WEBVTT 00:00:08.359 --> 00:00:11.919 Welcome to the Business Abundance podcast, providing 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:14.359 the tools and knowledge to help small business 00:00:14.359 --> 00:00:17.679 owners succeed. For additional resources, visit 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:22.120 www .businessabundance .online. Hi, everyone. 00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:24.399 Welcome back. Today, we're going to be talking 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:28.539 about something that most business owners face, 00:00:28.780 --> 00:00:33.020 not when, but what to do when things go wrong. 00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:35.810 They do go wrong. And it doesn't mean that you've 00:00:35.810 --> 00:00:39.869 failed. It means that you are human and you're 00:00:39.869 --> 00:00:43.570 working on something real. So let's chat about 00:00:43.570 --> 00:00:47.210 why resilience matters. Ian. Oh, that's exciting, 00:00:47.369 --> 00:00:49.270 isn't it? Well, just accept that it's going to 00:00:49.270 --> 00:00:50.969 happen. If you're if you're not failing or you're 00:00:50.969 --> 00:00:52.670 not making a mistake, you're probably not trying 00:00:52.670 --> 00:00:56.530 anything new in your business. So it's not a 00:00:56.530 --> 00:00:59.030 bad thing. Michael Jordan missed a few shots 00:00:59.030 --> 00:01:01.170 in his time. Oh, that's a beautiful analogy. 00:01:01.670 --> 00:01:04.739 Very nice. Yeah, got a lot of. game winners as 00:01:04.739 --> 00:01:06.640 well. If you don't take a shot, you're not going 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:09.780 to hit a shot. So be prepared for that and fail 00:01:09.780 --> 00:01:13.280 forwards and fail often. Yeah, but it's not just 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:15.439 about pushing through it. I wouldn't think it's 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:17.579 about making sure that you're bouncing back. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:21.260 Be prepared as I do my little scout salute. If 00:01:21.260 --> 00:01:23.420 you're in business, you're taking risk. It's 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:25.840 how you calculating that risk and what you're 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:29.640 willing to take. And there will sometimes be 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:33.040 circumstances out of your control. So how do 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:35.829 you Be prepared for that. How are you going to 00:01:35.829 --> 00:01:38.150 insulate your business against a downturn in 00:01:38.150 --> 00:01:42.909 the market or a catastrophe like a global pandemic? 00:01:43.750 --> 00:01:46.769 I was thinking something smaller. I just quickly 00:01:46.769 --> 00:01:48.890 wrote down a few categories. I haven't finished 00:01:48.890 --> 00:01:51.189 them yet, but just for the people that are a 00:01:51.189 --> 00:01:52.769 little bit worried about their business already 00:01:52.769 --> 00:01:55.670 and stress about it, sorry, in advance. The things 00:01:55.670 --> 00:01:59.189 that can go wrong, running out of cash, people 00:01:59.189 --> 00:02:02.090 disappearing, not having a location to trade 00:02:02.090 --> 00:02:06.090 from anymore. having no access to do what you 00:02:06.090 --> 00:02:08.830 do, or clients not being able to find you anymore, 00:02:09.830 --> 00:02:12.909 another competitor coming in, technology changing, 00:02:13.770 --> 00:02:17.490 government changing the rules, cyber security, 00:02:18.150 --> 00:02:19.789 someone stealing all your data and cutting you 00:02:19.789 --> 00:02:23.069 out, or selling all your clients information, 00:02:23.969 --> 00:02:26.530 not having internet access, the systems that 00:02:26.530 --> 00:02:28.370 you use not being available anymore. How much 00:02:28.370 --> 00:02:30.150 time did you have for this list? There was hardly 00:02:30.150 --> 00:02:33.889 any time. And then you've got like the environment, 00:02:34.030 --> 00:02:35.969 things like weather and stuff as well. Of war. 00:02:36.710 --> 00:02:39.229 Can everyone feel the anxiety levels rising? 00:02:39.349 --> 00:02:40.889 How many people have just gone, hey, that's me. 00:02:41.310 --> 00:02:44.289 Oh, that's me. That's also me. Key person goes, 00:02:44.370 --> 00:02:47.810 or you have a health issue yourself. Yeah, there's 00:02:47.810 --> 00:02:50.370 lots of fun things in those categories. Goodness 00:02:50.370 --> 00:02:53.389 me, sorry. Anyway, I apologise, that was off. 00:02:54.030 --> 00:02:57.150 Pretty good podcast topic there, Zane. This is 00:02:57.150 --> 00:02:59.949 going to be fun. I am not depressed right now 00:02:59.949 --> 00:03:03.680 at all. We hope everyone leaves a little bit 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.659 optimistic. Clients not paying you. Yeah. Once 00:03:06.659 --> 00:03:09.340 you've already done the work. Uh huh. Yep. Team 00:03:09.340 --> 00:03:13.580 member quitting on the lighter note, maybe a 00:03:13.580 --> 00:03:16.379 marketing campaign flopped. These things will 00:03:16.379 --> 00:03:20.300 probably feel really heavy and maybe even personal, 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:24.120 but it's about what you do in result to that. 00:03:24.379 --> 00:03:26.580 Because we've seen all these things happen in 00:03:26.580 --> 00:03:29.479 consulting where they're... Cash flow dries up, 00:03:30.460 --> 00:03:34.139 systems crash, employees walk out. Customers 00:03:34.139 --> 00:03:36.300 pay $100 ,000 to the wrong person's account. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:41.500 Oh no. Wowee. Ouch. Lucky other person. But I 00:03:41.500 --> 00:03:44.379 think the key thing there is it's not if that's 00:03:44.379 --> 00:03:46.680 going to happen, it's when that happens. Because 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:49.520 if you have a business that lasts a decade or 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:51.939 more, or even short. Things go wrong. Things 00:03:51.939 --> 00:03:54.340 will go wrong. It's not if they're going to go 00:03:54.340 --> 00:03:57.199 wrong, things are going to go wrong. Yeah, but 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:01.000 it's not a reflection necessarily on the business 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:04.719 owner, so I feel like... Sometimes it is. I say 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:07.759 sometimes. I always say, will you end up as always 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:09.800 a direct result of all the decisions you've made 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:12.479 along the way. We have outside factors that affect 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:15.340 our lives, but will we end up as sort of choices? 00:04:15.699 --> 00:04:17.439 They have definitely affected, but we make choices 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:21.160 along the way still. Yes, yes. But I mean, if 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:23.800 you're constantly taking these personally, then 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:26.180 you're going to end up... being hurt, you've 00:04:26.180 --> 00:04:27.980 got to just turn around and make actions. If 00:04:27.980 --> 00:04:29.720 you're taking anything in business too personal, 00:04:29.779 --> 00:04:31.779 you probably need to re -evaluate your life choices. