The Fractional CFO Show with Adam Cooper

I was delighted to be joined by @Alice Olins, Career Expert, Coach and Trainer, and the Founder of the @Step Up Club, an organisation that works with individuals and teams to help them fulfill potential, navigate and embrace change. This was an impactful conversation with Alice where we explored change and how small businesses can best navigate it. 🌟 Some of the most interesting elements were:✅How, leadership through communication and openness is such an important part of successful change;✅The importance of having a deep understanding of the stakeholders or the people involved in any change;✅During times of change, be the Leader where people follow your vision, not because you're telling them to, but because they really believe in you as a person;✅The value of appointing change agents within the company to help activate change and mitigate some of the barriers that inevitably come up through the process;✅The importance of making sure there are points in the timeline where you stop, measure and articulate where you are at in the lifecycle of the project to maintain the impetus.

I was very pleased to be joined by @Russell Rich, one of the senior partners at @Lubbock Fine, a leading firm of chartered accountants and tax advisors, where Russell heads up the sports, media and entertainment desk. I really enjoyed this conversation with Russell where we explored a situation familiar with many these days, noticeably some considerations when starting up a business as a second career. 🌟 Some of the most interesting elements were:✅ How, when externally financing, Investors will want you to have some skin in the game;✅ How as an entrepreneur, you've got to focus on working in the business and on the business at the same time;✅ How forecasting and mapping out a business plan is key - to the point that you do best case, mid case and worst case scenarios;✅ The need to generate sufficient income and importantly cash flow to cover all those benefits that were previously paid by your employer.;✅ The need for good accounting at the start because otherwise it doesn't matter how great the opportunity is or the business model, those things will fail.

In this one, I'm excited to be joined by Chris Cummings, the Group CEO and Founder of Wellbeing at Work World, an organisation on a mission to make wellbeing a strategic priority for every business.I really enjoyed this conversation with fellow Centaur Media Plc alumni Chris, discussing his journey over the past 10 years, inspired by personal circumstances, to fly the flag for the importance of wellbeing at work.🌟 Some of the most interesting elements were:✅The impact that true wellbeing can have on a business if leadership takes it seriously and its embedded into the culture;✅How the integral parts of wellbeing are free - inclusive culture, authentic leadership and being a decent person don’t have to cost anything;✅The effect that COVID had on this area, as it became a topic that was at the front of everyone's minds, and the challenge to ensure we build on the progress made;✅Chris’ advice to have a forum where you listen to your employees and if there is a clear trend that many employees are saying to you, act on that and move forward with it;✅And Chris’ belief, based on global trends that further UK legislation may be imminent, so the importance of embracing and being part of it so we can develop legislation that works for small business.

In this one, I'm delighted to be joined by Helen Cox, a Chartered Marketer, and Founder of Helen Cox Marketing, a marketing consultancy specialising in advising professional service firms on their marketing and business development.In our wide ranging conversation, Helen and I cover all that you need to know about the benefits of effective marketing plans for small business owners.🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:✅ Understanding Helen’s marketing planning framework – specifically the six key elements of her planning wheel;✅ How to marry a Client’s financial and business objectives and ensure that there is an alignment between the two;✅ How we get very focused on the minute detail but don’t strategically think about why we're doing what we’re doing;✅ Why it’s vital to ensure that marketing plans are an agile piece of work, iterations throughout the year, rather than an unchanging document;✅ How to do client competitor analysis to understand how they position themselves, what services they're promoting, how they talk to their clients.Business Book Bonus Section:The Digital Marketing Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-digital-marketing-podcast/id373596600

In this one, I'm delighted to be joined by @Wenceslyne Ong, the Founder of @Elite LVL, a business operations consulting firm with a world-class customer onboarding and continuous improvement framework, helping cost conscious businesses scale.  In this broad ranging conversation, Wenceslyne and I cover all that you need to know about having a strategic and mindful approach to staff onboarding in small and growing businesses. 🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:✅ How the experience at companies such as Google and Fed Ex inspired Elite’s onboarding mindset;✅ Why small companies should focus on experience to compete with the larger multinationals;✅ How onboarding is part of an holistic approach to treating employees in the right way;✅ How the employee’s individual culture should be considered when onboarding;✅ Why having a great onboarding program increases staff retention by 82%.

