Small Business Banter

@YasminGrigaliunas is the #founder of @circonomy (nee @WorldsBiggestGarageSale) that is delivering big on their mantra of a world where nothing useful goes to waste, including human potential. She brought energy. commitment and   #ownermindset to everything she did prior in roles as #employee #licensee #businessowner #founder and #mentor. 

Across three episodes we track right back to the influences that helped formed Yas's personal motivations and values. Along with the desire to deliver change through business they fuelled the formation and ongoing success of @circonomy. 

Our discussion covers;

• How taking on a permanent full time role as manager of #SilviosDialAPizza (now #dominos) after finishing school changed the trajectory of Yas’ career to becoming a real entrepreneur
• The significant role #smallbusinesses play in creating our future business leaders and sustaining our local communities
• The importance of having a small business ownership mindset and "acting like an owner”
• Why small businesses with constraints should consider partnerships with bigger businesses
• How Yas’s personal passion for supporting cancer research seeded the World’s Largest Garage Sale
• Why doing business that isn't about yourself
• The #circulareconomy that surrounds charities and different enterprises
• Why Yas made the decision to stay as a small business #socialenterprise and not a #charity
• #raisingcapital
• The partnership with @OfficeWorks  (capability = agility + stability)
• #trust and #transparency in a business relationship
• Why timing is everything in business
• How Circonomy adapted to COVID-19 pressures and made the decision to #godigital
• Yasmin’s top 10 tips for starting a business partnership
• The crossroads that founders and business owners have to face
• The importance of self-awareness for business owners to understand what is important for them as owners and their business
• Reference books
  1. The Little Engine That Could @thelittleenginethatcould
  2. Multipliers @mulitpliers
  3. Who Moved My Cheese @whomovedmycheese

@YasminGrigaliunas is the #founder of @circonomy (nee @WorldsBiggestGarageSale) that is delivering big on their mantra of a world where nothing useful goes to waste, including human potential. She brought energy. commitment and   #ownermindset to everything she did prior in roles as #employee #licensee #businessowner #founder and #mentor. 

Across three episodes we track right back to the influences that helped formed Yas's personal motivations and values. Along with the desire to deliver change through business they fuelled the formation and ongoing success of @circonomy. 

Our discussion covers;

• How taking on a permanent full time role as manager of #SilviosDialAPizza (now #dominos) after finishing school changed the trajectory of Yas’ career to becoming a real entrepreneur
• The significant role #smallbusinesses play in creating our future business leaders and sustaining our local communities
• The importance of having a small business ownership mindset and "acting like an owner”
• Why small businesses with constraints should consider partnerships with bigger businesses
• How Yas’s personal passion for supporting cancer research seeded the World’s Largest Garage Sale
• Why doing business that isn't about yourself
• The #circulareconomy that surrounds charities and different enterprises
• Why Yas made the decision to stay as a small business #socialenterprise and not a #charity
• #raisingcapital
• The partnership with @OfficeWorks  (capability = agility + stability)
• #trust and #transparency in a business relationship
• Why timing is everything in business
• How Circonomy adapted to COVID-19 pressures and made the decision to #godigital
• Yasmin’s top 10 tips for starting a business partnership
• The crossroads that founders and business owners have to face
• The importance of self-awareness for business owners to understand what is important for them as owners and their business
• Reference books
  1. The Little Engine That Could @thelittleenginethatcould
  2. Multipliers @mulitpliers
  3. Who Moved My Cheese @whomovedmycheese

@YasminGrigaliunas is the #founder of @circonomy (nee @WorldsBiggestGarageSale) that is delivering big on their mantra of a world where nothing useful goes to waste, including human potential. She brought energy. commitment and   #ownermindset to everything she did prior in roles as #employee #licensee #businessowner #founder and #mentor. 

Across three episodes we track right back to the influences that helped formed Yas's personal motivations and values. Along with the desire to deliver change through business they fuelled the formation and ongoing success of @circonomy. 

Our discussion covers;

• How taking on a permanent full time role as manager of #SilviosDialAPizza (now #dominos) after finishing school changed the trajectory of Yas’ career to becoming a real entrepreneur
• The significant role #smallbusinesses play in creating our future business leaders and sustaining our local communities
• The importance of having a small business ownership mindset and "acting like an owner”
• Why small businesses with constraints should consider partnerships with bigger businesses
• How Yas’s personal passion for supporting cancer research seeded the World’s Largest Garage Sale
• Why doing business that isn't about yourself
• The #circulareconomy that surrounds charities and different enterprises
• Why Yas made the decision to stay as a small business #socialenterprise and not a #charity
• #raisingcapital
• #impact 
• The partnership with @OfficeWorks  (capability = agility + stability)
• #trust and #transparency in a business relationship
• Why timing is everything in business
• How Circonomy adapted to COVID-19 pressures and made the decision to #godigital
• Yasmin’s top 10 tips for starting a business partnership
• The crossroads that founders and business owners have to face
• The importance of self-awareness for business owners to understand what is important for them as owners and their business
• Reference books
  1. The Little Engine That Could @thelittleenginethatcould 
  2. Multipliers @mulitpliers
  3. Who Moved My Cheese @whomovedmycheese

