The Magazine for Business Owners
FLUIDBUSINESS MAGAZINE
WINTER 15
d 2isn sue!
5/16
01 Winter 2
Inside This Issue!
FOUR KEYS TO BUSINESS GROWTH! SPEED OF CHANGE
GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
FOUNDATIONS PROGRAMME
FIND OUT MORE INSIDE
CAN YOU STEP UP?
The next book in the Levels series is here!
Discover how
TO GET REAL VALUE FROM 2015
CONTENTS
04 FLUID INSIDER A look into what we have been getting up to recently.
05 QUESTION TIME We ask the experts, what is the key to sustaining business growth?
06 CAN YOU STEP UP? Are you ready to change your mindset and prepare for business growth?
08 RAPID GROWTH Peter Boolkah discusses rapid business growth using the Ansoff Matrix.
14 SOLID FOUNDATIONS Start working on your business and realise the true potential for growth.
16 TIMES OF CRISIS David Sargant discusses the role of social media in times of crisis.
OF CHANGE 18 SPEED 03
10 REFLECT AND REVIEW Forget the New Years Resolutions! We discuss the importance of reflecting and reviewing to make sure you get real value out of 2015.
No matter how much individuals fight against it, change is inevitable.
NATALIE MOORE Managing Director of Fluid Business Coaching.
Welcome to the Winter 2015 issue of Fluid Business Magazine, the quarterly publication for business owners who want to grow their business. In this issue we talk to Ray Moore about his new book The Levels: Can You Step Up to the Growth Challenge? (page 16) The book focusses on our mindsets as business owners, and in order to grow we must alter our mindset and embrace change. We welcome Teresa Tudge to the Fluid Business team (page3).
We ask the coaches “what holds business owners back from business growth� (page 5). Peter explores business growth, and what you should do when growth stops (page 8). As 2015 draws to an end, it is important to reflect and review how the last 12 months went for your business (page 10). Have a great festive break, from all of us at Fluid Business Coaching.
Natalie Moore FBM MAGAZINE 2015 | 3
FLUID INSIDER!
Fluid Insider y CRONEY BLAURA
We have had another busy quarter here at Fluid Business Coaching including: re-launching the Foundations Programme, releasing the second book in the Levels series and welcoming a new member to the team!
I
n October we welcomed Teresa (Tee) Tudge to the Fluid team. Tee is Business Liason here at Fluid. If you haven’t done so already, she looks forward to meeting you soon. The Levels: Can YOU step up to the growth challenge?’ by author and Founder of Fluid Business Coaching, Ray Moore, looks at the mindset challenges you must overcome in order to grow your business from a small to medium sized company.
You can get your copy from amazon.co.uk in paperback and kindle versions. If you haven’t done so already, you can check out the Fluid Business Podcast for a plethora of weekly FREE advice from our expert business coaches. You can listen via iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher and our website:www.fluidbusiness.co.uk As we approach the end of 2015, from all at Fluid we send you best wishes over the festive break.
Laura
YOU MIGHT LIKE:
WHAT IS THE LEVELS? Want to find out which Level your business is at? Check out this handy animation video! thelevelsblog.com/what-is-the-levels 4 | FBM AUTUMN 2015
FBP 022 Peter Boolkah discusses the importance of having meeting rhythms. Listen at: fluidbusiness.co.uk/FBP
OUT NOW - NEW BOOK! Ray Moore’s new book, The Levels Can YOU Step Up to the Growth Challenge? is out now! thelevelsbook.com
COACH QUESTION TIME: THE FOUR KEYS TO BUSINESS GROWTH
What holds business owners back from growth?
ANDY SLEET Preparing Your Business for stability and sale? Speak to Andy
HUGO HEIJ Lead and develop your team on an international scale with Hugo
ANDYSLEET@FLUIDBUSINESS.CO.UK
A:
As a business grows the pressure to maintain and succeed can create a Team of All Stars. Often the business owner works hard and excels in many roles. However, as the business starts to transition to a medium sized business (50 employees plus) the pressure on the business owner becomes too much. To truly unlock the potential of the business, the future must be based on building an All Star Team that work together.
PETER BOOLKAH Experiencing Rapid Growth? Speak to Peter
HUGOHEIJ@FLUIDBUSINESS.CO.UK
A:
One of the major keys to business growth is making sure you have a healthy and happy team. A healthy work culture breeds better businesses. The impact of an employee’s health on a business is clear. A healthy work culture and a happy team helps foster and encourage greater team productivity and engagement, which are at the heart of business growth. Have you got a happy and motivated team in your business?
