EOS for a Better Business, Better Life

Debra Chantry-Taylor, the host of this podcast series, Better Business Better Life shares with you what’s coming up in the next 5 weeks. Listen to this episode to find out what’s happening. Debra Chantry-Taylor Professional EOS Implementer | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Business Owner #betterbusinessbetterlife #entrepreneur #leadership #eosimplementer Professional EOS Implementer Australia Professional EOS Implementer New Zealand

Ryan Goodwin is the founder of Mode Group, an award winning renovation and new home custom builders in Melbourne, Australia.  Ryan has been an entrepreneur since the age of 14 years old, mowing lawns and all the usual stuff that teenagers do.  He started his business, Mode Group, about 13 years, but he only really stepped back into it about five years ago with no guarantees that it was going to work out but his most important driving factor was about creating something that was right for his family.   He blended coaching, performance management and consulting with his current skills and decided to take on some larger roles.  Five years later, they're now a multi-award-winning builder in Melbourne, they have a fantastic showroom and interior designers on staff.   He has the mantra of doing what you are passionate about & doing what you love with people you love - the EOS Life!   In this episode, Ryan discusses the balance he created between work and family. How he enjoys life, delegating and trusting his staff with all the responsibilities assigned to them and also the challenges they faced.   Top 3 tips:   1. We get caught up in the machine or chasing a snowball down a hill, or pushing one up a hill. But really, we do forget to stop and think about - is this where you want to be? Is this the lifestyle you want? Is that the vision that you've had? How much time you spend doing what you would like to do. We have the chance every day to do things that we love, don't wait for 5 10 years or a lifetime to look back and say that you should've changed things. Consider doing what you love, your passion.   2. Turn up every day when others don't. It's about consistently turning up, consistently evolving, challenging yourself, asking the market and consistently being better. And even if you are the best, you just need to keep showing up. Most people around the world, in all industries, want consistency, they want history, they want experience. They want to know where you've been and who you are.   3. Review where you're at and identify what you're good at. Think of the things that you wanted to do - those you were great at, what allowed you to sleep well at night. If you're taking on a risk, and you're not delivering to the level of quality that you want, then you're not going to feel good about it. Don't just be a hamster on the wheel saying yes to everyone - that's where burnout can be found. That's where stress, risk, loss and issues at home start. And all sorts of stuff can come from that level of productivity that doesn't give you the return on energy.  Debra Chantry-Taylor  Professional EOS Implementer | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Business Owner  #betterbusinessbetterlife #entrepreneur #leadership #eosimplementer  Professional EOS Implementer Australia  Professional EOS Implementer New Zealand

Greg Lipschitz is founder & CEO of Summit Internet, a telecommunications company that owns and manages their national network. Through innovation & customer-oriented service, they’re challenging the way their competitors do business - as a result, Summit Internet is one of Australia’s fastest growing internet providers.  Greg has been a business owner for over 22 years and he is most proud of growing & maintaining a high performing team. He loves seeing his team succeed & completely trusts them, knowing that he can step out of the business and they will continue to strive & achieve amazing things.  Earlier this year, he actually had to take 6 weeks off due to a broken collarbone & didn't have to do a thing. He could & did walk away knowing full well that everything would run exactly as it should.  In this episode, Greg shares insider tips & tricks to points hacking – being smart about where & how you spend your money to get some extra perks.  “We all work so damn hard as business owners and we sometimes forget about the things that we can take out of the business that might not be financial. It might just be being able to travel in style.”  So one of the things he’s focused on over the last 22 years is how he can points hack through business and get that extra value & additional benefits to enjoy life even more. And one of these benefits can be travelling up at the pointy end of the plane! He shares the differences between points and status & how you can leverage both to your advantage. Not only that, you can use these points to reward amazing staff – for example, picking up their flight costs when they go on holiday.  Listen to the full episode to find out how you can change your spending habits to get you the biggest rewards. It may be something as simple as changing where you put petrol in your car!  Greg's Top 3 Tips:   1. Systems is definitely the biggest thing that will change your life  Let go and trust your staff. Enjoy business and have fun. If you feel that you're stressed out and you're not enjoying it, go and talk to someone about that, because that's a real problem. The enjoyment factor should be there.  2. Understand your cash flow  The way you use points hack your business can actually improve & streamline your cash flow as well, because you're doing things in a more systemised way. Don't buy irons and toasters with you points!  3. Spend your points  Collect all these points and actually go and use them. Don’t just sit on them! Have a lovely holiday, book up the pointy end & experience some of these first class trips out there. There's some amazing rewards that you can go & get. You’ll probably fly there maybe once or twice in your lifetime, but you're going to enjoy it. You've worked hard for it.  Debra Chantry-Taylor  Professional EOS Implementer | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Business Owner  #betterbusinessbetterlife #entrepreneur #leadership #eosimplementer  Professional EOS Implementer Australia Professional EOS Implementer New Zealand

