Episode 110
Scaling Your Business for Success: Expert Insights from Daniel Lalic | Biz Bites
In this episode of Biz Bites, expert insights come from Daniel Lalic. The podcast delves into business growth, entrepreneurship, and financial management, emphasizing strategies to overcome financial challenges, build strong teams, and develop effective business strategies.
We touch on topics like navigating through different business life cycles, the need for financial acumen, and the relevance of relationships with financial institutions.
Don't miss this informative episode of Biz Bites! Listen to the full episode now and access exclusive bonus content. Subscribe to our channel for more valuable insights and business tips.
***
Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-lalic-business-advisor-accountant-adelaide-south-australia
Feel free to check out the The Strategy Lab.
Collaborate with like-minded business owners to hold you accountable. This program is perfect for business owners ready to stop spinning their wheels and start seeing real, sustainable growth.
Check out his website - https://consultclarity.org
_________________________________________________
Subscribe to the Anthony Perl hosts channel and the Biz Bites playlist for more inspiring interviews and transformative insights.
Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adperl/
https://www.commtogether.com.au/
Learn more: https://www.commtogether.com.au/biz-bites/
Interested in having your own podcast? You can even have Anthony as the anchor of your very show. Check out https://podcastsdoneforyou.com.au or the podcast on this channel @anthonyperl_hosts
#finance #financialstrategy #business #businessstrategy #podcasting
Transcript
Scaling your business for success.
Speaker:Expert insights from Daniel Lalic.
Speaker:Join us on Biz Bites as we explore business growth, entrepreneurship
Speaker:and financial management with Daniel.
Speaker:Discover how to overcome financial challenges, build a
Speaker:strong team and develop a winning strategy that drives results.
Speaker:You're going to get expert guidance and actionable advice to take
Speaker:your business to the next level.
Speaker:So tune in for valuable insights and real world examples on business growth,
Speaker:entrepreneurship and financial success.
Speaker:Let's get into Biz Bites.
Speaker:Hello everyone.
Speaker:Welcome to Biz Bites and my guest today, Daniel Lalic and I have known
Speaker:each other for a couple of years now, and I've watched as his business has
Speaker:transformed and how he's transforming other businesses as well along the way.
Speaker:And I thought it was a great opportunity to get in and discuss a whole.
Speaker:bunch of different things, because certainly Daniel is not your average
Speaker:accountants would probably be the best way of starting that conversation.
Speaker:So Daniel, firstly, welcome to the program.
Speaker:Thanks for having me.
Speaker:Absolute pleasure.
Speaker:Now, why don't you give us a little bit of an introduction as to who
Speaker:you are and what you're about?
Speaker:Yeah, no worries.
Speaker:As you said, I'm an accountant.
Speaker:So I'm a accountant, a little bit tired of just working with compliance.
Speaker:I actually work in the business advisory space.
Speaker:So basically helping owners get back their two most precious
Speaker:assets in time and money.
Speaker:And we do that while assisting businesses to scale.
Speaker:And that is a fantastic space to be in.
Speaker:And it's an unusual space for an accountant really
Speaker:in many respects, isn't it?
Speaker:Because people think of accountants as just doing your taxes.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:They do.
Speaker:And we still do that.
Speaker:It's a lot of the advice we give relates back to tax.
Speaker:But at the end of the day, a lot of the data that's available now
Speaker:through your bookkeeping software and things like that, it's all very
Speaker:much at the fingertips of the owners.
Speaker:So that historic reporting of discussing what happened six months ago or nine
Speaker:months ago or 12 months ago, I think these days people no longer really rely on that.
Speaker:It's more about, okay, what is the next one year, three
Speaker:years, 10 years will apply.
Speaker:Where I'm actually going that's what's important to owners at the end of the day.
Speaker:Not necessarily how much profit they made in the last financial year.
Speaker:They already know.
Speaker:Yeah, it's true, isn't it?
Speaker:I think that's the the accessibility of software platforms.
Speaker:And there's a bunch of well known ones these days that make
Speaker:it so much easier to do that.
Speaker:So it's not a matter of plowing through your numbers.
Speaker:Those reports are available at your fingertips, really.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And, if you're a decent sized business, you might already have
Speaker:a bookkeeper involved, or you might be engaging a bookkeeping
Speaker:service through your accountant.
Speaker:You have pretty much up to the day, daily reconciled accounts just in front of you.
Speaker:So again, it's owners already know what's going on presently.
Speaker:It's more about how they navigate away from that or to bigger and better things.
Speaker:Look, I want to ask you about that as well.
Speaker:Firstly, before we get into the moving into the business growth, because I
Speaker:think that is a fascinating space and that's what we want to focus on mostly.
Speaker:But I am interested in that perception that just because it's at your
Speaker:fingertips at business owners actually.
Speaker:Actually know and understand it because I think there's two
Speaker:different things, aren't they?
Speaker:That's being able to access it is one thing being able to understand
Speaker:what the numbers mean is a whole different ballgame Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:You got to think about every sort of business has started with the owner
Speaker:Either being great at delivering a service creating a product or something
Speaker:along those lines, so They never really got into business to look at PNLs and
Speaker:balance sheets and understand what their credit score is or anything like that.