PETERBOOLKAH@FLUIDBUSINESS.CO.UK
A:
Usually people go into business ownership, from a corporate career using their lifelong experiences to get the business going. Normally that works for three years. Then they find they’ve used up their box of tricks and don’t know what to do next because they don’t have the experience. In 90% of cases it’s not the business that has hit the ceiling, it’s the business owner. In order to grow the business owner must embrace change.
RAY MOORE MANAGING COACH Expert in family business, succession planning and author of The Levels. RAYMOORE@FLUIDBUSINESS.CO.UK
A: Every single business I have worked with has the potential to grow, to develop and improve performance. This sounds promising but there’s a catch – they have the potential to do this IF they are willing to tackle ‘change’. Learning to change or ‘evolve’ is the difference between winning and losing. If we go back to nature, when something cannot adapt to changes in the environment, the results are not good. This is the same
in the world of business. As business owners, we must all learn to embrace change and stay ahead of the game. Many business owners say they have 10 years business experience, in a lot of cases they actually only have 3 or 4. Subsequent years are just replicated, like a photocopier. Learn to change and adjust your mindset and your business will grow as you do.
FBM AUTUMN 2015 | 5
THE LEVELS
CAN YOU STEP UP TO THE GROWTH CHALLENGE? Ray Moore, author of The Levels and Founder of Fluid Business Coaching releases his second book ‘The Levels: Can YOU Step Up to the Growth Challenge?’ we discuss what you can expect and what inspired him to write another business book.
OUT NOW
“Helped me get back on track in my own business I only wish I had found this sooner.”
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THE LEVELS CAN YOU STEP UP TO THE GROWTH CHALLENGE By Ray Moore
“What Ray does is describe what every business owner must go through to succeed.”
“Brilliant book that deals with the mindset shifts required for us SME business owners.”
R
ay Moore: business owner, coach and author of the business book The Levels: Can Your Business Step Up to the Growth Challenge, is back with his second book in The Levels series, and this time it’s about YOU! We see Ray turn his attention to the mindset changes business owners must embrace to achieve balanced growth. The book is written in the same no nonsense, easy to understand style as the first book in the Levels series.
Quite simply of all the things you are going to have to alter in your business, changing the way you think is going to be the most difficult. Written from one business owner to another this is an easy to understand route to understand how using the levels mindset you too can grow your business.
ay’s aim, as always, is to ‘debunk’ a lot of the business jargon that you find in other business books. Ray describes this as “gobbledygook”. Topics covered in the book include:
Change
Every business has the potential to grow if the business owner is willing to change. In business ‘survival of the fittest’ is very true to form. A business has to be able to continually and smoothly evolve in order to survive - the problem for businesses is that, if you leave it too long to accept change, it could be fatal.
Comfort Zone
Your comfort zone is made up in your head and it’s made from your ego and your fears. It’s something that you need to understand comprehensively if you are going to ‘break free’ from it. As Ray points out, breaking free sounds very ‘melodramatic’, however they are what you have to do. What we must really question is actually if our comfort zone is really all that comfortable. Many SME business owners are stuck in a somewhat ‘uncomfortable comfort zone’
Sit Down with a Coach
Ray explains “Remember every journey starts by taking the first step! In order to achieve balanced and sustainable business growth we must make some changes, namely changes to ourselves”.
3 THINGS TO REMEMBER!
R
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
of working long hours, being cash strapped and not willing to let go of the hold they have over the business.
DONT MISS the opportunity to sit down with one of our business coaches for a chat about your business. All of our coaches are Levels Certified and have extensive experience owning and running their own businesses.Visit www.fluidbusiness.co.uk for more information or call Lynsey on 01245 423377.
Fluid Business Podcast
But without change, and breaking free from that comfort zone, the business owner will actually stifle growth.
Aligning Priorities
It is very easy to focus our minds on the ‘to-do’ list when faced with daily pressures from the business. Each priority seems urgent and ticking them off brings satifaction. Whilst it is much harder to focus on the important things - the priorities for the business and the team is where the business owners mindset should be. That is how it should work in every business.
