Prepared by Paul Webb, MIE Chartered Energy Manager
If you are an Energy Expert and you are new to business or even an established business, I wanted to share with you my thoughts in operating a sustainable business. It is not easy but by following common sense points you can deliver a sustainable business year on year.
I have operated my business now for 15 Years and in the beginning I did not have people or coaches around me to help me but over the years of making mistakes and learning many lessons I’ve learnt many things and in fact I’m still learning. Only last years I learnt the power of Social Media and proofing your credibility within your industry.
Everything in the article when combine will not make your business sustainable as no one know what is around the corner. For instance, could we have predicted the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020, and could we have predicted we would have been in lock down for many months. In these cases, I have kept my business very flexible with change.
My business in UK based and the Government over the last 10 Years have implemented legislation that impact om businesses and I have ensured I have kept myself in touch with legislation. This is probably one of the key points.
I have put together a flow chart regarding a sustainable business in Energy:
This list is not comprehensive, but it is a good starting point for new and existing Energy Consultants:
- Find a good accountant who understands your business – I have been lucky that I have found an Accountant who understands my business, the cash flows and the peaks and troughs of payments that come in. Its about understanding where the costs and taxes will be applied. The Accountants are also a good supply of client base for you as they have a network and on a regular basis, they are likely to share.
- Set-up a Legal business with Companies House and set-up your tax registration. Ensure you that your business has been set up and it follows all the ‘companies House Acts (as per your Country). You accountant can do this for you. But it is straight forward to do and possible to complete yourself. It does not need to cost too much money. The hardest thing is selected the name. Make sure both Company registration and Web Domains are available. This is critical to get this aligned. By doing this now it can save you time and money.
- Develop a business and Financial Plan, I have developed these plans and continue to develop these plans as they are always evolving. I have templates available which I am also happy to share with people to help them present their businesses. This also helps you to develop a plan. ‘Plan to fail don’t fail to Plan’ this is critical part of your business. We can also apply Plan, Do, Check, and Act here ensuring that you meet your plans and can address any issues when you have not achieved you plan, early within the process.
- Develop a Marketing Plan, this again is straight forward. Work out how you are going to market your business and draw up a simple plan:
Marketing Item | How and what you are going to say? |
Web Site | |
Mail Shot | |
- There are quite a few Networking groups around the World, but I have not witnessed anything like BNI Business Networking International, it’s not about referrals, it is about Training, Relations Ships and Givers Gain. There are over 270,000 contacts throughout the world and as a member you have access to them. The training helps you present your business and it teaches you about how to network. I am a Director Consultant in London and though it is very early in the morning I thoroughly enjoy the relationships that are built and the like and trust of the members.
- Align yourself with good people with your business. This is a hard one as everyone in the beginning feel like they are good people. Avoid trust in the early stages as trust needs to be earned. I have made a few mistakes, but mistakes are lessons.
There is a great book I recommend here called ‘Who is in your Room’, Dr Ivan Misner. He explains that once you let people in your room they cannot leave, so you just must box them up and put them on a top shelf. To avoid the wrong person entering you need a ‘Door Man’. I have created a team around me over the last 12 Months whom I trust and can work with. I have various consultants in the UK that I work with, Social Media, Sales and Web Site teams that I work very closely with.
- Develop a good website and initially just an overview site this is important because when I first launched my website, I was under review by a Client and in the begging the website was going to cost me significant money. However, now as my business has grown so has the website. The initial website will incorporate you r logos and your brand.
At this stand it is important to understand what directing you are taking this with your Brand, your colours and your vision. Invest time and money at this stage in this process. This is your shop front and you only have one chance. I would even go to the extent of getting professional profile pictures done. I will be sharing my strategist company shortly within this document.
- Build a good ‘Social Media Strategy’ I have been working with a company this year to support our business. We have developed a strategy which ensures I am posting daily. The importance of this process is to maintain it is kept fresh and you maintain consistency. I post on Social media Monday to Friday, my strategy. Now I have started this I will ensure I do not stop. I will be sharing my strategist company shortly within this document.
- Manage your business daily regarding Sales, Cost, Profits and Debts – In the beginning it is important to understand visibility of your business daily. Todays, technology enables us to do this. We are currently using Xero for our Day to Day reconciliation and obviously our bank provides a real time view on the accounts. Avoid gambling or risk in the first few years regarding the finances and maintain your focus on your business plan. Do not get distracted away on other projects that bring risk and costs.
