I am so excited, it’s Dakota Blue Consulting’s 5th birthday today and I’m absolutely delighted to have hit this important milestone on our business growth journey.
Just as it is important for every business to set clear short and long term goals to achieve, it is also important to stop and reflect from time to time and celebrate what you have achieved both personally and professionally. It is also the perfect time to focus on the future and set some clear goals on the business direction for the next 5 years.
So, I thought I’d share some of my learnings from the Dakota Blue journey in the hope that you may also take some insight from them and apply them to your own business.
1: Focus, focus, focus
As a business owner who is passionate about developing people in any way that I can, one of the key lessons learnt is that you cannot be everything to everyone. There have been many times when I have believed this is truly possible, after all who doesn’t believe they can conquer the world in 5 years! But the harsh reality has shown us that this not only has the potential to confuse your customers about what you are really good at and what you can do for them, but also can result in you and your employees being stretched too thin and, sometimes, losing your “mojo” and passion for what you really love. This is one of the reasons why we have recently been focussing on developing specific programmes in areas that we know we excel at; management development, leadership development, mentoring and coaching.
2: Customer service is King!
Apologies for the age-old cliché but sometimes the old ones are the best! Since we were founded we have focussed on delivering an excellent customer service and see the rewards of this every day. Through going the extra mile for our clients and delivering a fantastic service, we now see that most of our work comes from customer referrals due to the demonstrable results we have helped them to achieve. We have stopped being shy and regularly ask our customers not to keep us a secret but to recommend us and share the benefits that we can bring to their business with their networks. We in turn do the same for our customers; it shows that our customer relationships are more than just about delivering an incredible service, it is about finding opportunities to work together, collaborate and spread the word about each others’ services and strengths.
3: Failure is the greatest driver of success
Building and growing a business is a journey, an opportunity to try things new and see what works. And sometimes they don’t! Whether that be developing new products and services that customers just don’t want or employing people that just don’t “fit” in your business. What my coach has helped me to excel at in these situations (if you haven’t got one … get one! everyone needs a coach!) is staying positive in the face of adversity, focussing on the problem in hand, clarifying the situation, finding a solution and quickly moving on. Failure in business is not personal (even though it may feel that way at the time when you have invested so much personal energy into it), it is business and every failure is just an opportunity to learn and improve.
4: Don’t forget your purpose
When I started Dakota Blue 5 years ago, one of my key personal goals was to achieve a healthier lifestyle and a better work, life integration where I could spend more time with my family and children, to be present for life’s important events, whilst building a successful business. In the main I have been able to achieve this personal goal but I would be lying if I said that I haven’t got the balance wrong at times and struggled with a constant juggling act. But by building a good team around me, great people with the right skills that I can rely on, has ensured that I can get that integration right most of the time.
What I have discovered is important is the ability to constantly prioritise and find your own rhythm, taking time to reflect on what works well for you to enable you to be most productive and get the best efficiency from every day. Understanding whether you are a morning, afternoon, evening or night person is key and then understanding how you can make that work well with your customers, family, friends and personal goals. This may take a while, but with a little trial, error and stamina, finding the right rhythm for you can make a huge difference. Giving yourself permission to do things at the right time can be very liberating and deliver much better results than trying to force yourself to do things when it just doesn’t feel right!
These are just a few of my insights. There are many more that will help Dakota Blue deliver our ambitious and exciting plans for the next five years and we hope you will join and support us on this journey.