The Business Plan You Should Never Stop Updating - Laura Holland

Phil Davenport: Laura, welcome to the podcast and let's dive straight in. Tell us what is your what one thing that you'd like to talk about today?

Laura: So I think my one thing is thinking about business planning really. ⁓ I think from how I've started out, it was a great start and there's a lot of things I think I wouldn't change at all. But actually thinking about how it's progressed and continually checking in, I would say, and thinking about that kind of forward plan is something that I think at this stage now, five to six years in could have really helped me out really. ⁓ So I think that would be my one thing I want to discuss today.

Phil Davenport: I love it. One quick one, Laura, because when we turn the recorder on, it records on your device. It's gone really crackly for me. How's it for you, Haley?

Hayley Baxter: Yeah, I could only pick up every other word pretty much.

Laura: ⁓

Phil Davenport: Yeah, are you on the Wifi Laura or what about sorry? If you're on the Wifi, are you able to move closer to the Wifi maybe? Is that a potential? Now you're behind the scenes.

Laura: I am on a wiffy, yeah. I can try and change rooms to get closer.

Hayley Baxter: Thank

Laura: ⁓

Phil Davenport: You've got someone in the house that's like playing a PlayStation 4 or something and just started a big update. That's normally what does it, isn't it?

Laura: Yeah. I think they've just vanished. I think it's only me in here. The issue is this house is so big. Right, let me see. It's all about the first world problems here. Okay, let me think. I can move myself closer.

Phil Davenport: That's a first world problem, isn't it? I like that.

Hayley Baxter: you

Phil Davenport: Yeah. Away from the fifth guest bedroom, past the butler's quarters, through the cleaners.

Laura: Yeah, I'll just move from this bedroom, go into this other room. I'll go right next to the router. I don't have a wire so I can't even connect wire wires.

Phil Davenport: Hayley Dolman has to move herself into the East Stables, so she has to move closer to the router as well.

Laura: I was gonna say she's got all the rooms.

Hayley Baxter: I need to sleep a bit more, I know.

Laura: Ugh.

Phil Davenport: Why are you still like... no, why are you like...

Hayley Baxter: No, we've got like this, like an aerial thing on top of the house. I don't really know.

Laura: and ooh.

Phil Davenport: I reckon that probably is Starlink, but I'm not gonna say. Well, I have said that. ⁓ look at that, snazzy, yeah. ⁓ Haley's, yeah, you're gonna get on well with Haley now. ⁓ I love it. This could be your like channel four moment. You know when the dog comes in, everyone's like, look how Laura handled this matter. She's so calm, so controlled. This.

Hayley Baxter: you

Laura: not any better i'm far closer the issue now is the issue now is i have a Right. ⁓

Phil Davenport: Right, okay. She rocking again. Laura, that is fantastic. You did look like, ⁓ you know that you were the victim of an attack and so it just blurred you. That was the vibe. Right, okay. We're off again. ⁓ I say we do that again. Yeah, it's like a thousand percent better, yeah. It's a lot of percent as well, that is. Okay.

Laura: You Okay, is it better now? Okay, don't start that then. I like I'm in an interview, I feel like I'm actually in an interview room now with these lights, but...

Phil Davenport: I you've got a proper, I bought a banner for home and Haley's now bought a banner to copy me. That's the cheat code. Okay, let's have a banner. We'll introduce you to Big D and the Banner ⁓ Man. Maybe it's more. Yeah. Maybe it's that we're faking it though, Laura. But anyway, right, I've gone off track, I? I've gone off track. You're the real deal, we're just pretending. Here we go.

Laura: Yeah, I know I think I feel I'm missing out I need a I've not made it yet. I've not got a banner. So The one thing is I don't have a banner and I think it's really holding me back How long is this gonna be?

Phil Davenport: Let's go. So Laura, start us off by telling us, what is your what one thing?

Laura: It's my one thing today is going to be all about business planning. ⁓ I think my business coach might have a laugh at this one, ⁓ but I do think it's something that has been drilled into me and I don't think I've been very good at it. And I think at this point now, five to six years in, it would have really, really benefited me if I'd kept. kept up with business planning, I would say, not just doing that business plan right at the beginning and thinking you've ticked the box and moving on, but actually thinking about how things have changed throughout that year and continually kind of manipulating that plan to make sure it's more reflective rather than a kind of historic document that you've produced at the beginning.

