Grow A Small Business Podcast

In today's Quick Fire Friday episode, Michael interviews Daniel Sih, the Founder & CEO of Spacemakers. He's based in Hobart, Tasmania in Australia. Daniel is a strategic planner and productivity consultant and has been writing and speaking about productivity for a long time. He's also a physiotherapist, an accredited CliftonStrength coach, and an award-winning author of the book "Spacemaker: How to Unplug, Unwind and Think Clearly in the Digital Age and had won the Australian Business Book Award in 2021 for Best Personal Development Book, and has been shortlisted for Myriad Award. His productivity group focuses on helping busy leaders, managers, and business owners to make space for more important things, especially in the heavily technology-driven world. In the heavily technology-driven world of marketing, where digital distraction can easily distract and overwhelm many leaders, managers, and business owners, thus, taking away all their time and space from more important things like personal well-being, family, and relationships which can result in poor health, relationships, and unproductivity, Daniel's productivity group can help provide a lot of research-backed reasons why we need space, how to make space, and to implement that as busy leaders, managers, and business owners. One thing Daniel recommends to small business owners is to start thinking about their relationship with the online world, self-reflecting if their relationship with the online world is maybe codependent or somewhat unhealthy and needs to be changed. So look at your habits. Where technology is adding to your life and your business. And where is it distracting from the life I want to live? From there, you can start to implement a series of simple habits to recapture the type of humanity you want to live. This Cast Covers: Daniel's insight about making space in digital distraction. Observation in the last five years and accelerating to post-covid about how leaders are smashed for time and space in their life. Shares about space's importance and how the overuse of technology can take us away from more important things. Asserts that making space and having a work-life balance will result in success in many aspects. Recommends two skill sets that can help overcome problems concerning space and work-life balance. Relates effective email management to the whole space-making methodology. Encourages self-reflection regarding habits, particularly around technology. The risks of the patterns and behaviors of digital overuse in many areas. Helpful practical examples of practices to create space and work-life balance. Links: Daniel's Linkedin Daniel's Company Website Daniel's eLearning Website Additional Resources: Spacemaker: How to Unplug, Unwind and Think Clearly in the Digital Age by Daniel Sih, Kylie Sih Quotes: "Space is what people need, and people must recognize that the way to be productive is to do less, not more." — Daniel Sih "If you can't get off the runway of basic productivity, it's very hard to start thinking about goals and vision and projects and culture." — Daniel Sih "Making space is about having that bigger picture, particularly around technology and how much we're online." — Daniel Sih "To become productive, we need to learn to be thoughtful about how much we're practicing the internet, why we're practicing, and when to get offline." — Daniel Sih "At the end of the day, the business you create will be a representation of who you are and how healthy you are as a person." — Daniel Sih

In this episode, Troy interviews Arjun Paliwal the Founder and Head of Research of InvestorKit based in Sydney, Australia. Arjun has set up his own business to help customers, particularly property investors, find high pressure markets, maximise capital growth, and build impressive portfolios. Arjun launched his buyer's agency – which specialises in interpreting and storytelling of data to make informed residential and commercial real estate investment decisions and creates proprietary detailed research and analysis –after transitioning from being a CBA manager. InvestorKit started in 2018 and has been in operation for over 4 years. It's a growing business with over 17 full-time employees and annual revenue of around $3 million. Arjun says starting a buyer's agency out of curiosity necessitates preparing for the challenges and opportunities that come with it. "I had no idea of what I was going to do," he says, but with an aligned passion and drive to help people, and support from his family and friends he succeeded. "I really enjoyed this and wanted to help others, and the passions aligned from investing, helping people, and turned it into a business", he added. This Cast Covers Founding and running a buyer's agency focused on helping property investors in three ways. Taking unique strategies in the real estate marketing world to ensure success. Starting in 2018 with a couple of hundred thousand dollars in revenue to $3 million dollars and growing with over 17 FTEs. How to secure the best quality customers through transparency and good PR. Two key areas in business to achieve the most that add the greatest value. Growing and retention of the business through two "takeaways". Establishing "trust" as a small business owner to develop and maintain relationships. Recommendations on adding people to the team and building a sustainable and kickass culture that helps with the growth. How compound effects can be the breakthrough in the odds of business venturing. The "omnichannel" in personal and professional development. Links: Arjun's Linkedin Arjun' Facebook Additional Resources: InvestorKit If You're Not First, You're-Last Book by Grant Cardone Quotes: "Because of the constant pressure, I almost never think I've achieved or am achieving something successful." —Arjun Paliwal "Success is just the impact you can have on yourself, your loved ones, and those close to you, and the impact we're making with clients." —Arjun Paliwal "Having been through various marketing channels, approaches, and strategies, and started to pick out what's really working has been a game changer for the business." —Arjun Paliwal "Giving the trust that people want us to give away can get you the best quality customers who love what you do, want to work with you, enjoy your transparency, and carry the values and ethics that you have." —Arjun Paliwal "Keep asking questions; even if it makes you look like the dumbest person, it can help you improve and process up." —Arjun Paliwal

