I've gained a ton of experience and advice I want to share with my fellow UK business owners out there, as I know some of it may surprise you, and hopefully make a positive difference to how you spend your time & energy when trying to grow your business.
What I've Learned
1. Facebook (paid) ads are NOT the magic solution you would hope they are. If ads brought in as much work as a full-time member of sales staff, nobody would have sales staff. People do business with people, not machines.
2. It's easy to outrank your local competitors on Google maps by regularly posting great photos, filling all the info in properly (most people don't) and asking your customers to leave reviews. Remember: Most business owners don't bother with any of this. If you're one of the few who do, you're going to enjoy a steady stream of free leads & business from Google.
3. It's worth spending money on things that save you time and give you leverage. Especially software!
4. Most business owners don't mention the areas they serve on any of their social media profiles, thus rendering their social media accounts useless for advertising, and giving you a nice competitive advantage. Why a window cleaner or a plumber would neglect to even mention the town they're in when trying to advertise their business is beyond me, but it's something I see each and every single day.
5. The real money is made when you're carrying out the actual work, not when you're selling it. I.e the skill and quality involved while carrying out the job. If you're crap at that, don't expect your customers to keep coming back or to recommend you.
6. It's unreasonable to expect to be successful if you're not willing to get out of bed before everyone else and work until you physically can't anymore.
"NOBODY cares about your business, only what they can get from you"
7. Don't waste time & energy getting annoyed by people who let you down or make you feel disrespected. Getting let down/disrespected is the number 1 thing that will happen to you as a business owner because NOBODY cares about your business, only what they can get from you. If you're not willing to handle negative situations in a calm and considered way, entrepreneurship is going to be a rough ride for you, and unpleasant for those around you. You have to learn to ignore & move on, and channel your energy into growing your business.
8. Beware of celebrating prematurely - A deal isn't a deal until the money is in the bank. We've all been there - A little bit of "good news" comes along, you take the missus out to celebrate and then a week passes and you realise the good news was in fact a steaming pile of horse poo.
Don't forget that people LOVE to talk big, and it's extremely rare that people act on their words. So don't get excited when it looks like you're going to get a big job. Save it for when the money comes!
9. Don't design your own business logo or website, because it will look crap. You wouldn't ask the trolley pusher at Tesco to rewire your house. And you are not a graphic designer.
10. Reduce STRESS by being a person of integrity. Yes you'll get let down & lied to day in day out throughout your business-owning life. But if you can be the ONE PERSON who is always true to his/her word, never make false promises, always do the best job you can possibly do, and understand that people value clear and honest communication over everything else (even when it's bad news)... You're going to have a lot less stress and be a happier person in general than a lot of the people you'll encounter in your work.