Grow A Small Business Podcast

In this episode, I interview James Hayes, the Founder, and CEO of Alpha Tyres based in Echuca, Australia. James has set up his own business to offer a full range of tire services covering cars, vans, trucks, and earthmovers. From being an employee, James has decided to buy the business to start his own career in the business industry. Alpha Tyres was established in 2019 and has been running for over 3 years. With over 5 million annual rate and 15 FTEs. James has said that growing a small business requires fixing mornings to stay focused on daily tasks. So he says, "Fixing morning is one of the most powerful tools to stay focused." This Cast Covers: From Mobile Tire Service scaled up into the bricks-and-mortar. Focus on passenger cars, agricultural trucks, commercials, earthmoving, etc. With about 1,200 bucks working capital cash. Importance of hiring more people to support the next move in business. The difference between face-to-face marketing and social media marketing. Growing a business with own hard work funding. The difference in scaling between B2B and B2C. Helping entrepreneurs with the best marketing strategy for a fast-growing business. Undergoing transition phase from the bricks and mortar retail to franchise commercial business model. Learning how to educate people to become good leaders inside the business. Links: James' LinkedIn James' Facebook Additional Resources: Alpha Tyres Rich Dad Poor by Robert Kiyosaki Quotes: "You need more people to support what you're trying to do." —James Hayes "Success is when you can build an operation while you don't have to be in the day-to-day." —James Hayes "Make sure you've got the systems in place before you get excited about marketing." —James Hayes "You need to invest in your people by educating them to become good leaders." —James Hayes "Fixing morning is one of the most powerful tool to stay focused." —James Hayes Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.com. License: CC by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

In this episode, I interview Steve Miller the Founder and CEO of Total Freight Solutions based in Sunshine Coast, Australia. Steve has set up his own business to help suppliers and customers get the best deal. From being employed by a major courier firm, Steve has decided to leave his former job to pursue bigger opportunities by creating his own business. Total Freight Solutions was established in 2005 and has been running for over 17 years. Owned and run by Tasmanians and the very best team in the state. Steve has said that growing a small business requires constant monitoring in order to improve and become productive in business growth. So he says, "Don't settle for mediocrity by just doing the same thing all the time." This Cast Covers: Broking the best deal between suppliers and customers. Expertise now sits in that space that can tailor a job, and project manage jobs for clients. A freight broker and now delve into that third-party logistics and distribution. Took their first $10 million year albeit during the pandemic. Learn how passion and humility can contribute to the success of your business. Helping entrepreneurs improve their skills in marketing. Giving tips on how to handle your business with tight funds. The importance of understanding yourself and the advice you receive. Sharing the disadvantage of employing different people at the same time. Offer a comprehensive freight brokerage service. Links: Steve's LinkedIn Additional Resources: Total Freight Solutions The Rules of Management by Richard Templar Quotes: "You will not improve if you're not good at working on what you're good at." —Steve Miller "If you're tight on funds, you need to make sure that you're on top of that." —Steve Miller "Understand that you're not the be-all and end-all of what the business is." —Steve Miller If you learn about yourself, your business is going to be enhanced including the people behind it." —Steve Miller "Don't settle for just doing the same as you were doing yesterday." —Steve Miller Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.com. License: CC by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

