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In this episode, I interview Louise Karch, the global name whisperer and author of the award-winning book Word Glue: Find Your Million Dollar Brand Name. Louise has been naming break out brands for the past decade and has doubled the revenues of entrepreneurs on two continents. She has worked for Seth Godin, the #1 marketing expert, and Richard Bolles the #1 career genius and best-selling author of What Color Is Your Parachute. Both influencers honed her values of professionalism, empathy, and generosity. Louise comes on the podcast to talk about how important naming your brand is in your success. She will share the key criteria of a great brand name and some of the common mistakes made when it comes to naming a brand. She will also share the process she implements in naming a brand and highlight when you need to be considering renaming your brand.  Louise says coming up with a business or brand name is not a difficult process, but it’s a process that takes time. The number one advice she would give to small business owners about naming is, “Don’t be afraid to rename” This episode will shine a light on the importance of crafting the best brand name for your small business so don’t miss it. Enjoy This Cast Covers: Helping leaders ensure that their brand names break out not blend in. Why naming is so important if you want your business to thrive and compete sustainably. Her expertise in helping businesses come up with brand names that pull focus. The process of testing out a brand name in the relevant market to get qualitative and quantitative data from potential customers. Coming up with the criteria that you need to meet with your brand name. The questions you should ask before you start name storming. How she helped a brilliant pedorthist make more money and beat his biggest competitors. Why naming your business after yourself is not necessarily a good idea. Louise’s favorite brand name: Upparel - The Australian startup that would upcycle used socks into new textiles to save tons of waste from going into landfills. The biggest crime in the naming world: Renaming a business instead of creating better business values. Building businesses that contribute to making the world a better place. Holding back four weeks on a new brand name in order to get feedback from all stakeholders. Avoiding the use of the “Like/Don’t Like” matrix when coming up with a business or brand name. Additional Resources: Word Glue: Find Your Million Dollar Brand Name By Louise Karch http://www.louisekarch.com/ Positioning By Al Ries and Jack Trout Influence By Robert Cialdini This is Marketing By Seth Godin Brand New Name By Jeremy Miller Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Donna McColl, the Director at Happy Feet Fitness, a children’s educational fitness program for 20 months to 5-year-olds. It was created by Donna and her husband Cam McColl after her husband had nagged her for ten years. She was 32 with two kids (9 and 3) and two mortgages when they started it in 2007. The business grew from one full-time employee to ten with 100 contractors operating in five states in Australia. They run 1,300 classes per week with 5,000 students. Their funding has been from a $10,000 loan from her father-in-law which they paid back quickly and then grew solely from profits.  During Covid, they went online and 6,000 of their 15,000 students subscribed. She felt she had succeeded when they reached their long term goal of 50 centers in the first year and won the Telstra Business Owner award. She feels the hardest thing about growing a small business is finding the right people to join your team. What Donna would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, “Trust you’ll overcome any challenges in some way” Get ready to be blown away by Donna’s small business ownership wisdom.  This Cast Covers: Teaching kids about the benefits of health and fitness in a super fun and entertaining way. Donna and Cam’s amazing journey from traveling the world to starting Happy Feet Fitness. Starting out with 4 centers and reaching their long term goal of 50 centers within 12 months. How winning the Telstra Business Owner Award fueled her confidence. Why they focus on social media as their core marketing platform. Paying back their startup capital loan in lightning speed to bootstrap to date. The rewarding nature of working with 20 months to 5-year-old kids. How Covid negatively affected their business and how they adapted and thrived through the pandemic. The challenge of trying to find enough awesome people to be part of their team. Always listening to the ideas that their team members pitch. Going through the hardship she feared most for her business and coming out of it stronger and more experienced. Allowing their team to grow organically by passing on responsibilities that they demonstrate they can handle. Leading by example by upholding and living by your values and the values of your small business. How she looks at work-life balance so she can achieve some form of it. Additional Resources: Happy Feet Fitness Fantastic By Alan Austin-Smith The You Project Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Caralee Fontenele, the founder and director of Collective Family Law, a Gold Coast and Brisbane-based law firm specializing in family law. Caralee left school at age 16, went to uni in her late 20s, and in 2012 aged 34, graduated in law. She started working in her husband’s one-person law firm and he soon gave up leaving the business in $460,000 debt, which she worked hard and paid off in 3 years. She has grown the business from one full-time employee to 14, and $500,000 in year one to now over $2Million per annum.  She only works ten hours a week on the business, not doing any billables herself. The firm now focuses squarely on family law (Divorce and separation). 70% of people don’t retain a lawyer during separation and divorce, so in 2018, they launched an online product to target that market. They also launched the Scalable Business Society, which helps service-based businesses scale as she has done. Tracking metrics around billables and marketing allowed sales to jump from $1.2 Million to $2Million+ per annum, and half of their sales came from Google Adwords.  Caralee says she felt she has succeeded when finally there was money in the bank and believes that the hardest thing about growing a small business is getting out of your own way. The one thing she says she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, “Those goals you set yourself are just shit, and you need to rewrite them and stop putting limiting beliefs in your way” Ladies and gentlemen, help me in welcoming Caralee Fontanelle to the show. This Cast Covers: Helping people through their worst moments in separation and divorce. Their client avatar: 42 years old, married or in de facto relationships, and those whose separation or divorce has a property component. Creating an online platform that eases the process of learning all about separation and divorce. Starting the Scalable Business Society to help service business owners to get off the tools so they can work on their business rather than in it. The frustration of leading underwater and taking over a business that was $400K+ in debt. Sustaining a slow, manageable, and profitable growth year on year. How the pandemic opened up a whole new world of great opportunities. Achieving effective marketing by measuring your data. Sheer hard work: The only funding option that one can exploit to get out of debt. Freeing herself up in a big way by taking one of her lawyers to a leadership level. The one thing she did to change things up for the better in her business. Enjoying the fast growth and learning tons of things from different people and areas. Showing up again and again, and investing in yourself to thrive in small business ownership. Building a great culture by implementing structured team meetings every week and allowing team members to do their work without being micromanaged. Being happy with every aspect of your life instead of focusing so much on the ever-elusive work-life balance. Investing in different forms of professional development. Focusing on referral marketing, organic marketing, and paid marketing (Google Adwords only) Additional Resources: Collective Family Law The E-Myth By Michael E. Gerber   Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Trisha Cashmere, the Managing Director of The Healthy Body Company, an allied health professional services business that focuses on supporting its clients to be healthy and active through life. In 2013, Trisha quit corporate law to look after her sick child for a couple of years. In 2015, aged 42, she took over managing her husband’s physio practice and soon after added another site and then acquired a competitor with mixed results. From her experience with that acquisition, she always advises, “Don’t agree to hire everyone. Put them through a recruitment process and have a good shareholder’s agreement in place.” Over five years, she grew sales 130% with more than 23% compound per annum. She grew the number of full-time employees from 8 to 19, soon to be 22, and funded the business through grants, bank loans, and profits. Trisha felt she had succeeded when she recently realized that they were doing very well and absorbed that fact. She believes that the hardest thing about growing a small business is time and money and says that the one thing she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, “It’s a marathon. Not a sprint. And the to-do list will never be finished” Stay tuned to gain from Trisha’s small business ownership wisdom. This Cast Covers: From being a physiotherapist to retraining as a lawyer and working in a commercial law firm, then leaving that to venture into business. Achieving a 130% income increase in their fees since 2015 and growing their full-time employees from 2 to 19. Enjoying the success of running the business sustainably even through the pandemic. Flexibility and lifestyle: Being able to do what she wants when she wants it, and the beauty of having financial security. The value they’ve gotten from replicating their business model with their employees as equity partners. Effective marketing strategies for service-based businesses. Using SurveyMonkey as a customer satisfaction benchmarking and survey tool. Their funding mix: Bank loans, own funds, partners with equity, and government grants. The mistake they made when they took on all of the employees of the business they were acquiring. Why she stopped doing physio to focus on growing the business. Identifying the great opportunities that lie in delivering services online. How building an email list can help grow a business by building a tribe around it. Being terrible at delegating and how she deals with it. Clearly articulating their values within their team to ensure everyone does their level best to deliver the best service to clients. Choosing to invest in peer to peer mentoring groups and buying a lot of business and management books. Additional Resources: The Healthy Body Company Traction By Gino Wickman Deep Work By Cal Newport The Manager Tools Podcast One Life By Tina Tower Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Renae Bunster, the Founder and Global President of Bunsters Hot Sauces. An ex Television journalist, Renae fell in love with hot sauces while in Mexico in 2011. She couldn’t find anything hot enough back in Australia so she started making her own at home in 2012 aged 34. She now sells her hot sauce all around Australia and in America through Amazon and is about to sell her chili vodka in Russia. The business’ sales started at $83,000 in the first year and then doubled every year to crack $1 Million in 2019. With one to five full-time employees, they made 35 tonnes in one week last year through a contract factory, which will double this year.  Initially self-funded, they started dipping into mortgage and did a KickStarter pre-sales crowdfunding in 2015 to sell $200,000 of hot sauce and last year took on angel investors who then suggested an equity crowdfund. In mid-2020, they raised $2 Million from the crowdfunding. She approached two great mentors who are very successful female business owners. She felt she had succeeded when she made a bottle of Vodka with “Shit the Bed” on it and raised $2 Million in crowdfunding. Renae believes the hardest thing in growing a small business is finding customers when you have no budget. She says the one she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, “This is going to be huge, but only if you have fun and laugh the whole time, and don’t take it too seriously” Ladies and gentlemen, Shit the Bed creator, Renae Bunster. Enjoy the episode. This Cast Covers: Building a hot sauce empire and making the lion’s share of their money from their flagship Shit the Bed Hot Sauce. The holiday to Mexico that brought it all about. Big markets in the US and Australia, and the ones coming up in the UK, Europe, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The huge role that Fulfilled By Amazon has played in their sales success. From $83,000 a year in 2014 to the current over $1 Million in global sales. The successful crowdfunding campaign that has seen them raise up to $2 Million in equity. Their wife+husband+VA team with an additional food technologist, IT person, and another support person. Creating the Shit the Bed Vodka and having nearly 2,000 people invest in her company. Using contract filling (Contract manufacturing) to cost-effectively and flexibly do and sustain their manufacturing. The power of social media and staying on top of the trends. How authentic influencers are the ones who are getting real returns. Self-funding the business every way they could until the point where they started crowdfunding. Where the crowdfunding idea came from and the effort they had to put into it to make it a success. How she got two very successful female businesswomen to mentor her. What it’s really like to make money from the food business. The role that everyone on her team plays to add value to the business. The strategies they use to get the best virtual team members. Why work/life balance does not exist for Renae and the value of having a great scheduling tool. Additional Resources: Bunsters Hot Sauces Losing My Virginity By Richard Branson Finding My Virginity By Richard Branson Small Business Big Marketing By Tim Reid   Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Kate Toon, an award-winning SEO copywriter and SEO consultant and speaker with over two decades of experience in all things advertising, digital, and writing. She has worked with big brands such as Sanitarium, eHarmony, Curash, and Kmart. She has helped countless small businesses produce great content and improve their copywriting and SEO. She’s also the founder of The Clever Copywriting School and The Recipe for SEO Success eCourse, as well as a co-host on the Hot Copy Podcast. In 2009, five months pregnant and aged 34, Kate quit a corporate communication job for more flexibility with her own business. The business focuses on digital education, SEO, copywriting and mentoring. Over 10,000 people have been through her online courses and currently have 600 paying members. 2 years in, she dropped all her clients to focus on mentoring, courses, and an annual conference. In 2013, she earned $150,000, and in 2018 she hit $500,000 then $1 Million in 2020 with 75% net profit.  She started out the business with one full-time employee and now has three. Kate has consistently bootstrapped the business, growing it purely from profits. She felt she had succeeded when she was on stage at her own conference (CopyCon) looking down at the 200 attendees. She says the hardest thing about growing a small business is motivation and that the one thing she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, “Stop looking at what everyone else is doing and just get on with it” Stay tuned to enjoy and learn from Kate’s small business ownership journey. This Cast Covers: Her backstory and the different revenue streams that keep her business running sustainably.  