Planning for an exit from your business is something that needs to be done well in advance. Too many business owners leave it too late or don't plan for it at all. Don’t make that mistake because you'll never get what you want for your business to set yourself and your family up properly.

But you might be thinking - why should I plan for my exit now when I’m not even close to retiring? Or perhaps you’ve only recently started your business journey and you’re full of enthusiasm. So why think of an exit now?

Even if you don't plan to leave your business in the near future, it’s so important that you think about your exit strategy now because that’s how you can maximise the value of your business.

So, rather than being a rudderless ship & waking up one day realising that you don’t have a saleable business or an exit strategy – let’s be very strategic about it now.

What does your exit look like?

Being strategic about it starts by thinking about the kind of exit you want. Are you buildi...

Managing a business requires making daily decisions - whether related to setting priorities, finding good solutions, or simply choosing how to best communicate with current and potential clients.

Have you ever thought about how effective your decision-making is? Do you procrastinate when making those decisions? Do you overthink?

It’s only normal to approach making decisions carefully because that is what’s going to take us towards either success or failure. If your decision-making process is flawed though, you’ll come unstuck sooner rather than later.

Today, I want to explore with you why making decisions doesn’t need to be hard and how we can make it easier.

Most often, the core of the problem is putting off making decisions. There are so many to make and we tend to wait for a better time to make them, when we’re focused or have time to think things through. But let’s be realistic. That time never comes - because perfection doesn’t exist.

So, how does this play out in reality? De...

When running a business, you go all in right from the start. It’s your baby and you want to give it the best chance of succeeding. Therefore, it’s no wonder that your enthusiasm and motivation are at their highest. You want to have satisfied customers/clients and you work on that day in and day out.

And so, many times you automatically think that the same motivation you have translates to your team. However, the reality is that it is not always the case.

You’ll soon realise that there are two types of people (i.e. workers). And that having both on your team means that it will not be performing as you had hoped it would.

Let’s explore who those are, and how you can create a team of wonderful people that will drive your business forward.

The first type of worker is the unproductive worker (or the laid-back comfort seeker). It is these slackers that can lead to missed deadlines, decreased morale, and ultimately hurt your business.

If we think about why they are so detached from the c...

Pricing your services is always tricky because there are so many different models you can use. Plus, you’ve got to consider your expertise, experience, and the current market situation. So, it’s only reasonable that there will be times when you have clients that challenge your pricing.

Today we’re going to work through what to do and say when a client tells you you’re too expensive. 

A very common initial reaction to this kind of remark is to back down - to really start to doubt yourself with regard to your fees & hourly rates. And what this will do is have you immediately consider reducing your price. 

Or in other words - reducing your worth.

Why does that happen?

It’s the people-pleasing trigger or part of us that gets pulled. We always want to have satisfied & happy clients, or we want to get that new client across the line (aka get more cash flowing into the business). 

But, I’m here to tell you that you need to silence that initial inner voice. Stop discrediting & downgradin...

How many times has a client asked you to do something and it’s prompted an automatic YES from you? 

And then you end up readjusting your calendar and wondering where in the world to put the extra work you’ve just agreed to.

I think it’s happened to all of us, but today, I’d like to dive deeper into what this sort of behaviour leads to and how it can be prevented.

The first example that comes to mind is the time leading up to Christmas (but it could be any other holiday or your annual leave for that matter). Before we take that break from work, all projects must come to a close. We all have it planned out, don’t we?

And you probably already know that it is at those exact times, a client or two will come to you with an urgent request. There’s this one extra thing that they need done before the break. You accept their request and add this to your workload (although it’s already full) because it’s your client and you want to leave a good impression.

The results of just blindly saying ...

Dreaming of growing your business and achieving those goals you set for yourself in your business plan?

And getting to that point where clients will come looking for you because you are their go-to problem solver?

I think we all fall into this category. 

But what makes businesses actually successful and stand out here is being smart and going about this process wisely.

And if there’s one thing that can really hold your business back, it’s NOT being clear on your ideal client.

This can have an immense impact on the scalability & the success of your business.

So, why is this so important?

It’s because it’s got such a domino effect on the main drivers necessary for a business to thrive.

Let’s imagine that at the moment, you’re not sure who or what your ideal client is and that you’re taking on work from many different clients that all have different needs and wants. One client asks that you do something in a particular way, and the other prefers a completely different approach … you get my point....

How many times have you heard that strategy is important? 

I bet a heap of times!

And even though you know it’s important, it’s the first thing to get neglected or let go of when you get busy.

It’s easy to get caught up with all the day-to-day activities - dealing with challenges, resolving problems, providing for your clients, etc.

And at some point, you bring your head up from being stuck in the weeds and putting out fires all day long and you realise that you are going in an unknown direction, or not the direction you were hoping for.

This is where I need to remind you that one of the essentials for business success is revisiting your strategy on a regular basis.

So what does that look like? First, you allocate some time every month or quarter to review your strategy. And then, each time you have that strategy review slot, you need to ask yourself several simple questions.

Let’s dive into those now. 

Q1: What is my long-term business vision?

So this is where you ask yoursel...

There’s something about starting a new year that gets every business owner or team member excited. Because we see it as a new chapter with a whole host of opportunities to grow and improve.

However, before you dive headfirst into the new year - it’s super important to reflect on what the past year has brought, and how each of those things has affected your business and you as a person.

Let’s not kid ourselves, being unhappy with how certain things played out in your business last year, or what kind of clients you were dealing with, or frustrating projects you were working on can take its toll on our motivation and performance as we build into the new year. 

I don’t want that for you this year. I want you to start the new year fresh and excited – with the frustrations of last year learnt from and left behind. 

So, let’s do this together now. Go on… take out a pen and paper, or open a doc if you’re the techy type, and create a list of things that have marked the past year for you. Ma...

There is one word that I can't stand - HUSTLE......

It seems to have become a massive buzz word in the world of leaders, business owners and entrepreneurs.

I firmly believe that if you set your team and your business up smartly and you have the right systems and processes in place - then you don't need to hustle. Your team is performing well, your clients love you and the work you do for them and your project pipeline is full.

But today I'm going to break my rule and talk about one area that does require an amount of hustle....

...and that is in the follow up!!

Most people think that a potential client will either love them or hate them after one coffee meeting. They think they'll either get work out of them straight away or it wasn’t meant to be.

But that’s absolute nonsense.

If you're a stats person (which most engineers are!) then the latest stats are that a new client will need on average 8 touch points from you before they will make a purchasing decision with you. 

Now for...

There is the perception that business development and finding and connecting with your ideal future clients is really hard at the moment.

Most leaders and business owners in our industry are used to the old way of doing things in this space.

You know... register for an event, get a copy of the attendees list, find the names of the potential future clients you would like to 'bump' in to, attend the event, only talk to half the people you wanted to because you got distracted talking with colleagues or friends or people you already know, hand out a bunch of business cards and come away from the event feeling kind of good about yourself but actually knowing that you didn’t really make the most of that opportunity and didn’t really make any solid progress on developing new relationships.

Sound familiar?

What if I told you there was an easier way in general to find, connect with and then build meaningful relationships with your ideal future clients?

The answer is online. The answer is u...