In this Grow A Small Business podcast episode, Troy interviews Simon Severino, founder of Strategy Sprints. He is based in Vienna, Austria. Simon, at the age of 21, started as one of a global team of strategic advisors in Switzerland. Realizing he wasn't fit for the corporate lifestyle, he decided to do his own thing and founded Strategy Sprints, now with a staff of 25 FTEs, helping B2B firms win more easily and gracefully. Oftentimes, B2B leaders, agency owners, and small-medium business owners find themselves struggling with time, marketing, and doubling their revenue. Simon assists them with growing their businesses by using the Strategy Sprints method, a robust strategy that will double your business's revenue in just 90 days, freeing up to 10-14 hours of your time, delegating tasks to department heads, and following the "3 Habits." Overall, improving the business's Net Promoter Score, shortening the long sales cycle, and commanding the prices you want. According to Simon, he puts a great deal of effort into his business operations to add significant value. Diving in deep into topics that would help their clients, doing pretty much anything, from building external tools that the client would need, like blueprints, to assist them overcome their mindset challenges; carefully working on the product, and getting it right, to yield lots of great results. This Cast Covers: Many types of agencies face very similar problems. Helping agencies scale their business, improve their sales, and refine their operations. The Strategy Sprints method: doubling your revenue in just 90 days. Employing the services of a business coach to assist in overcoming difficulties. Mapping things out and simplifying everything to maximize revenue while maintaining efficiency. Marketing's critical role in a fast-growing business. Putting up maximum effort in improving the business's Net Promoter Score. Diving in deep into topics that would suffice the needs of the client. Creating hiring systems both before hiring and when onboarding. Developing a team culture of accountability while dealing with it with grace. Links: Simon's Linkedin Simon's Company Website Simon's Twitter Additional Resources: Strategy Sprints: 12 Ways to Accelerate Growth for an Agile Business by Simon Severino The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip Heath, Dan Heath Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen Quotes: "It's tough to stay in the business and enjoy growing and scaling the business." — Simon Severino. "The reason is you want to deeply care about the people that you're here to serve and understand them better than they understand themselves." — Simon Severino. "Should we quit? We don't quit, we improve." — Simon Severino. "The other skill is that you have to help them overcome their own mindset challenges, increase their energy, tackle bigger problems, and hire people." — Simon Severino. "The culture is about how you moderate each meeting and how you deal with variations from the standard." — Simon Severino.

For this week's Quick Fire Friday episode, Rob interviews Kurt Wilkesmann, a Director at Intelligent Business Thinking. He was born and educated in Melbourne, Australia. Kurt obtained his degree of Bachelor of Business at Swinburne University of Technology. He's a successful entrepreneur and has had a variety of businesses. Always having an inherent virtue of helping people, Kurt is now helping small-medium business owners overcome this pandemic of disengagement in the workplace. According to Kurt's research, 90% of business owners recognize that engagement is essential, but fewer than 25% have a plan, and not much of that 25% is executing their plan. Employees are the company's greatest asset; engaged employees are the gears that keep the company machine running smoothly, and without them, it seems impossible for the organization to succeed. Kurt helps small-medium business owners integrate a connection with their employees by teaching them the three components that constitute a miserable job: first, a deep dive into transactional relationships, second, informing them that the work they do helps the organization, and third, commending them for the measured improvement that they've shown. A key takeaway that small-medium business owners can learn from Kurt, is the emphasis on the subject that business owners should realize that meaningful relationships are critical within the company. Relationships and emotions govern rational thought; they're stronger. It's the glue that holds the team together. It increases productivity and job satisfaction, but most importantly, it develops a positive company culture. This Cast Covers: The significance of employee engagement and organizational culture in the organization. A widespread lack of engagement in the workplace across the globe. People accepting the status quo of workplace disengagement. Business owners increase their awareness regarding their employees. Employees are a company's or organization's most valuable resource. Employees are attracted to an organization because of what it stands for. Managers and business owners need to embody the organization's core values. Emotions are more powerful than rational thought. The three components that compose a miserable job. Developing meaningful relationships and solidarity inside the company. Links: Kurt's Linkedin Kurt's Company Website Additional Resources: The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier Quotes: "Without good people, it's impossible to be successful." — Kurt Wilkesmann. "People join organizations but leave managers." — Kurt Wilkesmann. "There are certain key elements that business owners should be aware of." — Kurt Wilkesmann. "Emotions are stronger than rational thoughts." — Kurt Wilkesmann. "You can't have a team of individuals, each doing their own thing without communication." — Kurt Wilkesmann.

