Jake and Jess Munday are husband and wife, Co-Founders of Custom Neon. A manufacturer and retailer of custom designed LED neon lights and signs.
From humble beginnings, they now service most countries globally and have offices in the USA, Australia, and the UK.
Today Jake and Jess share their top 3 mistakes and advise everyone not to run before they can walk in business!
What were the top 3 mistakes you made as an entrepreneur, and if you could start over what would you do differently?
Check credentials and know what questions to ask!
As the business began to grow organically, we knew we needed assistance in taking it to the next level. We partnered with an online SEO company that certainly talked the talk. They promised number 1 listings on Google, increased and targeted traffic and therefore an increase in sales. They did not deliver on any of these things. We wasted thousands of dollars and a lot of time because we weren’t well versed in the questions we should have asked, or timescales for deliverables to ascertain our ROI. We soon learned from that mistake and partnered with an agency whose reputation preceded them. We have not looked back!
It is so important to be aware of any gaps in your knowledge. Whilst we know a lot more about SEO and other aspects of business now, we have strategically recruited team members that can bolster these areas, allowing us to really play to our strengths.
If we had to start over, we would have researched more thoroughly what we needed from an SEO firm and then presented our needs to several companies, allowing us to get a comparison of costs, services, and timescales. In the early days, it’s easy to get caught up in the jargon and buzzwords, but without proper research, you can easily be sold a lemon!
You Can’t Do It All.
When you build your business from the ground up, it can be difficult to relinquish responsibilities, even when you have recruited the right person for the job! In the early days, we would delegate tasks, but then still go over them ourselves! We were busy fools and with a young family, we were at a real risk of burnout. We knew we had employed great people, so we just needed to trust in their capabilities. As soon as we learned to let go, we gave our team room to grow! We were a lot more productive, and our team flourished!
Don’t Neglect The Remote workers
Setting up an overseas remote office is not without challenges. Recruiting the right person is difficult, integrating them into the business can be trickier.
As this was alien to us and with the added inconvenience of time differences, communications were mostly conducted digitally, and we didn’t encourage or instigate enough global collaboration.
It was only when we travelled to our remote teams, we realized we should be conversing a lot more and opening the communication channels amongst all our team members.
We were really missing a trick. Through emails and skype it is difficult to perceive praise or enthusiasm, which wasn’t fair on our remote workers. Also, there was no way for departments to bounce ideas or queries, off their international counterparts.
We now have an internal Intranet system where non-work-related banter is encouraged and games such as virtual bingo are played to keep everyone engaged. We speak with our remote teams at least once a week. Not just about work, but also families, weekend plans, Netflix musts and anything else that springs to mind.
Our global team is now much more unified, sharing design ideas, manufacturing tips and sales opportunities.
As you embark on the road to entrepreneurialism, there are always going to be mistakes made and bumps in the road, but your success ultimately lies in the way you respond to the setbacks.
Jake and Jess Munday Cofounders of Custom Neon
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