Tag Archives: business

Here’s a very welcome addition to my chat updates from my friend Annabelle Beckwith of Yara Consulting. Anna’s first interview was published at the end of April 2012, and she said this about her plans for the next year: “A lot can happen in a year! I plan to keep growing, and to turn some of my training programmes into online products to generate another income stream”. So, has she kept growing, has a lot happened, and does she have a new income stream? Read on to find out …

Are you where you thought you’d be when you looked forward a year ago?

Yes and no – I thought I’d be doing more online than I actually am. My short e-book, ‘A Quick Guide to Indian Culture‘ is available on Kindle, though, and selling well, and I still have plans to market products online.

What has changed and what has stayed the same?

My approach has stayed the same: the biggest difference is the extent to which I’m collaborating with others – with Susan Grandfield at SG Development Solutions on a major project , and with training colleagues, Ian Thomson and Charlotte Cameron, with whom I’ve formed a consortium ‘Never Mind the Buzzwords’. We’ve already won our first pitch to deliver a programme for Senior Managers at a Leeds-based charity.

We all have different sets of skills, so it makes sense to combine them in approaching larger clients.

What have you learned? What do you wish you’d known a year ago?

I’ve learned to leverage the skills of others more, and to focus on what I do well. My forte is in developing creative and experiential (and sometimes off the wall) approaches to learning and development, and I have a strong network of people with complementary skills whom I can draw upon.

In some respects I wish I’d started these more formal collaborations last year…on the other hand, the time seems right at the moment.

Any more hints and tips for people?

Don’t look back with regret. Look back and learn … and keep moving forward. And , as Churchill put it “never, never, never give up”.

And … where do you see yourself and your business in a(nother) year’s time.

Working collaboratively with others for larger clients … and maybe I’ll get some of those online products going!

So, not so much of the online products, but lots of exciting-sounding collaboration. This has been a bit of a theme in this series recently, and I can also bear witness to the fact that as your business grows and matures, it’s most useful to treat your colleagues as just that, colleagues, rather than rivals. Even if you don’t make formal collaborative arrangements, there will still be times when you know that someone else’s skills will work for your prospective – or current – client better than yours do, or simply be swamped with work and need reliable people to recommend prospects on to.

We look forward to hearing more exciting news next year!

The Yara Consulting website can be found at www.yaraconsulting.com  and she has a blog, too. Anna can be contacted via email or her contact page online.

If you’ve enjoyed this interview, please see more small business chat, the index to all the interviewees, and information on how you can have your business featured. If you’re considering setting up a new business or have recently done so, why not take a look at my new book, Going It Alone At 40: How I Survived my First Year of Full-Time Self-Employment.

Welcome to a brand new Saturday Small Business Chat with Diane Grogan from Kanine Kampus & Pet Au Purrs. We’ve already encountered Diane in this series, as she was mentioned in Gill Linnell’s update interview a few weeks ago. I do think it’s great when similar businesses work as colleagues rather than rivals – it’s the way I operate with a number of editing colleagues, as there are always peaks and troughs in any type of business, and it’s good to have trusted people you can recommend enquirers on to, or who can fill in types of work that you don’t provide yourself. When Diane contacted me with her answers, I thought it would be an interesting comparison, too.

In a common theme that runs through these interviews, this successful business (it’s been running for nine years) was started because the business owner had experience in the area she wanted to go into. I’m becoming more and more sure that this is key, but maybe one of you will prove me wrong …

Let’s meet Diane and find out more about her business and the lessons she’s learned.

What’s your business called? When did you set it up?

Kanine Kampus & Pet Au Purrs, I set up Pet au Purrs in April 2004 and it was mainly pet sitting, dog walking and small pet home boarding (rabbits and guinea pigs, etc.).

What made you decide to set up your own business?

I had the chance of being made redundant from the vets where I worked, and I had experience in dog grooming, running a kennels and also running the feline holiday apartments connected to the vets.

What made you decide to go into this particular business area?

I have always worked with animals in various areas, and decided I wanted to stay working with animals.

Had you run your own business before?

Never.