Anna is a commercial lawyer who turned to insurance broking. Why?  Because being a lawyer for top insurance companies didn't make her heart sing.  She felt that there had to be something more meaningful that she could do. And so she switched to working for the client rather than the insurance company.  In this episode she shares her story as well as giving you tips & tricks to look out for when getting your commercial & business insurance cover.  She shares common mistakes & pitfalls, along with tips for living a more meaningful life!  Anna's Top 3 Tips  1. Pay attention to your insurance policy. Even if it's just a bit boring, please just get those documents out, cast your eye over the schedules, look at it and think does that reflect what you want? Are the limits what you actually want? Do you have the insurance you need for the risks that your business has, and other business activities? Work alongside your broker and ask questions be curious about insurance. What does the exclusion mean? Work through your worst-case scenario and think. Have you transferred your risk appropriately to an insurance company and work with your broker alongside with that?  2. Be persistent. Don't give up. You might hear a 'No', but think to yourself, 'Maybe, not yet - next year'  3. Be bold!  When you walk into a room, you should know your worth. Know your value, be confident!  Debra Chantry-Taylor  Professional EOS Implementer | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Business Owner  #betterbusinessbetterlife #entrepreneur #leadership #eosimplementer  Professional EOS Implementer Australia Professional EOS Implementer New Zealand

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, dealmaker, consultant, attorney and Principal of Kupfer and Associates. He's also an author and speaker, specialising in negotiation. Raised in a lower middle-class family in Brooklyn, New York, Corey always had an entrepreneurial spirit & started his first business at 15. In the years that followed, he's been through hard times - his business had no clients, there was a recession so he had no way to pay his rent or credit cards - anything you weren't 'supposed' to do.  And yet here he is, 30 years later, having built a very successful law firm, consulting practice & speaking business. "I don't think most of my successes come because I'm particularly ahead of the curve, or knowing the future. Most of my success has come from just building great relationships, doing great work and caring about people." In this episode, Corey discusses his work philosophy and shares top tips & tools from his book, Authentic Negotiation, that draws on 30 years of experience.  These aren't just for strategic partnerships or distribution agreements, these principles can be applied to negotiating your first home purchase, or negotiating with your teenager. He also outlines the top 6 reasons negotiations fail and shares his fundamental framework that can make all the difference.  "If you come into negotiation in a place of scarcity, in a place of not feeling that you're worth it, in a place of fear, I don't care what tactics you put on top of that, you're not going to be successful. I always say, no matter what tactics you use, if you study what I teach, I think you're going to be better than 80 to 90% of negotiators out there. I can sense when somebody comes in and is desperate for a deal. I can also read every tactic they're doing, because I've seen it all for 30 years." Listen to the full episode to learn the framework & master negotiation in your life!  Corey's Top 3 Tips 1. Love doing the stuff that you are great at!  If you're great at some stuff but still hate doing it, get someone else to do it. If you are the owner of the business, partner or executive, it also has to have leverage, it has to move the needle and it has to make a difference. If you are great at delegating, closing deals and negotiating - you've got to love it! If not, you need to find somebody to come in.  2. Personal growth, internal work & self awareness is so crucial for business owners & executives. Businesses can only be as successful as our own personal growth allows, especially as an entrepreneur. If we hit a limit, whether it's a relationship to money, what we think we deserve, how much we can trust other people to build a team & delegate, or you're in a place where you're going to sabotage things & you're not willing to grow to be able to be that kind of leader, it's not going to work.  3. Every business should be a lifestyle business.  The business should be designed for the life we want. Because if we're not creating the life we want, why we invest? Debra Chantry-Taylor Professional EOS Implementer | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Business Owner #betterbusinessbetterlife #entrepreneur #leadership #eosimplementer Professional EOS Implementer Australia Professional EOS Implementer New Zealand

