I wish I has a better or more catchy title than that!

But communication is what we are talking about this month. It tends to be brushed to the side a bit this one, after all, we all speak to one and other don’t we, and isn’t that communication?

Yes, it is but that is only the tip of the iceberg!

We all see risk differently. And we are all comfortable at different points. I meet my client in late 2019. A sole trader doing it all themselves. When I say all, I mean everything from being his own secretary to making the CEO's decisions. There were big plans but I was afraid burnout was on his cards instead. After our first couple of meetings, I had a really good grasp on what he was wanting to achieve but it was an all-or-nothing plan and that was scary to him – understandably!

There is no disputing that the last two years have been extremely hard to navigate in business. If you struggled at one point or another - don’t worry you definitely were not alone!

If I had a dollar for every time someone said to me, “I wish I knew how the banks viewed this debt” or “ I wish I had known more about credit ratings and scores as a young adult” I would be a very rich woman!

Over the past two years, businesses had to pivot. But there is one in particular that really stood out for me. I was called in to host a strategic meeting, the whole staff was present, 17 in total. Age range of the staff were 18 to 60, a diverse age group of 90% males. The business was 90% face-to-face customer-based. As is the case with a lot of these meetings at the beginning of covid there was a fair bit of panic and individual thinking had taken over. My first job was to bring their thinking back from individual thinking to how together could we pivot.

“I wish I had made the change earlier” Do you know how many times I hear that!

Starting a business is not easy. It is hard. It is hard work. It is time-consuming. It is mentally exhausting at times. And that’s just getting through the concept stage and paperwork. Then when it comes to actually launch a business you go weak at the knees, you get sweaty palms, does this sound familiar?

Knowing how to lead well is a fine-tuned skill in the business world and for those that get it right excel on their businesses beyond all expectations.

I am a natural-born leader and when I am asked what it takes to be a leader, I am very clear in my response. You must have a vision and a clear path to get there. Without a vision of where you are taking your business, how are you planning on leading it there?

So, you have a business idea.

You think you are on to something.

You spend your spare time doing research.

Yep, you are defiantly onto something!

You are super excited, and you just want to get started!

This is how most small businesses start, with an idea, some research, and enthusiasm and there is nothing wrong with this at all. But what you do from here can really determine whether you are a success story or if you spend your time chasing your tail and unfortunately failing.

Have you ever heard the term?

Let’s break it up and look at the word lean.

Oxfords definition is – To slope in one direction, or to move the top part of the body in a particular direction.

Now out that with the word business, The activity of buying and selling goods and services.

I don’t know about you but that sounds like a pretty awkward term when put together. I say it all the time, we really need to come up with more practical and self-explanatory terms in business and finance. Then maybe more people would not shy away from it. But when you hear the word Lean Business you can understand why people are left scratching their heads!

We have all heard this term “Keeping up with the Joneses” time and time again, but have you ever wondered where it actually came from? And No, it didn’t come from a really wealthy family called the Jones!

It was a year that none of us have seen before and I do not think we would like to see it again to this magnitude. But taking what we have learnt and moving forward will better prepare us for any other obstacles that may come our way in the future.

Everyone loves getting that surprise Christmas gift, that unexpected little something and I think that Christmas is one of those big opportunities that can get missed in business.

Rebecca will be contributing a regular column to Money and Finance starting next week.