Grow A Small Business Podcast

In this episode, I interview Donna McColl, the Director at Happy Feet Fitness, a children's educational fitness program for 20 months to 5-year-olds. It was created by Donna and her husband Cam McColl after her husband had nagged her for ten years. She was 32 with two kids (9 and 3) and two mortgages when they started it in 2007. The business grew from one full-time employee to ten with 100 contractors operating in five states in Australia. They run 1,300 classes per week with 5,000 students. Their funding has been from a $10,000 loan from her father-in-law which they paid back quickly and then grew solely from profits. During Covid, they went online and 6,000 of their 15,000 students subscribed. She felt she had succeeded when they reached their long term goal of 50 centers in the first year and won the Telstra Business Owner award. She feels the hardest thing about growing a small business is finding the right people to join your team. What Donna would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, "Trust you'll overcome any challenges in some way" Get ready to be blown away by Donna's small business ownership wisdom. This Cast Covers: Teaching kids about the benefits of health and fitness in a super fun and entertaining way. Donna and Cam's amazing journey from traveling the world to starting Happy Feet Fitness. Starting out with 4 centers and reaching their long term goal of 50 centers within 12 months. How winning the Telstra Business Owner Award fueled her confidence. Why they focus on social media as their core marketing platform. Paying back their startup capital loan in lightning speed to bootstrap to date. The rewarding nature of working with 20 months to 5-year-old kids. How Covid negatively affected their business and how they adapted and thrived through the pandemic. The challenge of trying to find enough awesome people to be part of their team. Always listening to the ideas that their team members pitch. Going through the hardship she feared most for her business and coming out of it stronger and more experienced. Allowing their team to grow organically by passing on responsibilities that they demonstrate they can handle. Leading by example by upholding and living by your values and the values of your small business. How she looks at work-life balance so she can achieve some form of it. Additional Resources: Happy Feet Fitness Fantastic By Alan Austin-Smith The You Project 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 Caralee Fontenele, the founder and director of Collective Family Law, a Gold Coast and Brisbane-based law firm specializing in family law. Caralee left school at age 16, went to uni in her late 20s, and in 2012 aged 34, graduated in law. She started working in her husband's one-person law firm and he soon gave up leaving the business in $460,000 debt, which she worked hard and paid off in 3 years. She has grown the business from one full-time employee to 14, and $500,000 in year one to now over $2Million per annum. She only works ten hours a week on the business, not doing any billables herself. The firm now focuses squarely on family law (Divorce and separation). 70% of people don't retain a lawyer during separation and divorce, so in 2018, they launched an online product to target that market. They also launched the Scalable Business Society, which helps service-based businesses scale as she has done. Tracking metrics around billables and marketing allowed sales to jump from $1.2 Million to $2Million+ per annum, and half of their sales came from Google Adwords. Caralee says she felt she has succeeded when finally there was money in the bank and believes that the hardest thing about growing a small business is getting out of your own way. The one thing she says she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, "Those goals you set yourself are just shit, and you need to rewrite them and stop putting limiting beliefs in your way" Ladies and gentlemen, help me in welcoming Caralee Fontanelle to the show. This Cast Covers: Helping people through their worst moments in separation and divorce. Their client avatar: 42 years old, married or in de facto relationships, and those whose separation or divorce has a property component. Creating an online platform that eases the process of learning all about separation and divorce. Starting the Scalable Business Society to help service business owners to get off the tools so they can work on their business rather than in it. The frustration of leading underwater and taking over a business that was $400K+ in debt. Sustaining a slow, manageable, and profitable growth year on year. How the pandemic opened up a whole new world of great opportunities. Achieving effective marketing by measuring your data. Sheer hard work: The only funding option that one can exploit to get out of debt. Freeing herself up in a big way by taking one of her lawyers to a leadership level. The one thing she did to change things up for the better in her business. Enjoying the fast growth and learning tons of things from different people and areas. Showing up again and again, and investing in yourself to thrive in small business ownership. Building a great culture by implementing structured team meetings every week and allowing team members to do their work without being micromanaged. Being happy with every aspect of your life instead of focusing so much on the ever-elusive work-life balance. Investing in different forms of professional development. Focusing on referral marketing, organic marketing, and paid marketing (Google Adwords only) Additional Resources: Collective Family Law The E-Myth By Michael E. Gerber 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 Trisha Cashmere, the Managing Director of The Healthy Body Company, an allied health professional services business