GET TO THE CONTEST

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This week on this new episode of Get to the Contest Small Business Podcast, we are glad to have Michelle Aitken, Senior Associate with Aubrey Brown Lawyers. We talked about the importance of a shareholders’ agreement and more. 

Here are a few takeaways from my chat with Michelle. 

Spend the money to get the agreement done up front.
Businesses with multiple shareholders will be wise to invest on drafting an agreement upfront, while the business is just starting. Having a shareholders’ agreement will save you a significant cost down the line and decrease the chance of unnecessary stress if things don’t go as planned. The simple act of preparing, setting the rules and expectations will set a standard to your business partners and will ultimately help in strengthening the business relationship.

Get things done professionally.
Michelle talked about the importance of getting these things done professionally and really tailoring it. These agreements are not “one size fits all” type. Make an effort to speak to a good lawyer that can give you a solid plan and get this on paper and documented.

Make sure all parties are protected.
No one wants failed relationships in life or in business but these things happen to the best of us. It is best to anticipate different scenarios and draft an agreement from the very beginning as stated in number one. The most important thing in documenting this type of agreement is making sure all parties involved are protected. Make sure there are rules in place so that when a partner decides to walk away, planned or unplanned, all can move on peacefully and cordially. 

Review your buy or sell agreement regularly.
Once a year, make sure to talk to your accountant and review the existing agreements. Review and see if the terms are still adaptable to the times. Have it on your checklist on your annual meeting with your trusted accountant. 

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This week we talk to Perry Henderson, CEO and founder of Missing Links Social Media, where we discuss Facebook advertising, the importance of targeted content, and so much more.

Here are some of the key learning from this episode:

Learn to target and track your social media advertising activities.
There are a number of tools that you can purchase and download to help you track your social media activities. This is very important because through this practice, you can measure your return on investment. The worst thing that can happen is that you keep throwing money at something that's not working, or something is working and for whatever reason you go and stop because you do not know and understand the end result.

Understand your cold, warm and hot audience.
In social media advertising, there are three levels of audience: Cold, warm and hot. Be sure to create specific campaigns to your target audience. Give value first on your content, make it worthwhile for someone to listen, and the engagement will surely follow. Don't come on too strong. Don't ask them for the sale on the first date. That is a way of building trust with your audience, people will see through it if you are just out there to see, no one likes being sold to.

Maximize the free content but, ultimately, get an expert.
There are a lot of free content to study and know more about social media advertising online such as the websites mentioned in the episode. But when you feel you need more guidance and would rather focus on running your business and delegate the promotions to an expert, best to call on Perry and check his site www.missinglinksocialmedia.com.au

Have an organizational chart in your business.
An organizational chart in your business will help delegate and identify the tasks of each team member in your organisation. Simply put, this step will help your business flow and maximise your employees’ output.

Plan an ideal week.
Plan out what you do that's of most value. If you're doing low value work and it's taking up too much of your week, plan to set some time aside to do the high value work. Get your ideal week established, make your team aware of it and commit to it.

Dig deeper.
If you’re dealing with difficult people, dig deeper and seek best to understand how they are going. Life's all about relationships and it is best to not react on the same level when emotions are running high. Take the high road and try to understand where the other person is coming from. From here, you will have a better understanding and resolve conflict faster. 

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Do you want to know your Personal Brand? This week, we talked to Cass and Shanks of Urban Wonder to discuss personal branding and how it can help our businesses. Listen to the episode and check out the key takeaways from this episode:

Know your brand and story.
There’s an exercise taught by Cass and Shanks on how to know your brand: describe your brand in three words. This can be a very challenging exercise, but once you’ve identified those three words, it’s guaranteed that you’ll know yourself and brand much better and you’ll get to identify the audience and market you would like to connect with.

Be authentic.
Once you ask yourself of your three words to identify your brand, make sure you answer authentically. Build from within and disregard the image that isn’t you. People will spot a pretentious fraud from a mile away. People buy from people. You should be clear about the message you want to send to your target market. If you do this right, you will attract the right kind of people to suit you and your business. 

Consistency is key.
Personal branding, being you and being clear, it's not an overnight thing. Be consistent with what you're putting out there both in terms of the type of content and also the regularity of the content. That'll build trust and people will get to know you.

Do not be afraid to fail.
Failure's not a bad thing as long as we're learning from it, so get out there and have a crack. But when you do fail, please reflect, learn, adapt, and then as long as you're passionate about what you're doing, you will improve and you won't make the same mistakes next time.

