Podcast Summary
Expanding a Business: Challenges and Decisions: To grow a business, make bold moves, trust your team, and keep a long-term vision in mind. Delegate control, focus on sales and marketing, and let go of small-minded concerns.
Business growth involves facing challenges and making tough decisions. In this episode of the Business Broadcast, James Sinclair coaches Charlie Hiscox, the owner of Usports, a £35,000 monthly revenue sports coaching business. Charlie is dealing with the challenges of expanding his team, growing customers in a cautious climate, and considering diversification. James provides advice on delegating control, focusing on sales and marketing, and letting go of small-minded concerns. The discussion also touches on Charlie's goals of making a net profit of £100k and building a successful franchise or dominating the southeast market. Overall, the episode highlights the importance of making bold moves, trusting your team, and keeping a long-term vision in mind to grow a business.
Open communication and transparency in business: Sharing your business goals and challenges with your team fosters a collaborative work environment and contributes to business growth. Entrepreneurs can access affordable coaching through James Sinclair's Entrepreneurs University for weekly expert guidance.
Open communication with your team about your business goals and challenges is crucial for their engagement and the growth of your business. Sharing your vision and rewards can foster a collaborative work environment. Charlie Hiscott, a business owner, emphasizes the importance of transparency and being an open book to build a successful business. Additionally, James Sinclair offers his Entrepreneurs University as an affordable coaching program to help grow businesses with weekly access to his expertise. The program comes with a free trial, making it an accessible option for entrepreneurs. Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, Sinclair remains optimistic about the economy and encourages individuals to move forward with their lives.
Impact of economic restrictions on health and wellbeing: The economic impact of restrictions goes beyond finances, affecting people's mental and physical health. Balancing public health and individual needs is crucial.
The economic impact of restrictive measures during the COVID-19 pandemic goes beyond just the economy – it also affects people's health and wellbeing. The speaker, a business owner in the hospitality industry, emphasized that taking away people's freedoms and livelihoods can lead to mental and physical health issues. He urged for a balance between public health and people's education, livelihoods, and social connections. Meanwhile, a young entrepreneur shared how his sports coaching business was affected by the pandemic, with a significant drop in revenue. He discussed his entrepreneurial journey, which included various ventures before starting his sports coaching business. Despite the challenges, he expressed his commitment to being a business owner and working for himself. The entrepreneurs' stories highlight the interconnectedness of economic, social, and personal health, and the importance of considering the whole picture when making decisions during times of crisis.
Trusting Employees for Business Growth: Maintaining control can hinder business growth, trusting employees and letting them in can lead to success despite potential issues.
As a business owner, it's essential to let go of control and trust your employees to grow your business. The speaker shared his experience of worrying about employees contacting his customers and taking business, but nothing catastrophic happened. Instead, maintaining a "one man army" mentality and keeping business secrets can hinder growth. Employees will inevitably leave or cause issues, but focusing on being better than them and continuing to improve will ensure success. In the speaker's goal of building a large coaching company, he must accept that letting people in and trusting them is crucial for growth.
Stand Out in Low Barrier to Entry Businesses: Focus on branding, accreditations, and customer service to differentiate. Assess candidates through situational scenarios, past experiences, and cultural fit during interviews.
In low barrier to entry businesses, competition is inevitable. To stand out, focus on building a strong brand, accreditations, and excellent customer service. When recruiting, consider not only qualifications but also cultural fit and personal connections. In the interview process, assess candidates through situational scenarios and ask about their past experiences. While making hiring decisions, be thorough and don't rush into hiring someone you've known previously without proper evaluation. The interview process should include assessing candidates' problem-solving abilities and cultural fit, and ideally, should involve more than one interview.
Approach recruitment as deselection process: Entrepreneurs should focus on hiring happy, hardworking individuals with good cultural fits and strong personality traits, avoiding those with blame, excuse, and denial mindset. Conduct thorough interviews and consider personality types using resources like 'Surrounded by Idiots'.
