The Business Owner Magazine - December 2020

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t h e b e st magazi ne s p eci f i ca l ly f o r bus i n es s o wne r s

THE BUSINESS

OWNER MAGAZINE MEET THE BOSS! We meet successful, and powerful business owner Susan Cuff and she delightfully answers our questions.

ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR SELF-ASSESSMENT? Getting organised for your self-assessment tax return can be a stressful time. We have some advice to help you prepare before the January deadline.

HOW HAPPY IS YOUR TEAM? A happy team can affect the potentialfor increased profitability, growth and success for your business but by how much?

ARE YOU STAYING HEALTHY? it is no w mo re important than ev er to stay healthy as a business o wner. We hav e got an expert to give you some top tips.

Letter from Hello and welcome to the December 2020 issue of the Business Owners Magazine. November saw us launch the first issue of the BOM and what an amazing reaction we’ve had to date. 70,000 impressions and nearly 3000 reads at the time or writing. The feedback we are getting is that the tone, content and style are just what you have been looking for, which is very encouraging and encourages us to push on to bigger and better things.

There is no denying its been a different type of year but that has brought opportunities to re-evaluate, build, define and even grow and these are the stories and content we bring.

We’ve also defined the monthly article format to follow the normal business areas, bringing relevant content that give a different perspective or help in some way – Sales, Operations, Accounts, Data and People.

the best maga z i ne sp eci f i ca lly f o r b u si ness o w ner s

THE BUSINESS

OWNER MAGAZINE

Business Owners come in all shapes and sizes and have a variety of different needs and wants, but what we all have in common is the desire to build something and share it with the world. This publication aims to share those stories, struggles, innovations, tips and glories, positively.

NO click bait, NO hard sells, NO doom and gloom, NO whining, NO rehashed PR content.

JUST START. DON’T WORRY THAT YOU DON’T HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS YET. - alli webb

table of 06

benefits of staying healthy

09

microsoft office 365

13

meet the boss - sue cuff

15

sales pipelines

17

prepare for your self-assessment

21

company overview - mill house distillery

24

the relationship between team and growth

No material may be reproduced in any way, or translated, without written permission of the publishers.

COPYRIGHT © 2020 IPLUS MEDIA

Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure that adverts and articles appear correctly, but The Business Owner Magazine cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by the contents of the publication.

The Business Owner Magazine is published by iPlus Media.

Editorial: hello@iplusgroup.co.uk Telephone: 01242 312121 | Website: iplusmedia.co.uk Head office: Suite 2, 14 Union Street, Stroud, Glos, GL5 2HE

The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of its publisher or editor.

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staying healthy for you and for your business...

Health and wellbeing have never been so important than in the last 8 months.

Reducing stress, controlling anxiety, maintaining fitness and a healthy bodyweight whilst finding a healthy escape should be at the top of our daily list.

The pressures of running a business during a pandemic mean all of the above slip down that list and never really begin.

Food, fitness and tracking health stats is all it takes to make a difference – however putting the theory into practice is where the battle begins. A new healthy routine won’t happen overnight, and a full-blown restriction diet is not the way forward.

The key is small changes, find 30 minutes 4 times a week to exercise, put it in the diary as a meeting, get up 30 minutes early, take

your kit to work and head home after a training session – you will know what will work best to create this long term.

As a personal trainer now with a health tech business heading into my 40’s I know firsthand the pressures placed on business owners. I now also understand how painful sitting is!!! That curvature of the spine and closing of the hips for hours is unpleasant.

Therefore, a large focus of your exercise should be unwinding the desk, the tech neck and T-Rex arms!! Mobility and flexibility sessions along with cardio is a great starting place.

If you have gained weight and become rather deconditioned, I would avoid running.

The rowing machine although an epic piece of kit closes the hips and, in many ways, mimics the seated position you are in most of the day. Spin bikes, assault bikes,

swimming, hill walks, mountain biking, ski ergs, boxing are all epic!!!

app, Xerlife and work your way through a couple of our no kit required videos. Start with basics and build yourself up.