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On today’s episode of Get to the Contest Small Business Podcast, we talk once again to Fox Group’s Jeremy Fox as he shares his thoughts on the right business structure for you.

Here are some key takeaways from our talk:

What are we looking to achieve via a business structure?
Ultimately, we need to know the business structure that will fit us for asset protection and tax. We need to identify the main thing we are looking to achieve, the assets we are looking to protects and making sure we get the right relationship between our business and tax.

Keep it simple.
All structures carry with them an element of cost, either up front or ongoing. So, my experience is making sure you understand your structure & get good guidance. If possible, keep it simple  and have your accountant give you a mud map explaining the various parts of your structure.  

Understand the Pros and Cons.
There is no best structure. There are pros and cons around asset protection, cost, ongoing cost, commercial considerations, and tax. If you understand all the pros and con, you can make an informed choice.

Speak to an expert.
Take the time, speak to an expert. You may actually find that someone that knows what they're doing such as a really good business accountant can actually deliver a hybrid which will give you the best of both worlds and all the upside with nominal downside of your structure.

Understanding the goal right from the start.
It is critical to know what you are trying to achieve with your business right from the start. Understanding the nature of your business is very important because it will make you choose the structure which best fits it. Questions like: Do you want to take in equity partners  in the future? Are you going to be growing rapidly, are you going to be selling down the track? Make sure you talk to your accountant to get the proper advice and to avoid major making the wrong structure for your goals.

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On this episode, we talked to Paul Henderson of Outcome Leaders where we talked extensively about customer success programs. 

Here are some key takeaways from this episode:

Know who your customers are and what success look like to them.
Having that clarity will make your job a hell of a lot easier. It'll also increase your conversion rate and make your whole marketing approach a lot more efficient and cheaper because you know exactly who you're marketing to.

Know your target customers.
We don't want to have anyone and everyone as a potential customer. If we know and are clear about whom we want to deal with, why and what value we can add to them, what we do well and what we're going to make the most money on, we can tailor our marketing and our approach to those businesses. Its one thing to win the job but it’s another to win jobs that are actually going to be profitable in your small business.

Understanding what a success outcome looks like to your customer.
Once we understand the vision of the success outcome, that's where we can really get some client engagement and be a lot closer to meeting what their clients' expectations are.

Think outside the square.
Forget the status quo and why things can't work, and just throw a whole lot of new ideas about your industry and what could work. If you do that, there will be something in there that will make you standout from your competitors, and there will be a new service line that you can offer.

The importance of customer success program.
Through this program, we are encouraged to get our thinking caps on and come up with new products that can differentiate us with our competitors. If we have a customer success program and we're really meeting that client's true success outcome, then we're going to have sticky clients. That means, ultimately, better cash flow and our business is going to be worth more at the time we eventually sell it.

Check this out!  Theodore Levitt’s Marketing Myopia, a Harvard Business Review article. 

It talks about knowing the business you're in and once you're clear, everything else will flow from that a lot easier. Read it here.

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On this episode of Get to the Contest Small Business Podcast, we will be talking to Ron Mcmahon from Small Business Genies, full service marketing, web and creative agency uniquely geared to helping small business owners achieve their potential. 

Here are some key takeaways from this episode:

Know your unique value proposition.
Start your marketing plan with your business by answering this question: What's unique about your business and why is it valuable and relevant for your customers? If you know this, not only are you going to stand out from the pack and your competitors, you’re also going to have less comparisons to people just based on price.

Know your target customers.
We don't want to have anyone and everyone as a potential customer. If we know and are clear about whom we want to deal with, why and what value we can add to them, what we do well and what we're going to make the most money on, we can tailor our marketing and our approach to those businesses. Its one thing to win the job but it’s another to win jobs that are actually going to be profitable in your small business.

Have a plan, get it on paper, make a commitment, and take action.
Once you have a plan with your own small business, have a play and document it. It will prompt the right kind of action. If it doesn't work, adjust, vary the plan. All the theory in the world will be pointless, unless we take action and implement. Get it on paper, make a commitment to doing something, and then measure the results. It's that simple.

Put yourself in your client’s shoes.
What’s your client's experience? Too often we’re too close with our business to really appreciate what our clients experience. Are we easy to deal with? What is it like to walk in? Analyze this and get the perspective from your customer’s point of view. Do the same with your online presence, Google yourself and your business and see if what’s reflected is the actual message that you want.  Online presence is important especially in this day and age.

