What if your business is affected by bad weather?
You need to make an ‘unexpected circumstances’ plan. This will make sure everyone knows who is doing what, where and when should the weather cause you problems. The main areas to cover are setting up a temporary office if you can’t get to your original one. Having the facilities in place for your employees to work from home should they need to and making sure your employees can go home early if bad weather conditions occur. successful

Keeping your business afloat fianancially
Simply put, as long as you are selling something people want to buy, whilst making sure your selling it for more than you paid then your into making a profit. But the amount of profit needed to trade means you also need to make sure you stay on top of all the cash-flow. Being owed money can sink any new business unless you have large reserves in the bank, try and make sure your credit terms are very clear with new customers, if you can get paid on delivery initially then this will really help. Keep a close eye on your bank balance, you’d be surprised at how many new business owners have an idea of what profit they are making, yet have probably overlooked an overhead which could shrink the margins and cause you to loose money.

Keep the staff focused and increase morale during the quieter winter months
With many staff absent due to holidays, and your customers keeping a low profile during January you need to focus on the morale of those left holding the fort. It doesn’t need to be a big gesture; the smallest of gestures can work just as well. So whether you treat them to a lunch, or allow them to leave early if their targets have been met, motivating your staff is definitely worth your while during these dark morning starts and finishes to the day.

Thinking of expanding this year?
The best time to expand your business is during your most successful period. Ideally when you’ve had a few strong months and you looking towards a few more coming up. However you need to remember that any expansion is going to require additional resources such as, labour, finances, and equipment, this will then require more micro-management. Don’t over stretch yourself financially either, ask yourself how long will the expansion take to pay off, what if you hit a quiet patch in 3 months?, will you be able to cover this.

How do you handle staff mistakes?
As a company you shouldn’t be scared of mistakes as they can easily be managed. Always establish the facts before going to your employee about the error and always make sure the punishment is befitting of the error. In the words of John Wooden: ‘If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not doing anything’

Keep away from pushy sales people until you know what external services your new business will need.
New businesses are prime targets for salespeople. This is especially true of online companies who can expect a whole host of people who wish to waste their money. If you are looking into channels such as business directory listings, selling email data or pay-per-click campaigns, mobile and landline telephones, broadband etc. Then it is always best to do your homework, as the predatory salespeople who swamp you with sales calls can be ignored or put to the test if you have the information to hand as to what you want.

How to find that ‘Eureka’ moment!
Don’t over-think your ideas. Over thinking often leads to your ideas being forced and unrealistic. Unwinding by doing anything that’s not work related can help your mind to relax and help you come up with an idea that is much less forced. Eureka moments are unlikely to happen if you are thinking hard about them, so don’t labour on the idea, if its still seems like a good idea after you have you have slept on it – then go for it. Just be careful to way up the costs beforehand, as long as its not going to cripple your business if it doesn’t work then there’s no harm in giving it a go.

Marketing on a tight budget.
How to market effectively. Effective marketing is all about getting your customers to go from hearing about you, to buying from you, then to hopefully telling the world about you while continuing to buy from you regularly. But you must take your time to understand your customers and make sure that your marketing is specifically targeted at them, its something they want to buy otherwise its a gamble and potentially wasteful. test the water by a small direct mail campaign or maybe a door drop of printed A5 leaflets, this is a very cost effective way of reaching out to potential customers for very little cost. Once you have them printed, identify your local trading estates then walk round posting them through letterboxes, this initially may only take a couple of days at the weekend, you could even rope in friends and family to help. You only need a 1 or 2% response rate for it to have been successful, picking up one customer for every 100 leaflets posted should be enough to cover your printing costs.

Britain has always been a nation of workaholics.
This is why we are the 4th biggest economy in the world. Recent studies have shown that 1 in 8 UK employee’s work over 48 hours per week, with 54% regularly working through their lunch breaks. Working long hours can be un-productive too, if you work for long periods of time without rest then your decision making focus is diminished. It’s going to be very difficult to start a new company if your not totally committed in the first 1- 2 years, but people who work 11 hours a day instead of 8 increase their chance of heart disease by 67%, so working for sustained periods of time will eventually take its toll on you, surely its no good having a successful business if you don’t have good health to enjoy it.

How to really get ahead in business.
About 65% of small businesses are only doing OK and 15% are struggling. Therefore if you step up your game and get your company standing out, you can move into the 15% that are doing well. If you really push yourself, well, then maybe you can make the 5% that are very successful. But to do this you need to start thinking big, work hard and do your utmost to be pro-active and find new sales leads, manage your finances closely and ‘live’ the business then there is no reason why 2015 is going to be your year for success.

Dean Williams

Dean Williams is a design and marketing blogger working for Print-Print Limited, promoting business and building brands through quality print marketing. If you’re interested in small business promotion then please get in touch hello@print-print.co.uk