Eating healthily is an absolute must but an absolute minefield!!! The key points to start with are:

If you are starting out, a great place to begin is a 30-minute walk, noting how far you went. Then to progress simply aim to either increase distance in 30 minutes or add 10% to the time you are out for.

Mobility and flexibility are key – it feels great and can build up into a great sweat session.

The best place to start is logging into my

- Always eat breakfast - Fuel your body throughout the day - Stay hydrated - Eat food closest to its natural state - Prepare food, fail to prepare and prepare to fail!!

The more in-depth finer points to food are extensive and need more time to discuss.

See Paul’s favourite breakfast recipe on the next page!

the business owner magazine’s

1

Take the stairs

Avoid the lift every once in a while, get your heart racing by taking the stairs at every opportunity!

3

2

5

side leg lifts

chair squats

These are a simple exersice to do inbetween meetings! Stand up from your chair, lower your body back down, stopping right before you sit back down.

An easy one for the office. Lean on your chair and lift leg sideways. Try for 10 on each side.

4

Could you cycle to work?

shoulder stretch

Changing your commute from driving could not only improve your health but also help lower your carbon footprint.

Clasp hands together above the head with palms facing up toward the ceiling. Push your arms up, stretching upward. Hold for 2 to 3 deep breaths.

watch here for some more simple office stretches from xerlife

However, I will share my favourite breakfast with you:

INGREDIENTS: 3 Medium Eggs 2 tbsp Porridge Oats 1 Large Bananas

1/2 tbsp Coconut Oil 10 Blueberries 1 tbsp Peanut Butter (smooth or crunchy)

METHOD: - Blend the eggs, oats and half the bananas in a blender. This is your pancake mix.

- Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan on a medium heat.

- Pour 4 small amounts of the mix into the pan at a time, flipping once the top has started to set.

- Stack on a plate and pour over the blueberries, the second half of the banana, add a tablespoon of peanut butter.

- Paul WanforD

XERLIFE.COM

- If rushed, blend it the night before, saves time in the morning. Stir before use.

- The longer you blend for the thinner the mix, play around to find your preferred texture.

- For safety make sure the eggs are cooked.

- Remember little steps in the right direction is how it all starts!!

Paul Wanford is the founder of Xerlife, a health & wellbeing tech start up. He has over 20 years in the fitness industry and has a successful personal training business.

Check out www.xerlife.com and head to their corporate area.

Microsoft - An Overview With Pros & Cons

Whilst in a meeting recently, I was asked how good our online security is now that we are a cloud-based, predominately homeworking company. I looked at the chap, Justin was his name, and proudly proclaimed that we had everything we could in place to make sure our data and, more importantly, our customers data was secure.

I’d had an awful experience in 2018 with a trojan getting through an email account, via a member of staff, that destroyed the machine and took weeks to sort out. He looked at me quizzically and said ‘Excellent, although you don’t have multi factor authentication and that is a weak spot….’ The meeting concluded and I immediately got in contact with my IT Service Contractor (Microsoft Service Partner) who switched it on within seconds. The moral being, however good you think you’ve got it, there is always room for improvement.

I asked Justin, a consultant in SME IT, if he could give the Business Owner Magazine a brief overview on Office 365.

Covid19 has changed the way businesses operate forcing IT strategies to change to embrace more cloud technology to enable remote working for your workforce.

Microsoft o365 provides a line of subscription services depending on your business needs. The plans can be purchased on a monthly or annual basis and allow the use of the Microsoft Office software suite over the life of the subscription. The Office 365 service

consists of several products and services which can be managed and configured through an online portal.

Microsoft o365 is very similar to the traditional perpetual Office license and includes popular applications such as Work, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel.

Depending on the plan you purchase it may also include other apps and services such as Planner, One Drive which includes 1TB of storage per user, Exchange, SharePoint, Access, Yammer, Microsoft Teams and the list goes on.