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.279 Who else are running a business? I mean, a business 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:39.259 is like a baby to some business owners. You should 00:04:39.259 --> 00:04:42.339 be able to also detach yourself emotionally from 00:04:42.339 --> 00:04:45.899 some outcomes. I love how you've just gone, you 00:04:45.899 --> 00:04:48.360 should be able to to some nice, nice set of people 00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:51.199 are not going to do. Yeah, and that's probably 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:57.459 wake up. It's their livelihoods. As someone who 00:04:57.459 --> 00:05:00.079 was very attached to the first iteration of the 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:03.759 business and couldn't understand why people wouldn't 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:05.740 pay or they didn't do this and you're attached 00:05:05.740 --> 00:05:07.399 to your product and you're attached to this, 00:05:08.060 --> 00:05:10.220 speaking from experience you can be very emotionally 00:05:10.220 --> 00:05:12.839 attached and the more emotionally attached you 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:17.029 are the harder it is to move through it. Yeah, 00:05:17.149 --> 00:05:18.829 I think it's just channeling in the right way. 00:05:18.949 --> 00:05:20.509 I think sometimes having an emotional attachment 00:05:20.509 --> 00:05:22.709 is good as long as you have retained perspective. 00:05:23.610 --> 00:05:24.850 That's the word. That's what you're saying. If 00:05:24.850 --> 00:05:26.370 you attach for emotion, you get perspective, 00:05:26.509 --> 00:05:28.189 but you can still have emotion and have perspective. 00:05:28.629 --> 00:05:31.269 Well, emotion means you care. Yeah. It gives 00:05:31.269 --> 00:05:34.990 you some motivation, which is always handy. But 00:05:34.990 --> 00:05:36.689 anyway, we're going to talk about lots of things. 00:05:36.910 --> 00:05:40.389 I think the main thing is when you do face some 00:05:40.389 --> 00:05:43.470 challenging circumstances. Adversity. Yeah. Have 00:05:43.470 --> 00:05:45.329 a look around. Look at the direction you should 00:05:45.329 --> 00:05:49.149 go and keep going. Just always keep going. So 00:05:49.149 --> 00:05:52.370 when we're talking about strategies for dealing 00:05:52.370 --> 00:05:55.209 with these risks, I think there's some key fundamentals 00:05:55.209 --> 00:05:58.610 that you need to have in place before you even, 00:05:59.430 --> 00:06:02.589 you even try and make big changes. So that might 00:06:02.589 --> 00:06:06.009 be knowing your, well, it is knowing your numbers. 00:06:06.209 --> 00:06:09.290 So you need to be able to understand where you 00:06:09.290 --> 00:06:12.500 are financially at any point in time. So that 00:06:12.500 --> 00:06:16.540 means tracking income and expenses. Clear reporting. 00:06:16.860 --> 00:06:19.000 Yeah. Yep. If you haven't done that, that's where 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:23.680 you start. And then focusing on cash in and your 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:27.959 profit. So I think we've experienced a lot when 00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:31.480 people think they're making profit, but they're 00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:34.300 not making cash flow. Yes. Or on the... They're 00:06:34.300 --> 00:06:36.300 not making profit too. Yeah. Well, there's that. 00:06:37.660 --> 00:06:41.319 Yes. But they think they're making money. they're 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:45.120 actually not, they didn't realise and then six 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:47.259 months down the line. Once a few hundred thousand 00:06:47.259 --> 00:06:51.100 dollars is not there anymore. Yeah. So we need 00:06:51.100 --> 00:06:53.259 to be able to see those numbers so that you can 00:06:53.259 --> 00:06:56.220 see if those changes are actually making any 00:06:56.220 --> 00:06:59.439 positive impact and you've also got to understand 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:03.620 where it is that you're starting. And then hopefully 00:07:03.620 --> 00:07:07.100 maybe past you had created a bit of an emergency 00:07:07.100 --> 00:07:10.120 buffer. I mean, that's the hope. And then, yeah, 00:07:10.139 --> 00:07:13.120 what's an emergency buffer? I think a lot of 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:15.319 people, it depends on the business and what your 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:18.120 risk appetite is. Good combo of words there. 00:07:18.180 --> 00:07:21.399 I like that. But, you know, for a lot of people, 00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:23.779 if you can go, what's my monthly expenses? So 00:07:23.779 --> 00:07:26.019 let's say we weren't trading at all. We didn't 00:07:26.019 --> 00:07:27.819 have any cost of sales because we're not selling 00:07:27.819 --> 00:07:29.220 anything, but we're not going to income from 00:07:29.220 --> 00:07:31.939 sales. Just what's two months worth of expenses. 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:34.220 If you had that as a buffer, you're probably 00:07:34.220 --> 00:07:36.329 pretty good. Because then if you're fluctuating 00:07:36.329 --> 00:07:38.209 a little bit when people pay you or not pay you, 00:07:38.209 --> 00:07:40.709 you've got more than enough room. And worst case 00:07:40.709 --> 00:07:44.930 scenario, an event like COVID, you're going to 00:07:44.930 --> 00:07:46.790 be able to use that buffer to go through it. 00:07:47.269 --> 00:07:48.949 Most people would spend the money well before 00:07:48.949 --> 00:07:51.730 there, but depending on your risk appetite, you 00:07:51.730 --> 00:07:52.990 might want four months in the bank, you might 00:07:52.990 --> 00:07:55.410 want two months in the bank. But one's probably 00:07:55.410 --> 00:07:58.529 a little bit too little, but good. Two's probably... 00:07:58.379 --> 00:08:01.120 quite good for a lot of businesses. So like Z 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:02.540 said, you've got to know your numbers and what 00:08:02.540 --> 00:08:04.500 you have and what you don't have. But then you've 00:08:04.500 --> 00:08:07.480 also got to know what should you have. So with 00:08:07.480 --> 00:08:10.819 your list of things that could possibly go wrong. 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:15.500 Not extensive, but quite large. What's the common 00:08:15.500 --> 00:08:19.519 theme among them all? I think just flying by 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:23.350 the seat of your pants. So most people don't 00:08:23.350 --> 00:08:25.709 really have a plan, they're too busy working, 00:08:25.769 --> 00:08:28.230 doing stuff because they need to because it's 00:08:28.230 --> 00:08:29.610 cheaper for them to do it than somewhere else 00:08:29.610 --> 00:08:32.450 and someone else and all of those different reasons. 00:08:32.789 --> 00:08:35.350 I'll do it faster, I'll make more money, whatever 00:08:35.350 --> 00:08:36.990 it is, doesn't matter, everyone's got their reasons. 