Business Plans | Read Ed Reid

Why You Need a Longer To-Do List

Posted on April 8, 2016 by edreidyork

We’re into April – and the Blog is approaching its sixth birthday. That’s something close to 300 posts and nearly 200,000 words.

Which three word combination has appeared most frequently? I’ve no way of telling, but I sincerely hope it’s ‘work/life balance.’ But there are three more little words that won’t be far behind: the ones that haunt all of us. Yep, I’m talking about the ‘to-do list.’

However you keep it – on your phone, in Evernote or on a pleasantly retro piece of paper – the to-do list dominates our lives.

Let’s leave aside for a moment the trap we all occasionally fall into – scoring a few quick wins at the bottom while the most important thing on it remains ominously un-ticked. Let’s also ignore the need to prioritise the damn thing and to make sure that ‘life’ is every bit as well represented as ‘work.’

Let’s just look at one thing: the sheer length of your to-do list. And let me now make the vast majority of you splutter on your cornflakes or hurl your coffee at the screen in annoyance.

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Because I’m going to suggest that your to-do list should be longer.

And that if it was, you’d be even more productive…

Let me use a simple example: ‘plan next year.’ Another three little words that will have appeared on all our to-do lists at some point in the not-too-distant past.

But what does ‘plan next year’ really mean…

Once you go to work you realise that ‘plan next year’ contains a series of questions:

What do we want to achieve next year?
So what are the quarterly targets we need to reach to do this?
What does this mean for staffing levels?
Do we need to cut costs? Or raise more investment?
What advertising and marketing do we need to do?
And how are all these plans going to impact on the cash flow?

All these points clearly impact on your to-do list: but suddenly one big task – made even more difficult because it is so vague – can be broken down into a series of small, precise, achievable steps:

Decide key targets/goals for next year
Determine necessary quarterly targets
Review staffing levels in light of targets
Plan advertising & marketing strategy for next year
Prepare business plan and cash flow forecast
Make appointment with bank

There are days when the to-do list fills everyone with dread: but the dread comes not from the length of the list, but from filling it with things we have no chance of achieving. If ‘plan next year’ is on the list with a host of client work and ‘Nativity Play at 2:30’ then you haven’t a hope of doing it. You won’t even start it.

You do have a hope of determining your key goals for next year. Or working backwards to your quarterly targets. What you’ll do by breaking your to-do list down into smaller segments is achieve something – instead of being overwhelmed by the enormity of what’s in front of you.

There are two other reasons for breaking the list down. If you go home at the end of the day and ‘plan next year’ is still on your list it’s going to cause you pain. And it’s going to cause you more pain when you see it again the next morning. But if you go home with your key targets identified and crossed off the list… That’s an entirely different feeling.

Secondly, your to-do list isn’t a wish list: it is – or should be – something that reflects your overall plan for the year or the quarter. And that plan requires specific actions – ‘decide key targets’ – not vague pipedreams like ‘plan next year.’

None of this advice is revolutionary. You’ve almost certainly heard or read it before. After all, it’s only eating the elephant one bite at a time. But we all slip back into bad habits and trust me, this works. It may be counter-intuitive but making your to-do list longer means you’ll ultimately get big things done faster and achieve more. And that’s what we all want…

Tim Ferris and Tony Soprano

Posted on January 15, 2016 by edreidyork

Most people reading this blog will have heard of Tim Ferris. Best-selling author of the 4 Hour Work Week, The 4 Hour Chef and The 4 Hour Body. Angel investor in and/or adviser to a host of companies including Facebook, Uber, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Evernote and others…

Ferris has been described by New Yorker Magazine as ‘this generation’s self-help guru’ and as ‘today’s equivalent of Napoleon Hill.’ (Remember him? The author of the first self-help book any of us ever read.)

But Ferris is also accused of manipulating his 5* reviews on Amazon, he’s Wired Magazine’s ‘Greatest Self-Promoter of All Time’ and The 4 Hour Work Week has been described by one reviewer as “A disquieting insight into the world of the 21^st Century snake-oil salesman.”

But whatever your view on Tim Ferris, one thing is undeniable. He is hugely quotable. Like anyone who’s quoted extensively, there are plenty of clichés in the collection – but there are also some seriously valid points.

I’ve picked out four (an appropriate number!) which both underline the perennial themes running through this blog, and which are highly relevant as we finally get Christmas out of our systems and focus on our goals for 2016.