Do not over complicate things.
Marketing should not be that complicated. Simple things such as presentations and case studies will help you demonstrate your relevance and the importance of your product. These will carry significant weight with your customers. 

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On this special episode of Get to the Contest Small Business Podcast, we have Jeremy Fox from Fox Group Chartered Accountants. We discussed all about year-end tax planning and all the things you need to know before June 30th.

Here are some key takeaways from our talk:

Tax planning starts with your structure.
Getting your structure right is critical to being the most tax effective arrangement that you can be.

Have up to the date financials and, ideally, have that data in the cloud.
If you're on Xero or My Account Live or one of the live products, at least then, you've got live data; you know where you're at, and you can give your accountant access to the information, and they'll be looking at real-time data. It is impossible to provide good tax planning advice when you don't have all the details.

Good tax planning needs to also plan for the cash flow requirements around it.
It's one thing to say go and put some money, buy some assets and put some money into Super, but if you haven't thought that through, funded or allowed for that cash flow, it can be very difficult to get your best tax results. It is really important to start planning now for next year so that you physically have that money set aside and you can take advantage of all those things that are going to require some physical cash payments.

Determine the timing of expenses.
This is where Jeremy talked about bringing forward expenses, perhaps delaying income, and also having pre payments of things. This saves you tax now. At least, tax deferred is tax saved. It takes the pressure off and allows you to keep that working capital in your business rather than have to give it over the government. If we can delay those 12 months, this is going to allow you breathing room and allow your business to grow.

Tax optimization.
The best tax result may not be the lowest tax answer. Tax optimization covers things like budgeting, understanding what next year's tax rates will be, what count your tax rates will be, and also the cash flow requirements of the business as well.

Having a plan and not sticking your head in the sand.
If you're a small business owner out there and things are going well or maybe not so well, nothing will change unless you've got a plan. Review your numbers and be prepared to take that time out of your business so that you can stop, pause, reflect, come up with some strategies, and then take action. That's critical.

Stop and enjoy.
Just smell the roses. Take time out. Life goes so fast when you're a small business owner. It’s very hard to get any perspective when you're deep within the business.

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Today’s guest is David Heenan, the owner of Leasecorp Motor Vehicle and Equipment Finance. His business primarily finances vehicles and equipment. His expertise in the finance industry spans fo 28 years now. In this episode, we talked about financing, building a good relationship with banks, and make sure to listen in because David gave a great advice on how to take care of your credit score. Enjoy this episode of “Get to the Contest” Podcast.

Get to the Contest Takeaways!

Be Transparent to your clients.
Put yourself in your client’s shoes. Serve them as you want to be served to make sure your client will have a great experience and truly get their value for money. When you treat your clients well, they will have an ongoing relationship with you and your business.

Take the emotion out of any purchase.
When you do this, especially in business, you will give yourself the best chance of getting a great deal. 

Get Bargains by Buying Last Year’s Stock.
Dealers are very keen to get rid of old stock. So if you’re buying a plate that was dated last year in January or February, you are getting a far better deal because they are quite keen to move that stock on.

Multiple credit applications hurt.
Get your work done, get your ducks in a row, and get everything in order so that you’ve got all in order for one submission. If you go shopping from bank to bank, broker to broker, each time you make a submission, you[‘re just chipping away from your own credit score and you’ll hurt your chances of getting financed. If you want to get a yes, speak to your accountants; speak to your broker, get it all sorted in the beginning. 

Have an open relationship with your bank.
If you do have equipment under finance and having trouble in terms of payment, communicate with your bank at all times or with your lender at all times. Sticking your head on the sand just does not work. So communicate with them, let them know you are going to be behind a month or you’re just gonna need some time, whatever the case is, it’s far better than damaging your credit score, having your vehicle repossessed or anything like that.

David Heenan’s Get to the Contest:

“I think that in order to be successful in your business, in other words maybe to win the contest you have to be totally opaque, be honest with your client base, give them a fair product at a fair price, and use a lot of empathy. Just make sure that if you were in your shoes, how would you feel about what you're being sold, or serviced, or the advice you're getting. Really look after your client base, everything else will follow. If you're honest and transparent, the success will follow.”

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In this episode of Get to the Contest Small Business Podcast, we try to answer if money can buy happiness. We are glad to have Ray Jaramis back and trust us when we say that this is an episode you shouldn’t miss. 

