The Excelerate Effect – Month in Review

Well, what a month October was! It started by deciding what type of content I wanted to write on my blog. I researched different topics and thought having recently started a small business myself, that NSW Small Business Month was a fitting choice. Also, who better to speak to the challenges and triumphs, and provide advice for business owners, than the organisations I work with every day.

I’ve been blown away by the support I’ve received for this initiative and thoroughly enjoyed interviewing each and every person. There are certainly some common themes – importance of investing in the right people and culture (especially in 2020), strapping in for years of grind and human strength and resilience. I’ve summarised my favourite quotes and advice in this blog.

THRIVE vs. Survive

You don’t need to look too hard to find leaders with a mindset to THRIVE, not just survive. By focusing on the opportunities in front of you, rather than the challenges, business owners can push their businesses to new heights. This is a connecting theme many of The Excelerate Effect businesses shared.

Tara Wagner and her company - The Spraytan Society - exemplifies how a business can start with a mission in mind and, through keen focus and an unwavering drive, only see that mission grow stronger over time. 

“When we started in 2014 the mission was to bring specialised custom spray tans to the shire and allow me to work for myself. This hasn’t changed but has grown,” said Ms Wagner.

Leading from the front while providing great products or service will always help a business to thrive.

Paul Glossop of Pure Property reflected on one of the reasons their business has not only been surviving, but actually growing in 2020.

“People come back because they get an outcome that’s far better than they can achieve themselves,” said Mr Glossop.

When faced with challenges Mr Glossop emphasised that positive mindset of taking the right steps forward with your business, saying: “Double down and build bigger. Stay on the offensive.”

Both The Spraytan Society and Pure Property have propelled their businesses forward by focusing on the opportunities given to them and providing a steady and reliable service to their customers.

Could this be even more prevalent because we’ve been given something this year that money can’t buy… time? An article by Entreprenur outlines three ways to thrive and mentions the reason why people struggle is because so many let “the hustle and bustle of life completely take over their lives and clog their decision making”.

Be equipped for change

How The Excelerate Effect businesses have adapted to remote workforce engagement has been nothing short of inspiring.

In fact, Michael Demery of Seccom Global, believes that other businesses may need to absorb the lessons this current model has taught us all about work-life balance.

“Moving forward post-COVID, I believe we will move to a more hybrid work environment to provide a work/life balance to our employees,” said Mr Demery.

Tara Wagner reiterated this statement in her interview, noting that: “You have to be able to adapt at a moment’s notice. I don’t think anyone in our industry had a contingency plan for a global pandemic.”

For a business such as Ms Wagner’s that relied on in-person contact for their services, adaptation and equipping your staff for remove work engagement is a remarkable testament to their business leadership.

However, it’s no secret that many businesses are feeling the distance, and those with a strong sense of team culture and community, like Pure Property, don’t underestimate the value of a connected workforce.

“There is such great value in everyone getting together – in a sense of camaraderie. It is important to invest in team morale. We get better outcomes as a team if we get together more regularly,” said Mr Glossop.

Strap yourself in for years of grind 

A New York Enterprise report noted that small business owners typically work twice as hard as regularly employed individuals. It also reported that a quarter (25%) of small business owners worked 60+ hours a week.

In fact, one of my favourite pieces of advice for business owners starting their journey now came from Nicholas Hastings of Hammerjack.

“Strap yourself in for years of grind, real grind,” he said.

This should come to no surprise to business owners who lovingly put in the extra hours for their businesses every single day.

It’s not always glamorous running a business, and Paul Glossop from Pure Property explains this well.

“Be Prepared. You might need to bootstrap when there is little money coming in. You can moonlight where possible - be prepared to write and give away content until the cows come home,” he said.

But it’s always good to get back to basics when the grind starts to get too much. Noel Tiufino of My Accounts touched on this with his encouraging advice for any new business owners.

Whilst it’s not sexy, take it back to basics. Don’t chase the shiny things. Know your numbers. Set a budget, aim to achieve it and operate within it,” he explained.

Be vulnerable and surround yourself with good support

Nicholas Hastings reminded business owners of one of the best lessons they’ll have to learn to achieve new levels of success: when to let go of the reins.