How did you do it? Did you launch full-time, start off with a part-time or full-time job to keep you going … ?

I just set up full time in what I was doing, I was lucky to have the backup of my husband having a good job at the time.

What do you wish someone had told you before you started?

Don’t panic, don’t stress!

What would you go back and tell your newly entrepreneurial self?

Follow your dream.

What do you wish you’d done differently?

Set up the daycare part of the business sooner.

What are you glad you did?

I’m definitely glad that I went down this route.

What’s your top business tip?

Be sensible, but if it’s your dream, follow it through.

How has it gone since you started? Have you grown, diversified or stayed the same?

It’s grown: now we have the daycare it’s opened up a whole new side of the business, and more opportunities, such as Dog Grooming. We have teamed up with Gillian Linnell, helping her to expand what she offers, and also with Rachel Bean, RVN Canine Behaviourist, to provide first aid and puppy workshops. We also offer dog training and have a small shop area.

Where do you see yourself and your business in a year’s time?

I hope that the business keeps growing and we could maybe have another branch of Kanine Kampus in another area.

That’s very good advice, isn’t it: don’t panic, don’t stress, be sensible and follow your dream. As I said earlier, partnering with colleagues in the same business area is often a sensible path to follow that can help you both to expand what you offer and provide a wide-ranging service, and is something that I think everyone should look into. At very least, it can provide that all-important holiday and sickness cover, as I’ve found out over the years. Best of luck to Diane with her plans for expansion and possibly more collaboration, and we’ll look forward to finding out how things are going in a year’s time!

You can visit the Kanine Kampus and Pet Au Purrs, based in Oldham, at www.pet-au-purrs.com, phone Diane or Paddy on 07942 892 728 or visit their Facebook page.

If you’ve enjoyed this interview, please see more small business chat, the index to all the interviewees, and information on how you can have your business featured. If you’re considering setting up a new business or have recently done so, why not take a look at my new book, Going It Alone At 40: How I Survived my First Year of Full-Time Self-Employment.

Welcome to another interesting Small Business Chat update, this time with Harry Bingham from The Writers’ Workshop. Harry’s original interview was published in April last, year, and when  asked where he wanted to be in a year’s time, Harry replied, “Overall, it feels like we have a good, coherent package of services. I think we’ll focus now on expanding our reach and less on adding new services. The real trick will be to go on developing our web presence: something that just takes huge amounts of patience and work.” So – did this happen? Let’s find out …

Are you where you thought you’d be when you looked forward a year ago?

Hmm, well you me reminded that I’d said, “I think we’ll focus now on expanding our reach and less on adding new services”. Shows how much I know, huh? It’s true we have put some time and effort into boosting our web presence … but we also decided it would be fun to revolutionise the way that writers searched for literary agents in the UK. So we built Agent Hunter, a site that holds details on every literary agent in Britain, and provides data that is richer and more searchable than anything which has gone before. We’ve only just launched it and still have a LOT of work to do, but early indications are wonderfully promising.

What has changed and what has stayed the same?

The biggest change is the launch of Agent Hunter. What stays the same is the need to keep on looking at how we attract clients. Viewing ourselves through their eyes – and doing all we can to deliver amazing editing services to make sure that every manuscript leaves our hands better than it arrived. And our clients, of course, always want to be hooked up with literary agents, so we’ve done more and more to deepen our connections with that community.

What have you learned? What do you wish you’d known a year ago?

The big thing would be that when it comes to these big database projects (like Agent Hunter) you can’t do too much thinking and specification in advance. I can easily see why major government IT projects go over budget. We did OK, but we were learning fast on the job.

Any more hints and tips for people?

Yes! Have fun. Be open to the new. This time a year ago, we were fully open to working hard on our editorial services and writing courses … and leaving it at that. But (when walking back from the pub one day) it occurred to us that we could create something like Agent Hunter and we just thought, why not? A few phone calls later and we were committed.

And … where do you see yourself and your business in a(nother) year’s time?

