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Cheryl Rickman Interview
The Interview
DS: What inspired you to follow an entreprenerial path and in
particular what inspired you to write the Small Business
Handbook?
CR: Well, I was never the 'selling packets of sweets' kind of
playground budding entrepreneur at school, and my main dream was
to become a freelance writer, but somewhere at the back of my
mind I liked the idea of running my own business, something
small and (dare-I-say-it) manageable. (I now know that smaller
businesses are often harder to manage due to the lack of people
to delegate tasks to).
However, it was mainly circumstance that led me to start-up, and
the support and encouragement of my partner, James. And I think
it is that circumstance - which creates entrepreneurs. The
majority of self-made types are ordinary people doing
extraordinary things.
Also, I guess some of my 'entrepreneurial spirit' came from my
mum. She passed away in 1991 when I was just 17. And, to cope
with the trauma and loss, I began to fill my time with trying to
further my writing career. Years after her death, one of my
mother's best friends told me that mum always believed that I
would someday run my own business. I had no idea that she
thought that until a few years into my first business, but that
gave me the inspiration I needed to think about writing my book.
Having succeeded in business through a combination of
determination and my own trial and error, I longed to write a
book that would offer insight and encouragement to young
entrepreneurs like me who dreamt of running their own business,
but didn't have the faintest idea where to start. Ultimately,
The Small Business Start-Up Workbook is the culmination of that
dream.
DS: What was the biggest challenge you faced in bringing your
idea to fruition? How was it overcome?
CR: The first was to challenge my own assumptions about whether
or not I could do it. Everybody has some element of fear going
into it for the first time, but I had such a great support
mechanism in my boyfriend James, that he fuelled my own belief
in my ideas and capabilities. The second challenge and probably
the biggest ongoing hurdle that is shared by most small
businesses is funding and cash flow. Finding start-up capital
was far from easy, so I started up with a minimal amount. It's
certainly easier to borrow bigger sums than small amounts. In
the early days I also found getting clients to pay on time was a
challenge. Now this is less of a problem, but it is still a
general rule that the bigger the customer, the longer they will
take to pay you. Another ongoing challenge is finding balance in
terms of thinking time. I think mostly about the businesses and
what's going on in them, and need to find a way to switch off
more frequently.
The bottom line is that, as an entrepreneur, you have to
challenge yourself fairly regularly and be open to that concept.
You're often going to have to enter unchartered territory and do
something that is foreign to you and your skillset, but that's
what happens when you wear many hats. And certainly, on start-up
as a sole proprietor, you are the receptionist, marketing
department, MD, fulfillment house, sales team. You wear ALL the
hats, so being challenged on a daily basis becomes part and
parcel of life as an entrepreneur.
Finally - realizing that you may have to rely on others who
don't share your vision/dream and who may/will let you down is a
challenge to accept and overcome. Once you find reliable and
impressive suppliers you can trust, from a great web developer
to a great business card supplier, you learn to stick with them.
DS: What makes you most proud of your entrepreneurial
achievements ?
CR: The book does because it's something tangible that I can
pick up and say 'Yes! I did this!'
I must admit, I'm often so busy that I only rarely stop to
'smell the roses' and appreciate what I'm achieving. This is a
lesson in itself that I have to learn to do more and is
certainly something that I suggest others do in my book. People
(myself included) should list their achievements more
frequently. Some books advise to do this on a daily basis,
writing down mini-achievements.
I guess the main milestones that make me feel proud of my
achievements are: The friendships and contacts I've gained since
embarking on my entrepreneurial journey, including a few
'celebrities' such as Anita Roddick and Wendy James, among
others, plus a whole host of people who are part of the same
online networks as me (such as ecademy.com and Digital Eve) who
inspire me and make me feel proud. The people I've managed to
interview both in the business world and music world makes me
feel proud. Learning is so important in life, and being able to
learn from those who are 'living the dream' is important.
Knowing that we're still doing it and are stronger than ever
makes me feel proud, with I Like Music (www.ilikemusic.com) it's
taken us four years, but we are now at a point where some of the
larger well-known brands and companies who've spent pots of cash
but with minimal results are now taking notice of us and can see
our strengths. We now have four years worth of great content,
contacts and traffic and are ready to take the site to the next
level, but we've not forked out on flash offices or streams of
staff. And with Web Copywriter it's great that the original
business 'WebCritique' has grown organically into this niche
area of writing for the web. The fact that all businesses are
still going makes me feel proud.
DS: How did you actually fund your business to get it off the
ground?
CR: WebCritique was launched with just a small amount of my own
savings, plus a 1500 bank loan. My personal loan bank refused
me for a business loan, so I set up a business account
elsewhere. I also sold my car. Since then I've financed the
business on cash flow, plus overdrafts and occasional loans,
which is also the case for I Like Music, which is entirely
self-funded. WebCopywriter cost nothing as the design was done
in house.
I wish there was more cash readily available in the form of
grants to small businesses in all areas: both affluent and
under-privileged areas.
DS: What attributes do you think make a successful entrepreneur?
CR: That's a tough question because there are so many variables
that go toward making a business actually work; from
personalities and people to the viability of an idea, state of
the market and, often, circumstances outside a business owner's
control. As I say in my book, 'Certainly, there is no
entrepreneurial elixir you can swiftly drink to make you
automatically successful (except your own home-made
passion-fuelled one). But you can prepare yourself to seize
opportunities and make it happen for you.'
