Page 4 - SME Toolkit: YP 2020 Covid-19 Edition

SECTOR FOCUS
SME TOOLKIT
ACTION COACH WAKEFIELD: From
surviving to thriving - how to grow your
business in a post Covid-ig world.
ith a good business
coach,youwillgrow
your business, get
your team working
effectively and free
up your time. You
COACHING
TACTICS
will develop a successful bus■inJeesnsni Morgan
-acommercial,profitable founded
enterprise that can work witAhcotiuotn Coach
W
you.
Depending on the service you
Wakefield in
2018.
■ The
perfect
marriage of
Jenni’s20plus
years of business
experience and studying
combined with Action
Coach's philosophy and
toolkit.
■ Jenni's mission is to help
business owners to change
their lives by helping you to
get your business working
for you.
■ Ben Richardson, owner
Toolz4You, said: “Having a
business coach has made
life a lot easier. I work less
hours, get higher pay and
my work life balance has
improved. In six months
we've increased turnover
by £100,000, more than
doubled profit and everyone
earns more."
shorter-term specific focuses to
move towards our dreams. Great
provide, the sectors you deal with
and your personal circumstances,
the Covid-19 lockdown is likely
to have had one ofthree main
impacts:
■ It has been financially
challenging and you have focused
on survival.
■ It has meant huge opportunity
and incredibly rapid growth (think
logistics companies, cleaning
companies and suppliers ofPPE
and hand sanitiser).
■ It has given you time and space
to think about your business.
Whichever applies to you,
and I am working with business
owners in all three categories,
now is the time to look to the
future and build your business for
the post lockdown economy. For
most businesses your plan will
need to be different - so use these
seven strategies to maximise your
business.
1. Identify what you want in the
long term
Ultimately your business is
about your customers, market
and competition to ensure your
THE BEST
ADVICE: Find
your goals and get the team to help
you plan.
6. Get someone to hold you to
account
7. Book your FREE coaching
session
theretoprovidewhatyouwant goalsareamazinglypowerful- plansfitpostlockdownlife. yourselfacoach, “Agoalwithoutaplanisjusta Asthebusinessownerit’seasy Tohelpyouachieveyour
in life - money, time, satisfaction,
they will give you momentum,
direction and purpose and
ultimately shape the person you
become and the business you
create.
“Ifyour dreams do not scare
you, they are not big enough” -
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
3. Identify what you need to
learn
What do you need to learn to
achieve your goals?
You might need to learn more
Building a learning plan alongside
your action plan is a great way
to make sure you and your
business continue to grow and
develop.
“An investment in knowledge
pays the best interest” - Benjamin
Franklin.
4. Develop your plan
Identify your actions to deliver
the goals in the timeframe you
have set. Ifyou have a team this is
the time to communicate - share
or someone else,
to challenge your
thinking and to
push you to do
what you have
said you will do.
wish” -Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
5. Take action
One ofthe biggest differences
between people who succeed
and those who fail is the level and
speed of action. You and your team
need to do the things you have set
out.
You need to measure your
results and be prepared to adjust
as you learn what works.
“The future depends on what
you do today” - Mahatma Gandhi.
to let yourself off, to say I’ll do that
tomorrow, and tomorrow and
tomorrow.
As humans most of us function
better when someone else holds
us to account.
Find yourselfa coach, or
someone else, to challenge your
thinking and to push you to
do what you have said you will
do.
“Accountability is the glue that
ties commitment to the result” -
Bob Proctor.
success and much more. Often
business owners I speak with have
dreams I am offering FREE
coaching sessions for the
first 10 readers to contact
us.
Tailored to you, you will benefit
from my external perspective,
being supported, challenged, and
educated in any, or all, ofthese
strategies.
■ Book now-wakefield.
actioncoach.co.uk/yp-offer
or call 07521511752 - quoting
YP2020.
f facebook.com/yorkshirepost.newspaper
forgotten why they started, they
are so consumed with the day to
day. Now is a great time to refocus
on your dreams to make sure your
business takes you where you
want to go.