Phil Davenport: Absolutely love that. mean, one of the things with business plans is we tend to review them once a year, don't we? We write it all down. We have the huge effort that we're going to do a business plan. And then in a year's time, go, ⁓ they were really good ideas. At what point or what was the point of realization that the business plan was so important and that it needed to be a living, moving document for you?

Laura: Yeah. I'd probably say now actually. I think the way I started out, was a little bit haphazard and it was little bit just reaction. I got to that first year and I was like, I've done this, I've survived, I've done that first year, I've made a profit. ⁓ And there was no, I then went, well, ⁓ God, what do I do now? So I got involved with a business coach who got me to do a business plan and it was a one year plan and a five year plan. And it was all the right things and it took me six months to do. And by the time I'd actually done it, I was like, yeah, tick, done it. ⁓ But now sort of, now I'm five years in and I've lost that plan, which isn't a great thing anyway. ⁓ And I just think if I'd had it and if I'd kept changing it every year, if I'd kept checking in with it, like I know I should have done. It would have been one of those things that I could have foreseen maybe sort of as things were manipulating and changing that I could have reacted a bit better. I think for me it's staffing is the big thing. ⁓ It was always kind of making sure that staff kept up with how we were doing as a business and I think it's I wouldn't say that it's the business plan would have solved that problem for me but I think it would have helped me to to kind of watch as it started to creep in a sense as our workload crept and our staff either sort of didn't change or the attempts that we made to make it change didn't work out. And it's that kind of that continual check-in I think with that plan would have helped me to kind of foresee maybe where we sit now, where we are. We're doing really well as a business but there's a lot of very busy people behind the scenes and that could have helped us a bit more I think.

Hayley Baxter: I think staffing as you grow is one of the biggest challenges of growing businesses because it's always the chicken and egg situation, it? When is the right point to take somebody on? What role does that person need to fulfill? What skills do they need to have? What level are they at? And so on and so forth. And you can never quite have...

Laura: Yeah.

Hayley Baxter: bringing it to accountancy. You can never quite have a full portfolio of clients to bring somebody in and go, there you go, you're absolutely paying for yourself. You've always got to take that risk of investing into. ⁓ the team and the business as it grows. What, in the business plan, what kind of things did you do or put into it to help navigate that piece?

Laura: So the way we sort of worked it is that it's a bit like an orbit in a sense. So we started with where we were now in the center and then worked out. And we had sort of, well, about five branches. So it had staffing, turnover, premises. I'm trying to think about the other things that I should know because I've literally just done it. And it was a really good exercise that kind of made you think, well, actually, if I want to hit whatever turnover, then I'm going to need this many staff and I'm going to need. that many clients and it kind of it was in a sense it should show how you should grow as a kind of as a one being ⁓ but I think I was probably not very realistic with our turnover. And I think with that surprise came how much a small team could create. ⁓ And I think that was where it, for me, it all started to tumble in a sense. And I think once again, to say, if I checked in and gone, right, actually, do you know, with four people, we've, we've achieved over a million pound turnover, which is insane. It's you go, actually, yes, that's four very busy people rather than, you know, five to six people that, you know, got much better work-life balance and it's that resilience I think in the team that's really hard to predict and it's I think for me probably it's an element of confidence and there's a I never thought we would get to where we are with the people that we had obviously I'm not saying that my team's bad at all because they're amazing ⁓ but you just you just don't realize what people can do I think and that until you're suddenly just suddenly achieving it and I think that's where It's just sort of hit us that, you know, now we're all a bit, we're kind of, breathing hard. We've got kind of a lot of expectation. I think it's, it's those growing pains as a, as a new company that you always feel because you're a bit concerned to jump too early and bring people in when the work's not there. But then the work's suddenly there and then you don't have enough people or you don't have the right skills. And I think in engineering, that's a big thing. ⁓ There's a, there is a shortage of people in engineering and I think we're probably feeling that now. And we've kind of played every kind of start to try every branch really. So we've tried going, bringing seniors in to try and help the team quickly, which doesn't help sometimes because seniors can kind of have their own way of doing things and to small new companies, it's maybe harder to gel or you bring young people in and they don't have the work ethic of someone that's, know, been slogging it for 10 years and is sort of pushing everything they can. So it's one those where I think every business, every industry probably feels it. ⁓ and it's everywhere you can try and navigate it and watch it to make sure that maybe yes you do start saying no to work a bit sooner than you thought you would because you are hitting that bit that you should be in, that perfect bubble that you should be in. And I think saying no is the hardest thing to do ⁓ as a young company. Because you always think that one thing you say no to is going to lead into 20 other things. And what if you let go at that point? That's literally me every day. And I think that's where I say it kind of all comes back to confidence again. It's not that you can say no, but people are still going to come and say hello and ask you for a piece of work.