00:08:38.149 --> 00:08:40.809 But no one ever focuses on the risk of something 00:08:40.809 --> 00:08:44.450 going wrong, which would stop their income. And 00:08:44.450 --> 00:08:46.370 I think if they thought about that a bit often, 00:08:46.570 --> 00:08:50.740 a bit more frequently, then they would probably 00:08:50.740 --> 00:08:52.220 make a few changes in your business, which would 00:08:52.220 --> 00:08:53.559 actually solve a lot of the other problems they 00:08:53.559 --> 00:08:55.980 have. But because no one sort of thinks about 00:08:55.980 --> 00:08:57.340 that, oh, should be right or I don't have time 00:08:57.340 --> 00:09:00.639 to do it, nothing will go wrong. You end up just 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:02.779 doing everything yourself. And, you know, so 00:09:02.779 --> 00:09:04.299 I think the flying by your seat or your pants, 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:06.399 not having a plan and, and expecting nothing 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:10.019 will go wrong is probably the biggest issue rather 00:09:10.019 --> 00:09:12.600 than, you know, but for some people it's cash. 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:15.480 And I think most small businesses fail due to 00:09:15.480 --> 00:09:17.779 lack of funding. That's probably reasonably well 00:09:17.779 --> 00:09:20.679 known and studied. people blame the economy and 00:09:20.679 --> 00:09:22.440 rents and we've talked about this before, or 00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:24.320 whatever it is, it's not them, but generally 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:25.820 don't have enough money. Is there a little bit 00:09:25.820 --> 00:09:27.779 of that ostrich putting their head in the sand 00:09:27.779 --> 00:09:30.379 kind of thing as well? If I don't look at this, 00:09:30.539 --> 00:09:33.139 it'll maybe go away, like your Kodaks and your 00:09:33.139 --> 00:09:37.279 Blockbusters out of the world? Maybe. But yeah, 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:38.679 I guess we're talking about risk mitigation, 00:09:38.860 --> 00:09:43.059 not so much. Well, that is a risk too. So that's 00:09:43.059 --> 00:09:45.460 competitors coming in or change of technology. 00:09:46.500 --> 00:09:51.330 But the saying is if you sit on a... Railway 00:09:51.330 --> 00:09:52.929 Staying still doesn't matter how far ahead you 00:09:52.929 --> 00:09:56.490 are eventually get run over. Yep. So Yeah, I'll 00:09:56.490 --> 00:09:58.610 talk about cash. We started a cash soon as I 00:09:58.610 --> 00:10:01.009 worked the way through the list But having an 00:10:01.009 --> 00:10:02.769 understanding what your business does need to 00:10:02.769 --> 00:10:05.750 operate How much cash does it need how many other 00:10:05.750 --> 00:10:07.549 assets doesn't need there's lots of ratios and 00:10:07.549 --> 00:10:09.750 things you can use but Fundamentally just needs 00:10:09.750 --> 00:10:11.950 to know what that number is and then do we have 00:10:11.950 --> 00:10:13.769 enough or do we have access to it? And that goes 00:10:13.769 --> 00:10:18.509 back to I Don't but we could do this this this 00:10:18.649 --> 00:10:21.090 I don't. That means I have these risks. What 00:10:21.090 --> 00:10:25.169 could I do to mitigate those risks? So perfect 00:10:25.169 --> 00:10:27.549 world is we have enough. It's never perfect. 00:10:27.809 --> 00:10:31.070 But we're talking about what to do when things 00:10:31.070 --> 00:10:33.750 go wrong. Generally what your plan should have 00:10:33.750 --> 00:10:36.309 been beforehand, because most things can be reasonably 00:10:36.309 --> 00:10:38.370 foreseen. So we're going to run out of cash. 00:10:38.450 --> 00:10:41.250 We're going to access this. Or we might run out 00:10:41.250 --> 00:10:42.850 of cash in three months time. I'm really worried 00:10:42.850 --> 00:10:44.269 about maybe we should apply for an overdraft 00:10:44.269 --> 00:10:46.629 with the bank now while our finances are good. 00:10:47.590 --> 00:10:49.830 before they go bad and our bank won't give us 00:10:49.830 --> 00:10:51.850 finance because they're bad when we need it. 00:10:52.370 --> 00:10:54.450 So the main thing is knowing the numbers, having 00:10:54.450 --> 00:10:57.590 a plan there. I've found that two months formula 00:10:57.590 --> 00:11:00.789 pretty good for me personally, whether it's business 00:11:00.789 --> 00:11:04.289 or life in general. Having that two months of 00:11:04.289 --> 00:11:07.230 capital available just in case helps a lot of 00:11:07.230 --> 00:11:10.350 people sleep at night. It certainly does. I empathise 00:11:10.350 --> 00:11:13.909 with the small business owners that, so for example, 00:11:13.909 --> 00:11:16.370 it's a family run business and they have 10 people. 00:11:17.660 --> 00:11:19.720 10 employees, and then all of a sudden their 00:11:19.720 --> 00:11:22.899 cash flow drops. The knee -jerk reaction is get 00:11:22.899 --> 00:11:24.960 rid of people because that's our biggest expense. 00:11:25.860 --> 00:11:27.019 How do you combat that? Families aren't getting 00:11:27.019 --> 00:11:32.059 fed then? That's awful. How do you combat that? 00:11:32.259 --> 00:11:34.340 Well, because you can get rid of the non -essential 00:11:34.340 --> 00:11:36.720 spending, but if they're saying, well, yeah, 00:11:36.820 --> 00:11:38.820 if they're saying, well, the employees aren't 00:11:38.820 --> 00:11:41.679 non -essential. That's just the easiest to hide, 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:44.299 but I don't know. It's a rough one, but it's 00:11:44.299 --> 00:11:48.399 a factor. So if our clients stop dealing with 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:50.179 us or the economy drops or whatever happens, 00:11:50.500 --> 00:11:53.980 how does our business, what can it do? It can 00:11:53.980 --> 00:11:58.019 diversify what our people do. It can contract 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:00.720 out our people to other people. It can cut its 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:03.279 workforce. When that happens, we should have 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:04.860 a few different options we can choose from at 00:12:04.860 --> 00:12:06.539 the time as appropriate. But at the end of the 00:12:06.539 --> 00:12:08.000 day, if you've got 10 people working for you 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:11.460 and you can keep seven, or you go out of business, 00:12:12.460 --> 00:12:14.039 probably got a duty of care to keep the seven. 00:12:14.460 --> 00:12:16.320 Yeah, it's brutal. And that's pretty normal. 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:18.340 It's, you know, every industry's had that where 00:12:18.340 --> 00:12:20.820 people lose their jobs and whatever. It's brutal. 00:12:20.899 --> 00:12:22.659 But that's part of doing business, unfortunately. 