Sonia Williams - Raising a Business: A Womans No-nonsense Guide to Successfully Growing Your Small Business

Contents

First published 2007 by Wrightbooks

an imprint of John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

42 McDougall Street, Milton, Qld 4064

Office also in Melbourne

Sonia Williams 2007

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Williams, Sonia.

Raising a business : a womans no-nonsense guide to successfully growing a small business.

Includes index.

ISBN 9780731406876 (pbk.).

1. Women-owned business enterprises - Management. 2. New business enterprises - Management. 3. Small business - Management. 4. Businesswomen - Case studies. I. Title.

658.11082

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.

Wiley bicentennial logo: Richard J Pacifico

Cover image Stock Illustration RF

Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and neither purports nor intends to be advice. Readers should not act on the basis of any matter in this publication without considering (and if appropriate taking) professional advice with due regard to their own particular circumstances. The author and publisher expressly disclaim all and any liability to any person, whether a purchaser of this publication or not, in respect of anything and of the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done by any such person in reliance, whether in whole or part, upon the whole or any part of the contents of this publication.

Foreword

Whether you are about to build a business from the ground up, or buy and grow an existing one, this book shows you how to succeed.

Sonia Williams has interviewed 20 successful businesswomen and put together a range of helpful tools to guide you though the process of creating, launching and expanding your business.

Raising a Business shows you how to:

• find the right target group and reach it
• match consumer needs to the five senses in order to engage your customers with your product
• develop your business vision, the right business culture and leadership skills
• attract the right staff
• create strategic alliances
• understand financials and figures.

Raising a Business presents myriad advice imparted by key businesswomen. Being a mother of two young children and owning a successful business, I find it incredibly refreshing to read a book that has been written for women and that recognises the need for us to maintain a healthy worklife balance.

If you are looking to gain the confidence to take your dream or current business one step further, Raising a Business will not disappoint. I started my business nine years ago. Although it is now financially very successful, I wish Id had a book like this when I first started out; taking the time to read about other womens business experiences is so valuable.

In the initial stages of starting a business, you often wish for a fairy godmother to guide you in the right direction as your business grows. Of course there is no such thing, but thankfully there is this book. Raising a Business gives women starting out in business an in-depth look at the tools and mechanisms needed to create and maintain a financially successful enterprise.

This book comes to women at a time when we more than ever need a guide to succeeding in the world of business that is tailored to our needs. We now comprise over 52 per cent of the worlds population. We perform better than our male counterparts in schools, and in five years we will make up 55 per cent of all university graduates in Australia.

I have no doubt that as our professional numbers grow, Raising a Business will be on the shelves of female entrepreneurs everywhere.

So whatever stage you are at with your business, have fun reading and learning from this inspirational book.

Larissa Bright

Company Director, DIVA Cosmetics

Aitkenvale, Queensland

August 2007

To all entrepreneurial women

who seek the means to grow

their businesses and reach their

fullest potential!

About the author

Sonia Williams began her career as a certified practising accountant. She has since worked in both public and private sectors, and in many industries, including manufacturing and finance. In 2000 Sonia founded Sublime Photography, a photography business specialising in weddings. Sonia successfully grew and operated this business for five years, before embarking on a new career as an author.

Sonia aims to help other women achieve their business goals. While building her business Sonia found she made some common mistakes that hampered her success; consequently, she became passionate about helping others avoid the same pitfalls. She writes books targeted at businesswomen, especially those running their own business or considering starting one.

Featured on 9am with David and Kim, Sunrise, The Morning Show and A Current Affair, Sonias first book, Show Mummy the Money, was a bestseller. It explains how to start a home-based business from coming up with a great idea, to evaluating and then implementing it. Raising a Business works as a follow-up book that provides women with a guide to successfully growing, or raising, a business.

Preface

How do you rise to the top to become one of Australias leading businesswomen? Are successful business owners simply born lucky, or is there more to growing a business than luck? In a bid to find the answers to these questions, I interviewed 20 successful Australian businesswomen, ranging from 30 to 50 years of age, both well known and lesser known, from a diverse range of businesses.

Most of the owner-operators featured in Raising a Business began with a single business idea and hired employees as their business grew. The insights shared by the interviewees provide enlightening lessons we can all learn from. It is clear that their success has had little to do with luck, and more to do with determination, passion, commitment and planning. Raising a Business discusses the strategies these women employed to grow their businesses. It reveals why their strategies were so effective and how you can apply them to plan for the growth of your business.

I felt compelled to write Raising a Business because I endeavour to provide budding businesswomen with the necessary resources and information to succeed in the world of business. I strongly believe more and more women will consider self-employment as a solution to having it all in the coming years.

Playing the role of business owner is not easy, however, particularly when you have staff relying on the success of your business for their livelihood. I am all too aware of the perils and pitfalls faced by business owners, having made my fair share of mistakes before realising how to effectively grow a business. I learned that understanding and recognising the importance of planning for expansion enables you to fast-track your business growth.

Raising a Business offers women commonsense advice based on real-life experiences. Further, it is written by a business owner, for business owners.

The number of women in business is continuing to rise; according to a 2004 study, Characteristics of Small Business Operators, Australia, by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), small businesses run by women make up 31.9 per cent of all businesses operating in Australia. In light of this statistic, it is clear that there is a call for business books that cater to the needs of female business owners and operators Raising a Business fulfils this need.