Here are the key learnings from this episode:

1.  Buy yourself experiences.
Have a happiness budget. Identify what makes you happy, what you're indifferent about, or what you're negative about as part of your monthly expenditures, or your annual expenditures. Then go and make a conscious decision about where your money goes. To add, budgeting is not about missing out. Deliberate choices around your spending mean that you can actually spend where you're going to get the most benefit. 

2.  Buy yourself time.
Personally and professionally, value your time. It's our only non-renewable resource. Only do what you love and is of high value. Identify what's of low value or you hate, and eliminate or delegate it. When you this, you're going to be happier at work and you're more energized. With all these changes, your business is actually going to perform better. If you can really live true to that, you will be a mile in front. 

3.  Spend money on others. 
Most of the time spending money on projects, charities or people you are passionate about, is the best thing you could do with your money. Have a purpose and ask yourself: “what do you stand for?” That could be investing money back into the local football club, the local charity, whatever it is that floats your boat and makes you feel important, do that.

The science is very clear, it is going to deliver far more happiness than just frittering away money for something that you perhaps don't have a passion about or don't believe in. Similarly with your team, invest in them. Understand what they are passionate about and support them.

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On this episode of Get to the Contest Small Business Podcast, our guest is James Tasses, the CEO of Bizsmart Finance Australia, an organization that works with SMEs to solve the finance and cash flow challenges of growing businesses. 

Here are the key takeaways from this episode:

• Understand your business and use your facility to drive growth. In the event of extra cash or cash flow, be familiar and understand what this will allow you to do. Have a steady cash flow in place so that you can go and seek new opportunities. 

• Make the facility work for you. Now, don't do it for all suppliers, just target your top 20%, and get out there and see if you can work with your suppliers to gain a significant reduction in your costs, just by offering to guarantee certain payment terms. It's amazing what you can get if you have an ability to get out there and guarantee someone some certainty around their cash flow, they will give you a discount in many cases.  

• Learn from your losses. When times are rough, take this time to sit back and reflect. Keep a diary, make notes, and make sure that you don't put yourself in that position again. When everything's going well, and anyone can grow a business, it's when times are tough that you really are showing your value as an entrepreneur and as a leader, to guide the business out of tough times.

• Learn from the Wolf of Wall Street (a 2013 American biographical black comedy crime film directed by Martin Scorsese). There’s a great scene in the movie where the lead said “If you can’t pay the bill, get on the phone. If you can’t afford the holiday, get on the phone.” If something's not working or going your way, get on the phone and make it happen.

• Know your client first. Understand them. Build relationships before you prescribe any solutions. If you're an expert on your customers, they will come to you and you will be able to help them.

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In this episode, we will be hearing from Mitch Griffiths of Rhapsey and Griffiths Insolvency and Advisory. From keeping track of the financial standing of your business to learning on focusing on your strengths as a small business owner, you will learn that and more in this episode of Get to the Contest Small Business Podcast so make sure to stay tuned.

Get to the Contest Takeaways!

Be prepared to say no,  always be on and ignore the noise.
Starting or running your own business can take the unnecessary noise with it. You’ll hear a lot of opinions, suggestions, and criticism. It is important to reflect and ignore all the noise.

Do what you do and do it well.
Identify what you are really good at, focus on it, and you are sure to do it well. With success comes a lot of different opportunities as well, but also be prepared to say no to projects that are not the right fit. If you focus on things you truly excel at, this will allow you to specialize and be a lot more successful in your chosen field. 

Know your numbers.
Always have updated records of your business finances to keep track of your financial standing. By having this information available at any given time, you can review and see if the business is doing well or is struggling. This will allow you to make decisions, take actions early and turn the business around before it’s too late.

Don’t stick your head in the sand.
If you are facing business or financial difficulties, face the music and never ignore them or tend to them on a later date. These challenges are part of the reality of owning your own business. Sticking your head in the sand will not make them go away but only worsen them. Do all that is necessary to have a quick turnaround with regards to challenges: communicate with your key stakeholders, talk to your accountant, talk to the ATO, just don’t ignore them. There is always a way out. 

Stay close to your accountant and lodge on time.
One of the best relationships you can invest in, especially throughout your professional career, is to find the accountant that fits you perfectly. The guidance of an accountant can be priceless because this allows you to focus on the growth of your business. Your accountant can help you analyze your figures, make sure that you jump on things early, and take action. An accountant can advise you very well on ATO matters and lodging your taxes on time, which if you consistently do on time, will benefit you and your business in the long run.

