The Tipi

Amongst the Blackfoot Indians the women are responsible for the tipi, and they decide where to camp.  First the eldest woman of the family puts up a tripod made made of birch branches upon which the family’s “sacred pouch” is placed.  This action shows respect for the magical owers of nature that form the bonds between the family, the tipi and life.  Then, the skeleton, 24 straight grained stems, each about 10 metres high is erected.  Several beautiful hides have been sewn together and are now wrapped around the skeleton to make the tipi.  Beautiful and descriptive illustrations, each of its own significance, are painted both outside and inside the tipi.  Often, the Pleiades are painted at the very top by the smoke hole to give peace in the home.

Principle: Beautiful clutterless surroundings enhances performance.

When you are watching such programmes you cannot fail to want to be able to help in some way.  Having worked for a charity in the past I am acutely aware of how difficult it is to keep organisations running on small funds– many people give what they can (interestingly enough according to BBC West Mids the West Mids region raised the most money for Children in Need  considering the West Mids has been one of the hardest hit areas by the recession…!) but it is  even harder to get people to part with their time.. We are all so busy getting on with the issue of living let alone work and other things. I sometimes wonder if we have become slaves of technology rather than technology being our slaves.  Those who give their time voluntarily are so precious.

Many people think the problem or issue is so vast , that they cannot make a difference. But that old saying that “no one person can change everything but everyone can change something” is so true .  So next time you are faced with an adversity, could you look at it more positively?  Could you distract your own worries by thinking of the worries other people might have – and analyse just how much of an issue are yours ?

Next time you turn on your tap – remember the women in Africa who have to walk miles to get dirty water for their children knowing it will make them ill – but what choice do they have.

So how does this relate to business- well we all suffer the trials and tribulations our businesses throw at us, but if you look at things in context of the scheme of life, what really does matter in this world???

I don’t know why, it is but it seems to me that our society values the work of those who utilise their knowledge to earn a living, far more than those who predominantly use their hands.

I recently read a letter in a national newspaper from a university academic who was exclaiming that he did not know what the world was coming to because he had seen  that two jobs advertised in a recent edition had showed one for an academic researcher (requiring a first class degree) and was offering a salary of something like £14k, and alongside it an advert for a plumbing vacancy requiring an NVQ level 3 and was offering something like £25k.   He seemed to suggest that the researcher position was far more worthy of a higher salary than the plumbing job.  WHY??

Take refuse collectors – not brilliant pay for a smelly job, often with an unsociable start time, often viewed by people as “obviously not very bright as that is all they can get a job doing”  Well we have all seen the TV pictures of what happens if they go on strike or stop work… need I say more?

I know many people who work with their hands and are quite highly qualified in their  field yet when they tell potential clients their charges, the clients seem to think that the particular job is only worth the minimum wage.  I don’t know many self employed people who could only charge the minimum wage and make a living. Do you?  If you would not be prepared to work for such a low amount yourself if you are qualified and experienced, then why expect anyone else  who is also qualified and experienced,to do so?

If we don’t value the more vocational approach to education, qualifications and employment roles, we will forever categorise those who do not fit the academic methods of learning  into demeaning boxes we create for them and limit their  aspirations.

If I was stuck on  desert island and had to choose between the plumber and the researcher as companion – well I think my survival would be better served by the practical plumber – would yours??

Perhaps the question we should be asking is what is the value of the person to me not the job they do?

Most adults do not take the recommended levels of exercise in order to help prevent heart disease, diabetes, cancers , blood pressure problems and  a host of other health issues that come from being overweight.  Add to this smoking and drinking and no wonder we sometimes find to hard to cope with daily life.  Additionally if you are under pressure running your own business then the stress combined with the lack of exercise and poor lifestyle can very soon start to have a detrimental effect.

