Part XVII - Preaching What I Practiced

All my experiences in business have been very varied and I have had masses of exposure to so many different business models and industries coupled with the first taste of entrepreneurism, that now was the time, to put some of my practice into a structured support network for small businesses.

My first consulting client was a printing and promotions company and although the Managing Director running it had himself come from a corporate background, he used to be in charge of operations and knew very little about sales and marketing - an ideal first client!

The company had been in existence for 4 years at this point but was still not making a half way decent income for the owner. He was making just enough to cover his overheads with a little left over for building and equipment maintenance. Luckily this guy had a number of shares in his previous company and drew sizable dividends to contribute to the household income.  

I was surprised that this was an ‘established’ business with clients and everything, employing 4 people but no business development plans or activities of any sort. Still yet,  somehow the business managed to pick up the odd client but even then the opportunities within were never maximized.

Initially the MD wanted my help to establish a telesales department seeing that that was something I had successfully implemented in the past on an international basis.

So of course I went through a serious phase of analysis to really get a handle on where the immediate opportunities lay without any additional overheads to the company. We devised a strategic three months plan focussing entirely on the creation of cash flow through low hanging fruit.

As I said, looking back, this was the most exciting first client I could have ever wished for.

We created internal business policies for the employees and customers, made sure sales were maxed with existing clients whilst implementing a strict payment policy. By the end of the three month, not only was my client feeling really enthusiastic about his business again but he was also able to draw a decent income for the first time in 4 years!

I had found my absolute passion in life - building businesses internal and external market opportunities with minimum investment and maximum returns!

Part XVI - The Upside

As we established last week, running your own business takes a ton of hard work, commitment, perseverance, patience and self belief.

Sounds daunting? Well, maybe a little but all the things you get in turn will make more than up for it but of course only if you place a great emphasis on these benefits for yourself and your family.
You will get total freedom of strategy, direction and implementation as well as an enormous amount of flexibility. You can create your own schedule, decide the priorities of the things that are most important to you, both professionally as well as personally.

Your dedication and quality standards will be the brand that you create for yourself. You can take enormous pride in everything that is achieved because it is based on your own hard work. The passion you have for your product or service will make a huge difference and of course the earning potential is exponentially higher if you focus on your model and belief in your success!

Perseverance and patience are the key to making it past the 1, 3 or 5 year mark but for us moms the flexibility should far outweigh anything else.

So in our case when we managed to make it into our third year, we were really starting to see some great results with money coming in all over the place. The only thing was that as a husband and wife team, we found it very stressful to work together. Financial aspects especially in the early days were tough. The fact that we were continuously thinking about business 24/7, considering different elements and over thinking some more, was not very healthy but I suppose inevitable.

So at the three year mark we decided to re-think how we could go back to just being a couple without having to be business partners.

Part XV - Small Business Needs

Here I was with a background of a large, corporate expense accounts, size-able marketing budgets and a team of experts in each department taking care off - well I didn’t really know all so well what it was they were taking care off every day!

It seems less significant when you are part of a massive machine, that has been well oiled and is fitted with it’s own GPS system telling you exactly which turns to take next and the direction it is heading.

Now as the maker and creator of your own destiny, well quite another story altogether!

So how does one get the word out about your product or service if you don’t have much money to spend? And how do you build a thriving business on a shoestring? By the time everything else had been purchased for the business such as tools, a complete office set up with computer, all in one printer, fax machine, business stationery, office supplies, oh and did I mention the new business mini van (company car had of course gone back...), insurances, there was no more money in the kitty!

So yes, maybe the corporate world had prepared us both very well in our various professions on big scale projects, but running a small business however was really quite on a different scale and magnitude. Everything starts and stops with you - no safety net, no emergency funds.

All of this and we haven’t even spoken about the actual work. Trying to figure out exactly HOW you want to do business. Your policies and rules on any aspect of how the company should feel, act and progress.

My marketing planning used to be based on fitting into the corporate business plan with extensive macro and micro environment research (Exactly!!!), the right marketing mix of communication tools such as print, PR and radio or TV with maybe a trade show thrown in!

And my husband? Well he is the very best money can buy when it came to actually doing the work, but customer consultation, design, quoting and quantity surveying - well these are all very specialist things that take a lot of time to define, practice and refine!

So when we weren’t busy looking for work, creating supporting documentation, planning, strategizing and learning accountancy - we fell into bed, exhausted, with two small children wondering if maybe tomorrow would be a day when they could ask for that play date they had been longing for so long!

And on the upside...................

Part XV - Going It Alone - Almost

During my time as a political candidate, one thing really stuck out at me and that was the entrepreneurship of local small business owners.