The centre of our business will always be our manuscript editing services. That’s not just the biggest revenue earner for us, it’s also the company’s spiritual core. But if we see great things we can add on to what we already do, I think we’ll go for it. At the moment, I don’t see anything like that on the horizon, but we’ll never say no to a good idea.

So, a bit of a surprise new addition to the business there, that certainly wasn’t in the air a year ago – but it all sounds very exciting and we wish the new Agent Hunter initiative lots of success in the coming year. I wonder what Harry will have come up with by this time next year … be sure to watch this space!

The Writers’ Workshop can be found online at www.writersworkshop.co.uk

If you’ve enjoyed this interview, please see more small business chat, the index to all the interviewees, and information on how you can have your business featured.

Welcome to another Small Business update, this time with Gillian Linnell of the recently slightly renamed GGL Pet Services. Gillian’s original interview was published in February last year and what did she want to be doing by now?  She said, “I would like to be selling the supplies to local people and pet sitting clients and to have a brand and reputation which is very well known and recognised in the local community. Eventually I would like to employ staff and have a  warehouse full of pickers and packers. This is just one ambition – I have a handful of different directions which the company can take“.

Which direction did Gillian take? Read on to find out …

Are you where you thought you’d be when you looked forward a year ago?

I am in a different place than I was when first interviewed, I still offer pet supplies but a more niche market now: my suppier is Puchi Petwear, and they specialise in designer pet wear for dogs and cats, as seen on TV and used by celebrities. I dont tend to push this side of the business so much these days, as the Pet Service side has become the main title, hence the company name change from GGL Pet Supplies to GGL Pet Services.

What has changed and what has stayed the same?

Not a great deal has stayed the same, it’s all changed! I’m now Licensed by OMBC for home boarding dogs, I have a vast client database and dog walking takes up a lot of my day.  I have teamed up with another company, Kanine Kampus Doggie Daycare (read their Small Business Chat here), and we work together every day: it has given me a fantastic USP and a premium package to offer my customers.

I also employ help on a casual basis to help me out with the dog walking,

What have you learned? What do you wish you’d known a year ago?

Keep calm,:-)

Any more hints and tips for people?

You have to have a passion, a love and a will to succeed: if you have no self belief you will find it difficult to succeed.  My advice would be: Positive thinking every day. Enjoy your work – if it’s not like playing a fun game every day where you wake up all excited and raring to go, then you could possibly be in the wrong job. Get the right job, it’s never too late to change.

And … where do you see yourself and your business in a(nother) year’s time?

Wherever it takes me, I enjoy my work and my life, and wherever I go, I know I will be happy and that I will always make the right choices. I have another project which I am currently working on to do with advertising/marketing Pet Businesses, so we will have to wait and see what happens in the future.

Well, there’s a positive note to end on, and some good cheerleading for anyone considering changing their job to have a happier lifestyle! I look forward to hearing what happens over the next year!

Visit GGL Pet Services online at www.gglpetsupplies.com.

If you’ve enjoyed this interview, please see more small business chat, the index to all the interviewees, and information on how you can have your business featured.

Welcome to a brand new Small Business Chat with Samantha Higgs who runs a photography business, Samantha Higgs Photography. Now, here’s an exciting first for this series: Sam is a cousin of brother and sister Tone Hitchcock and Annabelle Beckwith, featured last year and about to have their own update interviews published – so the Small Business Chatters really are one big, happy family!

Sam’s another person who has organised her business around her family, and it’s always worth stressing what a good way to combine family and work this is – as long as you’re well organised and fairly strict about making room for family time. But it’s a combo we’ve seen working well time after time, as we meet more and more business owners. So let’s meet Samantha and find out how she got started a few years ago.

What’s your business called? When did you set it up?

Samantha Higgs Photography, set up in April 2010.

What made you decide to set up your own business?

I worked as an assistant photographer for many years and always planned to run my own photography business eventually. As a full-time mum, it has been easier to run my own business than to go out and work to someone else’s hours.

What made you decide to go into this particular business area?

Once the children came along, I wanted to be able to spend the weekends at home with them and be able to run a business that fitted in nicely with being a mum. I’d always liked the idea of selling my own prints so it seemed the ideal time to do this.

