Starting and growing a business has taught us a lot of valuable lessons that shape the way we operate today. Generally businesses are started by people who are technically very good at something… building houses, fixing computers, mowing lawns, flying drones. It’s based on having a technical ability that is superior to others… is that you and what is your skill ?

But business is so much more than just having a skill. It’s being the business owner who runs a business that provides that technical skill to solve the pain points of others. To do that takes specialists, connections, advisors and a desire to ensure you have quality people around you to take on areas where you aren’t the expert. Realising this, and building the required relationships to get you access to turn weak points in to strengths, is something that has allowed our business to consistently grow year on year.

So what can you do to build your circles and surround yourself with quality people prepared to help you build success? Here are a couple of tips to help drive your success:

3 effective ways to improve networking in business

• Recognise you can’t do everything – the ego will have you believe you have to be the expert in everything… ever been there? This will see you spend way too much time on things that others can do quicker and more efficiently. Get quality people on board to help you spend even more time doing what it is you want to do.
• Build your trusted team – having quality people you can call on, or refer others to, is hugely valuable. By helping others solve their pain points through connecting them to good people, you continue to build trust and enhance your reputation. “We are looking to do this but don’t know where to start… do you know someone who does this?”. To be able to refer someone means you are still helping them solve their pain points and they will come back again and again.
• Connect and Give – who likes working with those who are openly focused on what they can get from someone. Yep that’s probably going to see you be surrounded by exactly the same people and this can create a toxic environment “Dog eat Dog” some could call it. Look to help others first, build that trust and it will flow back to you in time.

Being able to call on quality people to help you create quality results is super valuable. Helping others will have them want to help you in return… something that makes your job as a business leader easier and more enjoyable. Build quality relationships, refer these in to your networks and your trust bank will see others promote you and your skills in their circles.

Forward this on to those needing it right now, as we love to help business owners and business leaders create momentum. If you want to know how to build this in to your business, get in touch with us and let’s create some clarity in your circles.

Have an awesome week and look forward to connecting soon.

The feeling of busyness is infecting the way we live our lives. It’s creating way more options of things we can do every day, creating even more decisions that need to be made and creating even more doubt… especially where doubt and fear show up. If you are uncertain to start with, and these things add even more uncertainty, then the impact on your productivity will be obvious. Is this resonating with you and some of those in your circles ?

Should you choose to let the negative thoughts, the indecision, the lack of action taking hold you back… even more frustration is the potential outcome. “I’m not sure how / what to do and I don’t want to reach out and ask for help as there is a fear of being labeled weak or incapable of leading”. This is something that we hear often. For me, reaching out or stepping up shows more leadership than saying nothing and trying to work things out in isolation. Recognising you have the power to change the space you are in, is massive. Be honest with yourself, own that you have the power to change and step up to make things happen… your honesty will facilitate conversations that will create action, movement and momentum.

So now knowing you have the power to create even better results for you and those around you… what can you do to make this happen? Here are a couple of tips to help drive your success:

3 Tips To Manage Uncertainty In Business

• Be the Energy – in times of uncertainty and indecision, you can influence those around you by bringing an energy that lifts their energy levels. Sometimes we simply need a piece of energy to give us that boost to tackle uncertainty, overcome indecision and continue chasing those things that matter to us. Find your place to get this and be this for those around you… it’s amazing the difference this can make.
• Do the Stuff – you often already know what is required to create the direction and results you want… yet the fear of upsetting others or having them think less of us if something doesn’t work is real. Bugger that… take the action to make things happen and give yourself an opportunity to experience a piece of the upside… a happier team, a better client experience, an opportunity to treat yourself based on closing some successful deals. Take ownership and be the difference between average and immense.
• Have the Feeling – Everything you do is based on feelings. You buy that coffee because it makes you feel good; you say yes to that new client or contract because it will be awesome to work with other quality humans; you say NO to that client that doesn’t fit which opens up space to fill with other quality clients. These are all things that drive your desire to feel good… the thing that ultimately drives us to take even more action. Owning your space and getting stuff done increases your chances of experiencing this feeling you want.

It may sound simple and may appear to lack complexity… and it is. With complexity comes uncertainty and inactivity… exactly what we openly look to minimise. By bringing your Energy and taking Action… you will create the Feeling that will continue to motivate you to do even more (because you enjoy it !!!).

If there is someone who needs to receive this message, please forward this on, as we are about helping business owners and leaders crush both business and life. If you want to know how to build this in to your business, contact us and let’s create some clarity in your circles.

Have an awesome week and look forward to connecting soon.

This weekend was an opportunity for a charity that we choose to be involved with, The Mini Farm Project, to be part of an organised event showcasing urban farming and growing food for those in need. It highlighted a growing trend of people wanting to understand where their food comes from and how to be as “natural” as possible. The energy on the Samford Valley site was electric and people were super engaged… this was no coincidence.

