Tips & strategies to help your business grow

Mid-tier firms sound like they’re the best of both worlds right? Big enough to have a good reputation and some really smart technicians to make sure your accounting and tax is sorted but not as expensive and elite as the big 4. And If you need services like audit, corporate finance or international tax, then taking your business to mid or top tier accounting firms in Sydney is probably best for you.

It's a staggering statistic isn’t it? Almost every 2nd business that starts this year, won’t exist in just 3 years. If you dig deeper into the data set (which you can find here), you also find that 20% of business fail in the first year! Not even 12 months in, and the business (and the dreams of the founders) are dashed.

I’ve been working with small businesses for years now advising them on a wide range of business issues. But it wasn’t until I started Watson & Watt, and got my hands dirty on my own business, that I really had to understand “marketing”.

Where are you? When running a small business, the most correct answer can be “everywhere”. I get it. I’m not immune to it either.

Those that have answered it (properly), usually end up succeeding. Those that don't/can't answer it, usually don't succeed. The end up floating along in the zone of mediocrity or become part of the alarming business failure statistics.

One of the biggest challenges I faced in my career as an accountant and business consultant is sales. And if I felt the heat when I was working for other people, it magnified to the intensity of the sun, when I started my own business with no customers.

So you’ve got an idea. It’s growing and growing it’s all consuming – it’s all you can think about. You just need to know how to start a business in Australia and money will fall from the sky, you’ll work from the beach and come and go as you please. Less Stress and more money right?

It’s scary, I know, quitting your job when you’ve got a family depending on you. You’ve built a life around an income – a mortgage, young kids, bills to pay, a standard of living you’d like to keep and a retirement that’s approaching all too fast (well, kind of).

No, we’re not launching a marketing service, so what do we know about making more sales? Apart from growing Watson & Watt from nothing to something in the last 5 years I know that more sales is actually business strategy, not marketing & sales.

Have you ever given thought to what your offering your customers?