Small Business Talk
The Podcast to Grow your Business Faster
Tips to Scaling Your Business with Jan Cavelle
Show Notes
Today’s guest is Jan Cavelle. Jan Cavelle is an entrepreneur from the UK who has a few decades experience running micro and small businesses. She is familiar with all the challenges that go with running businesses from having started one from the kitchen table as a single mother with small children and going on to build that into a multi-million turnover business.
Jan has known success, winning regional and national awards, and known failures too, including ending up burning out. Jan regrouped and decided to follow her childhood ambition to write. She has put together a book aimed at helping entrepreneurs to grow their businesses during the big leap of 1-10m. Her book is called Scale For Success and it is being published by Bloomsbury. The UK publishing date is 4th February 2021 with US and Australia to follow a couple of months later.
Scaling up After a Challenging Business Year
This year has shown all sorts of particularly strong gaps and it’s hugely dependent on sector and how people have managed with the challenges this year has brought. Some things have been slightly different this year to normal challenges meaning you have to look at these two challenges differently. For example, if we’re talking marketing, for businesses to do all their marketing and indeed delivery online have been very well placed to take advantage of the current situation, whereas if you were a bricks and mortar business, it’s been a lot tougher.
Marketing is the First Step to Scaling
One of the first things is that everybody has got to get their online presence nailed, and a marketing approach that really applies. As you grow a business, marketing starts to come into its own because you begin to study what works and what doesn’t. You start to know who your market is and who it isn’t, and what you’re getting right about what you’re offering and what is probably costing you more. By putting that all together marketing really comes into its own and without it, it’s almost impossible to grow, so marketing, marketing, marketing is probably my first message.
Have the Right Team Around You
The more entrepreneurs I talk to, the more I come to conclusion that the biggest challenge, all of them have is team. Getting the right people is just so hard. Find a team of people that have strengths in their chosen industry. Sometimes it’s better to have two contractors or two part-time people rather than one full-timer if you haven’t got quite enough work or if you’ve got work but need slightly different skill levels. As business owners tend to try and be creative, but in the long run, we’re not as good as we could be on each of those things as we do a bit of everything.
Money - Cashflow and Knowing Your Numbers
Cashflow is virtually important for all businesses and especially when you are thinking of scaling up your business. You really must know your numbers so you can make the best decisions for your business. “A banking entrepreneur once told me that for business owners to look at their bank accounts in the beginning and end of each day. That way you will have a real sense of what money is going in and out of your business,” Jan said
Links
Scale for Success by Jan Cavelle
Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding The Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty by Patrick Lencioni
Contact
Tips to Scaling Your Business with Jan Cavelle
Listen to Small Business Talk Episode 097 for the full episode for Tips to Scaling Your Business with Jan Cavelle.