See the CEO of the project, Nick Steiner (pictured with a gardening guru), has an energy that is infectious. He is operating at an energy level that is often what others are needing. Do you often feel like you need some energy to take on challenges / activities… i know I do. Being that source of energy for others will help them operate at that next level… win win in my books.

3 effective energy management techniques to follow

So to see the true benefits for you and those in your circles, you need to manage your energy. To do this, here are a couple of tips to help:

• It’s about more than just you – your energy will help you smash your own goals, and it will also help others operate at a level that will help them achieve theirs. Operate with intent, shift the energy in a conversation or a situation so that others involved see what’s possible. Adding energy and passion to that conversation will shift the outcome.
• Get your Inspiration – when your cup is empty, it’s challenging to be the one providing that extra boost for others. Invest in you, take regular moments to focus on what rebuilds your energy levels so you can keep being the one sharing with others. If you a leader, this is even more important and useful to drive your business success, as the leader should always be a role model for others to follow and see what’s possible.
• Tie it to your outcomes – if I operate at an energy level that inspires someone else to operate at a higher level… that’s going to get better results isn’t it ? Your example you set will drive more activity, better communication and a higher output level… exactly what we are looking for.

These two guys in the main photo are living proof that bringing an energy level to an activity gets better results. Many feel inspired when they are in their presence… and there was a trail of people feeling that over the weekend. Be that for you, your team and your customers and you will reap the rewards.

Forward this on to those needing it right now, as we love to help business owners and business leaders create momentum. If you are interested in supporting The Mini Farm Project, please check out their website here.
If you need more advice on how to boost your energy and improve your productivity, let’s chat!
Have an awesome week and look forward to connecting soon.

This was Sunday morning and we were on our morning’s sleepover adventure. We had finished off the second half of the Harry Potter movie from the night before, then off to a breakfast of “nola and berries”, then to the pirate ship at the playground and back home to colour in those unicorns before mum came for collection. It was a carefully laid out plan and delivered to perfection….. by a 6yr old.

It made me realise how when you have a clear idea of what you want to fill your time with, what you want to achieve and how you want to feel while you are doing it… you don’t have to leave this to kids to show us how to do things. Getting clear on what you want to achieve in your day, what activities will help you make this happen, who can help you make them happen…. all tie back to the feeling you really want.

So how can we emulate a 6yr old and create a day that is filled with things that make us feel like the photo above? We have identified 3 ways you can choose to do this:

3 Perfect ways to set a plan in business

1. Instill My House My Rules – you create a business to achieve those things that will give you that feeling of satisfaction. By having others dictate what happens in your space, is you choosing to let them. Set your expectations up front, have that conversation to ensure those involved are clear on the desired outcomes… then give them an opportunity to work with you to make them happen. This is especially important with those outside your team / business.
2. Value your time – each day you spend working towards your goals and outcomes, is another day that shows you value your time. If everyone else gets your time and you are dragged away from your schedule… unless it benefits the team / business it’s being ineffective. Your time is precious… be clear what activities get your time and ensure the upside of spending time with others adds value to their future activities.
3. What’s Important – a 6yr old saw enough value in half a Harry Potter movie, scootering down to breakfast and time on the swings… to hatch a plan to make it happen. Set out what’s key for you and put in a plan to make it happen. Committing it to paper and breaking it down into smaller chunks (30 / 60 / 90 days) will allow you to then see who is needed to take on aspects of your plan and what they need to help make it happen. Remember this… the 6yr old couldn’t go to the shops / swings alone… 😉

Having a documented road map / plan gives you, and those you need to help deliver your plan, a clarity and direction that is powerful. You set yourself up to create opportunities to generate even more momentum… building those around you in the process. Give to others and often, it will develop their trust and have them feel valued!

Are you missing this in your business or career? If so, let’s chat as we can work together to see you delivering on your potential. Click on the links to set up a Check-in to see how you can get the ball rolling on your momentum.

Have an awesome week and look forward to connecting soon.

Isn’t it always the case that when you get busy, you tend to get tunnel vision and choose to focus on the NOW. “My To Do Now List is growing and it seems as though it never gets completed” is something that we hear a LOT. Has this been you recently and did you get that sense of overwhelm and frustration that you felt like you weren’t making any progress.

The challenge of being in this space consistently, is that you generally spend your time focused on what’s happening now and take your eye off growing. The busyness prevents you from growing because you don’t see you have time to invest in activities that will help you grow… business development opportunities, client conversations, attending a charity lunch with your ideal referral partners, adding a skill to see you add even more value to you and your business.

If I go to those things I will most probably get more work and I can’t handle what I have going on at the moment… sound familiar to anyone ?

