With many years experience in business, as a Consultant, a Coach, or as a Manager I am amazed at how often I have to remind myself of these simple messages – these are, after all the messages I give to others on an almost daily basis, but I recognise that my own business merits the same attention, so the questions I ask myself are:

• What is my long-term goal?
• Are my short-term steps taken me in the right direction?
• What adjustments are necessary?

If I have a doubtful response to any of the above then I know that I have the choice to either continue doing what I am doing or change.  You see my big concern is that if I am not broadly going in the right direction I could, be moving completely in the wrong direction.

Choice for me is the important point here, as it gives me the opportunity to assess my options, consider their advantages and disadvantages and then to make a decision and stick to it.

I have to laugh at myself sometimes for forgetting these simple messages, but I guess it’s like saying that doctors make the worst patients. Being a Personal, Professional and Business coach doesn’t mean that I am immune to sometimes forgetting to apply the ‘obvious’ to my own life and business.

Susanna Way is a member of BNI Royal Spa www.bin-royalspa.co.uk

In my first year of operating as an independent personal, professional and business coach I have learnt many lessons that have helped me to gradually mould my business into something that accurately reflects me, my experience and my ‘product offering’. The ‘lessons’ tend to come neatly packaged in some form of feedback.

As a coach I encourage others to continually adjust their approaches based upon paying attention to short term outcomes and I think this is equally relevant when setting and then implementing my own business plans. I have found that it’s OK to ask for feedback and to be quite specific in my requests in order to check out that the image I am giving matches the image I want to give.

Being part of the TW Spa BNI has given me an incredible source of people to give me this feedback, as well as some great referrals. A further thought I have is around what I then choose to do with this feedback, and it’s not always a case of my changing direction in a significant way, sometimes just a minor adjustment is enough.

I am acutely aware that the way I look at me is not the same as someone else’s interpretation of me, and that is always going to be the case – so sifting the feedback I get sometimes brings up some interesting reactions, ranging from “oh – that’s interesting” to “oh no – perhaps I had better re think that one!’

It is said that feedback is a gift, perhaps not always recognised as such, but a gift nevertheless, and is one that perhaps in business we need to appreciate more often!

Susanna Way is a Personal and Business Coach at Way More Than.  She is also member of the BNI Royal Spa based in Tunbridge Wells.  (www.bni-royalspa.co.uk)

What are the most important lessons that entrepreneurs have learnt in business? We asked that very some question to a variety of business owners that are part of the BNI Royal Spa.

BNI Royal Spa is a successful networking group of local businesses who are fully committed to growing their businesses and the businesses of their fellow members. (www.bni-royalspa.co.uk) One of the great advantages of belonging to the BNI Royal Spa is being able to share in the wealth of experience within the group.

When we asked some of its members “What’s the most important lesson you’ve learnt in business?” we had a variety of responses.   We’d like to share those with you.

Martin is a graphic designer based in Tunbridge Wells. He has worked for a number of companies and studios and since 1991 run his own company Martin Webber Graphic Communication. (webberdesign.co.uk).

“Back in 1991 after being made redundant for the second time within 6 months, rather than dwell on the negatives I looked on it as an opportunity and made the decision that I would rather work for myself and be in sole control of my future. If I didnt take this chance then I propably never would.

One of the most important lessons I have learned is never take anything or anyone for granted. You can easily slip into the ‘comfort zone’ that work will continue to come in regularly from a client, when out of the blue your contact moves on (even dies!), they decide to try someone different just for the sake of it, the department closes or there are cutbacks. I have experienced each of these and it takes a long time and a lot of hard work to replace them. I have found how important it is to have a spread of clients of various sizes and to keep in regular contact, more importantly when I have not heard from them for a while, so that when a job crops up they will think of me.

Treat each client as your most important customer, be prepared to work around the clock to keep them happy. Over the years recommendations/referrals have easily been my best source of quality work, showing what a good business decision it was joining BNI.”

Not only are we celebrating the ending of another year, but also our first decade of the ‘noughties’ is passing, and we are now on the brink of a new year and a new decade. So perhaps we should say good bye to some things, which are less than helpful to us as well as saying hello to some new aims and objectives for 2010.

I love the idea of having a Good Riddance Day, as was celebrated in New York on December 28^th 2009, where people were encouraged to write there own words following the prompt “I want to say good riddance to…”.  This really set me thinking what a fine idea this is, as so often we tend to look back and dwell on past disappointments, events or sadness, and by living so much in the past we can use up a lot of our energies by concentrating on stuff that we cannot change.

So I invite you to write this sentence down and then list out anything that leaves you feeling negative, hurt, disappointed, angry – or whatever! Writing it down is more powerful than just thinking about it. Then let this list GO! (Throwing it on the fire or putting it through the shredder may also add to the cathartic power of this process!)

