Business Mentoring Day

Business Mentoring

Today I am completing business mentoring with new start up small businesses through the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA) #ownBossNEA. Thursdays are always the day I look forward to in my diary.

The day starts at 8.30 to be prepared for the first of my eight meetings, and should the day run smoothly I should be finished by 17.00. I am seeing each new entrepreneur in one hour weekly slots over the course of an eight week period, in order to get them prepared for self employment and give them the skills to write a comprehensive business plan and 12 month cash-flow forecast as part of the requirements of the NEA scheme. I am always surprised to see so many new faces, that are often eager to get started and have a burning ambition to be their own boss and take control of their own destiny.

Small Business Growth

Apart from the requirements of the NEA Scheme I also pay special attention to how they will give their small business growth, how will they deal with sales – that word sales gives so many the feeling of dread – yet without it a business will not survive or grow.

I actively mentor and coach each mentee through an individual sales process, how to define their target client base, how to approach them, and how to deal with asking for the money, and what to do if someone doesn’t pay.

I guide them about dealing with too many enquiries at once, and how to make sure you always treat your customers fairly, and of course how to cope with cash flow the main stay of any business.

Types of business

Over the last three years that I have been involved with this scheme I have mentored plenty of builders, plasterers, plumbers, cleaners, sales agents, and e-commerce based businesses. Some of the more interesting cases have been management consultants, furniture makers, upholsterers, clock makers/repairs and even a cigar box guitar manufacturer. However, not all of the individuals I see finish with the same business idea they started with.

The one thing that stands out about them all is the determined nature to succeed no matter what happens next, and I wish them all good luck and prosperity.

Author: Carl Bradshaw FInstSMM. Follow on Twitter @CarlBradshaw, Google+, or public updates on Facebook catch up with what I’m reading on Pinterest.
By Carl Bradshaw, MentorNW

Image credits go to Flickr Creative Commons Licence BK

How balanced is your business?

How does your wheel balance in your business?

When looking at an organisation or business from a sales management consultancy or business mentoring point of view its is important to look at a number of basic factors including, financials, market position, market offering, and ability to perform at current levels and at predicted growth levels too mention just a few.

However, the one perspective most consultants and mentors overlook is the importance of having the right balance of staff, not just the right numbers in each department but that each key member of staff is in the right place doing the right job in order for both them as individuals and the business to succeed.

In fact it is possible to pick the businesses that will fail by using our Behavioral Profiling tools.

Behavioral research suggests that the most effective people are those who understand themselves, including both their weaknesses and strengths, so that the can develop strategies to the demands of their environment. In fact, understanding yourself and others has been recognised as a key factor for peak performance over many thousands of years.

“He who understands others is learned, He who understands himself is wise.”
Lao Tse
Founder of Taoism in 6th Century B.C.

Does your wheel have missing spokes?

As we all know from growing up as children if your bike has missing spokes, it becomes unbalanced and doesn’t rotate the same or allow you to balance on top quiet as easily as when it is full of spokes in the right places.
Achieving a good match between the behavioural demands of a job and the natural behavioural strengths, or Behavioural Style, of a candidate is critical to produce successful performance in any work or lifestyle situation. We use Behavioural Profiling as a simple and effective way of assessing the potential behavioural fit between an individual and a job role.

So why do I need both Personality and Behavioural Assessments?

Personality and behaviour are essentially different measurements. It is therefore possible to have two individuals with similar personalities but who exhibit totally different behavioural styles.
Behavioural profiling considers a number of different aspects of an individual when conducting an behavioural assessment such as:

• Energy Level
• Frustration Tolerance
• Acceptance of Diversity
• Integrity
• Self-Control
• Accommodation to Others
• Positive Service Attitude
• Productive Attitude
• Task Focus

“If a person is not performing as expected, it is probably because they have been miscast for the job”
W. Edwards Deming

We use a range of assessment tools to enable understanding and to provide non-judgemental insights into ourselves and others. The majority of the assessments are web delivered and include products from the world leaders in computerised assessments.

For more information or to get your key members of staff assessed call Carl today or complete this feedback form below:

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Author: Carl Bradshaw FInstSMM. Follow on Twitter @CarlBradshaw, Google+, or public updates on Facebook catch up with what I’m reading on Pinterest.
By Carl Bradshaw, MentorNW

The best advice I ever got

Whilst browsing the internet, in fact it was Facebook, I discovered this link from Linkedin about where entrepreneurs got the best advice from and it made such an interesting read I decided to share it.

Back in the day when I ran the family business with my father it was probably him I turned too, however, these days I most certainly turn to trusted friends and other mentors that I know and have developed a relationship with.

Where do you go for advice for your personal life and business?

I would be interested to know, please feel free to leave me a comment.

Are you just following the crowd?

Often when I am mentoring or coaching business owners I am told, “I have lost my direction, I feel like I am just following the same routine”, and I wonder how many of us just follow the crowd?

We get up at 7am, shower, dress and eat. Start work at 9am, stop for coffee at 11am, then stop for lunch at 1pm and home time is 5pm, sit down eat Dinner at 6.30pm watch some TV then bed around 10.30pm ready for the next day.

When do we break to think about our life, business, personal directions or goals?

Thinking time or more importantly switching off time is different for everyone, I have found that for me at least using the last 15 minutes of the day to plan for the next day works great, and for the bigger issues in my life I try and set aside a day to think, contemplate and switch off from the daily routine.

I know from my many conversations with startup business and long standing existing ones that it is often at the beginning when we do the most thinking and planning, and then when things get busy we push this time further and further away until we realise that things have changed, and we didn’t plan for that.

So go and grab a coffee in your local cafe, coffee house or hotel lounge take some time out of the daily routine for yourself and plan what you want for the next day, week, month, year, or longer.

To find out about how mentoring and coaching can assist your business either give me a call on 07976 586303 or complete the contact form below.

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Photo courtesty of Photo Monkey
Author: Carl Bradshaw FInstSMM. Follow on Twitter @CarlBradshaw, Google+, or public updates on Facebook catch up with what I’m reading on Pinterest.
By Carl Bradshaw, MentorNW

Coaching and Mentoring Small Business

During December 2012 to date I have been mentoring and coaching a

Mentoring Start Up businesses in groups to complete a business plan and cash flow

group of small business owners, from brand new start up businesses on the NEA scheme, to well established businesses across Lancashire. I have run several classes of groups of up to 20, in how to complete a business plan and cash flow, whilst also dealing with all the associated issues when thinking of starting up a business from scratch on a shoe string budget.

For more information on my mentor services see MentorNW.co.uk