Looking back on when I first set up my first business I didn’t have a clue about marketing.
I’d read all the books (okay, maybe not ALL of them) and even taken a few courses but reality is very different when you start day one of your business. Running a business is a real roller coaster of fear and exhilaration and nobody is there to guide you.
I found my first clients for Hudson Accountants (my second business) by hand delivering a mailshot to local businesses on the High Street and a local trading estate. They were individually addressed as I’d walked down the road making a note of the business names. I’d even included a reply paid card. When I received the first (and only) one of those reply paid cards we celebrated with a glass of bubbly.
Networking was another terrifying experience. These days it comes much more smoothly as I enter a room where people often know me from social media or other connections and I even bump into clients at some events. But my first Chamber of Commerce lunch in Manchester in 2009 I didn’t have a clue what to say!
As you can see, I’ve survived, moved the business from Bolton to Bristol and then sold it. I now run three other fully remote businesses including Minerva Accountants.
Hudson Business Advice helps business owners, accountants and bookkeepers build better businesses, whether they’re just starting out, growing, or preparing for an eventual exit.
For those starting a practice, the first live StartUp Bootcamp for Accountants & Bookkeepers takes place on 11 September, helping attendees build their first 90-day plan using proven templates and practical guidance.
More established practice owners may be interested in the live Numbers Business Online event on 15 & 16 October, based on the award-winning book and refined over eight years of helping firms build more profitable, sustainable businesses. Message to find out more about this one.