Serving small businesses, service providers, and eCommerce store owners. Moving from a successful advertising career to starting her own “Jill of all trades” business Becoming one of the best-known copywriters in Sydney and pivoting into doing workshops and courses. How her transition to passive income was like. The beauty of being the creative director in her business rather than just the CEO. Where SEO is at the moment: Is it still relevant? Funding the business with nothing but herself. Learning the importance of working on herself to overcome impostor syndrome and other things that deterred her from focusing on her customers. Overcoming procrastination and doing more creative work. The benefits of getting into an abundance mindset. Why having employees is just not her thing and how outsourcing helps with that. Building a great community of customers by keeping them engaged and facilitating conversations. Continuously working on achieving some work/life balance and learning from her customers. Additional Resources: Deep Work By Cal Newport   Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Alex Burke, the visionary CEO of New Zealand EduTech company, Education Perfect (EP). A passionate storyteller, Alex boasts an enviable twenty-year track record in driving technical excellence and team-building across multiple industries, including airlines, banking, government, telco, education, and retail. He was previously the CEO of Tigerspike, a technology services business that he sold in 2017. Founded in 2008 by brothers Craig and Shane Smith, Education Perfect (EP) is a toolkit for teachers in the classroom. Alex joined the company as CEO in May 2019. At the start of Covid, they tested a free trial and picked an extra 500,000 additional students with 10% of those converting to paid. They have grown 40% in the last year with international at an amazing 350% and have expanded from 18 to now 58 countries.  Craig and Shane started out as the only full-time employees and EP now has 180 full-time employees. They are very profitable with their gross profit at over 80% and operating margin more than 30% on AUD30 Million in annual sales. They bootstrapped the business since its inception and 3 years ago they sold 80% of it to a private equity firm.  Alex believes the hardest thing about growing a small business is, “Keeping your people together, keeping good governance, and keeping focused on opportunities” The one thing he says he would tell himself on day one of starting out in business is, “Everyday is really different. You’ve got to get up and end today excited by tomorrow” Stay tuned for a ton of small business growth wisdom from Alex. This Cast Covers: Building an online learning platform that serves as a toolkit for teachers within the classroom. How they took the opportunity to put out their product during the pandemic and how it accelerated their growth plan. Achieving profitability with 30% operating margins and growing organically by running purely from cash flow. The two brothers who came up with the idea for Education Perfect to support their learning efforts. Why success for Alex is all about being driven by continuous improvement. Measuring the success of a business by the way it’s able to retain its team members. The importance of being good at execution and pushing things through. Using multiple methods of metrics to get customer feedback and the overall power of obsessing over the customer. How the founders of Education Perfect started it and bootstrapped it until they sold 80% of it to a private equity firm. The digital services tech company (Tigerspike) that Alex bootstrapped until he exited it in 2017. The difficulty of growing a business while maintaining a certain level of governance and balance. The value of having clear roles and responsibilities, and accountability in a business. Dealing with the challenges of cash flow and getting the business known in the market. How obsessing over quality and reputation can really pay off for a business. Lifting the bar for the business by bringing in people who can inject some additional experience and skillset. Early to rise, early to bed: How Alex maintains some work-life balance. Developing himself professionally by building out his own network and working within a business. The lessons he learned from managing Tigerspike and exiting the business. Additional Resources: Education Perfect (EP) Built to Last By Tim Collins E-Myth By Michael E. Gerber Emotional Intelligence Book By Daniel Goleman Good to Great By Jim Collins   Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Sarah Riegelhuth, the Founder and CEO of Growmotely, the first all-in-one platform for sourcing, growing and managing remote teams. Sarah is also a serial entrepreneur, professional speaker, published author and investor in startups, having founded 8 companies since 2009. She's personally fueled by a passion for changing the status quo of how we work, conscious culture and leadership, community, gender equality and living life on one's own terms. Aged 19, she started a financial planning firm with her father. In 2008, she started her own private wealth management firm and sold it in 2015. In 2012, inspired from advising millennials, she started a firm focusing on that niche, the first in Australia. She did $250,000 in the first year then $1 Million a year for the next four years before two pivots saw them reach $2 Million annual recurring revenue. She then sold the business to her business partner and ex-husband in 2018.  She had 5 full-time employees to 18 with all the non-financial planners offshore in the lower cost countries. Sarah is the co-founder of the league of extraordinary women which has 200,000 members globally and has bootstrapped every one of her businesses except the current one, raising investment to grow into a billion dollar company. She closed the fundraise at 32% over and has sold three companies for over $2 Million. Sarah felt she had succeeded when she sold the first company and her personal wealth tipped over $1 Million when she was aged 32. She feels the hardest thing about growing a small business is, managing your own energy and building resilience. Sarah says the one thing she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, “Keep going” Sarah has had a phenomenal business ownership journey that will surely inspire you. Stay tuned. This Cast Covers: From working in financial planning to becoming a high-flying entrepreneur. How she started Wealth Enhancers and grew it from zero to $250,000 in first year revenue. Successfully starting a service-based business and how that is reasonable validation that one has got a viable business. The difference in customer retention rates when they used a commission-based model and how the lessons from that helped her pivot and grow the business. One of the hindrances that keep service-based businesses from growing as expected. Moving to a global employment model which allowed them to access many more resources affordably. Why she had to sell her stake of the company when she was in a great position to scale and grow it. Selling three companies for over $2 Million and the joy of having her personal wealth reach over $1 Million. Building her personal brand so she can leverage it to market her businesses. The pros and cons of bootstrapping based on her entrepreneurial experience. The importance of small business owners/entrepreneurs keeping track of their energy levels to ensure they don’t get burned out. Facilitating better performance from her team by ensuring that everyone is aligned and engaged. Building the necessary resilience to deal with the pace of fast growth and the overwhelm that can come with it. Looking for alignment in potential hires to determine who is a fit and running things based on transparency and honesty. The A player versus the B player: Who’s the best? Being intentional about culture and communicating it clearly. Re-centering and grounding by switching off her phone regularly and taking retreats several times a year. The difficulty in a small business owner managing their own energy.  Additional Resources: Growmotely The League of Extraordinary Women How I Built This Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Bryan Clayton, the Founder, and CEO of GreenPal, a web and mobile app that instantly connects homeowners with home service professionals. Bryan started out in business In 1994 when he was just 15 and while in high school. He started a lawn mowing business and grew that to one of the largest in the state of Tennessee with 150 full-time employees and $10 Million in annual sales.  