OUT NOW weekly advice and insights from the business experts on topics such as business growth, family business, team and efficiency. Available on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud & fluidbusiness.co.uk
The Foundations Programme
The Levels: Can YOU Step Up to the Growth Challenge? is your route to taking control of the future of your business and the lifestyle you really want to be living. It’s time to change, are you ready to step up? The Levels: Can YOU Step Up to the Growth Challenge? is available to purchase from Amazon in paperback and kindle versions.
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! After the success
of the first installment the Foundations Programme is coming back! Places are limited, and offered on a first come first served basis. To register your details and for more information please visit;
www.fluidbusiness.co.uk/foundations FBM AUTUMN 2015 | 7
COACH FOCUS
RAPID BUSINESS GROWTH: Peter Boolkah is a rapid growth expert
BUSINESS GROWTH Where to start when growth stops
Why would two companies in the same industry, with the same financial performance, command vastly different valuations? The answer often comes down to how much each business is likely to grow in the future. The problem is that a lot of successful businesses reach a point where their growth starts to slow as the company matures. In fact, the price of doing a great job carving out a unique niche is that the specialty that made you successful can start to hold you back. If you make the world’s greatest £5,000 wine fridge, you may have a successful, profitable business until you run out of people willing to spend
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£5,000 to keep their wine cool. Demonstrating how your business is likely to grow in the future is one of the keys to driving a premium price for your company when it comes time to sell. To brainstorm how to grow beyond the niche that got you started, consider the Ansoff Matrix. It was first published in the Harvard Business Review in 1957 but remains a helpful framework for business owners today. Sometimes called the Product/Market Expansion Grid, the Ansoff Matrix shows four ways that businesses can grow, and it can help you think through the risks associated with each option.
Imagine a square divided into four quadrants representing your four growth choices, which include selling… 1. 2. 3. 4.
Existing products to existing customers New products to existing customers Existing products to new markets New products to new markets
The choices above are presented from least to most risky. In a smaller business, with less money to gamble, focusing your attention on the first two options will give you the lowest risk options for growth.
Existing Products to Existing Customers It’s natural to feel like you’re being greedy when you go back to the same customers for more business, but the opposite can often be true. Your best customers are usually the ones who know and like you the most and are often pleased to find out that you – someone they trust – are offering something they need. Greg is a hardware store owner who came to understand the Ansoff Matrix. Greg earns a 150% mark up on cutting keys but his cutter was hidden in a corner of the store where nobody could see it. As a result, he didn’t cut many keys. One day, Greg decided to move the key cutter and position it directly behind the cash register so everyone paying for his or her hardware could see the machine. Customers started seeing the cutter and realised – often to their pleasant surprise – that Greg cut keys. Not surprisingly, Greg started selling a lot more keys to his loyal customers. The key cutter didn’t woo many new customers, but it did increase his overall revenue per customer. If you want to sell more of your existing products to your existing customers, draw up a simple chart of your products and services. Don’t be afraid to dust off those old products that you haven’t paid much attention to lately. List your best customers’ names down one side of the paper and your products across the top. Then cross-reference your customer list with your product list to identify opportunities to sell your best customers more of your existing products.
New Products to Existing Customers Another approach to growth is to sell new products to existing customers. For example, there is a BMW dealership owner in the USA whose typical customer is a family patriarch in his forties. When he felt like he had saturated the market for well-heeled fortysomething men in his trading area, he thought about what other products he could sell his existing customers. But instead of defining his customer as the forty-something man, he decided to think of his customer as the financially successful family and his market as their driveway.
PETER BOOLKAH Fluid Business Coach Business Growth Expert
Instead of trying to sell more BMWs into a market of diminishing returns, he bought a Chrysler dealership so he could sell minivans to the spouses of his BMW buyers. He then realised that a lot of his customers had kids in their teens so he bought a Kia dealership to sell the family a third, inexpensive car. Once you become successful, it can be tempting to sit back and enjoy your success. But in order to drive up the value of your business, you need to be able to demonstrate how you can grow, and the least risky strategy will be to figure out what else you could sell to your existing customers.
If you would like to work with Peter and find out how he can help you with your business, please visit www.fluidbusiness.co.uk/peterboolkah or email peterboolkah@fluidbusiness.co.uk.
FBM AUTUMN 2015 | 9
FEATURE
REFLECT & REVIEW How to get real value from 2015.
10 | FBM AUTUMN 2015
FBM AUTUMN 2015 | 11
One of the most important things a business owner can do is to take the time to Stop, Reflect and Review.