Over a billion people use Office products worldwide. However, for businesses, Office offers a great deal more to enable users to carry out everyday tasks like managing data, creating documents and communicating information. There is a variety of plans and each with a different combinations of tools.

With Office 365, all apps and services are connected, both to each other and to the wider web, facilitating teamwork, saving employees time and enabling them to work better together through tools such as team chat, TEAMS online meetings, file sharing, and group emails. The inclusion of cloud storage and mobile apps in the Office 365 suite also allows organisations to work wherever, whenever, securely from any device.

Data security has to be at the forefront of everyone’s mind which is why many businesses choose Office 365 because of its layered security measures, proactive data monitoring, privacy protection, and 99.9% uptime service level agreement.

There are additional layers of security available which businesses should also consider implementing such as multi factor authentication. MFA provides an extra layer of protection from anyone trying to access an account from an unauthorised device

and it works slickly. It has building blocks that will help keep your business GDPR compliance.

A lot of businesses assume Office 365 is backed up however you need to carefully review that what comes with 365 is sufficient for your company needs.

Typically, there’s only a 30-day retention period built into Office 365. Many businesses build on this and practise the 3, 2, 1 rule of backups - 3 copies of your data on 2 different platforms one of which should be offsite, using a 3rd party application. Proper backup will keep your data secure and get you back online faster in the event of a Ransomware attack. It ensures that your business stays online and that you never lose your data.

When considering a move to o365 think about which applications your business requires to ensure that you purchase the correct plan for your users. Think about compliance and security to protect your data and users and make sure you have a business continuity plan in place so that you can recover your data in the event of a disaster or loss of data. And finally train your users on the applications so that you get the most out of your investment.

For more information on starting your journey with Microsoft 365 feel free to get in touch @ hello@justinrichmond.co.uk.

the pros PROS: - You can work from anywhere with internet access - You have access to seamless team collaboration - There are multiply plan options tailored to businesses - You will have access to regular updates - Works on a subscription based service so you can have manageable payments - OďŹƒce 365 has built in security features.

CONS: - You will always need an internet connection to access up to date ďŹ les - You may be vunerable to security threats - Being subscription based can be a con as well.

Regular payments each month could be a strain on resources.

- The constantly changing features can be hard to keep up with.

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meet the boss

sue cuff We’ve all met inspirational people in our lives, for many, many different reasons and here is one of mine. I met our guest around five years ago and was fascinated with her consistent drive, energy, contacts and dynamism, she is a tour-de-force in the high-end world of City recruitment.

- Name

Susan Cuff

- Company

Cuff Associates

- Position

Founder & Director

- Industry

Recruitment

industry, innovating through new hiring models, adding value to the recruitment process for candidates and hirers, forging and retaining stunningly good relationships, many of which have lasted four decades.

When did you realise you wanted to be your own boss?

What was your first job or role after education?

A very exciting one, selling advertising for Haymarket Publications.

I was initially in telesales, in a great young team working for charismatic leaders under Michael Heseltine (former Deputy Prime Minister under Margaret Thatcher), who was inspirational.

Could you describe your career path for the reader?

Sales all the way! Getting more sophisticated as the years went by, through the growth and professionalising of the recruitment

I did not – it was forced upon me! after the major financial crash and subsequent economic climate.

What is your current role and what is your favourite part about it?

I own and manage my own boutique recruitment business in the financial markets. My favourite bit is being my own boss.

Are you optimistic, realistic or pessimistic about 2021?

Realistic. It will be hard. And not Christmas, New Year, Easter, Summer or any other such “date” will make a difference.

What is the most important task you carry out each day?

Deciding what the priorities are. And then attending to them.

What advice would you give to your 21 year old self about your career journey?

Don’t trust without good reason to do so.

Think big. Be ambitious. Be brave. Never be a fair-weather friend. Treasure your relationships. Work your socks off. And have a blast.