Here’s the first one:

For all the most important things, the timing always sucks. The stars will never align and the traffic lights will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn’t conspire against you, but it doesn’t go out of its way to line up the pins either. ‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you.

How many times have I written that – or words to that effect? There’s never a perfect time to get married, have children, quit your job or start your own business. Neither is there a perfect time to expand your business or – ultimately – sell your business. As Ferris says, ‘Just do it and correct course along the way.’

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He’s backed up by that other great business guru of our age – Tony Soprano. “A wrong decision is better than indecision.” Spot on, boss. A wrong decision can be acted upon and corrected. But as Ferris says, indecision takes you and your dreams to your grave.

What we fear most is usually what we most need to do.

A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he’s willing to have.

OK, I’ve cheated slightly by treating these two as one quote: I’ve allowed myself some leeway as they’re so similar.

How many times have you come into the office, looked at your to-do list and seen one job screaming at you? One job that’s metaphorically in 72pt font bold? That’s the job you absolutely need to do – and yes, it may very well involve an uncomfortable conversation.

What’s your to-do list look like two hours later? Fantastic. Loads of jobs crossed out. Except for the one in 72pt bold – the one that would really make a difference to your day/week/month/year. And what was Mr Soprano reading last time I re-watched an old episode? Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.

If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.

I often think back to my ‘first big sale.’ “Yes you can, Ed,” my sales manager said to me. ‘No, I can’t,’ I thought. This was a serious client: I’d only been in the job six months. It would be a two hour grilling. Complex, technical questions that I’d struggle to answer.

You know what happened. My competitors were no better than I was. He asked less difficult questions than almost any other client I’d met. I was in and out in no time. “Will you deliver?” “Yes.” “Will you look after me?” “Yes.” We shook hands.

‘Bigger’ never means more difficult or more complex or ‘you’re not worthy.’ It just means ‘bigger.’

Remember – boredom is the enemy, not some abstract ‘failure.’

Over the years I’ve seen so many people running businesses make mistakes because they were bored. Tim Ferris is absolutely right: boredom is the enemy. Now, more than ever, you can’t stand still in business. As the world swirls around you your business has to change and move forward – and you need to be constantly challenged. Beware the temptation to stand still; to think, ‘we’re in a good place, let’s consolidate.’ Boredom will inevitably follow – as will mistakes, both personal and professional.

Fortunately, there’s an antidote. I refer, of course, to your colleagues round the TAB boardroom table. A group of people that will most certainly challenge you, and who’ll give you courage – to do what you fear most, and to go through a few lights that may not be green.

How to Succeed in 2016 – in Thirty Seconds…

Posted on November 13, 2015 by edreidyork

We’ve all heard the term ‘elevator pitch’ – a short, succinct and persuasive sales pitch, traditionally delivered in the space of an elevator ride. Once upon a time that was two minutes: let’s adjust for today’s lifts and say 30 seconds…

I was talking to someone who specialises in bringing entrepreneurs with great ideas face to face with significant investors. “To be honest,” he said, “The elevator pitch is dead. These days there are so many good ideas – the market is so competitive – that investors want to see a serious proposal. And that includes a working website or an embryo app.”

Point taken. But call me old-fashioned. As I never tire of saying, you must be able to define your business in a few (three at the most) short, sharp sentences. Just ask my old friend, the fitness coach for pregnant women in Kensington.

What started me on elevators? I came across this video on the BBC business site. It’s young entrepreneurs making ten second pitches at the recent Dublin Web Summit. Well, I’ve watched it twice now and all I can remember is ‘electric scooters.’

In fairness, ten seconds is a remarkably short time. And they probably didn’t have much chance to prepare.

But what about 30 seconds? The elevator pitch? There are plenty of times when we all have to describe our business in that time. And yet very few people manage to be short, succinct, persuasive – and memorable.

You can say a lot in 30 seconds. If you’re making a speech you’ll speak at between 120 and 140 words per minute. So 30 seconds gives you 60-70 words.

So here’s the challenge. Can you do that? Short, succinct and everything else in 30 seconds.

Of course, that means there’s no hiding place. Can I describe The Alternative Board in 30 seconds? Here goes:

What do a builder, a manufacturer and the owner of a software company have in common? The insight and experience to help each other achieve their vision. The Alternative Board makes this possible for business owners like you.

