michael kerr

@DarrenBourke is a #businesscoach and #mentor to #smebusiness #owners.

He's worked as a chartered accountant with @Deloitte and @pitcherpartners, had a #HR startup and authored @thefourthmoon.  

In this episode we talk about #employeeincentiveschemes, we cover;

• different kinds of incentive schemes 
• the quantitative and the qualitative aspects of looking to engage, empower, motivate, and most importantly, retain our existing labor, but also to attract new talent
• some of the common forms of  pushback and objections, both from employers and employees
• why your focus needs to be on your brightest, your best and most loyal ongoing team members. 
• the 3 tier hierarchy;
  1. #bonuses ( then target bonuses, then kicker bonuses)
  2. #profitshare
  3. equity or share of the business 
• when and how to introduce them 
• how a bonus scheme is an entree to moving forward with these incentive schemes. 
• employee incentives leading into a #businesssale
• the role and importance of non-financial benefits 

www.darrenkbourke.com/

Thanks for listening.  Visit the Small Business Banter website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.

Search @SmallBusinessBanter on your favorite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.

Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.

michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.au

www.smallbusinessbanter.com.au

@DarrenBourke is a #businesscoach and #mentor to #smebusiness #owners.

He's worked as a chartered accountant with @Deloitte and @pitcherpartners, had a #HR startup and authored @thefourthmoon.  

In this episode we talk about the post pandemic shift in power from employers to employees. In past more than 50% of his  conversations were about people - internal, sometimes external, sometimes partnership or family business issues. But what's happened is that people issues have probably 10X'd through the pandemic. His work went from consulting, coaching and mentoring through the pandemic to basically welfare and checking in on my owners and helping them hold the fort together. Since coming out of the pandemic Darren (and his clients) have been struck by this incredibly new emerging workplace, the virtual or #hybridworkplace, and the issues that came out of that.

And of course, there was no roadmap for that. In our discussion we talk about;

• the shift in power 
• the 8 to 10 years leading up where we didn't have a lot of real wages growth
• how we have fast forwarded 10 years plus of workplace evolution in 1 to 2 years
• working remotely
• tree change, sea change
• changing the way our family or household dynamic interacts with work
• the many challenges for the employer to catch up, how they marry up their offering to their employee cohort based on these new expectations, wants and demands of the employee cohort.
• the splintering of the connectivity between owners and management, and their operational frontline workers
• #productivity 
• #virtualworkplacer
• the value of having that human, in-person contact
• the reset of the traditional #orgchart 
• the end of the master servant relationship, and move to a more collaborative, consultative, fluid working model
• #marketsalaries as a north star, and paying at or above market salaries
• merit-based increases 
• non-financial benefits - travel exposure to industry events, professional development, flexible work, a more specific 3-to-5-year career path
• creating a sustainable path to success

www.darrenkbourke.com/

Thanks for listening.  Visit the Small Business Banter website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.

Search @SmallBusinessBanter on your favorite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.

Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.

michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.au

www.smallbusinessbanter.com.au

@RenéeHasseldine is the #ceo and #founder of @ThinkRAPT Systems, an award winning #pitching and proposal system using #VisualModels. The system organizes the #intellectualproperty in service-based business.  Like many businesses the business was born out of experiences as a service-based business owner.

Prior to that she had a diverse career with experience as an author, writer, career-coach@IBM executive, auditor @PWC and skiguide @mtbuller.

After a lot of learning and constant recalibration she has what many aspire to have - a business that works for her (and not the other way around).  She's in a good place and in this episode freely shares her;

• Experience from starting the business to getting it to where it is now, and
• Three biggest lessons for to help other business owners get to where they want to get faster and with less stress;