Have there been any positives about 2020 and lockdown for you?

No. It’s very scary. A lot of people are talking up the “new normal” which in my view is not a valid concept.

What causes you the most stress at work?

Apart from the obvious financial stress of a struggling business, it is the lack of respect and courtesy extended to us as suppliers. It’s brutal, it’s rude and it’s unnecessary.

If you could instantly change one area or thing about your business, what would it be?

I would remove the word “recruitment” and re-invent the proposition - re-position it as an advisory / consulting service.

If you had your time again would you still choose to be a business owner?

With the right people, yes. I made some very poor judgement calls on business partners, which had devastating results. Entirely my responsibility – I do not blame anyone but myself. And the people concerned, obviously.

What do you do to unwind?

Theatre, music, reading, cinema, rugby, my amazing family, fantastic friends and social life – I am absolutely blessed.

If you could give a single piece of advice to a start-up entrepreneur what would that be?

Choose your business partner(s) extremely carefully. Preferably – don’t have any.

Thank you so much for your time Sue, if we could bottle your energy I’m sure we’d make more money than Red Bull. If you would like to contact Sue or find our more about Cuff Associates please visit cuffassociates.co.uk

A CAR NEEDS FUEL,

A car needs fuel regardless of it being powered by petrol, diesel or electricity. We take it for granted when we get in the car that it will take us to where we want to go, but one thing is for sure, we need fuel to grow our business and that fuel is sales.

In this latest sales feature, we look at creating a sustainable sales pipeline. A pipeline is a visual representation of the stages of your sales process and is particularly useful to a business owner in a number of ways. The Sales team can see what is being worked on and moved forwards, the Accounts team can weight the

likelihood of conversion and therefore cashow and P&L, the Operations team could use it to balance supply and demand on time, services or goods and the Leadership team use it as a key performance metric to measure company growth and future direction.

The sales pipeline is crucial for any size of business and regardless if you are in B2C (business to consumer) or B2B (business to business) you’ll be able to make use of it. A pipeline is basically your next sale, usually you will have a number of stages in your sales process but, put simply, it is likely to

look a little bit like this; - Stage 1

a lead/enquiry

- Stage 2

a discussion/meeting/ survey

- Stage 3

a quotation

- Stage 4

sale agreed

- Stage 5

fulfilment of goods, products or service

The above has not changed in hundreds of years of selling, but the key is to have an ever-moving set of the above within a pipeline. You need to, of course, have leads and your leads will be generated from many different sources, you then need to be progressing leads along the pipeline and not all will result in a sale.

The key to any pipeline is being realistic on the value of the lead and the probability of lead turning into a sale and the timescale for that happening. If you are able to be honest on all three of those questions then you can create a meaningful long-term pipeline and from it forecast sales and forecast percentages through your pipeline. Do you know your “close ratio”, ie how many leads you turn into a sale? Do you know your “sales cycle” time period, is how long from enquiry to sale?

Every industry is very different and selling a product also has variants, but the principles are the same even through an ecommerce platform. In ecommerce how many visits do you need and what is your conversion from visit to sale. The challenge for any business is keeping a pipeline moving, if you are a sole trader such as a consultant or a tradesperson you can be busy doing and your pipeline stops, so you finish a job and have to restart the pipeline and in the meantime you have probably lost sales.

To create your own pipeline, you can either use an Excel spreadsheet or use some software such as Hubspot and create your very own database and your own pipeline.

If you use a spreadsheet then simply create 5 columns titles Enquiry, Discussion, Quotation, Sale and Fulfilment then all you do is add information in the first column and then move that along the columns until the end. You may want to put in a sixth column for Lost and add any deals that you lost and why. Always put dates on each stage so that you can do some analysis.

The key to more sales is to keep the pipeline full and moving, make sure you keep filling the front end of your pipeline with leads and moving the leads along the pipeline. The discipline is not just getting the lead, but moving it along your pipeline as the pipeline is there to give you the fuel to drive your vehicle forward.

