Imagine you have just received an OSCAR in recognition of your lifetime effort and achievement in your business life.   Who would you thank in your acceptance speech?

Would you be a Gwynneth Paltrow who overran the 45 second time limit for an Oscar acceptance speech in 1999?   By the time she’d sobbed her way through a 3-minute, 365 word acceptance speech for Best Actress, nobody could actually hear what she said through her tears - although a look at the Academy transcript reveals a thank-you list that was 24 names deep and included two dead people.

Or Would you be Jo Pesci who won Best Supporting Actor for Goodfellas in 1991 - who simply said:  “This is an honour and privilege.  Thank you”.

CHALLENGE:

I challenge you to take 10 minutes out of your busy day to write an acceptance speech.   Imagine, you can publicly thank all of those around you who enable you to achieve what you achieve in your business life.

When you have finished, make a note of the last time you actually thanked these people.   Whether with the actual words or with a gesture to demonstrate how grateful you are.  We all like to be thanked - and in fact thanking someone can indeed be the greatest motivator of all……

Sorry!…must dash as I just need to perfect my speech but in the meantime I will leave you with ……”I would just like to thank my Mum, my Dad, my children, my dogs Henry and Betty, my husband, my cat and not forgetting…….!”

1. Most people want to know that their work made a difference. After all, why contribute all of that energy and effort without seeing impact and change?  A simple “thank you” will always be appreciated.
2. Go out of your way today to thank you those who contribute to your success - you will be amazed at the response you get.

Over the last few weeks I have been giving considerable thought to a talk I am giving to Poole Women’s Business Lunch Group next week titled:   How I achieved the Ideal Work/Life Balance whilst running my own Business.

It has really made me question…. Did I?…. Do I?…. Is there such a thing as an “ideal” work/life balance - and does a “one size fit all” approach work?

We all go into business for different reasons:
…we want to
…we have to
…we believe that we can do it better than someone else
…we want to work for ourselves
…we want to be in control

The reasons are endless and no one reason is any better than the next.

Likewise in relation to the “ideal work/life balance”….

My current ideal is to be able to work during term time 3 days per week and spend 2 days a week with my daughter who is 3….. during the holidays I would also like to work 3 days per week and be able to catch up on my work in the evenings without feeling guilty because I actually enjoy working.  Do I achieve it? On the whole, I do - but there are exceptions and “opportunities not to be missed” and sometimes my daughter goes to Nursery more than 3 days - and because she loves it there, I pursue the opportunity wholeheartedly….

My ideal used to be very different.   I wanted to work full time and full-on.   My eldest son went to Nursery for 4 full days from the age of 8 weeks old and stayed there until he was 4.5 and started at school.  I would always take Fridays off and we would have “Mummy” days and I would not miss out on putting him to bed and reading him a story unless I was away on business.

These situations would not suit the majority of people and many may believe I am “wrong” but that’s the point…. There is not one PERFECT work/life balance which can suit all.

Fiona Phillips (ex GMTV presenter) is a point in hand.   She says:  “I decided to resign from GMTV so that I could concentrate on helping my father and spending time with him while he still has some semblance of normal life……And to be able to spend more time with my boys. The truth was that I just couldn’t cope any longer juggling my sons, my husband, the job and the stress of Dad’s illness…….I was feeling guilty all the time”.

This Morning Presenter Fern Britton takes a different approach and has negotiated a contract which allows her not to work during the school holidays or on Fridays.

Completely different for both presenters and yet neither is right or wrong - it is what suits that individual.   Both are happy with their work/life balance - and so should you.

1. It’s your journey and your goal
2. You need to be happy with where you are at - and not compare yourself to others.  What suits you….    may  not suit your friend/colleagues - that doesn’t mean that you are wrong - you are just being you.
3. Read what the media have to say about Work/Life Balance - but make up your own mind - don’t be swayed by someone else’s opinion what is right - they don’t know - only you know you!

