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Team Blog
There are many obstacles when setting up and growing a business – from finances to reputation building, managing your own business is never plain sailing.
We recently surveyed a group of our WiRE members, asking them about the hurdles that they had faced in business and how they overcame these obstacles.
Sarah Shakespeare, Saloukee, https://saloukee.com
What hurdles have you faced in business?
‘My business has faced many hurdles, I think businesses present you with hurdles every day. Beginning a business founded on the concept of paper jewellery and in 2008, (the year that the British economy crashed) poses nothing but hurdles … however 10 years on (with a few more wrinkles than I’d like), I’m still standing!’
How did you overcome these hurdles?
‘Because I’m stubborn and passionate about what I do. I would prefer to know that I’d given it everything and failed, than to have not to have given it my energy at all.’
Louise Welsby, Buy-From Shropshire,
What hurdles have you faced in business?
‘Cash flow, confidence and time. Cash flow is absolutely the hardest hurdle in the first few years of business, particularly if you don’t have a big investor. Every time you start to break even and start to level out, the next step of expansion requires further risk and investment. For this your need real passion and confidence, which can occasionally be a hurdle, particularly if you are working alone. Time is another key factor to me. I find I am working harder than I have ever worked as the business grows – I need another 6 hours in the day so that I can fit everything in!’
How did you overcome these hurdles?
‘Cash Flow – by taking risks and being confident that they will work. By focusing on the money and understanding how much I need to bring in. By gradually raising my prices so that I start to charge what I am worth (still not there fully!). Confidence – A business coach helped me enormously in the early days with focus, drive and confidence in my ambition. You need someone outside your immediate sphere of influence to both challenge you and support you. It helped me so much. Time – I will get back to you!’
Cleopatra Browne, Celtic Quest Coasteering Ltd, www.celticquestcoasteering.com
What hurdles have you faced in business?
‘Crikey, it’s been a steep learning curve. Going from beach bum activity instructor to business owner and everything that entails. Getting a reputation within the industry was the biggest hurdle. Being taken seriously. We weren’t just a flash in the pan, we know what we’re doing out there and we’re going to do it well! Budget will never be enough, but I thrive on challenge. Learning to do ‘stuff’ in-house has been a roller coaster. Website development, graphic design, video production, accounts, marketing, employing people, the list is endless and just keeps getting longer!’
How did you overcome these hurdles?
‘Anything that we could do in-house to a great standard would save money! I had a lot of time on my hands in the winter months, so self-taught HTML, website design, SEO and online marketing, graphic design, video production, social media marketing, we even self-stitch/repair all our kit to save money on outsourcing! Eventually, there comes a time when your time is worth more than what would be spent outsourcing. I now have a fantastic accountant that takes care of a whole heap of ‘boring stuff’. My team of Guides relieve a lot of pressure and time-pressure in particular, knowing I don’t have to do it all myself and can delegate. That itself was a hurdle, handing over my baby business to someone else to deliver adventures to my standard. I chose the right team!’
Elaine Pritchard, Caittom Publishing Limited, www.caittompublishing.co.uk
What hurdles have you faced in business?
‘Initially, our Internet speed from home was rubbish. Download speed was less than 1mb. This made a lot of tasks take much longer than they should have done. Speeds have now improved, thankfully. Work-life balance has been a challenge because I love what I do so much it can be hard to draw a line and stop. There is ALWAYS something you COULD be doing. You never reach a point where you can say you have FINISHED everything.’
How did you overcome these hurdles?
‘On work-life balance, I have had lots of support and advice from other women in business who have been there, done that and got the T-shirt. There are some great motivational talks and blogs available online and I’ve learned from speakers who have covered these issues at both WiRE events and other networking groups.’
Cheryl Turner,Tao Business Solutions, www.taobusinesssolutions.co.uk 
What hurdles have you faced in business?
‘Many people think that they are “doing” social media, purely because they have a Facebook Page, Twitter account, LinkedIn Profile etc. There is a massive difference between “doing” social media and “effectively doing” social media. People underestimate the importance of engagement, regular posts, the 80/20 rule – don’t oversell yourself etc. So, convincing people that they need my services can be quite a challenge.’