WE’VE GOT SOME GREAT TIPS TO HELP YOU PREPARE TURN OVER TO READ...

dread?

for your self- assessment

- it’s not too far away now..

you will need: Let’s start with some of the obvious things.

If you’re reading this you are more than likely a business owner and director of a company, therefore HMRC require you to complete a Self-Assessment tax return which is due to be completed, filed online (and paid) before midnight on the 31st January 2021.

You can complete the forms yourself or get an Accountant to do this for you, it depends on the perceived complexity of your untaxed income for the period 6th April 2019 to 5th April 2020 and your head for figures, it is not difficult to complete the form just important you get it right.

If you’ve never registered for Self-Assessment you need to get on to Register for Self Assessment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and get the process started as soon as possible.

It can be very frustrating waiting for the code to arrive as the deadline approaches.

Once you have your 10-digit UTR (Unique Tax Reference) you’ll need a few pieces of information be able to complete the SA100 Tax Return.

- UTR Number - NINO – National Insurance Number - The details of all your untaxed income for the period; - Self-employment - Dividends - Share interest - Rent from property - Pension income - Benefit income - The details of any expenses you’ve incurred relating to your untaxed income (that hasn’t gone through your company); - Pension contributions - Charitable donations - Other allowances - Your P60 from paid employment for this period.

With all this information, you should be able to accurately complete the SA100 form. If you have earnt money in the period from Self Employment, outside of a company or LLP, you need to complete the SA103 form which goes into further detail about what expenses you can offset against this income. If you need to report income from property this is on form SA105 and for declaring any capital gains you will use SA108.

If you are considering using an Accountant to complete the work for you, try and make it as easy as possible for them (and therefore cheaper for you) by getting all of this information compiled and over to them as soon as you can.

Accountants are usually absolutely swamped with work in January as everyone deposits their paperwork on them for their Self-Assessment to be completed. It is quite usual for Accountants to work up to midnight on the 31st January.

If you miss the deadline, HMRC will automatically issue you with a £100 fine. They sometimes will waive this, if there are extenuating circumstances, however they normally state that the date is the same every year and they spend a lot of money on advertising from December through January to remind you.

Once you’ve completed the Self-Assessment form and know how much you need to pay, if you feel that you are unable to pay, because of difficulties during 2020 with Coronavirus, you can use the Time to Pay scheme on Gov.uk to spread the payments out over the year. Please don’t be tempted to simply not pay, this is HMRC and they have all sorts of power to extract what you owe, talk to them and come to an agreement.

This is not a definitive guide, more a reminder, so make sure you follow the HMRC guidelines or let your Accountant take care of it.

HELPFUL INFORMATION: Personal tax: Self Assessment GOV.UK

How to fill in a Self Assessment tax return Money Advice Service

A LOT OF ANXIETY IS CREATED BY PEOPLE WHEN THEY THINK ABOUT FILING THEIR TAX RETURN. IT’S LIKE GOING TO THE DENTIST. JUST DO IT AND GET IT OVER WITH. - cindy hockenberry

5 tips for a

1

Be organised The more organised you are the easier this task will become. Gather all the papers you need before you start.

2

don’t calL hrmc

Unless you have endless amounts of spare time, avoid ringing to ask for help or advice. The GOV.UK website will most likely have the information you need.

3

Get ahead of the game

Don’t leave this job to the last mintue. The more time you have to complete it, the less stressed you are going to be.

4

LEarn good habits

It’s never too late to start keeping financial records up to date and accurate. In turn this will help you out in all aspects of business, including your self assessment tax return.

5

Don’t hesitate to get an accountant There is no shame in getting help when you need it. If you find the tax return too stressful, remove that stress and get an accountant!

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company overview

mill house distillery Welcome to the Business Owners Magazine quick interview – conducted in a very socially distanced fashion!

Here we try and get an insight into a company leader and their industry to find out what makes them tick and how their challenges and lessons could help you in your business.

