WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Business Abundance Podcast, providing

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the tools and knowledge to help small business

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owners succeed. For additional resources, visit

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www .businessabundance .online Hello and welcome

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back to the Business Abundance podcast. I am

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Zahara and I'm back with Rowan and Ian. Hi. Today

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we are going to be chatting about the five common

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issues. If you're a business owner or you feel

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like you've lost a bit of your spark when it

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comes to running your business, we're just going

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to run through five issues that you can check

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yourself or within your business just to make

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sure that you're back on or get yourself back

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on track. So we're going to be starting off the

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first one being cash flow. Now cash flow in its

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definition is the movement of money in, money

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out. If you're in a negative cash flow, you've

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got higher spending. If you're positive, then

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you've got more money coming in than you're spending.

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So it's as simple as that, but sometimes we've

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found people don't pay too much attention and

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end up in a bit of a situation where they can't

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quite pay their obligations. It's probably the

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number one problem when people say, gee, I've

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got problems. It comes back to cashflow because

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everything else is fine as long as people have

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money. But when there's no money, got to do something.

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When do they often realise that? When the money

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runs out. Is it like when they're trying to pay

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their employees or when it gets tax time? Tax

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time is a... not probably not as bad as doing

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the employees because the tax office, if you

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sort of don't pay them, it's probably a month

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or two before they realize. And then you've got

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some options from there, but definitely week

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to week. The worst cases would be when people

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go, gee, I can't pay wages this week, but everyone's

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already worked for a week. And what do I do?

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That's probably worst case scenario. Yeah. So

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if you're planning to avoid that, do you want

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to set out your obligations? For example, like

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super payments, tax payments, payroll. Yeah.

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So let's go back, I guess, cashflow 101. Sounds

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like a budget. Yep. So like anything in life,

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if you have a plan, you're probably a little

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bit more likely to succeed. So just having an

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understanding of where your money comes from,

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what your sales are going to be, what they need

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to be, and then what your expenses are, your

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wages. Rent and all that sort of stuff going

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out And then like you mentioned obligations is

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probably the one most people get caught up on

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There's GST Where we are and that's a tax by

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the government that you collect on behalf of

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the government and then you pass on. So it's

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not your money, it never was. But it goes into

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our bank accounts and it looks like money we

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can spend and then every few months we've meant

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to pass it on. So it's easy to get caught out

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there depending how many sales you have. Should

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you make a little bank account to put that all

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into if you're a business owner? Definitely.

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It's much easier that way because if you've got

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enough money to do that, you know what... your

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spending money is and you know what your tax

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money is and you don't worry about the big bills

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that suddenly come through. But yeah, with the

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GST there's the tax on employees' wages. So you've

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got to put that aside too because you're not

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paying it straight to them, you're paying it

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to the government on their behalf. So it's not

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a tax on you or your business, but it looks like

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your money. So again, that tends to be a big

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one that catches people out in superannuation.

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Income tax often comes a year or two after you

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actually make the money and then sometimes you

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prepay that. repaid as well. So yeah, just knowing

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what that is, having a budget, having the separate

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bank accounts and putting money aside so you

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didn't get caught out is a huge factor to avoid

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the trap. Yeah, and then as you move on, you

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want to put your actual spend next to it, like

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as you move throughout the year? Yep. So that

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you can understand and re -budget for next year?

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Correct, yeah, and change anything too. Like

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if you, rather than running out of money and

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realising things are wrong, you can see month

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to month, oh, that's probably a bit high, that's

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probably a bit high, that's probably a bit high.

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I'll change it and then I won't run out rather

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than running out and going back and looking and

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going, oh geez, I should have done that 12 months

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ago. Yeah, it's not too hard to make a budget

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either, is it? You can just download templates

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from the website. Yeah, definitely. We've got

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templates on our website, but even ANZ, like

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you just roll in there, they've got heaps of

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tools and most banks just have basic things you

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can plug your numbers in. And then there's varying

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levels of complexity of what you can do from

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there. Yep. That's pretty good. And I want to

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have a bit of a chat about payment terms for

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those businesses that you can move your cash

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flow about so that it works in your benefit.

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Do you want to talk about that, Rowan? Yeah.

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So I think the biggest misunderstanding with

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cash flow is that people judge their success

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off their bank balance. So we're making money,

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there's money in the account. We're losing money,

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there's not money in the account. So it's very

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possible to be losing money and having more money

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in your bank account. And it's very possible

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to be making money and have less money in your

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bank account. So number one. problem of cash

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flow is not making enough profit. So if you're

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making enough profit, that's good. But then if

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you've got payment terms and you don't understand

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money to money out time, then you could still

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have troubles. But most people are just not making

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enough money. So give an example, maybe like

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a builder, they get a new client, they charge

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a deposit and the customer pays the deposit pretty

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quick. So how much is the deposit going to be

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on a house? 20%. 20%. Cool. Okay. Let's roll

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with that as an example. So let's say we've got

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someone building a $500 ,000 house. It's going

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to be $100 ,000. The builder gets paid that straight

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away. They've got $100 ,000 in their bank balance.

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They haven't done anything. So really they haven't

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made profit from that, but now they've got $100

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,000 and they have got $100 ,000 in sales. So

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then they probably start working. They have a

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little bit of wages, but probably nothing too

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serious. They pay for the concrete. They pay

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for the excavator. get the base stage done so

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there's a slab and then they send out an invoice

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for the base stage and that's probably another

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hundred thousand dollars so then they get paid

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straight away they've got two hundred thousand

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dollars they've paid about a bit of wage they've

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got bills for their concrete they've got bills

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for their excavator but they haven't paid those

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yet so they don't pay those for another 30 days

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if they're on time and then if they're late then

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it's probably 60 or 90 days they pay before any

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suppliers going, I'm not going to work for you

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anymore. And then they could probably just choose

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a different supply anyway, because they want

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to deal with them, right? So let's say the following

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month, they do the frame. So they get all the

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materials goes on the account, finish the frame

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to have the wage costs, probably should be paying

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for the concrete now maybe, if they're on time.

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but they can build out the frame stage, get paid

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straight away. So they've got $300 ,000 and maybe

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they're paying out 50 grand now and the better

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wages, so 75. So now they've got $225 ,000 of

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other people's money. They've got a fair bit

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of work to do, still lots of bills to pay, lots

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of money in the bank account though. So it looks

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pretty good, doesn't it? So you're saying they've

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paid $225 ,000 before they've actually received

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any money from the customers. No, no, other way

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around. So yeah, they're billing their customers

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and they're paying them straight away. So they've

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got $220 ,000. They've got $300 ,000, but then

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they paid 80 because they paid the bills on time.

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And they've got a lot more bills to pay. They've

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got them. They know they're coming, but in their

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bank, it shows that they've got $225 ,000. So

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if you're managing your business by your bank,

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you're like, I'm going great. This is awesome.

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I can buy this. I can buy that. boom, boom, boom,

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boom. But in reality, you've got all these other

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bills you're going to pay coming up shortly.

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And maybe the margin for that house is only $50

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,000. So you're actually expecting to get $50

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,000 from it, but you've got 200k in your account.

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So highly possible just based on that. You could

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be going forwards or backwards, you wouldn't

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know that your bank balance is going up. And

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then vice versa, you could be the type of business

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that goes, yeah, we'll start that job for you.

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And then you go and buy, you go buy the equipment,

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you go buy the materials, you pay for it cash,

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you know. because maybe you're a bit small, maybe

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you don't have terms. You spend $20 ,000, you

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go out there for a week, do the job, and then

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you send them a bill, and maybe your client doesn't

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pay you for a month. So that's cash flow negative.

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You've spent $20 ,000 to maybe make $25 ,000,

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so you've got to wait a month to get your five

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grand. So in that case, it's always looking like

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you've got no money. You could still be making

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a profit. It's just you're getting paid late.

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Yeah, I understand. Yeah. And if you have all

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that money that's in your bank account, let's

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just say that you are getting paid, it's so easy

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to spend it on and be like, oh, I'm going to

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spend more on marketing this month or I'm going

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to buy a new piece of equipment or anything.

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And then, yeah, all of a sudden you're broke.

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Yeah. So it's really important to understand

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what sort of business you've got and you can

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change whether you're a cashflow positive or

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negative. So you can say, hey, we'd like you

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to prepay and we'll give you better terms and

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then we'll do this and maybe you'll get longer

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accounts of our clients. but yeah if you are

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a business and you go gee I'm a cash flow positive

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business but I have no money you should be trying

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to get some help because that means you're a

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long way behind so you're just using a builder

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again if you're building 10 houses a year so

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that's five million dollars per year your two

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months cash flow positive from the example you

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had 200 ,000 out of 300 ,000 after a couple of

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months so that's how much in 200 out of 300 Yep.

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The keepings are 200 ,000. That's one house.

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We're doing five houses. Yep. So probably two

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a month. So we've probably got $400 ,000 cash

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at any time ahead of what we should have. Um,

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so if you're one of those builders and you don't

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have any money, then you're probably $400 ,000

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behind already. You just don't know it. Um, just

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talking to a friend today, actually. And he's

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like, Oh, I built asked me for the next progress

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payment in advance. I'm like, be pretty careful

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there and I just explained to him how it works.

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He's like, wow, I had no idea. I said, mate,

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tell your friend to get some help because I don't

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think he knows how far behind he is. And he said,

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oh, he's only been in it for one year as well.

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And that's even worse because he hasn't even

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paid any tax yet. So he'll have a tax pool coming

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next year and then that will be double, which

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we've talked about before. Then you're chasing

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your day or trying to catch up. Yep. Anyway,

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so yeah, there's other ways to do things, but

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just have a think. You can play within the budget.

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If you've got a good budget, and that's where

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we talked about before, there's different levels

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of budgets. You can actually play with your payment

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terms and see, okay, well, how can we turn them

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to good and how can we turn them to bad? And

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you can see ahead. To make sure that you've got

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enough working capital. Yeah, yeah, yeah, working

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capital. Very important. It is. They all seem

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infinitely trackable as well. to avoid getting

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in trouble, you can follow trends, you can forecast

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incomings versus outgoings. And when you're talking

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about employee costs, it's generally a fixed

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cost. Yeah. GST is GST. You don't pay it if you

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don't receive it. That's right. So I mean, at

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the end of the day, when you receive the money,

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you put it aside anyway. So that shouldn't get

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you in a lot of trouble if you're managing your

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money efficiently. So all those fixed costs,

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you can then forecast. And then if you are a

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builder, for instance, you're going to know that

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there are certain times of the year where you

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do slow down a little bit. Over Christmas, you're

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probably not going to get a lot of payments,

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income is in, everything shuts down. Uh, so be

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prepared. Yeah. The old, uh, the old scouts thing.