Speaker:So absolutely being able to navigate through all that data and interpret it is.
Speaker:One thing, and even just in the day to day business, again, they're
Speaker:there for a product or a service, and they're passionate about that.
Speaker:Nobody really cares about bank reconciliations or, what does my current
Speaker:month to budget variance look like.
Speaker:Absolutely, there is a skill to that as well, but like anything, it can be taught.
Speaker:Yeah, that's, and that's the thing, isn't it?
Speaker:It's also being able to understand what your weaknesses are as CEO,
Speaker:because often the assumption, particularly if you've started the,
Speaker:if you're a business owner, that.
Speaker:There's an automatic assumption and probably an inward assumption for
Speaker:many business owners that I need to be on top of and understand everything.
Speaker:That's a really difficult ball game for most businesses.
Speaker:And I know someone who is in the creative space.
Speaker:The financial side of things does not come easily to me, whereas the
Speaker:creative side does and usually it's the opposite for most business owners.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And fortunately we live in a time where if you can Focus on doing
Speaker:that thing that you're great at, you can effectively pay for people
Speaker:to interpret the other side of it.
Speaker:You can pay for somebody to do your bookkeeping, you can pay for somebody
Speaker:to meet with you monthly and tell you about, this is how you're tracking,
Speaker:this is what you need to focus on.
Speaker:And then you can, either, whether that's you wanting to be a sort of, more in
Speaker:an operational space with some owners still just like the actual doing of the
Speaker:work and they just don't have capacity for it because of everything else.
Speaker:So if you can be in that top 5 percent of what you're doing, the rest of it
Speaker:can all get taken care of on the side.
Speaker:So I think that's something where owners do find themselves feeling
Speaker:like they need to know everything.
Speaker:They need to be ones driving everything.
Speaker:But it's not always the case.
Speaker:What we really work with owners to do is to let them focus on
Speaker:either the things that are going to earn them the highest return.
Speaker:So they're high payoff activities.
Speaker:Or just the things they like.
Speaker:We hope you're enjoying listening to the Biz Bites podcast.
Speaker:Have you ever thought about having your own podcast?
Speaker:One for your business.
Speaker:Where your brilliance is exposed to the rest of the world.
Speaker:Come talk to us at Podcasts Done For You.
Speaker:That's what we're all about.
Speaker:We even offer a service where I'll anchor the program for you.
Speaker:So all you have to do is show up for a conversation.
Speaker:But don't worry about that.
Speaker:We will do everything to design a program that suits you.
Speaker:From the strategy right through to publishing and of
Speaker:course helping you share it.
Speaker:Come talk to us, podcastdoneforyou.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:au Details in the show notes below.
Speaker:Now, back to Biz Bites.
Speaker:But it's not always the case.
Speaker:What we really work with owners to do is to let them focus on either the
Speaker:things that are going to earn them the highest return, so their high payoff
Speaker:activities, or just the things they like.
Speaker:If you don't like stopping to pick up milk for the coffee machine and taking out the
Speaker:rubbish on whatever night, rubbish night is, somebody else can do that and you can
Speaker:use that time to better your business.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:And I think that's that's the interesting thing I want to ask you about is to
Speaker:people that are coming to you, do they need to have that self realization
Speaker:first that, Hey, I'm doing stuff that really I shouldn't be doing and
Speaker:wouldn't be good to get someone else.
Speaker:Or is it a case of they're coming to you for accounting and then you making them
Speaker:realize that there's more to it, that they could be taking this to another level.
Speaker:More often than not, they're coming to us because they recognize
Speaker:that something needs to change.
Speaker:So that's probably the biggest drive with it all.
Speaker:So we, it's very rare that somebody comes to us because they want their tax returns
Speaker:done and we made them see the picture.
Speaker:Generally, it's maybe we've connected via LinkedIn or we've dealt with
Speaker:somebody that they know who's.
Speaker:Giving them feedback that maybe they need to be looking at doing a little
Speaker:bit more with inside their business.
Speaker:But you often find that with most businesses, the owners,
Speaker:they know what needs to be done.
Speaker:They just don't know how to navigate.
Speaker:where they are.
Speaker:They just feel stuck.
Speaker:They go year on year.
Speaker:They make maybe a little bit more money, a little bit more money, but that list of to
Speaker:do items just keeps growing and growing.
Speaker:So it just, I think some people can also be a little bit too proud.
Speaker:I think for others, they just realize they need help.
Speaker:And that's the biggest thing.
Speaker:And you'd be surprised at how many people will actually just reach
Speaker:out and say, Hey, look, I need to come and see you because what I'm
Speaker:doing at the moment isn't working.
Speaker:And then.
Speaker:Again, that could be a different life cycles within the business.
Speaker:I'm seeing a big trend these days with a lot of owners that are in
Speaker:their sort of mid to late twenties that have only been, in business
Speaker:for a very short period of time.
Speaker:They just want to basically get off the tools straight away.
Speaker:So they'll, I want to be a, just an owner manager.
Speaker:I don't want to be working on the day to day, but they don't know how to go
Speaker:about it and they're asking for help.