Murray Phillips is the Founder of Insight CA - a Business Advisory and Accounting Practice. They take care of things so you can take care of your core business. Murray is also an author, his book ‘Starting a Business, Growing a Business’ was published in 2018. What started as a fascination for maths and infinite numbers in school, eventually grew to be a passion, leading him down the career path of accounting. However, although he has an intimate knowledge of the numbers in the cycle of a business, he has an understanding that it’s not just about the figures. It’s about sustainability and good systems too. In this episode, Murray talks about his latest business, "Cash Out Catalyst", which is all about helping people to prepare their business for sale, to ensure that they get the best value from it. You can sell your business to different people & each has a different price. So, who are you selling to?  Your family? Your management? Or are you selling on the open market? And what are you selling? Because the business has to be about more than just you.  Murray shares how you can improve your business & get the best price for it. Murray's Top 3 Tips 1. Challenge everyone about where’s the business going Whether you are an Accountant or Lawyer or EOS Implementer – go away for a weekend and sit down. Challenge everyone about where’s the business going. You can’t be the single voice of the business, it has to be a team environment. If you don't bring the team into it, they're not going to buy your decisions going forward. 2. Start early The day you start your business is the day you start to plan your exit. There are basically three buyers out there. Your family – who typically don't want to be in the business, but they're looking at the goodwill of their father or mother in taking the Passover. Your management or going to the market. You have to be ready, because if you’re not ready - you're a real estate transaction. 3. Have someone to come in as a mystery shopper You want the mystery shopper for your administration area or your sales area, and then your production area. The mystery shopper can tell you where it's performing or not performing. So, you've got time to correct it. Because at the end of the day, what they see is what a buyer sees. You've always got to position yourself as not what you want to sell. It's what is the buyer wanting to buy? Debra Chantry-Taylor Professional EOS Implementer | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Business Owner #betterbusinessbetterlife #entrepreneur #leadership #eosimplementer Professional EOS Implementer Australia Professional EOS Implementer New Zealand

Alicia Butler Pierre is the owner & CEO of Equilibria Inc, an operations management firm that specialises in diagnosing, and designing business infrastructure & processes.  With a background in chemical engineering, Alicia started off her career in steel-toed boots at oil refineries & chemical plants. When working as an engineer, she realised how little she understood about business - and just how necessary this understanding was. So she went back to school, completed an MBA & it opened her eyes to a completely new world.  In the months of job-searching following her MBA, she was regularly reading articles, books & absorbing information through documentaries (one of her top tips!). What really resonated with her was the concept of individuals all possessing natural skills, talents & abilities. And that through a process of miseducation, we're taught to actually work for someone else, to become a good employee.  But we aren't taught on how to capitalise on our natural skills, talents & abilities so that we can CREATE opportunities for ourselves.  She thought deeply about what she was naturally good at - organising, and after research & many networking events, she worked as a Professional Organiser, with home-based entrepreneurs being her primary clientele. And it wasn't that they were chronically disorganised people - they just needed systems or processes in place to keep things working & information flowing as seamlessly as possible.  So Alicia started to shift her language and promotional pieces from professional organising to business infrastructure. "It's my customers who tell me exactly what they want. It's my job as the business owner to listen, and to act accordingly. And that is the story in a nutshell of how Equilibria came to be, how this thing called business infrastructure came into existence." Now Equilibria has been running for about 17 years & she never imagined it would evolve into what it is today. Hear about her journey & the key insights she has learnt along the way.  Find out more about Alicia - aliciabutlerpierre.com  Special offer of a free audio MasterClass for our audience - smoothoperator.course Alicia’s Top 3 Tips The Three R's: 1. Read Read something every day to continue to perfect your craft. Don't ever become comfortable in what you already know. There's always something new to learn. 2. (w)Riting Write something every day. Use your LinkedIn newsletter and all of the amazing materials. That's how you continue to perfect your craft and get your message out about whatever it is that you do. 3. (a)Rithmetic Measure & do the calculations. What are some of those key numbers that you need to look at, maybe not every day, but at least once a week to really let you know the health of your company? Debra Chantry-Taylor Professional EOS Implementer | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Business Owner #betterbusinessbetterlife #entrepreneur #leadership #eosimplementer Professional EOS Implementer Australia Professional EOS Implementer New Zealand