He sold that business in 2012 aged 33 and in the next year launched Greenpal, the Uber for lawn mowing. They had 22 customers in their first year and now have 200,000 customers serviced by 11,000 lawn mowing business owners and it generates $20 Million in annual sales. They had three full-time employees and now have 22, and their initial 12 competitors in 2015 went down to 3. He funded the business solely from bootstrapping and felt he had succeeded when forty people signed up for the app one Saturday and none were friends or family. He feels the hardest thing about growing a small business is getting started and the first $100,000 in revenue. The one thing he says he would tell himself on day one of starting out is, “Look at it like it’s an infinite game. The way to win is not to give up” Ladies and gentlemen, help me welcome Bryan Clayton to the show to share his experience in starting, building, and selling companies.   This Cast Covers: How Bryan turned lawn mowing from a way of earning a little extra cash in high school aged 15 to a successful business venture. Learning the fundamental principles of running a successful business like customer satisfaction, reliability, delivering quality, and more The inception of GreenPal and investing in proper market research before venturing into your own business in order to avoid creating a business that’s based on assumptions.    The power of having patience in creating a solid and perfect business foundation before expanding and rolling out into different markets. How to Stay Afloat and close the gaps when running a seasonal business.  Building a business that not only acquires monetary success but creates a lasting impact on society.  Experimenting early on in the business, figuring out your strengths, and specializing in them as a key factor in growing and marketing your business. Learning the ins and outs of your business to help you in making the right decisions across the board. Investing in creative and innovative ways of marketing and distributing your product to ensure your business stays ahead of the competition. Adopting a think bigger attitude and getting inspiration and insights from people playing on a higher level than you and applying that to your business. Additional Resources: Built to Sell By John Warrillow The E-Myth By Michael E. Gerber Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Jennifer O'Farrell, a Senior Associate at Dobson Mitchell Allport. Jennifer is a commercial litigation and dispute resolution lawyer.  She has a particular interest in insolvency, personal property securities, administrative and local government law. She began her legal career as a judge’s associate in the Federal Court of Australia.   In that role, she gained experience in a wide range of areas, including constitutional and administrative law, insolvency, tax, and general commercial disputes.  She added to that experience by then working for a national law firm in Melbourne for 7 years.  Jennifer is a Professional Member of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association.  She has a first-class honors degree in Law from UTAS and is the recipient of both the Tasmanian National Undergraduate Scholarship and the Tasmanian Honours Scholarship. She joins us in this episode to demystify the topic of insolvency and restructuring in relation to small businesses. Enjoy! This Cast Covers: From a judge’s associate to a solicitor at a national law firm, and how she was attracted to the world of insolvency. Doing general litigation and also acting for insolvency practitioners like liquidators, administrators, and receivers. Australia having some of the harshest director penalties in the world for insolvent trading. The current low number of insolvencies due to the federal government’s initiatives aimed at discouraging businesses from entering into insolvency. Identifying the critical problems earlier on to ensure one has the resources to fund a restructuring plan when their business is in financial distress. Why proper cash flow management is critical to ensuring the sustainable success of a business. The wisdom in making sure you pay your tax debts on time. Voluntary administration to maximize the prospects of a business continuing in existence. Preventing your debtors from getting away from you so you can ensure you have enough cash to meet your overhead needs. Additional Resources: Jennifer on Linkedin Dobson Mitchell Allport Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Gillian Horton, the owner of Colleen's Lingerie and Swimwear and the Co-Owner of Treat Me Treasure Me. Colleen’s offers post-surgery pocketed bras and swimwear along with a wide range of large cup and front opening bras; gifts; turbans; wigs and beautiful leisurewear. After treatment for breast cancer, Gillian got back to a toxic government job in 2013 and one day looked out the window and asked herself, “I’m never ever going to get this minute back. What I’m I doing?” After a shop that specialized in offering bras and products for women after breast cancer surgery was shutting down in January 2014, she decided to buy it at age 54. They have the widest range in Australia and only 10% of sales are currently online with no focus on it yet.  They moved from an industrial location into the city in between two hospitals, and even with rent doubling, the move propelled growth. Sales have doubled in six years and the team has grown from 1.8 full-time employees to 6. She funded the business from an initial bank loan and then bootstrapped from profits. Gillian felt she had succeeded when she was recognized as an expert in her field and was nominated for the Telstra Business Woman of the Year award. She says the hardest thing about growing a small business is knowing when to let go. The one thing she says she would tell herself on day one of starting out is, “Strap yourself in. It’s going to be a hell of a roller coaster ride” Tune in to learn more from Gillian. This Cast Covers: Making money from offering products that positively impact the lives of women. Being in a niche market where they are among very stores that offer post-surgery pocketed bras and swimwear. Generating 90% of their sales from their traditional brick and mortar store with 10% coming from their online store. From disillusioned public servant to a successful entrepreneur who overcame cancer. How she ended up owning the only bra shop she could ever go to. Taking over to grow the customer base and revenues by a hundred percent within six years. Being proud to be recognized as an expert and influencer in her field. Determining what your customers’ pain points are and offering solutions to them coupled with exceptional customer service. Investing very little in Facebook and Google ads but seeking an expert to help her implement them. Buying the business with credit financing and growing it purely from profits. Considering franchising as an option for opening up new locations. How and why they moved from their previous location into the city. Serving women who have undergone breast cancer-related surgery and normal women. Holding true to her own vision by working on her own resistance. The decision making freedom of being a small business owner. Being passionate about serving others and overcoming fear. The great results she has gotten from investing in digital marketing. Some of the best and actionable staff hiring tips from Gillian. Putting family first and building their culture around that. Struggling to achieve work-life balance and how she slowly started working towards achieving it. Additional Resources: Colleen's Lingerie and Swimwear  Treat Me Treasure Me Dare to Lead By Brene Brown The Life Coach School Podcast Your Digital Coach Bootcamp Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Gavin Hodgins, the CEO at FloatPac Pty Ltd, a company that offers technologies to a diverse range of pioneering ideas and products across air, land, and sea. The company was founded in 1982 and the founders were making lift bags for the Australian army, pioneering high-frequency welding. Gavin started out in the company in 2002 as a welder aged 22 and is now the group CEO. They are the Mercedes Benz of fish air transport, the only company in the world with a product to transport fish with oxygen (FishPac). They also have other products like Flexitank Australia fish farm liners, pillow tanks, bladders, inflatable marker buoys, and lift bags, and RainPac under house rainwater bladder tanks, and in 2015 they launched a floating solar business (FloatPac) When Covid hit, to be able to keep all their team members, they pivoted to producing face masks while fish transport stopped overnight. Demand was so high that they had to add 50 more team members. People on their website at any one time grew from 500 to 100,000 after being featured on two news channels. Their full-time employees grew from 2 to 65, and are now down to 12 after changing strategic focus and giving their manufacturing to a partner in Queensland so they can focus on their strength; marketing. Their profit growth has been 5 to 7% year on year, and they have funded their business purely from profits and a few research grants.  