Speaker:Other times we might see somebody in the middle life cycle of their
Speaker:business where they're really providing themselves with employment.
Speaker:They have a job, but on top of that pays not bad, but on top of all of that, they
Speaker:need to do all these other things as well.
Speaker:So that's the bookkeeping, the taking out of the bins, the hiring, the
Speaker:firing, the internal processes, the compliance all of that side of it.
Speaker:Or we look at people that, want to maximize exit.
Speaker:They're thinking about how do I exit?
Speaker:Who my seller is?
Speaker:How do I navigate that?
Speaker:Am I leaving any money on the table?
Speaker:I love that you've identified basically three different age groups really
Speaker:of in many respects of people at it.
Speaker:And I'm fascinated by the 20 somethings because the impatience which is not
Speaker:necessarily always a bad thing, but the impatience with the younger generation
Speaker:is quite It's quite amazing because it's I certainly come from the generation.
Speaker:It might certainly my parents do of where, you start, the whole idea was that, you
Speaker:start where you're literally probably making the tea and coffee and stacking
Speaker:the shelves or whatever it might be in the business before you work your way up to
Speaker:a point where you're running the business before you eventually, you might actually
Speaker:get to a point where you can bring people in and you can just be that owner.
Speaker:CEO type role and not have to be involved in the day to day, but it's
Speaker:interesting that they come in and quickly jump to that different level.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:It's just a complete, I think it just shows that complete different mindset.
Speaker:The way they grew up was different to the way maybe their parents grew up.
Speaker:I know I certainly.
Speaker:Came from a family where dad was about, okay, if I need to make
Speaker:more money, I just work more hours.
Speaker:It'd be seven days a week, it'd be 12 hours a day.
Speaker:And that was for him, what running his own business was.
Speaker:Whereas I look at that and think it doesn't need to be like that.
Speaker:And I think that's what all of these younger guys coming through
Speaker:they're coming out of large.
Speaker:Corporations, they're starting their own business and
Speaker:they're looking straight away.
Speaker:All right, my team's getting bigger.
Speaker:I think the one big thing is as well, there is a lot of work out there.
Speaker:So if you are, semi decent at what you're doing, you can
Speaker:actually scale quite quickly.
Speaker:Depending on the industry you're in.
Speaker:But certainly I do a lot with civil businesses.
Speaker:So doing a lot of the, there might be a road going in and they're doing the
Speaker:stormwater or the underground services or digging for cables, things like that.
Speaker:Those large infrastructure type projects, there's a lot of those going on at the
Speaker:moment and you can find that it's you and it's two guys and you've got a you
Speaker:and you've bought a Bobcat to all of a sudden you're buying a 250, 000 machine
Speaker:and then you need a truck to tow it and then you need someone to run it and then
Speaker:all of a sudden you have 10, 15 people working from you within the space of And
Speaker:you really don't know what's going on.
Speaker:So I think sometimes the circumstance that they're pushed in
Speaker:because of the work that's there.
Speaker:their hand to look for that help as well.
Speaker:And that's interesting too.
Speaker:When you talk about that kind of scenario those businesses growing quickly in
Speaker:terms of the income that they've got as well, or is that, or are they on
Speaker:a capital hunt initially as well?
Speaker:In order to be able to have that injection of funds to be able to buy
Speaker:that 250, 000 machine and have the 10 extra people working for them.
Speaker:Look, I think initially with any business, you're reinvesting a lot at the start.
Speaker:So the business might be earning good returns, but there's a lot
Speaker:going back into the business.
Speaker:So you are having to work more than you're ever going to have to.
Speaker:You're having to hunt for work, you might be on your first project,
Speaker:your second project and something could go wrong on your third and you
Speaker:don't want that to be your legacy of well, we came unstuck on this.
Speaker:So I think there's a little bit of both.
Speaker:There is.
Speaker:Good money to be earned, but at the same time you're having to reinvest
Speaker:quite a significant amount back into the business just to establish yourself.
Speaker:It's a little bit different once you're five, 10 years in and you're
Speaker:paying off a lot of your equipment and things like that, and then
Speaker:you start to own these things and the repayments aren't going out.
Speaker:But again, that's something we help them navigate about, okay,
Speaker:there's a 250, 000 machine.
Speaker:What is the best way for me to structure the purchase of this?
Speaker:How do I, how does, how do I maintain the security of this asset?
Speaker:What is the tax set up for me selling this down the track?
Speaker:There's a lot of considerations that go into it.
Speaker:And finding that money?
Speaker:How do they, how do businesses find money, particularly in the current environment?
Speaker:Yeah, I think the current environment is very interesting because
Speaker:obviously we've been hearing non stop probably for the last two years
Speaker:about cost of living approaches.
Speaker:I think for some industries that has really hurt them a lot.
Speaker:Definitely those linked with the retail are really suffering, particularly
Speaker:with the discretionary spend.
Speaker:You might find that somebody that's buying wine that's 150 a bottle, they
Speaker:can afford to continue buying that wine.
Speaker:But somebody buying wine That's 10 a bottle is all of a sudden we're going
Speaker:to stop buying wine and we're looking for something that's 15 a bottle.