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Yeah. Yeah. I'm just thinking about the, um,

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the business owners that kind of do the whole

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just invoice via word. Um, and just do it old

00:12:15.809 --> 00:12:17.210
school because that's all they've known and they

00:12:17.210 --> 00:12:20.750
don't have the tools like any sort of accounting

00:12:20.750 --> 00:12:23.750
software to keep them going. And I think this

00:12:23.750 --> 00:12:26.549
is probably a decent, not sponsored, but a decent

00:12:26.549 --> 00:12:29.750
time to mention that there are good softwares

00:12:29.750 --> 00:12:32.950
out there to make that easier. You got MIB QuickBooks,

00:12:33.629 --> 00:12:35.970
whatever that's called now, zero, zero. We prefer,

00:12:36.009 --> 00:12:38.389
it's nice and easy, but yeah, you got to know

00:12:38.389 --> 00:12:41.210
your numbers. Much easier than doing it in an

00:12:41.210 --> 00:12:44.299
Excel spreadsheet. Having to update it every

00:12:44.299 --> 00:12:46.820
single day, like that I can see being difficult

00:12:46.820 --> 00:12:49.100
and someone going, oh, it's too hard. But if

00:12:49.100 --> 00:12:51.240
you do actually have the tools, it's really easy

00:12:51.240 --> 00:12:54.000
and pays off. They're getting better. They're

00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:56.379
getting better every minute of every day. Those

00:12:56.379 --> 00:12:58.279
tools are getting easier and easier for someone

00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:01.120
who's been sitting with an invoice book, writing

00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:03.159
down their invoices and then every three months

00:13:03.159 --> 00:13:05.399
they're sitting down with their calculator or

00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:08.820
their abacus. It's so much easier. It's not just

00:13:08.820 --> 00:13:10.399
little businesses though, there's the people

00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:13.519
with 40, 50 plus. employees and their admin people

00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:15.240
plugging numbers into an accounting system and

00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:16.480
now it's actually looking at the reports see

00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:19.039
if it makes any sense or using it for anything

00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:23.240
useful. So I think knowing the numbers is a key

00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:24.820
point there as far as whatever you're doing just

00:13:24.820 --> 00:13:28.620
understand what your numbers are and that's just

00:13:28.620 --> 00:13:30.320
helping you identify what your working capital

00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:33.539
is. Make sure they're correct as well. If those

00:13:33.539 --> 00:13:37.980
numbers going into your bookkeeping reports don't

00:13:37.980 --> 00:13:40.259
match up what's actually happening, there's a

00:13:40.259 --> 00:13:43.529
world of pain. But so you've just mentioned working

00:13:43.529 --> 00:13:45.330
capital before, probably should translate that

00:13:45.330 --> 00:13:48.289
for people. So it's not just when we talk cash

00:13:48.289 --> 00:13:50.309
flow, we're not talking just about cash that

00:13:50.309 --> 00:13:53.750
you've got. But working capital is the term we

00:13:53.750 --> 00:13:57.590
like to look at. So working capital is a combination

00:13:57.590 --> 00:14:00.850
of money you do have, plus any money you're about

00:14:00.850 --> 00:14:02.990
to receive. So you'd like people that owe you

00:14:02.990 --> 00:14:05.409
money, for example, less money you've got to

00:14:05.409 --> 00:14:07.710
pay out in the short term. So your super, your

00:14:07.710 --> 00:14:11.120
taxes, your... credit bills, et cetera, credit

00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:14.179
cards. That's a good one actually. How do you

00:14:14.179 --> 00:14:17.120
insulate yourself against, say a builder for

00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:19.700
instance, and you've won a couple of projects

00:14:19.700 --> 00:14:21.779
and you've got a whole heap of people that owe

00:14:21.779 --> 00:14:24.299
you a little bit of money and then those, let's

00:14:24.299 --> 00:14:28.220
say they're a larger business that's... They've

00:14:28.220 --> 00:14:30.360
contracted you to do a few different jobs around

00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:31.980
the place and then that larger business goes

00:14:31.980 --> 00:14:34.000
out of business How do you insulate yourself?

00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:37.259
Yeah, you need more working capital. Yeah. Yeah

00:14:37.259 --> 00:14:39.620
And so the way to bump that up is having more

00:14:39.620 --> 00:14:42.860
cash available Goes back to number knowing your

00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:47.009
numbers. Yeah, but like I said before we're If

00:14:47.009 --> 00:14:48.710
your bank balance is going backwards, you can

00:14:48.710 --> 00:14:50.570
still be making money. Your working capital could

00:14:50.570 --> 00:14:52.950
be going up because you've done the work, you've

00:14:52.950 --> 00:14:54.809
made the money, people just haven't paid you

00:14:54.809 --> 00:14:57.649
yet. So you could have more working capital available.

00:14:58.269 --> 00:15:01.309
but have no money. So often people will come

00:15:01.309 --> 00:15:02.870
and it's like, I've got no money, the world's

00:15:02.870 --> 00:15:04.929
over. And we can look and we go, actually, we've

00:15:04.929 --> 00:15:06.669
got these people on these terms. If we shorten

00:15:06.669 --> 00:15:08.970
those terms, you're going to have $200 ,000 more

00:15:08.970 --> 00:15:11.370
in your bank account every month. And it fixes

00:15:11.370 --> 00:15:12.929
all your problems because you're not actually

00:15:12.929 --> 00:15:16.029
going bad. Whereas a lot of the owners would

00:15:16.029 --> 00:15:18.289
be looking at it going, oh, doom and gloom. I

00:15:18.289 --> 00:15:20.350
need to suck stuff. I need to cut expenses and

00:15:20.350 --> 00:15:21.990
all this stuff that might wreck their business

00:15:21.990 --> 00:15:24.629
just because their payment terms are wrong. as

00:15:24.629 --> 00:15:29.830
one example. So really important to just be able

00:15:29.830 --> 00:15:33.029
to use that number to go is my working capital

00:15:33.029 --> 00:15:35.830
going down? I've got a profitability issue. Is

00:15:35.830 --> 00:15:38.250
it going up? I'm making money. Have I got a cash

00:15:38.250 --> 00:15:40.870
flow issue? Where's my money? It seems like a

00:15:40.870 --> 00:15:42.769
very simple thing to be able to visualize if

00:15:42.769 --> 00:15:44.909
you've got the right tools in place. Very easy

00:15:44.909 --> 00:15:47.929
with the right reporting. So pretty much not

00:15:47.929 --> 00:15:49.690
much of an excuse and if you don't have it just

00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:51.480
Get your accountant to be put in together for

00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:53.559
you because it's highly valuable. And it's probably

00:15:53.559 --> 00:15:56.000
one of the main reasons business owners stay

00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:57.840
up at night and worry that it's like, Oh gee,

00:15:57.980 --> 00:16:01.320
I know I owe this money. What do I do? Um, but

00:16:01.320 --> 00:16:02.700
once you actually know that number, you can go,

00:16:02.700 --> 00:16:04.480
Oh gee, I'm actually all right. Or I just need

00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:05.919
to do this, this and this. And the money comes

00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:08.100
back in and break it down into simple tasks.

00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:11.919
Yep. Correct. So, uh, it's pretty much cashflow

00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:15.940
101. It's that easy. Yeah. Oh, actually just.

00:16:16.110 --> 00:16:21.269
Simple. To elaborate on how do you insulate yourself

00:16:21.269 --> 00:16:25.049
about people going bust, good credit terms, directors

00:16:25.049 --> 00:16:29.250
guarantees, you do PPSR, which is putting little

00:16:29.250 --> 00:16:31.450
marks against companies to say, hey, they owe

00:16:31.450 --> 00:16:34.669
us money and before you sell equipment, which

00:16:34.669 --> 00:16:37.029
makes you a secured creditor rather than an unsecured

00:16:37.029 --> 00:16:41.070
creditor, it doesn't cost much. But fundamentally,

00:16:41.169 --> 00:16:43.450
if you've got a business that has a cashflow

00:16:43.450 --> 00:16:45.610
requirement or working capital requirement, because

00:16:45.610 --> 00:16:50.370
you're negative cash flow or you're just growing

00:16:50.370 --> 00:16:52.230
because you can just grow and then you just have

00:16:52.230 --> 00:16:54.570
more sales, more debtors and more money outstanding.

00:16:54.750 --> 00:16:55.909
It doesn't matter that you make money. You just

00:16:55.909 --> 00:16:57.870
need more money to run your business. You're

00:16:57.870 --> 00:16:59.649
not losing it. It just goes in and out. So you

00:16:59.649 --> 00:17:02.710
need a big pool. Sometimes you just need to introduce

00:17:02.710 --> 00:17:06.630
more cash and it's knowing that you haven't gone

00:17:06.630 --> 00:17:08.349
backwards. So you're throwing money in a pit.

00:17:09.059 --> 00:17:10.700
it's knowing that you are going forwards, it

00:17:10.700 --> 00:17:13.319
is profitable, I can introduce more cash to keep

00:17:13.319 --> 00:17:15.339
doing that and I'm getting a return on that money.

00:17:15.619 --> 00:17:18.759
Methods of introducing more cash? Investors?

00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:22.299
Investors are one, bank loans, there's another

00:17:22.299 --> 00:17:24.680
ones, you can put your own money in, we can't

00:17:24.680 --> 00:17:26.339
really tell you what to do, get advice or waste,

00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:29.299
but the key is if you're making money and you

00:17:29.299 --> 00:17:32.180
need more money to make more money. Find the

00:17:32.180 --> 00:17:34.220
money. Is it worth it? Yeah, it's costing you

00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:36.920
10 % but you're making 30 like... chuck it in.

00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:39.619
It's no different to buying a car or a machine

00:17:39.619 --> 00:17:42.579
to do something for you. But yeah, if you're

00:17:42.579 --> 00:17:44.220
going backwards and throwing money in, you need

00:17:44.220 --> 00:17:46.519
to be pretty careful about you're actually changing

00:17:46.519 --> 00:17:48.500
or doing something else at the same time. Be

00:17:48.500 --> 00:17:51.980
intentional about it. Yep. That sounds pretty

00:17:51.980 --> 00:17:56.640
good. So I guess the second one being finding

00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:02.500
and retaining customers. Now we can start this

00:18:02.500 --> 00:18:05.319
by knowing your product and service. If you're

00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:07.470
a Brand new business, it's the other way around

00:18:07.470 --> 00:18:10.390
and know your target market before you introduce

00:18:10.390 --> 00:18:14.690
your product and service. But if we're an existing

00:18:14.690 --> 00:18:17.450
business, know your product and service and then

00:18:17.450 --> 00:18:21.970
figure out who your target market is and then

00:18:21.970 --> 00:18:25.950
go meet them where they are. You need to know

00:18:25.950 --> 00:18:28.670
that your service or product is actually filling

00:18:28.670 --> 00:18:31.910
a gap. Um, so you don't want just something that

00:18:31.910 --> 00:18:33.829
you assume people will need, even though it does

00:18:33.829 --> 00:18:35.569
absolutely nothing for that person. You're not

00:18:35.569 --> 00:18:38.230
going to have anyone purchase that. It doesn't

00:18:38.230 --> 00:18:40.950
matter. Like products and services go out of

00:18:40.950 --> 00:18:43.930
date all the time. They become irrelevant. Um,

00:18:44.089 --> 00:18:47.490
so you've got to be able to adapt. Best product

00:18:47.490 --> 00:18:48.970
and services are one that people are already

00:18:48.970 --> 00:18:54.430
asking you for. Yes. Yeah. And so you need to

00:18:54.430 --> 00:18:57.200
be able to adapt. Even though you might love

00:18:57.200 --> 00:18:59.380
this product and service, you've got to change

00:18:59.380 --> 00:19:06.880
otherwise you and your business will. Definitely

00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:09.000
fall in love. That's awesome. But don't fall

00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:11.660
in love with your product. Don't get married

00:19:11.660 --> 00:19:14.960
to your ideals because ideals are dangerous.

