Life as a small business
The start of the year has become something of a traditional time for networking and marketing for RiverRhee Consulting. This year it’s also been a time for soul-searching with other small business owners who are either just starting up after a previous life in the corporate world, or are reflecting about what the new budget will bring in the UK.
So our March - April 2013 bi-monthly newsletter is dedicated to ‘life as a small business’, and some of the insights that we’ve gained about how to make this successful. Not surprisingly, some of these insights will apply to medium and large organisations too.
Keep focusing on what your customers want
One of the most valuable tips we learnt when we started up RiverRhee was from Andrew Halfacre, of Lighthouse 365 in his ‘Start Your Own Business’ workshops, when he advised us to focus on what your customers ‘are hungry’ for. (This is how Elisabeth Goodman came about giving one-to-one tutorials and occasional seminars on using LinkedIn and other Social Media for personal and business development.)
Focusing on what your customers want is also the starting point in our operational excellence / process improvement workshops, where we encourage teams to think about what their customers value: it’s the individual deliverables, and it’s also the quality criteria that the customers expect.
Understand your core expertise
For a small business, understanding your core expertise operates at two levels: the area of expertise that you are offering your customers (in our case, enhancing team effectiveness
To run a small business requires competencies in marketing and general management, as well as the ‘technical’ capability or expertise that is core to your business (whereas in a large organisation individuals can just focus on what they are best at). For a business owner to be aware of this is already a start, finding ways to supplement their competencies with those of others is the next step.
Be clear about your values
The importance and nature of our values was brought home to us in a recent practice run for a 1½ day team building workshop that Lorraine Warne and Elisabeth Goodman will be delivering in the spring.
At the heart of RiverRhee’s values lies our passion for helping others: we see many teams struggling with too much to do and/or a lack of clarity about how to best go about their work. Our greatest reward is seeing and hearing the ‘aha’ moments in our workshops when people realise they now have the capability to improve the way they work, and to do so on an on-going basis.
Build your support network
One of the most dramatic changes for a small business owner coming from the corporate world is the need to rebuild the support network that they might have previously taken for granted.
People that you knew in that previous life, and who have started a business ahead of you are often enthusiastic and extremely helpful mentors. So finding, and keeping connected with them on LinkedIn can be invaluable.
There is also an abundance of local ‘geographic’ networking groups of other small business owners to learn from and that can act as sources of support (accounting, marketing, technology and more).
These groups can also be a good audience for you to practice your offerings (as Elisabeth did in a recent presentation on MBTI to the Melbourn Business Association) or they may indeed be a source of associates to work with in the future.
Keep visible and active in your area of expertise
A lot of small businesses get their clients as a result of direct interaction with potential clients, past clients, or through current or previous associates. So it’s important to keep visible and active in the fora where these people are likely to be.
That means for example going to related professional events, giving seminars, writing articles in related publications (John Riddell and Elisabeth have just sent in the thirdarticle in our “Knowledge Management” surgery series for Aslib’s Managing Information).
Keeping visible and active in your area of expertise involves doing whatever is relevant for your client group and for your professional skills.
Be flexible
New client requirements, different ways in which you can use and develop your expertise, new support and associate opportunities will emerge on a continuous basis. Amongst a small business’s greatest assets is its flexibility to adapt to this changing environment. Being responsive in this way is both our challenge, and our opportunity!
If you’d like to find out more
Do get in touch if you’d like to find out more about RiverRhee Consulting, our range of off-site and in-house courses, and how we can help you to enhance team effectiveness and create an exceptional team. See the RiverRhee Consulting website or e-mail the author at elisabeth@riverrhee.com.
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