Speaker:So they are impacted by interest rates, by cost of living
Speaker:pressures, things like that.
Speaker:So certain industries are feeling the pinch, but for others it's,
Speaker:they're almost not impacted.
Speaker:So that work is out there.
Speaker:They have good financial results.
Speaker:We work a lot in business about budgeting and financial forecasting as well.
Speaker:So you might take somebody that's in there.
Speaker:By 20s that's, doesn't really know what a budget is, but for them a budget
Speaker:is something their parents told them about when they got their first job
Speaker:at, the local supermarket shop and said you need to budget your money and
Speaker:you need to save and that's what their understanding of it is and it's okay,
Speaker:I'm not going to go out for a pub meal.
Speaker:I'm going to make my own lunches.
Speaker:They likened it to that, but we more look at it as a very useful tool in the
Speaker:business so they can plan those expenses, coming into Christmas traditionally.
Speaker:For a lot of the businesses I deal with, they're closed for two, three weeks.
Speaker:So you're going to find that they're doing work, they're billing it out,
Speaker:then nobody's on the tools, they're still having to pay wages, they're
Speaker:going to come back, start the next lot of work, and maybe their billing
Speaker:cycle is, 30 days, end of month.
Speaker:So they, Got paid sometime in January.
Speaker:There's no work that's been done.
Speaker:They might not be able to build till maybe the middle of February again
Speaker:and then all of a sudden they're not getting paid until sometime in March.
Speaker:And so it's using a budget, they can see that deficit is going to rise very
Speaker:far ahead and they can plan for it.
Speaker:They can start planning for six months in advance if they need to
Speaker:and know that, Ooh, that's the wrong time for me to go buy new equipment.
Speaker:And you'll find that.
Speaker:Again, the lack of financial acumen some clients that come in and all of a
Speaker:sudden we start working with them and at the end of every month, they're sending
Speaker:us, a budget versus actual variance.
Speaker:They're explaining why their fuel cost has gone up because they have two more
Speaker:utes and four more trucks and now they need to readjust their own budgets.
Speaker:So it's about teaching them those things you spoke about at the start
Speaker:where you're being able to interpret the data and what all that means.
Speaker:financial performance, the balance sheet.
Speaker:That's where we really work with them so they have that understanding and they're
Speaker:not reliant on somebody else always to give them that, that information.
Speaker:Yeah, and I wanted to ask you about this because it's you sit in
Speaker:a very interesting space for me.
Speaker:It's you talk about business advisory and you're coming
Speaker:from an accounting background.
Speaker:Where is that balance between, what traditionally might be a business coach
Speaker:and the kind of the advisory part and where does the strategy and things fit in?
Speaker:Where, how do you tread that line of where you sit?
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:I think Look, I think with coaching and advisory, they're somewhat different.
Speaker:I think the coaching is really just that handholding of, okay,
Speaker:how do we work through this?
Speaker:How do we get through that?
Speaker:Whereas with the advisory, we're really trying to push that growth and that scale.
Speaker:So traditionally, we would always start with a form of strategy session,
Speaker:be it a half day or a full day, where we actually look at, okay,
Speaker:what does the owner want in life?
Speaker:What is it?
Speaker:Are they wanting to work four days a week, zero days a week?
Speaker:Do they want six weeks off?
Speaker:Do they want two months off?
Speaker:We really try to find a picture of what life looks like for
Speaker:them and as they want it.
Speaker:And then we work on getting the business to be able to basically
Speaker:be a vehicle to get them all those things they need to in life.
Speaker:And so it's really that forward looking of, okay, this is the next five years.
Speaker:This is the next 10 years.
Speaker:And now it's a case of, okay, how hard do you want to go to get there?
Speaker:Is that 10 year target is actually need to be brought down to five years.
Speaker:And we're going to work really hard for the next five years to get to a point.
Speaker:And then you've made it where you want to in life.
Speaker:And I'd say, for most people, they're not going to get to that point and
Speaker:coast because the type of people that we work with, they're all about
Speaker:growth and scale and trying to move forward and better their businesses.
Speaker:So it's you find you work with clients for a few years and then.
Speaker:Where the business was, where they've gone to, that just re establishes
Speaker:what normal looks like for them.
Speaker:And then there's more.
Speaker:Then it's okay, okay, what's the next step?
Speaker:How do we get to the next stage?
Speaker:Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it?
Speaker:That, that, that notion of moving ahead that the goals keep changing, right?
Speaker:That on one hand, and that's, and it's interesting to even just simple things of,
Speaker:how many days a week do you want to work?
Speaker:Where do you want to sit within the, where do you want to sit within the business?
Speaker:They sound like easy questions and your first reaction might be great.
Speaker:I finally have to work two days a week and and I can let the thing run by myself.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:But those sort of people tend to get bored very quickly.
Speaker:And the two days a week turns into either they established a second
Speaker:business or they, the business goals change quite dramatically, don't they?
Speaker:Correct.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Or the one we see a lot is somebody wants to work four days a week,
Speaker:but really they're just doing five days worth of work in four days.
Speaker:So they haven't gained anything.