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:27.000 But let's continue on the people front. So let's 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:29.580 say you have you have some key staff or some 00:12:29.580 --> 00:12:31.179 really good electricians that work for you or 00:12:31.179 --> 00:12:33.019 something like that, and then they leave. What 00:12:33.019 --> 00:12:36.830 happens? Your entire business runs off their 00:12:36.830 --> 00:12:38.870 back, then you're putting yourself in strife 00:12:38.870 --> 00:12:41.250 because they're taking all the expertise and 00:12:41.250 --> 00:12:42.950 the runnings of the business with them. They're 00:12:42.950 --> 00:12:46.190 taking the value of the business with them. So 00:12:46.190 --> 00:12:48.629 you're stuck in a loop, which is something you 00:12:48.629 --> 00:12:50.929 definitely... You've got the jobs walked in. 00:12:51.110 --> 00:12:54.049 Yeah. And you've got no people and your person's 00:12:54.049 --> 00:12:56.289 just left. And you've quoted it out and now you've 00:12:56.289 --> 00:12:58.909 got to get casual workforce. Well, if you get 00:12:58.909 --> 00:13:02.529 them, you can get them. They are a rare commodity, 00:13:02.570 --> 00:13:04.740 I've heard. With these scenarios, you've got 00:13:04.740 --> 00:13:07.019 a bit of a probability of happening compared 00:13:07.019 --> 00:13:09.720 to the impact, you know, which is something to 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:11.840 assess. So something could be super rare, like 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:13.139 pretty low chance we're going to lose all of 00:13:13.139 --> 00:13:15.279 our skilled employees at one go. But if it did, 00:13:15.299 --> 00:13:17.000 it'd be catastrophic. What do we do? Because 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:18.220 we probably should plan for that because that 00:13:18.220 --> 00:13:20.259 would be catastrophic. Maybe there's a high chance 00:13:20.259 --> 00:13:23.500 that we'd lose one person, but low impact. So 00:13:23.500 --> 00:13:25.820 we probably still need to plan for that. So when 00:13:25.820 --> 00:13:27.659 you have a few good staff, you get them doing 00:13:27.659 --> 00:13:30.299 all the jobs because it's nice and easy and low 00:13:30.299 --> 00:13:32.629 management. but maybe you need a plan of people 00:13:32.629 --> 00:13:34.889 coming through and getting other people exposure. 00:13:35.450 --> 00:13:38.269 Passing on the knowledge. Yeah. And becoming 00:13:38.269 --> 00:13:41.029 less reliant on that person, which sounds so 00:13:41.029 --> 00:13:43.250 mean, but I mean, yeah, for the sake of your 00:13:43.250 --> 00:13:46.509 business. I know I reference the Trashy Below 00:13:46.509 --> 00:13:48.970 Deck TV show often on the podcast, but I watched 00:13:48.970 --> 00:13:51.190 one the other day and Captain Jason, the Australian 00:13:51.190 --> 00:13:54.210 fella, he had a chief stew who was putting her 00:13:54.210 --> 00:13:56.909 two stewed addresses, one on service and one 00:13:56.909 --> 00:13:59.960 doing the beds. toilets and all that sort of 00:13:59.960 --> 00:14:01.519 stuff non -stop because they were both that was 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:03.220 their strengths and she's like I'm the chief 00:14:03.220 --> 00:14:05.200 Stu I want to make sure that the experience is 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:07.620 110 % and that's gonna be the best that's how 00:14:07.620 --> 00:14:11.039 I run it and he made her most of the way through 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:12.899 they were getting upset but he made her halfway 00:14:12.899 --> 00:14:15.500 through swap them because they needed both to 00:14:15.500 --> 00:14:18.320 get better at the others and then a few episodes 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:19.840 later the one that was stuck downstairs and was 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:22.100 allowed to talk to any clients she was promoted 00:14:22.100 --> 00:14:25.240 to the second Stu and the one that was only on 00:14:25.240 --> 00:14:27.529 service which was sort of the glory job She was 00:14:27.529 --> 00:14:28.990 actually like, oh, you know, I want to be the 00:14:28.990 --> 00:14:30.730 chief show in the future. So this is horrible. 00:14:30.750 --> 00:14:31.970 I'm not doing my job very well, but I'm going 00:14:31.970 --> 00:14:34.289 to learn how to smash it. Yeah, cool. And that's 00:14:34.289 --> 00:14:36.169 a good example of, you know, maybe you don't 00:14:36.169 --> 00:14:38.850 train the people or you don't push them as far 00:14:38.850 --> 00:14:40.570 as you need to because you've got people in place. 00:14:40.750 --> 00:14:44.070 But part of this risk mitigation is that maybe 00:14:44.070 --> 00:14:45.970 we do need to challenge people a bit more often. 00:14:46.370 --> 00:14:49.690 And reward the people that are like you don't 00:14:49.690 --> 00:14:53.230 want your best people leaving. No. So I feel 00:14:53.230 --> 00:14:55.269 like as part of that risk mitigation, you've 00:14:55.269 --> 00:14:57.700 got to figure out how to keep them. Yeah. For 00:14:57.700 --> 00:14:59.320 the sake of your business, obviously. It's another 00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:02.120 strategy. Yeah. Yeah. It just, you don't want 00:15:02.120 --> 00:15:04.820 to lose your best people. Correct. The question 00:15:04.820 --> 00:15:07.799 I was going to lead to was identify why people 00:15:07.799 --> 00:15:10.200 are leaving. Yeah. Yeah. That's also another. 00:15:10.340 --> 00:15:11.980 And it could be, you know, a good example just 00:15:11.980 --> 00:15:13.779 going off that and everything's complex is you 00:15:13.779 --> 00:15:15.679 can go into as much detail as you want in every 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:18.019 single thing. There's so many things. But yeah, 00:15:18.019 --> 00:15:20.480 maybe those two good people left because no one 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:22.200 else can do their role when they're away or it 00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:24.019 always comes back to them. Yeah, too much responsibility. 00:15:24.019 --> 00:15:25.779 Because we weren't stepping other people up to 00:15:25.779 --> 00:15:28.289 replace them. They're leaving because everyone's 00:15:28.289 --> 00:15:30.809 a mumpty. Or they just feel too much pressure 00:15:30.809 --> 00:15:33.110 or burnt out themselves, which is not fair on 00:15:33.110 --> 00:15:35.330 them. Long shifts or getting called back in because 00:15:35.330 --> 00:15:38.289 no one else can do their job. So I know the people 00:15:38.289 --> 00:15:40.429 that I've found that stress the most about their 00:15:40.429 --> 00:15:42.110 businesses, they're thinking about all these 00:15:42.110 --> 00:15:44.509 things and they get most stressed because they 00:15:44.509 --> 00:15:45.870 haven't thought about or considered what would 00:15:45.870 --> 00:15:49.049 happen. So sometimes we can be seen as overstressing 00:15:49.049 --> 00:15:50.809 and sometimes it could be we just need to start 00:15:50.809 --> 00:15:52.610 putting down, hey, we need these things in place. 00:15:52.889 --> 00:15:54.610 It doesn't need to be urgent, but we need a bit 00:15:54.610 --> 00:15:56.649 of a plan so we're working in the right direction. 00:15:56.990 --> 00:15:59.289 Another interesting one with people like admin 00:15:59.289 --> 00:16:02.450 people for small business are mainly because 00:16:02.450 --> 00:16:04.710 a lot of small business owners have a bookkeeper 00:16:04.710 --> 00:16:06.990 or an admin person that sort of runs the business, 00:16:07.629 --> 00:16:09.370 as they will say it. And then other people might 00:16:09.370 --> 00:16:13.190 say they don't, but we can't get rid of that 00:16:13.190 --> 00:16:14.950 person because she knows all our fine answers, 00:16:15.110 --> 00:16:18.750 or he. That more than once. Yeah, we can't really, 00:16:19.049 --> 00:16:20.669 that's the only person that knows what's going 00:16:20.669 --> 00:16:24.519 on. I can't replace that person because I might, 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:26.179 if I get rid of that person, they might dog me 00:16:26.179 --> 00:16:28.100 in for blah, blah, blah. They end up being a 00:16:28.100 --> 00:16:30.639 bit of a hostage for that as well. So sometimes 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:32.940 I think it's, you put the systems and processes 00:16:32.940 --> 00:16:35.340 in place and people might be pushed back against 00:16:35.340 --> 00:16:37.120 it in that scenario where someone might be a 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:41.100 