Is your business SAFE?

Check out our brand new SAFE method and business success checklist. Hot off the press to your inbox! We hope it helps pave the way for your business success.

I have had the wonderful privilege over the years to meet and connect with many business women from all over the UK. Through our Achieve Success Mapping and Vision Mapping I have been able to proactively help women grow their business in a one on one relationship and also offer more general support through our clubs and Build Training Workshops. Now this all sounds great, and it is or else I wouldn’t do it! I love our business club and what we do to support women in business. However, and this is an unfortunate but, there are many times when I can see that a woman is just not going to make it in business. Either she is going to struggle for a long time and never break through into a healthy financial situation or she will give up and find a job. As harsh as it sounds that is the truth for far too many business women.

So how can I tell? I am not clever or psychic but simply read the obvious signs, signs that you may be able to look out for too in your business.

Predict your own success using the SAFE acrostic :

S = SEE the future with Vision & Planning

If you don’t know where you are going how are you going to get there?

This is nicely summed up in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland;

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don’t much care where.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.
Alice: …So long as I get somewhere.
The Cheshire Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.

How many of us run our businesses this way? We are working really hard all day every day but not really stopping to think about where we want to end up. It is easily done and we end up like a dog chasing it’s tail. In order to ensure your success you need to be able to see. Do you have a vision? If yes, is it written down? If yes, do you have a plan to get to where you are to where you would like to be? The ability to see both where you want to be and some clear steps on how to get there is essential for any business owners success. This is why we wrote our Achieve Success Map – to help business women get from where they are to where they want to be using our 12 step program which is built on the business basics that every business woman must know.

A = ASK for business through Sales & Marketing 

You have not because you ask not!

Are you getting out there and asking for business or are you sitting around waiting for business to come to you? Business may just happen to come to you but nine times out of ten your competitors are doing a great job of asking while you are sitting and waiting. Sales and marketing are the business terms for asking and in a nutshell that’s all it really means. If a business owner is not comfortable with asking or does not have the budget to pay someone else to ask,  then they are unlikely to really make it in the business world. No sales = no business. 

Ask for help too. Not one successful man or woman in the world made it alone. When we talk about a ‘self made’ millionaire we do not mean she did it completely by herself. It usually refers to a person who started with nothing –  a rags to riches story. I dare you to find any successful person who did it entirely on their own. It doesn’t exist! We all need people, we all need to borrow each other’s skill sets and at times we even need to borrow some energy from others. Make sure that you have your very own fantastic 5 – your very own group of cheerleaders. Everyone needs the following 5 people in their life:

1. Your cheerleader – someone who believes in you and what you are doing.
2. Your mentor – someone who is further along in the journey than you.
3. Your coach – someone who is brave enough to crack the whip tell you the truth.
4. Your encourager – someone who inspires you and lifts your spirits.
5. Your friend – someone who you can have a coffee with.

F = FACE Failure 

Fail your way to success

Failure is a good thing! It really is. At least if you are failing you know you are trying, learning and growing. Failure can only be a negative if you allow to make you stop and give up. Some well know failure are:

J.K. Rowling 
Penniless, depressed, divorced and a single mum whose first book was rejected by 12 publishers went on to create Harry Potter, a global brand estimated to be worth $15 billion today.  This is what J.K. Rowling has to say about failure:

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might have well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”

Michael Jordan
After being cut from his high school basketball team, he went home locked himself in his room and cried but went on to become the greatest basketball player in history.  This is what Michael Jordan has to say about failure:

“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

E = EMBRACE Money

“Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.” – Benjamin Franklin

I always say that one of the key differences between a hobby and a business is money. You are in business to make money. Too many business women are not comfortable with money. They don’t like to talk about it, they don’t know how to handle it and they are too shy to charge it. Most women are selling themselves short but not charging what they are worth or by giving their products or services away. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a hobby business if that is what you have intentionally chosen to do. However if you would like a real business then you need to treat it that way. You need to firstly get comfortable with your rates and secondly you need to get comfortable with your budget. Earning too little or spending too much is the quickest way to kill your business.

“Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.” – Benjamin Franklin

Take time to have a good, long, honest look at your financial situation. Decide what your products or services are worth and charge accordingly without apologising or feeling embarrassed. 

If you struggle with money get a good financial adviser or sign up to our Achieve program and ask your mentor to spend extra time with you on the money sections.

 Read the full article and get YOUR BUSINESS SUCCESS CHECKLIST here

No one can do it alone! We would love to support you and your business at the Women’s Business Club. Find out about our May theme, Building Blocks at www.blocks.womensbusiness.club and join an event near you at www.calendar.womensbusiness.club