Usually the customer/supplier relationship goes pretty smoothly. But sometimes, you send off your invoice and then… nothing! We look at what to do if someone doesn’t pay you and how to make sure you have the business basics in place to avoid getting into that situation in the first place.

We often think about our strategy for the next six months, but what can you do that will move your business forward in the next 24 hours? We take a look at how you can make something happen that will have a real impact on your vegan business, maybe even before you go to bed this evening!

Tradeshows and larger consumer shows like VegfestUK are where you will meet not just new customers, but also great new contacts that might help your business move forwards. Learn what you need to be doing before, during and after the event to maximise what you get out of it.

It’s far easier to build a business when you surround yourself with people who are on the same mission that you are. But these kinds of connections don’t just happen by accident. You need to have a strategy in place to increase the number of connections you are making.

Failing is an important part of succeeding. Listen to any successful entrepreneur’s story and it will be a list of the missteps, failures and lessons that eventually led to that success. But how do you know when it’s time to give up on your business and move on to something new?

The idea of a recession can be scary, but no matter how good the economic outlook is you will still see companies fail – and no matter how bad the economy is, some people will be making more money than they ever have before.

VFC made the headlines when they announced they were giving their products away for free. This campaign might seem like a fast track route to going bust but dig a little deeper and you will find a clever strategy that might not be as expensive to run as you think!

People can know about your business, be on your mailing list and genuinely seem interested, but still haven’t become a customer. So where’s the blockage? If you can identify the people who are right at the end of your funnel then reaching out with the right offer at the right time may be all that is needed to nudge them over the line.

As Vegan Business Tribe celebrates its second birthday, we pick out the top five things we’ve learned about running a vegan business over that time – from why you need to remain flexible about what business you are building through to why the biggest thing holding your business back might just be yourself.