I had the opportunity to speak to a number of different industries and sizes of companies during my campaigning. The passion and determination was incredible and fueled by what I experienced coupled with my husbands vision to own his own construction business, it was sealed - husband and wife team setting out to going it alone!

With his technical expertise and my background in sales and marketing, we figured to stand a pretty good chance of success. We knew little about the finer details of running our own business. The accounting side was a new challenge that I had to master and it is today that I wonder why we went about it in such a painful and long winded way!

I was determined to learn a Sage Accounting System to ensure our financial wealth was well managed and carefully controlled. It took hours upon days if not weeks and many very late nights to educate myself in the art of accounting. Something that easily takes years to perfect and should be left to the experts!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing however when you are very close to your own business model, sometimes you just can’t see the obvious solution to more efficient and profitable processes.

The dream of being your own boss, running the business the way you think it is best and getting the opportunity to do things your way, come with an inevitable trade-off:

No-one holding you accountable to the objectives that you set
Full responsibility for every aspect of running a business, even the tasks you may not enjoy or are no good at
Working with a partner who holds equal shares, trying to agree on the most simplest of things
Managing your cash flow to survive as a business and as an individual with bills to pay
Getting out and drumming up opportunities

As you well know my fellow entrepreneurs - the list is endless!

To be continued.......

Part XIV - Look Behind the Scenes

When I started out as a young adult, I was full of idealism on how life should be and I was very firm on the rights and the wrongs! I suppose that this is no different to the younger generation who shares their opinions quite vocally.

Then, as you get older you start to realize that things are not always as cut and dry or black and white! So my idealistic views were replaced by more realistic alternatives and I started to understand the importance of choices, opportunities and circumstances.

Now looking behind the scenes of the political world, I was having one of those epiphanies where I experienced first hand the process of decision making and the real driving factors for some political entities.

My motto throughout my campaign was to serve the greater good of others, be honest and dependable and offer a channel for voices of the community to be heard. 

I know now what it is like to have your own press officer, to run a political campaign, the endless PR activities and public debates with the opposition. Canvassing door to door was something that was very scary at first! 

I suppose not unlike trying to do some prospecting in a business sense. You know your target market and you go and engage in a dialog to see if you can close the deal or win the vote in this case!

This experience has given me a lot of understanding and training in many aspects that can be translated into the business world.

One thing is for sure, stay true to yourself and focus on your model! The rest will come!

Part XIII - Family Bliss

The break from corporate life initially did me the world of good. And allowed for the opportunity to review our family ambitions. We decided that we would really like to try for another baby and soon enough I fell pregnant with my second son!

We somehow managed to live on one wage and strangely it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. By making a few changes and getting better control of our finances, it appeared that we had been dwindling away the second income on needless and lavish extras that we could quite easily do without.

Phew, one less thing to worry about!

Being a busy body, I threw myself into a whole lot of exciting alternatives such as my oldest son’s school community. Soon I became Vice Chair of the Parents Advisory Council, was elected as parent member of the School Board of Trustees and started a book club.

I rallied around campaigning for speed restrictions in the school zone and fought the amalgamation of two Elementary Schools in the district.

This raised serious awareness of current hot issues as well as the outstanding capabilities of Conny Millard. Soon one certain political party asked me to become their new candidate for election as MLA for our area.

And of course, my ego was flattered and my full resources required, so next thing I knew, there were posters all over the region saying “Vote Conny Millard” - “Conny Millard for Council”?!

To be continued....

Part XII - The Next Step

This one really wasn’t easy! By now I had become an integral part of the company, had a gorgeous company car, laptop, expense account and made a massive financial contribution to the family income but yet, the position was swallowing all my time and energy. However this time I was determined not to let it get in the way of my family life. 

When I approached my boss to discuss how I could cut back on my working hours so I could create a better balance, well lets just say the conversation did not go as I had hoped. I was practically laughed out of his office?!!! My working colleagues thought I was weak and couldn’t handle the internal competition! There was nothing else for me to do but tell them what they could do with all their perks! That’s right, find a replacement who cared more for that stuff than me.

That night I drove home worrying how to break the news to my husband. I had quit my job without another offer on the table or the faintest idea what I should be doing instead.  After many years of being responsible and dedicated to my work, I just left all that I knew for the complete unknown.

I felt very guilty and stupid but also unbelievably free and exhilarated. I knew there had to be a better way of doing this. Being a mom and a business woman had to be something that can be achieved without needing to give up anything. But first I had to try one more thing - becoming the ‘mom at the gate’. 

Maybe that was my true calling and I should be a stay at home mom, looking after the families needs, getting involved in the local community, prepare home cooked meals and wait by the front door for my husband to come home.

Needless to say that he was thrilled by the time I got back that day. Me? I was not sure if I should be celebrating or calling my boss to ask for my job back. What had I done?