In this episode, Michael Denehey interviews David Reid, based in Brisbane QLD, Australia. David is a Human Resources Advisor, and a Management Consultant. David specializes in a range of supports around the "Human Element" of business practices, utilizing a range of Human Relationship (HR), Work Health & Safety, NLP, as well as Employee Engagement and Training services. Since the year 2020 with the transition of "work-life balance" to "life-work balance", David Reid assists small and medium business owners to develop a vital trustable staff, by implementing new staff engagement strategies to mitigate performance decline, and by assessing each of their employees' skills and will. "You just got to engage and align, and so forth.", he said. This Cast Covers: How Michael and David met David's experience around "Human Element" Who David is and what his background What's lacking in most of the business these days The challenges business faced in attracting and keeping good stuff The challenges that businesses and employees faced in shifting from work-life balance to life-work balance How attitude and care factors are the most important attribute in building an effective workplace David's recommendation Links: David's LinkedIn David Reid - About.me Additional Resources: Resources - Business 360 Quotes: "Work-life balance has now become life-work balance in the eyes of many." —David Reid. "So what we're finding is the ideal candidate or capability is the skill and will." — David Reid. "It's eliciting, identifying firstly, what our motivators are and what we value, and looking for those similar types of things to fit with potential candidates." — David Reid. "So when we look at the skill and will, how do we assess will?" — David Reid. "People need a sense of purpose, and you have to be clear on what their purpose is." — David Reid. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.com. License: CC by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

In this episode, I interview Jeff Cohen the Founder and CEO of C-Level Roundtable based in Los Angeles, United States of America. Jeff has set up his own business to help entrepreneurs identify their offerings and create a scalable foundation for accelerated growth. With over 20 years of experience as an Entrepreneur, Jeff has decided to focus on coaching to help entrepreneurs become more effective in their duties. C Level Round Table was established in 2015 and has been running for over 7 years. Jeff has said that growing a small business requires becoming a good communicator. So he says, "Having a regular conversation can help you get used to having a good or bad conversation and will help you improve yourself. This Cast Covers: A highly effective business and turnaround strategist. Author of the book Count-On-Able. Helping entrepreneurs learn how to become empowered. Sharing his experience of having everything to nothing and humbly growing successfully. With over 25 years of experience managing a software company. Learning how to catch yourself and your clients in triggering times. Started entrepreneurship at the young age of 8. Helping entrepreneurs cultivate a deep understanding of their responsibilities. Focused on delivering business expansion goals and objectives quickly. Learning how to improve your marketing through taking a lot of research. Links: Jeff's LinkedIn Jeff's Facebook Jeff's Instagram Additional Resources: C-Level Roundtable Count-Able-Practica by Jeff Cohen Quotes: "Learn the difference between what you want and what is right." —Jeff Cohen"Understand what it's like to be an entrepreneur and what you're signing up for." —Jeff Cohen "Working without hitting your strengths can block you from growing." —Jeff Cohen "Make sure that you've got something that is environmental changing." —Jeff Cohen Don't sacrifice your livelihood for unworthy things in life." —Jeff Cohen Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.com. License: CC by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

In this episode, I interview Leonard Scheiner the Founder and CEO of Geek Haus based in Los Angeles, United States. Leonard has set up his own business to help law firms and lawyers, brand market and grow their firms. With over 10 years of experience in legal marketing, Leonard has decided to create his own business to pursue bigger opportunities and help more people. Geek Haus was established in 2019 and has been running for over 3 years. Became six-figure months and well into 7-figure annual revenues with 6 FTEs. Leonard has said that growing a small business requires becoming detail-oriented in order to do your job properly. So he says, "You've got to have really good close attention to detail in the legal field. You don't have to be massive like that, the better chance you're going to have of picking an A plan." This Cast Covers: Running a full-service legal marketing agency. Helping law firms and lawyers, brand market and grow their firms. Working with attorneys in California, in other States, and the entire world. Finished a Master series with experts from Australia, UK, and the United States. With over 10 years of experience in legal marketing. Experienced in-house at many different firms. Learning how to manage your client's money in a smart and modulated way. Looking at a digital-first strategy and taking the approach of doing traditional marketing. Learning how to help people by helping people. Links: Leonard's LinkedIn Leonard's Facebook Leonard's Instagram Additional Resources: Geek Haus Exactly What to Say by Phil M Jones Quotes: "The best way to help people is helping people who help people." —Leonard Scheiner "Make your clients your main focus." —Leonard Scheiner "The smartest way to market is to look at what's working." —Leonard Scheiner "It doesn't have to be harsh, but it has to be firm." —Leonard Scheiner "Your worth does not come from the business." —Leonard Scheiner Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.com. License: CC by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

