Matthew Rusk Student Entrepreneur in Residence

As a small business, our customers are our lifeline. It is of utmost importance to us, and to them, that the service we deliver is always the best it can possibly be. We never want to let down these people. They are the most important asset in what we do or what we sell, and they are keeping us in our position of being the business owners we are.

Customer Feedback is so important, especially in the age we live in. These days, everyone has a voice and a platform to express that voice. If we offer a service or product, we want to take on board our customers voice. Let your customers give you their feedback, or better yet, you ask them the question:

“What can I/we do to make this experience/service/product better for YOU?”

This makes the customer see that you really do value their custom. While we have the vision for the business, our customers are the ones who know what they want and how they want it delivered so this should never be overlooked. Remember the old saying, the customer is always right? This is true to an extent.

We often see big businesses asking customers to complete surveys to say how they rate that interaction or to provide feedback but in the world of small business this is often overlooked and it shouldn’t be. In our world, we have a much closer connection with our customers as we often know them all by name and interact with them on a more regular basis. 

In my own business, I regularly ask my customers how they find the service and if there is anything, they would like to suggest I’m always open to having that discussion. Customer feedback can lead to growth. We don’t have to take everything our customers suggest on board, but it’s certainly food for thought. Let’s get behind our customers and let them help us. 

If the customer is happy, they will keep coming back time and time again. Happy customers often lead to word of mouth spreading. Let’s aim to deliver the best service we can!

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I am always reminded of how young people can rapidly rise to the top of their profession when watching football. As the England team prepared to travel out to Russia for the World Cup, with one of the youngest squads of all time, it is a clear reminder that individuals in their late teens to mid-twenties can be leading figures in their profession. After all, the 23 players picked represent the best footballers that England has to offer across all generations – yet, the average age is 26.

I am also reminded by it when commentators refer to players as “young men”, for example, when Raheem Sterling played for Liverpool in his early career. Already playing at one of Europe’s leading professional football clubs, earning tens of thousands a week Sterling was also a father by 18. Indeed, similar to the current Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp who had his first child at 19 and yet was a professional footballer in the German leagues before becoming one of Europe’s top managers.

Clearly sport favours those with younger bodies, so younger players have the opportunity to out compete older ones. Yet, there is nothing stopping you from developing your mind as a teenager to “out compete” even experienced business men and women. I believe that culturally we accept industry leaders as older generations. Yet, when it comes to certain industries like football it would be unimaginable to send out a group of 45 year olds to represent England.

The narrative that young people can change the world and be the industry leaders is one that is not often told. When the narrative does form it is an uneasy one, look at Mark Zuckerberg and the uneasy relationship the media have with a really young industry leader. My feelings are young people have the ability to see business opportunities faster than older generations and with the right support the potential to become industry leaders rapidly. One good example is E-Sports, where the leading commentators have a similar average age to the England squad. Compare that to the commentators who will be presenting at the World Cup and I am fairly sure that the average age will be double that of the England squad.

I would go even a step further and say that they have the power to create entirely new industries. So if you are in any doubt about what young people can achieve just look at the musicians, actors/actresses, sportsmen & women, who can rise to the top of their industry between their late teens and mid-twenties. What is stopping you doing the same in the business world?!

Business Update – Guitar Lessons Nottingham

Since my last business update I am delighted to announce that we have started working with Joe Egan, a professional guitar teacher who offers guitar lessons in Nottingham. Joe has many years teaching experience, helping students from the ages of 6 upwards to learn to play the guitar. He is based in central Nottingham, from a teaching space with easy access from across the city. This makes a huge different for students, enabling many more guitarists to come to access the newly founded Guitar Lessons Nottingham guitar school.

I was also keen to work with Joe as he is a jazz guitar specialist. Drawing on his many years of playing guitar in an array of jazz bands this knowledge is something that enables him to stand out from other guitar teacher in Nottingham. Jazz music is the ultimate expression of musical creativity and improvisation, skills that I think are so valuable for students to master. After all, learning to repeat music is very different to learning how to create music. In addition, Joe covers a wide range of different musical genres – drawing on this creative playing approach across all playing styles.

It is wonderful to see how the music business is continuing to rapidly expand. Over the next few weeks I plan to meet some influential businesses within music to form working partnerships that will help drive our music schools forward. I will, as ever, keep you updated with the process, challenges and developments of what it is like to run a business as a young person.

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