Spring has sprung…how will your business grow in the sun?

Posted by / April 7th, 2015 / No responses

I hope you all had a relaxing and fun-filled Easter weekend.

The weather has been sunny and bright here in Yorkshire and it feels as though Spring has sprung …at last.

It’s great to see all the buds coming out in blossom, the shoots emerging from hard ground and the leaves all green and shiny new on the trees.

We talk a lot about growth here at Serenwood.

We are passionate about helping small businesses grow, strengthen and protect their assets and we use our legal expertise to give them the commercial advice they need to stay strongly rooted. It’s essential for a business to keep innovating and developing if it is to thrive and succeed, and that means constantly re-assessing your contractual relationships and finding ways to do things better and more efficiently.

Perhaps it’s because I’m a Flower myself, but I love the concept of growth and enrichment.

I love to see the journey that a small businesses travels on from seedling to blossom into full bloom. It’s exciting to observe the entrepreneurial early days of a business, and a real privilege to help its founders protect unique, valuable ideas, designs and concepts. I enjoy the process of nurturing new relationships and partnerships, sowing the seeds for opportunity by creating the right contracts which embrace  collaborative working. It’s satisfying to help a company to put in place mature processes to safeguard its delivery obligations and plant the disciplines it needs to perform quality contract management. With over 50% of small businesses failing in the first 3 years of trading, it’s essential to put in place those solid foundations, thereby creating a sheltered environment ideal for growth.

Innovation is more important than ever for business growth. Arguably, advances in technology have made it easier for forward-thinking businesses to keep forging ahead in a competitive marketplace. However, technology also creates a high-pressured “instant” environment where the fastest moving venture will win out and therefore novel ideas must be carefully protected and augmented at the right time if you are to avoid being pipped at the post. IP rights must not be neglected despite the financial investment required to keep them valid and up to date.

I enjoy the buzz of being surrounded by people with creative energy, exploring ways for that business to improve and progress. It’s essential to spend time visioning with small companies, to visualise the strong, powerful and beautiful ventures that they are journeying to become. It’s not just because it’s fun –  it’s actually a critical strategic requirement prior to agreeing and signing a deal. Because a contract usually runs for a number of years we need to think about how the business will unfold and expand during that time. We may otherwise may agree to things which could hamper growth or trip us up, and the process also helps us to include things in the contract which proactively allow for future change and expansion.

Of course, there are many challenges too, on the road to strength and excellence. Strong winds that blow or a lack of food or water at times, when all-essential cash flow dries up or a legal dispute rears its head and threatens to topple the sapling business over just as it is ready to bear fruit. It’s all too easy to neglect or starve areas of the business, particularly when resources and cash are scarce, and there has been a long winter. In the wake of the recent global financial crisis, there are many businesses still struggling to become hardy and robust again as they wait for Spring. It’s tempting to cut corners, but in my opinion the question of commercial excellence is one which should never be ignored. It is too important to keep those roots in place and to be acutely aware of what the most valuable and precious parts of your business are – in order to watch over and sustain them.

So here we are in Spring again, and it seems to me to be as good a time as ever to take stock. Think hard about your business and work out what you need in order to grow, flourish and bloom. What can you do to make the most of the sunshine right now, and how can you encourage your team, suppliers and partners to create the right environment for growth this year? What will make your customers want to pay attention to your products or services and how can you encourage them to see you as standing tall above your competitors?

It goes without saying that Serenwood can help.

We’re doing the same thing with our  own business actually, with a planned period of growth and regeneration just around the corner. We have just  completed a rebrand and there will be a new website coming your way in the next few months, and a set of new products and training modules which we are very excited to share with you. We’ve acquired a number of fab new clients in the last few months and also welcomed some new members to our team. Spring has sprung, and we plan to enjoy the sunshine. Do join us, and we’ll provide the suncream and sun-hats.

hello@serenwood.co.uk