@AllieTaylor #businesspyschologist brings a rich mix of personal and business experience to her work. She was edcuated in #science and has been a #businessowner #businessadviser #familytherapist  Allie co-founded @OrangeKiwi and @ClearwaterInsights  - these are highly specialised businesses with a singular focus on helping #owners and #advisers to navigate the #businesstransition process (spanning business sales, exit and succession plans). 

In our discussion we cover;

• How understanding owner and business psychology allows owners to better adapt to their personal and business needs
• Key personality traits of business owners
• Family business psychology 
• Understanding the impact of unique psychological profiles of small and mid-market business owners and their management teams at different points of business transition
• Why understanding owner and business psychology is so important for business advisors in family businesses
• How advisors can help the business get better results whilst allowing the owner to have control over direction
• Business psychology and Exit Planning 
• How owners can escape from their #PsychologicalCastle - a place where owners often find themselves
• #purpose and #identity for owners in business 

@Geoff Hetherington teaches business owners #owners to build their #businesses around their life so they stop feeling like an employee & they live on their terms while making more money, have more fun, and spend more time with those that matter most.

Geoff openly shares how his work experience in a wide array of industries that have enabled him to identify the #peopleskills need in successful businesses. 

In our discussion we cover;

• How to structure your business so it is like a real business and less like a job
• Why teaching business owners to structure their business around their life has allowed them;
  • to feel less like an employee and more like a boss; 
  • live on their own terms; make more money; 
  • have more fun; and
  • spend more time with those who matter
• How to go about uncovering where opportunities are in a business
• Why it can make so much sense to engage with a #businesscoach and its benefits
• Understanding when to seek coaching for your business
• How ‘egos’ can be the biggest blockage for reaching out
• The importance of being able to acknowledge that despite them doing their best as a business owner sometimes things just do don't work they way they should
• How a coach can be a “fresh set of eyes” that can help understand what's need to make a business more successful
• How effective coaching can move owners away from thinking their only option is to sell 
• Why it is so important for business owners to understand their numbers
• How revenue, capacity and costs are the three macro levers of business and why these are important in addressing in order to improve your businesses structure
• Understanding #exitplanning as something that is not necessarily always something that you do pre-selling
• Why effective business mentoring and coaching needs to include;

1. The technical aspects, and also
2.  Support, understanding and empathy for the business owner

• How word of mouth can be the best platform for finding a trustworthy and beneficial business mentor and coach

@Michael Kerr  from @kerrcapital is an experienced adviser to business owners. Michael knew that for a range of reasons some #smallbusinessowners were unable to access quality advice, or the advice and support needed was uneconomic. As a result he designed a program (The DIY Business Sale program) to ensure those owners had access to the best advice on selling a business. The format is easy for owners to follow and it ensures the business is given every chance to sell while avoiding ten's of thousands in broker fees. 

In our discussion he talks about;

• Who a #DIY (do-it-yourself business) sale option is for, and why ?
• Why time becomes the biggest lost opportunity for owners
• The neagtive impact minimum and/or flat rate success fees can have on your business sale
• How the time frame for selling a business impacts owners
• The limitations of traditional business sales strategies
• What it means to do a #DIY  business sale
• How to get the most of out of a DIY approach to ensure it is as effective as possible
• 9 examples of different business sale scenarios where DIY is an effective approach, including:
  • When you already have a buyer lined up 
  • When  your business is particularly unique, or complex to understand 
  • When it's potentially damaging for the business to widely promote that it's for sale,  and you want to have more control over who and where your business is advertised
• The pro's and con's for a DIY approach, including:
  • Saving owners money on fees associated with a sale through a business broker
  • Shortening the sale timeframe by taking control of timeline 
  • Being in control of preparing the business and what information is being shared
• Tips for making a DIY approach more worthwhile, including:
  • How to let people you know your business is for sale without traditional advertising
  • How to negotiate and communicate with buyers
  • The importance of continually updating your businesses information

@DavidBarnett trains, coaches and advises individuals on how to get better outcomes when buying or selling a small business. David has an extensive professional network and works with owners and advisers in major international markets including Canada, USA, and the United Kingdom. There are lessons to be learned for Australian small business owners and advisers and in this episode David talks about:

• the importance of owners keeping the sale process going because “once you decide to sell, it’s never over” 
• selling and market conditions and their impact on an owners decision to sell
•  business values
• why advertising a business to its potential buyer needs to be about more than just the story of the business
• why it is important to be prepared and ready before a buyer comes on the scene
• what needs to be continued during the sale of a business and right up to closing 
• a different model for buying and selling businesses
• why for business brokers you need to move away from the need to get a result in order to get a commissiof
• findings from the IBBA report 
• the economic burden of COVID-19 and related regulations on business operations
• what is involved with better understanding business financials when preparing to sell your business
• how past and present business performances influence the outcome of a business sale
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@DebCurtis is on a mission to grow small business ownership. She has rich experience lending to small businesses. This experience spans big banks, regional banks, non-banks, and community banks. She's the founder of @curtissmallbusinessfinancesolutions  a @smallbusinessadministration lending specialist. 

The SBA loan guarantee scheme enables businesses to be purchased with finance against the cash flow of the business. It's an innovative scheme that makes small business ownership more obtainable and helps drive higher rates of business transition.    

In our discussion we cover:

• how the scheme:
  • helps business buyers
  • allows existing baby-boomer business owners to more easily sell their business or retire by enabling a qualified buyer to take over without the worries of finding 'traditional' financing collateral i.e. personal real estate
  • enables lenders to fund businesses that have variable 
  • cash flow
• the application process for getting approved and criteria for getting qualified
• why it’s so challenging to fund small businesses in Australia due to feasibility differences compared with medium or large businesses
• what owners need to do in order to maximise their chances of successful funding
• why we need to support small businesses as important factors in our local economies
• why with such limited options for cash flow lending and lending to small business generally there's a need for a similar scheme in Australia
• how to promote an environment that enables individuals to buy an established business through government policy initiatives to continue to grow the next generation of small business owners

@KatrinaMyers is the co-owner with husband Tim and tribe of 4 children of @BarhamAvocados. It's a generational business that's deeply embedded in the local community. Katrina and Tim had successful professional careers and lived and traveled extensively overseas before the lure of returning to the farm became irresistible. 

Katrina and Tim also didn't want running a significant business to be a barrier to them and their children experiencing extended international travel. Katrina knew the business was there to serve the owners, not the other way around. They spent years planning for an epic family adventure. Listen in to hear Katrina talk about:

• moving away from the feeling of being trapped by your small business 
• the importance of “living life for the moment”
• how putting further responsibility on staff allows for the business to develop - “when you’re not here, they figure it out”
• how to make a business more sustainable with long-term planning 
• why "doing everything is not good for you as a business owner”
• the strong link between a business and its owner's identity - it's upside and downside
• making the distinction between business and owner 
• not attaching your identity to your business and understanding that “if our business fails, we are not failures”
• why it is so important to ask for help and advice for you and the business
• what different models and planning can be put in place for your small business to assist with taking a break and coming back to it
• encouraging other owners to think about taking a break
• ensuring your goals, values, family and other life matters are included in your business planning
• how they prepared the business to enable them all to go traveling, and then come back to the business
• dealing with the pressures that all small business owners face
• leaving successful professional careers for avocado farming
• juggling a family and small business
• the concept of a temporary exit from your business rather than exit planning for a sale and a break that may never happen
• the importance of owning mistakes and responding to them openly as they are a part of the small business journey

@CarmenWilliams is the #founder of @GlobalTeams which has grown into a business consisting of 82 #VirtualAssistants. For Carmen (controversially :)) outsourcing isn't about businesses handballing a problem elsewhere for it to be “magically solved.”  At #globalteams they help client's get more from a fuller understanding of #outsourcing and how to best manage finding and working with #businesspartners.  

In this discussion, Carmen shares more on how they support businesses through having a #va as a #teammember. We also cover;

• her own experiences starting various businesses
• quitting a ‘stable’ job to start a business from passion and interest
• How #changingcareerpathways often brings invaluable experience, background and “transferable skills”
• the future of outsourcing
• the different roles Virtual Assistants can play in your business
• how to get the most out of a Virtual Assistant
• the need for a #collaborativeapproach and how that makes it easier for your VA to become a part of the team
• the importance of support to #growabusiness
• Carmen’s experiences of knowing what she needed to do verse what someone else could do
• why #outsourcing   is just as important for #smes as it is for #largebusiness 
• getting to a better #worklifebalance
• the importance of time and effort in the initial set up with a Virtual Assistant 
• the steps to organising a #virtualassistantforbusiness