Set a New Course

I’ve just returned from a family holiday and I’m ready to get back to work.

This is partly down to the rest and also down to reading some other peoples’ stories about how they built a multi-million pound/dollar business.

I’ve said that ‘this is my year’ for so long now and every year I do move forward, but if I track the last 6/8 months I could be a little disappointed with how things have gone.

When I look at my bank statements, spreadsheets and projections I see them with a pessimistic viewpoint. Or push past that and look for the optimistic viewpoint, which is that we’ve got another six months to nail it this year.

This is where other peoples’ stories help me regain my zest. We all know the stories of Branson, Jobs, Gates etc, but they’ve become too detached from reality. They are the lottery winners of life, and we often feel we’ll never win like they did.

The stories that get me going are the ones about people like me, people who set up businesses like mine, people who are now making it happen despite the odds.

I’m halfway through my current financial year, so for me this is an opportunity to take stock, regroup and set a new course with renewed passion.

I wrote the above post two years ago to the day. Since then I feel we have actually moved on significantly…even though at times I still feel like business is a huge struggle, I have managed to implement a number of key things I felt I were missing when I was writing the above.

  • Plan for the future – I have bought a studio and I moved the business into my own premises. This ensures I’m actually saving for retirement by proxy.
  • Plug the skills gap – I have employed another key team member who is able to add value to the business. Though I still have a couple of positions to fill before I will have achieved all I want to do.
  • Create an organisation that works for all. I may still have to do tasks I don’t like doing, but on the whole, I believe the team are
    mainly doing what they enjoy.
  • Clarity – We’re much clearer on the plan for our in-house brands and who is responsible for what.

What haven’t I achieved yet and what is the new course ahead?

  • Turnover – With recent investments we’re still not getting enough work through the door, but we, as a team, all have a plan for this. Even if I can’t quite tick it off my list just yet.
  • Sales & Marketing – We need to mainly – but not exclusively – focus on sales and marketing, this is our area of weakness. We naturally subscribe to the ‘field of dreams’ approach of ‘build it and they will come’…but they haven’t so far. So now we need to let people know we’re ready.

This time next year I hope I will be reviewing this post with excitement and telling you about the great things we’ve achieved.

So, if your last six months have been poor, what can you do in the next six to change that?

What is your reality today? Is it good, bad or have you hit a plateau?
What is your goal for the next six months?

If everything has been great then double-down on it while the sun is shining on you. What else can you do?

Photo by Bobby Burch on Unsplash