As founder and director of startup support company Co Startup & Go, Sian Winfield works closely with businesses to help them realise their potential.
Make plans
You need to have a plan to maintain momentum; put a clear strategy in place and set monthly business meetings with yourself to check on progress, as well as six-monthly reviews. This way, you’ll see if you’re on track and understand what you need to change or improve to get to where you want to be.
Spend your energy wisely
When you’re a fledgling business, there’s so much to do that it’s easy to get stuck. Break down the necessary weekly tasks and order them so you have the most important ones at the top – this could include things like business development, social media, finances and pitching. Having a priority list is a neat way to make sure you’re not dedicating too much time to less essential areas.
Book time with yourself
Diaries are not just for meetings, and leaving slots empty can often mean that other people fill them up for you. Book time into your own diary to focus on the areas where you can add most value. Need to bring in new business? Block out a weekly slot. Need to get social media up and running? Put in a daily reminder. You can add colours for different subjects to create a quick visual reference of how your week's looking and what you’ve completed.