WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:10.699 Welcome to the Business Abundance Podcast, providing 00:00:10.699 --> 00:00:13.160 the tools and knowledge to help small business 00:00:13.160 --> 00:00:16.500 owners succeed. For additional resources, visit 00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:21.920 www .businessabundance .online. Welcome back 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:25.160 to the Business Abundance Podcast. I am Zee and 00:00:25.160 --> 00:00:29.440 I am here with Rowan again. Hello. Today we are 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:32.280 talking about flying too close to the moon. We 00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:35.939 are talking about ambition. And we're talking 00:00:35.939 --> 00:00:40.039 about, is it a bad thing? We just want to understand 00:00:40.039 --> 00:00:44.759 if being too ambitious will cause you problems, 00:00:45.020 --> 00:00:47.960 I guess. What is the problem if you are too ambitious, 00:00:48.259 --> 00:00:51.759 if you're not strategic in your ambition? I had 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:54.500 someone say to me the other day that they thought 00:00:54.500 --> 00:00:56.960 ambition was actually a bad thing. Like they 00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:00.359 viewed that. trait as a negative thing. So that 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:02.859 was quite interesting because I view it in a 00:01:02.859 --> 00:01:04.859 positive light. A lot of people view it in a 00:01:04.859 --> 00:01:07.280 negative light. Yeah, I didn't realise that. 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:10.540 Don't fail. Yeah, I was just like... Don't fall 00:01:10.540 --> 00:01:13.659 over. No, don't. Don't try. Don't run. Don't 00:01:13.659 --> 00:01:17.180 go near that. Don't do it. But I, yeah, I've 00:01:17.180 --> 00:01:19.599 always viewed it as quite a positive thing because 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:22.980 you can't move forward unless you are ambitious 00:01:22.980 --> 00:01:26.319 about that next step. I guess it's a very simplified 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:28.819 version. I don't know. It was just interesting 00:01:28.819 --> 00:01:31.120 to hear someone turn around and go, no, it's 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:32.659 not a good thing. It's nice when you talk to 00:01:32.659 --> 00:01:35.760 people in different opinions. It's very valuable 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:36.579 for self -growth. Everyone thinks a different 00:01:36.579 --> 00:01:40.500 way. Yeah. But we're going to be talking about 00:01:40.500 --> 00:01:45.180 another case study. This one is about Dick Smith 00:01:45.180 --> 00:01:48.519 and it was Australia's biggest business collapse 00:01:48.519 --> 00:01:55.340 in 2016. So they were a tech company. A retail 00:01:55.340 --> 00:01:58.239 store that dealt with electrical retailer. Yeah, 00:01:58.260 --> 00:02:02.359 dealt with electronic goods and a lot more. And 00:02:02.359 --> 00:02:05.900 they expanded across Australia and into New Zealand. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:10.819 Their expansion was a success, but they didn't 00:02:10.819 --> 00:02:15.300 plan properly. And that led to their downfall 00:02:15.300 --> 00:02:17.159 basically. And so we're just going to take some 00:02:17.159 --> 00:02:21.680 lessons learned from their situation. understand 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.979 what happened and how you yourself as a business 00:02:24.979 --> 00:02:28.620 owner or whatever situation you're in can take 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:31.800 away from this and implement in your business 00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:36.539 so that you're best suited for success, I guess. 00:02:37.259 --> 00:02:41.780 So they started as a small car radio installation 00:02:41.780 --> 00:02:46.620 business. Really? Yeah. And they then decided 00:02:46.620 --> 00:02:49.219 that they could do it. themselves and then became 00:02:49.219 --> 00:02:53.139 big electronic store that we knew it to be across 00:02:53.139 --> 00:02:57.020 Australia and New Zealand. In 2012, they were 00:02:57.020 --> 00:03:00.280 acquired by a private equity firm and went through 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:05.159 a restructure, went public. And then they had 00:03:05.159 --> 00:03:08.120 their aggressive expansion. I think it was 2013. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:13.340 They increased the number of stores and then 00:03:13.340 --> 00:03:16.479 they opened new stores close to existing ones, 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:20.460 which cannibalized sales. I love to that term 00:03:20.460 --> 00:03:24.740 when I was just like, that's a great word. No 00:03:24.740 --> 00:03:28.919 misunderstanding. Yeah, basically everyone stole 00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:31.960 everything from themselves. Inventory management 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:36.240 problems started to show. So they had their own 00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:39.159 private label goods. So they labeled everything 00:03:39.159 --> 00:03:44.139 as themselves and had really slow moving inventory. 