- Do not let Debtors be a problem, ‘CASH IS King’ as soon as your invoices have become ‘Overdue’ start a chasing process. It is my opinion that this should be done by someone other that yourself. One because you are not accustomed to it and secondly not to damage the relationship. It is important for Cash Flow to keep on top of things. It also does not matter How big the company or what size the invoice companies will always not pay bills even if it is dues and ready to be paid. At this stage put clear processes in place to follow up overdue payments. I would have a monthly report monitoring the status of these reports.
- Join a Governing Body, it has not been until later in my career that I have aligned myself with ‘Governing Bodies’ I am a Member of 4 governing bodies:
- Chartered Institute of Building Services – CIBSE
- The Energy Institute
- Member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology
- The Energy Managers Association
Apart from excellent training and knowledge base being associated to these organisations have provided me accreditation and to maintain these membership I have to deliver 20 Hours of Continued Professional Development (CPD) Every Year which is made up of structured training and unstructured.
- Embrace Training not only technical. I have embraced training throughout my career with both technical and management training. I often say ‘Everyday is a school day’ now at the age of 56 I want to train people myself. It is important to try and learn something new every day. The Internet is full of resources and there are many books. You cannot beat structured training, but you can of course do unstructured training by reading journals or articles.
- Attend Webinars and Shows, the are always plenty of Webinars and Shows to attend and most of them are free. You will always meet new people if face to face. These are valuable when there are talks around current legislation and new product launches. Some of these shows enable you to book CPD hours against them.
- Invest in your business do not hold back, make sure you invest time into your business and more importantly recycle your money into business for training, sales, website and social media activities. But make sure everything you focus on regarding your investment has a ROI which is Return on Investment. I have invested over the years in website and social media, it is easy to see the ROI on social media but not necessarily your website unless you can monitor the activities. Always allocate funds for investment even if you are investing in new staff.
- Look at introducing mindset into your business, I try to bring in positivity into my team and focus on concepts of ‘Law of Attraction’. I personally read about ‘Mindset’ and try and learn and implement it into my life and business:
Mindset is a set of beliefs that affects how you think, feel, and behave. It is not about ability, but people’s beliefs about their ability.
I totally believe in Mindset and over my many years have evidence many examples of mindset. Meditation plays a big part in many CEO’s life and I for one try to meditate regularly. I’m also a believer into the spiritual world, which has stead me well in my career.
- Do not be afraid to work hard, always finish what you set out to do. Do what you say you are going to do and be a finisher. I work extremely hard, but I also rest and play. It is important to have a work and life balance but when you absolutely love what you do it is hard to switch off. But try to relax and maintain a good level of fitness in the outside world whether it is walking, running, or cycling always try and be close to nature. I go to the gym on a regular basis, but I walk to the gym along the beach where I live. During the lockdown period I found myself working most days writing and studying. To me researching, reading, and writing just is not work. This all contributes to knowledge and contribution to your business.
- Embrace competitors to see how you can do better. Throughout my career I have never felt I have had competitors in the market, and I have always said that there is enough cake out there for all us all to eat. I know in my experience there are 1000s of clients in the UK alone that need help to drive down energy and there are not 1000s of Energy Managers to deliver this. Collaboration is key. Just recently I have been working with a fellow consultant and we have achieved some amazing work and I have learnt from him. Do not see other consultants or energy managers as competitors embrace the opportunities.
- Do not be frightened to say ‘No’ the client will respect you as a professional and look for ways where they can work with you to see if you can say yes. It can often be the case when the client expects more from you and if you accept this you could actually fail. There is no shame saying no but plenty of shame if you fail and do not deliver what the client wanted. But remember 17. There maybe a friendly competitor who can say yes and they can support you.
- Lastly, HAVE FUN. I can say that during my career of 38 years I have seen some amazing sites and I have surveyed some amazing buildings. My company approach is from a corner Shop to an office block and everything in between. I have helped 1000s of companies and saved 1,000,000s of kWh. Now I am putting all my knowledge back into the industry which is probably the biggest amount of fun I have ever had.
This has been an introduction to delivering a sustainable business in the world of Energy Management, Thank you