Gavin felt he had succeeded when they got through Covid with a massive pivot and he feels that the hardest thing about growing a small business is intestinal fortitude. The one thing he says he would tell himself on day one of starting out in business is, “Build your website and spend the first eight weeks so you don’t need to touch it for a while after that” There’s a lot to learn from Gavin’s awesome business ownership story, so don’t miss this episode. This Cast Covers: Starting out as a plastics business (lift bags) and diversifying into revolutionary products that have seen the business thrive since 1982. Joining the company as a welder and moving up the ladder to become CEO. Diving into the huge solar (Renewable energy) market in Australia with a brilliant product. Making water transporter liners for the billion-dollar Salmon industry while focusing mainly on the coral trade industry. Facilitating an environmentally friendly way of shipping through their products. How they went into the manufacturing of reusable face masks when Covid-19 hit. The seven seconds of fame that had traffic to their website blowing up so much that they had to get a dedicated server to keep it from crashing. Maintaining a strong position all through the Covid-19 recession brought about the pandemic. How going into a joint venture with a manufacturing business has enabled them to grow their business by focusing all their efforts on marketing. Reducing their workforce from 65 to 12 and helping their outgoing employees find other jobs. Navigating through the loss of their revenue streams within 24 hours to pivot and succeed. Discovering the effectiveness of email marketing and the huge return on investment they get from it. Funding their business with a combination of profit reinvestment and R&D grants/refunds. Running a strict line of credit, only dealing with clients who pay deposits and are excellent payers, and how that has helped them build great relationships. How diversification ensures their continuous ability to keep the business running sustainably. People who do their job well versus people who are invested in their job. Learning and enjoying sales before building his skills in marketing. Why employing people is what he loves most about growing a small business. How he has been able to get rid of impostor syndrome while also knowing where his place is. Finding out that potential employees may look good on paper but not be the best candidate. Building a great company culture by buying everybody coffee every day. Having a hard time achieving some work-life balance but making sure he doesn’t work weekends. His fascination with reading the biographies of big business people like Richard Branson and Bill Gates. Why they moved away from using MailChimp and settled on ActiveCampaign. Additional Resources: FloatPac Pty Ltd MaskPac The Industrial Marketing Show   Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Daph Crowhurst, the Managing Director at Crowies Paints, a fast-expanding retailer of paints. In 2019, Daph was named Telstra's SA Business Woman of the Year. She got into the industry by buying three paint stores in 1996 with her husband and they grew that to six stores until their divorce in 2011. Aged 52, she decided to keep the business and grow it.  She started off by changing the business model and they now have 24 stores in four Australian states, with half of those being franchises. Crowies buys paint from manufacturers and sells it in both trade and retail. In 2011, most of their sales were coming from trade, but she focused their marketing and customer service on the retail channel, and now that forms the majority of sales. The business has grown from eight full-time employees in 1996 to the current sixty-five, including the twelve franchise stores. Sales have also swelled from $7 Million in 2011 to the current $27 Million a year. Daph has consistently funded the business entirely from profits and says the hardest thing about growing a small business is the hours required. The one thing she says she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, “Be brave” Stay tuned as Daph shares her awesome and successful small business ownership journey.  This Cast Covers: Buying paint from manufacturers and retailing it to trade customers, painters, and retail customers. Why they have had an increase in business in most of their stores during the pandemic. How they started out with 5 stores and later on changed the business model to grow the business. Differentiating themselves from competitors by doing all the admin work, marketing/advertising, product research, and training for their franchisees. Implementing the no-asshole policy in their franchisee vetting process. Growing from 20 full-time employees to 65, and from $7 Million in sales to $27 Million. Thriving in the capital intensive paint business by bootstrapping purely from profits. Their success in marketing themselves as painting specialists. Growing their retail sales while also sustaining a stable growth in trade accounts. The importance of learning to be brave as a small business owner. Getting a great return on investment from traditional marketing. Appreciating her staff by always giving them the opportunity to step up to the next level and improve. Hiring for the personality without necessarily focusing on the skill too much. The value of building a culture founded on openness and honesty. Finding mentorship from some of her senior staff and suppliers. Additional Resources: Crowies Paints Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Emily Gowor, an inspirational writer, author, and speaker. Aged 19 in 2007, Emily launched her writing business, traveling around the world in her early 20s, writing an award-winning blog, staying with friends, and living on $22,000 a year in earnings. In her mid-20s, she settled back in Australia and doubled her revenue three years in a row to hit over $100,000 per annum, peaking at $249,000 when she was aged 27. At only 23, she was asked to write her first book and is now a writer, author, speaker, trainer, coach, and consultant.  Emily’s writings, projects, and speaking presentations have touched and moved thousands globally as she inspires people to reach for more. Her purpose-finding tool, the Inspiration Formula, is licensed to consultants around the world who are dedicated to showing clients a lasting glimpse of their destiny on Earth. As a winner of the 2012 and 2014 Anthill 30under30 Young Entrepreneur Award, Emily has been featured in a range of media sharing her inspirational messages. 70 to 80% of her sales are from training courses and coaching, and the rest are from speaking, and the eleven books she has published. She has launched over 25 online courses on writing and publishing books and building a business from zero to $100,000 a year as a coach. She has clients all over the world and has grown from one full-time employee to two (Spread across several contractors). Emily felt she had succeeded when a couple of moments she realized she didn’t work for anyone.  She highlights that the hardest thing about growing a small business is making sure the business is taking you in the direction of your purpose and your legacy. The one thing she says she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, “Don’t you dare give up. Great things are coming” Please help me welcome, the very inspirational, Emily Gowor. This Cast Covers: Discovering that she wanted to do what she loved as a business. Getting the opportunity to edit a book for Dr. John DeMartini. Coaching people to have a life that they want and grow a six-figure career around their calling and their purpose. How her training in NLP at a young age shaped her writing and speaking career. Doubling her revenues three years in a row to get to a six-figure mark which she has sustained every year since. Her experience with publishing, promoting, and selling books. Starting out as one full-time employee and growing her team to include five to six different contractors. Doing different inspirational speaking engagements to empower people. Offering a diverse range of online training programs to serve clients worldwide. Succeeding at changing lives, loving it, and celebrating the various wins. How being in business empowers people to be the best versions of themselves. Identifying your target customers and basing your marketing on resonating with them. Starting solo and funding her business with hustle. Getting poor accounting advice, paying herself poorly, experiencing burnout, and how she dealt with it all by learning how to manage her money better. Working on herself and how it helped her take her business to where it is today. The importance of being authentic and the power of time blocking. The ease with which her team members understand her mission and vision. Maintaining work-life balance while making sure that the business you’re growing is actually taking you in the direction of your purpose and legacy.  Additional Resources: Emily’s Website Profit First By Mike Michalowicz The Pumpkin Plan By Mike Michalowicz Clockwork By Mike Michalowicz Deep Work By Cal Newport The One Thing By Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Craig West, the Founder, and CEO of Succession Plus, author, keynote speaker, strategic adviser, and leading authority on Succession and Employee Share Ownership Plans (ESOP). Craig is a strategic accountant who has over 25 years' experience advising business owners. His background as a CPA in public practice has provided invaluable experience in the key issues of concern to business owners. Following 6 yrs of study to gain two master's degrees, Craig focused on Capital Gains Tax (CGT) for business sales advising on strategic management of taxation issues in exit planning. This experience formed a very strong view that the majority of business owners (and often their advisers) were unprepared and unaware of the steps required to prepare for exit. Craig then designed and documented a unique process to assist owners and their advisers prepare for exit. He now acts as a strategic business and financial mentor for mid-market business owners. He has written four critically acclaimed books educating business owners on employee incentives, succession planning, asset protection, and exit strategies. Craig has conducted numerous seminars and keynote presentations throughout Australia and internationally. In March 2014, Craig was appointed Chairman of the SME Association of Australia, an organization focused on improving the success of SMEs in Australia, and in October of the same year, he was awarded the Exit Planner of the Year by the Exit Planning Institute in Texas, USA. The award was as a result of his innovative development of a 21 step exit planning process to help business owners maximize business value and achieve a successful exit. His proprietary structure - a Peak Performance Trust - has won the Australia-wide award for the ESOP of the Year twice in four years. Don’t miss this episode as Craig comes on to share highly valuable expertise with you. Enjoy! This Cast Covers: Becoming an exit planning expert because he hated being an accountant. The importance of small business owners learning how to extract the value of their businesses. Giving people a better understanding of ESOPs (Employee Share Ownership Plans) How ESOPs contribute to a 7% to 23% improvement in business performance. Developing a simple way to explain, design, and implement an ESOP in a business. The great return a small business owner can get from investing in the implementation of an employee share ownership plan. Getting small incremental amounts of money out of your business each year by selling part of the business to your employees. The popular business exit method where employees can end up owning the business they work for. The reward of equity in a business versus a cash reward. Implementing a succession strategy sooner rather than later to allow for a proper exit over time. Avoiding the “Us and Them” way of doing things to ensure the growth of your business and how ESOPs can help. How an employee share plan in a professional service firm can work to lock in employees and incentivize them to perform better. The Win-Win-Win model he focuses on when designing an ESOP for a business. Committing to getting your ESOP to keep your employees, improve their performance, and get a great return in both the short and long term. The value of getting clear on what your exit strategy is before you start and build your business. How to cash in at the end to fund your retirement or your next venture. Additional Resources: Succession Plus Build It By Craig West The E-Myth Revisited By Michael E. Gerber Incentivising Employees By Ann O'Connell, Ian Ramsay, and Ingrid Landau Ownership Thinking By Brad Hams Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Mellissa Larkin, the Founder, and CEO of Peripheral Blue, a company that has been disrupting the way companies receive legal and consulting services by giving clients access to top tier, responsive legal and advisory services in a flexible and affordable way. Peripheral Blue provides legal advice and business advisory services to clients of all sizes including SMEs and ASX 200 companies across a broad range of industries including health, energy, IT, construction, rail, hospitality, food, and manufacturing.  Mellissa is responsible for recruiting and managing PB Lawyers, Law Clerks, PB Consultants, and support staff. As well as developing and refining the strategic growth plans for the business. She was the 2020 Telstra Business Women’s Awards Winner, a 2019 Telstra Business Awards Finalist, and a finalist in the Women in Law Awards in two categories: Innovator of the Year (Individual) and Wellness Advocate of the Year. After 20 years in corporate law in 2016 aged 38 and with three young kids, she started a new type of law firm to disrupt the market.  Questioning what value juniors gave to clients when they were being charged to clients to effectively learn on the job, the company only has highly efficient and experienced lawyers with 20+ years in the game. Mellissa started as the one full-time employee and they’re now up to nine, and sales have grown 267% year on year over the four years. The business has been funded entirely from profits. They are obsessive about culture and changed theirs to a collaborative one, not competitive amongst colleagues for billable work, putting value for clients front and center. Mellissa felt they had succeeded when they won their first big piece of work then won a large old client. She feels the hardest thing about growing a small business is accepting the risks and making it happen. The one thing she says she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, “You can do this” Please join me in welcoming Mellissa Larkin from Peripheral Blue in beautiful Adelaide, Australia. This Cast Covers: Disrupting the legal and consulting service industries in Australia by doing things differently to deliver great value to clients. Fostering more collaboration and changing their culture to achieve more efficiency. Creating a business model that invests heavily in building solid and long-term relationships. The challenge they had explaining their new way of doing things in a way that clients could connect with. Their genuine and authentic attitude towards helping their clients and how it worked in their favor in terms of customer attention and conversion. How taking the first six months of the law firm to build on the new concept helps in ensuring the firm’s success. Transitioning to business ownership and the difficulty she had in breaking the mindsets and habits of working in corporate. Starting from zero to sustaining a 267% growth year on year while maintaining a great culture From one full-time employee to nine within just four years. The big moment when she realized that her firm could go for the big commission corporate work. The importance of being clear on who your client avatar is and what your messaging is. Hiring top-tier trained lawyers who have worked in-house or for the government. Funding the business from her own funds and growing it purely from cash flow. Pushing herself out of her comfort zone to learn about marketing