bit nefarious. But it will be because they're 00:16:41.100 --> 00:16:44.360 trying to. make themselves irreplaceable or demand 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:46.340 a greater pay rate or these are all risks for 00:16:46.340 --> 00:16:47.779 the business, right? And you say, well, we actually 00:16:47.779 --> 00:16:49.480 got to have that system frozen because what happens 00:16:49.480 --> 00:16:51.580 if you're sick tomorrow and you're in hospital 00:16:51.580 --> 00:16:53.379 for the next six months and then no one's got 00:16:53.379 --> 00:16:58.460 a job? That's the argument. So I think just looking 00:16:58.460 --> 00:17:00.899 at the people and the structure and how can you 00:17:00.899 --> 00:17:02.740 cross train or how if someone's away, how can 00:17:02.740 --> 00:17:04.960 you step in for each other? I think that's a 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:06.940 pretty good thing. And then you've also got a 00:17:06.940 --> 00:17:09.670 well, what if workforce isn't available? What 00:17:09.670 --> 00:17:12.170 do we do then? But just, you know, list the most 00:17:12.170 --> 00:17:15.630 likely issues and look at the impacts. And if 00:17:15.630 --> 00:17:17.650 they're probable, they could happen as a big 00:17:17.650 --> 00:17:19.910 impact, then do you have a rough plan? Yeah. 00:17:20.730 --> 00:17:23.890 Moving down the list, government. Changing of 00:17:23.890 --> 00:17:26.650 rules. Those guys, it changes all the time. Yeah. 00:17:26.990 --> 00:17:28.250 Well, it doesn't matter which country you're 00:17:28.250 --> 00:17:31.690 from, but red tape and different governments 00:17:31.690 --> 00:17:34.109 will have different strategies. Yeah, so many 00:17:34.109 --> 00:17:36.980 industries stop right before election. it's crazy 00:17:36.980 --> 00:17:39.440 how much doesn't happen right before election. 00:17:39.660 --> 00:17:41.319 Yeah or people that say nothing happens when 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:44.440 it still is. Yeah well I mean yes but as in it 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:48.140 probably causes them to stop. I believe them 00:17:48.140 --> 00:17:50.059 when they say like everything dies down because 00:17:50.059 --> 00:17:51.599 they're not sure where to spend their money and 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:53.460 those sort of things. We'd have so much more 00:17:53.460 --> 00:17:54.960 happening right now if those other guys were 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:58.740 in. Yes so yeah that could be a risk as far as 00:17:58.740 --> 00:18:01.359 government makes a change and it is a negative 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:03.950 impact. We can also have a risk if there was 00:18:03.950 --> 00:18:05.890 a positive impact, because maybe we weren't ready 00:18:05.890 --> 00:18:09.329 for it. So the government's putting in some subsidies 00:18:09.329 --> 00:18:11.349 for people to buy a certain product, and we're 00:18:11.349 --> 00:18:14.349 not organized for it. That could be a risk. So 00:18:14.349 --> 00:18:16.890 I think we don't have to keep up with everything 00:18:16.890 --> 00:18:19.289 from the government, but it's worthwhile keeping 00:18:19.289 --> 00:18:21.450 tabs on if certain things change or certain parts 00:18:21.450 --> 00:18:23.970 that we do rely on. What happens if it's not 00:18:23.970 --> 00:18:26.589 working in our favor? Technology is a huge one 00:18:26.589 --> 00:18:29.289 at the moment with AI. You've got data security, 00:18:29.390 --> 00:18:33.359 privacy. You've got, I think, every second ad 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:35.559 that comes across my YouTube feed at the moment 00:18:35.559 --> 00:18:37.759 is these industries, these five industries are 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:39.640 going to die out in the next five years. Yep, 00:18:39.819 --> 00:18:42.079 something great ad using fear as a motivator. 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:47.119 Gets the click through. But yeah, what AI are 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:50.000 we using to keep up with the times? So we're 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:53.920 not getting behind the eight ball? Are we protecting 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:58.319 our data? Do we have passwords that are secure? 00:18:58.859 --> 00:19:01.160 Good passwords. Yeah, I saw someone log into 00:19:01.160 --> 00:19:03.740 something earlier today and and it came up in 00:19:03.740 --> 00:19:05.599 giant red through the password system that this 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:08.539 has been compromised. And the person panicked 00:19:08.539 --> 00:19:10.299 and like, oh, that's bad. I said, it's not that 00:19:10.299 --> 00:19:11.799 account. It just means that password's on the 00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:15.720 list. I've had that happen to me. And you probably 00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:17.660 use that password for everything. And the person's 00:19:17.660 --> 00:19:20.940 like, yep. Oh, cool. Well, it might not be now, 00:19:21.059 --> 00:19:22.400 but it could be your bank. It could be this, 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:23.420 it could be this, it could be this, it could 00:19:23.420 --> 00:19:25.480 be all these things. Because as soon as someone 00:19:25.480 --> 00:19:27.559 goes, oh, that's that email and they know your 00:19:27.559 --> 00:19:29.140 other emails, they're going to try that password 00:19:29.140 --> 00:19:30.460 for all the different things that they want to 00:19:30.460 --> 00:19:32.329 get into. And that's how your Facebook account 00:19:32.329 --> 00:19:34.269 gets hacked and all that sort of stuff. So two 00:19:34.269 --> 00:19:37.630 -factor authentication is... Yeah, so what risks 00:19:37.630 --> 00:19:39.269 do we have in that regard? Do we have anything 00:19:39.269 --> 00:19:40.869 for managing our passwords? Are we typing everything 00:19:40.869 --> 00:19:42.549 in or are we using the same password for everything? 00:19:42.690 --> 00:19:44.589 Well, if you are, you're probably about 20 years 00:19:44.589 --> 00:19:47.309 behind the cyber security. That's me. You've 00:19:47.309 --> 00:19:49.069 got platforms, you know, Google and Microsoft 00:19:49.069 --> 00:19:50.529 that have a lot of in -book security. You've 00:19:50.529 --> 00:19:53.329 got two -factor authentications to minimize these 00:19:53.329 --> 00:19:55.940 things. You've got insurances, but... That's 00:19:55.940 --> 00:19:58.079 reimbursing you from a massive disruption. But 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:00.500 for most businesses, losing all your data and 00:20:00.500 --> 00:20:02.160 not having access to your systems or your clients 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:06.660 all knowing their data's gone to whoever in whatever 00:20:06.660 --> 00:20:10.039 country. Not ideal. And then you've also got 00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:12.079 the people that just work from paper as well 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:15.559 and have all of their notes and all their client 00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:17.680 files in their office. Rackets in there. Yeah. 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:21.210 Done. Fire. Done. Yep. Fire. So many different 00:20:21.210 --> 00:20:23.910 things. It used to be you had your NYB file and 00:20:23.910 --> 00:20:26.029 the USB stick back up and the backups never restored. 