Last Friday evening, whilst most sane people were safely at home taking cover from the snow blizzards, I ventured out to join 15 other women on a trip to London to see Strictly Come Dancing at the 02 arena - courtesy of a financial institution who shall remain nameless for fear of backlash in these economic times.

It goes without saying that the evening was superb and the dancing amazing….. Julian Clary was hysterical (watch him on YouTube here) - he certainly can’t dance but he made everyone laugh and was a worthy runner-up for entertainment value!

What struck me most was the positive attitude and energy of all the women around me. Yes, everyone recognised that times were difficult and the economic climate was not perhaps at a stage which entrepreneurs would chose to trade in, however it was not preventing them from looking at ways to grow and improve their own individual businesses. In the past two months, one business had expanded and taken on additional premises extending their commercial offering and the other business had taken on premises to introduce their particular area of expertise to the High Street.

Were these women concerned about the economic climate?

Absolutely not. They were both aware of the current economic situation but both had prepared Business Plans which had taken into consideration all possibilities. Their Business Plans had been prepared with realistic expectations and the numbers still made sense.

Both had recognised that their level of customer service and their proposition needed to be better than the competition and were introducing new and interesting ways to keep their customers coming back with a variety of different tools ranging from:

• Loyalty Cards
• Welcome Packs
• Birthday Cards offering a Birthday Discount
• Flexible Opening Times - to cater for the working woman (or man!) and the stay-at-home mum who wanted to shop on her own
• ‘Recommend a Friend’ incentives to existing clients
• On-line Shopping

Confidence to grow and improve in these times, is a result of knowing every element within your business - being aware of those areas which are working well and knowing which areas need improvement. These women have clearly done this and are comfortable in taking leaps forward because of their in depth knowledge. Above all, they recognise and believe in nurturing and developing their customers.

1. Don’t be frightened to expand or develop your business - be frightened if you don’t know the detail of what expansion means….
2. Customers are the foundation of any business - because without them you don’t have a business
3. Listen to your customers - discover what it is they like about you and why they keep coming back - try not to upset anyone - because they probably won’t tell you so that you can rectify the situation, but you can be absolutely sure they will tell at least nine of their friends……

When it comes to money, have you handed over the responsibility to someone else either internally or externally to your organisation or do you know what is going on?

Answer the following questions:

• Do you know the balance in your Bank Account?
• Do you know how many creditors are over their 30 day credit limit?
• Do you know your Cash Flow forecast for next week, next month, next 3 months?

If you have said YES to all of these questions - CONGRATULATIONS! You are in the minority - don’t lose touch with those ‘pennies’….. knowing this level of detail is crucial for success - you are in the enviable position of knowing your business and knowing what is working, what isn’t and where you are getting a good return on your investment…

If you have answered NO to any of these questions - you need to take out, to find out the answers, RIGHT NOW.

Remember it is your bank account - your bank simply acts as a conduit for your money - it is up to you to manage it. Don’t wait for a phone call or even a text to tell you the balance in your account….

If your creditors are not paying on-time, you need to know AND you need to know why. You are providing a valuable service and it is your right to be paid for it.If you have a key customer who accounts for a large proportion of your business, you may not want to stop supplying them, but you should make that decision knowing all of the facts.

Do you have a cash flow?

Is it up-to-date? If you don’t have one, or it is not up-to-date, now is the time when it must be correct. Updating your cash flow forecast on a regular basis will provide so much crucial information including sales information. Sales generate income and if sales are not as expected, this will impact on your cash flow and your projected profit levels.

It continually amazes me that so many entrepreneurs fight shy of their business finances…… Accountants and Book-keepers are important parts of any business, but they are not an excuse to not know what is going on.

• Practical Finance planning pre-empts problems.
• Introduce regular financial updates into your weekly or daily schedule
• If you don’t do the detail - make sure you are aware of the detail - it could be the difference between success and failure