Hitting A Bump In The Road

With the new year here and after some down time over the festive period there has been some useful time for reflection. As a sole business owner, the buck always stops with you, every pressure is ultimately yours and no matter what’s going on outside of the business, it’s your responsibility to keep things moving. In business resilience is everything and learning how to correct your errors quickly is as important as learning to do business and will ultimately be the difference between success and failure.

Last year has been trying at times, but what I have realised following many discussions from a whole host of business professionals throughout the year, is that problems and challenges occur in every business, but people very rarely talk about it. It’s great to talk about success, about winning, about stories, but not often acceptable to talk about the pitfalls about the lessons and about the journey.

So here are some of the big lessons from my 2017 and second year in business:

1. Know your limits

In January of last year, I came to a point where I was stuck. I went from having everything under control and organised to having more work than I can cope with. Not because I was mindlessly taking on too much work, but because I had been unexpectedly let down by people, which had a knock on effect on just about everything. Sometimes these situations are genuinely unavoidable, but the most valuable thing I have learnt is the importance of outside perspective. When you are totally absorbed in something it’s not always easy to view things rationally. This year I have made the decision to enlist some help from the fantastic team at Sampson Hall to provide some valuable outside perspective and assist with the development of the growth strategy.

2. Keep the balance

Work life balance is something I have struggled with since day one of starting a business and I know in year one almost every business owner says the same. Ultimately though, health and wellbeing should be your number one priority, with a healthy work life balance having a positive impact on productivity and work itself. Ask yourself the question, as a sole business owner who is excessively stressed or ill, how will your business continue?

Today regardless of deadlines, I always factor in a run, walk or simply take some time away to get the breathing space I need. I have made a point of setting goals away from the business and feel so strongly about this that I am developing a business focused on helping professionals to take better care of the balance (more information coming very soon.)

3. Surrounding yourself with the right people

It’s not just about the people you work with, but about finding people who support your vision and will understand your motives no matter how crazy they seem. There will always be people around you who are negative, lack drive and want something for nothing. The key is finding the positive influences and the people who think in a similar way to you. I am absolutely delighted to have the most amazing team and network and people who continue to do great work with Consume Digital.

4. Don’t quit

It is so easy to feel like everyone is against you. When things are particularly hard even you will question why you are doing what they are doing. My conclusion to this is that there are two broad types of people in business, the need to achieve type and the need to avoid failure type. You will not achieve without failing, but you can avoid failure by just doing what you have to do to get by. It may have been a difficult few months, but what at the time felt like my greatest failures now feel like lessons and development which will be hugely important for projects to come.

5. The Right time for growth

Being new to business, there are a lot of decisions which require careful consideration. The biggest challenge for me was knowing the right time to employ someone, what skill level they needed to have and more importantly finding someone who I could trust. Many people will say that you shouldn’t work with family, but I could not be more happy with the decision I made to employ my sister. For her it was something totally new, a fresh start, but in a short period of time she has learnt a huge amount, throws herself at every new challenge and more importantly cares about the business and it's development.

What’s next

So after a year of lessons and change I could not be more excited about the year ahead. There are some exciting new changes to come for Consume Digital as we continue to grow, including a new team member and some very exciting new projects. As well as this there is also a new business, something that I have been developing for a year and is based on some of the business scenarios I have have encountered.

Thank you to everyone for your ongoing support :)