Sometimes when you start up a new business you worry about getting products sold, getting new clients on board, and the general day to day running of the business that you forget the vision you had about where the business is meant to be going, what your goals were when you first started out (world domination?) and you can get so bogged down in minutia that you wonder why you ever started out on your own at all. At least when employed you knew when your day began and ended, and generally didn't have to worry about when the accounts were done (midnight on a Saturday?) or who was going to do the rest of the administration (you?). Sounds familiar? 

The last few weeks have been really busy for me, looking after current clients and taking on three new clients within my sister company Your Office Online, trying to prepare documents and books for the launch of Virtual Business in a Box, the date of which seems to be moving every week, preparing for the Remote Worker Award ceremony on 1st September, preparing for a two day exhibition (Business South West 2010) at West Point, Exeter this week, and generally keeping my head above the paperwork. Seems that there has been so little 'me' or 'family' time or even time to write this blog, and I am beginning to feel that I am treading water.

So what do I do in a situation like this? I take a deep breath, step back a little and do some 'navel gazing' about what I want from the business and how I can achieve them in small easy steps.

How do I progress from there?

1. I make a list of things to be done
2. I prioritise the list
3. I delegate the things that I don't personally have to do or want to do (filing!!)
4. I outsource the things I don't have the skills to do or those tasks which are non-fee earning 
5. Look at the bigger picture – what do I need to do to get me to where I want to be in 6 months/1 year etc
6. I then go back to point 1 and start again.

We are all so busy running our businesses and trying to keep the money coming in that we do tend to get bogged down. Take a day every month or so to do the above and keep track of what the decisions made are, the actions to be taken, by whom and when by, and check that they are on track to be done by the due dates. You may even want to share some of these with someone you trust to keep nagging you to get them done – once out in the open and made public (even if only to one person) you will tend to make sure that you get things done so that you are not seen to be failing.

One important thing that needs to be done though is to remember to take time out with family and friends. Otherwise it all becomes too much and bad health/nervous breakdown looms. You will also lose the thrill of being your own boss and you may as well go back to the diry world of being employed.

You are just about to start out in business – you have your business idea, you have your funding, your business plan is written (and probably put on the shelf where it will remain gathering dust) and you are ready to start work. What comes next?

Are clients knocking down your door to use your services? How have you marketed yourself so that people 'out there' know about you? What do you actually want from your business?

Business Goals

Speaking with a number of people during the economic recession, many of them who are thinking about starting their own business want to do this for a number of reasons – better work/life balance (yeah, right – we all know about the long hours we have to put in as a new business owner to get the clients/money coming in!), can do what they are doing as an employee but for themselves, can do a better job than their current employer, blah, blah, blah…

What many don't think about is how they are going to measure the success of their business once they are up and running. What is it they actually want from their business? Having a good business idea and actually measuring the success of the business once it is up and running can be very different.

What is Success in Business?

Many people see success as the amount of money they can make, increased turnover, increased profits, increased workload…

For me, being successful in my business is all about my work/life balance. I first started Your Office Online in October 2006 – my reasons where that the employer I was then working for (the NHS) was restructuring and my post was being moved to the new Strategic Health Authority headquarters in Taunton, a 2 hour journey one way. Jobs in Cornwall and west Devon/Plymouth were scarce and as I had been working as a senior PA to a boss who was always out of the office I knew there was a gap in the market to help other business owners/business executives who were also out of the office on the road but who needed secretarial support. Having found myself another job, albeit on a 3 year contract, my business goals when I started were to grow my client base to such numbers that when my short -term contract expired, I would have enough clients to work in my business full time (September 2009 was the deadline). I was therefore working a full-time job and working in/on my own business.

As mentioned above, the hours I had to put in made me wonder whether I was actually doing the right thing. Work/life balance – what was that? I was up an hourly earlier to check emails before going to work, working a full day and them doing client work when I got home. Hubby wondered at times who I was.

Within 5 months of setting up Your Office Online, I was dropping my paid employment work hours from full to part-time hours as my client base grew and within 7 months I had given up the part-time employment. I did make a leap of faith though – I only had two clients when I decided to give up paid employment as I had decided I wasn't able to give either my employer or my business the attention they deserved and the business won out.