that focuses on supporting its clients to be healthy and active through life. In 2013, Trisha quit corporate law to look after her sick child for a couple of years. In 2015, aged 42, she took over managing her husband's physio practice and soon after added another site and then acquired a competitor with mixed results. From her experience with that acquisition, she always advises, "Don't agree to hire everyone. Put them through a recruitment process and have a good shareholder's agreement in place." Over five years, she grew sales 130% with more than 23% compound per annum. She grew the number of full-time employees from 8 to 19, soon to be 22, and funded the business through grants, bank loans, and profits. Trisha felt she had succeeded when she recently realized that they were doing very well and absorbed that fact. She believes that the hardest thing about growing a small business is time and money and says that the one thing she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, "It's a marathon. Not a sprint. And the to-do list will never be finished" Stay tuned to gain from Trisha's small business ownership wisdom. This Cast Covers: From being a physiotherapist to retraining as a lawyer and working in a commercial law firm, then leaving that to venture into business. Achieving a 130% income increase in their fees since 2015 and growing their full-time employees from 2 to 19. Enjoying the success of running the business sustainably even through the pandemic. Flexibility and lifestyle: Being able to do what she wants when she wants it, and the beauty of having financial security. The value they've gotten from replicating their business model with their employees as equity partners. Effective marketing strategies for service-based businesses. Using SurveyMonkey as a customer satisfaction benchmarking and survey tool. Their funding mix: Bank loans, own funds, partners with equity, and government grants. The mistake they made when they took on all of the employees of the business they were acquiring. Why she stopped doing physio to focus on growing the business. Identifying the great opportunities that lie in delivering services online. How building an email list can help grow a business by building a tribe around it. Being terrible at delegating and how she deals with it. Clearly articulating their values within their team to ensure everyone does their level best to deliver the best service to clients. Choosing to invest in peer to peer mentoring groups and buying a lot of business and management books. Additional Resources: The Healthy Body Company Traction By Gino Wickman Deep Work By Cal Newport The Manager Tools Podcast One Life By Tina Tower 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 had a follow-up chat with Bob Moesta, the Founder, President, and CEO of the Re-Wired Group. The Re-Wired Group specializes in Demand-Side Innovation and they help companies and individuals grow by enabling innovation from the Demand-Side; Changing buying and consumption behavior. They identify, design, and execute marketing, selling, and buying systems for growth and focus on fast, high impact actions that lead to immediate results, growth, and insight. Their approaches, methods, frameworks, and software have helped companies grow more than 20% when their current market was down more than 50%. Bob is a founder, maker, innovator, speaker, professor, and the author of the New York Times Best-Seller, "Demand-Side Sales 101" He is an entrepreneur at heart, engineer and designer by training, and has started, built, and sold several startups. Bob and I will be joined by James Baker from Varicon (A SaaS-based business in Tasmania) and Ben Crowley from Bulk Nutrients (Who we had on the podcast in Episode 10). James and Ben will ask Bob some hard questions about demand-side sales and share how they have each benefitted from the strategies and tools they learned from Bob's recent book. Wanna learn how to kill it with your sales and scale your business? This is the episode you'll wanna listen to. Stay tuned for more. This Cast Covers: How James and Ben have used some of the tools and strategies in Bob's book. Making sure you reflect your customers' value systems when you're marketing. The success that came with applying demand-side sales in Ben's business. Understanding the true needs of customers before building a product around it. The six steps that customers go through before they decide they wanna buy a product as a solution to their problem. Bringing together customer discovery and the sales process in an effective way. Why so much of marketing involves not trying to solve problems that customers have. The questions you should ask yourself to understand what your customers are buying. One out of the 3,500+ products that Bob has been responsible for that he's proud of in terms of solving a problem. Having a thousand paintings before starting a gallery: One of Bob's core hobbies Some really great tips on how to build a high-performance team. Additional Resources: The Re-Wired Group Demand-Side Sales 101 By Bob Moesta and Greg Engle 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 Renae Bunster, the Founder and Global President of Bunsters Hot Sauces. An ex Television journalist, Renae fell in love with hot sauces while in Mexico in 2011. She couldn't find anything hot enough back in Australia so she started making her own at home in 2012 aged 34. She now sells her hot sauce all around Australia and in America through Amazon and is about to sell her chili vodka in Russia. The business' sales started at $83,000 in the first year and then doubled every year to crack $1 Million in 2019. With one to five full-time employees, they made 35 tonnes in one week last year through a contract factory, which will double this year. Initially self-funded, they started dipping into mortgage