Author Archives: Gavin Stevens
There are 5.9 million small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK. Collectively they employ over 16 million people and contribute £2.2 trillion to the economy.
But there are risks in running an SME business. 1,400 of them close each week and only 4 out of every 10 will stay in business for more than 5 years. One main reason is that 3 out of 4 don’t seek external advice for their business.
The key reason is cost – typically an SME who receives advice will pay £2,500 a year for it which is unaffordable for many small businesses who have an average turnover of just £14,000.
But now there is a new way to get advice. BuBul is a virtual room full of business experts who can give an SME the advice they need for their business for only £20.00 a month. You can get more information at www.bubulexpert.com.
When you start your own business, you are full of different emotions such as excitement (this is going to be brilliant!) mixed with trepidation (maybe no-one will buy!) and, on occasion, a nagging internal voice that says maybe this isn’t the right thing to do!
As your business gets off the ground, every waking hour gets filled with spending time working on the business – networking, social media, arranging meetings, building and improving websites, sending quotes and making sales. And still you have those same feelings.
And then you become established, but still those feelings persist. You celebrate every sale, you mourn every lost lead or customer, you start to recruit staff, which only gives you more things to worry about.
Before you know it, you are losing sleep, you can’t switch off even at weekends or when on holiday. Your enthusiasm starts to wane, results start to slip and you’ve lost that attention to detail you once had.
The good news is that there are thousands of others just like you – owners of small businesses throughout the UK. The bad news is that 1,400 such businesses close every week. Many are just like you – trying to do everything, learning by their mistakes and sometimes having to close as a result.
Only 1 in 4 small business owners ask other people for advice, even though research shows it increases the chances of success by 49%. If you haven’t had external advice for your business yet, get it now!