00:19:15.099 --> 00:19:19.000
Yeah. And then be able to communicate that with

00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:21.339
the people who will appreciate your product and

00:19:21.339 --> 00:19:27.440
service most. In order to do that, you need to

00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:30.859
build and maintain that relationship and that

00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:37.539
comes from communication. In doing that, that

00:19:37.539 --> 00:19:40.579
means that if your customers aren't on Instagram,

00:19:40.779 --> 00:19:43.299
don't be posting and wasting your time on Instagram.

00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:47.680
If they're not on Facebook, same goes. If they

00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:49.759
aren't even online, then that means that you

00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:53.170
need to go and be on their doorstep. you can't

00:19:53.170 --> 00:19:54.789
assume that they're going to be in a place that

00:19:54.789 --> 00:19:58.750
they're not often. So an example, if you're targeting

00:19:58.750 --> 00:20:01.130
the older demographic, I highly doubt they're

00:20:01.130 --> 00:20:03.569
going to be on TikTok, for example. And just

00:20:03.569 --> 00:20:05.410
because everyone's on TikTok doesn't mean you

00:20:05.410 --> 00:20:07.950
need to do it. Definitely be on Facebook though.

00:20:09.009 --> 00:20:11.309
But the younger generations won't be on Facebook.

00:20:11.509 --> 00:20:14.779
I think that's really important. A lot of people

00:20:14.779 --> 00:20:17.140
have this idea of, I've got this product. I love

00:20:17.140 --> 00:20:19.559
it. There must be more people. There's seven,

00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:21.579
eight billion people on the planet. So someone's

00:20:21.579 --> 00:20:23.680
going to love my product. Yeah. And two of them

00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:25.519
might be on TikTok. So I've got to be on TikTok.

00:20:25.539 --> 00:20:29.039
Exactly. It doesn't make sense to be where your

00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:30.940
customers aren't. And the only way you're going

00:20:30.940 --> 00:20:34.559
to work that out is understand who your customer

00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:38.420
is. You might not be your ideal customer as a

00:20:38.420 --> 00:20:41.039
business owner. And we talk about this a lot

00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:43.650
when we talk about... businesses and marketing

00:20:43.650 --> 00:20:46.470
is just because you think it's a great idea,

00:20:47.130 --> 00:20:50.170
you need X amount of people at this price point

00:20:50.170 --> 00:20:53.150
to also think it's a great idea. So crunch the

00:20:53.150 --> 00:20:56.809
numbers. Yep. Yep. Learn about them. Bunch it.

00:20:57.349 --> 00:21:01.069
Bunch it. Or talk to them. Literally just talk

00:21:01.069 --> 00:21:03.410
to the people. Have conversations. There used

00:21:03.410 --> 00:21:05.789
to be old school focus groups where you'd get

00:21:05.789 --> 00:21:08.009
50 odd people in a room. And I mean, that's a

00:21:08.009 --> 00:21:10.759
bit of a shotgun approach. You don't need to

00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:13.160
do that anymore because all the demographic information

00:21:13.160 --> 00:21:16.140
is at your fingertips. Still could do it though.

00:21:16.519 --> 00:21:19.799
Definitely do it. If that's something that you,

00:21:20.140 --> 00:21:22.680
depending on your business, I mean, there are

00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:24.559
certain businesses that you might not want to

00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:27.980
be in the same room with your customers, that

00:21:27.980 --> 00:21:32.579
you want to keep an arm's length away. But yeah,

00:21:33.880 --> 00:21:37.240
it's a fun exercise as well. I mean, we talked

00:21:37.240 --> 00:21:40.589
about your spark at the start of this. these

00:21:40.589 --> 00:21:42.730
five things that we're talking about could help

00:21:42.730 --> 00:21:46.029
you lose, could be a catalyst in you losing your

00:21:46.029 --> 00:21:47.730
spark for your business and forgetting why you

00:21:47.730 --> 00:21:50.849
started your business. If you can pick your A

00:21:50.849 --> 00:21:53.009
-list customers, sit down with them in a room

00:21:53.009 --> 00:21:56.069
and just have a conversation and make sure it

00:21:56.069 --> 00:21:58.150
is a conversation, it's not you just talking

00:21:58.150 --> 00:22:03.049
and listen and you'll fall in love with your

00:22:03.049 --> 00:22:06.430
business again. Yeah. We talk a lot to people

00:22:06.430 --> 00:22:09.170
about higher purpose. There was a vision mission

00:22:09.170 --> 00:22:11.690
and all that sort of stuff. And I struggle to

00:22:11.690 --> 00:22:13.150
tell the difference between the two. So I don't

00:22:13.150 --> 00:22:15.549
know how other people do, but just call it higher

00:22:15.549 --> 00:22:18.170
mission and run with it. High purpose. It's just

00:22:18.170 --> 00:22:19.269
like, you know, what does your business do? Oh,

00:22:19.390 --> 00:22:22.390
higher purpose. Yeah. And it's, oh, we do this,

00:22:22.450 --> 00:22:25.589
we sell this widget or whatever. for us, it's

00:22:25.589 --> 00:22:28.730
we help business owners. So is that accounting?

00:22:28.910 --> 00:22:30.190
Is that marketing? Is that IT? I don't know.

00:22:30.210 --> 00:22:31.750
It could be any of those, but we're helping.

00:22:32.430 --> 00:22:34.450
So in 50 years time, there's probably still going

00:22:34.450 --> 00:22:36.250
to be businesses and we can probably still help.

00:22:36.369 --> 00:22:37.930
I don't know what that will look like, but everyone

00:22:37.930 --> 00:22:40.170
in the organization can still go, we help businesses.

00:22:40.329 --> 00:22:42.009
How do we do that? So as long as we're talking

00:22:42.009 --> 00:22:44.150
to people and we're keeping up to tabs and not

00:22:44.150 --> 00:22:46.430
being afraid to change, like that business can

00:22:46.430 --> 00:22:48.470
go on for quite a long time. Whereas when we

00:22:48.470 --> 00:22:51.390
have the vision to be the best widget supplier

00:22:51.390 --> 00:22:55.549
in Australia, that's our higher purpose or our

00:22:55.549 --> 00:22:57.769
vision. Like that's very limited to when the

00:22:57.769 --> 00:22:59.769
customer doesn't want it anymore. Yeah. Know

00:22:59.769 --> 00:23:01.750
that your business might have an expiry date

00:23:01.750 --> 00:23:03.750
in that case. Correct. You can still have that

00:23:03.750 --> 00:23:07.289
as a high purpose, but be ready to prepare yourself

00:23:07.289 --> 00:23:09.710
for your business to end. Yeah. So when we were

00:23:09.710 --> 00:23:11.750
talking about knowing our customers, it's knowing

00:23:11.750 --> 00:23:13.450
who our customer is and what we're happy to do

00:23:13.450 --> 00:23:15.970
and what we deliver, which goes into the second

00:23:15.970 --> 00:23:18.390
point. the knowing the products and services

00:23:18.390 --> 00:23:20.509
you have and how they relate back to your customers.

00:23:20.849 --> 00:23:23.670
I've been able to articulate that clearly, and

00:23:23.670 --> 00:23:25.630
everyone in your business knowing that too. But

00:23:25.630 --> 00:23:27.390
there's no point being able to, you know, selling

00:23:27.390 --> 00:23:31.009
Ferraris and then going to a whole bunch of people

00:23:31.009 --> 00:23:32.829
that should be buying a Kia saying, check out

00:23:32.829 --> 00:23:34.410
how cool our Ferraris are, you know, they're

00:23:34.410 --> 00:23:36.329
the fastest things and blah, blah, blah, like

00:23:36.329 --> 00:23:39.250
they don't care. Yeah. That's a great point actually

00:23:39.250 --> 00:23:42.329
on knowing your target market is Ferrari don't

00:23:42.329 --> 00:23:44.390
advertise on television. Yeah. People who buy

00:23:44.390 --> 00:23:46.089
Ferraris ain't wasting time watching television.

00:23:46.750 --> 00:23:50.470
Yeah. I don't watch television. So you're a perfect

00:23:50.470 --> 00:23:54.009
Ferrari customer right there. Well, Rolls Royce

00:23:54.009 --> 00:23:57.710
is a really interesting example because I don't

00:23:57.710 --> 00:23:59.569
think anyone would have seen a Rolls Royce ad

00:23:59.569 --> 00:24:02.309
listening. Probably some people may have, it

00:24:02.309 --> 00:24:03.849
wouldn't have been an ad, but they advertise

00:24:03.849 --> 00:24:06.509
by taking their cars to like bowling shows. So

00:24:06.509 --> 00:24:08.970
they're looking, they're going to a show about

00:24:08.970 --> 00:24:11.009
aircraft because people that can afford aircraft.

00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:13.880
would like a Rolls Royce. And a Rolls Royce engine

00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:17.799
was in a Spitfire. There you go. So, you know,

00:24:17.799 --> 00:24:19.680
they know what their market is and where they're

00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:21.440
going to be. And that's one of our pointers.

00:24:21.720 --> 00:24:23.099
Okay, once you know your market, once you know

00:24:23.099 --> 00:24:26.799
your product, who customers are, then where do

00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:29.559
we find them? And we put that message there.

00:24:29.559 --> 00:24:31.640
So we talk social media for that's an example,

00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:36.460
fly, etc. But it's just using some common sense,

00:24:36.579 --> 00:24:38.460
just activity for activity sake doesn't make

00:24:38.460 --> 00:24:41.779
a difference. what's going to be the best thing

00:24:41.779 --> 00:24:44.539
at an appropriate cost. That purpose conversation

00:24:44.539 --> 00:24:47.079
is one of my favourites. And if you've got a

00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:49.259
spare 20 minutes up your sleeve, go and go and

00:24:49.259 --> 00:24:51.539
look at the Simon Sinek, start with Why Ted Talk.

