We last spoke to Pattie Mason back in September 2004 just a couple of months after she established her company. We catch up with her again to see how she’s doing.
How has your business been getting along since we last spoke?
It’s been going pretty well. It was a struggle for the first six months or so but then things just took off and now I have enough work to keep me busy. I also have a few people who I outsource work out to when things are really busy.
I would say I’m now at the stage where I’m making enough to pay the bills and to pay myself a living wage, however obviously I’d like to be making more!
What do you feel you have learnt about running a business and yourself in this time?
I’ve learnt that the old cliché about running a business being incredibly hard work is completely true. I think I’ve also learnt that you need to be very organized, very resilient and that finding new clients takes a lot longer than you think it will.
What about being your own boss, has it turned out how you expected? What have been the main down and up sides?
I really like being my own boss. I find it very motivating that everything depends on me. So whether I reach my target for new clients this month or not, it is completely up to put the effort in - there’s nobody else to blame for anything - at the same time this is also one of the downsides of being your own boss.
I guess the other drawback would be that it’s really hard to take time off and you are constantly thinking about your business and how you can improve it.
What do you feel has been your biggest achievement since starting up?
I guess surviving my first year. I was very concerned in the first six months that I simply wasn’t going to be able to make enough money to make this a viable business. However, I put in a lot of effort – cold calling, networking, carrying out various marketing schemes, and now I have around 25 clients.
So my effort has paid off and, of course, it is much easier to get more clients once you actually have some clients, as opposed to trying to convince someone to be that first guinea pig.
What has been your biggest disappointment?
There haven’t been any huge disappointments really since things started to pick up. I hope I’m not due one. I think the bulk of my disappointments came in the first six months when I was struggling along with three clients and desperately trying to get more business.
Looking back, what would you have done differently?
I would have started marketing much earlier, I had no idea how long it takes for people to get back to you. I have had clients contact me from a postcard they picked up 6 months ago, so it really does take some time.
If I was doing it over again I wouldn’t bother cold calling to try and get new clients, I did this for about a month when I was really desperate. And while I did pick up some projects from it, it’s a very quick fix solution to getting business in and the jobs don’t tend to be that lucrative.
I also think it gives people a somewhat negative view of your business, people associate cold calling with either desperation when it comes from a small business owner, or they think you are calling from some huge, soulless call centre and trying to rip them off. Having said that some people are really good at it, and for them it may work. However, I think those people are very few and far between.
How close have you stuck to your original business plan? Has it turned out vastly differently from what you expected?
I haven’t varied vastly from my business plan, things have gone pretty much how I expected.
