After the hellscape that was 2020 for a lot of small businesses, now is the time to focus on growth and adapting business practice AND start nurturing your businesses most important asset... You

Here are 7 areas to focus on in 2021:

Customers come first, let them tell you about your business - In 2021, its time to love your customers engage with them as much as you can and actively encourage their feedback, both positive and negative, a broad consensus of constructive negative feedback in more valuable than lots of customers fawning over how amazing you are.

This is also the time to deliver outstanding customer support across all channels, gone are the days when customer support was something you had to do 'because sales' In 2021 customer support is something you do, and do well, is because brand awareness, trust and loyalty have never been more important, turn those unhappy customers into loyal ones.

Deliver an experience your customers wont forget.

Know your niche - Its easy to get excited when your business begins to work and want to expand into new markets, But try not to run before you can walk and don't spread yourself to thin and you will miss opportunity's. First focus on your niche and optimise how that area is performing, refine your products and services  it and look for new channels of promotion.

Manage your time, Strike a balance  - Small business owners have to wear many hats, but unfortunately its on you to ensure that you are using your time efficiently. Time to share the load with technology, have a look at what apps and platforms are out there that will help automate or streamline your processes, small incremental time gains will add up to a huge part of your time overall.

Also its time to start looking at your tasks as effort vs impact, prioritise those which are low effort for a high impact on your business first.  

Time to go multi-channel - The channels in which customers can interact with businesses are always expending, your business needs to be there before the customers are. Develop your multi-channel strategy but scale as you learn more about your customers and how they will purchase your products.

Collect information about your customers and leverage this to enhance your strategy.

Time to take on the big fish - It can be intimidating to be a small fish in a sea of sharks, just remember that you started a business and introduced new products or services because you saw a need for them.

Look for doors that have been left open by your competitors who are reluctant or slow to adapt they product, get in first and capture that market share.

Technology is also becoming easier to integrate and more user friendly enabling you to compete with the bigger fish at a fraction of the cost.

Nurture your staff - Whilst you love your business, you cant do it all on your own. Building the right team in a small business is incredibly frustrating, and finding the right people for key positions is difficult, simply because they will not care about the business as much as you do, so make them... 

Once you have the right person, think about what your business can do for them as well as what they can do for you, learn about their lives and aspirations, invest in training to retain and upskill them, explore  bonuses that mirror business goals to encourage performance, Let them know that they are actively contributing to the success of the business.

Keep your passion, love what you do  - Owning a small business isn't easy by any stretch of the imagination. Anybody who has owned a small business will understand the stress involved, so make sure that you make time for yourself, reflect on your successes, be honest about problems and more importantly talk about them. To mirror the beginning of the blog, you are the businesses biggest asset, it needs you... so don't burn yourself out.

And keep the passion that you had from day one as your business grows, your passion is why people buy your product, they come to you and what sets you apart.