and did a KickStarter pre-sales crowdfunding in 2015 to sell $200,000 of hot sauce and last year took on angel investors who then suggested an equity crowdfund. In mid-2020, they raised $2 Million from the crowdfunding. She approached two great mentors who are very successful female business owners. She felt she had succeeded when she made a bottle of Vodka with "Shit the Bed" on it and raised $2 Million in crowdfunding. Renae believes the hardest thing in growing a small business is finding customers when you have no budget. She says the one she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, "This is going to be huge, but only if you have fun and laugh the whole time, and don't take it too seriously" Ladies and gentlemen, Shit the Bed creator, Renae Bunster. Enjoy the episode. This Cast Covers: Building a hot sauce empire and making the lion's share of their money from their flagship Shit the Bed Hot Sauce. The holiday to Mexico that brought it all about. Big markets in the US and Australia, and the ones coming up in the UK, Europe, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The huge role that Fulfilled By Amazon has played in their sales success. From $83,000 a year in 2014 to the current over $1 Million in global sales. The successful crowdfunding campaign that has seen them raise up to $2 Million in equity. Their wife+husband+VA team with an additional food technologist, IT person, and another support person. Creating the Shit the Bed Vodka and having nearly 2,000 people invest in her company. Using contract filling (Contract manufacturing) to cost-effectively and flexibly do and sustain their manufacturing. The power of social media and staying on top of the trends. How authentic influencers are the ones who are getting real returns. Self-funding the business every way they could until the point where they started crowdfunding. Where the crowdfunding idea came from and the effort they had to put into it to make it a success. How she got two very successful female businesswomen to mentor her. What it's really like to make money from the food business. The role that everyone on her team plays to add value to the business. The strategies they use to get the best virtual team members. Why work/life balance does not exist for Renae and the value of having a great scheduling tool. Additional Resources: Bunsters Hot Sauces Losing My Virginity By Richard Branson Finding My Virginity By Richard Branson Small Business Big Marketing By Tim 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 Kate Toon, an award-winning SEO copywriter and SEO consultant and speaker with over two decades of experience in all things advertising, digital, and writing. She has worked with big brands such as Sanitarium, eHarmony, Curash, and Kmart. She has helped countless small businesses produce great content and improve their copywriting and SEO. She's also the founder of The Clever Copywriting School and The Recipe for SEO Success eCourse, as well as a co-host on the Hot Copy Podcast. In 2009, five months pregnant and aged 34, Kate quit a corporate communication job for more flexibility with her own business. The business focuses on digital education, SEO, copywriting and mentoring. Over 10,000 people have been through her online courses and currently have 600 paying members. 2 years in, she dropped all her clients to focus on mentoring, courses, and an annual conference. In 2013, she earned $150,000, and in 2018 she hit $500,000 then $1 Million in 2020 with 75% net profit. She started out the business with one full-time employee and now has three. Kate has consistently bootstrapped the business, growing it purely from profits. She felt she had succeeded when she was on stage at her own conference (CopyCon) looking down at the 200 attendees. She says the hardest thing about growing a small business is motivation and that the one thing she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, "Stop looking at what everyone else is doing and just get on with it" Stay tuned to enjoy and learn from Kate's small business ownership journey. This Cast Covers: Her backstory and the different revenue streams that keep her business running sustainably. Serving small businesses, service providers, and eCommerce store owners. Moving from a successful advertising career to starting her own "Jill of all trades" business Becoming one of the best-known copywriters in Sydney and pivoting into doing workshops and courses. How her transition to passive income was like. The beauty of being the creative director in her business rather than just the CEO. Where SEO is at the moment: Is it still relevant? Funding the business with nothing but herself. Learning the importance of working on herself to overcome impostor syndrome and other things that deterred her from focusing on her customers. Overcoming procrastination and doing more creative work. The benefits of getting into an abundance mindset. Why having employees is just not her thing and how outsourcing helps with that. Building a great community of customers by keeping them engaged and facilitating conversations. Continuously working on achieving some work/life balance and learning from her customers. Additional Resources: Deep Work By Cal Newport 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 Alex Burke, the visionary CEO of New Zealand EduTech company, Education Perfect (EP). A passionate storyteller, Alex boasts an enviable twenty-year track record in driving technical excellence and team-building across multiple industries, including airlines, banking, government, telco, education, and retail. He was previously the CEO of Tigerspike, a technology services business that he sold in 2017. Founded in 2008 by brothers Craig and Shane Smith, Education Perfect (EP) is a toolkit for teachers in the classroom. Alex joined the company as CEO