I’ll anxiously wait for the comments, criticism and corrections…

But in the meantime, there’s an even more important 30 seconds looming for all of us.

Today is November 13^th. Christmas Day is exactly six weeks away. 52 days from now we’ll stumble back to our desks to start another year. And the single biggest key to success in 2016 is simple: knowing what you want to achieve.

So here’s another 30 second challenge: can you define your goals for the coming year in that time? Can you clearly, simply and unequivocally say what you want to achieve? If you can’t – even if you have a long wish-list tucked away somewhere in Evernote – you’re in trouble.

So once again, Ed, nowhere to hide…

In 2016 I want to provide an even better experience for my current board members. And I want to help 10 more business owners in York get more out of their business and their life.

That’s 35 words: the definition of TAB was 38. So the definitions are short – and for me, they’re memorable. Every second of every day, I know what I want to achieve next year. And everything flows backwards from there: the marketing I need to do, the people I need to speak to… Everything.

Doing those two exercises will be some of the most useful time you’ll spend between now and the end of the year. And when you flick the office lights on in just over seven weeks’ time you’ll be focused on what’s relevant and what’s going to move you towards your goals. Equally importantly, the 30 second definitions will tell you what’s irrelevant: what’s simply vanity or window-dressing.

One final point. I’ve always loved the research that comes with writing this blog. I learn something new every week. In a sign that I need to get out more I found myself wondering if 30 seconds was about right for a lift. So I just Googled world’s fastest elevator. In a sign that a lot of people need to get out more there were 838,000 results. Here you go – the Shanghai Tower. And if that’s where you decide to make your elevator pitch, you’d better be going to the penthouse…

Have a great weekend.

The Things I’d Do Differently…

Posted on October 16, 2015 by edreidyork

Despite his success, less than a decade later, he quit his six-figure salary and sold all of his possessions, including a 19^th Century manor house in the Cotswolds, his collection of classic cars, antiques and artwork – including work by Damien Hirst – to raise money and start a new business.

That quotation comes from an article on the BBC business website. It’s about the recruitment entrepreneur David Spencer-Perceval, head of the specialist recruiter, Spencer Ogden.

For me, the article raised two really interesting questions:

What would I do differently if I were starting my business again?
And – six years on and six years older – would I still have the courage to leave the security of the corporate world and do it now?

Everyone with a business has asked themselves the first question: if I were starting my business again, knowing what I know now, what would I do differently? For me, there are two very significant points.

First and foremost, I’d have put more working capital into the business. Not so that I could take more money out of the business in the early days, but to enable me to make better decisions.

Today, you can start a business with very little money. The old days when you needed high street premises, stock and six months’ advertising in the local paper are gone for good. But maybe the pendulum has swung too far the other way – towards the perception that you’re not a real man if you didn’t bootstrap your business.

The more I see of business, the more certain I am that not having enough capital in the early days is bad news. Yes, obviously it places a strain on cash flow and leads to sleepless nights and arguments with your spouse – but not having enough capital is bad for your decision making as well.

A shortage of capital forces you to make short term decisions for the benefit of your cash flow – not long term decisions for the good of your business. It forces you to adapt the worst possible definition of a client – ‘anyone with a pulse.’ A shortage of capital hampers you in the short term and in the long term – because it takes time to recover from the bad decisions you were forced to make for the good of the cash flow.

The other thing I’d do differently? As the saying goes, I’d ‘check my ego at the door.’ Let me hold my hand up and say that when I started TAB York I didn’t know as much as I thought I knew. When you’re running a division inside a major company you think it’s just like running your own business. It’s not. It’s not even remotely like it – as you very quickly find it. But you’ve come from the corporate world. The culture is ingrained. You can’t show weakness or admit you need help.

So very simply, I’d have asked the very talented people I was working with for more help – much more quickly.

And so to my second question: six years on, six years more secure, six years deeper into the corporate culture, would I still have the courage to start my own business?

I’m certain the answer to that is a resounding ‘yes.’

Starting – and running – a business is a lot like falling in love and starting a family. The parallels hold good all the way through. And just as you can’t choose when you fall in love, so you can’t choose the moment when you absolutely know you have to start your own business. Everyone reading this blog knows the story of my breakfast at Newport Pagnell: and everyone reading the blog has their own version of the story.

