Growing your business: advice from successful UK business owners
Running your own business can sometimes seem like a unforgiving grind, with little reason for positivity if you are struggling to keep in the black or launch a highly anticipated new product or service.
It is therefore helpful, from time to time, to read a couple of inspirational quotes from some of the UK’s most successful business owners to keep yourself on the proverbial ‘straight and narrow’.
“You need to do what you are passionate about”
Maria Hatzistefanis has built up the fashion brand Rodial Group that now boasts turnover of £16 million and celebrity fans like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian.
Hatzistefanis observed that: “I see a lot of people who think being an entrepreneur is a ‘get rich quick scheme’. You need to do what you are passionate about and not do it for the money as it won’t come easy.”
She also urged inexperienced entrepreneurs to “work hard and be patient. There is no such thing as an overnight success, small steps will lead to something bigger but success takes a long time to achieve.”
“Pick three actions each day that will move your business forward”
Successful businesspeople never stay rooted in the past or present for long – they are always looking forward, with co-founder of the Lancashire-based Northern Dough Company, Amy Cheadle, a case in point.
Her advice to entrepreneurs is to take stock and reflect on what they have achieved so far, while keeping their eyes pointed firmly ahead: “Make a list of milestones when you start a business, and make sure you take the time to celebrate them.
“Pick three actions each day that will move your business forward and complete these and essential admin only. It’ll keep you focused and mean you’re always working towards future success.”
“The idea small business owners can do everything by themselves is a recipe for disaster”
A prominent advocate of contract work is Tony Harris, who founded the specialist financial advice service Contractor Financials in 2002 and has since built it up to generate millions of pounds in turnover.
Harris is quoted as telling growing small companies to: “invest in people. We probably pay over the odds in terms of our wages, but we get excellent people for it. What looks like the impossible is all of a sudden possible when you have likeminded entrepreneurial intelligence around you.”
He continued: “The idea small business owners can do everything by themselves is a recipe for disaster, or at least a missed opportunity.”
“Add real value to the telecoms side in terms of generating and managing sales leads”
If there’s one UK company founder who is well-placed to see how small businesses can grow through the improvement of their communication capabilities, it has to be Robin James of Bournemouth-based Planet Numbers.
His own business enables clients to make cheap calls to India and other overseas markets, adding: “We always aim to provide a range of telecoms products that our customer base will find supremely helpful, easy to use and very competitively priced – and, most importantly, add real value to the telecoms side of their business in terms of generating and managing sales leads.”
So, there you have it – invaluable advice from some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs. Are you a business owner? What guidance would you give to entrepreneurs looking to grow their companies in a big way in 2016? Feel free to share and comment on social media with your own insights, and we might even share the best of them!