in May 2019. At the start of Covid, they tested a free trial and picked an extra 500,000 additional students with 10% of those converting to paid. They have grown 40% in the last year with international at an amazing 350% and have expanded from 18 to now 58 countries. Craig and Shane started out as the only full-time employees and EP now has 180 full-time employees. They are very profitable with their gross profit at over 80% and operating margin more than 30% on AUD30 Million in annual sales. They bootstrapped the business since its inception and 3 years ago they sold 80% of it to a private equity firm. Alex believes the hardest thing about growing a small business is, "Keeping your people together, keeping good governance, and keeping focused on opportunities" The one thing he says he would tell himself on day one of starting out in business is, "Everyday is really different. You've got to get up and end today excited by tomorrow" Stay tuned for a ton of small business growth wisdom from Alex. This Cast Covers: Building an online learning platform that serves as a toolkit for teachers within the classroom. How they took the opportunity to put out their product during the pandemic and how it accelerated their growth plan. Achieving profitability with 30% operating margins and growing organically by running purely from cash flow. The two brothers who came up with the idea for Education Perfect to support their learning efforts. Why success for Alex is all about being driven by continuous improvement. Measuring the success of a business by the way it's able to retain its team members. The importance of being good at execution and pushing things through. Using multiple methods of metrics to get customer feedback and the overall power of obsessing over the customer. How the founders of Education Perfect started it and bootstrapped it until they sold 80% of it to a private equity firm. The digital services tech company (Tigerspike) that Alex bootstrapped until he exited it in 2017. The difficulty of growing a business while maintaining a certain level of governance and balance. The value of having clear roles and responsibilities, and accountability in a business. Dealing with the challenges of cash flow and getting the business known in the market. How obsessing over quality and reputation can really pay off for a business. Lifting the bar for the business by bringing in people who can inject some additional experience and skillset. Early to rise, early to bed: How Alex maintains some work-life balance. Developing himself professionally by building out his own network and working within a business. The lessons he learned from managing Tigerspike and exiting the business. Additional Resources: Education Perfect (EP) Built to Last By Tim Collins E-Myth By Michael E. Gerber Emotional Intelligence Book By Daniel Goleman Good to Great By Jim Collins 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 Dr. Sonia Sonia, the Founder, and CEO of Kallangur Dental Surgery, a successful dental practice. In late 2013, aged 32 and while on maternity leave, Sonia decided to go on her own after everyone told her not to. She promptly quit a corporate job in a dental chain and with a $5,000 loan from her husband, opened her first clinic. She now has up to four locations. She also got further funding from a small bank loan and the business grew from 2 full-time employees to now 17 with sales burgeoning from $0 to $3.2 Million per annum. Dr. Sonia felt she had succeeded when she won a customer service award and a business of the year award. She says the hardest thing about growing a small business is letting go and shares that the one thing she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, "Learn more about management and HR" Ladies and gentlemen, please help me in welcoming Dr. Sonia to the show. Enjoy her incredible small business ownership story. This Cast Covers: Running the place that most people usually don't like to go and killing it. Meeting people who actually like going to the dentist. How believing in delivering world-class service inspired her to start her business. Quitting her job, buying a failed dental practice, and going all in to grow it to the current 4 locations. From a goal of making $400 a week to actually turning over $3.2 Million a year. Taking 6.5 hours to apply for a customer service award and winning among 300 businesses. The marketing strategies that have led to her immense success. Reaping from the relationship that healthcare businesses have with financial institutions. The HR conundrum that almost made her give up and how she overcame it. Learning the art of delegation to deal with the lack of enough time to run everything herself. Loving the personal touch of engaging with patients/clients every day. Giving proper attention to each of her team members' health and wellbeing. The importance of being clear with your team about where the business started, where it's going, and what is expected of them. Embracing the struggle that is trying to achieve work/life balance. The value of learning more about management and HR. Additional Resources: The Leader Who Had No Title By Robin Sharma Savvy Dentist By Dr. Jesse Green Healthy Numbers Podcast 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 Sarah Riegelhuth, the Founder and CEO of Growmotely, the first all-in-one platform for sourcing, growing and managing remote teams. Sarah is also a serial entrepreneur, professional speaker, published author and investor in startups, having founded 8 companies since 2009. She's personally fueled by a passion for changing the status quo of how we work, conscious culture and leadership, community, gender equality and living life on one's own terms. Aged 19, she started a financial planning firm with her father. In 2008, she started her own private wealth management