In this episode, Troy interviews Ivan Brewer the Founder and Managing Director of Peiso Profitability Software based in Townsville, Far North Queensland, Australia. Ivan has set up his business that guides managers and business owners to revolutionize their hospitality business to ensure profitability. Ivan started to manage a profitability software that guides managers and business owners to revolutionize how the hospitality business operates. It is his expression of 25 years of hospitality experience and deep-seated drive to improve the profitability of the hospitality business industry. The hospitality business started in 2018 and has operated for over five years. It was growing over 6 FTEs and annual revenue of around 1 million dollars. Ivan has stated that managing a hospitality business agency necessitates preparing for the challenges and opportunities that come with it. It is especially true due to the complicated ecosystem and tiny margin of the hospitality business industry. "It's bloody hard," he says, " but it's a process of the belief that you believe them into existence. You're taking something intangible and creating it into being tangible." This Cast Covers: Managing a profitability software that revolutionizes how the hospitality business industry operates. Taking 25 years of hospitality experience and a deep-seated drive to improve the profitability of the hospitality business industry. Incorporates unique strategies and insight to magnify the critical drivers of a business's performance. Starting in 2018 have gone one to six FTEs over the last 12 months, now growing at about 100 percent every three months. Represents success as being able to help and see the business increase the profitability of customers by 100 grand in six months. Talks about how habits and changing behavior can hinder success. Recommendations on how an investor, owning your space, and proving there's a reason why people should believe are crucial to success. Explains why growth and opportunities have no barrier or limit in a technology-driven world. Discuss how understanding the ecosystem, behaviors, and paradigm can be leveraged in expanding globally. Suggest that committing yourself wholeheartedly to your belief, achieving goals through successful management and culture, and a complete immersion in knowledge within your space can ensure success. Links: Ivan's Linkedin Ivan's Facebook Additional Resources: Peiso The Goal Book by Elihayu M. Goldratt Organizational Behavior Book by Stephen Robbins Quotes: "People are doing things now, so habit or their default behavior is a competitor, that's changing behavior is quite challenging." —Ivan Brewer "You need to own your space and prove that there's a reason why people should believe in what you do." —Ivan Brewer "Tech provides in a sort of global, connected web world is phenomenal, and very exciting." —Ivan Brewer "Understand the ecosystem, the behavior, and the paradigm and then simply leverage that." —Ivan Brewer "It's literally a process of the belief that you believe them into existence, you're taking something that's intangible, and creating it into being tangible." —Ivan Brewer

In this episode, Troy interviews Tyler Horsley the Founder and CEO of Nuclear Networking based in Denver, Colorado, United States. Tyler has set up his own business to help customers, especially CEOs, business owners, and the like in creating digital marketing strategies that ensure growth and bottom-line revenue. Tyler started to manage a digital marketing agency that provides digital marketing strategies, particularly for CEOs, business owners, and the like, after transitioning from intelligence work to marketing ventures. Nuclear Networking started in 2010 and has been in operation for over 13 years. It was growing with over 15 FTEs and annual revenue of around 9 million dollars. Tyler has stated that starting a digital marketing agency necessitates preparing for the challenges and opportunities that come with it. This is especially true if you had transitioned from a completely different industry. "I would say it is the polar opposite as the two industries sound", he says, but with the right attitude and skill sets you will have high leverage in the transition. "Adaptability is the key to success right in any business in the hardware world", he added. This Cast Covers: Managing a nuclear networking agency focusing on helping companies in four ways. Taking adaptive strategies in the marketing world to ensure success. Starting in 2010 pivoting a lot and grow over 100 percent year over year growing it to over $6 million in valuation. Establishing a partnership with the state/private equity groups that ensure growth. Growing and retention of the business growth agency model in strategic ways. The establishment of "methodology" a small business owner needs to develop and maintain. Recommendation on how to add people to the team and how to build a sustainable and kickass culture that helps with the growth. Talks about how certain skill sets can be the breakthrough in the odds of business venturing. Shares about investing in tools for personal and professional development and balance. Discuss the factors that need to be considered before exiting or selling, and how research can help especially government programs before diving into the win-win decision. Links: Tyler's Linkedin Tyler's Instagram Additional Resources: Nuclear Networking Traction Book by Gino Wickman Built to Sell Book by John Warrillow Quotes: "Adaptability is the key to success right in any business." —Tyler Horsley "Learn to befriend your competitors for it's better to share and know each other because, in the future, it might be beneficial with each other." —Tyler Horsley "Try to work towards this falling in love with the journey of building and growing, not falling in love with the illusion of a finish line." —Tyler Horsley "Invest in people first, and then look for business models because trust and work ethic cannot be bought." —Tyler Horsley "Understanding who you are can help you move to what quality objective-driven offer can you offer to the market." —Tyler Horsley