00:24:52.759 --> 00:24:55.700
It's such a good one. Very much just flips the

00:24:55.700 --> 00:24:57.460
script a little bit because we all know what

00:24:57.460 --> 00:24:59.900
we do. We don't know why we do it. I'm not going

00:24:59.900 --> 00:25:02.500
to paraphrase him here, but take the time. Have

00:25:02.500 --> 00:25:04.240
a look. He says it better than me. He created

00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:08.119
it. Yeah, we'll put a link in our post for the

00:25:08.119 --> 00:25:12.140
podcast. But probably my last point there is

00:25:12.140 --> 00:25:16.259
that once you've figured out all the bits and

00:25:16.259 --> 00:25:17.819
pieces, don't be afraid to get your hands dirty

00:25:17.819 --> 00:25:20.119
too. So there's a lot of people in business for

00:25:20.119 --> 00:25:21.380
a long time and then suddenly they've just got

00:25:21.380 --> 00:25:23.569
no customers. It's like, what do you do? always

00:25:23.569 --> 00:25:25.190
don't do anything we put this radio out we do

00:25:25.190 --> 00:25:26.730
this and it's all consistent but i've never taken

00:25:26.730 --> 00:25:28.369
the time to go out and door knock and oh it's

00:25:28.369 --> 00:25:29.789
this new guy getting all the work and it's like

00:25:29.789 --> 00:25:32.809
what are they doing that door knocking um activity

00:25:32.809 --> 00:25:35.369
yeah you know activity beats you know sitting

00:25:35.369 --> 00:25:39.450
there planning um so don't be afraid if it's

00:25:39.450 --> 00:25:41.089
the most simple thing you could possibly think

00:25:41.089 --> 00:25:42.789
of that's going to be effective then that's what

00:25:42.789 --> 00:25:45.349
you do and don't wait till it's perfect yeah

00:25:45.349 --> 00:25:48.329
before you put it out there like I've seen it

00:25:48.329 --> 00:25:51.170
many, many times. People plan, plan, plan, plan,

00:25:51.170 --> 00:25:52.769
plan. Oh, it's not quite right yet. We better

00:25:52.769 --> 00:25:55.529
not release it. Well, meanwhile, my old mate

00:25:55.529 --> 00:25:57.769
over there has decided to release it and he's

00:25:57.769 --> 00:25:59.650
a bit clumsy and he's not very good at it, but

00:25:59.650 --> 00:26:02.450
jeez, he's loud. He's now selling it all. Yeah,

00:26:02.470 --> 00:26:04.630
that's a good point actually, because with the

00:26:04.630 --> 00:26:08.970
whole communicating with customers, there's the

00:26:08.970 --> 00:26:10.930
building of trust. That's the whole reason you're

00:26:10.930 --> 00:26:12.390
communicating with your customers. And I think

00:26:12.390 --> 00:26:16.400
even that clumsy Communication shows that it's

00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:18.319
more personal approach like people like dealing

00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:20.920
with people. And it can be authentic. Yeah. And

00:26:20.920 --> 00:26:24.130
so it's almost more charming. if you stumble

00:26:24.130 --> 00:26:26.150
your way through it. Yep. We all know people

00:26:26.150 --> 00:26:28.089
have weaknesses and stuff, so it's like if you

00:26:28.089 --> 00:26:29.750
think your favourite cafe, sometimes they muck

00:26:29.750 --> 00:26:31.170
up your coffee, sometimes they muck up your food,

00:26:31.230 --> 00:26:33.029
you still go back. Yeah, you're still a bit fond

00:26:33.029 --> 00:26:35.809
like, oh okay, see you tomorrow. It's just been

00:26:35.809 --> 00:26:37.970
accountable and taking ownership. People still

00:26:37.970 --> 00:26:40.170
eat McDonald's and nine times out of ten that

00:26:40.170 --> 00:26:42.869
food is wrong, first and foremost, they forget

00:26:42.869 --> 00:26:46.009
something and we all know it's garbage. Unless

00:26:46.009 --> 00:26:47.190
you ask for a double cheeseburger because they're

00:26:47.190 --> 00:26:54.059
going to make it. Anyway, I think the number

00:26:54.059 --> 00:26:56.259
one source of business for every business, whether

00:26:56.259 --> 00:26:59.319
it's new or old, is word of mouth. So once you've

00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:01.000
got those sort of points that we just mentioned

00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:04.000
rolling, that trust and rapport, look after your

00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:05.500
clients, talk to your clients and do whatever

00:27:05.500 --> 00:27:08.420
it takes to encourage that word of mouth. Stay

00:27:08.420 --> 00:27:11.119
in contact. Yeah. And people are like, oh, a

00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:14.259
word of mouth is my number one source of work.

00:27:14.539 --> 00:27:16.740
Like, oh, what's your referral system? Oh, we

00:27:16.740 --> 00:27:18.039
get referrals all the time. What's your system

00:27:18.039 --> 00:27:21.299
for it? We don't have one. Yeah. Okay. So you

00:27:21.299 --> 00:27:22.900
think if you have one, do you get more referrals?

00:27:23.900 --> 00:27:27.819
And it's cheaper. Yeah. So don't be afraid. Hey,

00:27:27.859 --> 00:27:28.880
do you know someone else could be a different

00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:32.779
from that as a, as a minimum? Um, because you're

00:27:32.779 --> 00:27:35.059
helping these people. So it's not even a salesy

00:27:35.059 --> 00:27:37.200
thing. It's a good way to get feedback as well,

00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:39.990
because if, if. they're not willing to refer

00:27:39.990 --> 00:27:41.950
you, you might be missing something, you might

00:27:41.950 --> 00:27:45.410
have stuffed up the process somewhere. If they're

00:27:45.410 --> 00:27:48.450
not raving fans, big advocates for your business,

00:27:49.170 --> 00:27:51.670
what do you need to improve? Why aren't people

00:27:51.670 --> 00:27:55.130
referring you? So that's probably the biggest

00:27:55.130 --> 00:27:57.309
things about getting over -complicating, but

00:27:57.309 --> 00:27:59.029
I think there are things that anyone can do.

00:27:59.250 --> 00:28:00.529
Regardless of whether you're new in business

00:28:00.529 --> 00:28:02.049
or you've been there for 30 years and you've

00:28:02.049 --> 00:28:05.420
got 50 employees or none. You don't need to be

00:28:05.420 --> 00:28:08.140
fancy or highly trained in sales. You've just

00:28:08.140 --> 00:28:11.019
got to talk to who you want to sell to. Stop

00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:14.900
making excuses. Yep. At the end of the day, in

00:28:14.900 --> 00:28:16.700
today's day and age, if you have an internet

00:28:16.700 --> 00:28:20.599
connection, you can find where your clients are.

00:28:21.500 --> 00:28:24.220
There's not too many unique products out there.

00:28:24.759 --> 00:28:28.519
Like there's no groundbreaking innovations every

00:28:28.519 --> 00:28:31.500
single day. But yeah, but they're coming. But

00:28:31.500 --> 00:28:33.539
yeah, it's a once businesses is an industry.

00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:35.640
Yeah, it's a once in a generation thing where

00:28:35.640 --> 00:28:38.140
you have a paradigm shifting product that will

00:28:38.140 --> 00:28:40.859
come out into a marketplace. So be aware that

00:28:40.859 --> 00:28:42.579
there's probably someone out there who is doing

00:28:42.579 --> 00:28:45.339
exactly what you're doing. Even tap into that

00:28:45.339 --> 00:28:48.880
and reverse engineer what they've done. If it's

00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:51.099
a foreign market that's released a product that's

00:28:51.099 --> 00:28:53.140
very similar to yours, have a look at what they've

00:28:53.140 --> 00:28:54.880
done and how they've done it. There's a fair

00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:56.700
chance if they're 10 years into their journey,

00:28:57.579 --> 00:29:00.059
they've made enough money to spend a lot of money

00:29:00.059 --> 00:29:03.049
on their marketing and advertising. stand on

00:29:03.049 --> 00:29:05.490
the shoulders of greatness and learn what they

00:29:05.490 --> 00:29:09.190
did and then adapt that to your market. That

00:29:09.190 --> 00:29:11.170
part with just excuses, I think is important.

00:29:11.609 --> 00:29:13.230
Just, oh, we tried that 10 years ago, it didn't

00:29:13.230 --> 00:29:14.990
work. We tried that a year ago, it didn't work.

00:29:15.150 --> 00:29:17.200
Just be... be honest with yourself. Like, yeah,

00:29:17.259 --> 00:29:18.660
it didn't work, but it still makes sense. So

00:29:18.660 --> 00:29:21.660
let's adapt it. Did you try it? Or did you try

00:29:21.660 --> 00:29:25.299
it? Yeah. And I think anyone that's done any

00:29:25.299 --> 00:29:27.440
marketing stuff with me before, like the first

00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:29.279
one of the first questions I asked is like, Oh,

00:29:29.359 --> 00:29:31.720
what have you done before that worked? And it's

00:29:31.720 --> 00:29:34.680
usually like, still on the list of what we do

00:29:34.680 --> 00:29:36.059
for them, because they just stopped doing it

00:29:36.059 --> 00:29:38.880
when they got clients. So don't be afraid to

00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:40.299
say, oh, when we were getting clients, what did

00:29:40.299 --> 00:29:42.859
we do well? It's probably the same stuff. So

00:29:42.859 --> 00:29:44.700
yeah, don't make excuses like it didn't work.

00:29:44.740 --> 00:29:48.660
Just adapt and think and be honest. Oh, there'd

00:29:48.660 --> 00:29:50.660
be a link to a change podcast there, I reckon.

00:29:51.619 --> 00:29:54.000
There sure is. We can chuck that in there. Shameless.

00:29:55.539 --> 00:29:58.079
Speaking of being honest, the third one being

00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:00.779
time management. So being honest about yourself,

00:30:00.859 --> 00:30:03.099
about your priorities. That's a great segue.

00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:05.779
Isn't it? Sound effect for that. Everyone listening

00:30:05.779 --> 00:30:07.940
is like, yeah, I need better time management.

00:30:09.019 --> 00:30:13.019
Oh dang. Don't we all? Was there a priorities

00:30:13.019 --> 00:30:16.960
word you use there? Yeah, prioritise and set

00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:21.119
boundaries. So there's 24 hours in the day and

00:30:21.119 --> 00:30:24.819
you can use those 24 hours for work or you could

00:30:25.259 --> 00:30:27.359
set it up so that you've got time for family,

00:30:27.500 --> 00:30:30.220
it really depends on what you prioritize. Gym,

00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:33.279
exercise, health, fitness, whatever it is. There's

00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:35.339
one that used to drive me nuts when I was younger

00:30:35.339 --> 00:30:38.259
and now I've found myself using it, is you've

00:30:38.259 --> 00:30:41.720
got 168 hours in your week. I think that's right.

00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:45.700
And Bill Gates also has 168 hours in his week.

00:30:46.599 --> 00:30:49.299
He's a multi -billionaire and he's only got the

00:30:49.299 --> 00:30:51.829
same amount of time as you, so... Why don't you

00:30:51.829 --> 00:30:56.309
get out there and grasp it? That's contentious.

00:30:56.630 --> 00:31:00.549
Absolutely. But it's also true. It's a case of

00:31:00.549 --> 00:31:03.089
what are you doing to help your business succeed?

00:31:04.490 --> 00:31:07.549
Are you answering the phone 20 times a day to

00:31:07.549 --> 00:31:09.730
sales reps because they have your personal number?

