Grow A Small Business
Focused on helping owners with 5 to 30 team members grow their company to the next level.
The Grow A Small Business community and content is squarely focused on helping small business owners and leaders grow the business with less stress.
Your business can be anywhere in the world, in any industry. Our teachings are not targeted at one type. Rather, we focus on the pain most small businesses go through during the growth phases. That pain comes from having an unclear vision, a confusing strategy, the wrong people, the team unaligned with the strategy, shit management, no or poor communication and tardy execution.
Podcast
Our 30 minute weekly podcast helps you, a small business owner with 5 to 30 team members, take your company to the next level. The Grow A Small Business community, weekly cast, blog and leadership email supports leaders get through the pain of growth.
026: In late 1999, started a developer code sharing website from his bedroom, and 6 months later was acquired by internet.com – a NASDAQ listed company. From 1 to 15 FTE, grew from 3,000 to 3M active users per month to maximise his exit (Mark Fennell)
In this episode, I interview Mark Fennell who in late 1999, from his bedroom in Sydney, started a developer code-sharing website and the...
025: Late 2011 convinced her partner and another friend to quit their architectural jobs and found the internationally acclaimed Cumulus Studios, from $55k first year revenue to now $3m and 18 FTE after starting with 4 founders (Kylee Scott)
In this episode, I interview Kylee Scott, a director, and the studio manager at Cumulus Studio. After leaving a leading architectural firm to work...
024: In 2002 moved back from London to buy a cafe restaurant in Hobart. Sold that in 2009 and started two cafes and a Mountain Bike Tour business. Grew from 5 FTE to now 20 and over $2m in annual sales (Jon Stagg)
In this episode, I interview Jon Stagg, the Founder/Owner of Atlas Cafe, The Stagg, and Hobart Mountain Bike Tours, all based in beautiful Hobart,...
WE ARE HERE TO HELP
We’re here to help you and your team not only grow and scale faster, but with less stress for you, your team and the business
Each owner and leader of a small business has a different growth goal. Some want to increase sales or profit, others seek a more sustainable business and their time commitment to be less. All these objectives are served by the content in our courses, free weekly blog, podcast and leadership email.
The specific tactics on how your business will grow, like raising investment or activating a golden lead generation machine, are not outlined in our material. We focus on what we believe are the foundations required to grow a great small business.
Weekly Growth Blog
By joining our Weekly Leadership Email you will receive an article on how to grow a small business. To be notified when a new post is live, join our Weekly Leadership Email.
Running an effective KRA Managers meeting.
As we talked about previously, the KRAs (Key Reporting Areas) each have an ‘owner’. We need clear roles,...
First or final Friday. Either way, it’s guaranteed to be fun and add value to your business.
This one is simple, effective and fun. One Friday a month take some of your ‘fun budget’ and hand it to a team member...
Take 1% of your sales and invest it in a ‘fun budget’.
Yes, 1%*. The purpose of your fun budget is to ensure you invest in a vibrant environment and culture in your small...
THOSE FOUNDATIONS ARE:
- a clear vision from the leader / owner (your purpose or ‘why’)
- the right people (a bus full of ‘A-players’)
- the right strategy (which the right people help you lock-in, and regularly refine)
- constant and clear communication (so the team is aligned, engaged and motivated)
- kick-arse people management (to support engagement in the work that needs to get done, reduce team member turnover and get the most from the power of delegation)
- excellence in execution (the ‘doing’ of the tactics in each role, each corner)
WHO THIS IS FOR?
This content is best suited to existing small businesses who have traded for at least two years.
You have been through some of the pain already and have an insight into what will be needed to get to the next level.
If you are just starting out, leave your details here and we’ll be in touch with relevant content for a start-up business.
We are focused on helping those already trading to grow with minimal stress.
CENTRAL TO OUR TEACHINGS IS FOCUS.
We had to pick a niche where we could tap our experience and provide the maximum return.
LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE
We want to give our all to the community we are here to serve – the owners/leaders/entrepreneurs of small businesses with a team of 5 to 30 people.
The experienced small business owners who contribute to our content know of the pain, exhilaration and stress of growing something from pretty much nothing, to something.
WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOUR BUSINESS GROW AT A REALISTIC RATE.
We help everyday small businesses get to that next realistic level. Not 100 times the sales or profit they are at; that is often unachievable.
Our goals are to help you, as the small business owner and leader, to:
- be more effective – spend less time working, while the business performs better
- be less stressed – we know the hidden secrets of entrepreneurship and small business, the dark times of stress, anxiety and even depression that can be brought on by financial strain or the anguish of managing people, when you have had no or poor management training
- be more engaged and love your work – being an awesome leader and the first Kick-arse Manager in the business
- add value to your business – not just ongoing annual profits, but ultimately have the business in the best shape for sale, when you are ready to exit.
Our goals for your team are for them to:
- be more effective managers – your direct reports, the other managers, should all be Kick-arse in this crucial role
- be less stressed – each team member should know what is expected of them and what excellence looks like; with regular, professional communication from the leader of the business and their manager they will feel valued and in control
- add more value to the business – by taking more off management’s plate, and systematising the business as much as possible.
The content in our three courses and free weekly blog, podcast and leadership email consolidate decades of learning from our community to help you and your team attain low-stress growth.
From the wonderful books and other resources written around how to grow a business we have distilled those lessons into the right mindsets, habits and tools to adopt in the three levels of a small business: