January Talk with Steve Carr

It's the beginning of a new year and many businesses are planning for consolidation and growth. Today we're talking to Steve Carr, from Swindon who is a mental health first aid, workplace well-being and suicide first aid trainer/tutor.

What are your top marketing or PR tips for 2022?
1. Know your market and know who you want serve, then speak to them directly, find out what their biggest pain points are and how you can help solve those with your solution/training

2. If you aren’t seen then nobody knows you are there, so get active on social media platforma where the people are, engage with their posts, ask questions, share their content, pay interest to what they’re saying and doing. 

3. No one is an island, if you have the funds, invest in hiring a social media manager/marketer sooner rather than later. knowing what I know now I wish I had done it sooner. Boot-strapping when you first start out is understandable as you may have little to no budget, and whilst you get to know and build your business it’s more than ok to do these things yourself. However  as you grow get others to help, you’ll thank yourself later for making this investment. 

What are your top financial tips?
Know your numbers. This needs to be your main priority, knowing what your business costs you, gross and net is a game changer. Create a spreadsheet with your incoming and outgoings. Also knowing exactly what you charge people when they ask makes it easier when having conversations about investments.

Don’t spend what you haven’t got. This was instilled into me from a very young age and works well in business. Firstly, pay yourself, then put money aside for tax and all the other bills, and never spend what you don’t have. You may need cash for an unexpected bill or house repair, keep separate accounts and put 10% of what you earn in for you.

Build it and they will come. After the last 20 months we can see digital assets are becoming more mainstream, people are future proofing themselves with assets that are accessible digitally. It’s wise to also consider having multiple sources of income from subscriptions, memberships etc etc.

Who are your top business buddies in your corner for 2022? 
Jay Allen, founder of My True North, the ethical coaching company. Jay is an award winning speaker, published author and founder of #addazero business challenge and has helped me take my business past six figures in less than 12 months.

My next business buddy is Steve Phillip, who is head of mission at Champion Health and founder of the Jordan Legacy and LinkedIn trainer. Steve is a phenomenal guy with many years of experience in helping people get the most out of LinkedIn without being sleazy or salesy. 

My final buddy is Carrie Hilton who specialises in helping people get press coverage in specific sectors including construction, which is where Mindcanyon is focusing on delivering mental health first aid and suicide first aid training in 2022.

What are your ethics for 2022? 
Pay it forwards, help others where you can, give without expectation of receiving. This year I’ve gifted 15 people with fully funded spaces on my courses due to financial barriers to be able to attend.

Gratitude, start your day with saying at least three things you are grateful for, then take it a step further and say why you are grateful for those things.

Be open to learning, be honest and transparent, ask for help when you need it, remember, asking for help isn’t about giving up, it’s about not giving up.

What are the attributes you are looking for in staff/suppliers this year? 
Miscommunication is another area of business that can cause a lot frustration  therefore open, honest, transparent communication is key.

The 5th principle in Steven R.Covery’s book “7 habits of highly effective people” is “seek first to understand”, for me this was a game changer when speaking with suppliers and potential clients. I always seek to understand how suppliers work, what their payment terms are and how they do business before any agreement is made. 

What will you be investing in this year? 
I have just started to look into the world of NFTs, crypto and trading, therefore I will be investing firstly into gaining better understanding of them all before making a financial investment. 

What will you be doing differently this year? 
My focus is aiming to train 1000 construction workers in becoming suicide first aiders and helping them to spot the early warning signs of a person thinking about suicide.

I am also in the early stages of creating another business which I’ll reveal soon,  all I’ll say for now is that it’s in the automotive industry, shhhhh mum's the word.

What are you doing for charity or community this year? 
I will continue to deliver mental health first aid and suicide first aid training Mind, Lighthouse and Grassroots and will offer several fully expensed places again to those who can not afford to attend.  

At the end of the year, I will also ask people to nominate a person to receive a shopping voucher from Aldi for £75 for somebody in need.

Are you supporting any awareness days/weeks/months this year? 
I’ll be supporting Red January, and Dry January as I’ll be celebrating a year without aiy alcohol on the 1st of January! https://redtogether.co.uk/

Do you have any special offers you’d like to mention? 
People can subscribe to receive our newsletter  to receive offers for the rest of the year here: https://mindcanyon.co.uk/subscribe

And finally: 
I would like to thank all at Total Guide to for their ongoing support, and remember, asking for help isn’t about giving up, it’s about not giving up.

For mental health first aid, workplace well-being and suicide first aid graining drop me an email, [email protected]

Steve can be found here www.mindcanyon.co.uk