Phil Davenport: I think it's a growing pain of small businesses, four staff, we're very similar ourselves. Everything is golden until two staff suddenly have holidays or sickness at the same time. And then it's how do you back that up? I suppose my question to you is, how often do you now review the business plan? and how involved are your staff or do you have peers that you go to or do you review it with a business coach or something different.

Laura: So I now I'm probably checking with it about every six months and I do it. I'm really lucky actually. I've got a really, really great colleague that has been working with me now for about three, three and a half years. And he comes to business coaching with me. So I've got, I've created a team. So I've got a brilliant business coach that's been, I've been working with him now for nearly five years to give me direction and to, you know, check, make sure I'm doing what I should be doing. And then Joshua, who I work with, he is also very involved in it now because it was one of the things that he wanted to do. didn't just want to be a member of staff. He wanted to be an assistant as the team grew and the company grew, which was brilliant. Because that is the one thing I think sometimes when you start on your own, it can be quite a lonely place. And just having a few people to make you feel a bit more accountable to is really necessary.

Hayley Baxter: It is. And if somebody's listening and they're, where do they start with doing a business plan? you, I loved the ⁓ orbit description because I've never heard it described like that before. I think that's really useful, but it's quite a daunting, I think it's quite a daunting thing to sit there and go, right, I'm starting a business. I'm going to do a business plan. Cause you know, at that point, don't.

Laura: Hmm.

Hayley Baxter: You do know things, but there's a lot you don't know. And I think sometimes, or what I see happening with clients sometimes when they're really on in business is they just, they don't know how to. what's the right words? They don't know how to get it out of their head and put it down onto the paper. It feels too overwhelming, it's too difficult to do it, so they just put it to the side. Do you have any kind of thoughts around that or things you can share that might help them?

Laura: Well, I would say that was definitely, well, that is definitely me, really. I think I generally always get daunted by the task. I think retrospectively looking at it, I think it's a bit like when you write a letter, you just, or for me, when I have to write a report, you just, you just need to write something, get that, get something on the paper. So it removes that kind of daunting element of a blank piece of paper looking at you. And just remember that it's not. It's not solid. So business is fluid. The world is fluid. So remember that you can write down those five years, write what you think or what you, where you believe your expectations will take you and then know that you can check back in. Know that, you know, within six months, within a year, go back and just scribble over it. And in a sense, it might actually be a bit therapeutic for you because you can either go, do you what, actually I smashed that and I got that bit before I thought I would. Or actually I've achieved that in a way I didn't think I was going to achieve it. So how can I push that in for next year? And I think it's that it's, it's a continual reflection. I think being a business owner, think no one tells you that until you're in it is a bit like having a baby. No one tells you how to look after a baby until you're suddenly up at 3am in the morning, not knowing what you're doing. And you realize everyone has sat there the same way. I think business is exactly the same in the sense that we all deal with it slightly differently, but actually It's not solid. It's something that changes and we have to change with it. And I think that's probably the best thing to do is, you know, make sure that those expectations might change what you want to get out of the business might suddenly change within six months because of personal reason, as personal circumstances changed. And that's a great thing that I think that's the best thing you can do is just keep slightly manipulating, slightly tweaking it. And hopefully that will take the pressure off the initial task because you know that you know, no one's grading you, you're not going to get told off because you haven't got to where you thought you were going to get to in five years, because you might have actually excelled in a different way that was never expected five years ago. ⁓ And that's, think it becomes a, it's a plan, but it's also a bit of a history. And I think that's one reason why I got quite sad I lost my first one, because it would have been brilliant to look back and go, what? That's what Laura thought in 2020 she was going to do and look at her now sort of thing. ⁓

Phil Davenport: I think it's also phenomenal on that you think I'm gonna get, I don't know, 200,000 pounds worth of sales, and then you go, okay, let's break it down month by month. Okay, right, so I said 200,000, so what is that equal in a year? I don't know what that is, about 16, I'd guess. What am I gonna do to achieve 16K of sales? Okay, well, actually realistically, if I'm starting it today, the first month I'm probably gonna get no sales because I've got this highly ambitious email campaign. It's probably gonna be a 90 day. And the beauty for me is when you look back on six months, you can either say, yes, I executed that and it was another terrible idea, which a lot of my sales plans are, or no, I didn't execute it. And do you know what? I'm still in the same situation. So why on earth did I not execute it? That level of accountability I love. What made you reach out to a business coach and then go down that route of writing a business plan?