Taking moderate exercise(by moderate I mean brisk walking, light cycling, light jogging) for 30 mins 5 time a week can help prevent health problems and reduce stress levels. (note consult your GP before beginning any exercise programme). What’s this got to do with business you might ask……

Taking time out to relax and switch off from your business is also very important.  Steven Covey in The 7 Habits of Effective People talks about the carpenter who stopped regularly to sharpen his saw had a much higher work rate than the man who did not.

Next time you feel tired, that there is just too much to do, or you want to “get off the merry-go round”, then do just that.  Go for a half hour walk, stop and look around you , take in the scenery or notice the buildings around you.  One of my favourite poems is Leisure by W.H.Davies “What is this life if full of care we have no time to stand and stare…”

What is the worst thing that could happen  to your business if you stopped for half an hour??

Me?  I really do try to get a morning walk in or in the evening if I have a breakfast meeting to go to.  It sets me up for the day.. everyday I see something different.  I am lucky enough to be able to walk in the countryside but there are many things to see that we miss in our daily hectic lives in towns and cities . When working with my clients I see the difference it makes to their  stress levels by having someone there who can take responsibility for certain areas of their business, giving them the time to stand and stare…..

The sabre tooth tigers have fortunately  taken a different form in that the everyday challenges we face are those stressors we now have to deal with.  Unfortunately our bodies have not caught up with in their response to these stressors and because we are not running from the dangers to use up the adrenaline released, the build up can actually do us harm if not dealt with.  Stress can lead to ill health, depression and potentially business failure amongst other things.  The issue of stress and its consequences can be a taboo subject though thankfully it is more widely recognised than it used to be.

Running a business can be very stressful.  Whilst it can present us with challenges we might also enjoy, especially when things are going well, there are times when things beyond our control or even from great success, can leave us feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope.  Every individual feels stress at some point and the good stressors are the things that motivate us , help us to achieve.  The point at which someone reaches the inability to cope is entirely individual, there is no set level, it could be from a combination of things that have slowly built up, or equally a single event such as a trauma

Symptoms of harmful stress might include:

Tearfulness

Poor concentration

Poor appetite

Poor sleep patterns

Irritability

Feelings of guilt and everything being “my fault”

Hyperactivity – a feeling that you cannot stop working or everything will fall apart and equally opposite a complete lack of motivation to do anything.

Feeling that everything is out of control

When someone is running a business these effects can begin to have knock on effects  such as, missing deadlines for important things, record keeping going awry, creditors building up, lack of response to calls and communications, customers being ignored, leading to financial problems, issues with statutory agencies and potential fines/prosecution. The downward spiral is set unless someone can help step in and stop it.

Getting help is important and something no one should be ashamed of seeking.  Support is vital to the recovery process, whether this be through your GP , family or friends or empathetic business support.  If you recognise any of the above symptoms in yourself , see your GP as the first step or confide in someone. Prevention is even better, which I will talk about at another time.

Rent -a-Rep is a company providing freelance sales representation for companies that require someone on a very short, short of medium term basis throughout the UK.

The Issue

The Director of Rent- a -Rep spent a great deal of time traveling.  Whilst loving many aspects of running her own business she felt that the burden of having to deal with the book keeping and making sure returns were completed on time were , well frankly a real bore! About the last thing she wanted to do at the weekends was to spend them at a PC.

The Nuthatch Solution

We got everything up to date, improved the audit trail, provided reassurance and on a regualr basis we keep in touch with the Director and ensure the books are kept up to date.  We also ensure all statutory returns are completed on time and work with the accountant regarding end of year accounts and other tax matters.  We discuss the plans the Director has for the  business and help find other sources of advice.

Currently

We conitinue to assist Melanie with her book keeping and general guidance on business issues that face her.

What Melanie Thompson says about Clare

“Being a Sales person; by nature I am not particularly orientated towards paperwork! Clare has undertaken my book keeping for me, she reminds me of deadlines, collates all my books for the Accountant, working from my monthly expenses and incoming/outgoing invoices and bank and credit card statements, advises me if I have any bits of information missing that I need to obtain and gives me a running total on profit and loss every month. This saves me hours trying to wade through this for myself, but because this is Clare’s specialism, she deals with it very speedily which makes it very cost effective. Clare always meets deadlines, (no matter how difficult I make it by leaving things until the last minute!) I would highly recommend Nuthatch Ltd.