Now turn to crafting your New Year’s Resolutions for yourself and your business. Here is a very simple model for helping you to create simple, well crafted objectives (or resolutions – if you prefer). It’s called the 3M Model, and is extremely simple to remember:

Measurable:      Make your objectives measurable so that there is some way of you knowing whether and when you achieve your objectives

Motivational:     Make sure it’s something you can find some passion for.  If it’s framed with words like I must, or I should, check out that you really want to do it!

Also, always frame your objectives in the positive, so instead of ‘I do more networking’ you might say ‘I want to meet more people and form some great relationships’.

Manageable:     Make sure you are not setting yourself up for a fall. If it’s something really big, then remember to break it down into smaller tasks and activities. Have in mind the thought that you can’t eat an elephant in one bite.

Finally writing these down will give them more power, whilst signing and dating will add to their impact too. I would urge you to re-visit your resolutions regularly to re-align if you feel they are still valid.

Wishing you a happy, healthy & successful New Year

Susanna Way is a Personal and Business Coach (www.waymorethan.co.uk) and is an active member of the BNI Royal Spa (www.bni-royalspa.co.uk).

One of the valued members of the BNI Royal Spa is World in Need (www.worldinneed.co.uk).  World in Need is a charity based in Crowborough which seeks to help people in some of the most disadvantages areas of the world.

We have been proud to recently support World in Need by making individual donations to support two schools, one in Kenya and the other in Pakistan where the children get cold when sitting on the floor.   The school in Kenya has 77 children and the one in Pakistan has 44.

Each individual donation of £20 will pay for a desk and seat combination.  These will be made locally and will help the children concentrate and learn.  Whilst many donations were personal, many were made as Christmas presents for friend and family.  An excellent idea!

You can see pictures of the children on our Facebook page.   http://www.facebook.com/pages/Royal-Tunbridge-Wells-United-Kingdom/BNI-Royal-Spa-Tunbridge-Wells/194128873957

What are the most important lessons that entrepreneurs have learnt in business? We asked that very same question to a variety of business owners that are part of the BNI Royal Spa.  We had a variety of responses and we’d like to share those with you.

Fraser Hart works with 360 (www.360ss.com) as a web developer. 360 are web specialists based in Sevenoaks.  His previous experience includes four years in development, three years with a tour operator, and one year with a gap year provider.  He believes a key lesson in business has been acknowledging how much there is to learn.

“It is a constant learning experience. It is a huge cliché but the more you learn, the more you really do discover how much more there is to learn.”

Fraser has quickly found the benefit of sharing his experiences with colleagues, as well as people he meets through networking.   Without the support and safety net of a large company, these people are vital when it comes to problem solving and creativity.

“There is a huge amount of benefit in talking to your peers. I cannot count the number of times I’ve been enlightened by discussing problems with a peer and having a simple solution pop up just from thinking about it from a different angle. “

Fraser also makes a good point about remaining positive when things don’t go to plan, since this also provides a valuable opportunity for learning.

“The lessons we learn dealing with the hard times make the good times and bad times more profitable.”

BNI Royal Spa is a successful networking group of local businesses who are fully committed to growing their businesses and the businesses of their fellow members. (www.bni-royalspa.co.uk) One of the great advantages of belonging to the BNI Royal Spa is being able to share in the wealth of experience within the group.

What are the most important lessons that entrepreneurs have learnt in business?

BNI Royal Spa is a successful networking group of local businesses who are fully committed to growing their businesses and the businesses of their fellow members. (www.bni-royalspa.co.uk) One of the great advantages of belonging to the BNI Royal Spa is being able to share in the wealth of experience within the group.

When we asked some of its members “What’s the most important lesson you’ve learnt in business?” we had a variety of responses.   We’d like to share those with you.

Ruth’s business is achieve more health and fitness, a personal training business based in Tunbridge Wells.  (www.achievemore.me.uk) She’s coming to the end of her first year in business and has already learnt several lessons along the way.   She tells us about one of them here.

“When I set up my business I was also making a total career change.  At the time I made the decision to go ahead I was with a large corporate organisation in London, working regular hours and earning and regular income.   I spent a lot of time carefully considering the risks of becoming self-employed, but had also weighed them up against the benefits that had made me consider this in the first place..

I wanted to run a personal training business because health and fitness is such as big part of my life.  I knew I’d be working in an industry that I genuinely cared about, and I felt that the job satisfaction would be high as I would be able to have a direct impact on people’s quality of life.

All this turned out to be true, but what I hadn’t considered was just how much time I would need to dedicate to running the business, as opposed to working directly with clients.  As well as completing my personal training qualifications I had to quickly learn about marketing, book keeping, sales, social media, networking and much more.  It was frightening how much I had to learn, and still have to learn!

I think I have been fortunate as I have discovered that I enjoy running the business as much as I love working one-on-one with my clients.  I’m just as happy sitting at my desk working on a business plan as I am exercising with a client.

When I meet people who are considering starting their own business I always talk to them about this.  On reflection, loving the product or service you sell may not be enough.  You need to have as much enthusiasm for developing your business or it will become a chore.”