Our Top Tips For Agile Working

Our new set up allows up to be agile in our work and make use of a studio space without the huge costs that are normally involved. At Re:form, we use agile working in all areas of our brand. As a small company, we are able to adapt and respond in the most agile way which helps us to stay true to our brands purpose and do the same for our clients. We have compiled a list of some of our top tips for agile working which includes many of the tips that we are constantly preaching to our clients.

We have recently moved into our new co-working space in Brunswick Square hosted by Gather Round. For most of lockdown we were working from home but as restrictions loosened up, we started searching for somewhere where we could do hybrid working. (a mixture of working from home and working in a studio). Covid has taught us to be ready for anything and embrace agile working methods. Here are a few of our agile working tips that we swear by.

1. Be savvy when testing your product and or business model to start with – build your brand in stages, over a timeline, and you can build your investment (time and money) as you grow.

You don’t need to launch all at once. By building your brand in stages, you can quickly respond to things that worked well, and things that didn’t. If one area of your testing doesn’t work as well as you thought, be flexible and approach the problem from a new angle. By investing in your brand stage by stage, you will be able to pivot quickly when obstacles are thrown your way, whilst being savvy with your budget.

Building your brand in this way is proven to create a better likelihood of success. By starting from the bottom and building your way up, you will be sure that the foundations of your brand are extremely strong. We always encourage our clients to be really clear on their mission, values, tone of voice and place in the world before they develop their brand any further. These core pillars of your business are hard to change in hindsight so make sure you get them right in the first stage before moving on to the next areas of your brand.

Re:form Client - Ultimate You

2. Flexible working (home/co-working/cafe)

As a new brand, it is not essential to go out and start looking for office spaces with large capacities. There are many options that are low-cost and suit the working nature of small start-ups a lot more. In time, your business may grow to become larger and a permanent space could be required. For example, co-working spaces are popping up everywhere. Since the pandemic, many companies are taking on hybrid working and a lot of smaller companies have given up their office space that is only ever half full at any given time. Co-working spaces offer a sanctuary for you to work amongst other people in your industry. They usually have coffee and tea areas, designated meeting spaces and silent working areas, and they are a much lower cost option! We love our space at @GatherRoundBris

3. Purpose & Personality

As a small business, your brand personality is what will give you an edge. Don’t try to suppress your personality in order to come off as more ‘business-y’. It is proven that in most cases audiences will want to relate to your personality and it will be the biggest difference between you and other competitors, especially when you are starting out. Let your personality shine through and apply it to your brand, it will be one of the main aspects that draws attention to your brand.

“Brand personality needs to foster a two-sided relationship—one focused on not just how your businesses can benefit or gain something from others, but on how others can benefit from having a relationship with your business.” (Company of One) 

Your brand should represent you and vice versa, this will help customers build more trust which essentially leads to more loyalty and sales.

At Re:form, we often speak about ‘finding your purpose’. This is because it is the most important foundation as a mission-led business and everything will grow from there. As a small company, it is vital that you have a strong purpose, to create a purposeful brand as this should be at the core of all your decisions.

“Your purpose is more than just a pretty-sounding mission statement on your website; it’s how your business acts and represents itself. And it’s what your business sometimes places above even profit.” (Company of One)

(We have loads of helpful resources on our website and Instagram page to help you find your purpose!)

Re:form Client - Happy Eating House

4. Get 1-on-1 advice to acquire new knowledge or use bite-sized services to allow you to still be strategic without breaking the bank.

When starting a new business as a solo entrepreneur (‘solopreneur’ if you like) it may feel like you are navigating a completely new path on your own, but thousands of people have set up businesses and have a lot of insights and knowledge of the process. Use knowledge and resources that have already been developed to your advantage. You may find out some things the hard way, through trial and error, but you don’t need to make every mistake yourself – seek out advice and business strategy. There are no prizes for doing everything alone and there are so many great resources and services out there that can help you grow your brand and launch your product or service in the best possible environment – even for free!

Through business support groups, business consultants, bite-sized services, online seminars and downloadable resources; you can access so many business tips and tricks which will help you avoid all of the little mistakes when starting out. Similar to our first point, you can invest in 1-on-1 advice for each stage of your business and don’t need to invest in acquiring all the knowledge all at once. Bite-sized services are also are very good way of making small investments when your brand is ready. We’ve catered ours to the different stages of business growth and it can be a really useful resource for people not wanting to invest too heavily early on.

5. Resilience. Learn and adapt! If there’s anything Covid has taught us, it’s the importance of adapting to change, this is really key with your business too. Make sure you’re always solving a problem for people.

It can be very disheartening when you have put everything into you brand, then things feel like they go wrong. The reality is, every business starts like this (and continues like this!) but it is how the business responds to these set backs that determines the success of the brand. When minor set backs occur, it is so vital that the brand is able to be agile and change course quickly. This practice is sometimes referred to as pivotal working, which just means that when one option closes itself, the brand must be able to pivot without losing momentum and find a new solution.

One technique that can really help morale in these situations is trying to look at the bigger picture. Try to see the success of your entire business and appreciate the growth and strength of your business in times when set backs occur. It may seem like a big issue now, but in a few months time when all is sorted and new problems are coming up, you won’t even remember it happening!

We often remind our clients to not fret over the small things and try to see the bigger picture. One product in a launch may not be exactly what you were hoping for and as a result, it may not sell quite as well as you were imagining but in times like these you have to remember how successful your business is as a whole, how far you’ve come in such a small amount of time, and how much growth potential your brand has!

Re:form Client - Saffron

6. Mindset

Believe in yourself and your business. We can’t stress this enough in the early stages of starting a business. Audiences will be able to see through you if you do not fully believe in what you are selling. Your mindset may seem like something that is entirely internal, but it will reflect on everything you do and your attitude towards your business.

Accept that the path is going to be very unpredictable for a while and try to manage that with confidence. This relates to the resilience point, but if you face setbacks with confidence and an open-mind, you will be more likely to pass them quickly.

Depending on what your business is, when starting out, accepting that for the first few years you may not be making a profit and potentially not being able to pay yourself. You have to have a strong mindset and always look at your long term plan. However, you have launched a business for something you are passionate about which means you have created a mission that is worth spending your life on.

Lastly, as a helpful tip to keep your mindset strong, remember that your business will never look worse than it will today. When you first launch, you will have your smallest product range, potentially your highest prices and still developing your customer/ client base. From your first launch, your business can only grow upwards and done is always better than perfect!

7. Stay small!

“Becoming too small to fail makes you small enough to make your own choices concerning your work.” (Company of One)

If you are looking to learn what it takes to start your own business with minimal resources, Company of One is a great book, that we love at Re:form. Paul Jarvis shares his personal story and the experiences of others who have successfully created businesses to support their preferred lifestyle. Companies of one should be normalised because you will always be better than anyone at looking out for your own best interest.

The key take out is if you are looking to grow our company, you should evaluate if growth is truly beneficial to your business and in which way you would like to grow. Creating a large business with many employees may not be the best way to grow your specific business. Sometimes a business of one with many loyal clients can be the best way for you to grow and manage your business. A business does not necessarily need to be ever-expanding.

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