Owner To Owner Podcast

@KateBiondo is the #CEO of @GalacticCooperative which is a #workerownedcoop.Kate is the first guest of a four-episode series on #cooperatives and #mutuals brought to you by @BCCM (Business Council of Cooperatives & Mutuals)We chat about the decision to start business life as a cooperative, what that involved and the different benefits.  In our discussion we cover;The decision to implement a #cooperativemodelBeing a #workerownedcooperative and giving #employees the ability to go with what works for themThe difference #cooperatives are making in #businesses and #communitiesThe need for #businessowners to come together to #collaborate for greater #supplychain efficiency and increased access to #export opportunitiesBuilding and growing via #umbrellabusinessmodel (with other businesses underneath)How taking on more responsibility brings about more benefits for a businessHow and why taking a different approach to business operations is beneficialThe #barriers you may face when it comes to making a business a cooperative#Sustainableapproaches to #businessmachinery and #equipment to create a #circulareconomy of #recyclingThe day-to-day challenges faced by small business owners and having they can be dealt withThe importance of meetings involving everyone, not just management, as “input is needed from everybody”Why it is important to plan an array of timelines for where you want your business at different stages in the futureHow #workerownedcooperatives allow for more open discussions and time for decisions about future plansHow #cooperatives see investments in the business relative to the people that make up the businessHow #cooperatives allow for other opinions and experts to join the team to help grow and structure a #smallbusinessThe future of cooperatives   Thanks for listening.  Visit the Owner To Owner Podcast website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.Search @ownertoownerpodcast on your favourite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.auwww.ownertoownerpodcast.com.au 

@danielneuhaus from @six8coffee and @traderandco in Yass shares his experiences of starting up an #ethicalcoffee #smallbusiness and his thoughts on where to next for the #coffeeindustry. In our discussion we cover;Starting a business with a clear #purpose from the confines of a small apartment and growing it to where it is today#coffeeindustryexploitationHow travels and experiences of #underdevelopedcommunities across #Vanuatu, #Thailand, and #Brazil (to name a few) drove the #motivation for creating more #ethicallysourced and traded coffee in AustraliaHow these experiences “have shaped #howwedobusiness” and see the businesses still giving back to organisations Daniel worked with on previous Christian missionsWhy Daniels “businesses are a force for good” and how they shape every decision and interaction#businessforgoodHow this creates a #culture between owners, staff and #consumersChallenges all #smallbusinessowners face when taking the big leap to startThe importance of #educatingconsumers about the purpose and reasoning behind a business as its own marketing tool; to create a cycle of #wordofmouthHaving a #mentor through any stage of your small business journeyUnderstanding how two businesses, although interwind grow at different rates, require different needs and employeesThe process of separating the 2 businesses to gain better individual insightsAsking the question “what kind of business do I want to grow?”Discussions of business models looking at revenue verses profit when giving percentages back to communitiesSmall businesses supporting causes they are championing for#Socialenterprise verse self-described business with purposeBusinesses with dual purpose; building a business that is scalable but also doing good along the way.  Thanks for listening.  Visit the Owner To Owner Podcast website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.Search @ownertoownerpodcast on your favourite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.auwww.ownertoownerpodcast.com.au 

@MichelHogan is a #brandcounsel. For her #brand is a result of the #promises you keep.She helps people in business to understand what they care about and how to put it to work. So if you actually do things and make promises that don't align with those things, it's a risk to your business. And it's not just the promises that you make to #customers - it's the promises you make to each other within the business, to your #stakeholders, across the board, including vendors and partners and #investors and all people of all stripes. There's no category of promises that don't matter!In our discussion we cover;how every organization, whether they are doing it deliberately or not, is achieving some form of brandthe fallacy of thinking about brand as this thing that you create,  an entity of its ownhow Michel instead sees brand as a container where everything that you do gets deposited - so it's literally all the actions and decisions of your organizationmissed opportunities from seeing #marketing as almost a de-facto for brand#pufferywhy the stuff that actually achieves brand and contributes to this store of value is really deeply boring, #unheroic #unsexy stuff e.g how do we answer the phone? how does our logistics process work?@unheroicwork the bookhow you make a difference every day as you go about your work and engage with customers and employ staffwhy nobody (customers that is) cares what your logo looks like and why most #smallbusinessowners waste of energy time and resources obsessing over your logothe #mythofwow - being (wrongly) convinced that unless we're absolutely wowing our customers all the time, then we're going to lose themwhy 150% is over-rated and 100% promised and delivered is just fine@harvardbusiness article "Stop Delighting Your Customers"#customerzillas - the godzillas of customers - every small business has a few and the sad truth is that about 40% of your time will get taken up by about 2% of your customers. So why keep them?@patagonia - unapologetic about who they arethis idea of #purpose, that every purpose needs to have some kind of a social impact component in order to be legitimatean alternative - #purpose = all that is needed to motivate you and your team and your #orgwhy #smallbusinesses actually have a leg up vs. large #multinational, multi-site, multi-culture, thousands upon thousands person organizations#customerengagement failsa survey from @auspost saying, how did we do? And my question to them is, did I get my parcel? Then, I'm good. You know if I got my parcel or not because you know. And so you're asking me something you know. It's not the right questioninformation you should already know Thanks for listening.  Visit the Owner To Owner Podcast website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.Search @ownertoownerpodcast on your favourite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.auwww.ownertoownerpodcast.com.au 