In today's Quick Fire Friday episode, Michael interviews Tim Reid, Founder and CEO of the Small Business Big Marketing. He's based in Australia. Tim specializes in marketing, specifically helpful marketing, which means, creating marketing that solves the problems of your customers so they can make a more informed decision; other than that, he's also a host of the 13-year-old, award-winning, Small Business Big Marketing Show, a popular keynote speaker, and a conference emcee. In the big wide world of marketing, where there are many shiny objects, it can easily make you feel that marketing is complicated and overwhelming. However, that isn't the case today where lots of services and technology will make marketing for small businesses easy. That's where Tim comes in, Tim helps small-medium-sized business owners create marketing that works, that solves problems. He calls it, helpful marketing, a type of marketing that solves the problems that your customers have, a type of marketing that is more about building trust over time. The one thing Tim recommends a small business owner go and do is to respect marketing, seriously contemplating and a good think about what you feel about the marketing of your business. To treat it as an expense or a hobby? Because when something's a hobby, you find time for it, the money, the energy, and you can't wait to do it. This Cast Covers: Tim's insights into marketing and how he can assist small business owners. Services and technology that make marketing for small businesses easy. Small-medium business owners think marketing in the modern world is expensive. Determining what constitutes a helpful marketing tactic. The vitality of answering the big questions you get asked as a business owner. Tim's thoughts regarding risk in the context of marketing. How Search Engine Optimization can significantly improve your advertising results. Helpful marketing is a long-term process, not a quick dash. Carefully contemplating about what you feel about marketing your business. Links: Tim's Linkedin Tim's Company Website Additional Resources: They Ask You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today's Digital Consumer by Marcus Sheridan, Krista Kotrla Quotes: "When something's a hobby, you find time for it, the money, the energy, you put it in your diary, and you can't wait to do it." — Tim Reid. "Sometimes a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous. Other times, it can be very helpful." — Tim Reid. "You just have to choose very, very wisely." — Tim Reid. "Helpful marketing is a marathon, it's not a sprint." — Tim Reid. "Play to your strengths." — Tim Reid.

In this episode, Troy interviews Darrell Evans the Co-founder and CEO of Yokel Local based in Las Vegas, United States. Darrell has set up his own business to help customers, especially CEOs, business owners, and the like in creating digital marketing strategies that ensure growth and the highest ROI. Darrell started to manage a digital marketing agency that provides digital marketing strategies, particularly for CEOs, business owners, and the like, after switching from multiple business ventures. Yokel Local started in 2011 and has been in operation for over 12 years. It was growing with over 6 FTEs and annual revenue of around 2 million dollars. Darrell has stated that starting a digital marketing agency necessitates preparing for the challenges and opportunities that come with it. "This is the hardest business I've ever had", he says, "we are responsible for growing companies on platforms, but we don't own that change all the time. Yet, we are responsible for the result. That is why we're changing the model today to deliver the output consistently." This Cast Covers: Managing a digital marketing agency focusing on helping their customers in four ways. Taking a traditional service business and productizing it. Starting in 2011 providing as the number one driver of their revenue and the number one driver of client's results in success. Learning the use of dynamic tools in the fast-paced digital arena with proven ROI. The formulation of "recipe" or "frameworks" to find the shortest sales cycle with the highest profitability in the first 60 to 90 days. Strategies that produce the highest ROI in the past 20 years. Business experience from a young age breakthrough the odds of business venturing. The perks of joining an entrepreneurial conference, fairs, and cast for successful business ventures. Learn how to attract an M&A market. Talks about being mindful of internal operational systems than scaling in a fast-growing business. Links: Darrell's Linkedin Darrell's Facebook Darrell's Instagram Additional Resources: Yokel Local A Scrum Book by Jeff Sutherland Quotes: "Success is giving people fulfilling opportunities to explore their gifts and to have a ripple effect on their lives and their family." —Darrell Evans "Make sure people have autonomy, to make mistakes, and to do things without repercussion. If we make a mistake, we try to learn from it." —Darrell Evans "The money will never always be in one pot of gold in one spot, to take care of yourself along the way." —Darrell Evans "There are seasons when you'll be extraordinarily out of balance so that you can have an ultimate life balance." —Jim McMahon "You can start an entrepreneurial thing even if none of your friends are doing it." —Darrell Evans

