Find out how your potential buyers identify and learn about the service providers they hire. When you know this you won't waste time, money and energy on marketing methods that don't have any impact on your prospects buying decisions. This blog tells what they are looking for....

If running a successful, grown-up and profitable business was easy, everyone would be doing it.
I know that managing a business is lonely. No one to share your fears or concerns with or to help you solve problems.
Asking for help is not a sign of weakness; it’s a strength. Everyone needs help.

My 30 year apprenticeship continues unabated but now I have a role I love; as a business coach working with business owners who are going places and have recognised that they need a little help.

I wrote The Grown-Up Business™ book for business owners just like you who've found that running their business just wasn’t fun anymore; a chore not a pleasure, stressful instead of fun, standing still treading water instead of growing income and profit.

How many times do you suddenly realise that the whole morning has gone and you don’t seem to have made the most of it? It’s too easy to waste such a precious resource and one that we can never get back. If you lose money you can try to re-coup it another way, but time lost, is gone for ever.

Now as I pen the final chapters of my book; The Grown-Up Business, I can once again reflect on what I've learnt.

In the early days of any business the general philosophy for business owners is ‘any customer is a good one’. But as time moves on not all of those clients are worthy of the title ‘good client’.

In one of my master classes we look at the value of your business and how you can maximise it. Nearly everybody is surprised to see ‘customer database’ almost at the top of this list. I find that so surprising as, in general, it's the first thing a liquidator looks to sell.

It's been a tough few years but hey, let’s celebrate that you're still in business, many aren't. But will you still be successfully trading at year end?