Don’t trade as a sole trader or a partnership if at all possible.
It is really cheap insurance policy to have a company or a trust with a corporate trustee rather than trading as a sole trader or a partnership. If you do the latter, you are really exposed. Remember that when you are trading as a sole trader or partnership, there is no differentiation with regards to your personal and business assets so in a situation where liquidation is a possibility, trading as a company can help you save your significant personal  properties and key assets.

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On this episode of Get to the Contest Small Business Podcast, I will be talking to Tony Scott, senior consultant for Employsure, Australia’s largest workplace relations firm. We will be talking everything about the employment: from the hiring, training to the rules of firing an incompetent employee. Listen in and we’re sure you’ll be able to pick up useful tips on the employment process.

Get to the Contest Takeaways!

Get it right the first time.
It’s not easy to get everything right the first time especially when it comes to hiring. But to help you with this, you need to be very clear on your expectation and the adaptability of the new hire to the work culture of your company. If this is not clearly stated to a new hire before he/she accepted the gig, you’re setting yourself up for trouble.

Take your time.
When it comes to hiring, do not rush. Take your time in interviewing and make sure to document the procedure. Be selective and never opt for the next best thing just because it is available for right now. Finding the right candidate takes time but the search will ultimately be fruitful once you find the perfect fit for the job. If need be, hire a professional to do the hiring process for you and your business.

Set the tone.
Set the expectations and present your company’s work culture upfront. It is important for the candidate to see the job at face value. This will give you a much better chance of this person adhering to the job at hand.

Policies and procedures are a must.
Before even employing people, you have to set policies and procedures in place. You cannot implement policies if you do not have them in writing. This will help you manage your employees and develop discipline in the workplace.

Fairness in firing.
Firing an incompetent employee is inevitable. Performance management of an employee is a must to test the person out. Get your expectations documented and clearly discussed with the employee ad make sure you have established procedural fairness. If you fail to establish this, it can be very costly.

Take time out.
Step back and take time out when you feel the need to. It’ll give you perspective and you will enjoy work more. Overall happiness is the ultimate goal when it comes to work-life balance.


Tony Scott’s Get to the Contest:

“I talk a lot about work place culture. I think there's a direct coloration between morale and productivity. For any business to be successful, and indeed using the football analogy, for any team or any sporting team to be successful you have to have a cohesive team. We all have to be singing from the same hymn sheet as it were, and I think, for me, is it. How you get the right culture, and how you have everyone singing from the same hymn sheet is the challenge, but that is the key. “

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Our guest for today is Ray Jaramis (@RJFinLife), a renowned financial manager with Treysta FinLife, an advisory business, and the co-founder of XY Adviser. He is an award winning financial planner and he helps people to have a good relationship with money. We talked about the importance of learning and the current generation’s financial challenges. Should you lend money to your children? Are you doing them a favor or setting them up for disaster? We answer all that and more here in this episode of “Get to the Contest”!

Get to the Contest Takeaways!

Ignore the “barbecue talk”
It is important to recognise the value of a good advice and a great adviser. Often, the barbecue talk we have with friends are distractions and disasters waiting to happen. Seek advice from people you look up to, who are expert in their own field and most especially, someone you trust. Make it a goal to learn every day, and that you surround yourself with people smarter and more experienced than you are. Keep learning because when you stop, you’ll soon be overtaken and irrelevant.

Do the right thing by your children.
You love your children and you want the best for them. Of course. But are you sure you are doing the right thing when it comes to loaning them money? There are a few simple questions to reflect on before imparting them with the responsibility of a loan. Are they responsible enough? Can you, as the lender, afford it? Can the current circumstances of your children enable them to afford to pay the loan? These are just a few questions you must be able to answer before taking this big step. If you skip all the questions, you might be doing your children more harm than good.

Protect yourself.
With every financial decision in your career and life, you have to take the extra mile in making sure you are protecting yourself. Make sure all transactions are transparent and that there is a process in all that you do. Leave a paper trail and seek advice from the experts when you do a big financial decision.


Ray Jaramis’s Get to the Contest:

"I think I'm just conscious of not going with the herd, so to speak. Often, I think it can be valuable if you take a step back from what you're doing in your daily life, and maybe just challenge yourself on what your career path is.

The critical points in my career have been when I've taken a step back, and had a bit of a think about what I'd ideally like with my work, and where I'd like to see that headed in the future.