergencies. In the end I had to block out time in his calendar and sit with him to shortlist and interview. He was able to get some highly skilled additions to his team and get his life back.

But first he needed to make the time investment!

How do you schedule your time to make sure you have time to be proactive, instead of just reacting? 

I use a weekly planner that I stick above my desk, so that I can schedule in what I’m doing and see my availability and to get my tasks done I use my version of the Pomodoro Technique (instead of 25 minute blocks, I do 90 minute blocks). 

Effectively managing time and resource isn’t exclusively an issue for small businesses owners; when I worked corporately, one of the main reasons we’d get a contractor in was because they could focus 100% on the task they were hired for without all of the distractions and it’s the reason why our clients work with us, we have the experience and knowledge to get the HR work done without added drama.

It’s time to make time for the things you want to do for your business, block out the time and turn off the distractions!

If you need to build or scale your team but are struggling to find the time to even THINK about it? Get our free guide to hiring and outsourcing for Small Business here