Following the recent Mayor’s Business Awards, Karl Lanham asks what does it take to be a winner?

We were delighted to present the Leisure and Tourism Award at the Mayor’s Business Awards, held at the King’s Lynn Corn Exchange on March 3.

This year’s winner is The Angel at Watlington, a pub which has overcome the challenges of the pandemic and rising cost of living to create a thriving local.

The events of the last few years have proved an incredibly difficult trading period for the leisure and tourism industry, and it has been extremely heartening to see the resilience of the companies which entered the category.

Similarly, our shortlisted entrants, the Tipsy Teapot and True’s Yard Fisherfolk Museum, have overcome hurdles in the past year and our congratulations go to them both for their achievements.

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It is our sincere hope that more companies, including the many growing and successful leisure and tourism businesses along West Norfolk’s coastline, are encouraged to share their achievements and enter the 2023 awards when they are launched later this year.

The awards ceremony prompted me to think about what it takes to be a winner.

It’s been said that it takes around 10,000 hours of training and preparation to become an Olympic medallist, and I would hazard a guess that most business owners will invest at least those 417 days into building a company.

Visualising success and creating a plan that works towards this is key to achieving business goals, and while it’s good to be ambitious it’s important to be realistic and pragmatic too.

Good financial planning is central to creating a strong business, and being open to using finance will enable many companies to grow more quickly.

Asset finance can fund investment into equipment, machinery or vehicles which enable it to run more efficiently, increase productivity and take on new contracts and, used sensibly, a loan could be a valuable tool in your business strategy.

The chancellor recently announced a new ‘full expensing’ scheme in his spring budget, reducing tax by up to 25p for every £1 a company spends on plant and machinery, including construction and warehousing equipment, IT and some vehicles.

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Spend time this month evaluating your business goals for the year ahead and planning how you can move forwards.

If finance is an obstacle, get in touch, as you may be surprised at the wide variety of products available to different sectors.

We are here to assist, and would love to help businesses in our region to succeed and become future winners in their field.

For more information, contact Karl Lanham at Complete Commercial Finance on 01553 611619 or visit ccf.finance