My recipe for success and consistency in business
How to keep running your business successfully despite life happening around you.
It’s fair to say that last year was a big year for me. Between getting married, my father dying, and completing a masters, it was a busy and emotionally taxing year. However, I was able to be consistent with running my business despite these pressures and I am now asked “how” I did it – today I’ll show my how with you.
Ideate
When I set the business up (over two years ago!), I knew that I wanted to incorporate a method that would allow me to work consistently overtime. As someone with ADHD, this was possibly slightly more of a prominent issue for me, and something I knew I needed to pre-plan to be successful in.
However, as with all good things, it’s taken time, learning new ways of working and lots of trial and error to get right!
Last year we introduced nooh’s Wow - or nooh’s Ways of Working as a business. It’s the latest iteration (of many) in how we act as a business and how we ensure consistency of output and ethos.
After nearly a year of using this method, I wanted to share it with you all as it is… working!
So, take all of this with a grain of salt, as previously discussed, not all advice is good advice for everyone, but here is what is working for me and my team at nooh.
Iterate
Like any good business owner, I had to give everything a system! So the WoW is broken down into three parts: Methodology, Training, and Process and Ethos. The three work as a step by step guide on how to achieve consistency of results and output… Enjoy!
Methodology
This part is the key in the pyramid in my brain -your base and where you will build from. My methodology is inspired by Design Thinking. The Interaction Design Foundation explains it better and more succinctly than I ever could; “a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test.”
I like to visualise this using the “double diamond” process of design. It's a way to think about ideas, projects or vision from a broader perspective, refine the idea and reiterate the process until you create your final product.
It’s become the ethos of how I work. Have an idea, think about the idea (challenge it even), repeat the process, until finally I implement the idea and then repeat the whole process again to look for weak spots.
For myself and my team, it creates a methodology of questioning, challenging and refining all with the goal of improving our work. This methodology is placed into all areas of the business, from calls with clients, to hammering out final designs and even how we share our outputs online.
Training
To do the above takes time and training, most of it “on the job” as we move through contracts. I’ve found at nooh, the best work we produce and the designers I enjoy collaborating with the most are the ones who understand the method behind the madness and jump on for the ride.
We train our team to understand Design Thinking and the double diamond process - we actively encourage team members to use this as a template for how they work and we designed our meetings around this principle. In calls with colleagues, I will ask for work to be refined with no hard feelings, I will be challenged with no ego bruising, and I will question work without fear of frustration thanks to our training in our methodology.
Process and Ethos
This part of the pyramid is at the top and is the key to this being a natural part of working at nooh; putting all of the above into practice regularly. It’s harder than it sounds, but by throwing all of the team, including me, into the process, I’ve found my team work together in a more cohesive way.
It’s given the team more autonomy and has enabled me to work on other projects knowing the shared vision allows us all to work remotely, yet in unison.
Not convinced by the above?
2024 was my most consistent year to date despite a barrage of “life” events being thrown in my direction -for someone with ADHD, that’s a pretty big thing to be able to say!
Still not convinced?
In 2024, I started working with a virtual assistant (via Wired Differently). I shared my vision, how I work and trained her in what I know about our processes and ways of working. Today, she helps our marketing as a business - would you guess that she wrote most of this post? (Hi! My name is Sophie, nice to meet ‘ya!).
I hope not, because then you have proof that we have absolutely honed our training to a fine art that is now being carried out day to day in our processes - sounds like consistency to me!
Implement
🧠 How do you maintain consistency in your business?
🧠 Do you have a way of working, a WoW?