However, if I had to list attributes that would make the
entrepreneurial life manageable, I would say, you need energy,
passion and to be dedicated and thick-skinned. You need to be
able to cope with times when your social life will suffer. You
should be a great communicator and someone who enjoys
networking, be it face to face or online. But probably the most
key attribute is the desire to learn. That includes learning
from mistakes.
In my book I speak to a variety people from Anita Roddick and
Stelios to Simon Woodroffe, among others. All of them told me
how important listening and learning is as an entrepreneur. And,
as soon as you think you know it all, you're history as a
business. As a boss, if small business owners can remember that
just because they started the business doesn't mean they know
more about marketing than the marketing chap, businesses would
flourish easier. Learning should be a continuous endeavour, so a
capacity and interest in learning is a crucial attribute for any
entrepreneur.
DS: What do you believe are the necessary elements for a
business venture to succeed?
CR: Good people. You need the right people working with you, be
that in terms of partnerships or staff. They are the lifeblood
of your business, so you need to value them and they will
perform well. As Mike Southon says in The Beermat Entrepreneur
'People buy from People.' So ensuring that people working for
you share your vision and at least can serve your customers in a
way that they themselves would wish to be treated, is the first
step.
You need to plan, as it's easier to be passionate about getting
somewhere if you know where you're heading and how you're going
to get there. Plus cash-flow can kill businesses, so it's
important to know what is going to be coming in and out of the
business all the time. Again, being open to learning is a key
element. Many businesses fail because those driving the business
are so caught up working 'in' the business, instead of 'on' the
business, that they can't implement changes, find time to learn
or stay creative or on the ball. That's why planning and hiring
the right people with complementary skills who you can delegate
to are essential success factors.
These are just some of the elements included in my Start-Up
Checklist which appears in the book after the chapter called:
LESSONS FROM LEADERS IN BUSINESS: Success Stories, Mistakes and
Top Tips
DS: What are the three most important lessons you have learned
about business and entrepreneurship?
CR: 1. Everything always takes longer and costs more than you
think it will (even when you are fairly stringent with your
planning).
2. Go with your gut feeling. Learn how to feel what that is and
go with it. The buck stops with you, so you need to get as many
decisions right as you can. Some of these decisions will involve
others trying to sell you something: support or a service or a
partnership. There is a time for diplomacy and sometimes you
will need to listen to your instincts and opt not to go ahead
with a certain partnership or project.
3. Listen and learn constantly. You must never think you know it
all as nobody does. People like to give advice and tell you what
they know about things, so you can be constantly learning. You
also need to delegate, and appreciate that there are people out
there who can compliment your talents. Remember, it's all about
people.
DS: What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur?
CR: Do your research, find out what your potential customer
needs are and test the market where possible. Surround yourself
with a good support network and work out your break-even point
before you take the plunge. Buy or create a checklist that you
can go through before you set up, making sure you've considered
everything from your company name and marketing to your website,
staff and expenditure needs.
DS: What's the number one book you would recommend to aspiring
entrepreneurs?
CR: Of course my own book - The Small Business Start-Up
Workbook. However, another book I would heartily recommend is
Anyone Can Do It by Sahar and Bobby Hashemi of Coffee Republic,
and also Anita Roddick's Business As Unusual - both are
inspirational and help you get things into perspective. Both are
available from Amazon.co.uk, or you can order Anita's books via
her own site at www.anitaroddick.com
DS: What memorable mistakes, if any, have you made in business?
What did you learn from them and how can they be avoided?
CR: Earlier I mentioned the importance of going with your gut
feeling. Well, if I'd done that on at least two occasions, I
could have saved a lot of time, credibility and money. We chose
a web development team based on referral who ended up being
appalling. They made very technical looking sites which had a
reduced Google ranking, terrible indexability and were poorly
designed and coded. Effectively they talked the talk but didn't
walk the walk. If I'd followed my gut instinct earlier on when
the partnership was being discussed, I'd have walked alright...
away from them. The partnership cost us credibility, lost Google
ranking, plus a whole year of our time. Fortunately, we found a
new developer who has made our sites the best they have ever
been. But that's just part of the roller-coaster ride of running
your own business.
DS: What are the best and worst things about being an
entrepreneur?
CR: Best things are the freedom and flexibility it gives you in
terms of trying to reach your goals and in being your own boss.
Plus, it's nice to feel in control of your destiny. The worst
things are that nobody can understand what it's like to run
their own business until they do it themselves and the fact that
you lose a lot of 'me' time and social life when you work long
hours on your business. Not getting paid holiday is another
negative and personally it's my occasional inability to switch
off from business mode.
DS: Are there any other thoughts, insights, or advice for
aspiring entrepreneurs that you'd like to add?
CR: If you believe in your idea, have some proof to back it up
and have the energy to be your own boss, go for it. Remember,
it's better to try and fail than to not even bother to try then
get to the end of your life wondering, 'what if' and 'if only
I'd done that.'
About the author:
Damien Senn helps entrepreneurs create compelling businesses. He
is one of the UK's top Business Coaches as well as a fully
qualified Chartered Accountant.
Damien is the author of the 'Senn-Sational Success Journal' and
has developed his own coaching model called the 'Senn-Sational
Success System'.
For your FREE download '101 things to do before you die' please
click the following link:
http://www.senn-sational.com/freeresources.htm