Speaker:They don't have that extra maybe time with their family or time for
Speaker:themselves or, focus on things because they're so tired from the four days
Speaker:that on the fifth day they don't feel like doing anything anyway.
Speaker:So that, that's another one we see a lot of too.
Speaker:Yeah, it's a really interesting dynamic with a business that, that you, to
Speaker:be able to truly switch off and to, it is it's interesting, isn't it?
Speaker:When you end up with a public holiday or something like that, where you are forced
Speaker:to work four days instead of five, and you tend to get stuff done, but you're
Speaker:right, you get to the end of it and you're more often than not exhausted.
Speaker:You've done five days worth of work.
Speaker:You've just done it in four days.
Speaker:That doesn't mean that you're going to end up with one extra day a week.
Speaker:where you can do something else or do another business.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:I think you hit the nail on the head with that one.
Speaker:And that's, I feel like every public holiday that rolls around, that's a
Speaker:narrative we hear a lot is, I'm just more exhausted because I did five
Speaker:days worth of work in four days.
Speaker:Even though in that instance, it's everybody that had the four days.
Speaker:It's not, it's it's not like it's your business and you've decided to have
Speaker:four days and everyone else is on five.
Speaker:So yeah, it's absolutely.
Speaker:Getting out of that mindset.
Speaker:How much of what you deal with in terms of that is about mindset?
Speaker:Because people are coming to you and saying, I need help.
Speaker:I want to grow the business.
Speaker:How much is mindset versus actual strategy?
Speaker:I think a lot of it is mindset.
Speaker:I couldn't quantify it for you exactly.
Speaker:I think mindset and behaviors.
Speaker:So there's that default notion of, okay, I've got all these tasks.
Speaker:It's easier, Emails come in.
Speaker:It's easier for me to deal with this right now than to delegate this to someone
Speaker:else because that's going to take longer.
Speaker:But setting aside time to delegate to someone and show them this is
Speaker:how you do this means that you might never have to do that task again.
Speaker:So it's more about breaking cycles, changing behaviors, like really,
Speaker:if it's the case, if you want to do three hours of BD a week, okay.
Speaker:In your diary, we're putting in a time for three hours of BD.
Speaker:It's what do you want to get from that time?
Speaker:You go into that three hours, you don't just spend it scrolling
Speaker:LinkedIn and calling a couple clients, see how they are.
Speaker:It's a case of, okay, at the end of those three hours, what
Speaker:do you want to have succeeded?
Speaker:What did you start with on the to do list and what did you finish
Speaker:with and can we measure this?
Speaker:Can we put on a scoreboard where we can say, okay, yeah, green tick, we've
Speaker:done well here or we've just wasted three hours that we're not getting back.
Speaker:That's such an interesting idea of just doing that.
Speaker:That, that's a great tip for people.
Speaker:How do you, particularly when you first start working with people
Speaker:and people are sitting there now, probably am I, how do I identify if
Speaker:I am the right kind of candidate for something like this is how do you
Speaker:implement a simple scorecard like that?
Speaker:Probably the easiest way is just something you can see
Speaker:it's on the wall, it's visible.
Speaker:We have one in our office.
Speaker:We've got a whiteboard in our office.
Speaker:And we maintain a scorecard for the business on that.
Speaker:And anytime you can turn around and look at it and we have different
Speaker:measurables and we can see whether we're delivering on them or not.
Speaker:So I think something that's front of mind, something that it's not over complicated.
Speaker:The last thing we want to do is create some ridiculous spreadsheet where
Speaker:somebody's opening it and they have to work out what they're doing before
Speaker:they actually can write it down.
Speaker:So it's just something that's easy, front of mind, can look at it all the time.
Speaker:And people get excited about it.
Speaker:You want to see that you are winning.
Speaker:And if you're on track, as long as you understand why and how to get
Speaker:back on track, then that's okay.
Speaker:I love the fact that you've done something simple in terms
Speaker:of just a whiteboard, right?
Speaker:Because immediately you would expect, particularly the accountant, I'd
Speaker:say, I think there was some kind of complicated spreadsheet that you
Speaker:were going to be actioning there.
Speaker:And I think, and I've tried both personally, where you've got the
Speaker:things that are physical things versus the versus the things
Speaker:that are sitting on the computer.
Speaker:It's often a lot harder to the things in the community because it's easy
Speaker:to move away from it and to lose sight of that spreadsheet and that's
Speaker:sitting there somewhere on the side.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And look some people as well are more visual and some people more data driven.
Speaker:So for instance, we, I know I have one client that they've
Speaker:got a Google shared drive.
Speaker:Spreadsheet gets updated in that and everybody's really happy with that and it
Speaker:works well for them But in the majority of cases it is that simple whiteboard
Speaker:or it's You know those big post it notes that can go on the wall as well.
Speaker:We see a bit of that, too Yeah, it doesn't have to be over complicated.
Speaker:I think the one big thing with spreadsheets in general
Speaker:is they're ultimately I guess make or break with a user.
Speaker:It's very easy to You know input the data incorrectly, and then
Speaker:it becomes completely pointless.
Speaker:So we try to stay away with spreadsheets as much as you can.
Speaker:It's as taboo as that might be for someone for that's what I was going to say.
