One idea to Build your Business, one idea to Scale your life. Every Wednesday.

Welcome to Winformation Weekly. My 13 years’ experience of growing a business from £0-£100m, and the life that goes with it. All wrapped up, in one winning weekly email.

Simon Says

Winformation This Week…

I personally think one of the most annoying buzzwords to hit the entrepreneurial space on social media since the pandemic is “pivot”. I’m all for tweaking and enhancing a business model. But if you've been in business 5 years and “pivoted” every 6 months. Is your business 5 years old, or have you just overseen 10 ideas that all died on month 6. In this week’s One Idea to Win in Business I talk about the “why and the how” of sticking with your strategy.  

In this week’s One Idea to Win in Life is all about finding focus in a busy life. Work, kids, friendships and big life events can all get in the way of moving closer to your goals, in spite of the chaos around you. 5 Ways to Stay Focused on Your Goals (Even When Life Gets Crazy).  

One Idea to Win in Business

The Real Reason Some Businesses Stay Stuck and What to do Instead

When we first set up our business, we looked to well-known companies that were years ahead us for inspiration. They say you shouldn't compare, and in a sense, I agree, unless comparison is there with good intent and used for positive impetus.

We looked around and found businesses in our niche that were established. 40-50 people companies that were really making waves in their market. Being just 2 and then 4 people in a small room, this provided us with motivation and all the "look what's possible" we needed.

Chopping & Changing

12 years on, we are at 100+ people and 9 figures in annual sales. Whilst some of those businesses we first looked to have grown, some are still the same size they were over a decade ago.

Why?

There could be many reasons, but in the case of at least 2 of them, I have watched closely over the years as they have chopped and changed strategy, entered new markets before exiting again a year or two later. New brands, rebrands, new locations...and then back to the original.

"Pivot"

From all of the social media business trends there have been since 2020, I personally think the buzzword "pivot" is the most annoying.

The most annoying, and maybe even the most dangerous. Pivot doesn't suggest tweaks, improvements, and positive change...it actually suggest 180 turns, and normalises doing it fairly often. I couldn't disagree more with this totally counter-productive business strategy.

Simple Not Easy

A lot of people try and overcomplicate business. In its rawest form, it can be a very simple process, it’s just not easy. Simple and easy are often confused. What separates businesses that scale beyond 7 or even 8 figures and ones that seems to plateau for many years?

Often this isn't the team, the branding, the customer base, it can be as simple as "sticking with it". You need to understand it takes time to gain traction even in a market where you are an expert.

If you have changed course every 6 months and have a 5-year-old business. Have you been in business for 5 years, or do you have a long list of 10 companies that effectively died on month 6?

Back Yourself

It's temping to go left or right when the road straight ahead has been a tough one up to now.

But...back yourself, your original strategy probably isn’t too far from the path you need to be on. Always look to improve, always look to tweak and systemise the bottle necks.

Completely changing course will mean starting again and will result in staying small for longer. Amazing things happen on the other side of resilience.

One Idea to Win in Life

Five Ways to Stay Focused on Your Goals (Even When Life Gets Crazy)

Now the evenings are finally starting to get lighter, we know winter is almost coming to an end. If you are reading this the day it was sent out, we are also approximately 16% into 2025. This isn’t said to panic you. Although this is often the time that good intentions and plans fall by the wayside. Not because people are lazy. It’s because it’s all too easy to be lost in being busy and forgetting your purpose and goals. If you’re wading deep in activity that does not in some way act as a milestone towards those goals, you need to ask yourself why you are doing it. So here are five ways to stay focused on your big aims.

1. Breakfast of champions. They say you should never skip breakfast. While you’re at it, get into the habit of re-reading your vision and goals before you start your day. Let them frame your activity for the day ahead.

2. Let the train take the strain. Often, people moan about the commute. Yes, sitting next to that bloke who snores on the train, again, can be a bit annoying. But why not use your commute as an opportunity to visualise on your five-year vision. You don’t have to get in the Lotus position, and need only do if for five minutes, but it can be powerful in helping you set your intention for the day.

3. Work hard, but don’t do yourself in. Life isn’t perfect, there are ups and downs, but isn’t that a good thing? Can you imagine going on a rollercoaster that just went gently in a straight line? You’d ask for your money back. What I’m trying to say here, is you are having a bad moment, take a break. Go for a quick walk, even if it’s just round the block. Breath, focus on each step, remind yourself of your big aim and then get ready to go again.

4. Be good to yourself. If you are tracking your progress – and I hope you are, then why not set an incentive for yourself when you hit a certain milestone. I know I bang on about treating myself to some chicken bites at Harvester back in the days I was working in my brother’s garage. But those trips with my co-founder often helped keep us going.

5. Enjoy the ride. Few like to hear this. But whatever you want to do, wherever in life you want to go, it takes time. There is no hack to catapult you to being mega successful. Lots of people just give up. Not because they can’t do it, they just can’t face doing the reps – the day in, day out, over years, to succeed. But it’s all part of the fun, it will be your origin story one day.

Until next week! 

Let’s win, together!