Financial wellbeing is one of the single biggest causes of stress for Kiwis. And money is a very emotional thing.  Having forged a career as a tax specialist, business owner and Chartered Accountant, Jono Bredin is the proud CEO of Enable.Me - a business whose core purpose is to change the financial lives of hardworking New Zealanders. Enable Me has been around for the last 14-15 years and is the brainchild of Hannah McQueen, an amazing human who revolutionised the way Kiwis think about their finances. Jono shares how Hannah is a Visionary, with all the incredible ideas at rapid pace. He stepped in to run alongside her & help her with some of the heavy lifting, so that she could focus on what she is best at.  That's what really brought EOS to the front of his mind as a tool that could take Enable Me to that next level - being able to harness the absolute best of Hannah in an organised way. He shares how they started implementing with 15 people on their leadership team, and through EOS introducing more rigor and accountability to these roles, they now have a leadership team of 6.  Not only is Jono the CEO & Integrator, he is also a customer of Enable.Me.  "What sticks with me, as I went through my journey, was that I thought I was good with money. I was an accountant. But when you actually turn up the dial, what are you frittering away each week? And how could we be using that to get you ahead faster? For people who've got family, how do we help them achieve the goals that they've got for their children and for the next generation? We are ultimately trying to build out a personal or a family's cash surplus, that's the first stage of the journey. Then it's how do we put that surplus to work? How can it be multiplied by doing things in a certain way?"  Every person in New Zealand can use financial literacy and financial accountability to get ahead faster. Even those people who think they are good with money, Jono included, can benefit from a layer of accountability that Enable Me provides.  In his spare time, Jono is a National Rugby Referee, having also officiated Netball to the highest international level. Jono's biggest challenge is being the proud Dad of three kids 5 years old and under! Jono's Top 3 Tips 1. Just because you've always done something a certain way, doesn't mean that it will always be the right way of doing things. There are always ways you can change. There’re always ways to reimagine how you do something. It’s a little bit of a cliche, but if you do what you've always done, you will probably get what you've always got, or get less. 2. It’s always the people! You really need to harness the collective abilities of your team, the backgrounds, the experience, that's hugely valuable when added into any organisation. Getting other people's views on the world will only add to the sum of the great parts. 3. Be accountable. Having a goal without a plan is hopeless - you actually have to write it down and hold yourself accountable to it. People need to know their parts of the journey and what they're responsible for. And only when you have true accountability, with that comes the honesty, transparency, and all the rest of it, and the permission to have the hard conversations. Get the special offer for our audience only: https://www.enable.me/betterbusiness Debra Chantry-Taylor Professional EOS Implementer | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Business Owner #betterbusinessbetterlife #entrepreneur #leadership #eosimplementer Professional EOS Implementer Australia Professional EOS Implementer New Zealand