00:31:11.170 --> 00:31:15.569
That's not helping you. And are you managing

00:31:15.569 --> 00:31:18.200
stuff that you don't need to be managing? in

00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:20.359
your business, is that sucking a whole heap of

00:31:20.359 --> 00:31:22.500
time out of you when you have a general manager

00:31:22.500 --> 00:31:24.640
in place or you have a sales manager or you have

00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:26.420
a marketing manager. But they're not doing their

00:31:26.420 --> 00:31:31.839
job. Let them. Yeah, they're not doing their

00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:33.660
job because you took half their job from them.

00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:37.720
Yeah. Let them do it. I mean, I'm sure we're

00:31:37.720 --> 00:31:40.220
talking about staffing after, but if you're not

00:31:40.220 --> 00:31:41.440
going to let them do your job, why have you got

00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:46.440
them? Yeah. I guess it comes, we'll start with

00:31:46.440 --> 00:31:49.059
the business manager first, so the person owning

00:31:49.059 --> 00:31:54.720
the business. When it comes to looking at your

00:31:54.720 --> 00:31:57.819
prioritization, are you doing the things that

00:31:57.819 --> 00:31:59.519
are going to grow the business? Are you doing

00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:01.880
things that someone else, you've employed someone

00:32:01.880 --> 00:32:05.380
else to do that? Are you doing things that don't

00:32:05.380 --> 00:32:08.390
actually matter? You've just got to set yourself

00:32:08.390 --> 00:32:12.430
your priorities and we've got the fill the jar

00:32:12.430 --> 00:32:17.130
imagery. Oh yeah, we love this one. You have

00:32:17.130 --> 00:32:20.269
a jar and you fill it with these... Is it apricot

00:32:20.269 --> 00:32:23.950
jam? Apricot, apricot jam. Apricot jam in ages.

00:32:24.269 --> 00:32:26.849
Okay, well you fill it with... Not jam. Can we

00:32:26.849 --> 00:32:28.309
have a competition on who considers the best

00:32:28.309 --> 00:32:35.069
apricot? No. You've got... three big apricots

00:32:35.069 --> 00:32:37.029
that you can fit into this jar and those are

00:32:37.029 --> 00:32:39.609
the three most important tasks. So that might

00:32:39.609 --> 00:32:43.170
be family, that might be... I feel like you're

00:32:43.170 --> 00:32:45.390
going to say something. He's got that look in

00:32:45.390 --> 00:32:46.970
his eyes, doesn't he? He's like, I've got to

00:32:46.970 --> 00:32:49.130
derail this. No, no, no. I'm just like, I've

00:32:49.130 --> 00:32:50.670
never heard this with apricots in the jar before,

00:32:50.670 --> 00:32:52.829
but I like it. You started the apricots. Yeah,

00:32:53.089 --> 00:32:54.809
so you've squished three apricots in there and

00:32:54.809 --> 00:32:59.150
that's family. That's the systems and processes

00:32:59.150 --> 00:33:00.769
that you're going to complete for your business.

00:33:00.809 --> 00:33:03.190
And it's also your health and fitness. For example,

00:33:03.289 --> 00:33:05.069
those are the three priorities of your life.

00:33:05.769 --> 00:33:09.549
You fit them in there. Then you can fit the small

00:33:09.549 --> 00:33:13.490
little rocks around that to fill in the gaps

00:33:13.490 --> 00:33:15.710
but also not a priority. So you don't do them

00:33:15.710 --> 00:33:18.170
first, you do them second, third, whenever you've

00:33:18.170 --> 00:33:21.009
completed the first three apricots are in there

00:33:21.009 --> 00:33:23.789
and then around it is the less important things

00:33:23.789 --> 00:33:25.910
and that's the sand that goes in through the

00:33:25.910 --> 00:33:28.730
rocks. So there's time for everything but it

00:33:28.730 --> 00:33:31.789
just depends on what you do first and how you

00:33:31.789 --> 00:33:34.009
set your priorities. So if you poured the sand

00:33:34.009 --> 00:33:35.490
in first you probably wouldn't have room for

00:33:35.490 --> 00:33:38.220
the apricots. You wouldn't. That's correct. This

00:33:38.220 --> 00:33:41.880
analogy just keeps getting better. So wise. Wise

00:33:41.880 --> 00:33:44.099
beyond your years. I think a key point in there

00:33:44.099 --> 00:33:46.059
as well is to like at all stages that jar is

00:33:46.059 --> 00:33:47.920
full. Like now you know we can jam all stuff

00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:49.539
in there, but so you say we put three avocados

00:33:49.539 --> 00:33:51.980
in there, no room for more and everyone's like,

00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:55.339
oh, it's full. Yeah. Yeah. So spot on what Ian

00:33:55.339 --> 00:33:57.279
said. Put sand in first. Don't even remember

00:33:57.279 --> 00:33:59.480
anything else. That wasn't important either.

00:34:00.200 --> 00:34:06.079
Yeah. Where's the coffee go though? Anyway, so

00:34:06.079 --> 00:34:08.659
just set yourself your priorities. You've got

00:34:08.659 --> 00:34:13.010
to do a bit of self -reflection in that. No one

00:34:13.010 --> 00:34:15.530
can tell you what your priorities are. That's

00:34:15.530 --> 00:34:17.710
the hardest sort of reflection though. It is

00:34:17.710 --> 00:34:19.909
humbling. Critically thinking about your own

00:34:19.909 --> 00:34:22.010
processes and the way that you do things. We

00:34:22.010 --> 00:34:24.269
all know what we need to be doing. Yeah. And

00:34:24.269 --> 00:34:26.449
I think it's a main role of consulting is just

00:34:26.449 --> 00:34:27.929
asking people and say, what do you actually need

00:34:27.929 --> 00:34:29.429
to be doing? And most people know it's just they're

00:34:29.429 --> 00:34:31.230
not doing it for whatever reason. Yeah, they

00:34:31.230 --> 00:34:33.789
feel that grind that they're like, oh, something's

00:34:33.789 --> 00:34:35.849
not right. And it's like, well, you know why.

00:34:36.110 --> 00:34:39.210
Yeah. So we talked about getting out of the way.

00:34:39.519 --> 00:34:41.139
the managers and things or letting employees

00:34:41.139 --> 00:34:44.800
do what they do. So we choose what's going to

00:34:44.800 --> 00:34:46.699
make our life better in the future and we do

00:34:46.699 --> 00:34:48.900
those first each day or we schedule time to do

00:34:48.900 --> 00:34:51.000
that and then we do bits and pieces around it.

00:34:51.420 --> 00:34:53.900
So just being intentional with our day. But then

00:34:53.900 --> 00:34:55.539
I guess when you've got more resources, you've

00:34:55.539 --> 00:34:58.320
got more people working for you, then often we

00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:00.599
end up or people end up doing jobs for other

00:35:00.599 --> 00:35:03.000
people or they can't do it, they keep mucking

00:35:03.000 --> 00:35:06.059
it up. The role is how can we fix that? So systems

00:35:06.059 --> 00:35:08.119
and procedures, how can we make that better?

00:35:08.849 --> 00:35:12.610
I'm a big fan of policies. Policies, yeah. Because

00:35:12.610 --> 00:35:14.510
I've worked in a lot of big businesses over the

00:35:14.510 --> 00:35:19.949
past where the managers get asked dumb questions

00:35:19.949 --> 00:35:23.329
by employees that are in the policy. And instead

00:35:23.329 --> 00:35:25.170
of just going, it's in the policy, the manager

00:35:25.170 --> 00:35:28.250
then goes, okay, let me show you. Well, there's

00:35:28.250 --> 00:35:30.510
five minutes of the manager's day at X amount

00:35:30.510 --> 00:35:33.670
of dollars per hour. How many times a week are

00:35:33.670 --> 00:35:35.690
they doing that before that's now a thousand

00:35:35.690 --> 00:35:38.880
dollars a day? Yeah. Whereas the policy is right

00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:43.099
there, revert back to the policy. Yeah, yeah,

00:35:43.099 --> 00:35:46.960
I think I'm just kind of reflecting on why people

00:35:46.960 --> 00:35:49.619
take over their employees roles like a business

00:35:49.619 --> 00:35:51.400
owner, why would they take over the role and

00:35:51.400 --> 00:35:53.880
whether that be a lack of trust in, you know,

00:35:53.940 --> 00:35:56.179
they've screwed up this many times, so I'm going

00:35:56.179 --> 00:35:58.199
to do it for them. Well, I think that's still

00:35:58.199 --> 00:36:00.590
on you. It could be lack of trust, it could be

00:36:00.590 --> 00:36:02.309
lack of money, it could be poor things. Poor

00:36:02.309 --> 00:36:04.230
managers create poor employees is the bottom

00:36:04.230 --> 00:36:06.429
line. It reflects back on the person running

00:36:06.429 --> 00:36:09.230
the show. And so you've got, in order to be able

00:36:09.230 --> 00:36:11.889
to trust those employees or let the employees

00:36:11.889 --> 00:36:14.070
do the job, you've got to set up the systems

00:36:14.070 --> 00:36:17.030
and processes. You can set it how you want it

00:36:17.030 --> 00:36:18.809
to run. And the training. Yeah, and the training.

00:36:18.949 --> 00:36:21.769
And then get them to follow that. And then that

00:36:21.769 --> 00:36:23.730
should run how you want it to run. Part of that

00:36:23.730 --> 00:36:25.909
self -reflection as well is like, you might be

00:36:25.909 --> 00:36:28.820
great at building a fuzzy widget. A fuzzy widget

00:36:28.820 --> 00:36:30.659
that's going to revolutionise the world and you

00:36:30.659 --> 00:36:32.559
love your product and you've created this business

00:36:32.559 --> 00:36:34.340
around this incredible product and you've found

00:36:34.340 --> 00:36:36.559
a market for it and now the business has grown

00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:38.480
and now you've got more people in your business

00:36:38.480 --> 00:36:39.960
building fuzzy widgets. You've taught them how

00:36:39.960 --> 00:36:42.659
to do it perfectly, excellent, great, fantastic.

00:36:43.440 --> 00:36:46.019
Now you're a manager of a business. You're really

00:36:46.019 --> 00:36:48.440
good at building fuzzy widgets. You have no idea

00:36:48.440 --> 00:36:52.099
about management. Skill up. Because if you're

00:36:52.099 --> 00:36:54.659
having problems in your workforce, at the end

00:36:54.659 --> 00:36:58.659
of the day, that's a management issue. Uh, you

00:36:58.659 --> 00:37:01.340
haven't trained them correctly. You haven't given

00:37:01.340 --> 00:37:03.760
them enough guidance over the, over the journey.

00:37:04.639 --> 00:37:06.400
So could have also employed the wrong person.

00:37:06.440 --> 00:37:08.280
You can, and that's a management thing as well.