By the end of my first year in business, although not yet making a profit, I had achieve the majority of my goals written in my business plan. Success – I was running my own business!

So, What Now?

So, I was back to my first question, what now? I had achieved within the first year everything in my business plan which had been written for the first 3 years. Now what do I do? 

Well, I continued to work with my clients but up'd my level of service with them. If I couldn't get new clients, I looked at what I could offer my current clients to give better value for money and to add value to their businesses.

This worked – the clients I worked with at the very beginning are still with me today and I have helped them grow their businesses, with one telling me he has had a ten-fold increase in turnover in the last 2 years. I now more or less run his company on a day-to-day basis while he looks at the long term strategy and has time to take a holiday (what's one of those?).

Success Measured in Other Ways

Success for me has also meant being able to help other business owners grow their business (if that happens then my business automatically grows with them). It has also come from the recognition I get within the Virtual Assistant (VA) industry. I was the first VA in the UK to be VAcertified, I was nominated by other VAs on the VANA forum for the VAccolade of the Week in August 2009, and I have many aspiring VAs ring and email to ask me how they can set up their business (one reason why Virtual Business in a Box was produced).

I have also just discovered that I have been shortlisted for this year's final at the Remote Employment PCG Freelancer Award. Another feather in my cap and one which I hope will give potential clients the confidence to work with me and let me help them grow their business.

Testimonials from clients and their feedback on my work also gives me a sense of achievement. One client is currently growing a new arm to her business and will be splitting her time between the UK, Dubai and Brazil. Her current business will eventually be sold off and she tells me that as part of the selling process, she will be including details about how I have helped her grow her business, get better clientele, increase her turnover and cut down on the amount of hours she has to work. Success for all of us.

So, What is YOUR Recipe for Success?

Catherine Osborn measures her success in different ways. She defines it by saying "I measure my success on an ongoing basis by the amount of repeat business I get. There are individual achievements that stand out though and one was when the BBC published a press release of mine unchanged on its website." You can read the whole article here.

How do you measure your success in business? Answers on a postcard to… No seriously, comments would be useful to know how other businesses, or people setting up their own business, measure the success of their business.

(This article is also included on our sister site blog www.your-office-online.co.uk/blog) 

What makes you start your own business?

What stops you starting your own business?

Copywriting tips to make people buy

How to get your website started – better still purchase a website design and hosting voucher from Virtual Business in a Box

Financial insights from Bangalore – a little light hearted stuff

1. Review first draft of contract agreements etc from solicitors
2. Complete instructions for template customisation (not every one is okay with Word – especially some trades people and I want to make this as easy as possible for people to set up their own business)
3. Research designers for designing new Cubecart v4 skin for my e-commerce website - Update 28/08/10 new website showing.
4. Continue updating e-commerce site with products
5. Ask for review of e-commerce site and blog from associates

• Talking with video producers to prepare and film an introduction
• Chasing solicitors for draft versions of the various contracts, terms & conditions, confidentiality forms they are drawing up
• Searching for skins to change the appearance of my e-commerce site
• Writing instructions sheets for customising templates which will be available.

Virtual Business in a Box (VBB) is a new concept aimed at helping businesses in the start up phase with the general administration type of things they need to get their business off the  ground, such   as contract agreements, templates for invoices and quotes, vouchers for web  site and logo design  etc. I started a my main business as a Virtual Assistant (VA) in 2006 when my company, Your Office Online, was born. Providing remote secretarial services for sole traders and small businesses, I have clients in the public and medical sectors, health and beauty industry, coaching industry and I provide administration services ranging from telephone answering and diary management through to full PA services. After receiving a number of calls for aspiring VAs who were constantly constantly asking me questions such as:

• How do I decide on my business and domain name?
• Do I need to register my business with HMRC and for VAT?
• Should I register my business if I am a sole trader?
• How do I keep track of my time when working for clients?
• What is the easiest software to use for my accounts and invoicing?
• Where do I find templates and contract agreements?
• What equipment do I need for my office?
• How will I find my clients?