Happy Small Business Saturday!
To celebrate, 27 small business owners share their ultimate tip for growing a business.
Kathy Kyle, Kathy Kyle:
“Play like the room is full. Give it your A-game and bring your full heart, values and purpose to the business. Show up, every day. If no one is looking, if no one is paying attention – it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t mean work harder, not smarter, it means be your authentic self every time because you are living your brand every day and that’s what matters.”
Sarah Berthon, Excel against the Odds:
“Prioritise your wellbeing as fiercely as you pursue growth. This means putting time in the diary for rest and enjoyment before you schedule any work. Protect your energy so that you can lead with purpose and calm. Find time for activities that make you smile and choose rest without guilt. When founders focus on looking after their wellbeing, creativity increases, relationships strengthen, and the business grows on a healthier, more resilient.”
Julia Hartley, Guided Outdoor Adventures:
“My ultimate tip for growing a business is to stay anchored in your mission. People connect with purpose more than perfection. Guided Outdoor Adventures began long before I had everything figured out, sometimes you just have to start, even when the details aren’t perfect, because they evolve as you grow. Lead with authenticity, create something that genuinely helps people, and keep moving forward one step at a time. Business, like hiking, is rarely a linear, but if you keep going with right intention, you’ll build something meaningful and lasting.”
Tim Maude, Tim Maude Hypnotherapy:
“Successful marketing is about attitude. Think about marketing as a free service that you are providing to help connect potential clients with your product or service. Help them find out if what you do is for them.
“Search engines and AI large language models pick up on the things that you do all over the web – not just on your web site. They are looking for expertise, experience, authority and trustworthiness. They find this when you start offering help.
“So forget “sell, sell, sell” – try “give, give, give”. It works for me!”
Caroline Gowing, Pink Spaghetti:
“Build resilience, stay consistent and approach every challenge by asking how it can be done rather than if it can. Growth rarely arrives in grand leaps, it comes from steady action, showing up on the good days and the tough ones, and finding solutions when the easy answer would be to stop. Small businesses thrive when their owners hold their nerve, keep learning and keep going. That mindset is what turns possibility into progress.”
Vie Portland, VIP Empowerment:
“Always remember that you start a business because you are great at what you do, not because you can do everything, so there is no shame in asking for help. You could be a brilliant coach but awful at accounting, so find a small business accountant who is fantastic; then you’ll be less stressed, and you will have supported another small business: win win. And remember that nearly everything feels better after a deep breath.”
Karen Webber, Goodness Marketing:
“Stop chasing the latest marketing trend before you know why you’re doing it. The businesses that waste time (and money) are the ones jumping on every platform and trend without asking: “Does this actually help me reach my goals?” Start with what you’re trying to achieve in your business, then work backwards to choose tactics that serve that aim. Stop trying to do everything. Do less, but make it count.”
Viva O’Flynn, Love Viva Cakes and Crafts:
“Success grows where passion and community meet. Connect with the heart of your audience, stay committed to what you love, and treat every step as a chance to learn. Keep going, keep growing, and your business will follow.”
Kelly Peak Robertson, Peak & The Pantry:
“If I could give one tip for growing a business, it would be consistency. Show up, share value, and build trust – even on the days it feels like no one is watching. Consistency is what builds an audience that believes in you, not just what you sell. It also makes networking powerful: when you keep showing up in rooms, online and offline, people get to know you, remember you, and recommend you. Every opportunity I’ve had has come from being consistently visible, helpful, and real. Consistency creates momentum, trust, and long-term growth.”
Sonal Dave, celebrant, Toastmaster and public speaking expert:
“Running a small business on your own can get quite lonely and there are things that we do not know how to do. Know that it is okay to ask for help and reach out to others to outsource.”
Chloe Markham, teacher, coach and writer:
“My ultimate tip for growing a business: learn to regulate your nervous system. Sounds daft, and perhaps completely alien to business-building, but your creativity, sanity, and energy are fundamental to everything when you start out. And nervous system regulation helps you find resiliency in every one of them.”
Jay Stansfield, The Squibbles:
“There are no shortcuts and if you really want to make things happen you need tenacity, patience and financial support. Whether that comes in the form of a spouse, savings or a loan, it’s an essential ingredient for keeping your business on track and we’re not told this enough.”
Joe Hale, Verde Digital:
“My ultimate tip for growing a business is to niche down. The tighter your niche, the easier it is to become the trusted expert in that space. Often, when people are looking for a product or service, they want to use someone trusted by other brands/people in a similar field. For example, we don’t do SEO for every business, we specialise in fashion brands. That focus means we understand our clients deeply, deliver better results, and build instant credibility. Whether it’s PR for founders, make-up for film and TV, or meal prep for athletes, specialising helps smaller businesses stand out, attract the right clients, and grow faster.”
Anthony Sutton, Cream HR:
“The most powerful thing that any SME needs to consider is that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Build an effective people strategy as intentionally as your business strategy. Start by hiring for values and behaviours, not just skills. Skills can be trained, but values shape culture, performance, and long-term cohesion. Create simple, scalable HR processes early, including clear role expectations, structured feedback, and regular one-to-ones. SMEs can grow fast, but ambiguity grows faster, so communication is key. Finally, invest in developing your team as they will impact retention, productivity, and morale. When your people thrive, your business will scale sustainably.”