In this episode, Michael Denehey interviews Amanda Jones, based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Amanda is a marketing manager at Collins SBA. She describes her working ethos as "people first". She has demonstrated experience in customer experience mapping and journey mapping for global brands and small to medium business owners. Returning home after working in Sydney, NSW, and New York, USA, in marketing and media advertising roles, with her 25+ years of experience in sales and marketing. Amanda helps business owners look for the competitive edge in their customer and client journey by prioritizing and developing customer experience with the utilization of the 5 E's. She says, "Look how you can boost brand loyalty and reputation at every touchpoint." This Cast Covers: What is customer experience? The importance of customer experience. How customer experience is the sum of all interactions. The difference between customer experience and customer service. Developing brand loyalty, and reputation. Looking for a competitive edge in businesses. Retention and repeat customers. How to keep the customer engaged at every opportunity Utilization of the 5 E's to find your edge Links: Amanda's LinkedIn Collins SBA Additional Resources: Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business by Frances Frei Quotes: "Customer Experience is the sum of all many touchpoints and interactions." —Amanda Jones. "I always think about customer service as just one of those interactions within the end-to-end customer experience." — Amanda Jones. "Our customers are changing their wants and needs, their expectations are changing, and competitors come along, so it's one of those things we need to prioritize." — Amanda Jones. "The big one for me, I, is to understand where there's an opportunity for retention or repeat customers, because we all know that it costs more in people, time and money to go out and find new customers." — Amanda Jones. "Look at how you can boost brand loyalty and reputation, it should be a long-term game." — Amanda Jones. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.com. License: CC by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

In this episode, I interview Andy and Angela Smith, founders of Lifestyle Tradie based in Sydney, Australia. After experiencing the ups and downs of owning a trade business themselves, they started their own education program to help other trade business owners scale without making the same mistakes they did on their journey. With over 21 years of experience in owning and operating their own plumbing business, Andy and Angela decided to pursue the opportunity to help other trade business owners learn from their experiences. Lifestyle Tradie was established in 2009, now running for over 13 years, becoming one of Australia's top trade business education programs with over 14 FTEs! Andy and Angela also talked about how growing a small business require educating and working on yourself, not only the business, "People who don't work on themselves don't know what's up and what's down and they're just constantly in a grind and struggling." This Cast Covers: Andy started out as a plumber, owning a traditional plumbing business Angela joined the business from a corporate background Helping trade businesses all over the world learn how to set their businesses up the right way Their own podcast, 'The Tradie Show - Together in Trade Business' Learning how to avoid failure in the system Helping trade entrepreneurs scale without stress Understanding the importance of checking financial and non-financial data Their book, 'Start Up. Scale Up. Sell Up.' Teaching the importance of the freedom to choose Sharing the benefits of exposing your business on the right platform Giving advice on how to become successful as business partners and life partners Links: Angela Smith's LinkedIn Andy Smith's LinkedIn Additional Resources: Lifestyle Tradie 'The Tradie Show' podcast Start Up. Scale Up. Sell Up by Andy and Angela Smith How Win Friends Influence People by Dale Carnegie Quotes: "Sometimes you need to get the advice you need to propel you to the future." —Andy Smith "You need to understand the critical information and keep an eye on it." —Angela Smith "If you got the business model, you can scale without stress." —Andy Smith "You've got to learn how to let go." —Andy Smith "They need to know who you are." — Angela Smith Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.com. License: CC by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

