How to find your balance as a budding startup

Just like finding your balance as a toddler, starting a new business takes baby steps. After becoming a dad in 2015, Chris Mollison quit his day job and started his very own cycling business, CYCLEme Fitness. With his son’s interest in speed growing, Chris, along with his wife Sarah, turned their focus to the benefits of cycling for younger riders, and not long after, CYCLEme TOTS was born. 

Today, the award-winning network of children’s classes gives toddlers as young as two the opportunity to build key motor skills and confidence. Having started two successful businesses from scratch, we caught up with the power couple to find out how they did it. 

1.  Stand out 

With a vast array of children’s activities available and a lot of competition, it is really important to make sure that your business can stand out and this is largely reliant on your branding. Make sure that customers can identify you quickly and can easily tell friends/ family what it is that you offer as that is crucial for helping them recommend you. If necessary, work with someone to find a great logo and business name that will attract your ideal customer.

2.  Provide a great service 

A large amount of our growth has come from our lovely customers recommending us to their family and friends. It is extremely important to look after your existing customers and offer great customer service, especially as the business grows and you have a larger team of people working for you. Make sure that all employees offer the level of service that you have become known for and have processes in place that ensure customer issues are dealt with quickly and efficiently.

3.  Partner with other industry leaders 

When you first start out, you can often benefit by partnering with a well-known supplier to increase brand awareness for your business. When we launched CYCLEme TOTS, we partnered with a well-known balance bike provider for our class equipment which gave us some great business connections and also gave our customers confidence in our classes as we had great quality equipment that they had already heard of.

4.  Remember why you started 

It can be easy to get side-tracked by competition or get disillusioned by a hard few months. In these times, focus on your goals and remember why you started in the first place as that passion is what will help you succeed.

Are you looking for a fun and supportive space for your toddler to socialise and learn key development skills? Visit CYCLEme TOTS to find out more about their award-winning balance bike programmes. 

Do you have a business story that you would like us to hear about? Send us a message on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn to be part of our Local Business Spotlight campaign. You can also email us at [email protected].