Having gained experience in a multinational construction company and having worked my way up to Senior Quantity Surveyor, I decided to open my own business, ATR Building Consulting, in 2010. The drive to open my own business was largely due to wanting to have unlimited potential and opportunity within my career.
Throughout the last 13 years, I have gained a great deal of experience and skills, not only in practising quantity surveying but also in running a business and managing people.
Below are six really valuable things I’ve learnt as a small-business founder.
- Although your company may provide products or professional services, your own offering and way of doing business is unique. To avoid becoming too niche and to ensure you’re delivering what the market wants, make it your business as a leader to understand things from different angles. Consider things from the clients’ perspective, from your staff, even from your competitors. Remove ego and welcome reasonable questions and complaints. This will help your business remain relevant, competitive and a leader in your field.
- Always remember to grow your network and business community. Firstly, growing and maintaining your customer database is really important, especially for repeat work and word-of-mouth marketing. However your peer network is also essential. Not only does this help build reputation for you and your business but it allows you to also continually learn and stay up-to-date with your industry. I became a member of AIQS (Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors) in 2005. It provides me with a large exposure to professional development where I am able to stay tuned in to industry trends and deepen my expertise in the quantity surveying field, especially with regard to newly introduced concepts such as BIM (building information modelling) and embodied carbon.
- Systematise things as much as possible with smart customisations wherever applicable and then always review the system from an executive level. As an example, when you create a task flow for key procedures, ensure you also integrate a quality checklist. This task flow can then be tailored to suit different jobs but should still be reviewed at a director level regularly, to ensure it is effectively practicable.
- Always find out the genuine reason for a decision, to improve your services and management for future opportunities. When you are not selected to provide services, it could be a result of uncompetitive fees, limited experience and reputation, lack of connection, etc. Though it may not always be easy to find out the real cause, honest feedback is imperative to growth and also gives you a clear task to work on to improve the business in future. A post-service/quoting survey can be a practical way to explore the possible reasons.
- Create a leadership team that your employees can rely on and are happy to follow; a good leader is like a good parent who disciplines and supports. Nowadays employees are not just looking for a comfortable working environment and good pay. Culture is also vital. Employees want to be supported, grow in confidence and happiness, have a strong career path, and respect in the workplace. It is vital, therefore, for a practice to set out its culture and vision and for the team to appreciate how they play a role in the bigger picture. The leader should offer continuous support and be a good role model to achieve these goals.
- Creativity is essential to a business; Encourage the team to be creative and challenge them in new areas outside of their comfort zones. As technology and concepts are rapidly developing, outside-the-square thinking can potentially add huge value to your services. I encourage our team to raise questions, debate over interesting topics and brainstorm regularly. From this process, some creative ideas can be raised that really make the difference.
