Lessons from 25 years in Business

25 Years in Business – The Journey Continues

This month we are celebrating our 25th year as Mills-Eaton Training and we are truly proud of what we have achieved over that time.

We have provided Leadership, Communication, and Team Development training and coaching in over 40 industries, spread across 110 towns and cities all over Australia. We have also worked in the USA and Canada.

Our business today is quite different to what it was when we started, and that’s a good thing. It shows we have grown and adapted as the market changed and as we have changed.

We regularly make the time to pause and review what we are doing, asking - is it continuing to meet our client’s needs and is it working for us?

When things don’t go as planned, we stop, make a cuppa and then ask what can we learn from this?

I’d like to share some of the lessons we have learned. These lessons have been integral in our ongoing success.

1.?????Don’t get caught up in worrying about the competition and what they are doing. This can be distracting and take you off course. Always strive to be the best you can be. Don’t focus on being better than your competitors – be better than you were before.

2.?????Be values driven. Don’t just pick a few buzz words, add a few impressive statements to them and stick them on your wall and website. LIVE your values and let them be the guide for your behaviour and decision making. Educate your staff on the values and what they should look like every day.

3.?????Don’t undersell yourself. Putting a price on your skills, experience, and what you bring to an organisation isn’t easy. It is essential to know what you are worth and charge accordingly.

4.?????Building your reputation takes time. Over the years, many people have asked me how to ‘get into’ this type of work. They see that I am regularly booked out for months in advance and want to know how to get a quick entry into a successful training and consulting business. An old boss of mine once told me:

You have to know what you’re doing.

You have to know you know what you’re doing.

You have to be known for what you know.

I’d also add to that – set your own bar high, be consistently good at what you do, and as stated in point #1 above, be better than you were before. If you’re smart, you never stop learning and growing. Your reputation is also impacted by my next point…

5.?????Relationships are everything! Your relationships within your organisation, and those with your clients and suppliers have the power to make or break your business. Remember, there are NO unimportant people in small jobs. Treat everyone with respect and show an interest in them. The CEO is not more important than the receptionist – the key differences generally lie in their pay and responsibility levels.

6.?????Value your customers. Some will stick with you for years and some of them will help you to grow by becoming advocates. Some will be short term. Most will teach you valuable lessons if you pay attention. Some are not a good fit for your business, so you need to let them go. Our rule of thumb is… if they don’t align with our values, or if they are disrespectful, we will end the relationship. We haven’t had to do this often, but every time we have, they have been quickly replaced by someone we can work with successfully.

7.?????Value your staff. See point #6 above – the same works for staff. Invest in getting to know your staff – their needs, their strengths, their ambitions. Your business is only as good as it’s people.

8.?????Avoid burnout. We learned this one the hard way… Whilst you may be passionate about your business, your craft, its essential to remember that it isn’t your whole life. It can be an incredibly important part of your life, but so is your family, health (mental and physical), friends, hobbies, sports, relaxation, education and so much more.

I passionately love the work I do; it makes my heart sing. BUT I had to learn to set boundaries in order to have a balanced life.

9.?????Practice kindness. Be kind to the people you work with, but most importantly, be kind to yourself. You are going to make mistakes, some poor decisions, and feel frustrated and overwhelmed at times. Self-compassion and reflection will help you through the tough times – and trust me, every business goes through tough times. Every major error in our business has provided us with a learning opportunity. Some of our best decisions have grown from our worst. Acknowledge the lesson, be grateful for it, and move on.

10.??Ask for help. You can’t and won’t know everything. Don’t be too proud to seek advice from those who have real experience and expertise. Your mates at a barbeque may all want to weigh in with advice but be clear on what you need and who will be the best person to assist you. We are grateful for the mentors we had along the way. I doubt we’d still be here without them.