Melanie Thompson

Managing Director

Rent-A-Rep® Sales Consultancy Ltd

The Issues

The Director of 2RFuture Ltd had recently suffered a bereavement and this had caused her to fall behind with a variety of issues regarding her business. Some previous bad advice had not helped either and it looked like her plans for further development of her projects to become reality , were never going to materialise.

The Nuthatch Solution

We stablised the situation by ensuring all statutory requirements were being met and that all necessary records were up to date.  We then discussed in detail the proposals for the project and the vision the Director had for the future of the enterprise.  We worked with the Director to help build confidence in her own ability after the recent knockbacks and to help her to begin to plan in detail how she could achieve her ambition and fulfil her passion for helping young people. We helped build the Directors knowledge, skills and understanding of business management and developing the case for grant funding .  We discussed the options for structuring the business in a more appropriate way and signposted her to other advisers with specialist knowledge where required.  We have provided one to one training in some aspects of IT  and continue to provide regular mentoring support, research into potential grant funders, practical help with general business management and planning issues, signposting, and encouragement to fulfil  her ambitions.  The initial pilot project has received good support from the local schools, parents and the community.

Currently

We provide continued support by phone or visit once a month helping the Director to continue to develop her ideas and her skills and knowledge.

What Celia Bradshaw, Director of 2RFuture Ltd says about Clare and Nuthatch Ltd

“I have successfully worked with young people for many years and my project grew out of the need I saw among them.  My life experience is long and varied but it never included running a business.  Trying to set up the business to make the project happen was difficult for me  and when I had to deal with illness and deaths in the family as well I became overwhelmed by everything.  Fortunately I did have just enough sense left to ask someone for help before I collapsed, and that person suggested Clare.

Clare had the business experience which I lacked, and in areas related to my work, such as agriculture and charities.  She knew what I should be doing to comply with the law and she fished through my heap of papers to find what we needed and helped me  to  put things in order.  She encouraged me to understand what had to be done so that I could then go on and do it myself, which I appreciated.

She also has a wide experience of helping women in particular to start up and run businesses.  I had become very depressed with my lack of progress on my project but her descriptions of other women’s problems helped me to understand and solve my own.  Her understanding of what it is like to try and do something commercial when most of your experience has been as a housewife or with children, was something I had not found anywhere else.

Finally, she was as prepared to consider small problems, such as how best to file papers, as bigger ones, and she never laughed at me or criticised me but only tried to help and encourage me.”

Well what it success?  I often find that if I ask people this they determine it on a personal level by, “nice house, family, nice car, holidays, etc  etc”.  Often I find that the success indicators are money driven or represented by things money can buy.  Men and women in my experience seem to have different indicators of success.  Generally I have found that these indicators above predominantly come from the mouths of the male of the species (sorry guys but this is what I have found) . Of course there are women who want these things too but I cannot see what is wrong with having indicators such as “being able to pick the children up from school, making enough money to be able to pay for the holidays, pay the bills and replace the car when needed without borrowing the money”.  These sorts of indicators do not necessarily indicate a lack of ambition.