So how do you cut through the subconscious mindset of “If I can’t even clear my To Do List, how am I going to manage potential growth?” We have identified 3 ways you can get past this mindset to set you up for even more happiness:

3 Key ideas to create business development opportunities

1. Always be growing – within the way you operate, you always need to be looking to grow. Whether it’s new clients, whether it’s innovative new ideas, connecting with current clients… you always want to be creating momentum and moving forward. Focusing purely on now will find you one day stop and realise you’ve not planned for what’s happening tomorrow. Always keep one eye on what you want tomorrow to look like to ensure today is building your future direction
2. Be Smart – if you focus on all of the bright shiny things that come up, and let’s be honest these days there are plenty, you will drop the ball and make no progress. Choose the A grade work, the A grade clients, the activities that are going to add to your business giving you the feeling you want. You choose who you work with and who gets to work with you… so be clear on the values of those you choose to let in to your space. Your time, your skills, your experience are super Valuable and why people come to you in the first place
3. Stop, Collaborate and Listen – where you have an abundance of work and opportunities, this allows you to identify ways of connecting with others in your space. Too much work could be a perfect opportunity, with the right people, to work with others and have them take on some of your excess. Whether it’s through effective delegation to your quality team members, adding trusted experts in your space, adding team players…. these all allow you to take advantage of the excess. Asking for help is a sign of strength… especially when the business will grow as a result.

Having a growth mindset and choosing to keep one eye on creating momentum is key… especially when you have a lot going on. Take time to look around you… i’m pretty sure you already have quality humans around you who will happily step up if given the opportunity. Be the business leader who creates that opportunity, gives up some control yet creates space for themselves to keep growing.

Is this you and is this something you need to work on? If yes, let’s chat as we love to see quality people deliver on their potential. Click on the links to set up a Check-in to see how you can get the ball rolling on your momentum.

Have an awesome week and look forward to connecting soon.

Businesses can be a bundle of complexity… when you consider the areas that require your attention. From managing existing clients, to managing cashflow, to managing team members and managing the perceptions of potential clients…. there’s plenty for you to feel you have to control and influence. In the past month, this “management” list has created much frustration, as key areas have been neglected and it’s impacting results. Do you feel like you’ve dropped the ball in areas of your business where you were once in control?

For some, it will be the result of “not enough time”, others will blame “the actions of others”, some will use “i’m not trained in that so this gives me an excuse to not focus on it”. In the end this creates areas of inactivity and decisions that lead to you leaving so much value and potential on the table. Who’s missing out on the potential upside in this case….. I wonder.

So how do you get alignment and get on with delivering quality results across your business? We will use a car trip as an example to highlight 3 ways for you to control and influence your path:

Top 3 ways that will help you to gain success in business

1. Set your destination – as a business you must be clear on where you are going. Where the vehicle’s destination and why you are going there is clear, then those who want to be on that journey get an understanding of your view of what’s ahead. Involving team members in this conversation can be valuable to gain alternate and innovative ideas.

2. Set their destination – getting to know what team members want to achieve, and how this fits in to the destination of the business, is often overlooked. “Your role is to deliver our vision” is something we hear often… and you can imagine how that ends. Ask those on your car trip what music they would like to listen to, what travel sweets they like and what would they like to get out of the trip.

3. Who is the right person – trying to control everything will end your growth potential. Getting clear on who is best to take on activities, keeping a long term view in mind, will create clarity. Including others early on, gives you an opportunity to build them up to take those activities going forward. Giving P plate drivers an opportunity to drive, getting someone else to fill the car up, asking someone else to plan the trip, outsource by getting an uber v driving… all act to ensure you have the right person taking on the activities.

Choosing to maintain complete control and restricting the access others have will stunt both your growth, and that of those around you. Give clear direction on what you are creating and why it matters, align the direction and path of those on your journey… and ensure you get the right person taking on activities with a view to having them own those activities going forward.

Is this something that you would like assistance with ? If yes, let’s chat as we want to see quality people deliver their potential. Click on the links to set up a Check-in to see how you can get the ball rolling on your momentum.

Have an awesome week and look forward to connecting soon.

This time three months ago you were sitting in a fresh new year, looking at the coming 12 months and postulating what amazing things were going to happen for you this year. To be honest, you were probably hoping that this year would follow a different path to the past 12 months… whether it be less of the bad or even more of the good. Is that close to the mark?

For some, there was hope that the negative challenges faced would be replaced with stories of successes and positivity and a feeling of relief. For some, there was hope that the exponential growth would continue, and their piece of the upside would be even greater… another 12 months like the past 12 months with the inclusion of the learnings would do nicely thank you !

So what have you done to make this year the year you hoped for? Have you made things happen… have you built new relationships, have you enhanced existing relationships, have you sought new and exciting work to ensure your teams are being developed and challenged? Or have you fallen in to the “I’m too busy to do any of the growth focused stuff (the exciting stuff) and i’ll just stay in that comfortable comfort zone”…. we’ve seen both ends of the spectrum already this year. A tip… the ones challenging their comfort zones (not the ones being challenged) are the ones getting the larger piece of the upside in a disrupted market.

