“ Celebrate the successes, no matter how small!” |
Nicki set up her own credit consultancy business a year ago and has been very active in the small business community over the last 12 months. She works with business owners to alleviate the stress caused by unpaid bills. With a focus on getting paid quicker she works on processes, people, systems and documents to help business owners create better upfront contracts with new clients and therefore revolutionise their cash flow. Nicki has almost 30 years’ experience working within businesses on effective credit control and cash flow at a managerial level.
Her top three takeaways from her first year are:
• You get lots of advice from all sorts of people. They’ re telling you what worked for them and there’ s no guarantee it will work for you. Pick something appropriate
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for you and your business and do it well, then move on to the next thing.
• It can be lonely working for yourself, particularly if you’ ve come from the corporate world. Networking has been my rock, it has created friendships, suppliers and paying clients. However you only get out of it what you put in so work at it.
• Celebrate the successes, no matter how small! It can be tough in that first year, impostor syndrome and self-doubt can easily take hold. Take time to reflect on how far you’ ve come not just how far you have left to go.
To find out more about Nicki and the services she can offer visit www. nkcreditconsultancy. co. uk
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07900 834802 |
01249 470067 |
Chippenham born John Boatman is celebrating his twenty-fifth year working in the financial services sector. The owner of Boatman Financial Ltd has spent his entire career in the South West providing financial and mortgage advice to local businesses and individuals.
He launched his first company covering the Tetbury and Gloucester area. Seven advisers worked together under the same banner providing a range of financial services with John focused on pensions and investments. A decade later and the partners amicably went their own ways. For the last four years John has focused on making a difference to people’ s lives by offering solid one-to-one financial advice.
His top three takeaways after 25 years in business are:
• Be relatable and professional – you have to have empathy for people and they have to feel they can trust you. At the beginning in business you can come across as selling products – people don’ t buy products in the world of financial services. They buy people, they need to trust you to do business with you.
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• Listen to people – very early on I was told‘ you have two ears and one mouth act accordingly’ so listen twice as much as you talk. I talk a lot however I really heard that advice and I’ ve followed it.
• Be open-minded to change – don’ t be afraid of, ignore or fail to embrace innovation. Consider and learn about new ways of working – such as concepts like blockchain – this ensures you stop being relevant.
To find out more about John visit www. boatmanfinancial. co. uk
“ Consider and learn about new ways of working”
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“ Collaborate with like-minded business people”
07713 586033
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Lis set up her professional photography business in 2008 after many years working at a senior level in the music service for schools in the county. She specialises in business photography and personal portraiture, from headshots, to team shots to narrative photography. She’ s also published two books – one on what a good headshot is( and is not) and another book of short fiction stories. In 2018, recognising the increasing importance of images in modern day marketing, she’ s started running workshops on taking images for social media including selfies. Her top three takeaways from her ten years in business are:
• Don’ t compare yourself with other businesses doing the same as you.
• Don’ t just take- give back and support others.
• Collaborate with like-minded business people
Her next workshop takes place on Tuesday September 18 in the United Business Centre( UBC) in Cirencester titled“ Develop and build your 60 seconds with confidence’.
For more information about Lis and her services visit www. headshotdiva. co. uk and give her a call if you are interested in any of her workshops.
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