00:37:08.300 --> 00:37:10.079
You have to understand how to employ the right

00:37:10.079 --> 00:37:13.280
people for the right positions. Uh, and yeah,

00:37:13.340 --> 00:37:15.519
I've had conversations with very successful people

00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:20.000
who have. admitted that the catalyst for them

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:22.280
succeeding beyond their wildest dreams was looking

00:37:22.280 --> 00:37:25.039
in the mirror and going, oh, actually, I'm not

00:37:25.039 --> 00:37:27.460
very good at this. How do I get better? Or how

00:37:27.460 --> 00:37:29.659
do I employ someone who is really good at that?

00:37:29.739 --> 00:37:31.480
Who can help me? And then get out of the way.

00:37:31.619 --> 00:37:33.940
Yep. And that's it. Spot on, get out of the way.

00:37:34.179 --> 00:37:36.119
That's probably number one issue you get snowed

00:37:36.119 --> 00:37:38.059
under is you keep getting in everyone's way so

00:37:38.059 --> 00:37:39.579
they can never do their job or they get sick

00:37:39.579 --> 00:37:40.659
of you getting in the way so they just let you

00:37:40.659 --> 00:37:42.960
do it. And employ someone who's good at their

00:37:42.960 --> 00:37:46.789
job and yeah. We'll let them do it. Yeah. Talked

00:37:46.789 --> 00:37:49.329
about policies before, but systems and processes.

00:37:50.630 --> 00:37:54.329
I think everyone goes, I've had systems and processes

00:37:54.329 --> 00:37:56.929
before, but people don't follow them. And that's

00:37:56.929 --> 00:38:00.409
true. But there's, for every example of when

00:38:00.409 --> 00:38:01.969
someone hasn't followed a system and procedure,

00:38:02.110 --> 00:38:03.530
and that's why you can't do it in your business,

00:38:03.590 --> 00:38:07.570
whether it's two people or 50, there's 10 examples

00:38:07.570 --> 00:38:11.409
of companies with a thousand people that have

00:38:11.409 --> 00:38:13.429
really basic systems and processes, like a little

00:38:13.500 --> 00:38:17.139
a little binder with pages printed out, spelling

00:38:17.139 --> 00:38:19.599
mistakes, a few screenshots that people follow,

00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:22.719
charge hundreds of dollars for a 30 -minute session,

00:38:23.519 --> 00:38:26.980
and they've been there a week. And that business

00:38:26.980 --> 00:38:30.119
has clients, succeeds, grows, can operate. It's

00:38:30.119 --> 00:38:31.639
profitable. We don't even know who the business

00:38:31.639 --> 00:38:34.039
is, but it's got an office down now. town and

00:38:34.039 --> 00:38:35.920
is it an office in another town and all that

00:38:35.920 --> 00:38:38.980
sort of stuff. So it's just making sure that,

00:38:39.039 --> 00:38:41.559
okay, we've got them in place. We're letting

00:38:41.559 --> 00:38:43.280
people do their job. We're getting out of their

00:38:43.280 --> 00:38:47.599
way and your job as the manager is to make sure

00:38:47.599 --> 00:38:51.440
that they are correct. And when there are problems,

00:38:51.619 --> 00:38:54.539
how can we fix that? And if you can't get by

00:38:54.539 --> 00:38:56.760
with systems and procedures, you've got to say

00:38:56.760 --> 00:39:00.059
small and you've got a job and just call it that,

00:39:00.159 --> 00:39:03.320
not a business. There's an old cliche that is

00:39:03.320 --> 00:39:07.380
success leaves clues and systematization of a

00:39:07.380 --> 00:39:12.139
business. You look at McDonald's again, all those

00:39:12.139 --> 00:39:15.420
great big franchises, those multinational franchises

00:39:15.420 --> 00:39:19.300
can train a chimpanzee to be an entry level employee

00:39:19.300 --> 00:39:24.000
of their workforce because they have 50 years

00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:29.329
of systemizing it. Again, there's a great clip,

00:39:30.170 --> 00:39:34.769
a movie with Michael Keaton, the founder of Ray

00:39:34.769 --> 00:39:37.210
Kroc, who kind of stole the idea of McDonald's

00:39:37.210 --> 00:39:39.309
from the Kroc brothers, the McDonald's brothers.

00:39:39.989 --> 00:39:43.269
And it's them going through the workflow of their

00:39:43.269 --> 00:39:46.829
kitchen and just drawing it out in a parking

00:39:46.829 --> 00:39:49.909
lot with chalk on the ground. Brilliant clip

00:39:49.909 --> 00:39:54.530
if you can find the link. And it just shows you

00:39:54.530 --> 00:39:58.539
the birthplace of McDonald's. uh, of fast food,

00:39:58.539 --> 00:40:04.260
uh, that is now a trillion dollar business. It's

00:40:04.260 --> 00:40:07.260
interesting. Yeah. It just blows your mind and

00:40:07.260 --> 00:40:10.059
that's success. And I'm not saying you have to

00:40:10.059 --> 00:40:11.820
be McDonald's. I mean, your, your definition

00:40:11.820 --> 00:40:14.099
of success could be entirely different to Ray

00:40:14.099 --> 00:40:17.739
Croc's definition of success. But if you're in

00:40:17.739 --> 00:40:19.420
a business, you had a purpose, which we talked

00:40:19.420 --> 00:40:23.199
about previously, uh, I'm sure your purpose was

00:40:23.199 --> 00:40:26.300
to help. people find your product or service

00:40:26.300 --> 00:40:28.659
and the reason you pick that product and service

00:40:28.659 --> 00:40:30.199
is because you thought it was going to be valuable

00:40:30.199 --> 00:40:34.420
to them. So find, again, I'm repeating myself,

00:40:34.619 --> 00:40:37.079
but find the successful people that have done

00:40:37.079 --> 00:40:39.860
what you want to do and emulate what they've

00:40:39.860 --> 00:40:42.480
done. Yeah, or get an expert either or. Yeah.

00:40:43.619 --> 00:40:45.320
A couple of ones to top it all off, the time

00:40:45.320 --> 00:40:47.099
management, because there's heaps of things.

00:40:47.219 --> 00:40:49.300
We're just trying to give you big stuff that's

00:40:49.300 --> 00:40:52.019
easy to do that makes sense. Not to -do lists.

00:40:52.679 --> 00:40:54.320
There's heaps of stuff everyone does day to day,

00:40:54.420 --> 00:40:55.880
but at the end of the day, it just doesn't matter

00:40:55.880 --> 00:40:58.099
if you do it or not. Yeah. Do you need to respond

00:40:58.099 --> 00:41:00.860
to those sales inquiries? Not from customers,

00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:04.000
but from dealers. Yeah, right. Or can you just

00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:05.960
say, book in or send me your stuff? Or I'm fine.

00:41:06.119 --> 00:41:08.739
Thank you. See you later. Have a triage. Yeah.

00:41:08.880 --> 00:41:10.539
Do I need to be doing this job or can my employee

00:41:10.539 --> 00:41:13.239
do it? Yeah. Do we even need to do the service

00:41:13.239 --> 00:41:17.010
for customers? Like. There's tons of things if

00:41:17.010 --> 00:41:18.730
you just go down, do we even need to do it? If

00:41:18.730 --> 00:41:20.050
you were just starting fresh, what would you

00:41:20.050 --> 00:41:22.010
do and what wouldn't you do? If you just look

00:41:22.010 --> 00:41:23.710
at it like that, there's probably half your day

00:41:23.710 --> 00:41:25.670
at least of things that you just don't need to

00:41:25.670 --> 00:41:29.429
do. And when you think about it, oh, I need to

00:41:29.429 --> 00:41:31.590
do it because of this or because of this, just

00:41:31.590 --> 00:41:32.989
ask yourself, what's the worst thing that can

00:41:32.989 --> 00:41:35.269
happen? It's not catastrophic, it's just something

00:41:35.269 --> 00:41:36.710
small, don't worry about it, just stop doing

00:41:36.710 --> 00:41:39.670
it. That's one of the things when I first started

00:41:39.670 --> 00:41:42.590
doing websites and... graphic design actually

00:41:42.590 --> 00:41:45.489
you look at business owners and why would I pay

00:41:45.489 --> 00:41:47.650
you this amount of money to do this this service

00:41:47.650 --> 00:41:49.909
and this is any service but how long is it going

00:41:49.909 --> 00:41:53.190
to take you to learn how to do a website make

00:41:53.190 --> 00:41:55.869
it look pretty do all the background search engine

00:41:55.869 --> 00:41:58.250
optimization make it so that your customer now

00:41:58.250 --> 00:42:00.550
finds it appealing how long is it going to take

00:42:00.550 --> 00:42:03.210
you to do that oh geez I wouldn't know where

00:42:03.210 --> 00:42:06.090
to start exactly so it's worth you paying me

00:42:06.090 --> 00:42:08.469
X amount of dollars to do that as opposed to

00:42:08.469 --> 00:42:11.130
you spending the next 40 hours of your lifetime.

00:42:11.130 --> 00:42:12.809
It's an investment. Simple. What do I get? What

00:42:12.809 --> 00:42:15.130
do I pay? There's heaps of stuff in business

00:42:15.130 --> 00:42:16.869
we do. We're like, oh, so -and -so can do it.

00:42:16.929 --> 00:42:18.210
So -and -so can do it. I don't need to do that.

00:42:18.269 --> 00:42:20.110
It's a bit much. If you pay that, what do you

00:42:20.110 --> 00:42:22.489
get? Is it worth it? Is it not? Absolutely. Pretty

00:42:22.489 --> 00:42:24.750
simple. And your time is your most valuable resource.

00:42:25.869 --> 00:42:31.130
Yeah. Rolls into the 80 -20 rule. So just applies

00:42:31.130 --> 00:42:33.070
for a lot of things. But generally, 20 % of the

00:42:33.070 --> 00:42:35.900
things you do make 80 % of the results. And it

00:42:35.900 --> 00:42:37.719
doesn't matter whether it's a life or a time

00:42:37.719 --> 00:42:40.780
management or a resource thing. Every hierarchy

00:42:40.780 --> 00:42:44.019
follows that rule pretty closely. It's spooky.

00:42:44.340 --> 00:42:47.119
Yep. So just look at what you're doing today.

00:42:47.239 --> 00:42:48.780
What are the big things that have the big impact?

00:42:48.900 --> 00:42:51.340
Keep doing those. What are those 80 % of things

00:42:51.340 --> 00:42:52.940
that you're doing every day that make 20 % of

00:42:52.940 --> 00:42:54.739
the impact? You probably don't need that 20%.

00:42:54.739 --> 00:42:56.960
Just look for some more 20 % things that give

00:42:56.960 --> 00:42:59.199
you 80 % of the results and you can do half the

00:42:59.199 --> 00:43:03.500
work. You get double the results. Pretty straightforward

00:43:03.500 --> 00:43:06.960
concept. Look it up, A20 rule. Parado principle.

00:43:07.380 --> 00:43:13.039
Yep, have fun. Super easy. Moving on to another

00:43:13.039 --> 00:43:16.360
one that people often struggle with is staffing.