Had you run your own business before?

No, but my husband has run his own successful copywriting business for many years, so I’d picked up some tips and have had him on hand to help out. That’s only fair though, as I did all the photography for his website!

How did you do it? Did you launch full-time, start off with a part-time or full-time job to keep you going … ?

As the business has to fit around the kids and school I work mostly during school hours. As the children grow older I’ll have more flexibility.

What do you wish someone had told you before you started?

I’d been a photographer for many years, so I had the photographic skills, but I hadn’t appreciated how much time and effort all the other aspects of running a business – admin, marketing and so on – would take up.

What would you go back and tell your newly entrepreneurial self?

Invest in a comfy chair! If only I’d known that I’d spend as much time sitting in it typing as I would out taking pictures!

What do you wish you’d done differently?

I wish I’d got my website sorted sooner, rather than using photo sites as my main web presences. I’m excited about that as I’ve just launched it and I think it looks pretty good.

What are you glad you did?

I’m glad I spent time and effort on internet marketing, constantly updating my Facebook page rather than just making it and not using it: it has resulted in many sales.

What’s your top business tip?

Don’t ignore the power of social media and the internet.

How has it gone since you started? Have you grown, diversified or stayed the same?

Slow and steady. The main thing is getting my images in front of the right people, and I’ve had to experiment a lot to find the best ways of doing that. It’s a learning experience!

Where do you see yourself and your business in a year’s time?

I’d like to be selling more via the internet – especially through my new website – and craft fairs, and also perhaps have an exhibition or two of my work.

I like the give and take in this family with its mutual business support. I’ve definitely benefitted from my other half having run his own business before, as it’s a lot easier to explain those “must work all Saturday while you do the hoovering” times! I find the point about Facebook interesting – it doesn’t do that much for me, I have to say, in terms of orders, but I find that many crafty and arty people do get sales through their Facebook pages.

This coming year looks exciting, and I’m sure Samantha’s update interview will be full of good news!

Visit the Samantha Higgs Photography website at www.samanthahiggs.co.uk or email Samantha to find out more.

If you’ve enjoyed this interview, please see more small business chat, the index to all the interviewees, and information on how you can have your business featured.

Welcome to Libro Small Business Chat – today we’re featuring an update from Chrissie Metcalfe from Chrissie Metcalfe Recruitment Ltd. Chrissie’s original interview was published in February last, year, and when she were asked where she wanted to be in a year’s time, she replied, “I will have two members of staff and a bigger office. I won’t be as tired, ha ha!!” So – is she less tired, and how’s she doing? Let’s find out …

What has changed and what has stayed the same?

I have changed, I have a stronger business mind now. I am well known for giving quality recruitment services and have won one award and have been a finalist for two other awards. I have a member of staff and my own private office in a very nice business centre.  I have also stayed the same as a person and still appreciate how hard it can be running a business on your own.  My ethical values have stayed the same too.

What have you learned? What do you wish you’d known a year ago?

I have learned that there are a lot of people out there that are out for themselves and will try to push their business onto you to get you to spend silly money with them. I wish I hadn’t been taken by other businesses promising you big cash returns if you join their club or business, and taken these people on face value. Research, research, research and ask question after question before you make a decision on anything.

Any more hints and tips for people?

Yes, if you believe you can be successful and believe in a decision, then run with it. Good friends and others who are in business will support you. Remember a mistake is only a mistake after the event. Talk to other business people who you network with, tell them if there is a problem, as they may have come across the same problem before.

And … where do you see yourself and your business in a(nother) year’s time?

In a year, I will have two more members of staff, making in total a senior recruiter, a general recruiter and a marketing and admin person, allowing me to network more. It’s all very exciting!

That all sounds very positive, doesn’t it – sensibly building staff levels, getting a good reputation, and learning from her mistakes (what a shame that quite a few people seem to have learned that particular lesson about researching people and their claims to be able to help – it certainly shows us how careful we need to be.

Chrissie’s based in Pontefract and you can find her online at www.chrissiemetcalferecruitment.com. You can email her of course, or phone her on  01977 781595/ 07805 901 562.