@RossCameron is the owner of Cameron Research Group who researches #smallbusinessowners. Since starting 30 years ago he's personally done a few thousand face-to-face interviews and more than 700 focus groups. He didn't set out to be a small business owner himself. He worked for a company that did similar sort of research and then went overseas. When he came back to Australia he had some bright ideas he thought would make a million bucks. They didn't quite play out so when he needed cash flow he thought  "I'll do a little bit of market research." Back then there was no one really focusing on small and medium-sized businesses (#SME). No one was really giving SMEs the time of day and he just found that completely bizarre. 97% to 98% of the businesses in the country had less than 20 people and nobody was actually interested in what they have to say! In this time he's marvelled at the unique personal motivations, #resilience and #wisdom of business owners. He's also heard some really funny stories. Here's some of what Ross talks about;why most SMEs don't actually want to growhow people who run a business can "take it in the ring" and when they get knocked down they'll dust themselves off  and bloody show up againthe feeling of being  "king of the world" one minute and then when things are down looking in the mirror and hearing that great song Nowhere To Run To Baby, Nowhere To Hideowners putting their #heartandsoul into itthe misnomer that business owners are risk seekers, that they're nuts - they're not that way at all - there was just an opportunity that made common sense17% of these businesses he interviewed actually want to grow and 83% are actually trying to achieve different things not about business growth including achieving and maintaining a particular lifestyle#lifestyleseekers#passionateprofessionalshow society puts a lot of pressure on these owners for not growingwhat a very lonely place it can be  and why it's so important for business owners need to stay connected with other business owners, because no one understands the blows and no one can really call it like another business owner@smallbusinessmentoringservices in Victoriathe difficulty for business owners in employing somebody else to truly run the business independentlythe tale of the customer who said  "if you don't sell that to me for 150 bucks, I'm going to put a spell on you." and the business owners response 'you're 25 years, too late. I had a spell put on me when I bought this bloody business 25 years ago." Thanks for listening.  Visit the Owner To Owner Podcast website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.Search @ownertoownerpodcast on your favourite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.auwww.ownertoownerpodcast.com.au 

@MichaelDuregon founded www.bringbackaustralia.app to help current Australian consumers better understand what products & services they buy are Australian-owned, and not just Australian-made. The highly successful #australianmade campaign was his prompt and he couldn't walk past what he saw as a big gap and lost opportunities for local #makers and #manufacturers. He had to do something about this!Michael trained as a fitter and turner (trained in Port  Augusta), worked in the #familyhardwarebusiness and also ran (and sold) a couple of his own businesses (signage industry). In our discussion we talk about;getting fascinated with #IT in the #familybusinessprogressing to #appshis #covid19 #silverlining - a sustained exposure to and frustration from lots of stuff on social media saying how they were supporting Australia but confusing consumers on what's Australian owned and what's notthe #australianowned movement and getting people onboard to embrace Australian-owned and to understand the importance of Australian-ownedhis fear that as a nation if we don't own anything then we're going to be renting everything  from offshorelost national identitydoing a better job of commercialising what we invent#foreigninvestment#bobhawke and the 1986  Australian-made campaign#multinationaltaxavoidance@MichaelWestmichaelwest.com.au/revealed-australias-top-40-tax-dodgers-for-2021/how his app overcomes the difficulty consumers have when trying to read the packaging on some itemsAustralian barcode and perception that any bar code starting with 93 means, it's Australian and that's not the case#bootstrappingself funding a startup through #covid#mvp (minimum viable product)@taxjusticenetwork#manufacturingsovereignity#supplychainsthe need for education about business ownershipusing an advisory board#howyoushopmatters  Thanks for listening.  Visit the Owner To Owner Podcast website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.Search @ownertoownerpodcast on your favourite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.auwww.ownertoownerpodcast.com.au 

