Accountancy and bookkeeping wizard, Angela Aston from Oswestry is the first to admit she was terrified of ‘going it alone’ and starting a business.
But back in March Angela took the plunge and joined other budding entrepreneurs to enrol on a start up support programme funded by The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership and delivered by Good2Great’s Shrewsbury Start-up Workshop. With the confidence the workshop provided coupled with the right tools, she decided to go for it – and hasn’t looked back. Since starting her business Angela has grown from three clients to two dozen and is getting new enquiries every day.
One of the factors that has ensured success has been using social media effectively. But again, this didn’t come naturally. As part of the ongoing StartUp Programme Good2Great provide four hours of support following on from the two day workshop, and at one such meeting Angela told her business coach Sally Themans that she might ‘possibly think about social media’. Six weeks and over 3000 followers later she is now finding that social media – predominately Facebook and Linked In – is a highly effective tool to drive customers to her business.
She has also teamed up with a fellow accountant to share best practice – another confidence boost -and is employing a member of staff for data entry. Angela has ambitions to employ more part-time accountants to allow her to service more clients and grow her business.
A top tip was getting a name badge and a scarf with the logo printed on, “It may sound an odd thing to do but I meet a lot of prospective clients in coffee shops around Shropshire and wearing something that signifies that I am a businesswoman often prompts conversations… you never the know…the person you talk to in a coffee shop could be your next best prospect and some of those may well become clients.”
Another tip which she picked up from the workshop was putting herself in her customers’ shoes and making her ‘message’, whether on social media or another medium, talk directly to prospects.
“Customers are thinking about Tax Returns and HMRC – they are not thinking about Angela Ashton Accounting and Bookkeeping. Using an image of a tax return on my social media feeds, rather than my logo, soon grabs their attention – and then they start to look at me, my logo and my business. I found it far more effective to tune into their immediate concerns and then offer a solution.”
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