Get Ahead’s owner, Rebecca Newenham, finished 2021 on a high. She’d won the Franchise Balance award from the British Franchise Association – well-deserved recognition for her work to promote a healthy work/life balance for her team. Get Ahead’s model is built on flexibility – we believe it’s not only a healthier approach to work but that it yields great results for our business too.
In this blog, we take a closer look at flexible working – could it be the solution you’re looking for?
(more…)As we welcome the new year and make plans for the coming months, it’s important to recognise exactly where our businesses are and where they’re going. While our businesses probably offer the same products and services we created them for, our focus might have changed.
In this blog, we look at ways of identifying where our businesses are right now, and how to use our findings to plan ahead.
It may be tempting to get out last year’s plan and just reprise it for this year. But to create an effective forward plan, you need to be clear with yourself about where the business is now, and how successful it is.
You might notice you’re in a stronger position this year than last, or you might be in a weaker position. Perhaps there has been a development in your industry which affects the way you work. Suppose that you work in communications and covid homeworking has created some new opportunities for you to expand into. Or if you work in an industry that has become more precarious in the last two years, such as entertainment or hospitality, it might be time to broaden your offering in a new field.
As well as identifying where you are now, it’s also valuable to compare it with last year. If you were in a strong position twelve months ago and are now in a weak position, what has gone wrong and what can you learn from it? Alternatively, if you’re seeing a steady trend in your sector, it might suggest new opportunities to grow your business.
Depending on whether you’re on an upswing or a downswing, your priorities for the upcoming year will be different.
If things have been a little slow, business growth is the obvious priority. You might consider refocusing your marketing to connect with new audiences, or review your products and services to see if they still appeal.
On the other hand, if you’ve seen a year of expansion, it might be time to bring in more pairs of hands to help you meet demand. You might choose to invest in technology that would enable you to work smarter and expand still further. Perhaps the additional revenue generated last year could be reinvested in your business to help it grow.
If it’s time to break into a new market, we always recommend doing thorough research and keeping an open mind. We’ve seen restaurants offering online cookery and click-and-collect meals. We’ve seen theatre companies offering exclusive streamings of their shows. Sometimes the new direction chooses you – if all your clients have been from the same sector in recent months, consider ways of connecting specifically with that market.
Outsourcing is a cost-effective solution whether your business is expanding (or needs to expand!).
If this is the first year you’ve seen growth, you might feel cautious about taking on a permanent staff member. However, when you outsource, you only pay for the hours they work – you can even mix and match skills to create the perfect business support package.
And if you’ve recognised that you need to make your business work harder, a virtual expert can help. They can focus on a particular area you struggle with, whether that’s admin, marketing or cold-calling to drum up more business. Again, you only pay for the hours they work so there’s no need to commit to expenses you can’t support.
And if you’re breaking into a new area, you can work with a virtual expert who has relevant experience. For example, you might need to add some new pages to your website to showcase the additional services, or learn about a new pricing structure – the right virtual expert will share their knowledge and help your business to travel in its new direction.
Outsourcing for expanding businesses
Get Ahead has worked with countless clients whose businesses are experiencing growth. The flexibility a virtual expert offers makes outsourcing a great solution for businesses experiencing change of any sort. To find out more, visit our services page or contact your local regional director.
PS – if you found this blog useful, you might also like:
How to do a quarterly review – four questions you should be asking – Get Ahead VA
Learning from business mistakes – why it’s important and how to do it – Get Ahead VA
Why are financial goals important for my business? – Get Ahead VA
When you’re comparing franchises, exploring your options, researching and carrying out due diligence, you might notice that the business you’re considering has won awards. At Get Ahead, we believe winning awards add value and reflects well on the business. Over the last eleven years, we’re proud to say we have won quite a few! Of course, we’re delighted to have our hard work recognised, but we also believe it’s helped us attract high calibre franchisees to take the brand to the next level.
(more…)However you feel about it, coronavirus is here to stay. People in nearly every country are living with the realities, threats and opportunities covid brings with it. For businesses, many temporary changes we implemented in 2020 now need to become permanent. Complaining about the impact of covid isn’t an option – it’s time to get on with it, flex where we can and open our eyes to the benefits of a different way of working.
In this blog, we look at how we can learn to accept the realities of business in a covid world.
(more…)How do you feel about January? Are you someone who likes to hit the ground running, or does it take you ages to motivate yourself after the Christmas break?
At Get Ahead, we’ve learned to start the year with a bang! As soon as the fireworks go off for New Year, we’re feeling excited about what the future has to offer. We look for ways to do better in the coming year, harnessing the power of a fresh start to raise our standards and take our business to a new level.
In this blog, we share some of our ideas for starting marketing with a bang.
(more…)How’s 2021 been for your business? We hope it’s been a good one! This was the year we thought things would be “back to normal.” In fact, we’re back to a “new normal,” but here at Get Ahead, we’re proud to say we’ve made it work for us. We’ve had an amazing year – here are some highlights:
(more…)Do you make New Year’s resolutions? And – more importantly – do you stick to them?
New Year’s resolutions can be powerful motivators and a great tool to drive your business and yourself to a better place. The ones that work best are those that are flexible and realistic. A resolution you stick to is its own reward – if you and your career are in a better place because of it, it’s worked its magic.
In this blog, we look at choosing New Year’s resolutions, business and personal, and how we put them into practice.
(more…)For some of us, Christmas is about having a rest away from work and (fingers crossed!) spending time with friends and family. But Get Ahead works with a huge variety of businesses, and the team here are well aware that for the retail, hospitality and beauty industries, Christmas is the busiest time of the year.
In this blog, we look at ways busy businesses can streamline their systems, leaving business owners free to make customers happy!
(more…)Get Ahead’s ethos is built on flexibility. The business was created to provide flexibility to the people who work here, and to allow our clients to achieve better work-life harmony too.
Christmas is a great time to take a break. It’s accompanied by two bank holidays followed by a third a week later, forcing us to down tools for a few days. Many of us take the whole week off to rest, relax, see friends and family and observe Christmas in whatever way we choose.
(more…)Social media management is one of our most popular services. Why? Because so many small businesses struggle to keep up with social media for the long term. Many business owners start off with excellent resolutions and invest in high-powered scheduling tools, but little by little, the social media tails off and ceases to be a priority.
So, to make life a bit easier, we thought we’d share some of our ideas for keeping on top of social media. Here they are:
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