If you’ve enjoyed this interview, please see more small business chat, the index to all the interviewees, and information on how you can have your business featured.

Welcome to a new Small Business Chat with James Burton of JBB Sound. James was a client of mine when he worked for another company, and he asked me to look over his web text for him when he started the sound engineering business up as a full-time effort. I’m always encouraging people to make this move, so I’ve helped there and tried to what is rather revoltingly called “leverage” my contacts to help him. In other words, I mentioned him and some other people in the music industry in the same Facebook posts and whatever. It’s surprising what this kind of odd comment and link can do for someone’s career, so it’s always worth putting people in touch – but not forcing the issue – if you think they’ve got something in common or can help one another.

James has been lucky enough to be able to develop a career in an area that started off as a hobby and which he loves doing. He’s got some interesting things to say about sourcing funds and about applying knowledge (or not) from his day job.

Let’s say hello to James and see how he’s getting on so far …

What’s your business called? When did you set it up?

It’s called JBB Sound and I set it up in June/July 2012.

What made you decide to set up your own business?

Well, to be honest I had been an enthusiastic graduate amateur/semi-pro sound engineer, mostly doing favours and bits and bobs here and there for friends and family ever since I was young. Then I realised that my skills had grown to a point where the work I was producing was of real commercial value, so I tentatively started charging for it. People were surprisingly welcoming of my charging for the services to be honest, as it’s a unique set of skills you hone as a mix engineer. Sound engineering has always been an area of interest for me, and I achieved my first degree in the field, so it made sense to do something I loved as a job if people were happy to pay me to do it.

What made you decide to go into this particular business area?

Interest, knowledge of it and experience in the field, really.

Had you run your own business before?

No, not really. I did a bit of guitar teaching to ease my way through my second degree, but that was it really.

How did you do it? Did you launch full-time, start off with a part-time or full-time job to keep yourself going …?

I started off part time, coinciding with my other job as a marketer for a point of sale company, but then got made redundant from the marketing job and decided to go all out and do what I loved.

What do you wish someone had told you before you started?

Not to bother with approaching banks and go for crowd funding right from the offset. The banks I’ve approached did not want to lend at all to me, which made equipment and investment in premises very difficult to fund initially. I don’t honestly know if that’s the experience of every new start-up, but it was certainly my experience.

What would you go back and tell your newly entrepreneurial self?

To target my market better and more effectively, bizarre coming from someone who previously worked as a marketer, but it’s amazing how easy it is to forget everything you know when you have everything else to think about when running a business. It would’ve given me the push to be able to take it full time much earlier, rather than waiting for redundancy to push me into it.

What do you wish you’d done differently?

I wish I’d started earlier, to be honest, so as the above answer.

What are you glad you did?

Went for it and got involved with some very good clients who have regular work and enable me to provide them with the best mixes and audio possible.

What’s your top business tip?

My favourite business motivational type quote thingy is “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t … you are right”. Maintain a positive frame of mind all the time and prioritise the work that is most profitable.

How has it gone since you started? Have you grown, diversified or stayed the same?

It’s definitely diversified. I’m getting people approaching me for Audio Books and memoir dictation, film work, audio edits, corporate video sound tracks and sound bites along with a growing number of producers and musicians who seek my bread and butter recording and mixing work. Education is of growing interest too, in that lots of people want to know the ins and out of how to record, mix and master music. That’s all something I can help with. Actually, all of this has come within a very short space of time, too.

Where do you see yourself and your business in a year’s time?

Hopefully with a new premises from which I can operate the recording side of the service, as currently that’s all outsourced to various local studios I work with.

With a bit of publicity and some crowd-sourced funding, I’m sure James will get there – he’s got a very good reputation in his field already, and is both knowledgeable and creative, two things you need in this kind of work. We look forward to finding out how he’s doing this time next year!

You can find the JBB Sound website at http://jbbsound.co.uk and he’s on Facebook, too. You can email James or call him on 07508 005 575.

If you’ve enjoyed this interview, please see more small business chat, the index to all the interviewees, and information on how you can have your business featured.