1. Being brave by choosing that #idealclientavatar and then having a tight #niche,
   1. "0vercoming the fear that I had, and I know that many people have is that, Well, if I cut down to this niche, I'm going to cut everybody else off. But actually, you're much better off owning that space where you decide to niche, or where your specialty is than trying to appeal to everybody in a much broader audience especially in a service-based business"
2. Market research. 
   1. "I think it's very important to do the market research and to understand the #painpoints that the clients, the audience has, and you've got to start there and find out. Is the audience actually also willing to spend money on the problem that they've got?" There's no point in deciding, Oh, well, my target audience, my solution is, single mums who are struggling. If they have no money to pay for your $20K product."
   2. "Do the #marketresearch and understand the problems and the wants of the target audience, and also, if they're willing to spend money on this problem. Even if it is painful because some people won't"
   3. "Take it from me, one of my crazy ventures was, I opened a vegan cafe in 2002 in West Footscray. I didn't do the market research and let me tell you, I was 20 years ahead of my time"
3. The value of #Mentors. 
   1. "I resisted having a mentor or mentors or surrounding myself with other people for a very long time. I very much believed that I could do it and I could do it on my own because I'm smart enough, I'm serving enough, I can work it out and I will work it out and I'm determined, and I will get there because I will just keep going and I'm ambitious" 
   2. The value of #businessowner #networks
      1. The Institute for Learning Professionals, 
      2. The Xfactor Collective
   3. "Getting emotional support because the people in your family don't understand the challenges that you face as a founder. Only other founders get it. And you can speak to them in a way that you can't speak to your brother or your mom or your sister or whoever. They're not the same to talk to you about the challenges you face on a daily basis unless they're also business owners"
   4. #soundingboards - the power of someone that you can talk to about the challenges that you're facing, whether that's paying payroll this month or even a trouble that you're having with a particular staff member or "Oh, we had our best month ever, but I don't want to brag to my non-business owner friends"
       

Thanks for listening.  Visit the Small Business Banter website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.

Search @SmallBusinessBanter on your favorite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.

Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.

michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.au

www.smallbusinessbanter.com.au

Dave Strutton is an ex almond farmer in South Australia. Life was good and his business was doing fine but he felt a change was needed. 

He took on a Howard Storage World franchise https://www.hsw.com.au/.  

It wasn't all smooth sailing, especially in the very early stages. Dave had to dig deep and rely on his well-honed business instincts to deal with those problems. He got through it all and ended up winning multiple awards for his franchise's performance.

In this episode Dave talks about;

• How the almond farm started as a hobby and became a business
• Getting all the family involved in developing the farm, which was a couple of hours out of Adelaide
• The extension of the farm into a tourism venture
• His desire to move the family back to Adelaide
• Dealing with the question of how he would make a living back in Adelaide - could be get a job or would he need to start or buy another business?
• How he happened upon the Howards Storage World franchise system
• Dealing with a catastrophe when the master franchisor went into liquidation
• What business skills and experiences he learned in almond farming that helped him navigate a new business, a new industry all while making  a major move with the family back to Adelaide
• His personal business philosophy
• What skills he sees as the most critical for any small business owner  
• The importance of business systems and some of the advantages of the franchise model 

Thanks for listening.  Visit the Small Business Banter website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.

Search @SmallBusinessBanter on your favorite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.

Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.

michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.au

www.smallbusinessbanter.com.au

James Grugeon is the founder of The Good Beer Co. https://thegoodbeerco.com.au/.

Covid-19 heavily impacted the business but he found a way to adapt and thrive.

The Good Beer Co. is a social enterprise that exists to create and sell good beers to fund and support good causes.

It works with and supports award winning breweries and is committed to creating award winning and popular beers like;

1. Great Barrier Beer for the Australian Marine Conservation Society
2. Pale Tale for RSPCA Queensland
3. Love Beer for the Australian Marriage Equality campaign,and
4. Great Get Together Pale Ale for the Jo Cox Foundation.

In this episode we talk with James about;

• His personal background in business, charities and social enterprise, both in the UK and here in Australia
• The history of The Good Beer Co.
• How to build partnerships between companies and social enterprises
• The critical role of  businesses, particularly for-purpose businesses, in tackling really thorny challenges like climate change
• The brilliant Australian craft beer industry
• His latest campaign A Good Beer Always Helps
• This campaign supports the local  independent craft industry by gifting a case of 16 independent beers to essential workers including nurses, police, aged care workers and  many others who have been dealing directly with  the spread and impacts of Covid-19
• The struggle of bootstrapping a small business
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Collaborations

Thanks for listening.  Visit the Small Business Banter website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.