Entrepreneurs should approach recruitment as a deselection process rather than a selection one. The hiring process should involve multiple interviews, including group interviews and one-on-one sessions. Entrepreneurs should look for happy, hardworking individuals with good cultural fits and strong personality traits, such as ownership, accountability, and responsibility. They should avoid hiring people who operate below the line with blame, excuse, and denial. Additionally, entrepreneurs should conduct "lion meetings" with their management team to operate effectively. The recruitment process should be thorough and focused on finding the right fit for the business. A recommended resource for understanding personality types is the book "Surrounded by Idiots."
Regular accountability check-ins through weekly meetings: Weekly meetings help align employees, discuss accomplishments, challenges, and plans for the future, ensuring everyone works towards common goals. Explore new avenues for business growth beyond traditional methods.
Effective people management involves regular accountability check-ins. Use a weekly meeting format where employees share their accomplishments, challenges, and plans for the upcoming week. This process helps ensure everyone is on the same page and working towards common goals. Additionally, consider getting creative with your approach to growing your business amid customer cautiousness. Instead of relying on traditional methods like cold calling and brochures, explore new avenues like offering free assemblies or creating engaging online content to differentiate yourself and capture the attention of potential clients.
Expanding a Children's Sports Coaching Business: Build a strong brand and network through accreditations, speaking engagements, educational books, and digital media. Consider diversifying into wrap-around care services but weigh pros and cons carefully.
To successfully expand a children's sports coaching business, building a strong brand and network is crucial. This can be achieved by obtaining accreditations from councils, speaking at teacher conferences, writing educational books, and even starting a podcast or YouTube channel. Additionally, diversifying the business beyond just sports coaching can be beneficial, with potential opportunities in wrap-around care services such as breakfast and after-school clubs, although these may not be as profitable and can be more challenging to run. It's important to carefully consider the pros and cons of such diversification. Overall, the key is to establish a strong reputation and make connections within the education sector to attract more schools and customers.
Focus on the profitable aspects of your current business before expanding: Successfully grow your present business before diversifying and be cautious of distractions
When considering business diversification, it's crucial to ensure that it's profitable and folds into your existing business. Entrepreneurs are often drawn to new opportunities, but it's essential to focus on the successful aspects of your current business before expanding. Franchising can be an option for businesses with a strong brand and control over operations or property. Remember, as an entrepreneur, you're running multiple companies: the present business, the future business you aspire to build, and a marketing company to generate leads. It's essential to focus on building a profitable business before moving on to new ventures with higher barriers to entry. Additionally, be cautious of the bright, shiny objects that may distract you from your core business.
Focus on high-value tasks and investing profits: Entrepreneurs should grow businesses by performing valuable tasks and investing profits into assets for financial security and business independence.
Entrepreneurs should focus on growing their businesses by performing high-value tasks and investing a significant portion of their profits into real estate or assets. This strategy allows them to secure their financial future, have a safety net during challenging times, and build a valuable enterprise that can operate independently. Additionally, outsourcing tasks like sales can hinder the growth of a business and should be approached with caution. Instead, entrepreneurs should aim to build a strong team and management structure, creating an investment rather than just a means to swap time for money. To connect with the speaker about growing their business, listeners in Reading can reach out to him through his business or podcast channels.
Learn from a Business Expert through Free Coaching Sessions and Books: Seeking advice from an experienced business owner through free coaching sessions and affordable books can lead to valuable insights and growth strategies.
Expanding your business and seeking expert advice can lead to growth and success. James Sinclair, a business owner with extensive experience, offers free coaching sessions on his podcast for those looking to grow their businesses. By sharing their challenges, listeners can learn from each other and gain valuable insights. Additionally, Sinclair's books, available for a small shipping fee on his website, provide practical advice on getting customers and running an experience business. Overall, being open and honest, seeking advice, and implementing proven strategies can help businesses thrive.
