Small businesses tend to be more than just about making money.  As business owners our values and passions get wrapped up in the values for our business.  And there is such emphasis on the climate challenge at the moment it is easy to think that a public commitment to this is a sure fire business winner.  But is it really? Julia & Andrea investigate.......  

Julia & Andrea are talking about loyalty schemes this week.  Something that as small business owners we always feel we should be doing - it is after all many times easier to get an existing customer to spend more than it is to find a new one.  So is it always a walk in the park or something we should be putting sa lot more thought in to?

New Year - new podcast host!  Amazing PR expert Andrea Sexton has joined the Business Demons team to give her really interesting take on being a small business owner - that everything you do comes back to reputation.  And she is totally correct.

To start off with we thought we would talk consistency.  It is the key to business success - and permeates absolutely everything

As business owners we all know we should be investing to grow.  So why do so many of us have a problems with doing just that?  Vicky & I see this a lot in the people we talk to, both at start up and at key moments.  There is a lot of head nonsense going on in the decisions we do and don't take - which is what we are focusing on in the episode.

As business owners survival mode is a real state of mind.  And it isn't a good one.  Often created by external factors - the state of the economy, external regulation, or even personal problems. Survival mode makes the world look grey, and reduces your own mental room for maneuver.   Both Vicky and Julia have been through it, and thought today was a good time to talk about what it is and how it impacts.  Plus most importantly - what you can do when you find yourself in it's clutches........

Vicky's back!  And Julia is still banging on about Customer Service.  So what are the mindset reasons why business owners minimize customer experiences?

And we all do this..... For a variety of reasons and to different levels.  

A sign of poor customer service?  When your potential customer is still whining about it 4 days later.....  Which you might decide is entertaining in itself, but being Julia & Bill from Be Astute they can't resist going beyond this to explore the reasons why poor service happens and what you can do about it as a business owner.

It happens to all business owners.  Your clients start bringing their own nonsense to your relationship and things start getting personal.  This is not the same as us taking responsibility for when things go wrong, but we have all had situations where we start to question why we are putting up with being treated like this.  As an employee things can feel more clear cut - and there should be more support in helping you to assert your right to not be treated like slime on the bottom of someone's shoe.  As a business owner there is more going on in your head.  But you ultimately became self employed in order to have more control over your life.  So what do do.......?

Start by listening to this weeks podcast as Julia & Vicky dissect what is going on and what to do with it.

Julia & Vicky are talking about training this week.  It is a subject that they are more than normally opinionated about.....  You might be able to tell that from this weeks episode.  

There is a lot of really dodgy staff training out there, and some really great stuff.  So how can you get what you do in your business to be the ...... well, business?

Julia & Vicky were inspired by Liz Truss today.  With all that is going on in UK politics it seemed fair to do a bit of deconstruction and apply it to the world of being a business owner.  Because there re lots of people who own a business who hate leading.......