Jeremy Tauri: Important things learnt in business

Jeremy Tauri.

Being in business has taught me a few things over the years. Here are the most crucial.

You cannot control everything — It's easy to think that once you're the boss you can command and execute your plans without hesitation. What you might not count on is how everyone else fits into the plan.

People might promise to pay and don't, errors can be made on jobs or quotes, you might have a customer leave and not know why. You need to make sure you can move on and let these things go. Practise making peace with the things that stress you out.

Your price point is important — How you charge is essentially how you value yourself, your service or product. If you give all your stuff away for free or for very little you'll have no money to pay your own way.

Make sure you know your numbers, the income you need and costs you'll have and then ask yourself about what's left over — is this good enough for the goods and services I provide? If you're not earning as much as you might if you were employed by someone else, are you getting other benefits from your business?

How you want to be remembered will remind you about what's important — I was asked once what I thought people would say about me at my funeral.

You can try this yourself and write down what you think you'll be remembered for and what they will say, who will be there. How does that make you feel? This is the big picture and were your efforts are concentrated in the right place?

Look after yourself — Exercise makes me feel better, gives me more energy and helps me have a good night's sleep. Exercise also takes my mind off everything else I have to do for a period of time and I also really like doing it. If you're not taking any time to do the things that you really like to do then you won't be happy.

Who you have around you is important — You need to surround yourself with the right people who can bring out the best in you and what you do. Being part of boards and networks has helped me immensely professionally and personally, and I have formed some great friendships.

Jeremy Tauri is an associate at Plus Chartered Accountants.