W
e’re sure that most of you are aware that with all the greatest of intentions your New Year Resolutions will quickly disappear into the mist. In fact, statistically the vast majority of New Year resolutions will have been broken or will be broken within six weeks. How often do you hear ‘thank heavens that year is over, things will now get better!’ putting some mystical relevance on the start of a new year? Let’s be honest, your fortunes are not going to miraculously change with the change of a year number. When you think about it, New Year’s Day just highlights the passage of time. It marks the passing of the last 52 weeks and allows us to welcome the next 52 weeks. Now the festive break, is a great time to relax, spend time with family and put on a few lbs. But it is also a great time to take stock, to reflect and to plan for the next 12 months. Perhaps it is even a good time to decide to throw out the old and welcome in the new. So as we wave goodbye to 2015 and welcome 2016 here are two questions to ask yourself to help you Stop, Reflect and Review the last year in preparation for the next 52 weeks – What happened in the last 52 weeks? Can you truly remember what you did every day last year? Probably not! Doesn’t it seem that the days blurred into weeks, which then blurred into months and suddenly it’s the end of
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another year. Maybe it dragged or it just seemed to fly by. Like most of us it probably seemed to fly by. Indeed it seems the older we get, the faster the years seem to pass. Compare this to how long holidays seemed to last when you were a schoolchild? Contrary, to what we know, it seems that time does not pass at a linear speed. It seems that our perception of the speed time passes is based on how we feel in that moment. If you are bored time will drag and if you are busy and enjoying life time will fly. In business it is so easy to become so busy that it seems as if you haven’t any time to reflect. Now, we aren’t saying for you to live in the past opening up all the sores of yesterday- but learn from those experiences so you can build a better future. Remember the old adage, ‘when you spend money you can always make some more, but when you spend timeit is gone forever. So invest your time wisely.’ With the passing of each year aim to build on the experience you have gained in the last and previous years. Move forward by taking your understandings from say the last thirty years into your thirty-first year. Now that is an investment that has real value!
Invest your time wisely
STOP, REFLECT & REVIEW Invest your time wisely
“In business it is so easy to become so busy that it seems as if you haven’t any time to reflect”
- Ray Moore
FBM AUTUMN 2015 | 13
SOLID FOUNDATIONS The Levels Certified Foundations Programme is back! Start work on your business, to realise the true potential for sustainable and substantial growth in 2016.
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Our coaches are the only certified Levels coaches in the world that can deliver workshop and training programmes in line with the Levels model. Systems that have been developed based on the Levels books.
over six evening sessions on a fortnightly basis in a three month period. Plus a bonus quarterly planning session is included. This means you leave the programme with a solid plan of how to take your business forward.
The Foundations Programme is a 3 month group workshop that delves into the fundamentals of building strong foundations and a strong business. Areas covered include delivery of service, finance, marketing, setting out your stall and preparing your business for growth, as well as determining what you are trying to build. The programme is delivered
The Foundations Programme is delivered at Fluid Business Coaching offices in Chelmsford, Essex by a Levels Certified Coach along with a maximum of 10 other business owners who are in a similar position to you. Being a business owner can often be a lonely place. Close friends and family aren’t necessarily business owners themselves and do not
A BUSINESS OWNER’S PERSPECTIVE
NATALIE MOORE Managing Director Fluid Business Coaching
Often in business things tick along nicely for a while and then something happens to challenge you. You may have lost a big customer or a key employee, which has made you realised that you need to make some changes and do something different. You need to take action, but you might not know where to turn if you don’t have the knowledge to deal with the challenge.
If you have the tiniest inkling that you want to do something for you and your business, to take action, I encourage you to try out the Foundations Programme and our coaches will work with you and guide you through your challenges.
understand where you are coming from and the huge decisions you have to make everyday. The Foundations Programme gives you the opportunity to work on your business with other like-minded business owners. It might be that you’re looking to grow your turnover by a certain amount, or perhaps you’re looking to put the preparations in place to take on a new sales team, it’s completely different for every business. The Foundations Programme covers Delivery, Finance, Sales and Marketing. You will learn how to attract people to your business, whilst gaining control and understanding the needs of your own business. You will create and action a plan that is tailored to your specific business that will allow you to increase your profits and become a truly successful business owner.