In this episode, Troy interviews Rob Watchorn the Founder and CEO of Blythe & Watchorn based in Hobart, Australia. Rob has set up his own business to provide high-end residential renovations with the highest quality in construction, finish, style, and functionality. With over 31 years of experience in growing his business, Rob has been through deep dark times which taught him to become wiser and be able to appreciate the most important things in life in order to manage his business in the finest way. Blythe & Watchorn was established in 1993 and has been running for over 31 years. Became multi-award winning in-home alterations and ecstatic customers with over 10 FTEs. Rob has said that growing a small business requires time management because you can't work in your business 24/7 and expect to have a happy life. So he added, "At the end of the day, if you find yourself falling into this trap, you've got to do something to change that or you'll end up losing everything you have." This Cast Covers: Focus very much on high-quality work and focus solely on home renovations. The positive effect of keeping your business manageable. Helping professional people and handling top-end projects. With over 31 years of experience in managing businesses. Learning how to recover from very dark times. Helping entrepreneurs improve work and life balance. Learning how to have a stress-free life business through proper money handling. Importance of voluntarily asking and accepting advice from experienced ones. Benefits of establishing your business with ethics and morals. Sharing is the finest way to add people by training them, keeping them enthusiastic, and offering them opportunities. Links: Rob's Linkedin Rob's Facebook Additional Resources: Blythe & Watchorn Quotes: "Try different things, see what works, eat what didn't, and then swing your business around and focus on the things that did work rather than things that didn't." —Rob Watchorn "Success is your security and the time to spend doing the things you want to do with the people you love." —Rob Watchorn "If you don't allow yourself time to recover and rekindle then you're never going to have the enthusiasm you need to run a successful business." —Rob Watchorn "If you want a stress-free life in business, you've got to have a decent bank balance and not too much debt." —Rob Watchorn "You have to take the courage of voluntarily asking for help or you're not going to get out there." —Rob Watchorn

In this week's Quick Fire Friday episode, Michael interviews Harry Sanders, Founder and Director of Studio Hawk, a specialized agency dedicated to search engine optimization with a mission of reforming what people think about SEO. He is based in Melbourne, Australia. He has been in the SEO game for 10 years, growing to a team of well over 60 SEO specialists, winning multiple awards such as the Best Large SEO Agency in the 2023 APAC Awards, Best Large Global SEO Agency in the 2021 Global Search Awards, and the list goes on. SEO has dramatically changed in the past 10 years, back then it was about how many keywords you have on your page, shortcuts if you will, but now it is about building a solid foundation and understanding of a brand and its positioning with the help of moderate use of artificial intelligence. To catch up with the paradigm shift you can start learning at Hawk Academy, or kickstart your business' digital presence with StudioHawk and their white hat SEO techniques that will undoubtedly reach your goals and maintain an average of 300% ROI. As a small-medium business owner, you must consider your expertise and authority carefully. Contemplating what makes you unique in the market, owning a niche that others don't have. That's the only way a small business could compete with the big ones. A prime example is Harry, who specializes in SEO and masterfully carves out that niche. This Cast Covers: Various complexities of Harry's company, Studio Hawk. Changing the public's perception of SEO. SEO is concerned with organic results rather than people clicking on advertisements. What SEO is today is a paradigm shift from what it was ten years ago. The significance of branding and positioning in today's world of digital marketing. Small businesses learn about SEO and P&L through different online resources. Using artificial intelligence to alleviate rather than solve a problem. Thinking about insights that will make you unique to the rest of the world. Handling digital public relations via various media sources. Allocating a huge amount of time to build a business. Links: Harry's Linkedin Harry's Company Website Additional Resources: Hawk Academy SEO 2023 by Adam Clarke Quotes: "It's not a Swiss army knife that needs to come in for very specific tasks to help or provide insight." — Harry Sanders. "How do you position your expertise and authority? What makes you unique in the market? What's that niche that you feel that other people don't feel?" — Harry Sanders. "It takes time to build a business, it doesn't happen overnight, regardless of what you think." — Harry Sanders. "You need to have that consistency that focuses on discipline." — Harry Sanders. "Sit down and think about one unique insight you have about your industry or field." — Harry Sanders.