00:20:28.029 --> 00:20:30.630 Yeah, so yeah, physical stuff, not just technology. 00:20:31.390 --> 00:20:33.509 Beautiful thing about those risks are they are 00:20:33.509 --> 00:20:36.950 all within your control. Well, somewhat. You 00:20:36.950 --> 00:20:39.309 can change your passwords. You can not just have 00:20:39.309 --> 00:20:41.849 paper. You can choose to cast up old mate, burn 00:20:41.849 --> 00:20:46.799 down your office. Yeah, that's brutal. You have 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:50.059 some impact on what might happen. You do have 00:20:50.059 --> 00:20:53.140 a bit of control of the charts or the effect 00:20:53.140 --> 00:20:55.880 it will have. The mitigation of it as well. And 00:20:55.880 --> 00:20:58.079 it can be, oh, internet goes down. We rely on 00:20:58.079 --> 00:20:59.740 the internet for phones. Most people's phones 00:20:59.740 --> 00:21:01.640 work through the internet now. So, okay, well, 00:21:01.640 --> 00:21:04.460 do we have a backup that kicks in like a cellular 00:21:04.460 --> 00:21:06.539 internet in the office that automatically as 00:21:06.539 --> 00:21:08.880 the internet's down, bang, kicks up, you know, 00:21:09.220 --> 00:21:11.500 can be quite as simple as that. But again, look 00:21:11.500 --> 00:21:13.599 at what... your business users in those areas 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:18.160 and what would happen if it wasn't working. Next. 00:21:18.980 --> 00:21:22.640 Bad debt. What do you mean by bad debt? Debt 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:26.059 that's not moving you forward? Unpaid taxes? 00:21:27.059 --> 00:21:29.200 No. Bad debts when we were writing off people, 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:31.880 money people owe us. Got a bit of counseling 00:21:31.880 --> 00:21:34.579 there. Everyone would have heard of someone that 00:21:34.579 --> 00:21:36.559 went out of business because it's guided by me. 00:21:37.339 --> 00:21:39.339 I got 20 cents on the dollar when they went bankrupt. 00:21:39.559 --> 00:21:44.019 Yep. Yep. So do we have accounts? Do we have 00:21:44.019 --> 00:21:46.160 account agreements? Do we have personal guarantees? 00:21:46.299 --> 00:21:49.059 Do we have security on anything within companies? 00:21:50.420 --> 00:21:53.759 What's our debtor follow -up? What are our general 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:57.220 rule of thumb for how far we let people go? How 00:21:57.220 --> 00:22:00.380 much can we absorb? Do we have the buffer? Yeah. 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:01.940 Some people are like, oh, I needed to deal with 00:22:01.940 --> 00:22:03.119 them because I wasn't making enough money. I 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:07.859 just needed to work. Well, if 50 % of your income 00:22:07.859 --> 00:22:10.839 is coming from... Yeah, 40 % of your clients. 00:22:10.940 --> 00:22:13.180 Yeah, as in diverse for your client base. Yeah. 00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:15.500 So risk mitigation, diversify on the client base 00:22:15.500 --> 00:22:17.720 and maybe we've got one client, we just need 00:22:17.720 --> 00:22:20.200 to understand when that client goes, we shut 00:22:20.200 --> 00:22:22.559 down the business. That's what we do. It's a 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:25.619 good run. Yeah. So yeah, I think it's if you're 00:22:25.619 --> 00:22:27.039 struggling and then you've got some bad debt 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:28.519 with some clients and you're like, oh, we rely 00:22:28.519 --> 00:22:30.119 on them to do it. It's like you really need to 00:22:30.119 --> 00:22:32.019 look at, well, we need to fix the issue. We're 00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:34.019 struggling and we need to assume that we don't 00:22:34.019 --> 00:22:37.000 have that client because if they don't pass, 00:22:37.099 --> 00:22:39.700 we're definitely broken. And if they do pass, 00:22:39.900 --> 00:22:44.200 we're still very reliant. So yeah, credit management. 00:22:44.859 --> 00:22:46.440 If you're finding it a huge issue and you're 00:22:46.440 --> 00:22:47.740 going to go broke, if someone doesn't pay you, 00:22:47.859 --> 00:22:49.799 you need to look at diversification and definitely 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:51.980 profitability, like your pricing or your model. 00:22:52.279 --> 00:22:54.740 Don't be complacent. Yeah. But that should be 00:22:54.740 --> 00:22:58.220 in your budget to allow for some loss. It's brutal 00:22:58.220 --> 00:23:01.410 when... Someone can't pay, for example, super 00:23:01.410 --> 00:23:04.390 for their employees or their wages, but it comes 00:23:04.390 --> 00:23:06.450 back. They say, oh, we don't have money in the 00:23:06.450 --> 00:23:08.329 account, but they actually have a ton of debtors. 00:23:08.390 --> 00:23:13.009 And if they just change from 60 to 30 day credit 00:23:13.009 --> 00:23:15.809 terms, they'd be fine. Yep. Yeah. That's a sad, 00:23:15.809 --> 00:23:19.430 sad turn of events. Yep. Know your numbers. When 00:23:19.430 --> 00:23:22.029 things like weather, so something we can't control 00:23:22.029 --> 00:23:24.329 so well, but let's say you're, you know, you're 00:23:24.329 --> 00:23:26.430 a roofer. You probably can't do too many roos 00:23:26.430 --> 00:23:29.039 in the rain. But if you've got 20 roofers working 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:31.019 for you, what do you do when it rains? Because 00:23:31.019 --> 00:23:34.680 it rains a lot in some places. Or it's too hot 00:23:34.680 --> 00:23:38.319 to work on a roof in other places as well. Could 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:40.920 you diversify your business model? Could do. 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:43.880 Because they're non -time sensitive work that 00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:45.599 they could be doing elsewhere. Can my roofers 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:49.700 build fences? Yeah. Is there a certain type of 00:23:49.700 --> 00:23:51.299 prep work that we do off -site that we'd normally 00:23:51.299 --> 00:23:53.640 do on -site? Might not be as efficient, but it 00:23:53.640 --> 00:23:57.400 would make the next job faster. can we be smart 00:23:57.400 --> 00:23:59.940 about how we do our hours? Maybe we do 10 -hour 00:23:59.940 --> 00:24:02.200 days or 12 -hour days instead of 8 -hour days. 00:24:02.599 --> 00:24:05.259 Flexible working -range strategy. Allow for the 00:24:05.259 --> 00:24:07.480 lack of productivity and pricing. What if you 00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:11.380 do a 12 -hour days, do three of those a week, 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:14.759 plus a little bit, instead of five 8 -hour days? 00:24:15.500 --> 00:24:16.900 So, okay, we're going to be flexible, we're going 00:24:16.900 --> 00:24:18.119 to work three days and we're just going to try 00:24:18.119 --> 00:24:20.220 to get them right. They'll be big days, but we're 00:24:20.220 --> 00:24:21.500 going to have a lot more days off and we're not 00:24:21.500 --> 00:24:22.720 going to be affected by the weather as much. 00:24:23.480 --> 00:24:25.299 As much as weather's not controllable, you're 00:24:25.299 --> 00:24:28.339 going to know seasonally, generally, when it's 00:24:28.339 --> 00:24:31.500 going to be, here's seven days of 40 plus, you 00:24:31.500 --> 00:24:33.240 probably don't want to be roofing. Yeah. It's 00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:36.740 like the wedding industry. Yeah. I mean, it all 00:24:36.740 --> 00:24:38.500 sort of shuts down over winter. Supposed to be 00:24:38.500 --> 00:24:40.279 lucky if it rains. Well, great example, what 00:24:40.279 --> 00:24:42.200 are wedding venues do for a wedding? A wedding 00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:45.500 doesn't change day. No, they will get a marquee 00:24:45.500 --> 00:24:47.700 or something similar. But there's always a wet 00:24:47.700 --> 00:24:50.839 weather plan. It does cost you more if you need 00:24:50.839 --> 00:24:53.240 a marquee put up at the last possible second 00:24:53.240 --> 00:24:55.890 or they'll... build a building or a small colour. 