strategy / 7 posts found
Successfully scale up your business
There are three fundamentals to successfully scale up your business: having a clear organisation structure, having comprehensive systems, and developing great leadership. Heard the quote, “What got you here won’t get you there”? These are wise words (and the title of a book you should read!) are from Marshall Goldsmith. Choosing to scale your business does not come without risk! Many leaders focus on their systems and teams when looking to scale, which is important, but they must also focus on scaling themselves. Looking for some more in-depth help? Check out our 7 Ways to Grow webinar on 30th March [...]
A strong strategy is the heart of your successful business
Businesses that have clear objectives or goals, robust accountability and a shared sense of purpose should always outperform those that just show up and go through the motions. Strategy lies at the heart of most successful businesses. To achieve this you need to resource and execute with a clear purpose. Few businesses have a strategic plan or a robust planning process. Changing this situation should be a top priority! Here are two top tips for business owners. Process Creates the Plan Getting strategy at the heart of your success will require you to carve out some time, get a process [...]
The importance of good leadership in a crisis
When the going gets tough, your role as leader becomes even more important to the future survival, recovery and success of the business. As we’ve seen during the recent coronavirus pandemic, the 2008 economic crash and many previous downturns, having a strong leader at the helm serves to give your people and strategy some real purpose – allowing you to make the right decisions, weather the storm and guide the business along the correct course. So, what does good leadership in a crisis look like? And what steps can you take to become the role model, strategic thinker and leader [...]
Why do I need a management accountant?
Firstly, it is important to understand what a management accountant is and how this differs from the more traditional financial accountant. A management accountant will provide on-going reports into the operation of your business, enabling you to make strategic decisions. A financial accountant provides you with end of year reporting, showing you what has happened over the previous year. A management accountant can generally produce the financial reporting as required by HMRC, but a financial accountant will not necessarily offer the services of a management accountant. While there are many great reasons to use a management accountant, we have picked [...]
How do you eat an elephant?
The answer is, of course, a little bit at a time. Goal, dreams or aims are like elephants, it is far too overwhelming to have your goal as make a million pounds, but breaking that goal down into manageable bite sized pieces will make the obtaining of your goal possible, and certainly more probable. We have reached the time of year when we start to think about next year and what we want to achieve going forwards, so now is a good time to start understanding how to set out good goals, to enable you to reach your final aim. [...]
Are you in training for the Brexit Marathon?
March 2017 was the date we declared we were going to exit from the EU. This set the deadline for our national drawbridge to be raised on the rest of Europe at the 29 March 2019. This is the first time we have separated ourselves from our largest trading partner since we joined the Common Market – the precursor to the EU – 1 January 1973. It is useful, when considering the effective strategies we could employ to weather the changes that this process will likely create, to visualise the exit as running a marathon. The comparison may seem to [...]
Are you doing too much?
As small business owners, we all do it! We take on too much; we do too much. We’re always saying, “there’s never enough time in the day!” But are we being productive? Or are we running around, sweat pouring out of every vein, doing tasks others could do for us? Are we always thinking about saving money, rather than the bigger picture? Is your accountant always on at you to reduce costs? But at what cost? You probably didn’t go into business to work every waking hour. You may have gone into business for the flexibility, so that you could [...]