Paulomi Debnath, Handmade by Tinni:
“Focus on one or two social media platforms where your customers actually spend time — not the ones you personally prefer. Aim to master those channels thoroughly instead of spreading yourself thin across all platforms. Trying to be everywhere divides your attention and consumes valuable time that could be better spent on product development, customer service, or other growth activities. Quality engagement on the right platforms beats quantity every time.”
Lisa Williams, Womanifest:
“Create a vision so strong it makes you want to show up every day. Allow yourself time to grow from the inside out, grow your confidence, grow your mindset, when we internally feel good, we have the ability to show up and believe in ourselves. When we believe in ourselves then we can bring our business dreams to reality.”
Sarah Vaughan, Angelica Solutions:
“Never say ‘No’ to something that you think the business needs even if the request feels unworkable at first. A lesson I learned early in my career, courtesy of my dad, is that most decisions aren’t binary. If taking on a project, hiring a new team member, or ending a partnership doesn’t seem immediately feasible, explore what is possible. Very often it isn’t a flat refusal that’s needed, but a reframing: “Yes but here’s how we can make it work.” That mindset has opened more doors than I can count.”
Gill Buttery, avaCARgo:
“Think about what your customer really wants or needs when they buy your ‘thing’ – then think how you can provide something extra to help deliver that, and create the WOW factor.
“For example: nobody wants shampoo – they want hair that feels and looks amazing. So if you add a cute hair accessory in with their order, your customer is more likely to remember you, order from you again when their supplies are getting low, and perhaps they’ll add a couple of extra things into their basket too!”
Liz Taylor, Taylor Lynn Corporation & Liz Taylor Consultancy:
“Start small, think big, and move fast. I launched my first company with £250 and two children to support, so every decision had to count. Growth doesn’t come from playing safe. It comes from pushing boundaries, trusting your instinct and delivering excellence every single time. Understand your customer better than they understand themselves, and never be afraid to reinvent your approach. Consistency builds credibility, creativity sets you apart, and resilience keeps you in the game. Combine all three, and you’ll grow. And keep growing.”
Ros Heathcote, Borough Broth:
“Always stay on top of your cash flow, forget revenue. In FMCG businesses especially, cashflow is the heartbeat. Ingredients, wages, and production costs don’t wait for revenue to catch up. You can be growing fast on paper and still run out of oxygen in the bank. It’s critical to know and understand your numbers — check them at least weekly — though I prefer to do so daily. Also – question every cost, the importance of all and their timings.
“When you manage cash well, you give yourself the freedom to protect quality, support your team, ride out seasonality, and make decisions that genuinely move the business forward.”
Francesca O’Connor, Happy HQ:
“Growth is not just about strategy. It is about behaviour. The fastest growing small businesses I work with all focus on culture as a key performance driver. If you want to scale, spend less energy chasing the next idea and more on how your team communicates, collaborates and makes decisions. Create a rhythm of honest conversations. Give feedback early. Reward behaviours that create momentum, not just outputs. When people feel clear, trusted and connected, everything moves faster. Culture is practical, measurable and directly tied to performance. It is the most scalable growth lever you have.”
Alasdair MacLaine, Wingback:
“I’ve learned that focus beats frenzy. Obsess over making one exceptional product or service that customers genuinely love and keep improving it. Stay true to your vision and focus on what you’re great at. If you’re product-led, don’t get lost in ROI, MER and ROAS data. It’s easy to be distracted by endless paths you could go down but spend most of your time on the reason you started the business in the first place, and find people better than you to handle everything else and always make things you are proud to put your name on.”
Laura Evans-Hill, Nifty Fox Creative:
“Find your unique contribution to the business, then systemise, delegate or eliminate everything else. While business owners are known for wearing many hats, especially in the early days, trying to do everything will create a bottleneck and limit your opportunity for growth.”
Tom Milsted, Milsted and Strange:
“Make sure you know who your customer is. If you haven’t recently, research who’s buying; it might be different to who you think.
“Then clearly position yourself against all your alternatives – not just direct competitors, but anything they could choose instead of you. Write down the way you make their lives better in simple terms, then use these lines in your marketing – don’t waste their attention span on anything else.”
Jon Walsh, Bio&Me:
“A strong USP is absolutely essential. You have to make sure you have a genuine point of difference. Just as an example, there’s no point becoming yet another water brand if you don’t bring anything different and better. Whilst I’d never claim we’re perfect, our focus on evidence-based gut health gives us a real focus and point of difference. We’ve learned clarity breeds momentum: buyers take you seriously and customers remember you. So ask yourself: what am I genuinely better at? Does it matter to consumers? Will it matter to retailers? Really interrogate that. When your USP is crystal clear, growth becomes far more achievable.”
Todd Davison, Purbeck Personal Guarantee Insurance:
“Focus on cash flow and not just revenue or profit. Many SMEs fail because they run out of cash even if they are profitable on paper. Good financial control, budgeting and forecasting are critical and also include stress testing on your projections i.e. impact of a failure of major supplier, customer or pricing in competitive pressures. This will help to plan and position the business against headwinds.”
Alison Blackler, 2minds:
“Stop chasing grand, overwhelming transformations. Instead, commit to the intentional 1% mindset every day. Behaviourally, this means identifying the single, smallest, high-leverage action–a 1% improvement–that will directly impact customer satisfaction, efficiency, or revenue. Today, choose one customer interaction, marketing message, or operational process and ask: “What is the simplest thing I can change to make this 1% better?” Growth isn’t a leap; it’s the daily, compounding effect of these minor, intentional victories. This removes inertia and guarantees forward momentum.”