Speaker:Are you going to lose your accounting license for saying it's
Speaker:but it is interesting because I think it has to be what's right
Speaker:for you as a business, doesn't it?
Speaker:It has to be what's going to work.
Speaker:But certainly in my experience, and as I said, I've tried both the
Speaker:physical Stuff is a lot easier.
Speaker:And I think I've seen a lot of people writing the to do list
Speaker:down next to them each day.
Speaker:And I think it's finding that balance as well that the to do list is not
Speaker:longer than what is that you're actually capable of doing in a day.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And even just allowing for unexpected things that will come up.
Speaker:That phone call that email that all of a sudden you're not going to get your to do
Speaker:list and then tomorrow morning to do this.
Speaker:So it really is about finding that.
Speaker:I want to come back to something we were just touching on a moment ago and just
Speaker:talk about the telltale signs that people are in this awkward phase of business,
Speaker:that you're almost treading water, right?
Speaker:I think that's the thing that the business is going, you're
Speaker:making a little bit of profit.
Speaker:And as you say, growing a little bit, how do they, how does a business tend to
Speaker:identify the frustrations that they're having, that it's not going where they
Speaker:like, because you can get so wrapped up in the business That actually taking
Speaker:that step back and thinking about it, that in and of itself is a big step.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Look, I think it's quite often it's financially driven.
Speaker:People feel like they are working really hard and they just don't have
Speaker:financially enough to show for it.
Speaker:Or, cash flow is always an issue.
Speaker:We're never paying our bills on time.
Speaker:We're always checking the bank balance.
Speaker:That's another one.
Speaker:I think just overall stress and that feeling of overwhelmed.
Speaker:It's like, how am I going to get all these things done?
Speaker:I need to work more.
Speaker:Whether it's your partner, your spouse, your kids, how much time
Speaker:are you actually spending with them?
Speaker:I know I grew up playing sport and it was always those kids whose
Speaker:parents were at all the events and functions and games and they were
Speaker:those ones that were always at work.
Speaker:So I guess it becomes a case of what you're comfortable with
Speaker:and just understanding, okay, am I unnecessarily stressed?
Speaker:Is, sometimes you've got to stop and ask yourself, when I got into
Speaker:business, is this feeling I have right now the reason I got into it?
Speaker:Is that what I was in pursuit of?
Speaker:I just want to feel overwhelmed.
Speaker:I want to feel like I don't have time.
Speaker:And then financially, I don't really have much to show for it.
Speaker:I think if you can basically leave your business and go get a job and,
Speaker:financially and from a leave point of view, be better off you got to think
Speaker:about, Okay, do I need to get some help or do I just need to go apply for a job?
Speaker:Yeah, it is.
Speaker:That is a very interesting scenario because It is that point where
Speaker:you go, yeah, do I abandon this dream of my own business because
Speaker:it's easier to be employed?
Speaker:Or is it better to be say, no, there's a hope here with this business and I
Speaker:want to go further because the problem of course is when you're employed,
Speaker:you can only get so many pay rises.
Speaker:Yes, you can jump from job to job from time to time and
Speaker:get a little bit of a hike.
Speaker:But the reality is you're not going to make huge gains.
Speaker:Huge gains is a general rule.
Speaker:Whereas in business, of course, you've got that opportunity, but is it worth
Speaker:all of the things that go with it?
Speaker:Yeah, correct.
Speaker:And I think the other, the big one is as well, like at the day, we're
Speaker:all in business, we all want to make money, but I think people underestimate
Speaker:how much time is actually worth.
Speaker:And whether it means dropping the kids off to school, whether it means leaving
Speaker:early on a Friday, at the end of the day, it's your business, it's your rules.
Speaker:So if you can create capacity in the business where, if you
Speaker:don't feel like going to work today, you don't really need to.
Speaker:You can't do that when you're employed.
Speaker:You can as a business owner, provided you have the right systems,
Speaker:processes, frameworks in place.
Speaker:I think one thing we always say to our clients, and particularly when they have
Speaker:issues with team or, they might have complaints about their team which doesn't
Speaker:necessarily mean there's a problem with their team, sometimes it just comes
Speaker:down again to their capacity to invest in their team and spend time with them.
Speaker:But one thing we always say is there's a reason that you're the owner and they're
Speaker:an employee, because in the end, we're all wired a little bit differently.
Speaker:So for the people that are in business, there was something that wasn't sitting
Speaker:right with them as just being an employee.
Speaker:So there's a reason that they got driven into business.
Speaker:So I always think that their mindset is that little bit different, and they're
Speaker:not the type that are going to give up.
Speaker:But again, how much you want to grow and scale that again comes
Speaker:back down to the individual.
Speaker:Are there some, are there some questions or some things that people that are
Speaker:listening in today that should be asking themselves as a business to
Speaker:know whether that's the, how they, whether they're in a situation that
Speaker:should be looking at the next step.
Speaker:So there's some telltale signs that they should be, asking themselves and
Speaker:spending some time looking at before they go, ah, okay, I'm at this point.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:I think certainly from an owner point of view.
Speaker:I think write a list of all the things that you're doing in your
Speaker:business that you don't like doing.