Laura: So for me, because I actually started the business quite young and it wasn't something I'd planned for. So for me, I needed someone to kind of support me and give me bit of vision because I'd never been in management. I'd never managed anyone. I was working in a team of three people. So I was all, I'd been in a small team. So I hadn't taken those steps that I might've done if I'd stayed in a larger engineering consultancy, or I would've become a project manager. Then I would've become a team lead. Like I wouldn't, I didn't do all those steps. I went from being an engineer to having a consultancy. And I think for me, my first, my first target was to survive. And I did that and I got to that first year and I was like, brilliant. But I was, I always wanted the company to be something. rather that it wasn't a retirement plan for me. I was 29, so I couldn't just keep paddling along. I had to make sure that it turned into something to give myself some justification and to show people what I could do, guess. So I thought that I don't know everything, and very early on I always knew I didn't know everything. So I thought, who knows best? And I was really lucky to stumble across a brilliant business coach in Matlock. Sadly he's now stuck with me and I'm not leaving ever because he's now also I feel my therapist but because I just didn't want it to be a company that you know which I don't know it's I didn't want the company to just be a retirement plan it will this is now my life for 20 years at least so I wanted to be something that other people wanted to come and join you know we can keep doing this this great thing that we're doing ⁓ and I just felt I needed guidance to do it. And that's where I reached out to a business coach who, who then put me on the path of business plans and put me on the path of, sort of how to go about recruitment and sales and marketing and all those things that were things I don't know about. I'm. I'm a chartered engineer. I don't know about business. I don't know about people management. I don't know about, you know, communication skills with different elements of society. it's one of those things. think the biggest thing you can do when you start out and as you, as you continue through is remember you don't know everything. There's a lot of people out there that are experts in areas that you don't have to be an expert of. You have hate people that do HR. You have people that help with business management. You have accountants, you have financial advisors. It's you own a business because you are good at whatever that business is to do with. It doesn't mean that you are a great business owner and a great ⁓ sort of human resources manager and all those types of things. So I think that was where for me it kind of, it was my next step really. It would have been the training I might have got somewhere else as I sort of progressed through a company. But that wasn't my path really. ⁓

Hayley Baxter: It's really interesting because I think you've done phenomenally well. You've talked a couple of times about confidence. How, because that is something I think affects every business owner at some point, whether it's there at the beginning or, you know, as you're on the journey. How, what, do you do anything to help with that? you done any work around that? Obviously, I think working with your business coaches probably helped a lot, but is there anything else that you could share?

Laura: I would say, well, yeah, think my business coach has been the sort of biggest one for me. And also the businesses I've met along the way. think it's quite interesting the community you kind of fall into and you realize actually there's a lot of people running small businesses that feel exactly the same way as you. And I think, you know, weirdly going to networking and things like that, they can be horrific when you first walk in, but half the time you find someone you're quite akin to. You might not do business with them, but actually it's like a 10 minute therapy session because you suddenly realize that you both feel the same way about something or, know, actually maybe have exactly the same staffing problem, but in completely different areas. And I think it's been eye opening for me probably. ⁓ For me, I would say confidence wise, it has just come with time. I wouldn't say there's anything I've done specifically. ⁓ And I think there probably could have been some elements that I could have sort of taken on. I've generally thought a little bit about going to therapy because who knows why I'm wired like this. ⁓ But I think it's people and people have always been my kind of resource really. think it's getting support from them. I've got great support from family and friends. you know, sadly I need people to tell me that I'm doing well because I don't realise until sort of someone kind of mirrors it into me. ⁓ And I think it's taken me, people have been saying it to me for a while, but I'd say, yeah, probably this five, six year mark is where I've gone actually, do you know what? think. think I'm doing all right. think I can do this. So I would have liked it if that had come sooner, but then actually if it had, would that have changed the path? I don't know. And that was the hardest thing about this one thing. It was like, actually there's lots of things that could have done differently, but I'm so happy of where I've ended up that I think there's not much I would have wanted to change really. ⁓

Phil Davenport: So you've led a relatively typical kind of path, I think, which is brilliant engineer, great at what you do, and then all of a sudden the reins of owning a business are thrust upon you. And I think a lot of people will resonate with that. So they've listened to it, they think, you know what, I'd love to emulate what Laura's gonna do here. What are the steps along the path? Let's say that they can't afford a business coach at the moment, or they're still dipping their toes in the water of business coaching. What would you recommend as step one? Is it a five year goal or one year goal? Is it just get a piece of paper and start scribbling? What are the kind of steps that you would say to them? Okay, right, starting tomorrow, here is how to emulate the phenomenal success of Laura. Let's go.

