Last Friday I had the honour of presenting my first workshop as part of a program of free workshops for small businesses in the Blue Mountains and Greater Western Sydney areas. The workshops, branded as The Lounge, are the brain-child of Gina Jaaskelainen, Editor of Modewest Business & Lifestyle Magazine.
The Lounge began in 2014 with an initial focus on social media marketing, SEO, WordPress and blogging. This year Gina decided to expand the range of topics and asked me if I would like to present some workshops focussed on the business side of running a small business.
We wanted to tackle those areas that small businesses struggle with most and, let’s face it, it wasn’t a big stretch to come up with our Business Growth series, comprising the topics of business planning, cashflow management, time management and customer service.
So my session on Friday was “Breaking Down the Business Plan”. I took the group of small business owners and entrepreneurs through the purpose and uses of a business plan, the key elements of a good business plan and we practised putting some of the concepts into practice with a few activities.
It was an excellent day with an excellent group, who were genuinely interested in learning all they could. And they were quickly able to see how their businesses would benefit from having a business plan. Fantastic discussion and engagement, and an enjoyable day had by all, including me!
Here are some of the photos from the day (used with permission from Markus Jaaskelainen).
But it wasn’t only the attendees that learned something that day. Every opportunity to present is an opportunity to improve. I walked away with a feeling of great accomplishment and personally felt very fulfilled at having imparted information to others that they found useful. It was a little humbling as well.
A big thank you to Gina for the opportunity to present this session. I’m really looking forward to the next one in April, which will be on the topic of cashflow and how business owners can manage their everyday money.
For more information about The Lounge, including the full 2015 program, join The Lounge Facebook Group. Gina is considering running some of these workshops in Sydney. If you are interested in attending Sydney-based workshops, please let us know by commenting below or here.
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About the Author: Angeline Zaghloul is an expert in business strategy, client management and business processes, and is the Principal of Peer Business Consulting, a Sydney-based consultancy providing strategy and operations support to startups and small businesses.
* Portrait by Markus Jaaskelainen.