Taking the business to the next level.

Every now and then I stop talking about cosmetic ingredients and focus on the fact that as well as this being my passion, it is also my business.  Well this week has been as good or bad as any other in a busy consultancy and I for one am exhausted!  We (Rebecca and I) churn through a huge pile of work each week and with between 12-15 clients on the boil at any one time it’s nothing short of MADNESS sometimes but we love it!

This week I had to see my accountant as the business has hit another mile stone (this is year 8) and I now have to think about exciting things like profit, dividends and actually planning for tax payments rather than them being a quarterly bun fight.  All of this is good and gives me faith that I’m not just good at my JOB I’m also capable of running a business too.

I wanted to bring up the money thing with you all as like many of my clients I started my business with blind faith, optimism and an unhealthy gut full of kick-ass determination.  I say unhealthy because I’ve been up and down on this journey – nobody tells you how much running a business takes out of you, forces you to grow and leaves you exhausted from the fight and wrinkled (go figure…. I’m a cosmetic chemist don’t you know).  However, one thing I didn’t start out with is a focus on amassing lots of money.  While I still don’t have dollar signs in my eyes I have come to appreciate that in the game of business money buys you everything – time, choices, opportunities, time off, wellbeing, charitable donations, collaborations, a team, food and a roof over your head. Well, let me re-phrase that, money might not ‘buy’ you that in as much as you don’t sit back and pay your way into all of the above, but it does remove some of the basic but very challenging obstacles that might otherwise impede you and render you unavailable for comment.

Another thing that I’ve been pondering this week is change. I have been actively trying to build the business this year and had set myself goals and a vision of what I wanted to achieve.  The weird thing is that sitting here now, at the end of quarter three I find myself in a great position in some ways but still chained to my ‘day job’ in others.   Further, my ‘big picture goal’ somehow seems a little further away……It turns out that finding time to navel-gaze, analyse and strategically plan is very hard when you have a business and is even harder when you have a job (in my business), a family (to love and spend time with) and a desire to keep some time aside for yourself too! Quite often it’s just head-down-bum-up as I move from one task to another.  For me, change and business development and growth is always fighting against just doing what I already have on my plate, grinding the wheels. It feels like a perpetual catch-22 ish situation when really it’s more of a slow shuffle, two steps forward and one step back towards the goal.

So things are going great but they aren’t necessarily going as quickly as  my ‘big picture’ mind planned  but the more I think about it the less it matters.  What I love about business is that just when you think you’ve nailed it you open up a whole new level of fun- just like in one of those adventure games that kids like to play.  Well I’m there.  I’m currently a bit bogged down in the trenches working away but I’m well supported by Rebecca who is growing in confidence and ability each day and we are having fun in here AND we are making progress!  Further,  I am also much better at my job now vs when I started.  I can do it more efficiently, find more creative solutions and bring a whole new level of expertise to the table.  What’s more while I can’t currently spend too much time doing Director-ish stuff  I can see the road that leads to that place,  it’s just not quite my time to walk it just yet.

So YAY me for finally becoming the owner of a financially successful company with plenty of good stuff on the horizon.

and YAY me for having a goal and setting a direction even if I am shuffling there.

and YAY to you too for taking time out of your busy lives to read and share your journeys with me.

I love it.

Amanda x