Podcast Summary
Business growth in trades industry: Focus on hiring passionate staff and personal development to overcome challenges like inconsistent income and fear of losing earnings in the trades industry, enabling business growth and reaching full potential.
Growing a business, especially in the trades industry, comes with unique challenges. Our guest, Brandon Collins, from Crabtree and Hargris, shared his experiences of expanding his high-end kitchen fitting company. He faces challenges such as hiring the right staff with a passion for the business, ensuring financial stability, and using the business as a stepping stone for a passive income or eventual exit. For trade-based businesses like Crabtree and Hargris, investing in the right people and management can be a challenge due to the fear of losing potential earnings. Additionally, the inconsistent income stream can make it difficult to plan for future investments and growth. However, it's crucial for business owners to focus on their personal development as leaders and surround themselves with a team that shares their vision. By addressing these challenges, businesses can grow and thrive, ultimately reaching their full potential.
Entrepreneurial Growth: Create a simple chart with categories of profit, revenue, team, and culture to visualize and set specific growth goals for a business over a 12-month and 10-year timeframe.
Entrepreneurs University offers valuable resources, including business plans, spreadsheets, and personal guidance from experienced entrepreneurs, to help businesses grow and increase profitability. The founder of Crabtree and Hargreeves, Brandon, shares his origin story of starting the business in 2013 and its evolution into a high-end kitchen and furniture design company. He expresses his current challenges, including the need to step back from operational roles to focus on business growth and finding the right team to carry out his vision while maintaining customer satisfaction. Brandon's goal is to build a stronger management team and achieve a turnover of £2-£3 million with a profit of £200,000-£300,000. To help entrepreneurs visualize their goals, Brandon suggests creating a simple chart with the categories of profit, revenue, team, and culture, and filling in the boxes with specific numbers for each category over a 12-month and 10-year timeframe.
Business growth: Identify current situation, set clear goals, improve team and self, invest in a competent PA, focus on long-term growth, and commit to continuous professional development.
As a business owner, it's essential to identify your current situation, set clear goals for the future, and take deliberate steps to improve both your team and yourself to achieve those goals. This includes writing down your team structure, defining your business culture, and committing to continuous professional development. A key investment for small business growth could be hiring a competent PA to manage administrative tasks and help you focus on growing the business. Remember, the person who chops down the forest should spend time sharpening their saw, and the same applies to business leaders. By setting long-term goals and focusing on personal and business growth, you can significantly increase your profitability and reach new heights.
Hiring a PA or Manager: Effectively managing time and delegating tasks to a competent PA or manager can help entrepreneurs focus on growing their business and ultimately lead to increased profits.
Effective time management and delegation are crucial for business growth. Hiring a professional PA or manager can help entrepreneurs focus on growing their business by handling administrative tasks and managing subcontractors. It's essential to find a competent person, not necessarily from the same industry, and trust them to handle responsibilities. Time is the biggest issue for most business owners, and investing in a PA or manager can help unlock more time and ultimately lead to increased profits. Don't hesitate to make hiring mistakes and learn from them. Recruiting a friend or family member may not be the best choice, as a strict and efficient PA or manager is needed to help prioritize and manage daily operations effectively.
Personal Assistant or Driver: Investing in a PA or driver can lead to increased revenue and better business performance by improving productivity, focusing on core tasks, and maintaining a good team culture
Having a personal assistant (PA) or a driver can significantly improve productivity and focus for business owners, allowing them to make better use of their time and resources. However, some entrepreneurs may hesitate due to the perceived cost or optics of having such luxuries. But, as Alan Sugar and other successful business owners have shown, investing in a PA or driver can lead to increased revenue and better business performance. The cultural and management KPIs of keeping teams informed, inspired, and preventing clicks are essential for building a successful team, and a PA can help in implementing these. The ideal team size for maintaining a good culture is under 12 people, and adding more staff becomes increasingly challenging as the team grows. So, if you're looking to expand your business, consider investing in a PA to help manage your time, delegate tasks, and keep your team running smoothly.
Financial Metrics for Small Business Owners: Review monthly profit and loss statements, set labor to turnover ratios, focus on growing average transactional value, invest in personal growth, and maximize tax efficiency for long-term financial stability.
For small business owners looking to increase profitability, it's essential to regularly review monthly profit and loss statements, set labor to turnover ratios, and focus on growing average transactional value. These financial metrics will help business owners make informed decisions, ensure they're hitting their labor budgets, and foster a culture of financial awareness within their team. Additionally, investing time and resources into personal growth through books, seminars, and education can lead to long-term success. Top entrepreneurs prioritize their profitability and share this information with their accountants, allowing them to maximize tax efficiency. By focusing on these areas, small business owners can set themselves up for long-term growth and financial stability.
Business Expansion Strategies: Crabtree and Hargroves prioritize acquisitions that align with their interests and capabilities, consider exploring retail space for lead generation, and focus on managing and maintaining effective operations.
For Crabtree and Hargroves, expanding their business through acquisitions and maintaining a diverse portfolio is crucial for growth. However, they prioritize businesses that align with their interests and capabilities. The retail space has not been a significant concern due to the trust established with interior designers, but they recognize the need to generate more leads and explore other customer acquisition methods. The idea of purchasing a large retail space with a manufacturing hub and offices on site is also being considered for expansion and recruitment purposes. The business model relies heavily on recommendations and trust from interior designers, and the average cost of a kitchen ranges from 55 to 70 grand with an install time of 12 to 16 weeks. Despite the potential for larger deals, the company focuses on what they can effectively manage and maintain their interest in. Price is not a significant concern, but increasing it by 10% could potentially impact the amount of work they receive.
Product Pricing: Entrepreneurs should price their products or services based on their value, even if it seems intimidating, as customers often want the best and are willing to pay for it. Understanding the market and adapting to customer needs is also crucial for successful pricing.
Entrepreneurs need to understand the value of their products or services and price accordingly, even if it seems intimidating at first. The speaker shares his experience of realizing that competitors offer the same high-quality product but charge more due to their brand awareness. He emphasizes that customers often want the best, even if it comes at a higher cost, and creating a top-notch product requires a significant investment of time and resources. The speaker also mentions the importance of understanding the market and adapting to customer needs, as evidenced by the growing trend of having multiple dishwashers in a household. Overall, entrepreneurs must have faith in their offerings and be willing to price accordingly to succeed.