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:47.060 So they couldn't sell old stuff. Yeah. And then 00:03:47.060 --> 00:03:50.419 had an overstocking issue. So that tied up. Technology 00:03:50.419 --> 00:03:53.060 changing, everything drops in price. Yeah. So 00:03:53.060 --> 00:03:55.400 basically they wanted to sell their own stuff 00:03:55.400 --> 00:04:00.199 instead of what the market was demanding. Cut 00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:03.180 out the middle man. Yep. And then ended up being 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:07.020 stuck with that stuff essentially. So then over 00:04:07.020 --> 00:04:11.949 time, their debt levels rose in 2015. suppliers 00:04:11.949 --> 00:04:15.689 tightened their terms and in 2016 they weren't 00:04:15.689 --> 00:04:18.790 able to secure financing. So that means like 00:04:18.790 --> 00:04:21.889 they they basically would buy stock off their 00:04:21.889 --> 00:04:23.569 suppliers and they might have two months to pay 00:04:23.569 --> 00:04:25.029 or something like that and then the supplier 00:04:25.029 --> 00:04:27.470 said actually your bill is getting up there a 00:04:27.470 --> 00:04:28.910 little bit we might uh we're a bit worried about 00:04:28.910 --> 00:04:30.529 you maybe you should pay us in one month and 00:04:30.529 --> 00:04:33.910 they're like oh we can't actually do that. Yeah 00:04:33.910 --> 00:04:37.269 yeah so which then force them into voluntary 00:04:37.269 --> 00:04:40.620 administration and then liquidation. Wow. Which 00:04:40.620 --> 00:04:42.899 was quite sad considering how well they were 00:04:42.899 --> 00:04:46.199 doing. Dick Smith. I remember working in electrical 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:49.000 retail and anything that was obscure or hard, 00:04:49.139 --> 00:04:50.379 he just didn't have it or he had no idea what 00:04:50.379 --> 00:04:51.779 it was. He was like, I'll go to Dick Smith. I'll 00:04:51.779 --> 00:04:54.519 have it. And it was just amazing. I think in 00:04:54.519 --> 00:04:57.319 Auckland where I worked, every single salesperson 00:04:57.319 --> 00:04:59.420 in every single company except Dick Smith would 00:04:59.420 --> 00:05:02.259 have said exactly the same thing with complete 00:05:02.259 --> 00:05:04.930 faith. Dick Smith had it. And Dick Smith didn't 00:05:04.930 --> 00:05:06.930 have any of that stuff. But if they did have 00:05:06.930 --> 00:05:09.269 those little odd widgets, they would have been 00:05:09.269 --> 00:05:12.889 just so insanely successful. Yeah, just didn't 00:05:12.889 --> 00:05:15.269 have the stuff. Yeah. They just didn't. They're 00:05:15.269 --> 00:05:18.069 trying to be something they weren't. Didn't understand 00:05:18.069 --> 00:05:22.029 the market. And if you missed the last episode, 00:05:22.370 --> 00:05:24.410 I highly recommend you go back and listen to 00:05:24.410 --> 00:05:26.529 that because we deep dive into that too. Yeah, 00:05:26.529 --> 00:05:27.790 I think they got the wrong unconventional ways 00:05:27.790 --> 00:05:30.009 to market. They missed out on the whole. who 00:05:30.009 --> 00:05:32.449 are they marketing to? And they've gone, we can 00:05:32.449 --> 00:05:34.649 do all this because we are Dick Smith and we 00:05:34.649 --> 00:05:36.110 can make these products ourselves. And we're 00:05:36.110 --> 00:05:38.750 Australian, but we're really just whatever, put 00:05:38.750 --> 00:05:40.230 our name on it. And the customer's like, we don't 00:05:40.230 --> 00:05:41.769 want that. We want the one we know and trust. 00:05:41.769 --> 00:05:43.850 Yep. And we want to buy it from Dick Smith. Shot 00:05:43.850 --> 00:05:45.509 themselves in the foot. Yeah. Dick Smith's a 00:05:45.509 --> 00:05:50.389 retailer, not a maker. Yep. Interesting. In Greek 00:05:50.389 --> 00:05:54.430 mythology, Icarus and his father, Daedalus, I 00:05:54.430 --> 00:05:57.029 don't know, were imprisoned on an island by King 00:05:57.029 --> 00:05:59.860 Minos. I'm saying this wrong I'm sure. So to 00:05:59.860 --> 00:06:02.759 escape, Daedalus, a master craftsman, created 00:06:02.759 --> 00:06:05.199 two sets of wings made of wax and feathers. He 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:07.300 warned his son not to fly too close to the sun 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:10.439 as the wax would melt. He also cautions Icarus 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:12.439 not to fly too low as the feathers could get 00:06:12.439 --> 00:06:15.420 wet in the sea. His warnings however went unheeded. 00:06:15.540 --> 00:06:17.860 Icarus was so intoxicated by the experience of 00:06:17.860 --> 00:06:20.240 flight that he went higher and higher. As the 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:22.560 wax in his wings melted, he tumbled into the 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:25.680 sea and drowned. Saying don't fly too close to 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:28.980 the sun is a reference to Icarus. his recklessness 00:06:28.980 --> 00:06:32.839 and defiance of limitations. I was really wondering 00:06:32.839 --> 00:06:34.980 where this was going when you first started that 00:06:34.980 --> 00:06:36.980 story. I was like, here we are talking about 00:06:36.980 --> 00:06:39.339 Dick Smith and we're coming up with great mythology. 00:06:40.139 --> 00:06:42.819 It makes sense though. So flying too close to 00:06:42.819 --> 00:06:44.660 the sun. It's interesting because I don't know 00:06:44.660 --> 00:06:48.079 the details of the IPO or going to the stock 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:49.579 market or the private equity or anything like 00:06:49.579 --> 00:06:54.639 that. But I do know that that's a way to make 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:56.930 money as far as acquire something. Obviously, 00:06:56.970 --> 00:07:00.089 list is a way to acquire money. And then when 00:07:00.089 --> 00:07:02.569 you're a large company like that, there's valuation 00:07:02.569 --> 00:07:06.069 based on perceptions, on possibilities, a lot 00:07:06.069 --> 00:07:09.250 of things aside from dollars and cents. So expand, 00:07:09.389 --> 00:07:11.230 expand, expand, here's our footprint, sell to 00:07:11.230 --> 00:07:13.009 another, you know, the idea is to sell those 00:07:13.009 --> 00:07:16.129 shares to someone else. And you can see how they 00:07:16.129 --> 00:07:17.910 can go, oh, here's a huge opportunity, a brand, 00:07:17.990 --> 00:07:19.310 everyone knows and trusts, boom, boom, boom. 00:07:19.430 --> 00:07:22.490 We can go bang, bang, bang, pump this out and 00:07:22.490 --> 00:07:26.040 then not quite hit the mark. And then don't get 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:27.920 the buyer because they're not looking for to 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:30.339 have that business in 30 years, which is something 00:07:30.339 --> 00:07:32.879 we've talked about probably in our first podcast. 00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:34.980 But you know, you got to look long -term if you 00:07:34.980 --> 00:07:39.660 want to be successful. And Rupert Murdoch, maybe 00:07:39.660 --> 00:07:42.920 he talks a lot about that. It's pretty sad really, 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:45.639 because that was a very famous, well -loved brand 00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:49.040 that's just gone. We can do all this stuff. Go 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:52.819 hard, go hard. Yeah. Go on. I don't think it's... 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:55.699 necessarily as relevant for small businesses 00:07:55.699 --> 00:08:01.199 that we talk to, but the impact of private equity 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:04.439 in retail, for example, where like financial 00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:09.019 engineering can take place, can overshadow operational 00:08:09.019 --> 00:08:11.839 sustainability, I guess. So it's just, you've 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:14.300 got to be a little bit careful in that sense. 00:08:15.980 --> 00:08:18.279 Good lesson. Interesting spot from small business. 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:20.819 So you can relate that back because people have 00:08:20.819 --> 00:08:22.519 suppliers, they pay bills and they pay them. 00:08:22.699 --> 00:08:24.759 You know, it's not straight away for some people, 00:08:24.899 --> 00:08:26.920 they paid a month later when people think, oh, 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:29.079 we can pay our creditors two months later. You 00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:31.600 can. It's a bit annoying. It's a bit rude, but 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:33.379 everyone does it. No one really sees it as being 00:08:33.379 --> 00:08:35.179 that rude. Like, oh, we understand, you know, 00:08:35.179 --> 00:08:37.919 you'll get there. But fundamentally, you're loaning 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:41.120 that money off them to grow your business. And 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:43.200 if you don't have the cash available to say, 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:45.559 actually, we don't want to do that anymore. You 00:08:45.559 --> 00:08:48.120 have to find another supplier to loan you that 00:08:48.120 --> 00:08:51.879 money. And in Dick Smith's case, that was devastating 00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:54.620 because if their suppliers are, you know, pretty 00:08:54.620 --> 00:08:55.919 much what the market wants and they're not going 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:58.440 to give it to the stock anymore. Like they can't 00:08:58.440 --> 00:08:59.820 just choose a different one. You can't get another 00:08:59.820 --> 00:09:01.559 painter. You can't get another plumber or whatever 00:09:01.559 --> 00:09:05.639 to take the role. Um, but it's a very big thing 00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:07.080 where people go, we've got all this money in 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:09.059 the bank. We've, we can do this. We can do this 00:09:09.059 --> 00:09:11.919 and spend it. But if you're using other people's 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:14.980 money, you've got a huge risk that they get sick 00:09:14.980 --> 00:09:18.299 of it and stop giving it to you. Um, and then 00:09:18.299 --> 00:09:23.940 what happens? Stuck. Very stuck. Yeah, if we're 00:09:23.940 --> 00:09:26.799 gonna look at the lessons learnt as a result 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:33.039 of the Dick Smith situation, we've got the over 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:36.720 expansion without a sustainable business model. 00:09:37.340 --> 00:09:39.919 Well, the model is probably get out. Sell it. 00:09:40.299 --> 00:09:45.179 Yeah, I imagine it was. But it wasn't. It wasn't 00:09:45.179 --> 00:09:48.419 a long term forward thinking. Yeah, and it ended 00:09:48.419 --> 00:09:54.340 up quite. Dangerously. So in any sort of change 00:09:54.340 --> 00:09:56.620 management, which we do even have a podcast on, 00:09:57.019 --> 00:09:59.779 is about change. Just make sure you're well prepared 00:09:59.779 --> 00:10:02.639 and people understand what's going on. But I 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:05.559 mean, to be honest with the Dick Smith situation, 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:09.120 though, that was just. poor management. We have 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:11.220 no idea we weren't there, but fundamentally it's 00:10:11.220 --> 00:10:12.820 the management. They've got a plan, they're executing 00:10:12.820 --> 00:10:14.679 the plan and they haven't done the focus groups. 00:10:14.700 --> 00:10:16.840 They haven't got the right information. They've 00:10:16.840 --> 00:10:19.059 believed their own hype. They haven't got the 00:10:19.059 --> 00:10:21.120 particular funding that they needed to make it 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:23.340 successful. So most small businesses fail because 00:10:23.340 --> 00:10:25.200 of lack of cashflow or lack of working capital 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:27.840 injected at the start. So they're no different 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:30.899 in that case. They didn't listen. They obviously 00:10:30.899 --> 00:10:33.100 didn't survey. If they did, they didn't get the 00:10:33.100 --> 00:10:34.799 right survey or they didn't get the right mix 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:38.850 or they took the wrong feedback. Yeah, they didn't 00:10:38.850 --> 00:10:43.110 track inventory or fees properly or mismanagement 00:10:43.110 --> 00:10:45.789 of that. Yeah, it was definitely mismanagement. 00:10:45.850 --> 00:10:47.289 If they had a lot of old stock, if that was a 00:10:47.289 --> 00:10:50.649 reason listed, which it was, then no one's looking 00:10:50.649 --> 00:10:53.210 and going, okay, well, that stock costs us $300 00:10:53.210 --> 00:10:55.190 and it's only worth a hundred now, but we still 00:10:55.190 --> 00:10:56.570 need to make a profit on it. So it's going to 00:10:56.570 --> 00:10:58.970 set our shelf at $400. No one's going to buy 00:10:58.970 --> 00:11:00.350 it. Like just get rid of it for a hundred bucks. 00:11:00.649 --> 00:11:03.289 take the money back. Yeah. Yeah. For small business 00:11:03.289 --> 00:11:05.129 owners, I guess I'm trying to think about what, 00:11:05.409 --> 00:11:07.909 if I were in their position listening, what would 00:11:07.909 --> 00:11:11.429 I do? I would go and have a look at the, all 00:11:11.429 --> 00:11:14.909 the inventory that I have, um, and figure out 00:11:14.909 --> 00:11:17.190 how much is it costing me to have it there? Yeah. 00:11:17.230 --> 00:11:20.580 Spot on. So If you've got something sitting around 00:11:20.580 --> 00:11:21.840 in the shed out the back and it's been there 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:24.000 for two years for a rainy day, well, it's probably 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:26.080 500 bucks that's just sitting there. Like, do 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:27.860 you just leave 500 bucks sitting around? 500 00:11:27.860 --> 00:11:30.440 bucks today is not worth 500 bucks in three years. 00:11:32.200 --> 00:11:34.899 So like what have you got that's moving? If it's 00:11:34.899 --> 00:11:36.679 not moving, get rid of it. Even if it's a loss 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:38.000 on what you paid for it, at least you got the 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:39.179 money back and you can do something else with 00:11:39.179 --> 00:11:42.360 that money. But you've got a cash flow is highly 00:11:42.360 --> 00:11:45.059 important. So making sure when you do spend cash 00:11:45.059 --> 00:11:48.220 on something, how soon do I get it back? Was 00:11:48.220 --> 00:11:51.559 it? days to cash. It's in the books you read 00:11:51.559 --> 00:11:54.379 the other day. But yeah, so you can have a negative 00:11:54.379 --> 00:11:56.279 days of cash. So someone pays you in advance 00:11:56.279 --> 00:11:58.480 before you spend anything. And you could have, 00:11:59.019 --> 00:12:01.000 I buy the stock, it sits around for six months, 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:03.179 then I sell it and then someone pays me for it. 00:12:03.179 --> 00:12:05.039 And you've got six months before you get your 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:07.879 cash back and your profit. So that's a big lesson 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:09.799 to learn just because you've got something that's 00:12:09.799 --> 00:12:11.000 worth something. If it's sitting there doing 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:14.240 nothing, it's money you can't spend elsewhere. 00:12:14.539 --> 00:12:19.080 Yep. Yep. Or not even your money. Correct. Yeah. 00:12:19.080 --> 00:12:23.440 Uh, yeah. And then second or whatever point we're 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:27.220 up to strategic planning, uh, when it comes to 00:12:27.220 --> 00:12:29.799 strategic planning, I think it's just a important 00:12:29.799 --> 00:12:34.299 to notice that when you try and make change or 00:12:34.299 --> 00:12:37.019 you try and develop your business in any sort 00:12:37.019 --> 00:12:39.940 of way, or even just run your business, it's 00:12:39.940 --> 00:12:42.600 important to have a plan. You can't. Well, I 00:12:42.600 --> 00:12:48.039 had a plan. They did have a plan. Yes. Uh, they 00:12:48.039 --> 00:12:50.580 didn't manage it well. You would think that it 00:12:50.580 --> 00:12:52.080 got to the point where they're like, yeah, this 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:56.379 is not working. Yeah, they were committed. It's 00:12:56.379 --> 00:12:59.379 like the plan is a good plan, but what makes 00:12:59.379 --> 00:13:04.360 a good plan? So you use experience, you use information. 00:13:04.980 --> 00:13:06.659 You don't just go, oh, we could do this. And 00:13:06.659 --> 00:13:08.360 this is what's worked in the past, which is pretty 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:09.840 much what the plan was. And maybe they had some 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:11.679 information that thought it would work better. 00:13:11.779 --> 00:13:15.509 You know, things change in industry. But at what 00:13:15.509 --> 00:13:17.169 point, like you said, do they look at it and 00:13:17.169 --> 00:13:19.929 go, this isn't working, we need to pivot and 00:13:19.929 --> 00:13:23.230 do something different. So that the point for 00:13:23.230 --> 00:13:24.950 businesses there, like even though your plan 00:13:24.950 --> 00:13:27.090 sounds fantastic, at some point you've got to 00:13:27.090 --> 00:13:29.970 learn when to let go and go, it's not working, 00:13:30.210 --> 00:13:32.450 what can we change to get it working? Because 00:13:32.450 --> 00:13:35.529 bigger isn't always best. So the case we use, 00:13:35.649 --> 00:13:37.289 they cannibalise their own market by opening 00:13:37.289 --> 00:13:39.879 stores next door to each other. We were talking 00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:43.100 about this earlier. What next door like? Like 00:13:43.100 --> 00:13:47.679 within the sort of catchment area, right? Okay, 00:13:47.720 --> 00:13:49.740 that's not working. Let's shut some of those 00:13:49.740 --> 00:13:51.500 stores down. That's going to have a cost, but 00:13:51.500 --> 00:13:53.379 we're going to reestablish profit, profitable 00:13:53.379 --> 00:13:55.860 operations. Then we can probably reestablish 00:13:55.860 --> 00:13:59.820 finance. We can reestablish investment, get the 00:13:59.820 --> 00:14:02.240 cash back. You know, there's some point they 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:03.460 must have been able to look at things and go, 00:14:03.500 --> 00:14:07.059 well, this plan isn't working. But potentially 00:14:07.059 --> 00:14:10.779 that's. They couldn't or they didn't want to. 00:14:10.779 --> 00:14:12.740 Yeah. It's a process that you need to be able 00:14:12.740 --> 00:14:15.679 to be flexible with. Yeah. Something I talked 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:17.460 to people about quite a lot is just don't be 00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:19.620 too proud. Like if it doesn't work, that's fine. 00:14:19.620 --> 00:14:21.299 Like you talk about people that have failed. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:24.519 There's something that Michael Jordan says, like 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:26.820 you can sort of see Michael Jordan's highlight 00:14:26.820 --> 00:14:28.620 of basketball, just all these match winning shots 00:14:28.620 --> 00:14:30.539 on the buzzer, you know, just dunking on people 00:14:30.539 --> 00:14:33.279 and like the legend. Yeah. You know, this huge 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:36.519 brand to himself of success and awesomeness. 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:40.419 But you hear him talk, he's like, I've failed 00:14:40.419 --> 00:14:43.519 so many times. I don't even know, like I've missed 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:49.539 27 game winning shots and we've lost. But without 00:14:49.539 --> 00:14:52.440 the failure, I can't be great. So it's been proud 00:14:52.440 --> 00:14:54.960 to go, not being too proud to go, I can't do 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:56.440 that. I've got to keep going to prove that I'm 00:14:56.440 --> 00:14:58.500 right. But go, oh, that didn't work. I'm wrong, 00:14:58.580 --> 00:15:01.139 but let's fix it. And then I'm still awesome. 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:06.909 Don't just push through regardless. Yeah. Just 00:15:06.909 --> 00:15:08.509 have a really good understanding of what you're 00:15:08.509 --> 00:15:11.070 doing and where you're going, but be flexible, 00:15:11.309 --> 00:15:16.649 be humble. Yeah. And also understand who your 00:15:16.649 --> 00:15:20.190 client is. I mean, we hammer on about this in 00:15:20.190 --> 00:15:23.710 every single podcast. People are people. But 00:15:23.710 --> 00:15:28.210 you can't seriously expect your business to succeed 00:15:28.210 --> 00:15:30.950 or as a very low percentage of businesses that 00:15:30.950 --> 00:15:35.090 would succeed if you're not. Well, no, they wouldn't. 00:15:35.210 --> 00:15:38.039 You need to understand who you're. dealing with. 00:15:38.259 --> 00:15:40.100 You need to understand what they need and you 00:15:40.100 --> 00:15:42.120 need to be able to provide that. So Dick Smith 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:44.259 has this great brand. They have all these customers 00:15:44.259 --> 00:15:47.220 that believe in them for whatever reason as the 00:15:47.220 --> 00:15:49.419 place to be. So in my case, my association with 00:15:49.419 --> 00:15:50.759 Dick Smith, they had all these little knickknacks 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:52.580 and adapters and batteries and chargers and stuff 00:15:52.580 --> 00:15:56.620 that were nowhere else, which wasn't true, but 00:15:56.620 --> 00:15:59.179 they had a lot of stuff. But their market believes 00:15:59.179 --> 00:16:00.639 a certain thing. And then they go, oh, we want 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:03.559 to be the big boys. We want to sell Sony TVs 00:16:03.559 --> 00:16:08.919 and the Panasonic TVs, whatever. So interesting 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:10.679 thing though, so we're talking a lot of negative 00:16:10.679 --> 00:16:15.899 things about ambition, I guess. So saying it, 00:16:15.980 --> 00:16:18.059 is it a bad thing? And we're just talking, well, 00:16:18.179 --> 00:16:20.159 it is a bad thing because someone sent you back 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:22.379 in the day, your friend the other day, you know, 00:16:22.580 --> 00:16:24.720 and Dex Smith, they aim too high and they failed. 00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:27.700 So, you know, no good, no mismanaging, but you 00:16:27.700 --> 00:16:29.840 know, what if they succeeded? Yeah. would have 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:31.299 been awesome. Yeah it would have been awesome 00:16:31.299 --> 00:16:33.440 and maybe their plan was great and literally 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:36.000 the industry changed or you know technology came 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.059 through and then the prices of these things just 00:16:38.059 --> 00:16:39.840 dropped so quickly they left this old stock and 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.779 they didn't expect it. So there could be reasons 00:16:42.779 --> 00:16:47.840 but I think the story before Greek mythology, 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:52.120 so flying is great but just don't get carried 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:54.629 away. Yeah. And the other bit, the interesting 00:16:54.629 --> 00:16:56.649 thing was don't go too low. That's exactly what 00:16:56.649 --> 00:16:58.610 I was just thinking. Yeah. Don't go too low as 00:16:58.610 --> 00:17:03.490 in don't, don't be too careful. Yeah. So like 00:17:03.490 --> 00:17:05.410 a little story is, okay, we've got this great 00:17:05.410 --> 00:17:07.809 opportunity. We've got this means to do something. 00:17:08.210 --> 00:17:10.910 Go enjoy it. Have fun. Do the best you can, but 00:17:11.520 --> 00:17:14.940 Don't go too high like don't overextend yourself 00:17:14.940 --> 00:17:18.440 Keep it within reason and I find it for a lot 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:21.000 of people that we've dealt with through the years 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:23.579 is that they go start going well and They're 00:17:23.579 --> 00:17:25.259 like oh we could do more we can do more we can 00:17:25.259 --> 00:17:27.099 do more like and it's like each week They're 00:17:27.099 --> 00:17:30.119 trying to do something new Or after a year they 00:17:30.119 --> 00:17:32.500 they might have doubled their turnover for example, 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:35.359 which is huge, right? But then they're like, 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:36.980 oh, but we could be doing all this more stuff. 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:41.160 I know we could have more clients At what point 00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:45.400 would you think you're successful? Yeah, are 00:17:45.400 --> 00:17:48.319 we aiming too high? Yeah, and are we sort of 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:52.279 overextending ourselves? And you can always do 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:54.740 that, but then at some point you're so geared 00:17:54.740 --> 00:17:57.890 up. You've got so many balls. rolling and you'd 00:17:57.890 --> 00:17:59.890 never sort of sat back and reap the rewards for 00:17:59.890 --> 00:18:01.970 a while. You don't have that little safety net. 00:18:03.190 --> 00:18:05.470 So I think it's, you know, when you do have success 00:18:05.470 --> 00:18:07.490 and you've aimed to do something and you see 00:18:07.490 --> 00:18:09.269 it, just sit on it for a while and let it go. 00:18:09.410 --> 00:18:11.089 And is that what we're getting? Is it actually 00:18:11.089 --> 00:18:14.049 working like we thought? Yes, it is. Get the 00:18:14.049 --> 00:18:16.470 reward and then actively plan your next step 00:18:16.470 --> 00:18:18.910 rather than just keep on reach, reach, reach, 00:18:19.109 --> 00:18:21.410 push, push, push. Yeah. Yeah. It's a fine line, 00:18:21.529 --> 00:18:24.329 isn't it? You don't want to be so ambitious that 00:18:24.329 --> 00:18:28.450 you just... Over do it and can't put any attention 00:18:28.450 --> 00:18:31.609 into anything Therefore nothing succeeds or you 00:18:31.609 --> 00:18:34.250 don't want to go so Careful that you don't end 00:18:34.250 --> 00:18:36.410 up doing anything at all. Yeah, and then you 00:18:36.410 --> 00:18:39.369 may as well have tried and failed Yeah, I mean 00:18:39.369 --> 00:18:42.210 that's the better option because at least then 00:18:42.210 --> 00:18:44.190 you've learned instead of just staying doing 00:18:44.190 --> 00:18:47.569 nothing and Learned nothing. Yep. I mean doing 00:18:47.569 --> 00:18:49.750 nothing is a choice, too Yeah, well doing nothing 00:18:49.750 --> 00:18:52.289 is an action. So like you can't do nothing. It's 00:18:52.289 --> 00:18:56.410 like we can yeah You're allowed to. Yeah. Yeah. 00:18:56.450 --> 00:18:59.089 You know, like in cricket, for example, I play 00:18:59.089 --> 00:19:01.930 cricket. So if a bowler ball is a really good 00:19:01.930 --> 00:19:04.769 ball and if I try to hit it, there's a good chance 00:19:04.769 --> 00:19:07.569 I edge it and get caught and then I'm out. It's 00:19:07.569 --> 00:19:09.589 not going to hit the stumps. I can leave it. 00:19:09.829 --> 00:19:11.849 Sounds pretty boring, but I'm not out. I was 00:19:11.849 --> 00:19:13.509 probably going to score. The best choice is to 00:19:13.509 --> 00:19:16.730 do nothing. So you do nothing. I think in golf 00:19:16.730 --> 00:19:19.410 too, like you hit the balls into the trees. I 00:19:19.410 --> 00:19:23.799 call a safety drop personally, which is I'm too 00:19:23.799 --> 00:19:27.440 stupid to responsibly tap the ball back onto 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:30.059 the course to then take a longer shot. So like 00:19:30.059 --> 00:19:34.819 a mulligan? No, safety drop. Okay. I will instead 00:19:34.819 --> 00:19:37.299 try to thread the 30 -centimeter gap between 00:19:37.299 --> 00:19:39.660 eight trees and smoke a ball trying to hit it 00:19:39.660 --> 00:19:41.759 200 meters. So I call it a safety drop because 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:43.140 if I do that, I'm most likely going to hit a 00:19:43.140 --> 00:19:44.240 tree. It's probably going to ricochet and hurt 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:47.700 me. Yes. Very wise, but that doesn't count as 00:19:47.700 --> 00:19:49.539 a shock. So it's a safety related issue. Oh, 00:19:49.619 --> 00:19:53.019 yeah Anyway, the point is it's that's not an 00:19:53.019 --> 00:19:55.339 action. Yeah, but there's the sensible thing 00:19:55.339 --> 00:19:58.559 to do because you're a good golfer is what? The 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:01.519 safety shot. No hit it through the trees straight 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:04.059 through the tiny little gap or get back on the 00:20:04.059 --> 00:20:10.380 course Yeah, get back on the hole. Yeah. I say 00:20:10.380 --> 00:20:11.819 that with hesitation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, 00:20:11.859 --> 00:20:13.880 like, you know, you know, it's boring. That's 00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:15.079 all that's proving the point though. Everyone 00:20:15.079 --> 00:20:17.759 goes, oh, we could just, I can see it happening. 00:20:18.099 --> 00:20:20.519 Just go through there. You might just draw it, 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:23.720 fade it up. Yeah. Yeah. But I know I should just 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:26.339 go there. It's a bit boring, but then I could 00:20:26.339 --> 00:20:28.079 just hit the ball down there. Yeah. Which is 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:29.900 the same. I'm going to be safe. Yeah. I didn't 00:20:29.900 --> 00:20:32.079 realise this till the other week. Like I was 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:34.440 going, why do I keep doing this? It's fun. That's 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:39.589 why. But. Like shot wise, I could just tap it 00:20:39.589 --> 00:20:41.150 here because it's still one shot to the green. 00:20:41.289 --> 00:20:42.670 But if I hit it through all these things, I'm 00:20:42.670 --> 00:20:45.230 not on the green anyway. So I still have to do 00:20:45.230 --> 00:20:47.109 at least another shot. So I might as well just 00:20:47.109 --> 00:20:49.670 tap it there. It's really boring. But in business, 00:20:49.849 --> 00:20:51.490 I think that flying to the coast of the sun is 00:20:51.490 --> 00:20:55.130 we can go for that Hail Mary. But doing nothing 00:20:55.130 --> 00:20:57.529 or just doing like a little sidestep might actually 00:20:57.529 --> 00:21:00.369 set us up to have a really good opportunity with 00:21:00.369 --> 00:21:04.130 smooth sailing. And then I guess vice versa was 00:21:04.130 --> 00:21:06.049 what you just mentioned before is the water. 00:21:06.170 --> 00:21:09.950 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you do nothing. Well, not 00:21:09.950 --> 00:21:13.569 do nothing, but aim too low. Aim too low. Yes. 00:21:13.670 --> 00:21:15.470 Yeah. So we've got these great wings. You need 00:21:15.470 --> 00:21:17.930 to be flying with the wings. Yeah. But there's 00:21:17.930 --> 00:21:19.670 no point hanging next to the water. Like get 00:21:19.670 --> 00:21:22.490 a boat. Because if you go in the water, you're 00:21:22.490 --> 00:21:24.410 going to drown. So that's the thing. If you're 00:21:24.410 --> 00:21:26.640 sitting there in business. Sitting there doing 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:28.539 nothing, sitting on the train tracks. What's 00:21:28.539 --> 00:21:30.059 this saying? If you sit on the train tracks and 00:21:30.059 --> 00:21:31.440 just stay still, the train will run you over. 00:21:32.039 --> 00:21:33.539 So sitting in business, sitting there doing nothing 00:21:33.539 --> 00:21:36.400 and you see it and my pet peeves, the local chamber 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:38.319 of commerce is filled with the retail shops complaining 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:39.980 about the sound dying and no one coming to the 00:21:39.980 --> 00:21:41.119 shops anymore and they're not doing anything 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:43.940 to change their business. Excuse the tone, but 00:21:43.940 --> 00:21:46.019 you don't see that a lot of times. But they don't. 00:21:46.019 --> 00:21:47.400 They complain about all the things that have 00:21:47.400 --> 00:21:49.160 changed in the last 20 years and why people don't 00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:50.900 come to the shops anymore and none of them are 00:21:50.900 --> 00:21:53.750 changing. So they're sitting still doing nothing 00:21:53.750 --> 00:21:55.849 and getting run over by the world and then they're 00:21:55.849 --> 00:21:57.950 upset about it. So, you know, you've got the 00:21:57.950 --> 00:21:59.829 wings. You have to have some form of ambition 00:21:59.829 --> 00:22:02.170 and you can't just go, I've been successful and 00:22:02.170 --> 00:22:04.849 I'm going to stay here. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone 00:22:04.849 --> 00:22:07.150 will come back to me. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty 00:22:07.150 --> 00:22:09.509 amazing little story really. Someone made that 00:22:09.509 --> 00:22:12.269 up back in the day. It's pretty deep. Yeah, yeah, 00:22:12.269 --> 00:22:14.630 I think it is good when when we talk about wings 00:22:14.630 --> 00:22:17.509 I'm trying to think about like maybe that's a 00:22:17.509 --> 00:22:20.589 new employee with some ambition or You've got 00:22:20.589 --> 00:22:23.049 a bit more profit or you've been received a grant. 00:22:23.049 --> 00:22:25.589 You've got an opportunity that's presented itself 00:22:25.589 --> 00:22:28.630 You've got a new customer base like there's so 00:22:28.630 --> 00:22:30.490 many opportunities out there You just got to 00:22:30.490 --> 00:22:33.210 identify them and figure out which one you can 00:22:33.210 --> 00:22:36.069 practically do yeah Yeah, exactly and there might 00:22:36.069 --> 00:22:38.049 be three of them might be fantastic and you do 00:22:38.049 --> 00:22:40.579 them all but which one if you can Can you really 00:22:40.579 --> 00:22:43.240 do one? We talked about it with Carla podcasts 00:22:43.240 --> 00:22:47.259 ago, people pleasing, like overextending yourself, 00:22:47.339 --> 00:22:50.039 but yeah, does it make sense to do all three 00:22:50.039 --> 00:22:52.400 and you potentially muck it all up or do you 00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:56.440 just take the win on one? Yeah. Yeah, and if 00:22:56.440 --> 00:22:58.420 you feel like you don't have the resource or 00:22:58.420 --> 00:23:00.460 ability to get one, but you know the opportunity 00:23:00.460 --> 00:23:03.500 is there within Graf, then acquire the resources 00:23:03.500 --> 00:23:05.039 to do it. Yeah, or give it to someone else that 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:07.140 you like. Yeah, that's true. Hey guys, check 00:23:07.140 --> 00:23:11.579 this out. Yeah, there's options and I think the 00:23:11.579 --> 00:23:15.200 whole ambition is a bad thing comes from, you 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:17.759 know, again, we talk about this quite a lot too, 00:23:17.799 --> 00:23:20.000 but you get taught to be in a factory mindset. 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:22.160 When you grow up you're gonna do this and that's 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:23.759 when you do your whole life till you retire You 00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:24.900 know, what do you want to be when you grow up? 00:23:24.900 --> 00:23:27.240 And that's you literally gonna do that all day 00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:29.519 nine to five. No one's talking about changing 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:31.880 that But that's how the world works. You know 00:23:31.880 --> 00:23:33.339 people need to do things and there needs to be 00:23:33.339 --> 00:23:38.440 order So ambition is against that system because 00:23:38.440 --> 00:23:41.099 if everyone had ambition to be the boss who's 00:23:41.099 --> 00:23:43.779 doing the work? Yeah, everyone's unhappy, right? 00:23:44.900 --> 00:23:48.680 So That's not saying that Ambition is the best 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:50.930 thing a lot of people prefer not to have the 00:23:50.930 --> 00:23:53.210 ambition and to have the safety of being at home 00:23:53.210 --> 00:23:54.869 and knowing that they're protected and everything's 00:23:54.869 --> 00:23:57.150 safe and everything will be the same. And that's, 00:23:57.150 --> 00:23:59.150 that's a value and it's human nature as well. 00:23:59.269 --> 00:24:02.369 So I think it's not a bad thing or a good thing, 00:24:02.390 --> 00:24:04.750 but I think if you're in business, you need to 00:24:04.750 --> 00:24:06.450 have some ambition because otherwise you're wasting 00:24:06.450 --> 00:24:08.470 space and you're, you're, you're preventing other 00:24:08.470 --> 00:24:11.490 businesses from succeeding. Yeah. Couldn't agree 00:24:11.490 --> 00:24:15.769 more. That's an interesting, interesting, um, 00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:18.059 case study. I'm actually keen to do some more. 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:20.359 I feel like the last few podcasts have been pretty 00:24:20.359 --> 00:24:23.200 interesting and just assessing. So if anyone 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:25.720 has any case studies they'd like us to chat through, 00:24:26.059 --> 00:24:28.119 send them through. We can have a chat about them. 00:24:28.220 --> 00:24:31.880 She's keen. Very good. All right, guys, we will 00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:34.000 leave it there and we will talk to you in the 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:35.799 next podcast. Bye. Bye.