Yes, of course we’d all do things differently. But the key thing is that we did something. That we had faith in ourselves – and that we were brave enough to push our breakfast to one side and say, ‘No more. It has to change.’

That’s why I’m so proud to work with you all. Have a great weekend and I’ll see you next week – and let me know what you’d do differently if you were starting over…

Business Lessons in a Bacon Sandwich

Posted on October 1, 2015 by edreidyork

For the sake of my host the hotel shall remain nameless. As will the ‘event.’

But it took place early in the morning, which meant that a bacon sandwich was an integral part of the proceedings.

Or maybe not…

A particularly un-riveting presentation finished. I marched towards the food, seeking some consolation.

I’m a reasonable chap: I’m not one of these people who insist his bacon has a precisely calibrated degree of crispiness. But, nameless hotel chef, I do like it to be cooked. Not sliced from the pig’s back and dangled somewhere near a source of heat for a few seconds.

No. I’m sorry. I simply couldn’t eat that. So sausage sandwich it was. After all, you can’t ruin a sausage sandwich – even if the bread did have that mass-produced-and-probably-yesterday’s look.

Nope, you can’t ruin a sausage sandwich. But this wasn’t a sausage. It was lukewarm cardboard in a plastic skin.

So where was this ‘event’ held? As above, it has to remain nameless. But it wasn’t Mrs Miggins’ Pie Shop and Breakfast Bar. It was a hotel: part of a chain and one that frequently caters for functions.

Let’s be charitable: it was early in the morning, it may not have been the head chef at work.

But damn it, a bacon sandwich is as basic as it gets. Anyone can make a good bacon sandwich. It’s simple (he said, triggering the most heated debate the blog has seen…)

Bacon from the local butcher – grilled in my view
Bread from the local baker – buttered if you insist, and thick enough for the…
Tomatoes – in a perfect world grilled and from your own garden. Failing that, plum tomatoes, which means Napolina, not Tesco’s

The point I’m making is this: a bacon or sausage sandwich is a ridiculously simple thing to get right. I can do it: you can do it. But if a hotel can’t do it, I have no confidence that it can do anything. Could I ever recommend that hotel to friends or business colleagues staying in the area? Not in a million years.

And that’s an essential message for all of us…

…Because sometimes we’re all in danger of forgetting the basics.

Yes, the numbers look good; yes, we’re well on with plans for 2016; and yes, we’ve just booked two of the team on that leadership development programme. Awesome, all guns blazing and mutual congratulations all round.

But there’s a list of calls you need to return. And did you thank Geoff for that referral he gave you? Or apologise to Fiona for being late to the meeting?

They’re things you’d never have done when you started the business…

We’re all guilty of letting little things slip. If you like, of concentrating on Saturday’s wedding and forgetting Friday morning’s bacon sandwiches. But the man eating the lukewarm cardboard has a daughter who’ll get married one day: and he knows one hotel that won’t be quoting for the reception.

For me, there are three things that are the ‘bacon sandwiches’ of my business. In truth, they’ve got nothing to do with business: they’re basic good manners. But for me they’re part of making sure I’m in control – and if I’m in control, I’ll get the big things right as well.

First of all, I say ‘thank you.’ It takes no time to write a quick thank you note and yet so few people do it. Without question a genuine ‘thank you’ note is the best marketing any business can do.
I stay in touch. Everyone in any form of sales business will tell you of the client/customer they lost touch with or wrote off as hopeless. Suddenly they’re your competitor’s top client. Stay in touch and catch up over coffee: it is so easy, and it consistently pays dividends.
And, as Louis XVIII taught us, ‘punctuality is the courtesy of kings.’ I simply do not know any successful person who is consistently late. I know plenty who are consistently five or ten minutes early to the point of OCD. So I pride myself on being on time: nope, it’s not always the easiest thing in North Yorkshire, especially at harvest time, but like the other two, it’s an integral part of my business – and who I am.

With that, have a great weekend – and now let battle commence. I’ll await the flood of angry e-mails from the brown sauce brigade…

Kickstarting your Business

Posted on July 17, 2015 by edreidyork

So here I am. Sitting at my laptop. And I’ve between £15 and £30 to invest: let’s see what I can get for my money…

Attack the Pack – the card game that replicates the experience of a pro bike race. And if I invest £18 I get one deck of ‘Attack the Pack’ playing cards and a branded LOKSAK pouch to ‘keep your deck safe on those wet winter training rides.’