So are you where you wanted to be by now? Has the strategy gone out the window and you are back to running things based on gut feel ? It’s ok if this is you… you aren’t alone trust me. However there are things we can do now to create that deliberate growth you want.

Here are the top 3 ways for you to create growth

1. Accept you are where you are – by stepping back to look at your first 3 months, you will get a picture of what’s happened. Accept the results… own the success stories and celebrate them; at the same time own the crap as well… once you accept all of what’s happened, it’s only then that you have a starting point to make a plan to move forward. Be honest in your assessment, as this will give you a true wall to push off… like pushing off from the end of a swimming pool.
2. The gold is in the Learnings – the actions and results will tell us a story. We put on that extra team member who is working out a treat; we spent too much time focussing on things we couldn’t control and influence so got frustrated; we spent a lot of time quoting for work our ego told us we should be chasing; we didn’t manage our cashflow well enough so we are now behind the eight ball. These have all happened, so accept they have and move on. Learn from these lessons, the good and the bad, and change things in the next 90 days to show you have learnt. If not, be prepared to have similar results come your way.
3. It’s your time to shine – as kids, we were always given the following encouragement “you are only ever as good as your next performance”. The main photo of the diving sportsman is a quality example of this. 2 mins before this photo was taken, that same player had had a shocker and felt like he could have lost the game. Then he pulls out this effort and wins the game. You can choose to make this next 90 days what you want it to be. Are you a Peli-cant or a Peli-can; be the one who makes things happen; be that leader who recognises what needs to change this quarter and works with their team to have them included in this plan. Your time is now !!

Being short on time and struggling to get things done the way you want them done is your doing. We choose how we spend our time… to take work on or choose to say no; to not spend time with our teams to understand what’s impacting their ability to deliver a quality product; to choose to make time to spend with your families. When we have a clear starting point, an understanding of how to do things better and that it’s up to us… we make better decisions more often.

Do you need someone to help you with that honesty you need to restart your growth ambitions? If yes, let’s chat as we want to see quality people reach their potential. Click on the links to set up a Check-in to see how you can get the ball rolling on your momentum.

Have an awesome week and look forward to connecting soon.

With clarity comes strength… a strength that gives you the ability to take ownership of your space. It’s such a simple comment that resonates… yet it’s one that can be challenging when you don’t make time to create clarity in your space.

During a corporate career, and now being a business owner, there have been many times where the lack of clarity of what I was doing, and even more importantly WHY I was doing it, created doubt and frustration. Having a clear Purpose has a calming impact on your way of being… helping to minimise the second guessing, the feeling of i’m not good enough, imposter syndrome, I feel like i’m all over the shop. Ever felt like this or is that you right now ?

Creating structure and direction gives you a reason to care about what you are doing. It allows you to focus on the stuff that matters, identify the distractions and choose to treat them as time wasters, be clear on that feeling you want when you are living that life on your terms… and have those around you emotionally invested in helping you.

So as a business leader, one of your roles is to create and maintain a clear strategy for those in your teams. They look to leaders for a high level view of what their effort is creating and how they are involved.

Here are 3 ways you can create alignment and keep your ship on course:

1. Fill your Vision with Purpose – why does your business truly exist and what feeling does it leave people with? It’s not just to sell widgets, or to create a new kitchen, or to create a legal document for someone…. it’s so much more. What’s the connection we are creating with team members and clients? Ask yourself how does our business help the people who experience what we do… both clients and also team members. That’s where you will unlock your real purpose.
2. Share your Vision – you’ve created something that inspires people to want to know more… yet too often these statements get left in the bottom draw, generally because they lack meaning. Create something that is powerful… something that your teams and clients will be inspired to be part of…and share it. Alignment is created when those who matter feel a connection to why their effort matters.
3. You control and focus the effort – for those who are control freaks, and I know a lot of leaders are, this gives you a beacon for people to work towards. It allows you to focus effort and have people moving with purpose in a direction that means something to them. It also minimises the time you need to spend keeping people on track as they understand why it matters and gives you a reference point to check in with… increasing the time you get to spend on growing the business you actually want.

Having others buy in to your vision and purpose is an emotional journey you need to take them on. Help them see why your direction matters to you and how it will impact their lives as well. Humans want to feel part of something that matters… and makes them feel like they matter. This is a perfect opportunity to shape your message and attract those you want to work with.

Do you want direction for you and your team, to have them experience the feeling you get when you think about how you help others solve their pain points ? If yes, let’s chat as we love to see quality people being able to reach their potential. Click on one of the links to set up a Check-in to see how you can get the ball rolling on your momentum.

Have an awesome week and look forward to connecting soon.