00:24:56.109 --> 00:24:58.509 Or there's a lot of places have, here's the outdoor 00:24:58.509 --> 00:25:00.289 spots. There's three different ones for different 00:25:00.289 --> 00:25:02.349 wind conditions and there's an indoor one too. 00:25:02.950 --> 00:25:04.970 And you get the whole place. So yeah, spot on. 00:25:05.089 --> 00:25:07.509 That's a good example. And then charge 50 % more 00:25:07.509 --> 00:25:10.089 than what it would be for another function. Going 00:25:10.089 --> 00:25:13.930 off the pricing before, that's worth more than 00:25:13.930 --> 00:25:15.529 a venue that doesn't have a weather strategy. 00:25:16.009 --> 00:25:17.730 Correct. So it's actually interesting because 00:25:17.730 --> 00:25:19.569 some of these things we can talk about, we have 00:25:19.569 --> 00:25:21.670 these systems in place. We have these mitigation 00:25:21.670 --> 00:25:25.190 plans for risks, which means we can assure with 00:25:25.190 --> 00:25:27.230 more certainty that we're going to deliver for 00:25:27.230 --> 00:25:30.250 you. That sounds good, doesn't it? Yeah. So that's 00:25:30.250 --> 00:25:31.869 a high price premium. There's someone that's 00:25:31.869 --> 00:25:34.950 like, oh, I don't have a don't have a occupational 00:25:34.950 --> 00:25:37.529 health and safety process. We'll just, you know, 00:25:37.630 --> 00:25:39.710 we'll be right. Yeah, that bamboo scaffold will 00:25:39.710 --> 00:25:42.400 do the job, won't it? Yeah. Oh no, that will 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:43.779 be fine. The weather will be fine. Don't worry 00:25:43.779 --> 00:25:46.400 about it. That's different too. The weather is 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:48.559 scheduled to be fine, but if it doesn't, we do 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:51.279 this, this and this. Interesting one there. So 00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:52.680 competitors, what sort of risks do we have from 00:25:52.680 --> 00:25:56.200 competitors? They come in and innovate and Kodak 00:25:56.200 --> 00:25:58.000 and Blockbuster again, just putting your head 00:25:58.000 --> 00:25:59.720 in the sand and going, ah, they're coming in. 00:26:00.119 --> 00:26:01.960 That digital technology is probably never going 00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:04.559 to take off. I'll be right. Yeah, my mom kind 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:06.940 of went to the government regulation. So for 00:26:06.940 --> 00:26:11.920 example, if they have entry incentives to your 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:13.799 industry. And then all of a sudden you've got 00:26:13.799 --> 00:26:17.539 20 new competitors and you're just happy doing 00:26:17.539 --> 00:26:20.759 what you were doing. Locally here, they had the 00:26:20.759 --> 00:26:22.980 liquor licensing rules. So venues needed to apply 00:26:22.980 --> 00:26:24.460 for the license. It was shaped like 12 months, 00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:26.460 a long time before they opened and people were 00:26:26.460 --> 00:26:27.779 complaining about it. I said, well, if you want 00:26:27.779 --> 00:26:29.980 to go into that industry, that's part of the, 00:26:29.980 --> 00:26:32.680 you know, factor that in. But they're like, we're 00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:35.079 paying 12 months of lease before we can get our 00:26:35.079 --> 00:26:37.420 license. because we need to, you know, and they're 00:26:37.420 --> 00:26:38.839 like, okay, we're going to change rules. So you 00:26:38.839 --> 00:26:40.420 don't need any of the licenses to start now, 00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:42.000 but you've got to be working on getting the next 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:44.779 in the months afterwards. So now a lot of those 00:26:44.779 --> 00:26:49.339 venues are going to pop up. Great example. Yeah. 00:26:49.339 --> 00:26:51.279 Yeah. I feel like when it comes to competitors, 00:26:51.339 --> 00:26:54.180 you've really got to dig down in what makes you 00:26:54.180 --> 00:26:58.579 different. You can't assume that you are. If 00:26:58.579 --> 00:27:00.799 you're building a house, you're just building 00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:03.700 a house. That's the same sort of concept as we're 00:27:03.700 --> 00:27:05.900 talking in one of the other episodes about your 00:27:05.900 --> 00:27:10.200 value base. Pricing is you've got to know what 00:27:10.200 --> 00:27:13.779 it is that you're actually delivering. The same 00:27:13.779 --> 00:27:15.140 thing turned around though, you can't assume 00:27:15.140 --> 00:27:16.559 because you've got a USB and you're fantastic 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:17.700 at what you do, the clients aren't going to leave 00:27:17.700 --> 00:27:19.900 you with it. Yeah, you've just got to knuckle 00:27:19.900 --> 00:27:22.329 down and hope that what you're doing is... is 00:27:22.329 --> 00:27:24.410 right. But then you've also, I mean, that's why 00:27:24.410 --> 00:27:26.829 we always come up with a higher, higher purpose 00:27:26.829 --> 00:27:30.589 is because you've got this set. You want a niche. 00:27:30.789 --> 00:27:33.250 Yeah. This is what you're trying to aim. It doesn't 00:27:33.250 --> 00:27:36.450 matter what that process looks like in order 00:27:36.450 --> 00:27:38.250 to get it. You've just got to be able to adapt 00:27:38.250 --> 00:27:40.029 because in the end, this is what you're trying 00:27:40.029 --> 00:27:41.950 to achieve. The more you niche down, the better 00:27:41.950 --> 00:27:44.589 off you'll be. In my experience, not everyone 00:27:44.589 --> 00:27:46.470 can be Coca -Cola where your audience is anyone 00:27:46.470 --> 00:27:49.309 with a mouth. But in saying that we have, you 00:27:49.309 --> 00:27:51.900 know, we have a niche, for example. and then 00:27:51.900 --> 00:27:53.640 four people jump in, we're going, gee, this looks 00:27:53.640 --> 00:27:55.319 good over here, let's get in on that. That's 00:27:55.319 --> 00:27:58.519 fun. Okay, what do we do? Be better. Can do. 00:27:58.920 --> 00:28:01.480 But what does that mean? Don't rest on your laurels 00:28:01.480 --> 00:28:03.559 just because you might have been the first one 00:28:03.559 --> 00:28:06.720 into that market. You've got to, as you said, 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:08.839 put the railway tracks. You've got to keep moving. 00:28:09.339 --> 00:28:12.400 So keep moving. But I think you can also have 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:14.279 a plan. Okay, suddenly we have three competitors. 