In this episode, I interview Richard Blank, the Founder, and CEO of Costa Rica's Call Center based in San Jose, Costa Rica. Richard has set up his own business to help entrepreneurs enhance and maintain good communication with their clients. From working at his friend's customer service company, Richard decided to leave his former job and build his own business to pursue new opportunities. Costa Rica's Call Center was established in 2007 and has been running for over 15 years and has 150 FTEs. Richard has said that growing a small business requires taking time to decompress yourself in order to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle that will help you perform well in the business. So he says, "If you are level and in control, throughout your day because a character is judged during the chaos." This Cast Covers: Bilingual dedicated near shore to the United States call center. Handling outbound sales, appointment setting lead generation, etc. Giving people self-reliance and self-confidence to see the art and speech of communication. Working at customer's service center for 4 years. Learning how to grow a stable business by being responsible. Helping people enhance their communication skills. Providing tips on how to attract more customers through good communication. Helping entrepreneurs choose the best industry for them. Learn the power of deep understanding and balance. Growing with over 150 people in 15 years of growing the business. Additional Resources: Costa Rica's Call Center Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki How Win Friends Influence People by Dale Carnegie Quotes: "The most important thing is to become responsible." —Richard Blank "Coaching is about your balance." —Richard Blank "Choose an industry that's extremely lucrative." —Richard Blank "Success is fulfilling personal goals." —Richard Blank "A character is judged during the chaos." —Richard Blank Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.com. License: CC by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

In this episode, Rob Cameron interviews Andrew Wilson, the Founder of Horizon Business Plans, based in Greater Melbourne, Australia. Andrew is a business plan writer; he helps businesses write professional business plans. From his 12 years' worth of work experience in a bank. Andrew confidently shares the secrets and importance of writing a documented professional business plan, the things to look for, and how to put the best foot forward to a funder. He said, "sometimes, the journey of going through the planning process is more important than the result and the end plans themselves." This Cast Covers: Benefits of having a documented business plan. The importance of setting the direction where the business is heading. The clarity business planning brings to each different component. Different types of business plans. A business plan is like a business CV. How to use a business plan template. The significance of data/proof in business plans. Being realistic with the numbers in a business plan. Getting external help from a business plan writer. Links: Andrew's LinkedIn Horizon Business Plans Additional Resources: Hurdle: The Book on Business Planning by Tim Berry Quotes: "Failing to plan is planning to fail." —Andrew Wilson. "It's almost like a business CV, to help your audience understand the fundamentals of why it's in business, what the business does, and why it's equipped to run this business." — Andrew Wilson. "It's really important to set the direction, for your business." — Andrew Wilson. "Business planning is one of those things that, people often feel that it's like a big mountain to climb." — Andrew Wilson. "If you're looking for funding and need to write a business plan, I would suggest do start with a template." — Andrew Wilson. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.com. License: CC by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

In this episode, I interview Jonathan Fodera, the President of Integrated Business Financing based in Tampa, United States. Jonathan has set up his own business to help business owners grow and scale their businesses by getting them the best financing options. From working as a trader, Jonathan has decided to enter financing technology and enhance the things his good at. Integrated Business Financing was established in 2021 and has been running for over 1 year. Providing a highly trained adviser with 8 FTEs. Jonathan has said that growing a small business requires making an impact and difference on one person. So he says. "When someone buys a product or service or makes sure their experience was extraordinary, that is what's going to help add rocket fuel to everything." This Cast Covers: Helping business owners grow and scale their businesses Managing an Integrated Business Financing. Providing the best financing options. Lending marketplace for 14 years, that helps businesses in the United States grow. Getting the best financing possible. Been involved in running internal sales teams for Fintech Companies. An avid believer in visualization. Learning how to improve marketing through social media. Helping entrepreneurs create a good investment. Sharing his perspective about an amazing entrepreneur. Additional Resources: Integrated Business Financing Master the Game by Tony Robbins Quotes: "The more people you help, the more money you're gonna make." —Jonathan Fodera "If you impress them, they will come running to you." Jonathan Fodera "You have to figure out the risk versus reward." —Jonathan Fodera "Successful people will tell you they're not successful. —Jonathan Fodera "If you're putting something off, that means you shouldn't be focusing on that first." —Jonathan Fodera Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.com. License: CC by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0