{"id":6491,"date":"2020-01-31T14:06:37","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T14:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/?p=6491"},"modified":"2026-01-09T15:08:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T15:08:19","slug":"peter-jones-overcome-business-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/peter-jones-overcome-business-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Small talk with Peter Jones: How to overcome business challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSmall talk with Peter Jones: How to overcome business challenges\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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In our Small Talk series, we delve into how your business can tackle some of the many challenges you face so you can elevate your performance. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter Jones, our Sage customer for life, sat down with interviewers Nina and Jed to talk about what you can do to ensure your business can perform at its best. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, there are a few challenges that Peter was set by his intrepid interviewers. Watch the video to see how he got on and below is a transcript, followed by some advice on how to overcome business challenges.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download your free copy of Perform at your best<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> So you\u2019re the guys that are interviewing me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nina and Jed:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> Wow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nina:<\/strong> Are you nervous?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> I am now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nina:<\/strong> How can businesses juggle what they do, and their admin, and their cash flow, and keeping their customers and people happy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> It\u2019s a hard job. It\u2019s a constant juggling job, trying to keep all of those things in play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you get the right information quick enough? How do you forecast what cash you\u2019re going to need to run the business? Where do you go and buy? How do you buy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you buy at the best rate? Who are you going to sell to? How are you going to manage staff, employ staff? How are you going to send off your VAT return, make sure that it\u2019s in time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So many things to manage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s some things you can do to make life easier, though, and that comes back to having the right automation and software in place to run your business effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, you\u2019ve got time to, hopefully, go and make some more money or grow the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jed:<\/strong> So, what\u2019s the real secret to your business success?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> For me, it\u2019s about doing a lot of things quite well, and not doing one thing absolutely brilliantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s about doing a multitude of different things. So I kind of am a bit of a juggler really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because I invest in businesses, across my investment group, I need a software platform or a solution that gives me information on the investments and how they\u2019re doing, and that\u2019s where I\u2019m lucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It makes me look like I\u2019m able to do so many things, but in truth, I\u2019ve made my life a lot easier by putting the right software in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nina:<\/strong> Well, before, you said that you were good at juggling, so can you juggle these three balls? This one\u2019s for admin. Cash flow. And this one\u2019s customer service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> So, what\u2019s that? Is that cash flow or customer service?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nina:<\/strong> That\u2019s admin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> I knew I\u2019d get that wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nina:<\/strong> Cash flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> Cash flow. I\u2019ve got cash flow. What\u2019s that one? Admin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nina:<\/strong> Admin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> What was the other one?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jed:<\/strong> Time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nina:<\/strong> Customer service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> Customer service. Are you giving me time now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jed:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> Yeah? What\u2019s the next one? What about people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jed:<\/strong> Oh, people. Yeah, sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> Yeah. What\u2019s the next one? Payroll? Payroll. Right. So I\u2019ve got payroll, people, customer service, admin, cash flow and time. This is what it\u2019s like if you\u2019ve got to juggle it in business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Peter throws all of the balls in the air and drops them]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> It\u2019s impossible, you can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Nina and Jed clap]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter:<\/strong> Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download your free checklist: Five steps to be more efficient and productive<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Small talk with Peter Jones: Check out the rest of the series<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n