Saira’s Diary: My mistakes

I’ve been running my business for 3 years and have managed to get my brand miamoo into some of this country’s well known high street stores like Waitrose and John Lewis.

The journey so far has been intense and whilst I have learnt a lot about the business world and myself, I have also realised that I am very capable of making some mistakes which have resulted in throwing money down the drain.

When one makes a mistake, one doesn’t really know immediately that they have made one, it’s only a few days, weeks, months or even years later when the mistake catches up with you that it could be catastrophic. My biggest mistake so far has been to take my eye off my business and delegating the day to operations of my business to others, BIG MISTAKE.

Let me put myself into context here, for the last 5 years, I have been working successfully to develop a media career and this has paid me very well and has enabled me to invest over £100k into my business miamoo. I don’t have any bank loans and I have not sought venture capital. When times were good and money was coming in I did not hesitate to find some help to alleviate me of some of the day to day duties of managing my business, i.e account management, mailing out of orders, contact with customers etc. Although I kept up to date on matters, I did completely take a back seat and put my head in the sand thinking that everything was fine and as long as we were getting accounts to buy from us we were growing and things were fine – WRONG!!!

One of my bosses once said to me “Saira, no one will be as passionate about your business as YOU and you should be talk to every customer, every account manager and be completely breathing, living and wearing your brand 24 hours a day – no one can replace your passion, energy and stamina”. These were wise words and I have no idea why I did not heed to them.

This week I have taken control of my business and started to do what I am best at getting involved and making things happen.

I ‘d taken my eyes off the ball so much that I found out that my distribution warehouses who despatch my products to my customers were overcharging me by spreading my products over 30 pallets when the whole stock could have fitted on 3. They have been charging me over £200 per month for storage only when I should have been paying about £13 per month. I am not an expert in warehousing and I have no idea what fits on a pallet and how they should be stacked, so I relied on what seemed a professional company to advise me to the best of their ability on how to store my products in a cost effective manner. Instead, they took the opportunity to take advantage of my lack of experience and knowledge and it’s only when a friend of mine had a look at the costs that he pointed out that I was being taken advantage of.

My advice to others from this experience is question anything that feels wrong and get a second opinion. Just because a company looks professional and has a corporate image it does not always mean that you can trust their intentions. There are still businesses out there who only care and focus on profit without respect to ethics, moral obligation, customer service and professional responsibility or conduct. Before trusting anyone to do business with, check out their values, ask lots of questions get a second opinion and let your solicitor check any contract prior to signing.

I will keep you updated on how my warehouse matter progresses – I have asked for a refund and a total examination of the way my products are stored – I could save myself over £200 per month – that’s a lot of money!

It sounds very glamorous to say that you have your own business and you have your own product range, but behind the scenes it’s not glamorous at all. If you have a start up business then everything has to be done by YOURSELF and you do have to become a complete control freak in the early years. You are the business. There is no quick fix solution it’s about rolling your sleeves up and dealing with it all, customers, suppliers, vat returns, marketing, press releases, shows, exhibitions and the list goes on. Watch every penny and spend it wisely – do not give it away to people promising you marketing, pr advertising unless they can prove and guarantee that the money you spend will generate sales and will cover the cost of the advert. The only areas where I have spent money is on my internet site www.miamoo.co.uk and on creating my branding. I have felt this was money well spent.

Saira’s website: click here

Miamoo: click here

My Little Black Book of Contacts

I have some amazing business contacts that predominantly cater for small /medium sized businesses, so I thought it would be helpful to recommend their products and services to you. Every week I will focus on a specific sector. This week it’s professional services:

Branding Experts: www.dinnisdesign.com (ask for Rachael Dinnis)

Ecommerce and Internet Marketing: www.pushgroup.co.uk (ask for Steven Hyde)

Accountants and Bookkeeping: www.hazlemsfenton.com (ask for Len Siskind)

Solicitor: Suzanne.dibble@hotmail.co.uk. Specialises in commercial law.

Secretarial Services: www.newdawnadventures.co.uk (ask for Verna)

HR Services: www.londonhrpartnership.co.uk (ask for Frances Graham)

Logistics and Warehousing: www.jadelogistics.co.uk (ask for Richard Gill)

Tags: Business Advice, Business mistakes, Saira Khan, The Apprentice

Posted by Saira Khan on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 4:11 am.

Filed under Columnists, Saira Khan, Tagged as: , Business Advice, Business mistakes, Saira Khan, The Apprentice.