“Being vulnerable and asking for help is a form of strong leadership,” he said.

Great leaders know when to delegate, and when to step aside and let others shine. For hard working business owners who’ve built their company’s success from the ground up, it’s not the most natural step to take.

But it can allow you to avoid bottlenecking your workload – meaning you become overwhelmed with too many tasks and deadlines pulling you in multiple directions.

Tara Wagner shared this sentiment, saying: “When you hold all the knowledge it makes it difficult to delegate and step back for your personal time.”

Remember, this is a great lesson to have to learn! It means your business has grown to the point that you potentially need to bring in a helping hand. Take stock of the tasks that take up the most of your time and resources and consider delegating some of them to new staff.

“If we had the chance, we would implement systems and procedures earlier to make scaling the business easier,” Ms Wager said.

Don’t discount having good support from the beginning of your business, whether through mentorship, networking opportunities, helpful software and upskill workshops for your staff.

Michael Demery would have aligned himself with someone who has walked the path before “If I could have my time again, I would invest in a business coach. But not one that has learnt from reading books, I would find one that has leant from experience and succeeded despite the many mistakes.”

Right people + right position

Many of The Excelerate Effect businesses touched on the value of taking your time to hire the right person for the right position.

Seccom Global’s Michael Demery actually attributes this not only to the business’ success, but also calls it their greatest challenge.

“No business can succeed without the right team… Culture would be the greatest challenge. Ensuring that all people in the organisation understand the vital role that they play to keep clients happy,” he said.

Many job seekers cite company culture as one of the most important factors in choosing where to apply for work. From a survey by Bullitin, almost half of respondents reported that team culture was important, and 35 per cent said they would turn down the “perfect job” if the company culture wasn’t a good fit.

Noel Tiufino attributes a large part of the success My Accounts has had to his longstanding business partners who are running in their own lanes but in their own race. Mr Tiufino emphasises the importance of “doing your own role to the best of your ability’. This will maximise your productivity 10 fold.

 Innate human capacity

One of my favourite parts of these interviews has been learning how businesses are lifting one another up and offering support when needed. After all, resilience is in our nature as business owners, whether it’s helping one another through hard times or just reaching out to a small business to help uplift them.

In our interview with Tara Wagner of The Spraytan Society, she reminded us all of the importance of giving back while moving forward.

“We’ve done a few collabs with other businesses through social media giveaways to kickstart everyone’s reopening. We’ve also partnered with other local businesses to cross promote, offering mutual discounts to clients,” she said.

Not only was the business able to adapt and provide a more suitable service for customers, but Ms Wager never forgot to help those around her too.

Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and ask for help if you need it. You never know just how much other businesses want yours to succeed just as much as you do.

This is an initiative that My Accounts undertook with their client, offering fee reductions however to their surprise they were rejected. Mr Tiufino mentions this highlights both their “resilience and backbone”.  Innate human capacity can be learned and developed in anyone.

Set and implement the right marketing strategy

Up until now, if you’ve found yourself throwing everything but the kitchen sink at your marketing but it’s just not sticking, you’re not alone. Michael Demery of Seccom Global admitted to doing just that.

“We have tried many marketing tactics over the years from attending industry events, running lunch and learn sessions, conducting webinars, running training sessions, advertising in magazines, even door knocking. In fact, the list would be easier to say what we have not tried.

If this sounds familiar, it may be worth outsourcing your marketing to a bespoke team like Excelerate Marketing who can deliver you tried and tested results.

Hammerjack’s Nicholas Hastings reminded all of us of the importance of outsourcing and seeking expert advice in his interview.

“Outsource tasks and functions that would remove the workload of wearing many hats, such as marketing,” said Mr Hastings.

Perhaps you’re considering letting go of the reins and gifting yourself with more help. Or maybe you just want to take a big push forward with your marketing for the remainder of the calendar year.

And if you’ve not invested in your marketing for a while, Pure Property’s Paul Glossop has some great advice just for you.

“As a business owner you should invest in your marketing constantly, not just at launch.”

So let’s thrive, support other businesses and strap in for the future.