and selling. The stress of making the necessary decisions and risks to facilitate growth. Learning how to say no, prioritize her time, and value herself and her team. Putting systems in place, being disciplined, and setting goals. How bringing in two of her law school mates eased the hiring process. Understanding what drives and motivates people as part of their focus on wellbeing and culture. How she goes about seeking her own form of work-life balance. Investing in learning about marketing, social media, selling, brand development, and public speaking. How powerful LinkedIn is for a professional services company. Additional Resources: Peripheral Blue Deep Work By Cal Newport Secrets of Closing the Sale By Zig Ziglar Sell Like Crazy By Sabri Suby Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Michelle Dale, the Founder, and CEO of Virtual Miss Friday and 1nSourcing™, the alternative virtual assistant service for digital entrepreneurs. Virtual Miss Friday is an online business consultancy and academy with built-in virtual assistant services while 1nSourcing is a service that specializes in serving 6 and 7 figure business owners. Originally from the UK, Michelle traveled a bit then settled in Cairo, Egypt. Aged 24 in 2005 and sick of selling Eqyptian rugs on eBay, she pivoted to become a virtual assistant. 5 years later, earning $500,000 a year as a virtual assistant, she pivoted again to online courses and now teaches people to create their own online businesses, and build and leverage remote teams for 1nSourcing social media, website building and maintenance, customer service, and content creation.  By the end of 2010, 10% of revenue came from training courses which is now 60% with 30% coming from services, 10% from affiliate revenue, and the rest from her team. With her team having once peaked at 25 full-time employees, she now has 10 and has grown the business purely from profits. Michelle says she felt she has succeeded when people were asking her for help and advice. Trying not to give up at the toughest times is what she finds to be the hardest thing about growing a small business. The one thing she says she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, “Don’t give up” Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome Michelle Dale. This Cast Covers: From providing virtual assistant services to teaching people how to create online businesses or take their existing businesses online. Selling her services through a role-based system that ensures business owners get all the support they need to succeed. Training people to become virtual assistants, build their own team, go into consulting, and sell digital products and services. Transitioning from getting all her revenue from services to create new income streams from training, affiliates, and her team. Booking a one-way ticket from the UK and settling in Egypt where she built an online business and eventually got into virtual assistant services. Starting from $0 to hitting 6 figures, scaling fast, and hiring full-time team members. Focusing more on digital products to get more flexibility and streamline operations. Earning $20,000 a month as a virtual assistant while traveling all around the world and how that inspired people to become virtual assistants. Achieving happiness and fulfillment as a small business owner. The importance of personal one-on-one interaction in marketing. How using Bonjoro to send customized video messages to her customers has helped her grow her business. Plowing back profits to build the business without external funding. Growing during the recession by maintaining a positive mindset. Navigating the tough business environment brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and thriving through it all. Working on herself, her mindset, and her confidence to add the greatest value to the business. Overcoming stress from making mistakes and learning from those mistakes. Learning that sometimes one can’t control everything. Advising every small business owner to maintain a good self-development ritual. Hiring and training different types of people from different countries. Putting pride aside and asking for help from more experienced people. Traveling, running the business, raising a family, and still achieving work-life balance. Going from $0 to $20,000 right after completing Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind Course. Additional Resources: Virtual Miss Friday 1nSourcing™ Crush It By Gary Vaynerchuk Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Bob Moesta, the Founder, President, and CEO of the Re-Wired Group. The Re-Wired Group specializes in Demand-Side Innovation and they help companies and individuals grow by enabling innovation from the Demand-Side; Changing buying and consumption behavior. They identify, design, and execute marketing, selling, and buying systems for growth and focus on fast, high-impact actions that lead to immediate results, growth, and insight. Their approaches, methods, frameworks, and software have helped companies grow more than 20% when their current market was down more than 50%. Bob is a founder, maker, innovator, speaker, and now a professor, and he enjoys making innovation more predictable and successful for entrepreneurs and enterprise leaders. Among the principal architects of the Jobs to be Done theory in the mid-90s along with Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen, Bob has continued to develop, advance, and apply the innovation framework to everyday business challenges. He is a fellow at the Christensen Institute and has worked on and helped launch more than 3,500 new products, services, and businesses across nearly every industry, including defense, automotive, software, financial services, and education, among many others.  The Jobs to be Done theory is just one of 25 different methods and tools he uses to speed up and cut costs of successful development projects. He is a guest lecturer at The Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan School of Entrepreneurship, and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He is an entrepreneur at heart and engineer and designer by training. He has started, built, and sold several startups. Bob started out as an intern for Dr. W. Edwards Deming, father of the quality revolution, and worked with Dr. Genichi Taguchi extensively. He traveled to Japan and learned first-hand many of the lean product development methods for which so many Japanese businesses, including Toyota, are known. A lifetime learner, he holds degrees from Michigan State University and Harvard Business School. He has studied extensively at Boston University’s School of Management, MIT School of Engineering, and Stanford University’s “D” School. Stay tuned to gain from Bob’s wealth of expertise on matters demand-side sales and it will definitely help you change the growth trajectory of your small business upwards. This Cast Covers: Starting seven companies and letting other people run them once they top $50 Million. Moving away from managing more people and selling to focus more on doing work. From engineer to helping people in the defense and food industries build products, to becoming a highly successful serial entrepreneur.  Continuous learning to gain horizontal skills that helped him communicate with the right people. His guest lecturing work and how his books are helping educate future innovators. Starting the entire sales process by understanding why people buy in the first place. Demystifying what Demand-Side sales is all about and why it’s important when growing a small business. The value of understanding the forces of progress. Translating the three motivations of progress into the dimension of product. A great example of how powerful Demand-Side sales can be for a business. Innovating by learning enough fast enough and focusing on the things you struggle with by either eliminating them or figuring out new ways to them. The importance of realizing that sales is much about timing and listening that it is about you as the business owner.  