What I Do 

 

 

I always loved helping my Dad. He was an engineer with the heart of an artist, a master craftsman who could build furniture and draw pictures, and he was an entrepreneur who ran a business – and he taught me to always Go the Extra Mile in everything I did. Whenever he was fixing the car, decorating, or building something – I was always there – holding the torch, finding the right spanner, trying to find the best way to do something… keeping him company.

That’s part of what I do with my clients.

I am by nature a fixer and a doer.

I enjoy both strategy and the detail and I love getting things done.

Today – in everything you do – it’s not about what you do – but how you do it. It’s about the pursuit of excellence.

I love simplicty, creativity and innovation – especially when solving problems or leveraging opportunities.

I love working with entrepreneurs and business owners with diverse skills and personalities who want to build great businesses that are profitable, sustainable and are a reflection of who they are. They knew when they started their business or have come to realise that they needed to have ‘an end in mind’.

That ‘end in mind’ is their Exit Strategy.

Challenges and Opportunities

The last five years has seen uprecedented levels of uncertainty, challenges, and opportunities – a perfect storm of change. It’s been an endless rollercoaster of ups and downs – and there are more to come.

As a business owner you now need to be more entrepreneurial – spend less time working in the business and more time working on it.

You need to get away from the coal face and work on the business face. The old way of doing things needs to change – a reset of your business and how you do things needs to happen.

You’re probably wearing too many hats, trying to do too many things, not having enough time, and spending too much time working at the coal face.

You probably feel that you’re not really managing, controlling, or building your business.

Your Exit Strategy

Many business owners are now actively asking themseves how to develop their own Exit Strategy.

1.  Maybe I’ll sell the business?

2. Maybe I’ll get someone to run it for me?

3. I’ll keep on working and doing what I love to do – but reduce my hours and committment significantly?

4. Maybe I’ll leave it to a family member?

5. Do I want to leave some kind of legacy?

But there need to be benefits that you achieve from your exit strategy

1. You need to be able to generate More Profits, find More Time, and enjoy More Freedom.

2. You need to move from the coalface to the business face – where you spend more time working on the business by strategically developing and managing it – tactically executing what needs to be done to create oustanding performance and results – and spending less time working in the business.

3. There are 6 stages you need to achieve with your business:

1. Survival – 2. Recovery – 3. Profitability – 4. Growth – 5. Sustainability – 6. Exit Strategy

Whichever stage you’ve reached – my role is to help you achieve your exit strategy by:

• Creating clarity, focus, and direction.
• Helping solve problems, overcome challenges, and leverage opportunities.
• Ensuring execution of what needs to be done when it needs to be done.

About Me

I’ve worked with small and large companies – in private practice, in the commercial sector, the public sector, and the charity sector. I’ve been a Finance Director and an Operations Director – at the same time – and been responsible for a billion-pound operation … and I’ve worked for myself.

But I fell into the trap of corporate ‘burnout’ and found myself critically ill in hospital where life was about to take me on a new journey – one which included total paralysis and learning to walk again – but that’s another story…

But my journey back to health and running my own business has taught me valuable lessons; about family, friends, what success means, following my passions, about helping others . . . and a lot more.

Over the years my understanding of how businesses and their owners work, my management skills and my life experiences have helped me to develop a unique blend of business and personal development skills in the areas of business coaching, consultancy, and mentoring – with which I help my clients.

Most of all I love working with and supporting business owners by helping them to develop and execute tehir own personal exit strategy.

Outside of work I have a great family – Rhona my wife and three great kids – Peter, Matthew and Claire – and not forgetting one of my best friends our border collie Ziva. She’s the one in the middle who wants to get to the other side of the wall but needs some help…

… just like my clients.