When defining success for a business the measurements often used by Govts and agencies seems to always be number of employees and or turnover.  This seems to filter through to those who do start a business, as being what will define their success. Everyone who starts in business does so for different reasons particular to them and should determine themselves what success means to them. However just because a business is not high growth does not mean it is not successful.  If a business grows rapidly in the first two years, let’s say takes on several employees to cope with the growth, vastly increases turnover, starts exporting etc and qualifies for business support from a variety of sources because of this that’s great  BUT  what happens when  a recession hits or some other factor – causing it to collapse.  This probably means redundancies and the knock on effect of this socially and in the local economy –  is this  really successful? Isn’t it short term thinking?  Surely the small  business that probably started from home, has steadily and slowly expanded over a longer period, has less overheads , manages to maintain staff levels if they have staff,  is just as deserving of support . There are many small ( and by small I particularly mean one person owner/director businesses) businesses all over the UK like this, who don’t measure success by rapid expansion, high turnover, number of employees etc.  Do they measure success by still being here in 5yrs time, 10 yrs time, not being in debt, not necessarily employing people but finding other ways to “staff” their business?  They require good management and support too, and though they may not set the world alight in their early days or with their turnover and they won’t attract much in the way of Govt support BUT– we ignore them at our peril.  They use local businesses to support them and spend their money locally in other businesses.  What is also often overlooked is that these small businesses may not have employees as such on a payroll,( and with the plethora of employment legislation about who can blame them)but they often use outsourced services, using other small businesses, so no matter how big your turnover, you can have your own IT department, your own office manager, your own marketing department and finance department, all from individuals able to offer their expertise and time, as your “employees”.

What defines success for you?  How do you measure it?  Going back to basics sometimes and remembering why you are going it alone acts as a good measure when things are tough.

Sandler training provides high quality sales and personal development training.

As the business grew, the Directors needed help with many aspects of the daily running of the business. Initially Nuthatch assisted one of the Directors whose business was just beginning to take off but he was finding it frustrating to be in the office as he needed to be out with appointments with clients. As a result it was difficult to answer emails, keep up with his books, organise seminars and respond to clients queries. In addition keeping a check on the diary to ensure no double bookings was becoming more important as more activity was generated. Updating the website, keeping in contact with current clients and liaising with seminar venues all had to be dealt with but with the amount of travelling the Director had to do, it was impossible to do without help.

The Nuthatch Solution

We set up a simple system to ensure bookings for seminars were taken and clients kept well informed of arrangements. We kept in contact with the venue as to requirements for the event, designed record keeping systems for all types of seminars and made sure these were kept up to date. All the Director had to do was turn up to deliver the event knowing who to expect as attendees.

For regular clients we improved methods of communication with them, newsletters, and record keeping and helped answer their queries.

Nuthatch got the books up to date and reminded the Director of the various statutory forms that had to be completed,making sure they were done in the timeline and liaised with the accountant regarding information required. We prepared cashflows and monitored them,dealing with all invoicing and payments,managed the bank account, keeping the Director in touch with what was happening; identified areas for saving money and negotiating better deals. We advised on how to improve the audit trail for paperwork required and assisted in the implementation of this.
We ensured the physical office had order and things were filed away correctly and we acted as conduit for organisations and individuals who needed to speak to the Director urgently. We discussed the vision and plans the Director had for his business, helped prepare the business for merger with another, assisted with proposed management structures and staffing, desgined job descriptions, improving the process of client engagement and suggested methods and processes for client retention.

Currently

During the proposed merger we attended meetings and took minutes and when finalised we supported new staff in using the new systems. We set up the financial systems required for the new joint venture and now manage the finances, keeping the books up to date, providing credit control, cashflow preparation and monitoring, whilst continuing to provide support to the office staff and advising the Directors of any issues noted, working with them to find solutions.

What Mark Wormald and Nigel Dunand say about Clare

“ìClare provides me with peace of mind. I know she will get the job done, assert herself when necessary, and provide great input. She makes sure we have office systems that work and takes care of the important details that I would otherwise miss. Thanks Clare”

“The benefits to my organisation have been enormous: I have been able to concentrate on prospecting, generating income and profitability. She is very versatile and can turn her hand to solving most practical issues in relation to running a business. She is exceptionally well organised, a good communicator and team leader. Her assistance has been like having a virtual managing director for my business ( at the fraction of the cost!) and without the responsibilities of having an employee. Her work is always of a high standard, she is honest and utterly dependable.

I would have no hesitation in recommending her to anyone who needed help with developing and maintaining their business”