How about Harvest – a stunning feature film set in the mountainous Cathar country? Wow! Just like Hollywood. I get to back a film. And for my £15 I’ve ‘joined the journey.’ They’ll keep me posted with regular updates and I’ll receive a ‘unique digital still’ from the shoot.

Then again, I could back The Really Magic Carpet – a children’s book on grief and hope. I need to spend slightly more – £33 – but for that I’ll get a copy of the book with a ‘letterpress illustrated nameplate’ inside it.

Well, I like cycling and I’m fond of a good film: but I never realised that one child in 29 is bereaved of a parent or sibling. My money’s going to The Really Magic Carpet – and good luck with it, guys…

If you haven’t already guessed, I’m on Kickstarter: specifically, the London, UK page of Kickstarter (and my apologies if any of the links don’t now work: I set them all up on Tuesday).

Most of you will have heard of Kickstarter. It’s about the best example there is of Crowdfunding – defined by Wiki as ‘the practice of funding a project or venture by raising a monetary contribution from a large number of people, typically via the internet.’

That’s as opposed to writing a business plan, preparing a cash flow forecast, finding some security and making an appointment with the bank manager. Who once upon a time made a judgement, but now refers you to the Business Risk Assessment Unit (who I suspect might look somewhat sceptically on the three projects mentioned above…)

Crowdfunding is new – and right now it’s still small. It’s estimated that in 2014 the Crowdfunding industry raised $16.2bn – a significant amount of money, but a tiny fraction of the amount banks would have lent to businesses. But it’s expanding rapidly – and it is undoubtedly enabling projects and businesses that a traditional lender wouldn’t even consider to start, thrive and, quite possibly, start employing people.

Ten years from now crowdfunding may well be the main source of start-up capital for small and medium sized companies – especially in the creative sector. There will undoubtedly be a billion dollar corporation that wouldn’t have existed without crowdfunding.

So if I ‘invest’ through Kickstarter I’m offered a ‘reward’ – for example, my book and the illustrated name plate. But supposing I want more than that? Supposing I want to invest rather more than my £33 and I’d like to take an equity stake in the business? There are an increasing number of crowdfunding sites offering exactly that: take a look at Syndicate Room for example, and you’ll see what I mean. Equally, I can choose to lend money to a start-up or growing business – and potentially receive a far higher rate of interest than I would on the high street. Perhaps the best known example of this peer-to-peer lending is Funding Circle.

Back with Kickstarter – and the three examples I chose. ‘Attack the Pack’ was looking to raise £7,500. And it’s achieved its goal – with four days of the funding period to go, 315 backers have pledged a total of £9,201 (so just under £30 each). Harvest is 60% of the way to a £15,000 goal, whilst I’m delighted to see that 211 backers have sent ‘Magic Carpet’ comfortably past its £10,000 goal.

Those who argue that sites like Kickstarter and the whole principle of crowdfunding will never make a significant impact on the economy might say that the amounts raised for these ventures are not significant sums. I’d make three points:

Firstly, most of us have had a dream and started our own business: when something is your passion – when you simply have to do it – then any sum that anyone contributes is significant
Secondly, more and more businesses are now based on knowledge, not widgets. A great many businesses simply don’t need the initial levels of capital that stock, workshops and high street premises once demanded
…And I chose businesses that were looking for roughly similar amounts, so that my £30 would buy me something. Go back to the London page and you’ll see the Bluetooth Wearable Gesture Controller (amount raised, nearly $150,000): doppel – performance enhancing wearable technology – has raised nearly £90,000. And if you want to be really impressed, earlier this year Pebble Time became the most successful Kickstarter project ever when it raised more than $20 million.

That’s a very basic introduction to Crowdfunding in general and Kickstarter in particular. There’s no doubt they’re both going to play an increasingly important part in business life. Make sure you’re aware of the possibilities they offer, both for your own business – and for projects that might be close to your heart.

Five Key Things Your Business Needs this Easter

Posted on March 26, 2015 by edreidyork

It barely seems two minutes since the first post of the year and yet here we are. Spring. At last. And the clocks go forward on Sunday – one of my favourite days of the year.