“Being in business should give
you more life” - Brad Sugars.
2. Set your goals
From dreams we need goals -
BUSINESS / NEWS
Heroes who placed lives
on the line must be set free
The appalling mistreatment of
mortgage prisoners must rank
among the biggest scandals ofour
time.
Around 200,000 people -
including frontline NHS workers
who have risked their lives during
COMMENT
Greg Wright
DEPUTY BUSINESS EDITOR
Mortgage Prisoners highlighted
the “catastrophic personal
consequences" that these rates
are having on keyworkers.
To quote the APPG: “It is time
that we say enough is enough
and take clear, decisive action
to alleviate the ongoing harm
that is being inflicted on
key workers and other
mortgage holders across
the country. We cannot
applaud their service
on the one hand, while
allowing this level of
injustice to continue
with the other."
Rachel Neale, ofthe
campaigning group UK
Mortgage Prisoners, said:
“UK mortgage prisoners
have been asking for help
for more than two years.
“People are already
writing to tell me that
they won't be able to
afford the repayments
after their mortgage holiday has
finished.
“This will lead to arrears and
ultimately repossessions. There
must be a cap and the Treasury
must extend the regulatory
perimeter so that legislation
allows the FCA to bring in the
correct protections. The stories
I'm receiving are heartbreaking
and devastating."
The FCA confirmed it has
received the APPG's letter
and will respond. The
CMA said it welcomes
information about
market practices and
considers issues that are
brought to its attention.
The Treasury has
introduced rules that make
it easier for some customers to
change provider.
It has said it wants to see
more people offered these new
deals and it has been working
with the sector to achieve
Treasury introduced a three-
month mortgage holiday for those
struggling with their finances as
a result ofthe pandemic, and at
least 1.7 million borrowers have
benefited.
However, further action is
needed. Mortgage prisoners
should have the same rights as
other citizens who can escape
from punitive SVRs by switching
to lower fixed rate deals.
As Martin Lewis, the founder
ofMoneySavingExpert.com.
observed, the cost associated
with mortgage prisoners doesn’t
just fall on the individuals, it falls
across society.
A mortgage prisoner said on
Twitter: “Lockdown is easing. Not
for us though. Not until these bars
come down."
The activities of these
unregulated funds must be
revealed in plain sight. They
should be forced to appear before
MPs to explain why they have
the pandemic
have been forced
to pay over the odds to keep a roof
over their heads.
Mortgage prisoners are
consumers who are trapped in
their current deal, often with an
inactive or unregulated lender.
They are vulnerable and could
be stuck with a lender who will
exploit them by forcing them to
pay a much higher interest rate
than the market average.
The All Party Parliamentary
Group on Mortgage Prisoners
(APPG) has written to the
Competition and Markets
Authority and the Financial
Conduct Authority (FCA) to call for
an immediate investigation into
“price gouging" by unregulated
@gregwrightYP
One victim said: “This is a true
David versus Goliath. We all have
a mortgage holiday but that only
kicks the can down the road. They
will be chomping at the bit to get
repossessions started again.
"Look, we all know we have
to pay...but not be ripped off by
uniegulated debt collectors in the
guise of mortgage companies that
can’t lend or won't lend.”
The APPG is calling for a market
wide margin cap of2 per cent
above the Bank of England base
rate on all mortgage standard
provide immediate and effective
relief to hundreds of thousands
of homeowners who have been
trapped on crippling interest rates
for more than a decade.
A similar market intervention
wfas made to protect consumers
from “price gouging" by energy
companies, and the APPG believes
that the case for intervention in
the mortgage market is even more
pressing, as the extra costs to any
mortgage holder on a SVRcould
run into thousands of pounds
every year.
funds and inactive lenders.
variable rates. Such a move would
The recent survey by UK
being asked ofthem
this objective. In March, the
caused such misery.