Learning to understand demand instead of getting obsessed with pushing a product. Additional Resources: The Re-Wired Group Dark Horse By Todd Rose The End of Average By Todd Rose How to Fly a Horse By Kevin Ashton  Little Red Book of Selling By Jeffrey Gitomer Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Kym Power, the Founder of Rejuvenators Health Massage, Australia’s largest professional mobile massage company. Kym passionately believes in holistic wellness, self-care, and taking personal responsibility for one’s health and life success. In 1993, aged 21, she quit hairdressing for the love of providing massages. Now 27 years later, her mobile massage business is in all states and territories except Tasmania. They provide massage and beauty services in rooms mainly in 800 4 or 5 star hotels such as the Stamford, Pullman, Novotel, Mecure, Meriton, Rydges, Adina, Mantra, Pan Pacific and Park Royal Hotels to name just a few. They also help celebrities on tour such as Lady Gaga, Richard Branson, Matthew McConaughey, and Russell Brand. Kym started the business as the one full-time employee earning $20,000 in the first year, which was more than she was earning as a hairdresser. She now has nine full-time employees  at her head office with around 100 independent contractors providing their services. Their pre-covid annual sales was around $2 Million. Kym recommends putting in good systems, procedures and training because that allows her to take three months a year off and travel overseas.  Her only external business funding was a $5,000 car loan when she was starting out, and from there she funded the business purely from profits. She really struggled to find work-life balance earlier on but now feels she has it at the right place. She felt she had succeeded when she found things doing better and she was actually helping people. To her, the hardest about growing a small business is self-sabotage. She says that the one thing she would tell herself on day one of starting her business is, “It’s harder than what I think, but it’s worth it” Stay tuned and be inspired. This Cast Covers: Running a mobile massage company that operates all across Australia. Starting from very humble beginnings 27 years ago to build a successful business. From being clueless on pricing when she started out to growing the annual revenues up to $1 Million. Building a strong team of 80 to 100 independent contractors and up to 8 contract employees. Getting success from refining things all the time and finding ways to do them better and smarter while consistently helping more people. Being able to step away from the business and having it run well by itself. Marketing the business by forming strong and lasting business partnerships. Self-funding the business from the get-go and how that has worked out for her. How being creative and big-picture minded affected her ability to work on the numbers/financials. Having to fire sale her house to save the business from failure. Challenging herself and her beliefs so she could change her business mindset. The satisfaction of experiencing the positive impact that her business makes in people’s lives. Going from being a sole therapist to bringing on other therapists to join her service delivery team. The importance of small business owners focusing on their overall health and wellness.  The mistake she used to make by hiring people she liked and how she dealt with it. Successful Hiring 101: Hiring people who are really good in doing what you’re hiring them for. Constantly changing things up in their culture to meet the demands and needs of employees. How she succeeded in finding work-life balance despite the challenges she was facing initially. Investing in tons of professional development and how it has impacted her life over the years. Self Sabotage: The one way that small business owners hinder themselves from growing their businesses. Using NLP techniques to clear her mindset of negativity and improve her productivity. The power of automation and outsourcing in growing a small business. Additional Resources: Kym’s Website Rejuvenators Health Massage The E-Myth By Michael E. Gerber The Barefoot Investor By Scott Pape Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I interview Rhiannon Beach, the Founder of Pups4Fun, Canberra’s leading dog daycare and dog adventure center specializing in behavior-based service. Pups4Fun offers daycare, playgroups, and out and about excursions, activities usually associated with children. Rhiannon was ahead of the curve when she started Pups4Fun, tapping into the sentiment that animals in a household were not just pets, but members of the family. Her journey into small business ownership started in 2005 when was completing her high school. A great teacher pushed her to enter a business plan competition and she went on to win the Australasian award. Aged 19 in 2008, she started a law degree part-time and launched the dog daycare, walking, and sitting business. There were only two other dog daycare businesses in Australia at the time. They currently walk up to 50 dogs at a time and take them to unusual locations like the war memorial. Rhiannon clearly has a passion for dog wellness. The business has grown every year, on average at 180%, from herself alone to now 29 full-time employees. When she launched the business, the industry was worth $3.8 Billion per annum in Australia and is now at $12 Billion.  In 2017, she bought another salon 30 kilometers away and two years later, she closed it and brought 98% of the customers to headquarters. At the end of 2008, she got a $10,000 loan for a few months from her father to replace her 1982 small car. That is the only financing she has ever had. In late 2013, she had burnout which led to an infection in her brain and it took 6 months for her to recover, but it was the best thing to ever happen to her. She had to let go, trust her team, and let them run the business. She felt she succeeded when she achieved work-life balance and started getting great feedback from clients.  She believes the hardest thing about growing a small business is, “Sacrifices you make and letting go” She shares that the one thing she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, “Set systems and procedures up to where you want to be, not where you are now” Sit back, relax and enjoy as Rhiannon shares her awesome small business ownership story. This Cast Covers: Caring for 500 dogs a week in a way that encourages the dogs to be good social citizens. Starting one of the first dog daycare centers in Australia while also studying law. Valuing and standing strong on the pricing strategy for their high-end prestige service. Achieving an average growth rate of 180% every year for the last 13 years. Aiming at creating credibility for other people in the pet industry so other people can understand that it’s a serious business. Buying a grooming salon and how it contributed to their expansion. Running things from their head office location with an offsite location where they do the dog daycare from. Considering going into the statewide market and looking at franchising as a growth option. Having a great team that enabled her to find work-life balance. Valuing their customers and the great feedback they get from them because of their great work. Constantly conducting short customer surveys to stay informed of their customer satisfaction and loyalty. Remembering not to assume that your customers’ beliefs and values are not the same as yours as the small business owner. Growing the business purely from cash flow by starting small and having financial discipline. The challenges she faced from the business’ rapid growth and how she had to battle a life-threatening disease brought on by burnout. Working with her staff to build the great culture they have now. The value of having the flexibility to travel and do what she wants to do. The importance of trusting your employees to run the business without you, trusting your gut, and having advisors. Basing their recruiting process on their values to ensure they hire the most fitting employees. Acknowledging that the risk, sacrifice, and time you’ve put into building your business entitles you to have a life. Investing in heaps of both formal and informal professional development and learning from other small business owners. The impact of winning at the 2020 Telstra Business Women’s Awards. Advocating for good accounting software and systems and processes for every small business. Additional Resources: Pups 4 Fun The 4-Hour Workweek By Tim Ferris The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People By Stephen Covey Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/