The new financial year

 The new year is a long time ago; what was fresh now seems stale. But the good news is that there are always three new years in merry old England. There's the new New Year beginning on the First of January; there's the academic new year starting in September when schools return from their summer vacations; and then again, plum in the middle, there's the financial new year, which in the UK starts on the 6^th April when the new tax year begins. Many companies organise their accounts around it – and we are one – so we are now in the first quarter. How are things, then?

Well, April 2010 to March 2011 was a cracking and ground breaking year for Motivational Maps Ltd in all sorts of ways. Two important events preceded the actual April kick-off. One, on what appeared at the time as a negative note, but which proved a massive boon, we changed our web developers. And my! that made a massive difference when we came to arguably the biggest single event of the year: the development of our new product, The Motivational Youth Map. More anon.

Second, shortly before the April start, Linda and I had had a series of remarkable consultancy sessions with the great Dr Dave Richards. We'd had some excellent consultancy advice a couple of years earlier from another consultant, which was invaluable, but we had begun to lose the plot just through our own 'drift'. What Dr Dave did was give us a seven point focus that even now is at the heart of what we do.

We came into the first quarter, then, running: our number one priority to recruit new level 3 licensees of our product anywhere in the world. By May we had over from South Africa two top coaches who were with us for nearly eight days, were trained by us, and granted an exclusive South African license, which has now extended to Botswana.

In June we had over a world class executive coach from Italy for a license; and then we had an extraordinary run of licensees right up to Christmas, culminating in the exact opposite of the South African adventure: namely, appointing a superb business guru to handle Maps in the Dorset area – my own patch, as it were. Wonderful. We had really got some quality people.

And as exciting again was the creation of the Pupil – or as it came to be called – the Youth Map for pupils in schools. A first rate consultant and company bought an extended exclusive license in the product, as well as some equity too; they trialled the product in a Bournemouth Secondary school, achieving phenomenal results, and from this the product was launched nationally at Warwick University on the 4^th February – it is already making serious inroads in national and international markets, so compelling is its proposition and outcomes.

It was in 2010 also that the long awaited Higher Education Map pilot at Coventry University Business School finally got signed off and agreed, and this is under-way as I write. When the pilot is finished we hope to float it as we have the Youth Map.

The last quarter did not quite sustain the level of commitment and interest that the preceding three quarters did, but as we pack away the receipts and invoices for our accountant to process we are quietly confident that it has been a great year.

But what next? What challenges does the new year hold? What must we do?

The priority for Motivational Maps remains the same: to attract and recruit first rate licensees in the UK and round the world. In the UK we particularly want new licensees in counties where we are either not represented or under-represented. So, London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Lancashire, Northumberland, Birmingham top of our list. From the world perspective four countries must be our special concern: the US, Canada, Australia and India. These are powerful and large markets – coaches and consultants who want a superior competitive advantage we believe should use our product. Thus we are actively searching for those coaches and consultants who want to build a business with Maps as core.

Beyond that we need to support existing licensees. This is done in many ways, but crucially the area of product development itself is vital here. We realise that Maps have a uniqueness which eventually others will seek to replicate. The only way to safeguard that uniqueness is to develop it further; it's about creating a level of complexity and layering that means that copycatting will be superficial at best, and more likely just plain inadequate.

The new year is off to a flying start. So much is happening which is so exciting. Part of the joy of running your own business is the freedom to meet people you like . So happy new – financial – year to all my blog readers. Let's hope we meet up this year. Keep in touch. And get motivated!