It also means that we’re a quarter of the way through the year. Hopefully you’re on track to achieve your goals, aims and ambitions: if not, there may be some serious questions at the next Board meeting…

Spring – and the Easter break – is always a good time for me. First and foremost I’m just back from our two day TAB conference which never fails to re-energise and re-focus me. And it’s impossible not to feel optimistic as you drive around North Yorkshire and see the blossom starting to appear.

It’s also a great time of year for taking stock – and there are five things I try to do every Spring/Easter to make sure I’m right on course for a successful year.

First and foremost, spend a brutally honest hour with your KPIs. If you’re not on target at the end of March there’s enough of the year left to do something about it – but even if you are well ahead you still need to do the same exercise. What’s gone well, what’s gone badly? Are any of the numbers looking unrealistic? And are any of your targets suddenly looking too easy? I’ve seen too many business owners get into trouble by having a blistering start to the year and then taking their foot off the gas. Like so many things in life, business is about momentum. It’s very difficult to suddenly pick it up in September if you’ve cruised through the summer.

Spring clean – literally. And get everyone in the office involved. A quick glance around my office tells me that I need to devote an hour to tearing up pieces of paper. And I need to admit that the ‘definitely need to read’ file on my computer definitely isn’t going to be read. Coming into your office on the day after Easter and seeing both your real and virtual desktop looking lean and mean and ready for action has always worked for me.

Check your online presence. I don’t mean spend thousands on a new website. I do mean check through your website and all your other social media. Is your website responsive? Does it work as well on a tablet and a mobile as it does on a PC? Are the dates correct? If it says ‘last updated 2013’ potential clients might assume that you’re not a fully paid up member of the 21^st century. They might be even less impressed if there are spelling and grammar mistakes on your site – which as this article shows, cost British business a significant amount in lost revenue. After all, if the hotel I’m thinking of staying in can’t be bothered to check its website, why should I assume they’ll bother to check that my room is clean?

As the late Stephen Covey said, ‘sharpen the saw.’ Commit to improving one of your key skills in the next quarter. Maybe you can simply become more productive. I certainly noticed the difference when I started using Toggl to track my time – and I saw a great article in the Observer at the weekend: the top 50 apps for creative minds. These days we all need a creative mind and if you can’t find something in that list that will help you do something better or faster I’d be amazed.

Finally, sharpen yourself. Get out there and get some fresh air. We’ve all spent too long inside over the last three months and none of the four points above are anywhere near as important as being good to yourself. Take some time off, get some exercise and you’ll come back to the office fresher, sharper and re-focused.

Have a great weekend. Next week I’ll be publishing the blog on Thursday – and taking a look at the lessons you can learn from a $10,000 bag…

The Entrepreneur’s Wife

Posted on January 29, 2015 by edreidyork

As the old saying goes, “Behind every successful man is a strong, wise and hardworking woman.”

But that’s the whole point. It’s an old saying – dating back to the days when the man went out to work and the woman stayed at home. Now the chances are that both partners are working full time – and the entrepreneur is just as likely to be the woman.

So how important is an entrepreneur’s partner? Does the success or failure of your business depend not on your brilliant idea, your stellar crowdfunding or your strict control of the KPIs – but on the person you come home to at night?

It’s a subject I need to tackle – however great the personal risk! And bear with me: I’m not being sexist, but I don’t want to disrupt the flow of the post by constantly writing he/she or him/her. So I’m writing this one from my own standpoint and the pronouns are used accordingly.

First things first: being married to an entrepreneur is difficult. There are long hours, holidays that are interrupted by vital phone conversations and – as I wrote in the last post of 2014 – plenty of nights when you’re ‘there but not there’: when your body is watching Silent Witness and your mind is back at the office worrying about the cash flow.

Your wife can be bemoaning the problems one of your children is having at school, the fact that the kitchen wall is about to fall down, or the problems and frustrations of her career – when you suddenly jolt back to reality and say, “I’m sorry. What was that again?”

The bad news is, it may not improve.

Being married to an entrepreneur can put different strains on a relationship no matter how long the business has been established – and no matter how successful it may be. Different stages bring different pressures.

One day the husband comes home. “I can’t take any more,” he says. “I was determined to be at the Nativity Play this year. The boss says I have to be in Frankfurt. No more. I’ve resigned. I’m starting on my own in the New Year.”