00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:16.359 What are we going to do with our clients? Can 00:28:16.359 --> 00:28:18.099 we just have a product that we don't need to 00:28:18.099 --> 00:28:19.619 launch right now? But when we start getting competitors, 00:28:19.700 --> 00:28:21.940 we launch this product. It's all ready to go. 00:28:22.180 --> 00:28:24.039 We don't need it at the moment. We're not going 00:28:24.039 --> 00:28:25.599 to change our prices. It's going to be extra 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:28.299 value, but we're already super good value. So 00:28:28.299 --> 00:28:30.380 maybe we have this particular thing, and if someone 00:28:30.380 --> 00:28:32.500 jumps into our space, we launch that, and now 00:28:32.500 --> 00:28:33.880 suddenly we're three years ahead of them again. 00:28:34.519 --> 00:28:37.420 So it's probably like anything else. If that 00:28:37.420 --> 00:28:39.019 happened, what could we do? It's not just be 00:28:39.019 --> 00:28:41.779 better, but how could we be better and be a little 00:28:41.779 --> 00:28:44.279 bit organized as to if that would happen? I think 00:28:44.279 --> 00:28:49.700 that's the general gist of risk mitigation. Be 00:28:49.700 --> 00:28:52.039 as prepared as you can be and be fluid without 00:28:52.039 --> 00:28:55.960 being, you know, over the top. Yeah, I was going 00:28:55.960 --> 00:28:57.980 to say in saying that you can have a you can 00:28:57.980 --> 00:29:00.400 have a plan, but don't have a 40 page Excel spreadsheet 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:03.140 with every little detail of what it's going to 00:29:03.140 --> 00:29:05.420 look like, because you can't plan. That's why 00:29:05.420 --> 00:29:10.680 these these areas are so not vague, but I mean, 00:29:10.680 --> 00:29:13.339 they cover a lot of things. But in the end, you 00:29:13.339 --> 00:29:17.500 can't you can say my best employee, I'm so reliant 00:29:17.500 --> 00:29:21.519 on them. that I need to figure out a way to incentivize 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:24.660 them to stay because I need them and then I will 00:29:24.660 --> 00:29:26.900 also involve them in trying to make their job 00:29:26.900 --> 00:29:28.640 less intense because I know they're gonna get 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:31.900 burnt out, I'll bring them in. You don't know 00:29:31.900 --> 00:29:34.319 what incentivizing them is gonna look like until 00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:36.880 you talk to them. But it's just making a note 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:40.720 of how you're going to fix that should it come 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:42.990 about. So I think everyone's business is different, 00:29:43.009 --> 00:29:45.289 and as it grows, it has different risks or things 00:29:45.289 --> 00:29:47.269 to care about. Like when you've got a one -man 00:29:47.269 --> 00:29:48.789 band, you're not going to be cared about. You're 00:29:48.789 --> 00:29:49.970 not going to care about competitors and a few 00:29:49.970 --> 00:29:52.309 other things. Government changing the rules. 00:29:52.450 --> 00:29:53.970 When you're bigger and established, you're going 00:29:53.970 --> 00:29:57.049 to be more worried about things like that. But 00:29:57.049 --> 00:30:00.930 the general process is that you just, instead 00:30:00.930 --> 00:30:03.250 of going, she'll be right, just have a list of 00:30:03.250 --> 00:30:05.890 what could go wrong. Don't focus on it. But if 00:30:05.890 --> 00:30:09.299 there's any drastic consequences or... high chance 00:30:09.299 --> 00:30:11.000 of something happening is worth having a little 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:14.799 bit of a plan. And the second part is that they're 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:16.779 actually communicating that within the business 00:30:16.779 --> 00:30:19.940 because if everyone knows what to do, it won't 00:30:19.940 --> 00:30:22.539 be chaos. And that's the whole fire evacuation 00:30:22.539 --> 00:30:25.359 plan that everyone's seen. You know, you jump 00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:27.359 on a cruise ship and we do a fire drill first, 00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:29.599 the overboard, what happens if we're going to 00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:33.170 sink? Everyone's done the plan and we all would 00:30:33.170 --> 00:30:34.849 have done something before and gone, oh, under 00:30:34.849 --> 00:30:36.329 door. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, 00:30:36.349 --> 00:30:38.529 but when I was there, I felt like I'd been there 00:30:38.529 --> 00:30:40.430 before and I knew what was going to happen. And 00:30:40.430 --> 00:30:42.230 that's probably what we were aiming for. We're 00:30:42.230 --> 00:30:44.490 not aiming for perfection. We're just aiming 00:30:44.490 --> 00:30:48.190 for success. In saying that, like also look for 00:30:48.190 --> 00:30:49.930 support because you're not going to come up with 00:30:49.930 --> 00:30:54.589 all the ideas. I mean, most business owners get 00:30:54.589 --> 00:30:56.390 into their job because they're really good at 00:30:56.390 --> 00:31:00.180 what they do and they want to. They want to do 00:31:00.180 --> 00:31:02.380 better for themselves. It doesn't necessarily 00:31:02.380 --> 00:31:05.079 mean they're trained in all of the other nitty 00:31:05.079 --> 00:31:07.000 -gritty aspects like figuring out cash flow. 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:10.380 So find the resource in order to help and then 00:31:10.380 --> 00:31:13.670 lean on that advice. As long as it's good. The 00:31:13.670 --> 00:31:15.630 last area that I want to mention is just, you 00:31:15.630 --> 00:31:18.009 know, your personal side or, you know, something 00:31:18.009 --> 00:31:19.809 happens to you. You know, you've got wills and 00:31:19.809 --> 00:31:22.109 things like that. What happens if I'm not there 00:31:22.109 --> 00:31:24.269 anymore? But, you know, if you've got business 00:31:24.269 --> 00:31:26.529 entities, most people have companies or whatever 00:31:26.529 --> 00:31:29.329 it is and they're the director of them. So now 00:31:29.329 --> 00:31:31.230 if they're not there anymore, who can actually 00:31:31.230 --> 00:31:32.829 do anything on behalf of the company? No one. 00:31:33.349 --> 00:31:35.490 So I think it's just worth talking to the accountants 00:31:35.490 --> 00:31:36.970 and lawyers to make sure that you actually have 00:31:36.970 --> 00:31:40.190 a succession plan in place. And asset protection. 00:31:40.390 --> 00:31:42.829 Yeah. Oh, goodness. Yeah. It's quite a complicated 00:31:42.829 --> 00:31:45.970 area, but definitely asset protection and wills 00:31:45.970 --> 00:31:47.990 and successive directors and all that sort of 00:31:47.990 --> 00:31:50.029 stuff. Talk to your accountants and lawyers and 00:31:50.029 --> 00:31:53.190 make sure that something does go wrong, that 00:31:53.190 --> 00:31:55.269 the ship doesn't stop sailing. That's part of 00:31:55.269 --> 00:31:57.750 your three fundamentals of accounting and I can 00:31:57.750 --> 00:32:00.269 never remember them in order. Well, they don't 00:32:00.269 --> 00:32:02.829 have to be in order. Asset protection is one 00:32:02.829 --> 00:32:03.829 of the things your accountant should be doing 00:32:03.829 --> 00:32:06.769 for you. All the other two. Tax minimisation 00:32:06.769 --> 00:32:09.430 and good reporting. Here we go. All right. We'll 00:32:09.430 --> 00:32:12.329 wrap it up there. Thank you everyone for listening. 00:32:12.609 --> 00:32:15.890 If you do need help, reach out and we will see 00:32:15.890 --> 00:32:16.950 you next time. Bye.