I wasn't sure what to expect when I interviewed Lucas but I can honestly say... "Mind blown!"  On his one-pager, Lucas is described as, "For over 17 years, Lucas Root led numerous teams on Wall Street. After establishing a consistent track record of success, Lucas started his own consulting business. Lucas works with strong brands with a well-funded great idea, that don’t quite know how to execute. Since early 2019, Lucas has had the wonderful opportunity to speak to numerous audiences in North America, Australia, and Europe, as well as partner with both businesses and VCs for mentoring. He had a number of topics we could talk about & we chose "Productivity - especially while Working From Home; includes brain state management, Routines, scheduling and planning, space management, clothing." And what a ride that was! Normally we ask for 3 tips - this episode has an entire book worth of productivity tips through changing your brain state. I thought I was up with the play on sleep & brain activity, however, I walked away buzzing. You can read more about Lucas here: https://lucasroot.com/ Lucas' Top 3 Tips 1.  Break down your day into time chunks that you can keep track of easily Maybe it's an hour, an hour is a good place to start. Most people can keep track of their hours throughout the day.  2. Come up with a plan for what you're going to accomplish in that hour Have a very, very simple plan for every single hour throughout the day. And take a moment to either write it down or say it out loud at the beginning of that hour every hour every day. That's it. Very, very simple. That alone will make dramatic changes in your life. So you know it's noon, "I'm going to take my lunch break." Say it out loud. "For the next hour, I'm going to relax, not think about work and eat food done." You will find you have more energy at 7pm, just by doing that every single day. 3. Take notes Write down the things that are on the list inside your head. Do it all the time, as often as you can tolerate. Most of the people that are in the productivity space, and I respect their opinions tremendously, say that a physical pen and paper is far more effective for this. So if you can carry around a notebook and a pen, do it. If you can't, electronic tools work. Debra Chantry-Taylor Professional EOS Implementer | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Business Owner #betterbusinessbetterlife #entrepreneur #leadership #eosimplementer Professional EOS Implementer Australia Professional EOS Implementer New Zealand

Wyndi (Rodokal) Tagi is a Visionary who is passionate about enhancing the mana of Māori and Pacifica People, with a vision to impact the lives of 10 million. Wyndi took an idea, convinced her husband to start a business and things were going well. Then they were told by one of the big 4 accounting firms that they should stop spending so much time & money with their community & with their family - that their culture didn't differentiate them. It was demoralising but also a big turning point for Wyndi & her husband Eli.  Hear how they took this, what it prompted in them & how they built this into a purpose-led business across several countries. Wyndi is now one of my EOS clients. We connected on LinkedIn initially and just chewed the fat over a walk & talk. Later on, she contacted me having read the EOS books & wanted to talk to me to see if I could help them. She shares what EOS has done for the business & their family, how they went from 47 goals down to 6 & how they manage to employ family in the business without any issues. More about Wyndi: On her mother's side, she is from Ati-Hau-Nui-A-Paparangi, on her dad's side, she is of NZ European descent from England and Greece.  After her first breast cancer diagnosis in 2017, she decided that she wanted to ensure she lived her best life and she wasn’t interested in dying with regret. So she's been living into her purpose, which is to better the statistics of Māori and Pacifica people. WE Accounting is one of the many vehicles she drives for doing just that. "At WE, WE don’t just believe in a better future, WE are building it. Our Accounting Practice provides support, guidance and opens growth opportunities to small and medium-sized NZ businesses. WE know that SME’s are the backbone of the economy and when they thrive, so too do families, communities and our economy." Wyndi's Top 3 Tips 1. Have a good kaupapa for your business So a clear vision, purpose & values and stick to them no matter what. Really understand what that is, and make sure it really aligns with you and who you are and what you want to achieve in life. If you do that, then that makes it easier for your team and anyone else to know who you are, what you're about and whether they want to join on the journey. 2. Have a clear business plan It doesn't have to be 50 pages long. It has to be something that's really, really simple that you can look at daily, weekly, monthly, whatever, but read regularly. If you want to achieve your goals, they say write them down. And then, take action. 3. It's okay to hire family members As long as they get the job, want the job and they are capable of doing the job. And they align with your values. Interview them like you would normally interview anybody. Get someone else in your team to interview them, too, if you feel that you need a different perspective, we've done that. Connect with Wyndi here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wynditagi/ Debra Chantry-Taylor Professional EOS Implementer | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Business Owner #betterbusinessbetterlife #entrepreneur #leadership #eosimplementer Professional EOS Implementer Australia Professional EOS Implementer New Zealand