- Name

John Cook

- Company

Mill House Distillery

- Position

Founder and Head Distiller

- Industry

Spirits manufacturing and retail

What does your company do?

We are a Premium Gin Distillery sited in Cottingham East Yorkshire working from what could arguably be described as one of the oldest commercial sites in the UK today – registered in the Domesday Book as South Mill, the location has taken many forms over the years – More recently (well from 1752) in the manufacture of snuff from tobacco which is where the building known today as Snuff Mill House takes its name. Today we are proud to continue the manufacturing heritage of this little corner in crafting premium gins and liqueurs.

What changes or challenges do you foresee for your company in the next three years?

The challenge we face is getting our gins and liqueurs into the hands of consumers and key retail decision makers in what is an increasingly saturated market.

Buyers even turn the phrase Gin Drunk as they are faced with a plethora of craft products. Sadly, the pandemic will “thin out” some of the noise in the craft gin landscape as distillers begin to fall by the wayside – they already are.

That said, with less pubs, bars and restaurants available to sell gin by the glass the battleground is now firmly in off trade and retail by the bottle.

Are you optimistic, realistic or pessimistic about 2021?

I would have to say realistic – not to sit on the fence mind. The licensed industry is in a tremendous state of flux and it’s those suppliers who are best equipped to adapt and respond to a changing market that will thrive – I would go as far as to say this won’t be the current big players who will survive for sure but have too much traditional

momentum to be agile in response. I anticipate lots more acquisitions of the craft and artisan manufacturers as we can already see continuing more recently with the likes of Chase etc etc What is the most important task you carry out each day?

Digital is king – in the absence of face to face this is truer now than ever before and I spend more time each day ensuring we are as present as we can be in the areas our customers and potential customers are looking. I look forward to expediting more effectively in B2B through the use of an innovative service we are currently assessing.

What is your company’s most important KPI? Sales. Converting prospects into firm leads and firm leads into revenue is our largest indirect expense. If we don’t execute and realise the revenue stream from our focused efforts we would burn up where many have before us.

What positive effects has your company experienced during lockdowns?

Creating our Kingtree events in a virtual space has yielded and nurtured some amazing relationships both B2C and B2B. Without the pandemic and lockdowns, I would argue this wouldn’t have been on our radar for another year or even more! Will Zoom Gin Tastings ever be as good as face

to face? Not really, but they certainly fulfil a need, put liquid on lips and our brand in geographies and environments we likely wouldn’t have prospected in…ever !

What causes you the most stress in your business?

Demand volatility. Forecasting some elements is fairly straight forward – mothers day, valentines, Christmas etc. There are some wild and unforeseen swings driven by the “new normal” we are moving in and further towards. Hosting a corporate Gin tasting event for 127 people in the middle of August with 8 days notice was a particular unforeseen – a great time was had by all thankfully.

If you could instantly change one area or thing about your business, what would it be?

To have 10 times the marketing budget today.

How would you rank the following in order of importance (1 most, 5 least) - Sales pipeline (1st) - Strong financial data (2nd) - Environmental (3rd) - Social Media (4th) - Team communications (5th) What do you do to unwind?

Create another Premium Gin whilst enjoying one or two of our existing ones ;)

Thank you so much to John for sharing his views and opinions. If you would like to contact him or his distillery please go to millhousedistillery.com

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Team Growth As part of our monthly People focus, we’ve been assessing the fundamental HR issues in this ever-changing environment we’ve found ourselves in. How do you interact with your team, how does the leadership of your company affect the potential for increased profitability, growth and success?

2020 has created a global environment of insecurity and instability. Employees are looking to their employers now more than ever for stability and confidence. Similarly, organisations are looking to improve productivity and profit whilst reducing turnover of staff.

Covid-19 has created an opportunity for organisations to increase engagement with their people and push forward toward success in 2021 and beyond.

Organisations that revisit their purpose and remind their people why they do what they do should find themselves in the best position to achieve success with a more engaged workforce. But how and why is this true?

