It’s August, so for many of us, that means we are in the throes of the summer holidays. Or for those of us without childcare or seasonal business peaks to manage, we can – dare we say it – have a bit of downtime to regroup? Now is a good time to prepare your business [...]
Following on from my recent post on developing resilience in leadership teams, let’s explore another important topic: leadership change in scaling businesses. As organisations grow, leadership transitions become inevitable and how you manage them can have a lasting impact on your company’s success. Here are some practical approaches for navigating these transitions in scaling businesses. Adapting [...]
As businesses scale, new challenges emerge—shifting team dynamics, increased complexity and greater pressure on leadership. One of the most important factors I’ve seen in navigating this growth successfully is developing leadership resilience within teams. During a 2020 company-wide meeting, Apple CEO Tim Cook highlighted how resilience and collaboration helped his teams navigate uncertainty and aim to return to [...]
Female entrepreneurs represent 20% of all small business owners. I don’t know about you, but I was surprised – this feels surprisingly low. Maybe it’s because I know so many incredible female business owners! It’s clear that this number must grow. To achieve that, we need to understand the barriers women face when starting their [...]
For many of us, especially those running our own ventures, it might feel as though we've been speeding along since January. As we head into the new financial year, we may be planning to juggle various projects and perhaps factor in even more travel. It's already been a whirlwind few months so after catching my [...]
I was recently asked to contribute to an article in Startups magazine all about how small businesses can work with the government. The focus was on how small businesses can work with government and what options are available to them. The new Procurement Bill, winding its way through government, should make it easier for smaller [...]
In my work, I’m lucky to work with some really diverse scaling companies as well as many small business owners. I have to say, small business owners really do inspire me as their strength, resilience and determination, often against many barriers, is hugely inspiring. However, there are many issues they face which influence how they [...]
I’m so pleased to be part of the team delivering the Small & Mighty Enterprise programme for Small Business Britain again. This time we’re welcoming and supporting nearly 1,000 small businesses on their journey – which is a fantastic number! A big part of this programme is mentoring – each participant gets access to both [...]
Scaling up a business is a significant step that can transform your company's trajectory. However it's crucial to approach it with careful consideration and a well-defined strategy. It entails expanding your operations to accommodate increased demand, whether it's by hiring more employees, investing in marketing, moving to larger premises, or enhancing your product or service [...]
At this time of year, I always encourage business owners to review the last year and reflect on their successes and areas to improve. Where possible, you should put systems and processes in place for resilience in the year ahead and have a ‘plan B’. I’m often asked “does my business need a plan B” [...]
Do you have an up-to-date and relevant business plan for your business? Or even a plan at all? Many of us actually don’t! Or we have one we set a while ago that hasn’t been updated in line with any current circumstances. I get it – we all get busy and it can be hard [...]
A very common reoccurring issue I hear is how to get funding and investment for a small business. I was recently asked to talk about this for Small Business Britain and Lloyds Bank Academy so I wanted to share here too. And of course, please do get in touch if you would like to chat [...]
