After years, no, decades of setting new years’ resolutions and failing within the first month, I don’t even think about setting myself any sort of resolutions. I know that within the next few weeks, a lot of people will be beating themselves up because they’ve failed to meet those ridiculously ambitious goals that they’d never even consider at any other time in the year.
Of course, the new year CAN be a good time to make some changes; but it doesn’t have to be life changing. Over recent years, I’ve started to think more in terms about what I achieved in the previous 12 months and how I can build on those experiences in the next 12 months; or how I can avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
“Repository” of UK VAT knowledge…..
Somebody recently described me as being a “repository” of UK VAT knowledge. I’m not sure whether it was meant as a compliment, but I guess it depends how you interpret the term “repository”. I like to think of myself as a good balance between being a “jack of all trades” to a “master of one”, but either way there’s always room for improvement.
On my LinkedIn profile, I start by saying that “I’m a VAT consultant so I know 20% of everything…..”. Of course that’s just a play on words and in practice, the more I learn about VAT, the more I realise how much more I need to learn. I might be a “repository”, but there’s always more to learn.
Anybody who runs their own business knows that our technical knowledge is the core of our activity. We rely on it every day and that means that we need to know our own strengths and weaknesses.
I’ve had to spend a lot of time this year learning more and more different technical issues, from EC VAT to intra-company transactions to property.
It’s not how much you know that’s important, but that you remember how much more there is to learn.
Never mind the UK, or even the EC VAT rules. VAT is now an international form of taxation and however much I know about the UK or EC VAT, I just don’t think I’ve got any space in my brain to learn about international rules.
However during 2015, I made some very good contacts with other VAT consultants who specialize in EC and international VAT. This means that I’m starting 2016 with much broader technical expertise that I can access than I could ever provide on my own, which is a very positive development.
Doing stuff online
One area that I’ve had to master over the past couple of years is the actual mechanics of online marketing. My techie and marketing friend has been nagging me about LinkedIn, doing newsletters, building up my mailing lists for several years.
About 95% of my work comes to me via the Internet, whether this website or a newsletter or something on Twitter. I’ve always been quite good at the basic things like writing blogs, but actually the main reason I didn’t do other stuff was for the simple reason that I didn’t know how to do it!!
I know of a lot of businesses who invest a lot of time and money in having a fancy website set up, but don’t even bother to set up a list of their customers and other contacts, send out emails or newsletters and don’t spend any time on any of the main business or social networks, such as LinkedIn or Facebook. Most people will say that the main reason is that it takes time, but like any activity in life, the more often you do it, the easier it becomes.
So last year, I made a point of learning a new “online” skill every month or so and now I have a pretty good range of online marketing skills. So if you’re looking for new business or new contacts, why not make a point of learning something about online marketing new every month or two? This sort of stuff makes a huge difference to your online profile and, ultimately, brings more traffic to the website and more queries.
Running a business
You need a lot of skills to run a business and I’ve a long way to go before I’ll consider myself successful. There are several different aspects to running a business and these are a few things I’ve learnt during 2015:
- Be confident. Some people mistake kindness for weakness and will literally take you for a ride if you let them. Going through a bad patch? Maybe you need to rebrand your business and increase your charges and target qualify clients rather than going for volume. You’re worth it.
- You have to develop a thick skin. Some people have no manners whatsoever and never say thank you, even when you’ve put yourself out to help them. And don’t take rejection personally. It’s part of being in business.
- Regular and persistent marketing activity adds up and will help grow the business. I’m not always consistent person when it comes to marketing, but whenever I put out a blog, do some tweeting, post on LinkedIn, more people visit the website which means more potential clients.
- Build up your mailing list. Get out to marketing events, use subscriber lists from your website or customer lists. Send out regular newsletters or headlines at least once a month to remind people about your business.
Of course, there are thousands and thousands of books and DVDs and YouTube videos and training courses all telling you how to run a more successful business. But you can’t do everything at once, so I’ve learned to take things in stages. And it seems to be working.
Working out your own challenges
As business owners, we all have different challenges in our day to day business activities. I also made mistakes last year, but hopefully I’ll have learnt from them.
One thing I’ve learnt is to be persistent with clients and make sure that they’ve given me all the facts. This is particularly important for any tax or legal issue, because what seems to be a small issue can make a significant change to your advice. Your clients might think that you’re a pain in the backside if you keep asking them for more information, but it’s better than giving the wrong advice because you haven’t had the full story.
Every year, I’m reminded that there is RARELY a simple answer to a VAT question, especially if it involves property. So the next time anybody asks me to explain something “in simple terms”, I’ll explain that it might not be possible. Maybe after 30 odd years of working in VAT, I might just remember that piece of advice.
Here’s to a happy, healthy and successful 2016!
Marie