- Paddy Thompson

AZIMUTH.EU.COM

“Doing what is best for individuals, does not have to conflict with what is best for the business or organisation”.

(Gallup, 2020)

Comfort – Connection - Contribution Looking forward to 2021 and the Post-Covid-19 world thereafter it is likely that our employees will remain dispersed as the traditional role of the office is reduced to an occasional setting instead of consistent backdrop.

Our teams are becoming more diverse, dispersed, digital and dynamic. This has potential to create an environment in which teams are vulnerable to two corrosive problems – “us versus them” thinking and incomplete information.

Managers can achieve huge returns if they create a high-performing, engaged team.

Professor Mark Mortenson, from INSEAD, has worked on J.Richard Hackman’s initial work and identified these four key factors for success: - Compelling Direction - Strong Structure - Supportive Context - Shared Mindset

Having an engaged workforce creates massive benefits for your organisation. This is what WD-40’s current CEO, Garry Ridge

recognised when he took the helm in 1997.

By acting on this he has created an organisation with some of the world’s highest employee engagement scores:

- Overall employee engagement 93.3% - Respect for my manager 96.4% - I feel my opinions and values are a good fit for WD-40 company 99%

Its Market Capitalisation has increased from $250 million to $1.9 billion (an inflation adjusted increase of 369% over 23 years)

Businesses increase organic growth through human development.

The best business development programmes teach managers to be coaches, not bosses. These managers can link their business needs to employee talent and customer requirements, using practical, day to day guidance.

“Gallup estimates that the cost of poor management and lost productivity from not engaged or actively disengaged employees in the U.S. is between $960 billion and $1.2 trillion per year. Globally, the cost of poor management approaches $7 trillion - or 9% to 10% of the world's GDP”. (Camilleri, 2020)

Traditional management practises don’t overtly cause damage to your organisation, or at first glance to the bottom line. But the attrition of poor engagement, less loyalty, more mistakes and less productivity all add up to create a lot less profit.

YOU DON’T BUILD A BUSINESS. YOU BUILD PEOPLE AND THEN PEOPLE BUILD THE BUSINESS. - zig ziglar

Organisations with high employee engagement have: 10% increase in customer loyalty | 23% improvement in profitability 18% increase in turnover |

81% reduction in absenteeism

41% reduction in quality defects |

Focussing on strengths of individuals and developing these, with peers and expert-led feedback provides actionable, real world learning that creates leaders who: - Drive engagement - Increase productivity - Set and maintain high standards - Improve culture - Open communication channels

66% improvement in wellbeing

People are at the heart of everything within your business. Even the most virtual, IT driven, cloud-based company has human components that need to interact in a productive method to drive the business forward. Companies that spend time and effort on maximising the communication, vision and methodology within the team will no doubt grow faster, have more stability and be more profitable.

Thank you to Paddy and his team for his insight into this area.

Azimuth are training and businesspeople development specialists and you can find them at azimuth.eu.com.

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t he be st magazine sp ecifically for business owners

THE BUSINESS

OWNER MAGAZINE

DREAM BIG, AND LET YOUR PASSION SHINE The road to success is paved with tests, So you’ve got to believe in yourself above the rest.

Dream big, and let your passion shine, If you don’t, you won’t end up with a dime.

Challenge the status quo, disrupt the market and say YES! And remember that innovation is an endless quest.

Don’t forget to change business for good, If you want to change the world then you should.

If you think with your head and listen to your heart, I promise you’ll get off to a flying start.

Make bold moves, but always play fair, Always say please and thank you – it’s cool to care.

Do what you love and love what you do, This advice is nothing new.

Now, stop worrying about whether your business will be a hit, Rise to the challenge and say ‘screw it, let’s do it!’

- sir richard branson

t h e b e st m agazi ne spe c i fic a lly for busine ss owne rs

THE BUSINESS

OWNER MAGAZINE