In this episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by Chris Lang, the Founder of Flash Partners Limited, a company that provides in-sourced finance functions for small and medium sized companies in the marketing communications industry.  In this conversation, Chris and I explore what new founders and startups need to consider from a finance perspective and provide some tips and tricks that startups and small businesses need to consider around finance. 🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:✅ Chris’ mantra that cash is king and how it is the unexpected bill that can often be a company’s downfall;✅ How running both a 12-week and an annual cash flow forecast will help to manage those short and longer term cash flow bumps in the road;✅ The signalling that HMRC are making that Corporation Tax will be coming payable more frequently than the current annual payment dates;✅ How it is the company stage in its life and growth cycle that determines the complexity of a business’s systems, processes and management reporting;✅ The importance and need for timesheets as soon as you have people employed to work on client work, so you understand what is going into what you are selling Business Book Bonus: https://mooreks.co.uk/annual-survey/

In this first episode of the new season, I’m thrilled to be joined by Lewis Turek, the General Manager of North America at GoCardless, a payment company that allows a simple, secure way to get paid, without the chasing stress or expensive fees. In this conversation, Lewis and I discuss his journey from IBM Intern, through to setting up Uber for Business in the UK and dive into his current experience as an English ex pat, leading GoCardless expansion into the U.S.🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:✅Lewis’ experience of starting in a new country “as an absolute zero and as a nobody” (referring to his credit history!), and the challenges of building that up with no track record in the U.S.;✅How U.S businesses manage the data protections and controls around customer bank details – Lewis provides an anecdote on business attitudes that you won’t want to miss;✅How, on the B2C side, we are seeing a downwards trend in credit card spend as Millennials and Gen Z have chosen an alternative route and are less comfortable with debt.;✅How as a graduate trainee Lewis was up into the wee hours trying to work out how best to present to his bosses and the life lessons gained from that experience;✅The differences in the way B2B payments are made in America – over 20% of B2B payments are still made by paper checks!

In this episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by @Manny Skevofilax, the Owner of @Portal CFO Consulting a consultancy that Manny has been operating for over 20 years with a mission to help business owners make more money by successfully navigating the challenges of growing their businesses profitably.  In this conversation, my first with another fractional CFO, the tables are turned and Manny and I discuss his journey from restaurateur, through to Corporate Banker and now to Fractional CFO. 🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:✅ Manny’s family background and how his parent’s experiences helped shape Manny’s own professional journey;✅ How Manny’s first career as a restaurateur helped shape his views on cash and subsequent advice as a Fractional CFO;✅ The importance and grounding that continuous learning provided Manny – most notably how to think about credit risk and analyse a financial statement;✅ On the contrary though, how successful billionaire business owners dismissed complex financial calculations and relied on simplicity to keep everyone rowing in the same direction;✅ How small business owners can be resistant to change but through gentle education and helping clients improve their profits, Manny has been able to work with some clients for upwards of 20 years.Business Book Bonus:  Million Dollar Consulting, Alan Weisshttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Million-Dollar-Consulting-Alan-Weiss/dp/0071622101

In this one I had the pleasure of chatting with Dave Parry, the Managing Director at Wellmeadow Ltd, a consultancy that helps businesses that need non-exec support, process transformation or support with lead generation. Dave and I had a wide ranging discussion, looking at how small businesses set their vision and strategies, how they live up to those and ensure the entire organisation stays on track.  We looked at some of the specific challenges of hybrid working, with Dave’s experience of chairing thousands of Board Meetings providing interesting insight to the In Office vs. Remote discussion many of us are having.  Dave then shares some excellent rules around hosting an effective meeting as well as a well thought through marketing workflow that they support their clients with at Wellmeadow. If you are looking for clarity around Operations, Corporate Governance and Marketing, Dave’s clear thinking and straightforward approach to business is refreshing and this episode is a must for you.Business Book Bonus: Harvard Business Review  -  https://hbr.org/Management Today  - https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/ SME Growth Podcast - https://www.smegrowthpodcast.com/

In this episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by @David Adderson, the co-founder of @Youtopia, a premium cloud accounting service that helps simplify your finance department.. In this conversation, David and I explore how we can integrate technology into your client's workflows as an accountant and how to help make their finance operations simpler and more streamlined. 🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:✅ How David’s holistic early career experience outside of accounts helped his view of using tech efficiently;✅ How AI is shaping the accounting landscape not currently as Artificial intelligence but more as Automation Intelligence✅ The shiny toy syndrome and the need to ensure you are fully utilising existing software rather than just bringing in more toys;✅ How it is mindset management with the Finance Department or Business Owner that is the hardest part of introducing new technologies;✅ How David trials new tools to ensure that any new tech is rolled out only if it makes life markedly better either on the Client or Youtopia’s workflows. Business Book Bonus Section:·       Eat That Frog - Brian Tracy - https://amzn.eu/d/aFbR8UF·       The Diary of a CEO Podcast - https://stevenbartlett.com/the-diary-of-a-ceo-podcast/·       Lewis Morgan Podcast - https://www.lewismorganpodcast.com/·       The ups and downs of a small business owner Podcast - https://www.youtopia.co.uk/podcast