Speaker:And then ask yourself the question of, Okay, do I know how to stop doing
Speaker:these and make somebody else do them?
Speaker:If not, then I think you probably need some help in getting rid of those items.
Speaker:And then that's going to uncover some other things.
Speaker:I think other than that, stress, lack of time off.
Speaker:And I guess financial performance, I think those are the big ticket items
Speaker:where a hundred percent, if you're feeling the burden of those quite
Speaker:significantly, then you definitely need to ask for some help, some advice
Speaker:on how to navigate these through.
Speaker:I think a lot of times as well with owners, they probably
Speaker:know what they need to do.
Speaker:They just don't know how to execute those things.
Speaker:I was gonna ask you as well, how much of when people come to you, do you see
Speaker:that strategy is actually there, that it's actually, that they're actually
Speaker:working towards a strategic way of the way they go about doing business?
Speaker:Or is it just tend to be that the business is chugging along, but
Speaker:there isn't really a strategy?
Speaker:Yeah, I think definitely the latter, the business is chugging
Speaker:along and there's no strategy.
Speaker:It's usually the case, I think, of so many businesses, they don't
Speaker:put time aside for strategy.
Speaker:They don't even put time aside to meet with their team.
Speaker:One thing we really work with businesses is about That regular communication
Speaker:with, senior leadership team, with team at, the lowest sort of level where
Speaker:everybody's involved with, setting that time aside, that half day, that full day
Speaker:to review strategy and are we on track?
Speaker:Are we off track?
Speaker:Where can we improve?
Speaker:I'd say like 99 percent of cases when we start working with businesses that
Speaker:doesn't exist within their organization.
Speaker:Yeah, it's a pretty common thing.
Speaker:I think a lot of people, I wish there was another word.
Speaker:Maybe people will write in with a better word than strategy.
Speaker:When people use the word strategy, I just see the eyes glaze over and people run a
Speaker:mile and people or people say, Yeah, I've got a strategy, but they don't really,
Speaker:they're not really working towards it.
Speaker:It's one of those terms that I think makes most people shudder.
Speaker:Yet is often used by consultants, but I think the other thing, yeah, I
Speaker:think the other big thing as well is you might find that there's a soul
Speaker:director, soul owner within the business.
Speaker:And then I think Do I need a strategy?
Speaker:Do I need this roadmap for the next three to five years?
Speaker:Because for them, they'll think, okay, for me setting a day aside every
Speaker:year to work on my strategy for the next 12 months, it's almost like, why
Speaker:am I having a meeting with myself?
Speaker:But it's more about the dedication to that time that for this day or
Speaker:for this half day of these three hours, I'm focusing on roadmapping
Speaker:all the next 12 months in time.
Speaker:I want to ask you as well, something that you raised a little
Speaker:bit earlier on or alluded to.
Speaker:That is so common in the news at the moment.
Speaker:Economic climate cost of living crisis at throw in heading towards
Speaker:an election at some stage soon.
Speaker:How much is that having an impact on the businesses that you're dealing with
Speaker:and what you're seeing in the market?
Speaker:As I said, I think a lot of businesses with retail have been struggling.
Speaker:If they've got, if they've been right systems, processes, all of that in place.
Speaker:Maybe a little bit of war chest of funds there.
Speaker:They've been able to navigate through and stay afloat.
Speaker:But certainly in infrastructure and construction in those areas, none of
Speaker:those economic indicators which would be causing pressures on most households are
Speaker:amassing that are really being impacted.
Speaker:I think at the day, if you are good at what you do, there's always
Speaker:an opportunity to make money.
Speaker:Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it?
Speaker:It's attitude, isn't it?
Speaker:A lot of it is attitude because, there is that sort of famous saying that more
Speaker:millionaires are made in difficult times than they are when things are thriving.
Speaker:And it's about having that attitude and where you want to focus your time
Speaker:and being a more crucial service, of course is or product that's.
Speaker:Part of it as well.
Speaker:If it's a luxury, nice to have, but not really needed item that it is
Speaker:going to be a little bit tougher.
Speaker:Yeah, and I think the other thing is sometimes when I'm pretty sure a
Speaker:little bit through covid where You know businesses couldn't Provide the
Speaker:service or operate in the manner.
Speaker:They always could For some people would really force them to pivot And make a
Speaker:slight change or offer another product or slightly service a different market
Speaker:segment or develop a sub brand and For those people that really thought
Speaker:outside the box and push the envelope a bit They're, it's maybe that new
Speaker:product segment or that new service delivery is completely transforming
Speaker:their business and is now where they're earning a lot of their turnover from.
Speaker:So that's quite common too.
Speaker:I think when times do get tough, it's about, okay how much initiative
Speaker:can the owners have in terms of just raising the bar, pivoting, doing
Speaker:something, thinking outside the box.
Speaker:And backed onto the back of that as well as is obviously collaboration and in some
Speaker:respects what they do with working with someone like yourself is a collaboration
Speaker:but also, bringing in new opportunities, new partnerships and things.
Speaker:How much of that is something that you look at and see that the gaps
Speaker:that are missing in businesses?
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:I think a classic one these days is that old position of your
Speaker:relationship manager at the bank.