firm and sold it in 2015. In 2012, inspired from advising millennials, she started a firm focusing on that niche, the first in Australia. She did $250,000 in the first year then $1 Million a year for the next four years before two pivots saw them reach $2 Million annual recurring revenue. She then sold the business to her business partner and ex-husband in 2018. She had 5 full-time employees to 18 with all the non-financial planners offshore in the lower cost countries. Sarah is the co-founder of the league of extraordinary women which has 200,000 members globally and has bootstrapped every one of her businesses except the current one, raising investment to grow into a billion dollar company. She closed the fundraise at 32% over and has sold three companies for over $2 Million. Sarah felt she had succeeded when she sold the first company and her personal wealth tipped over $1 Million when she was aged 32. She feels the hardest thing about growing a small business is, managing your own energy and building resilience. Sarah says the one thing she would tell herself on day one of starting out in business is, "Keep going" Sarah has had a phenomenal business ownership journey that will surely inspire you. Stay tuned. This Cast Covers: From working in financial planning to becoming a high-flying entrepreneur. How she started Wealth Enhancers and grew it from zero to $250,000 in first year revenue. Successfully starting a service-based business and how that is reasonable validation that one has got a viable business. The difference in customer retention rates when they used a commission-based model and how the lessons from that helped her pivot and grow the business. One of the hindrances that keep service-based businesses from growing as expected. Moving to a global employment model which allowed them to access many more resources affordably. Why she had to sell her stake of the company when she was in a great position to scale and grow it. Selling three companies for over $2 Million and the joy of having her personal wealth reach over $1 Million. Building her personal brand so she can leverage it to market her businesses. The pros and cons of bootstrapping based on her entrepreneurial experience. The importance of small business owners/entrepreneurs keeping track of their energy levels to ensure they don't get burned out. Facilitating better performance from her team by ensuring that everyone is aligned and engaged. Building the necessary resilience to deal with the pace of fast growth and the overwhelm that can come with it. Looking for alignment in potential hires to determine who is a fit and running things based on transparency and honesty. The A player versus the B player: Who's the best? Being intentional about culture and communicating it clearly. Re-centering and grounding by switching off her phone regularly and taking retreats several times a year. The difficulty in a small business owner managing their own energy. Additional Resources: Growmotely The League of Extraordinary Women How I Built This 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 Bryan Clayton, the Founder, and CEO of GreenPal, a web and mobile app that instantly connects homeowners with home service professionals. Bryan started out in business In 1994 when he was just 15 and while in high school. He started a lawn mowing business and grew that to one of the largest in the state of Tennessee with 150 full-time employees and $10 Million in annual sales. He sold that business in 2012 aged 33 and in the next year launched Greenpal, the Uber for lawn mowing. They had 22 customers in their first year and now have 200,000 customers serviced by 11,000 lawn mowing business owners and it generates $20 Million in annual sales. They had three full-time employees and now have 22, and their initial 12 competitors in 2015 went down to 3. He funded the business solely from bootstrapping and felt he had succeeded when forty people signed up for the app one Saturday and none were friends or family. He feels the hardest thing about growing a small business is getting started and the first $100,000 in revenue. The one thing he says he would tell himself on day one of starting out is, "Look at it like it's an infinite game. The way to win is not to give up" Ladies and gentlemen, help me welcome Bryan Clayton to the show to share his experience in starting, building, and selling companies. This Cast Covers: How Bryan turned lawn mowing from a way of earning a little extra cash in high school aged 15 to a successful business venture. Learning the fundamental principles of running a successful business like customer satisfaction, reliability, delivering quality, and more The inception of GreenPal and investing in proper market research before venturing into your own business in order to avoid creating a business that's based on assumptions. The power of having patience in creating a solid and perfect business foundation before expanding and rolling out into different markets. How to Stay Afloat and close the gaps when running a seasonal business. Building a business that not only acquires monetary success but creates a lasting impact on society. Experimenting early on in the business, figuring out your strengths, and specializing in them as a key factor in growing and marketing your business. Learning the ins and outs of your business to help you in making the right decisions across the board. Investing in creative and innovative ways of marketing and distributing your product to ensure your business stays ahead of the competition. Adopting a think bigger attitude and getting inspiration and insights from people playing on a higher level than you and applying that to your business. Additional Resources: Built to Sell By John Warrillow The E-Myth By Michael E. Gerber Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/