Rodger Spencer bought, improved and then sold his inbound call centre business, @AceAnsweringAfter a professional background in structural #engineering, cost engineering #estimating, and #projectmanagement in the oil and gas industry he'd reached that point where he needed a big change. He wanted a break from the intensity of previous jobs entailed and thought the only way out of it completely was to start again.That's when in 2001 he ended up buying an existing #callcentrebusiness. He openly admits he didn't know a lot about the industry when he went into it. He thought running a business would be easy, but it wasn't. He soon discovered it was hands-on and that he had to do everything himself. If he didn't, it wouldn't happen. It was hand-to-mouth for about 4-5 years but over the  years and step by step he built it up.He's learned a lot from this experience. In our discussion we talk about; initially not being in a hurry to sell because he felt like he was improving the business every day anywayseeing the #businesssaleplanning process as interesting process because it made him look more deeply at some of the things that he was doing day to day, the #systems and the #procedures (that needed to be brought up to date) - he called it phase 2 of the journey aka getting the 'house in order' to make the business presentable for sellingremoving himself over time from the day to day operations and customer-facing activitieshow surprised he was at the length of time it took for anyone to actually take a more intense interest in the businessrealising late that it takes a lot longer than everybody thinkstye-kickers who need a ground up education in the industryfocussing on buyers from within the industryhis major reasons for employing @kerrcapital as his #businessbroker;so you can get on with your workso you don't have to get involved in the negotiationsdealing with the up's and down's during the selling process - having an attitude "well, if it happens, it happens. It'll be great. But if it doesn't happen, we just got to keep going, anyway"not getting too excited about people coming along and showing an interest but staying positivedealing with staff while selling and when to tell them about the sale to avoid unnecessary upheavalthe merits of a #companysharesale (which allowed contracts to stay in place) vs an #assetsalethe #duediligence processwhat happens after you sellhis advice for others considering leaving a job to #buyabusinesshis takeouts for owners thinking of selling;start thinking about it much earlierput things in place to make your business more attractivecontinue run your business (like you would if you were going to keep it)don't do a DIY Thanks for listening.  Visit the Owner To Owner Podcast website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.Search @ownertoownerpodcast on your favourite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.auwww.ownertoownerpodcast.com.au 

@SaeedJoulaei talks about his experience #buyingabusiness and the big move from being an #employee to a #businessowner.It's a very topical discussion. If you've ever thought about becoming a business owner you have two main alternatives. Start your own or buy an existing #smallbusiness.  Saeed has now done both and can talk about the pro's and con's of both.He grew up in a little town in North of #Iran above his dad's little grocery shop and was a very young employee! After finishing an electrical engineering degree he co-founded his first business which for the first time brought the internet to his small hometown.  As a #startup he did a lot of all-nighters to get things moving. He still draws on those experiences today. An opportunity came up to move to Australia in 2008. He gave himself  time to get to know the culture and the environment. He worked as an employee before buying @CentrelineEngineering in 2019. In our discussion Saeed shares his personal experiences and tips on buying a business - we cover;the online search process he used to find businesses for salethe filters e.g. industry, geography he used to help sort through the thousands for salehow the maths he did on starting his own business (i.e. how long it would take to be viable, the risks etc) led him to buying an established businessremembering the feeling the moment he came to realise "you don't have to build it from scratch" - and the relief that he felt with thatthe different risks you can or can't take at different agesdealing with #businessbrokersfeeling unprepared for the buying process, stopping for a while to educate himself with any book or other material he could find to just filter through all the jargon, what the numbers mean,  and how they've come up with the number they've come up.how long the process tooktreating the search as a hobby while working as an employeethe ideal time to get professionals involvedthe importance of understanding the reason why an owner is sellingwhy it's not  always about the dollar - the business has often been someone's baby and you need to factor that inmultiples and  well-understood approaches for valuing businesses#earnoutsCentreline today - designing and #manufacturing the best #IndustrialAutomationMachinery for #Food and #Pharmaceutical Industries.#localmanufacturingthe challenges in finding a #skilledworkforcethe need to do a lot of work on yourself if you're moving from being an employee to owning a businessthe upside of tapping into your communityhaving your stakeholders 'in the loop' - communicating with your partner, your family and making sure they understand the implications - that's very important to help get through the hard times later down the track@kerrcapital  Thanks for listening.  Visit the Owner To Owner Podcast website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.Search @ownertoownerpodcast on your favourite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.auwww.ownertoownerpodcast.com.au 

