Author: admin

I ponder this question because I’m often asked ‘how do I grow my business?’

Although ‘more selling’ is an easy answer to this, it can miss a fundamental truth.

Growing our business is about working ‘on’ our business, rather than working ‘in’ our business. If we are a busy cafe owner, serving customers all day, then we are working hard and being successful. We are happy in our space and feel pleased that our hard work is paying off.

This is all very natural and good …we need to enjoy the day job after all.

However, it’s too easy to get a bit stuck in our comfort zone. This is when we work hard in our business.

To make real progress though we need to work hard on our business.

We need time to develop new products, to go and research new customers and to go and eat cake.

Cake is my preferred way to meet people as it’s much nicer to have a friendly chat and make a friend, rather than be all serious and businessy all the time. Well, that’s my view anyway and you’re welcome to disagree.

To go and do these things we need time and space. We need to value them as a part of our work and not something to be tucked into a Friday afternoon, when our cafe is quiet.

To create that space we need to delegate a few tasks, maybe book keeping, or some of our sales admin.

This is where a PA can be very useful.

I know lots of people who settle down in their office for a cosy admin day. They sort finances and emails and pick through the letters they’ve not been able to answer. A lovely homely and productive day. A change from the hard work of running the cafe.

The trap here is we feel productive and yet are still working in our business.

If we had a PA, even for a couple of hours a month, we could use that time to get out and about and eat more cake!

And I do mean a couple of hours. Few people can afford a full time PA, so think about starting small and hand over the tasks you know you need to do and always put off.

This frees up our thinking and our energy to go out an work on our business.

So then, do you need a PA? Probably. Do you need a full time person? Probably not. Would a part time supporter add value to your business? Almost certainly.

My experience of having a PA is that it is a wise investment and not a piggy bank breaking expense.

And now, having written this, I’m off out for cake. Thanks to my PA.

Next week: How Not To Not Grow Up

Ok please don’t write in …how to be nice to your husband too, or partner, or special friend. There’s only so much inclusivity you can fit into one title.

It’s all about Strokes people! Please don’t be alarmed. This is a term from Transactional Analysis (TA). Strokes is not the most user-friendly word given it’s only a short skip from comedy club innuendo, but once you embrace it, it’s rather a good word.

A stroke, in this context, is a unit of recognition. A smile. A wave. A hug. A scowl. A shouted reprimand. No eye contact. Yes, strokes can be positive and negative.

There’s no limit to the number of strokes we can give and receive, but people often have a strong sense of when enough is enough. However, with love and affection given to us in authentic ways we can slowly expand our capacity to accept strokes.

In my experience people assume stroking in positive ways means buying flowers. This is a lovely thing to do and yet people often just want a text to say hello. A welcome home hug after a long day at work goes a long way. As does a cup of tea when you’re working hard and flagging.

The small things all add up and people do cherish them. Sending a Valentine’s card on a day other than 14th Feb is a great way to delight our partner. It shows extra thought and it’s always the thought that counts.

Some men are great at giving strokes and some forget that they do have an impact.

Think of them as food for the relationship. We all need to eat, have good quality food and have the odd treat. Poor diet equals poor health and it’s the same within relationships.

Now, if you’re wondering what being nice to wives etc has to do with business then it’s this: In reading this you might be thinking ‘but I already know of all this!’ However, people often fail to translate what they know at home into a work environment.

People are the same at home or at work in many ways. If we can be nice to our partner at home we can be nice to our colleagues at work. Strokes are a wonderful way to make sure people feel regarded and appreciated.

We can all find positive strokes to give people each day. We can all say ‘thank you’ and ‘well done’ …a stroke can be as easy as that.

And the word ‘nice’ is a lovely word too. It does the job …nicely!

Next week: Do You Need A PA?