Speaker:Certainly for those clients we have, whether they've been in business a
Speaker:lot longer, they used to have one relationship manager or bank manager
Speaker:they dealt with for 20 years or 30 years.
Speaker:And that person moved on and it's basically been a revolving
Speaker:door every 12 months ever since.
Speaker:And they never even meet that person.
Speaker:They just get an email saying, I'm your new contact.
Speaker:So I probably, and not to throw shade on the banks, but that's been a constant
Speaker:complaint with a lot of clients.
Speaker:And I think.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Do you have a relationship with your bank?
Speaker:Do you use a broker?
Speaker:Do you go direct to a branch?
Speaker:Are you constantly using one bank or are you positioned
Speaker:where you have multiple ones?
Speaker:Do you have a go to lawyer?
Speaker:I think it's When it is just a transactional item, so you need a
Speaker:lawyer for a contract, you use one person and that's it, next time
Speaker:you use someone else, I think then it gets really hard for leverage.
Speaker:I think when there's existing relationships or when you build
Speaker:relationships that's when people are prepared to go that extra distance.
Speaker:Certainly with our clients, and particularly, With all of us in our
Speaker:organization, we have industries where we play a little bit more in.
Speaker:So we do come with the ability to refer, okay, go see this person, or you
Speaker:need to speak to this person and start connecting clients and from there they
Speaker:can start building their own networks.
Speaker:Because quite often owners are so focused in day to day that they don't
Speaker:really have any kind of a network.
Speaker:And that doesn't necessarily mean that, oh, I've got to go attend
Speaker:networking events, which VGAPs, value from and just waste your time.
Speaker:But it is about putting the right set of people around you that are going to make
Speaker:a difference and help your business grow.
Speaker:Yeah, I think that the relationships that you can have.
Speaker:With other businesses can be crucial.
Speaker:I know, personally that I have a couple of relationships with businesses that
Speaker:compliment what I do and they date back to 2025 over 25 years in one
Speaker:particular case and being able to rely on them and have them effectively
Speaker:become an extension of your own business to add value is a huge asset.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And it just, you build trust as well.
Speaker:I think that's the other big thing you think that this person is going to do
Speaker:it right by me and I'll do it right by them and again, that is another
Speaker:way you get rid of a little bit of that stress that you don't need to.
Speaker:We've got to wrap things up, but I just wanted to ask you one
Speaker:final question that I like to ask all of my guests on Biz Bites.
Speaker:What is the aha moment that business owners have when they come to work
Speaker:with you that you wish they knew more they were going to have in advance?
Speaker:Yeah, I think probably
Speaker:it's probably just a case of, I didn't know I could do that.
Speaker:It's just, is it really that simple?
Speaker:I think that really hits people when they sit there, their eyes just open
Speaker:and this is all clear, I've known this, but I just haven't known how.
Speaker:I think that's probably the aha moment for us.
Speaker:So much so that we've seen it so many times, we actually guarantee
Speaker:the cost of our strategy sessions.
Speaker:So we'll happily refund clients if they're not happy.
Speaker:With what they got, and all of 'em will call following up from a strategy
Speaker:session telling us about, at this moment, this is when it hit me.
Speaker:It's amazing when people have that and it's such a great thing, isn't
Speaker:it that people can be skeptical going in, but when you can reveal, wow, you
Speaker:couldn't do this, and sometimes it's right in front of their faces, isn't it?
Speaker:It's just that they haven't.
Speaker:Taking that step back to be able to have that realization and to have someone
Speaker:independent that can reaffirm them and say, did you know you could do this
Speaker:instead that would save you this much?
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:That's exactly the way it is.
Speaker:And I'd say like for certain owners, sometimes it's a little bit different,
Speaker:but I think the, and this probably comes back to us being accountants is
Speaker:we break things down from Okay, this is how much money your business needs to
Speaker:make to what that is per transaction.
Speaker:And it's okay, you just need to see three more clients a week, or
Speaker:you need to get 10 more jobs out.
Speaker:And all of a sudden, it's quantified, it's in front of them.
Speaker:And it's okay, that's actually not that hard.
Speaker:I can do that.
Speaker:You're telling me I could have all these things.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Very simple advice.
Speaker:Lots of great tips for everyone in there.
Speaker:Daniel, thank you so much for being a wonderful guest on the program.
Speaker:And we will, of course, include all of the information on how to get in
Speaker:contact with Daniel and and his company because I think it's a service that many
Speaker:people will be seeking into the future.
Speaker:No worries.
Speaker:Thanks a lot for having me.
Speaker:It's been a lot of fun.
Speaker:And everyone stay tuned of course for the next episode of Biz Bites.
Speaker:Always remember to subscribe so you never miss a thing.
Speaker:Hey, thanks for listening to Biz Bites.
Speaker:We hope you enjoyed the program.
Speaker:Don't forget to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode.
Speaker:Biz Bites is proudly brought to you by Podcasts Done For You.
Speaker:The service where we will deliver a podcast for you
Speaker:and expose your brilliance.
Speaker:Contact us today for more information, details in the show notes.
Speaker:We look forward to your company next time on Biz Bites.
