Your online masterclass host for this week: A public relations expert

Every Tuesday at 12.30pm you can watch an online business masterclass delivered by one of our Adviser members.

This week, Simon Rayner-Langmead hosts: A 10 step plan for using PR to grow your business in 2018.

Masterclasses are available at a cost of only £10 each. To register for this week's event at 12.30pm on 13 February, go here.

Members can watch every weekly masterclass for free! To register, log in to your Enterprise Nation account and go to the events page where the discount will be automatically applied.

If you're not yet a member, free masterclasses are one of many benefits. Join from only £3 a month!

Company: PR in a Box

Twitter: @Simonrayner

Company founded: 2016

What is your favourite business book and why?

I love The Lean Startup.

When I launched my PR agency I wanted to make sure everything was perfect before we went live. With a technology, it's different because you are constantly adding to and tweaking the product so the 'Lean Startup' approach is the perfect solution for us.

Who is your business hero and why?

My father, Martin Rayner.

He built his company up from nothing whilst constantly ensuring that the customer always comes first. His philosophy that if you have a happy and empowered team will mean that you have a happy customer has always stuck with me. He never shouted or got angry at work and everyone knew they could talk to him if they had a problem.

Describe your business in a tweet.

A cost effective solution to help small businesses to promote themselves.

What has been your biggest challenge?

When technology works it's brilliant but developing it is a minefield.

I'm a perfectionist so am constantly updating and changing the way the PR in a Box platform works to give our users the best possible experience. It makes me incredibly frustrated when we are adding something to the platform and it doesn't exactly what I want during Beta testing.

What has been your greatest success?

Not coming from a tech background, I have really enjoyed creating a platform that people see and genuinely see the benefit it can have on their business.

I'm tired of small business owners being ripped off by big brands who charge a fortune for something that doesn't need to be expensive. I believe we have a solution to that problem.

What piece of advice do you wish you had known when starting out?

Technology always takes twice as long to develop than you think it will.

Why do you consider long-term strategic advice important to business success?

Being flexible with your business strategy is by far the most important part of growing your business but you need to have the route map in place to begin with.

You will be thrown curve balls every day and how you deal with them will massively affect your levels of success but without that plan you will be totally derailed by any form of disruption. Planning and flexibility are key to growth and success.

If you had a superpower what would it be and why?

Time travel. I'd go back in time and create the perfect product first time over. With the help of some carefully placed Euromillions winning numbers it would be plain sailing.

To register for Simon's masterclass, a 10 step plan to using PR to grow your business in 2018_, go here or log in to your account and go to the events page to join in for free._

If you're an Adviser member and you'd like to host a masterclass, apply here.