However, I recently met a book I'm enjoying reading! I've gotten involved in a women's publishing network here (which I am really going to miss!). The leader, Bev Ryan, was the project manager for "Women on Top: Against the Odds" by Terri Cooper and Sally Healy. The book profiles 11 women who have built successful independent businesses and talks about the lessons they have to offer. Most of these businesses started out as small, often home-based, businesses so there are lessons I'm taking away from each of them.
I'd like to share great quotes from the book along the way. Today we start with Sally Healy. She built Jigsaw Consulting Group, "a market leader in delivering professional and personalised recruitment, training, and coaching strategies."
I had a clear picture of what the business looked like although I struggled to put it into words. Rather than get hung up about the lack of a plan I decided to let the business unfold naturally, which may have been naive, however it allowed me to be very client-driven. Friends and professional alike advised me to make a business plan and stick to it. I disagreed with that philosophy and still believe that if you follow the exact path your business plan mapped out you may miss critical opportunities you might otherwise have embraced.
Now, if you've read this blog for long you know that I am a big proponent of the business plan. Yet I found great wisdom in what she has to say.
A business plan helps us get clear with what we're trying to do -- what are we doing, why are we doing it, what it's going to cost, our organization, and what steps to take to move forward -- but a business plan is not Truth In All Its Majesty. The most valuable part of the business plan, the part you should never ignore, is not the financials or the organizational strategy or the competitive analysis. The most important parts of a good business plan are the mission and vision statements.
If you stay true to your mission and your vision, then the specifics (including the financials, competitive analysis, etc.) can be very flexible. You have to be able to adapt as you discover what really works and doesn't work but you do need to stay focused on why you're doing what you're doing and what you hope to accomplish. Both of those truths (Truths?) are contained in well-constructed mission and vision statements.
A few more good quotes from Sally:
On working from home: Client calls sometimes happened in my walk-in-wardrobe [closet for you non-Aussies] to escape the household noise.
On developing a brand: A brand is not just a logo, nor is it an arm of your marketing strategy. It represents your business ethics, personality, values and tone of voice. It creates customer loyalty and market positioning.
On when to get started: Don't wait for things to be right in order to begin. Change is chaotic. Things will never be just right. As Teddy Roosevelt once said, 'Do what you can, with what you have, where you are right now.'
On the role of passion in business: I believe that passion is the competitive advantage that an organisation can't buy. Passion fills us with energy and enables us to perform at our peak and that is infectious. Embrace it, revel in it and use it to stand apart. Follow your heart and not the crowd.
On competition: 'It's a cut-throat world, where serious business means competing for market share to survive. We watch our competitors closely to ensure we have the upper hand.' This competitive outlook is the conventional view of the world of marketing. It's based on the mentality of lack, on the belief that there are a limited number of clients for your services. Of course competition is healthy, but if we are willing to get past the essence of rivalry there is much to be gained from collaboration. The key to success is keeping an open mind and willingness to learn and share knowledge. You are more likely to succeed if you go into a collaboration with that frame of mind.
On growing your practice: 'Grow or die' has been an unquestioned presumption of executives, business schools and journals that I have avidly devoured. I made the mistake of recruiting a bigger team and taking bigger premises without doing what I call a risk audit...Growing too quickly can stress people, processes and quality controls...Growth occurs well when the risks of growth are properly managed. If not, it can be harmful.
On contracts: A signed contract is simply a piece of paper with words on it. What's behind a signed contract is a relationship. If the relationship breaks down, the contract won't save you...Once you are at the stage of resorting to what's written on the contract, the arrangement is already in trouble.
On intuition vs. logic: If you base all your business deals on logic and disregard your intuition, you will most likely regret it.
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