Search @SmallBusinessBanter on your favorite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.

Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.

michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.au

www.smallbusinessbanter.com.au

Marketing is one of the greatest challenges facing small business owners.

In this episode Tim Reid, host of Australia's number one marketing podcast, Small Business Big Marketing https://smallbusinessbigmarketing.com/ talks about how to overcome the fear that many owners have about marketing.

This fear is driven by 3 limiting beliefs;

1. Marketing costs too much
2. Marketing takes too long
3. They themselves lack the knowledge

He explains how owners can overcome these 3 limiting beliefs and start achieving greater success.

Tim's methodology for taking advantage of opportunities and achieving marketing success is simple. He calls it 'Helpful Marketing'.

Like never before all the tools exist to run low cost and effective marketing programs. So forget all the jargon you've ever heard. Implementing 'Helpful Marketing' involves;

1. Listening to prospective clients and customers to hear (and understand) what problems they have and what questions they need answers to.
2. Solving problems and answering questions for your clients and customers.
3. Writing down the answers to common questions down in your marketing and  on your website in your FAQ section.
4. Continuously and actively asking clients and customers about the problems and questions they have.

Some other really helpful and practical tips Tim had to make your marketing successful;

1. Adopt a helpful mindset.
2. Review your brand and all the different marketing touchpoints for consistency.
3. Understanding the difference between Push and Pull marketing.
4. Allocating regular time.
5. Learn to love it and treat it as a hobby.
6. Don't persist with any marketing that isn't working.
7. Social Media is only part of the marketing mix, it's not all your marketing.
8. And if you only had 20 minutes a day for marketing Tim suggests you FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR EXISTING AND PAST CLIENT BASE - there are always  latent opportunities in there!

Thanks for listening.  Visit the Small Business Banter website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.

Search @SmallBusinessBanter on your favorite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.

Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.

michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.au

www.smallbusinessbanter.com.au

Joe Formichella runs the small business banking team at Bendigo Bank, Australia's fifth-largest bank.

Joe is a highly experienced, career business banker. 

He does an excellent job of outlining how best to deal with your bank, (even if it's not Bendigo :)).

In these challenging times the keys are to;

1. Communicate with your banker so they know how you personally as well as the business are going i.e. don't stick your head in the sand
2. Demonstrate that you as an owner are pro-actively adapting your business e.g. by cutting unnecessary expenses  or finding new ways to produce and sell your product or service
3. Demonstrate that you are using any spare time created by a slowing business to undertake planning to give your business the best chance of success. Your chances of securing the help you might need from your bank will be enhanced when it is clear you have a solid business plan and you as owner understand deeply how the business operates and where the future opportunities are

SpecificallyJoe reinforced the need for a; 

1. Robust business plan
2. Clear description of the purpose of a new loan or lending assistance when discussing finance with your bank
3. Detailed summary of historical  financial performance and credible forecasts for your business to establish viability and serviceability. He noted however that given current challenges his bank, at least, understood that your current financial performance may be severely affected by uncontrollable, external influences and would take that into account in their assessment

https://www.bendigobank.com.au

Thanks for listening.  Visit the Small Business Banter website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.

Search @SmallBusinessBanter on your favorite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.

Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.

michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.au

www.smallbusinessbanter.com.au

Employee Ownership has many advantages that can result in greate business success. It's a major opportunity for both owners of SMEs and employees. 

Andrew Clements is a legal consultant in the global law firm  King & Wood, Mallesons and Chair, Employee Ownership Australia . He has over 30 years’ experience in relation to both the tax and legal issues associated with employee share schemes. 

He is also the current chair of Employee Ownership Australia (EOA). 

EOA is an independent not-for-profit member-based organisation promoting employee ownership in Australia. More recently Andrew appeared before the Parliamentary Inquiry into Employee Ownership Australia by the Tax and revenue committee.