Sadly, that may not be what the wife hears… “The dependable amount of money that goes into our account every month is going to stop. I’m going to be working a lot of late nights and we’re not going to have a holiday for three years. And there’s no guarantee it’ll be a success.”

You might not like what she’s thinking either. Oh £$%&. I was going to work part time. Spend more time with the children. Well that’s gone. Or… £$%&. That means I’m going to have to take that promotion. Longer hours, more driving, more stress, less time with the kids. But we need the money. Thanks, pal.

The decision to leave the security of a job and start your own business isn’t just about you: it affects two lives. You’re certainly changing your own career path – but you might just be changing your wife’s as well.

Three years on there’ll be another tipping point. The business has survived so far. The cash flow has evened itself out. There are even a couple of employees on the payroll. But now there’s a problem. A major customer has gone into liquidation; the business is under real pressure. Oh well, the wife thinks, if the worst comes to the worst he can always go back to Giant Corporate plc.

Across the lounge her husband is also deep in thought – and he’s worrying about two things. First of all his customer. But secondly, himself. Because he knows he can’t go back to Giant Corporate. He knows that the last three years of running his own business have changed him. In effect, he’s become unemployable. And it’s not something he shares with his wife: no wonder there’s a certain tension between them…

Ten years later it’s all very different. The business is a success. Money isn’t a problem any more. Everything in the garden is rosy. Except success can undermine a relationship every bit as much as failure. I was talking to a partner in one of our bigger firms of accountants about this. “I can’t count the number of marriages I’ve seen ended by success,” he said. “Suddenly the girl he married when he was 23…” He didn’t need to finish the sentence.

Being an entrepreneur is tough – but being married to an entrepreneur can be even tougher. Your wife needs to understand that being an entrepreneur is part of you – every bit as much as being right handed or having brown eyes is part of you. She needs to understand risk – and she needs to be able to live with it. Hopefully TAB plays its part in minimising that risk, but running your own business will always bring risk – especially if the bank are eagerly clutching the deeds to your house.

And that’s why your work/life balance is so important. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, when you’re planning your diary for this year, get the really important dates in first – the dates when you’re with the people you love. The entrepreneur’s wife pays a high price: make sure you repay her in full.

The Back of a Boarding Pass

Posted on January 16, 2015 by edreidyork

I don’t often read the Guardian – but on Tuesday I saw this headline.

Rory McIlroy reveals that he writes his yearly goals on the back of a boarding pass.

If you haven’t time to read the story, let me summarise it for you. Just as he’s about to fly out to Abu Dhabi to begin his season Rory McIlroy – the best golfer in the world – writes down his goals for the year. By hand, on the back of his boarding pass. Not in a note book he’s bought especially for the job, or on his phone or in Evernote or One Note. Then he commits the goals to memory, puts the boarding pass in his wallet and doesn’t look at it again until the end of the year.

This article worked for me on several levels – not least because one of my goals for 2015 is to reduce my handicap from 18.5 to 15. Like Rory, I’ve written it down – and sadly, there the similarity in our golf ends.

The first thing that really struck me about McIlroy’s action was the habit and the symbolism. “Every year,” he said, “Just as I’m about to get on the plane.” There’s a real sense of purpose in that statement: every year, just as he’s about to ‘suit up and go to work.’ I like the fact that he writes his goals down by hand, and that it’s become a habit. I’m sure the research would prove that goals written down by hand are more likely to be achieved than goals typed into Evernote.

And then something else struck me. We all know that goals are meant to be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. I’ve always believed they should be short as well. Goals, New Year’s resolutions, company mission statements – the shorter the better. ‘Delenda est Carthago’ as I’m sure your history teacher told you.

Writing them on the back of a boarding pass pretty much guarantees they’ll be short. OK, a boarding pass is a reasonable size, but isn’t the back covered in all sorts of terms and conditions? (I’ll look more closely next time I’m in the departure lounge…)

And then McIlroy commits the goals to memory – and doesn’t look at the boarding pass again until the end of the year. I’m fascinated by that: it certainly isn’t the conventional way to do things. Then again, it doesn’t leave a lot of room for the ‘oh, well, this happened so I had to change my goal/lower my expectations’ excuse.

You might think that McIlroy’s goals would be easy to guess. ‘Win the Masters’ for example. But in a real echo of the marginal gains I’ve written about so many times, the goals – or the ones he’s prepared to make public – are about what it takes to win the Masters, not simply slipping into the green jacket on an April Sunday evening.