00:43:17.139 --> 00:43:19.659
And it's the same concepts as what we talked

00:43:19.659 --> 00:43:23.480
about with finding and retaining customers. So

00:43:23.480 --> 00:43:26.699
you can jump back, skip back to that bit and

00:43:26.699 --> 00:43:31.179
go through, but you're knowing who you're. who

00:43:31.179 --> 00:43:33.559
your target market is in the sense of you're,

00:43:33.559 --> 00:43:36.360
you're knowing who your employees are. Who's

00:43:36.360 --> 00:43:38.239
going to like working for you. Yeah. And then

00:43:38.239 --> 00:43:40.500
making it a desirable place for them to work.

00:43:40.539 --> 00:43:43.219
It's as simple as that. So if your employees

00:43:43.219 --> 00:43:46.059
you're finding that your employees aren't enjoying

00:43:46.059 --> 00:43:49.239
the office space, then maybe you need to consider

00:43:49.239 --> 00:43:51.900
working from home if that works for your business.

00:43:52.219 --> 00:43:55.739
But you've got to adapt your business in order

00:43:55.739 --> 00:43:59.000
to attract the people that you want. If you're

00:43:59.799 --> 00:44:02.679
Employees want more autonomy, then give them

00:44:02.679 --> 00:44:04.480
that like you otherwise you're just going to

00:44:04.480 --> 00:44:07.260
be stuck finding. Within reason. Yeah. Yeah.

00:44:07.280 --> 00:44:08.960
But you're going to be stuck finding the employees

00:44:08.960 --> 00:44:11.119
that you don't want. And then you're going to

00:44:11.119 --> 00:44:13.659
turn around and be like, Oh, I don't, it's hard

00:44:13.659 --> 00:44:15.059
to find good people these days. Let's say you

00:44:15.059 --> 00:44:17.420
look for an admin person, right? So who do you

00:44:17.420 --> 00:44:19.940
want for an admin role? What are their core skills?

00:44:20.139 --> 00:44:23.900
Probably like detail. Can use word. Yep. It's

00:44:23.900 --> 00:44:27.639
good IT skills. So type fast. Yep. Reliable.

00:44:28.840 --> 00:44:31.539
You know, discipline. Smile on the phone. Trustworthy.

00:44:32.440 --> 00:44:35.059
So there's some things here, right? Happy to

00:44:35.059 --> 00:44:37.099
do repetitive tasks. Yeah. It's going to be high

00:44:37.099 --> 00:44:41.079
up there. So when you're recruiting, you're probably

00:44:41.079 --> 00:44:43.119
going to be mentioning some of these things because

00:44:43.119 --> 00:44:45.039
then if you're getting a Rowan looking at that

00:44:45.039 --> 00:44:46.539
job going, oh gee, I'd love to work for them.

00:44:46.539 --> 00:44:48.500
That's a great company. I could do admin. That

00:44:48.500 --> 00:44:51.099
would be easy. I'll be going, repetitive tasks.

00:44:53.400 --> 00:44:55.820
Repetitive tasks. Yeah. I can't do that. Like

00:44:55.820 --> 00:44:57.480
I'm filtering myself out. And then you're going

00:44:57.480 --> 00:44:59.300
to get people that are like, someone said this

00:44:59.300 --> 00:45:01.679
word the other day and I really like it. It's

00:45:01.679 --> 00:45:06.780
old, but they just froth over it. And, um, you

00:45:06.780 --> 00:45:08.179
don't really like, Oh, I just love doing the

00:45:08.179 --> 00:45:09.840
same thing again and again and again. I haven't

00:45:09.840 --> 00:45:13.320
heard in a little while. It's frothing. I was

00:45:13.320 --> 00:45:14.960
so stoked when I heard it. I was like, wow, blast

00:45:14.960 --> 00:45:20.579
from the past. Stoked as well. Yeah. Um, so yeah,

00:45:20.579 --> 00:45:22.440
it's like the same thing as finding that customer

00:45:22.440 --> 00:45:24.920
is going, okay, well, for this role, this is

00:45:24.920 --> 00:45:27.489
the person that's going to suit it. And then

00:45:27.489 --> 00:45:29.469
how do you judge when that person comes in? Can

00:45:29.469 --> 00:45:31.530
you do a little personality test? Can you give

00:45:31.530 --> 00:45:34.289
them a little quiz on those sort of things? And

00:45:34.289 --> 00:45:36.190
just make sure that they actually have that personality

00:45:36.190 --> 00:45:39.730
for the job. And then if it needs to be a creative

00:45:39.730 --> 00:45:42.090
role or a sales role, hey, we need someone that

00:45:42.090 --> 00:45:45.269
loves talking to people that wants to get out

00:45:45.269 --> 00:45:47.829
and about like self -driven, blah, blah, blah,

00:45:47.909 --> 00:45:50.730
blah. When you apply, give us examples of how

00:45:50.730 --> 00:45:55.960
you are. for you. If you're a person like that,

00:45:56.019 --> 00:45:57.539
who loves getting out and about and just getting

00:45:57.539 --> 00:46:00.539
paid for your results and just going nuts, then

00:46:00.539 --> 00:46:03.099
we're a great place to work because we do boom,

00:46:03.099 --> 00:46:05.280
boom, boom, boom, boom. Sell your business to

00:46:05.280 --> 00:46:08.059
them. Yeah. I think, Zee, you mentioned it before,

00:46:08.420 --> 00:46:10.760
Joe, it's hard to find good people. I mean, you

00:46:10.760 --> 00:46:13.840
as a business owner, probably have said it, but

00:46:13.840 --> 00:46:16.920
you definitely know someone who has said it.

00:46:17.280 --> 00:46:20.769
And if you expect that, there's a... There's

00:46:20.769 --> 00:46:23.610
a Pygmalion effect. It comes from ancient Greece.

00:46:24.070 --> 00:46:26.769
But if you expect great things, great things

00:46:26.769 --> 00:46:29.389
will happen. This is a dumbing down of the whole

00:46:29.389 --> 00:46:31.650
thing. But if you expect failure, you're probably

00:46:31.650 --> 00:46:34.969
going to find failure. So if you're in a marketplace

00:46:34.969 --> 00:46:39.389
looking for employees and you have that mindset

00:46:39.389 --> 00:46:43.130
of, yeah, you're not going to find anyone good.

00:46:43.489 --> 00:46:45.369
You're definitely not going to find anyone good.

00:46:46.119 --> 00:46:49.079
a healthy dose of optimism sprinkled into that

00:46:49.079 --> 00:46:52.500
conversation. It's amazing what will manifest

00:46:52.500 --> 00:46:56.840
in your life. Your mindset will attract, your

00:46:56.840 --> 00:46:58.719
vibe will attract your tribe kind of deal. It

00:46:58.719 --> 00:47:00.300
goes across your culture for your whole business.

00:47:00.420 --> 00:47:02.840
Yeah, 100%. Check out a different podcast about

00:47:02.840 --> 00:47:05.579
that one. But yeah, further from what you just

00:47:05.579 --> 00:47:07.679
said there, like everyone said, oh, I can't find

00:47:07.679 --> 00:47:09.000
good people. I've tried before. There's no one

00:47:09.000 --> 00:47:11.199
out there. No one applied. Like just don't make

00:47:11.199 --> 00:47:13.000
excuses. Just keep trying or try on a different

00:47:13.000 --> 00:47:17.719
way. Yep. Change it. Yeah. Um, so like be serious

00:47:17.719 --> 00:47:20.480
with yourself. Have I had people leave because

00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:23.059
of reasons and whether it's right or wrong that

00:47:23.059 --> 00:47:24.739
people don't want to work here anymore. What

00:47:24.739 --> 00:47:27.460
can I do to fix that? Um, it could be there is

00:47:27.460 --> 00:47:29.739
no one out there for you and probably you don't

00:47:29.739 --> 00:47:32.739
have a strong business model. So maybe pivot

00:47:32.739 --> 00:47:34.559
and how can you adapt your business to not need

00:47:34.559 --> 00:47:37.360
these people or, you know, peel to a wider range.

00:47:37.440 --> 00:47:39.559
You may find your location's not ideal for starting

00:47:39.559 --> 00:47:42.860
a business. So you might have to. uproot and

00:47:42.860 --> 00:47:45.320
go where the people are. Change your business

00:47:45.320 --> 00:47:48.460
type. It's a bit of planning. So I think this

00:47:48.460 --> 00:47:50.119
is important to be serious. And like no one applied

00:47:50.119 --> 00:47:51.739
last week doesn't mean no one's going to apply

00:47:51.739 --> 00:47:53.880
this week. So I'll look three months ago and

00:47:53.880 --> 00:47:55.079
I'll look three months before there was no one

00:47:55.079 --> 00:47:56.659
there. We'll keep trying because someone might

00:47:56.659 --> 00:47:58.280
come. If you need someone, you need someone.

00:47:58.659 --> 00:48:00.860
So how do we find someone? Also leads into some

00:48:00.860 --> 00:48:02.719
scary conversations on that self -reflection

00:48:02.719 --> 00:48:06.820
thing again is if I can't find good people. Is

00:48:06.820 --> 00:48:10.320
it me? Yeah, is it me as an owner of a business?

00:48:10.579 --> 00:48:14.099
Am I a complete jerk? Yeah. Don't roll it out.

00:48:14.300 --> 00:48:17.780
Yeah, so it's the adapting, so that's good. And

00:48:17.780 --> 00:48:19.360
probably the only other point I'd like to make

00:48:19.360 --> 00:48:21.900
would be the best people are a lot better than

00:48:21.900 --> 00:48:26.059
the next best. So some people, when they're looking,

00:48:26.860 --> 00:48:28.880
it's probably, I guess, it's that self -fulfilling

00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:30.539
prophecy. You don't want an admin person, you

00:48:30.539 --> 00:48:32.159
don't want to pay $40 ,000 for it, so they roll

00:48:32.159 --> 00:48:34.360
$40 ,000. So yeah, you're cutting out a lot of

00:48:34.360 --> 00:48:38.280
good people. um and you can put a range you can

00:48:38.280 --> 00:48:41.239
say hey it depends what what are you after um

00:48:41.239 --> 00:48:44.500
because a lot of the time if you're great at

00:48:44.500 --> 00:48:46.380
what you do and you love it you're worth two

00:48:46.380 --> 00:48:48.699
three times more but your output's two three

00:48:48.699 --> 00:48:52.880
times more so um you know It's not a coincidence

00:48:52.880 --> 00:48:55.679
that those award wages fall where they are for

00:48:55.679 --> 00:48:59.340
certain skill sets because there's generations

00:48:59.340 --> 00:49:02.559
of data there saying that this person is going

00:49:02.559 --> 00:49:04.679
to generate this amount of value for your business.

