The region’s brightest and best in business are coming together for this year’s Blackpool Business Expo, taking place on Wednesday 26th September at the Village Hotel, Blackpool.
The expo has continued to champion local North West businesses since it launched four years ago and its popularity has grown year on year, with many exhibitors booking time and again.
In previous years we have encouraged our exhibitors to get involved in Small Business Advice Week whose aim is to help the country’s millions of SMEs thrive in tough times, with advice from both leading experts and businesses across Britain. And this year is no different. Often the best advice is from those who have actually been there, so, we asked our exhibitors one question:
“Which is the one piece of advice you wish you’d had in the first couple of years in Business?”
And here’s some of their responses…
Believe in yourself. You don’t need all the bells and whistles straight away, you can gradually build up. It takes years to get to where you want to be so don’t expect it over night or weeks or months, it takes years of hard work and dedication. Don’t quit when it gets a little bit harder or the money is really tight, to quote Winston Churchill “If you’re going through hell, keep going” “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”.
ANGELA SINGLETON – PRINCIPAL SOLICITOR – 828 LAW
The most important thing for me is to plan. Do a business plan and a marketing plan. Put things in place to show what your goals are and how you can achieve them. Break this down to weekly/monthly target and revisit your vision at least once a week. This gives focus and drive as well as accountability.
MUBARAK CHATI – MANAGING DIRECTOR- 1 EVENTS MEDIA LTD
Be fully aware of why you do what you do, what is your emotionally charged connection. This will help shape your culture, your offering, your target market and equally importantly your values.
JENNY HARDMAN – HARDMAN MCNEAL
When thinking about your ‘pitch’ don’t tell us what you do and how you do it, clearly state your name, what benefits you have to offer and who you can help, PS, it isn’t everyone.
JOHN KEEN – MANAGING DIRECTOR – ROSEWOOD KEEN MANAGEMENT SERVICES
Don’t let your head rule your heart – in other words – you need to have something to aim for, don’t settle for mediocrity stretch yourself, set the bar high then even if you don’t achieve the ultimate goal, you may well be further towards it than if you had not set the bar high!
NICHOLA HOWARD – DIRECTOR – LAUNCH EVENTS NW
Don’t spend your money on Advertising, Market your business, know your customers and speak to them in a language they understand.
CHRIS HUNTER – DIRECTOR – HM-NETWORK LTD
To have PRIVACY BY DESIGN at the heart of EVERYTHING you do.
It is much easier to build privacy measures into something from the word go, than to try and address them retrospectively. Startups should seriously consider what the GDPR and e-Privacy means for how businesses will need to operate moving forward.
It could give you a competitive advantage and be the difference between winning and losing contracts with suppliers which can get you up that ladder to success faster. Make the protection of personal data your number 1 priority.