Hi <<First Name>>,
I hope this email finds you well. It's been a while since my last update, so here's a quick summary of what's been going on, plus a few ideas for your business.
Recent Activity
One thing I was really hoping for with my consulting business was variety, and I've had no trouble in that regard. Here is a list of some of things I've been doing for clients over the last few months: - Preparation, administration and analysis of multiple client and staff surveys (run using my favourite online survey tool, SurveyGizmo)
- Financial modelling/forecasting
- Business plan preparation
- Assistance with negotiations with a client's banker for increased finance
- General strategic business planning
- Website design and development
- Development of an Access based investor registry/database
- Identification of a suitable new office for a client, and successful negotiation of the purchase on their behalf (see below).
- Advised on the use of online business tools (see below)
Website
I've added a small number of new posts over recent months, and you can see them in the blog section of my site. Here are direct links to the more recent ones:
I have also been regularly bookmarking some of my favourite small business articles from around the web. The best of them are automatically added to the articles page of my site (hit reload if it doesn't load properly first time), or you can see all of my business bookmarks at Diigo.
Here is a quick selection of some of my recent favorites:
Personal MBA (reading group)
Our PMBA group continues to meet every six to eight weeks, and we're getting through some great books. The number of ideas we all get for our businesses, all for just the price of a book and a few hours of our time, is so simple and beneficial that it almost feels like cheating. Here are the books we've read so far.
Coworking/Office Space
As I mentioned above, I recently helped a client acquire a new office. It is a very funky warehouse conversion in Richmond, with a combination of open spaces and private meeting rooms. We started with the idea of building the coworking space that I have been talking about for a year or two, but decided to scale down our plans. A "normal" coworking space has room for casual members and drop-ins, and therefore requires a high level of administration. For a small to medium coworking space, if the manager's time is properly accounted for at market rates then the administration costs can easily be more than the cost of the property itself. So we decided to keep it simple, and the current plan is to look only for full-time members, and people that we know and trust so we don't require a lot of management time in keeping the office running.
If you run a 1 to 3 person business and are looking for shared office space in Richmond, let me know. It won't be your normal office - there will be quiet places to get work done, but also areas with couches, a TV, and most likely a games area. Who said going to the office can't be fun? We're ultimately planning to have between 10 and 20 people working out of the space. The plans are still to be finalised so we can't make any promises, however it would be great to start talking to any of my friends that might have some interest.
SAAS - Software As A Service
In running my own micro-business I use a number of great online tools. Here is a quick selection of some of my favourites: - Google Apps - a suite of products, including email (using the Gmail backend, but with your own domain rather than @gmail.com) and Google Docs
- MailChimp - the tool I use to create and distribute this newsletter
- SurveyGizmo - my preferred tool for creating online surveys
- ScreenToaster - a free tool for creating screencasts (recording video of your screen, plus the option of audio, which I have recently used to create demonstrations for a client as I create a new database for them)
- Evernote - a brilliant, and enormously popular, tool for recording all sorts of notes... too many potential uses make it hard to describe - just trust me, and try it!
- Dropbox - a great tool for syncing directories on your local hard drive with an online service, ensuring you can access important documents from any PC. (Use this link to sign-up and get additional free storage)
- WORKetc - the tool I use for timesheets and invoicing clients
(All of these providers offer free and paid accounts, with the exception of SurveyGizmo and WORKetc which both have free demos but only paid accounts.)
If you'd like to know more about any of these, or even some help in setting them up and incorporating them into your business processes, let me know.
How You Can Help Me (in under 5 minutes!)
I am passionate about helping my clients do a better job of listening to their clients and customers. Nobody knows what our customers want better than our customers!
I thought it was time to follow my own advice, and I've put together a very short questionnaire for clients, friends and colleagues that will give me some valuable information about myself and my services. If you have 5 minutes and would like to help me improve my business, you can find the questionnaire here.
The questionnaire is completely anonymous, which means it is impossible for me to thank you directly for your help. What I would really like to do is make a $25 loan through Kiva for every response I get. For just 5 minutes of your time you will be helping two small businesses at once!
That's all for now. I hope things are well with you, and I look forward to seeing you soon!
Marc. |
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