How did you overcome these hurdles?
‘If I see a good prospect/target client and they believe they’re doing social media effectively, I’ll do them a free social media audit, highlighting a few areas for them to think about and mull over!’
Sarah Lewis, Sarah Lewis Enterprises Ltd, sarah@polkadotcatering.co.uk
What hurdles have you faced in business?
‘Many including – Getting out there and building a reputation from scratch, tendering for contracts meant for businesses much larger than mine and making it work, nurturing cash-flow and investing as much as possible back into the business to enable growth, re-learning technology which had rapidly changed since leaving university.’
How did you overcome these hurdles?
‘Sheer hard work, resilience, training, and never giving up or taking no for an answer. An entrepreneur has to become a problem solver in any situation and certainly in my business these days my mindset has completely changed and any hurdle or challenge I see completely different.’
Lucy Newall-Ellis, Ravenspoint Marketing, www.ravenspointmarketing.com
What hurdles have you faced in business?
‘Working from home. For most of my working life I have been in the company of others in busy, bustling and creative environments. Although I meet with clients regularly, which gets me out of my office, I do spend the majority of my working day on my own. This is usually fine as work distracts me and keeps my focus, but every now and then (especially as I am living in a relatively new city) I feel the need for some company to bounce ideas off.’
How did you overcome these hurdles?
‘To combat the occasional need for company at work, I decided to do something about it. I attend regular networking groups and make sure I have time in the day where I go for a walk or run. I took on the challenge of becoming the network leading for the Cheshire WiRE group and I set up a ‘Freelance Thursday’ group in Hoole where other freelancers can meet and work in company every Thursday morning at a local cafe.’
Lajina Leal,Lajina Masala, www.lajinamasala.com
What hurdles have you faced in business?
‘Too many, I knew it would be difficult, but hadn’t realised how many challenges I would face, remaining positive helps. I called the business Masala Magic, only when I started looking at registering it, did I realise I couldn’t as it was owned by Quaker Oats.’
How did you overcome these hurdles?
‘By now, I was being mentored by the genius that is Chris Haycock, he encouraged me to discuss the name with Quaker Oats who were very supportive and it’s then that Chris helped me to make the decision to change the business to Lajina Masala.’
Kay Heald, Kay Heald HR, www.kayhealdhr.co.uk
What hurdles have you faced in business?
‘In the early days I found self-employment quite isolating, I experienced a couple of unsettling episodes involving bad payers and worried a lot about cashflow.’
How did you overcome these hurdles?
‘I discovered the value of strategic networking – finding supportive meetings and groups to not only assist with sourcing new business, but learning new skills and making useful business contacts. I also put in place a credit control system to ensure invoices were chased and, wherever possible, paid on or within time.’
Phyl Edmonds, Severn Intervention Services Ltd, phyl.edmonds@severnwd.co.uk
What hurdles have you faced in business?
‘Working alone! I’ve missed the team camaraderie that you normally have in employment and knowing when to stop work and switch off!’
How did you overcome these hurdles?
‘The working alone is not so isolating since I started networking and joined WiRE. Through the courses I have attended I have made friends with like-minded business women. I am a member of an action learning group that was set up after a WiRE business growth course. We are incredibly supportive to each other and I can share gripes and successes with these wonderful ladies. I have now devised a way to stop work and switch off. Each night I pour a glass of wine around 6.30pm and put out a plate of nibbles whilst my dinner is cooking!’
Kay Dartnell, Wheely Wonderful Cycling, www.wheelywonderfulcycling.co.uk
What hurdles have you faced in business?
‘Just when you think you have got to grips with a successful method of advertising/promotion, the market changes. Then completely unexpected events also crop up – from family birth/deaths/illnesses to events like the Foot and Mouth outbreak.’
How did you overcome these hurdles?
‘Perseverance and constant training. When we set up there was virtually no World Wide Web activity (our local telephone exchange couldn’t even cope with faxes and the local post box was inhabited by slugs, so even post was difficult). So, we have had to educate ourselves on all new communication methods.’
We’d love to know about how you have overcome your own business hurdles – email fiona@wireuk.org to submit your own guest blog.
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