In this episode Andrew talks about;

1. The use of employee ownership in both established and start-up businesses
2. How owners can use employee ownership;
   1. To improve business performance through greater employee engagement, collaboration, and a shared vision
   2. As part of their planning to exit the business, either partially or totally
3. How employees can benefit
4. How businesses using employee ownership are better placed to survive challenging business conditions
5. The UK's experience with employee ownership

Employee Ownership Australia has a wealth of resources on their site to help owners and employees.

https://employeeownership.com.au/

https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/staff-research-papers/the-performance-and-characteristics-of-australian-firms-with-employee-share-schemes

https://employeeownership.co.uk/

http://employeeownership.com.au/eoa/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/nuttall-report.pdf

Thanks for listening.  Visit the Small Business Banter website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.

Search @SmallBusinessBanter on your favorite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.

Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.

michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.au

www.smallbusinessbanter.com.au

Intellectual Property isn't just for big companies.  IP can make your small business more successful and more valuable.

IP can be as simple as a logo, and as complex as a radical new manufacturing process.

Rob PIerce is the CEO of Wrays International and an Intellectual Property (IP) expert. He breaks down IP into it's simplest form. 

He defines what IP is and explains why you need an IP strategy, just like you need one for marketing.

A well-executed IP strategy can make a small business more profitable, more valuable and easier to sell, when the time comes. 

If you think you or your business has something special or unique,  or you're considering starting a new business based on a unique idea or process or business model then it's worth creating an IP strategy. And the key steps to get started on your IP strategy are;

1. Identify
2. Capture
3. Protect
4. Manage

https://www.wrays.com.au/

And remember to contact Wrays for a free half hour consultation. Tell them Michael and David from www.smallbusinessbanter.com sent you!

https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/understanding-ip

https://www.australianmade.com.au/

Thanks for listening.  Visit the Small Business Banter website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.

Search @SmallBusinessBanter on your favorite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.

Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.

michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.au

www.smallbusinessbanter.com.au

Small business is harder than it has ever been. One disaster after another. Practical tips for surviving from an experienced mentor and past business owner.

Anthony Turner from Small Business Mentoring Service co-authored **Are U Ready? Surviving Small Business Disaster ** a valuable resource for any small business owner in understanding the important steps that can be taken to protect their business from disaster.

Anthony has experienced first hand the highs and lows of owning and running a small business. He has also mentored over one thousand other owners.  

In this episode Anthony shares his personal wisdom and practical advice to help owners better deal with the up's and down's and we specifically discuss;

1. Taking time in this current environment to re-evaluate your business  to ensure it is still relevant to your customers and to identify what needs to change

2. The importance of financial budgeting and making sure owners understand what the business needs to deliver to support the owners lifestyle

3. Why it's important for owners to reach out to customers, suppliers and some of the other large number of support services available, to look after their own mental health and wellbeing

4. How owners can restructure their business operations to make it easier  to run and more profitable

5. Anthony's experiences that led to him co-authoring the Victorian and National Resilience Australia Awards winning book - available here

https://www.sbms.org.au/are-u-ready.html

6. The potential opportunities that can arise from disasters

7. Where owners can go for  further information (links below)

https://www.sbms.org.au/free-resources

https://www.ato.gov.au/general/covid-19/

https://www.business.vic.gov.au/coronavirus-covid-19/business-support/coronavirus-business-information

bb.org.au/SupportingSmallBusiness

Thanks for listening.  Visit the Small Business Banter website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.

Search @SmallBusinessBanter on your favorite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.

Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.

michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.au

www.smallbusinessbanter.com.au

On today's show, we have Boaz High School's very own Emily McDuffie & Michael Kerr. He's on the track & swim teams and she's on the basketball team. This is the first time Boaz has joined us, so we are so thankful to have them. We talk about life, sports, faith & Michael even sings "underwater" for us. Also, in The Clutch Moment, we talk about urgency and what it should mean to us. Abby Burnett calls in from FCA and lets us know what's happening with Marshall County Fields of Faith. We give away a pair of tickets to Boaz 9 Cinema, enjoy and discuss the delicious Marco's Pizza & have some fun. Join in & subscribe!