There are a lot of parallels between being a successful golfer and building a successful business. Everything in top level golf is measured: average driving distance, greens in regulation, average number of putts, getting ‘up and down’ from bunkers. It’s exactly the same as your Key Performance Indicators in business.

So when McIlroy says he wants to be in the top 40 at strokes gained from putting all he’s doing is looking for a small gain in one of his KPIs. I suspect the other goals are similar: a slight increase in fairways hit, a marginal improvement in greens-in-regulation… If McIlroy can do that and add the improvements to what he already has in the locker, then he will win majors. The stats guarantee it, in exactly the same way that a small improvement in all your KPIs will make a huge difference to your bottom line over the year.

I’m sure everyone reading this has already recorded their goals for the year. But take a leaf out of Rory’s book. Write them down by hand. On the assumption that you’re not flying out to the Gulf to earn $1m, pull over as you’re driving to your first appointment next week. Take a 5×3 index card and commit your goals to paper. I’ll be fascinated to hear what effect that physical action has.

I’ve already written my goals down in a splendidly old-fashioned way, as a few of you know. But I’ll do the same on Monday morning. And maybe I’d better spend an hour at the driving range in the evening: don’t want Rory getting away from me…

Back to Basics

Posted on January 9, 2015 by edreidyork

Sorry about the title – I must have been influenced by the start of the General Election campaign. I didn’t mean to sound like a wannabe Minister of Education…

First of all – even though it’s January 9^th – a very happy, peaceful and successful new year to everyone who reads this blog. If you’ve seen any of the papers this week and over Christmas you’ll be in no doubt that the world is going to be a turbulent place in 2015. No-one knows what on earth will happen with May’s General Election: the Greek elections later this month are going to throw the Eurozone into chaos: China’s economy is slowing down: France in social turmoil: the rouble has more or less reached parity with the chocolate coin…

Maybe it’s best to simply go back to bed and not poke your head above the covers until it’s all settled down. Except that we all know it never will settle down and we’ve simply got to roll our sleeves up (metaphorically – it is January) and get on with running our businesses.

And I have to say that I’ve never felt more optimistic. I’m delighted that the members of TAB York are managing to defy the headline writers. It was my privilege in December to look at and discuss a great many plans and targets for 2015. I’ve never seen such a series of positive, ambitious and – just as importantly – realistic documents. It’s going to be a great year for a lot of people.

…And hopefully the information, ideas, suggestions and random thoughts in this blog will help in some small way. But for the first post of the year, let’s go right back to basics. Why do I write this blog?

When the blog started – very nearly five years ago, which I find astonishing – I had four basic aims:

The blog was there to keep my name in front of people – after all, TAB York had the grand total of seven clients at the time
It was there to prove that I could deliver: that was – and is – why it is always published at the same time every week
I wanted to build authority: to show that I knew about business and that if you wanted to take your business to the next level I might be able to help
And I wanted to start a conversation. If I got one thing right, it was the realisation that the old ways of marketing had passed their sell-by date. As social media became more and more important, so marketing became more and more about sharing useful information and engaging people

Five years on, nothing has changed. Neither has the answer to another equally important question: who am I writing the blog for?

That answer’s equally simple. It’s for the members and potential members of TAB York. But it goes further than that: I’m writing for anyone who wants to start, or build, a successful business – and also wants to guarantee that they never miss sports day or the nativity play. I’m writing for people who know that the only way to be really successful is to keep your work/life balance truly balanced.

One of the best things about the Christmas break – apart from the obvious – is that it gives you chance to reflect. Every year I flip back through my diary (for ‘flip’ read scroll, obviously) and look at the year’s appointments and notes – and it’s amazing. Every year I see things I stressed over that I’d forgotten about a week later. Appointments that seemed crucial at the time that turned out to be irrelevant. Don’t sweat the small stuff as the cliché goes: it’s all small stuff.

But there are other dates in the diary that really were important. Dates that are never going to come again. Dan’s rugby match. Rory in the school play. Our 16^th wedding anniversary.

So to repeat – many of the plans for 2015 that I looked at were breathtaking in their ambition. It will be an absolute pleasure and privilege to work with you this year. But the first question round the TAB table will be simple: have you made sure the really important dates are in your diary?