UK Business Mentoring

14/07/2023

Being the boss is not what I expected it to be...'

Being the boss (be it business owner, manager or leader) is tough….nothing prepares you for:

The long hours and sacrifices
The weight of responsibility (careers and livelihoods in your hands – wow!)
The constant need to learn, adapt and change as a business owner, manager and leader
The emotional rollercoaster
The uncertainty and risk
And that’s before you face most people’s biggest challenge (and headache) – managing people!

If you’ve read this and thought ‘that’s me’, I’d like to offer my help and support.

If you feel that you would like an informal chat about the challenges you face within your business, with someone that understands business and indeed runs their own business then please get in touch.

‘Don’t know me from Adam?’ To help, you can check out my recommendations and Google reviews.

03/07/2023

So, why did you become a business owner?

When we start our businesses, we normally have a clear idea of what we want personally from the business, typically, those things include:

· Autonomy – not being answerable to others
· Work life balance – being able to do what we want when we want to
· Financial – security for ourselves and/or being able to provide for our loved ones
· Ambition – Proving to ourselves and sometimes others that we can do it
· Significance – Building something worthwhile, maybe a legacy for the future

Along the journey as we become engulfed in the everyday challenges of running our business it’s understandable that we sometimes lose sight of those things. Eventually however, frustration can creep in - you work very hard, long hours, miss out on family time and the rewards don’t seem to be there. Our experience over the last nearly fifteen years of working with business owners has highlighted these five typical reasons why owners don’t find the rewards they were looking for:

1. The owner is too involved in the day to day running of the business and not focussing on key areas that drive growth/profitability
2. Lack of structure and responsibilities/accountability amongst the staff
3. Insufficient marketing, there is no what we refer to as ‘Marketing Rhythm’ in the business
4. Not enough focus on the financial performance of the business
5. Not managing the six key areas that grow profitability in every business

These are the most common issues we help to address and since 2009 have helped hundreds of business owners to take back control and achieve the objectives that inspired them to run a business in the first place.

If you feel that you would like an informal chat about the challenges you face within your business, with someone that understands business and indeed runs their own business then please get in touch.

15/05/2023

Always great to know I'm being helpful to my business owners - what can I do for you?

'Amazing value received from Jim in only a one hour session. Has completely opened my eyes up and gave me lots a feedback on what I can improve moving forward. Highly recommend.'

28/10/2022

This was great feedback from a business I helped - if you read this and any part makes you think 'that's me' then please contact me and we'll disuss your business, your challenges and how I can help.

10/10/2022

Want your business or team to be successful? It’s success starts with you, the , and is directly linked to how you manage and bring out the best in your team.

For the majority of business owners, one of the toughest transitions is when your business starts to grow from just yourself to employing people. The change in your role (from technician to leader) needs to navigated successfully for your business to thrive, but often this is where, without the right support, a business can stumble.

Employing people and helping them be successful can be one of the most rewarding aspects of being a leader/business owner, but for the majority this can also create stress, frustration and adversely affect your bottom line (for example, the cost of replacing good staff that leave!).

The attached article is a great start to understanding what is required to be a successful leader - as your business grows, this has a direct link to your customer service, staff engagement and being profitably. If you’d like to discuss further, please reach out to me or any of my colleagues at UK Business Mentoring Group and we’ll be happy to speak with you.

https://hbr.org/2022/10/successful-leaders-are-great-coaches?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert_actsubs&utm_content=signinnudge&deliveryName=DM220105

19/03/2021

A simple practical tip for business owners....

without spending a penny more on marketing! The Importance of Good Conversion The Issue Every day your business will receive enquiries, people contacting you to find out more about your products or se

01/03/2021

Our next series of free webinars kicks off on 11th March with “Understanding Your Business,” the theme of which is very much a few SMALL things can make a very BIG difference to your business.

💡 "Understanding Your Business in 7 Steps " discusses the key drivers to improve your profitability with great “real life” examples.

🔒 These are “Learn, Discuss, Apply” webinars, therefore attendance is limited so that we get the chance to DISCUSS and APPLY the LEARNINGS to your own business.

▶️ The full webinar schedule is below. If you are unable to attend, contact us directly for access to the recordings.

📅 11 March at 10am – Understanding your Business (7 steps that drive your profit and the key numbers every business owner should know) (About this event and tickets)

📅 23 March at 10am – Getting the Best Out of Your People (About this event and tickets)

📅 8 April at 2pm – Managing Cash and the Finances in your Business (About this event and tickets)

📅 20 April at 4pm – Five Steps to Being a Better Manager/Leader (About this event and tickets)

📅 5 May at 2pm – Creating a Strategic Marketing Plan (About this event and tickets)

📅 19 May at 4pm – How do I systemise my business? (About this event and tickets)

If any of these topics are of interest and you’d like to discuss away from the webinars please contact us.

05/10/2020

It's the start of the day - are your team:

a) motivated to do their best work, to do whatever it takes to provide a fantastic experience for customers and colleagues, ready to provide discretionary effort because their work has meaning or
b) required to come in because they are contracted to, doing the job because they're required to, doing what they're doing for the pay cheque, another day nearer the weekend...

Whether it's a) or b) comes down to leadership - to help explain watch this short video (thanks Simon Sinek) then think about your Golden Circle and in particular whether your teams fully understand the 'Why".

Here's the link to the Original Version of this amazing, inspiring and thought provoking talk by Simon Sinek: Start with why - how great leaders inspire acti...

19/08/2020

To help business owners I'm offering complimentary mentoring sessions for the next 4 weeks.

The sessions are there for you to discuss your business growth, frustrations, challenges, getting the best out of your people and work/life balance - whatever you'd like discuss and get help with, I'm here for.

If you'd like to take advantage of this offer, or find out how I can help please contact me.

Ashford Business Network