A couple of month’s ago, Natalie gave an interview where she was asked to provide advice for new entrepreneurs starting out right now. Here’s an extract:
“I’d encourage anyone starting out to learn, learn, learn!
Your Local Enterprise Office (LEO) will have supports for you and even if you can’t avail of some of the bigger grants (which are often only for export businesses) they still provide mentoring in several key areas of business including sales, marketing, process improvement, CRM, and financial advice. They will appoint a mentor to you who’ll work with you over two or three sessions to support you in whatever areas you require help with.
LEOs also provide subsidised training courses – get yourself on a few. They also provide the Trading Online Voucher (TOV) which is a grant aid for websites that require e-commerce – most business can offer at least some of their services via their website.
If I was to choose only one piece of advice though, it would be this; Respect administration.
Admin is the foundation of any good business. Start creating good clear processes for all parts of your business early on, from the get-go.
Choose wisely when selecting your accounts package, CRM software, communication platforms etc. Think cloud systems – a huge part of the digital transformation that many companies are still in the process of adopting. If all your systems can talk to each other – if they are integrated – you will save yourself so much time and cost, not to mention stress!”
Last year the ncco team were delighted to work with Stephanie Wickham from start-up business, Expat Taxes. It was a joy to work with a client who took our advice to respect administration to heart and we’re so happy to know that the processes we helped them put in place continue to support them as they grow and thrive.
“I cannot recommend ncco – NC Consulting & Co highly enough.
With their help, we have automated so many of our business processes. We now collect all data from our clients electronically including:
- anti-money laundering info
- digitally signed engagement letters
- tax return source data
- tax questionnaires
Our website is integrated into our CRM which means we can monitor workflow seamlessly and ensure we are highly responsive to customer queries.
I’ll admit that the experience has turned me into a digital transformation evangelist!
If you are an accounting practice/tax adviser who needs to drag your systems into the 21st century I can recommend ncco – NC Consulting & Co”
– Stephanie Wickham, Expat Taxes
We so appreciate this lovely feedback from a valued client and will continue to support the start-up community!
To help you on the way, here are some useful links:
- Local Enterprise Office – Supporting SMEs Online Tool – There are lots of supports available to businesses right now. LEO’s online tool can help you narrow down what you might be eligible for.
- 15 Tips to Crack the Art of Cold Calling – If you’re a B2B business and selling high-end products and services, sales calls will remain one of your most valuable tools.
- GDPR for Small and Micro Businesses – Every business needs to know their obligations under the GDPR. This article from 2018 provides some solid information and includes a free info sheet.
All the best! 🙂