100%
Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back!*
FBM AUTUMN 2015 | 15
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA DURING TIMES OF CRISIS BY DAVID SARGANT
Social media has facilitated an unprecedented connection between the world’s populations, allowing us to interact with individuals as if they were standing in the same room with us, rather than being separated by hundreds, even thousands of miles. It has indeed made the world a much smaller place, but it has allowed us to discover a vast number of our similarities and differences in ways we never imagined were possible. I work in social media marketing every single day, and while social media might seem frivolous to some – a never-ending show of selfies, inconsequential status updates and an endless loop of marketing for brands – it plays a much more important role during times of crisis. The recent terrorist attacks in Paris serve to illustrate how social media can bring us together during times of crisis, keeping us informed of events as they unfold, and putting information at our fingertips on mobile devices. Never before has information been so easily accessed by so many, and for the greater good of society. On Friday, November 13, 2015, the world watched in horror as over 100 people were killed, and hundreds more were wounded in the neighbourhoods of Paris. Reports now tell us that the majority of those victims were young adults, many of whom used social media to communicate with loved ones and the rest the world. Hashtags were created on Twitter to show support for Paris, and individuals wanting to
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offer shelter and comfort tweeted their locations, inviting complete strangers to come to them for safety and solace after witnessing such atrocities. Facebook created a check-in service for people in Paris to proclaim their safety to their online friends, and Instagram exploded with photos of Parisian landmarks and written missives of solidarity. Moreover, news stories went viral, and millions of people tuned in to the online feeds of international news agencies to stay apprised of developments. We, as marketing professionals, often forget the first use of social media is for communication, not promotion. It has become hard to imagine what life would be like if we did not have this powerful technology at our fingertips to keep us informed of world events, both positive and negative. While having access to a wealth of social media platforms can be a positive during natural disasters and other negative situations, there is a downside too. While the majority of users utilise these resources to promote positivity, there is a certain segment of the population that exploits social media as a means to push their personal agendas. We saw this happen on Twitter on November 13, with various well-known and not so well-known individuals voicing their negativity and ignorance during a time when the majority of the online community was expressing compassion for those affected by the attacks.
There are important lessons we must still learn from how social media is used during times of crisis. We need to respect the importance of this extremely effective tool to provide accurate information as well as comfort to those who find themselves in the middle of adverse events. Further, we must foster a supportive community, rather than a divisive one. It always helps to think before you post a status update to Facebook, tweet, or share a photo on Instagram. Social media is a virulent world that can sometimes make or break its participants. We witness ordinary
people becoming YouTube stars, and others getting vilified or bullied for no reason other than the ease with which it can be accomplished. In closing, it is important to remember that social media isn’t going anywhere. It will be with us in good times and in bad, and it is constantly being updated and re-invented to serve the needs of a worldwide community. It is better to be a force for good, rather than adding to the negativity we try so hard to minimise.
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"No matter how much individuals fight against it, change is inevitable"
THE SPEED OF CHANGE You must accept that your business is going to change, with or without your consent. Get out of that comfort zone and embrace the change. By Ray Moore Isn’t it odd how we don’t see slow changes until something draws our attention to it. This certainly happened this morning on my jog (notice the word jog not run!) In the UK we have experienced a prolonged mild Autumn. The leaves started to turn colour about six weeks ago but because of the mild weather the big drop has been delayed. Suddenly this morning I became aware that the branches were bare. The trees were ready for winter. The change had happened without drama. It happened slowly but it still happened. It’s just that I had missed it! Some of you reading this may be like me and now realise that the trees are bare. Others may ask what am I on about as you have been clearing up leaves for weeks! The thing is we only see changes that we are prompted to see. Isn’t it the same in business? Change seems to creep up on us. You know or suspect something is about to change but you miss the tell tale signs as you are focused on other things. However, just like the leaves on the trees change will happen- it’s natural. I have found that the hardest thing for a business owner to accept is that their business will change and the whole team 18 | FBM AUTUMN 2015
may have to change to cope with the new circumstances. It may be slow but things will change. No matter how much individuals may fight against the inevitable. Thinking about this I was reminded about a former colleague who fought the introduction of a computerised sales order processing system. I remember him uttering the words ‘If you think I am going to tell the computer everything I know you are seriously mistaken.” well you can imagine his fate! Just like King Canute he could not hold back the tide (of change). He was not prepared to change and so was left behind and paid the price. So be prepared to embrace change. It may seem scary but remember it is natural. Nothing stays the same its just the timescale of change that varies. Listen to this article on episode 023 of the Fluid Business Podcast at: www.fluidbusiness.co.uk/023. This article was originally posted on thelevelsblog.com