Laura: I would say I'd go right back to basics and I'd start with a vision board. I would literally just go, what do you want to get out of this? And my one thing that has always been sat on my imaginary vision board, I do know a few people have physical ones and I'm actually quite jealous. ⁓ is a work-life balance. That was the big thing for me. I was starting out a business with a, well, no family and now a very young family. And that was one thing I didn't, because owning a business wasn't my plan, I didn't want the business to stop me doing what I wanted to do. And so stubbornness is a great thing to have as well. ⁓ But I think just first off, just have that vision board go, do you know what, after three years, I want to have a Porsche. want to have like, know, anything just doesn't need to be sort of very regimented or anything like that. I would say just make it you. The more you can make your plan, you the better, because the better you're going to do at achieving it. If you try and manipulate a plan. as you're told online or even as a business coach might tell you, sometimes it's not your path, I would say. So I would say just bring it right back to basics and go, what do you want out of it? Is it a work-life balance? Is it X amount of money? Is it to be able to go on holiday for three months a year? And that can make that in a sense, say when you want it to happen, but it might come early, it might come later, but that could be a starting point. Then I'd bring it to that five year plan, really, you know, actually try and hone it in slightly into what a business coach would tell you to do. Thinking about your premises, your staffing, your turnover. ⁓ Clients is a big one for us. Ways of marketing. I'd say those are the five main things that I would always think about. make it five years just to give yourself an ability to start to stage it and then scale it to that one year. And that's that like, in a sense, I think starting with a fun task of just thinking of your vision and then bring it into something slightly more structured will help. And then just remember that that isn't solid. You can change it. You might suddenly meet someone who's got a car you really want and you go, actually, I don't want that Porsche anymore. I want that. So, you know, it can always slightly tweak or you suddenly find this great office space and you go, do you know what? That's where I want to be. And just know that you yeah you can throw that into your year number three, it doesn't matter where you did your plan. think it's just making it's allowing yourself to think of everything as a work in progress. I hate it when you see it on a file that says whip but I think actually life is a work in progress ⁓ and tweaking yourself to how things are changing is a massive thing and that that will help you go a long way I would say.

Phil Davenport: I'm gonna be horrific here, Laura. I am gonna one-up you and I'm gonna say the journey is the goal. And I think that's what you just explained there. Look, the goals need to be there, but the journey really is the goal because we only get to be on this planet one time.

Laura: Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, and I think as well, like the journey is the long bit. Who knows how long we're going to be at the end of it for. I think we need to make sure we're enjoying this first bit as much as we possibly can. I think probably having young kids has been a big thing for me because at the moment I am their complete orbit.

Hayley Baxter: you

Laura: And you know, you've got to remember that they're not going to care in five to 10 years or however long. So I think business is the same. It's, it's that journey. It's making sure you're there to tend to it and you're part of it. it's tweaking and changing how you want it to. But knowing that you never know what the outcome is going to be really. You can have some goals and I'm in full appreciation of people that are so strict on things and they go, this is what I'm going to do. This is how I'm going to do it. And that that's just not my personality. And I think there's a lot of people out there where. having a business and not having that type of persona is actually quite scary because you maybe don't have the biggest of drives in the sense of an outcome, but actually your drive to get wherever you're gonna go is just as high as theirs is. And I think that's something that should be triumphant more than anything rather than kind of put to the side.

Hayley Baxter: I think it's somebody, I heard somebody say the other day about the journey is the goal piece. They said, actually, you want a journey to be straightforward. So I always say the adventure is the goal because in life and in business, you never know what's going to come around the corner. And I thought that's quite a nice way to put it that. And I think that's probably a good point to wrap up. I think you've shared so many interesting things.

Laura: you

Hayley Baxter: that reflect a true business journey. And it really does. I think it's quite incredible what you've achieved in five years. And I think all of the things that you've shared around how to the vision board and then do the plan. And the thing that kept coming to me when you were just talking about that bit is dare to dream. Because I think sometimes we stop ourselves a bit, don't we? So thank you very much, Laura.

Laura: Thank you. No, thank you for having me. I think that's maybe a bit of my, I'm not great at dreaming. As my husband says, I'm far too practical. But I always think the worst is going to happen. I think maybe that's helped me potentially because I'm always ready with plan B. But thank you so much for having me.

Hayley Baxter: you you

Phil Davenport: So, Lord.