Welcome to a new update, and I’m very pleased to feature book designer, Stephen Tiano. His interview last year garnered a lot of interest, and I’m always happy to pass clients on to him who require his speciality – I was just saying to someone the other day how good it is to have a group of colleagues who I can recommend to clients when I can’t fit them in or provide all of the services they require. That’s the real beauty of staying connected (worldwide) and building networks of people you can trust to do a good job for your clients and enquirers.

Anyway, here’s Stephen with an update on how he’s doing. This time last year, his hope for the coming year was to be, “Hopefully, much busier as the economy continues to recover and move forward. My aim is to retire from the civil service job at some point, collect that pension, and focus on my book design practice full-time”. Let’s see how that’s all going and what’s on the cards for 2013 …

Are you where you thought you’d be when you looked forward a year ago?

Well, I was thinking optimistically last year when I answered your questions. 2011 had been my busiest year ever, most productive, and most lucrative. Last year, unsurprisingly but disappointingly, was not as good financially, tho’ I worked fairly steadily. I mostly finished up things that I’d been pretty much paid up for. This year’s been slower still, tho’ the last two months I’ve gotten far more inquiries on book projects than ever. Seems like each day brings a new inquiry. ‘Course they don’t all result in paying projects.

What has changed and what has stayed the same?

Well, I’ve begun reviewing design-related books on my blog, which, hopefully, leads to being noticed by people who didn’t otherwise know me. And that–again, hopefully, results in more work. On the other hand, my basic approach to finding work–and, indeed, finding work itself is the big, unchanging part of freelancing as a book designer–is the same. I seek out online places where folks who might need a book designer/layout artist–even if they don’t yet know it–might be hanging out. I try to engage anyone who’ll listen in convos about my passion: the design/layout end of making books. And I do the best work I can.

What have you learned? What do you wish you’d known a year ago?

Well, as much as I admit there’s always new things to be learned, I can’t say there’s any one thing that jumps out as something “new” I’ve learned about book design, page makeup, or typography. Oh, wait, maybe I’ve been reminded that the best way to pick up thoughts on design is to read design books. Toward that end, the book reviewing is helpful.

Any more hints and tips for people?

One thing I’ve noticed–I think it was on a LinkedIn forum–is that there’s a balance that people, particularly newbies, need to be aware of regarding asking for assistance in learning how to get started as a designer and just asking for people to turn over the wealth of knowledge they’ve worked for years to accumulate. I understand that people starting out often feel helpless and don’t know which way to turn, but showing that they’ve done a little homework themselves before asking for the keys to someone else’s library will go a long way toward establishing some credibility and encouraging folks to be of help.

And … where do you see yourself and your business in a(nother) year’s time?

Well, generally, this never changes. I always hope to have at least two books in process at a time. And I’d like each year to see me surpass the most money I’ve ever made annually to date as a book designer. But as to the work itself, I’d love to begin working with reasonably well-financed new publishers to establish a “house style” for their books. (I guess perhaps I’m too influenced by all I’ve read about Jan Tschichold and his work at Penguin in the 1930s, tho’ I hope to continue to take myself less seriously than it sounds to me like he did.)

I can really identify with Stephen’s point about newbies – that was the impetus for my series on how to become a proofreader and how to be self-employed, as I kept having people saying to me, “I fancy being a proofreader, I just need to be good at spelling, right?”. We all try to help people as much as we can; that’s why I publish this series of interviews, to help my interviewees get better known and to share their advice and wisdom with other people who are on the path to self-employment, but it does take a bit of effort from the newbies’ side, too …

Thank you to Stephen for your honesty and good advice, and we look forward to hearing about your good year this time next year!

Stephen’s website is at www.tianobookdesign.com and you can email him or call if you’re in the USA on tel. & fax: (631)284-3842 / cell: (631)764-2487 or Skype him using stephentianobookdesigner. Read Stephen’s blog and follow him on Twitter!

If you’ve enjoyed this interview, please see more small business chat, the index to all the interviewees, and information on how you can have your business featured.