00:49:05.380 --> 00:49:07.199
So this is what you should be paying them in

00:49:07.199 --> 00:49:10.179
this range. If they're really, really good, they

00:49:10.179 --> 00:49:12.599
are going to be worth it. Pay the money to the

00:49:12.599 --> 00:49:15.590
top sports people. just earn so much more than

00:49:15.590 --> 00:49:18.409
the third or the fourth ranked ones. And again,

00:49:18.530 --> 00:49:20.929
that's a Pareto principle as well. So you're

00:49:20.929 --> 00:49:24.210
going to have 20 % of people earning 80 % of

00:49:24.210 --> 00:49:27.889
the money in sport. It's criminal. In your sales

00:49:27.889 --> 00:49:29.250
department, it's probably 20 % of people pumping

00:49:29.250 --> 00:49:34.570
out 80%. So just understanding that even though

00:49:34.570 --> 00:49:37.130
you think it's all about input -output, make

00:49:37.130 --> 00:49:40.170
the investment and maybe you just can't get good

00:49:40.170 --> 00:49:42.139
people because you... you're not investing enough

00:49:42.139 --> 00:49:45.659
in it. So just thinking about that, but that's

00:49:45.659 --> 00:49:47.260
pretty much it. Treat it like marketing, treat

00:49:47.260 --> 00:49:49.679
it like clients and look after them and do well

00:49:49.679 --> 00:49:51.400
and get out of their way and make it a good environment

00:49:51.400 --> 00:49:53.679
and ask them what's good and bad. That's the

00:49:53.679 --> 00:49:56.739
Sir Richard Branson thing. Word of mouth. He

00:49:56.739 --> 00:49:59.960
reputes that people say customers are the most

00:49:59.960 --> 00:50:02.760
important thing in your business. He flips the

00:50:02.760 --> 00:50:05.179
script and says that your staff is your most

00:50:05.179 --> 00:50:06.699
important thing because they'll look after the

00:50:06.699 --> 00:50:09.760
customers. So if you look after your staff, Good

00:50:09.760 --> 00:50:11.760
example he has hundreds of businesses and he's

00:50:11.760 --> 00:50:14.179
not the one doing all the work He can find good

00:50:14.179 --> 00:50:16.579
people so and be aware. He's failed more times

00:50:16.579 --> 00:50:19.719
than most people have tried so so Yeah, let your

00:50:19.719 --> 00:50:23.239
people succeed. Yep. Yep, and then the last one

00:50:23.239 --> 00:50:26.320
is talking about compliance with laws and regulations

00:50:26.320 --> 00:50:32.260
yeah, but it's important because Negligence is

00:50:32.260 --> 00:50:35.480
not a good enough answer. Should you be pulled

00:50:35.480 --> 00:50:39.440
up on it? So In order to fix this, just check

00:50:39.440 --> 00:50:44.099
with local governments and agencies. Now, with

00:50:44.099 --> 00:50:47.440
experience, you need to be pretty clear about

00:50:47.440 --> 00:50:49.840
what you're trying to achieve when you contact

00:50:49.840 --> 00:50:52.599
them. Assume they don't know their job when you

00:50:52.599 --> 00:50:54.440
ask them. Sounds like there's a story there,

00:50:54.440 --> 00:51:02.590
Z. One for another day. Yeah, like from experience,

00:51:02.650 --> 00:51:04.650
honestly, you get stuck in a rabbit hole. Yep.

00:51:05.190 --> 00:51:08.610
Like, and there are regulations that I was looking

00:51:08.610 --> 00:51:10.610
at and I was like, well, do I need it? Like,

00:51:11.010 --> 00:51:13.070
I genuinely have no idea. And if you need that

00:51:13.070 --> 00:51:15.690
one, you need this one. And you need a certification

00:51:15.690 --> 00:51:17.909
here and you need to spend $500 over here and

00:51:17.909 --> 00:51:19.269
you need to do this. You need to talk to this

00:51:19.269 --> 00:51:21.530
person. And you just, you just get stuck in a

00:51:21.530 --> 00:51:22.389
loop. You talk to that person and they're like,

00:51:22.409 --> 00:51:24.409
I have no idea, but you're this. And it's like.

00:51:24.409 --> 00:51:26.010
Talk to this council and do this one. And it's

00:51:26.010 --> 00:51:28.250
like. You need a boat license a hundred percent.

00:51:28.389 --> 00:51:30.449
That's what my flowchart says. We drive cars.

00:51:30.570 --> 00:51:32.489
We don't have a boat. Definitely my flowchart

00:51:32.489 --> 00:51:36.250
says 100 % you need it. So yeah, just understand.

00:51:36.650 --> 00:51:39.750
Talk about getting good employees. Yeah. You

00:51:39.750 --> 00:51:42.030
just need to understand what you're going in

00:51:42.030 --> 00:51:43.730
there to achieve, understand what you're trying

00:51:43.730 --> 00:51:47.969
to do and keep a record because yeah, you can't

00:51:47.969 --> 00:51:49.409
turn around and be like, ah, it didn't make sense.

00:51:49.409 --> 00:51:50.929
I don't understand it. So I didn't do anything.

00:51:51.269 --> 00:51:55.690
Yeah. Keep a record and explain next to every

00:51:56.519 --> 00:51:59.880
the whole regulation, like license, explain why

00:51:59.880 --> 00:52:02.630
you did or didn't do it. I think we need to start

00:52:02.630 --> 00:52:04.570
filming these podcasts so people can see the

00:52:04.570 --> 00:52:07.210
look on Z's face when she talks about this business.

00:52:07.869 --> 00:52:11.329
It got me in an absolute muddle. When she's talking

00:52:11.329 --> 00:52:13.090
about local things, we've got local government,

00:52:13.190 --> 00:52:14.829
district councils, then you've got your state

00:52:14.829 --> 00:52:18.250
governments and federal governments. And they'll

00:52:18.250 --> 00:52:20.409
all throw as much as they can at you because

00:52:20.409 --> 00:52:21.489
that's what they're told to do and they've got

00:52:21.489 --> 00:52:24.250
to cover their bum and just make sure you use

00:52:24.250 --> 00:52:26.769
logic when you go through it. So what's a bit

00:52:26.769 --> 00:52:28.909
of common sense, they'll say you need everything

00:52:28.909 --> 00:52:31.579
because that covers their bum. Um, but yeah,

00:52:31.659 --> 00:52:33.699
worst case scenario, just get a, get an advisor

00:52:33.699 --> 00:52:36.059
as you do professionals for it. But when I filled

00:52:36.059 --> 00:52:41.340
in the questionnaire, there was 56 laws, regulations,

00:52:41.800 --> 00:52:44.079
all those sorts of things that I needed to look

00:52:44.079 --> 00:52:47.099
through. And yeah, I ended up just, yeah, you

00:52:47.099 --> 00:52:48.900
have to go through every single one and see if

00:52:48.900 --> 00:52:51.320
it applies to you. And I think maybe four did.

00:52:52.300 --> 00:52:54.739
So, but again, I have an Excel spreadsheet that

00:52:54.739 --> 00:52:57.880
talks about why you do or don't, or I feel do

00:52:57.880 --> 00:53:00.960
or don't need that. Um, But yeah, you can't just

00:53:00.960 --> 00:53:02.599
be like, Oh, this is too hard. I can't be bothered

00:53:02.599 --> 00:53:05.280
anymore. That doesn't help anyone. Yeah. And

00:53:05.280 --> 00:53:06.800
if you do do something wrong and you've, you

00:53:06.800 --> 00:53:08.460
can show, Hey, look, we, we did this with this,

00:53:08.480 --> 00:53:10.219
we did a research, we saw this and we've checked

00:53:10.219 --> 00:53:11.980
every year to make sure that we're compliant.

00:53:12.760 --> 00:53:15.800
You're probably going to get, can't say for certain,

00:53:16.000 --> 00:53:17.059
but you're probably going to get treated a bit

00:53:17.059 --> 00:53:19.539
better than if you said, I've never looked, didn't

00:53:19.539 --> 00:53:23.840
care. And that's, is what it is. It's a risk

00:53:23.840 --> 00:53:27.550
assessment, isn't it? It's a case of. If I don't

00:53:27.550 --> 00:53:29.409
do this, what's the worst thing that could happen?

00:53:29.550 --> 00:53:33.070
If I do do this, what's the outcome? So if I

00:53:33.070 --> 00:53:35.170
don't do this, they could not only just shut

00:53:35.170 --> 00:53:37.909
me down, but they could also hold me for neglect

00:53:37.909 --> 00:53:42.630
of a whole heap of financial obligations. There's

00:53:42.630 --> 00:53:44.110
no point complaining about all the rules and

00:53:44.110 --> 00:53:45.289
regulations. The fact is they are. It's not going

00:53:45.289 --> 00:53:46.769
to change. Same for everyone. So if you want

00:53:46.769 --> 00:53:48.389
to change it, go into politics, but don't go

00:53:48.389 --> 00:53:50.610
into business. But you know, like if there's

00:53:50.610 --> 00:53:51.909
too many rules and regulations you just can't

00:53:51.909 --> 00:53:53.469
care about, it's not worth it. Change your business.

00:53:54.679 --> 00:53:57.619
Won't go into it too much. Just ask, keep records,

00:53:57.880 --> 00:54:01.179
do your best. Go into politics first, then go

00:54:01.179 --> 00:54:07.920
into business. No. Anyway. Out on that note.

00:54:08.900 --> 00:54:13.000
So we're just going to summarise the five common

00:54:13.000 --> 00:54:15.199
issues that we've just run through being cash

00:54:15.199 --> 00:54:18.420
flow. That's the money in, money out, understand

00:54:18.420 --> 00:54:21.440
your obligations, set a budget and revise your

00:54:21.440 --> 00:54:24.690
payment terms. When it comes to finding and retaining

00:54:24.690 --> 00:54:27.309
customers, know your product and service and

00:54:27.309 --> 00:54:29.469
then communicate that with your customer. Figure

00:54:29.469 --> 00:54:32.550
out who they are and where they are and go meet

00:54:32.550 --> 00:54:36.369
them. When it comes to time management, prioritize

00:54:36.369 --> 00:54:40.369
and set boundaries. Do some self -reflection.

00:54:40.670 --> 00:54:43.769
Apricots. Apricots. Don't forget the apricots.

00:54:43.869 --> 00:54:46.190
Fill the jar in the right order. Yeah. Apricots

00:54:46.190 --> 00:54:52.610
first and then sand. And then staffing. Same

00:54:52.610 --> 00:54:55.250
as finding and retaining customers. You need

00:54:55.250 --> 00:54:57.909
to make it a desirable place to work and be able

00:54:57.909 --> 00:55:00.070
to communicate that to the people that you want

00:55:00.070 --> 00:55:03.369
in your business. And then finally compliance

00:55:03.369 --> 00:55:07.789
negligence isn't enough. Go out and seek advice.

00:55:07.869 --> 00:55:09.909
Every time you mention it, you just tense up

00:55:09.909 --> 00:55:17.429
in the eyes. It's such a muddle. But on that

00:55:17.429 --> 00:55:19.190
note, we're going to leave it here. Thanks for

00:55:19.190 --> 00:55:22.750
listening. Link all the additional podcast episodes

00:55:22.750 --> 00:55:25.110
that we've chatted about throughout this and

00:55:25.110 --> 00:55:27.429
we will see you next time. Bye.