@SaeedJoulaei talks about his experience #buyingabusiness and the big move from being an #employee to a #businessowner.It's a very topical discussion. If you've ever thought about becoming a business owner you have two main alternatives. Start your own or buy an existing #smallbusiness.  Saeed has now done both and can talk about the pro's and con's of both.He grew up in a little town in North of #Iran above his dad's little grocery shop and was a very young employee! After finishing an electrical engineering degree he co-founded his first business which for the first time brought the internet to his small hometown.  As a #startup he did a lot of all-nighters to get things moving. He still draws on those experiences today. An opportunity came up to move to Australia in 2008. He gave himself  time to get to know the culture and the environment. He worked as an employee before buying @CentrelineEngineering in 2019. In our discussion Saeed shares his personal experiences and tips on buying a business - we cover;the online search process he used to find businesses for salethe filters e.g. industry, geography he used to help sort through the thousands for salehow the maths he did on starting his own business (i.e. how long it would take to be viable, the risks etc) led him to buying an established businessremembering the feeling the moment he came to realise "you don't have to build it from scratch" - and the relief that he felt with thatthe different risks you can or can't take at different agesdealing with #businessbrokersfeeling unprepared for the buying process, stopping for a while to educate himself with any book or other material he could find to just filter through all the jargon, what the numbers mean,  and how they've come up with the number they've come up.how long the process tooktreating the search as a hobby while working as an employeethe ideal time to get professionals involvedthe importance of understanding the reason why an owner is sellingwhy it's not  always about the dollar - the business has often been someone's baby and you need to factor that inmultiples and  well-understood approaches for valuing businesses#earnoutsCentreline today - designing and #manufacturing the best #IndustrialAutomationMachinery for #Food and #Pharmaceutical Industries.#localmanufacturingthe challenges in finding a #skilledworkforcethe need to do a lot of work on yourself if you're moving from being an employee to owning a businessthe upside of tapping into your communityhaving your stakeholders 'in the loop' - communicating with your partner, your family and making sure they understand the implications - that's very important to help get through the hard times later down the track@kerrcapital  Thanks for listening.  Visit the Owner To Owner Podcast website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.Search @ownertoownerpodcast on your favourite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.auwww.ownertoownerpodcast.com.au 

Bill Lang is Founder and Director of @smallbusinessaustralia.org.  He's a #HarvardMBA, and a seasoned #smallbusinessowner and operator. It started in the #foodvan industry with Doctor Dog, selling hot dogs outside of nightclubs and pubs in Melbourne in the 1980's.But more recently the businesses he's involved with are all about helping (including coaching and mentoring) owners;better use the internetbetter use digital tools to attract customersattract staff, and run their businesses more efficiently.In our wide-ranging discussion we cover;why small business is bigger than jobs and being the economic backbone that we hear politicians spoutsmall business owners are the hearts and souls of their local communities (and not the big companies) why politicians really do not understand what makes small business people tickwhy it's his concern that big business gets looked after (a number of them have quite anti-competitive tactics that drive many, many small businesses out of town)how we're now competing with millions and millions of competitors, unlike pre-internet timesturning the in-depth research from business owners across the country into particular policy initiatives and requests for governments at all three levels incentives to get people to buy local and support local businesseswww.buylocal.smallbusinessesaustralia.orgwww.businessadvantage.onlinethe #invoicingclasswhy if you've never sent an invoice and then had to chase it up, you don't really understand what it's like to be in business for yourself and your family@judobankJim Penman from @JimsGroup why the best business advisors are other people in businesswhy it's wrong to believe the best way to learn is by making mistakes - the better way to learn is by learning from other people's mistakes and thats what you can learn from other business owners that might be a few years older, maybe in different industries@kerrcapital  Thanks for listening.  Visit the Owner To Owner Podcast website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.Search @ownertoownerpodcast on your favourite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.auwww.ownertoownerpodcast.com.au 

@BarbaraBraithwaite is the principal #speechpathologist at @SafeSwallowingEducation in Sydney, and #founder of a couple of #smallbusinesses in or around #SpeechPathology. Barbara came into talk about her experience selling her first practice. In the episode we talk about;early-career guidance to steer her away from Accountancy and towards Speech Pathologyher love of being able to empower a client whether a child through communication, or developing their literacy skills, or an adult improving their communication skillsthe positive influence from having  a father who owned his own businessstarting out in a #CommunityHealthCenter and struggling with the long wait for clients (up to five years)becoming pregnant with her first child, going on maternity leave, and using that opportunity to start my own private practicethe source of her passion - #empoweringpeople, and #empoweringstaffher #onlineeducation program for #AgedCare staff about safe swallowing which is a massive issue in the elderlythe impetus to sell her practice so she could devote more time to educationhard, internal questions"Should I sell my practice?""What should I do?""How can I still keep within the profession?"#mentoringstaffmoving more into managing which enabled me to present the practice as a Speech Pathology practice that could continue to grow with or without megoogle searching to get the inside word on selling a businessworking with a #businessbrokerdeciding not to sell staff about the sale at the beginning for fear the whole thing falls throughwhy her practice was like another childdealing with people inquiring about my business whose names she recognised  and learning to detachwhat happened in the year or so it took to sellworking with a good buyer with intent and with credentialsher advice to start putting things in place to sell while you have the energythe emotionsthe importance of really understanding the buyer's intentionswhy buyers will have a different plan for your business and how that translates to different values for your business@kerrcapital Thanks for listening.  Visit the Owner To Owner Podcast website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.Search @ownertoownerpodcast on your favourite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.auwww.ownertoownerpodcast.com.au