How do you prepare your business plans? If you are working in a group then I'm sure that flipcharts, Blu-tack, whiteboards and Post it notes play a big part in your business planning process. I can't imagine a group planning session where the computer is the centre of attention!

One challenge that faces all growing businesses is when is the best time to add more staff to your team? Who do you need first and who can you wait for? How will you find the right person and can you afford to hire them or afford not to hire them? This dilemma is particularly […]

Is it me or do the unions think they run some of our largest businesses here in the UK? Why do the unions think they should be in charge and dictate business strategy? Let me set my stall out now. I've never been a union member, perhaps I have believed that frank, open discussion and […]

Nearly every SME’s I meet doesn’t have a business forecast. Some have a cash flow forecast but that’s about it. At least those with a cash flow forecast will be able to track cash and that’s important.

Everyone knows this phrase – on it not in it, just as we all know we should ‘focus on the important’ bits first. But we don't. We love working in our business too much, or is it that we don’t know where to start?

It's 4 months to Christmas and that means year end too! Are you on target to hit your year-end sales target? Perhaps a better question is how have you performed against your target so far this year?

Whatever you may think, no-one will ever be as passionate about your business as you are - FACT? They can't be; it's not theirs!

Most of the business owners I work with want to sell their business, for lots of money and retire. Family businesses generally have a different agenda but whatever your goal you need to build value in your business.

Consistency was definitely a theme and this got me thinking about how inconsistent we are in our businesses, especially how inconsistent our delivery of customer experience is to our clients. Not always, but our delivery, our product quality, availability, our service and of course our moods, can be so inconsistent.