Services
It's frustrating to not know what to do to grow your business.
It's even more frustrating to know what to do but not know how to get it done.
Perry Marshall
There's one big problem that I help people fix. You know that your business is capable of much more than you're achieving now, but:
You're not working on the stuff that you know you should be working on when you should be working on it.
To do that you need to:
- Focus on the high-value work that only you can do, that you're great at and enjoy doing, and your clients love you for.
- Minimise the impact of everything else that gets in your way.
It's as simple as that.
But finding the right solution? That's when things get complicated. There is no "one app, productivity method, approach, or book to rule them all" (with apologies to Tolkein fans).
Everything we do is bespoke for you. We will use the most appropriate techniques, apps and tools for you and your business to fix the problems you have, starting with those that will have the biggest, fastest, positive impact.
Your combination of what you do and how you do it for your clients is just as unique as you are. You've got your own preferences for how you like to work, where you do that, the software and devices you use (including pen and paper), are you a visual person, are you creative, and so on.
Just as we all don't wear clothes from the same brand in the same size, drive the same make of car, or go to the same place on holiday, you don't want to start by choosing any particular productivity approach, time management book, or task list application and then work out how to fit you and your work into it. That's just doing things the wrong way round.
There are fundamental principles underpinning everything we do but the solutions are always completely customised, designed for you, your business, the work you do, and how you want to do it. Don't you think it's better to start with you and your work first rather than another app you've downloaded?
You might be...
My clients are typically hands-on business owners, directors, or managers of professional services companies with a 6 or 7 figure annual turnover.
I've helped clients in diverse sectors including accountancy, surveying, learning and development, retail, repair, and a few more.
Clients usually fall into one or more of these groups:
You're great at what you do, your business is growing fast but you just can't keep up with demand.
You know that there's the potential to do so much more but there are only so many hours in the day. You're trying to keep everyone happy and since you don't like saying no, corners can start to get cut. You might have turned on the marketing tap in your business and got a sudden flood of projects, orders, and enquiries that you can't respond to. Meanwhile you never get to do the work that's most valuable for you, your clients or your business.(Hint: even if you can afford to hire more people to fix this, that's only going to work if you've already optimised the resources you've already got. Hiring before you've done that can be an expensive and quick way to sabotage your turnover and profit, send your levels of stress and frustration even higher, and ultimately kill your business.)
Your business is too reliant on you (or someone else on your team).
If everything in your business is going through you, or if you're doing it all, then you're going to hit a ceiling sooner rather than later. There's simply a limit to how much you can do before you burn out and everything comes to a sudden, grinding halt.And if you've got plans to sell your business then you need to work out how to make it run without you, otherwise all your hard work will have been for nothing.
Your business has stalled and you don't know how to get it going again. You might even be going backwards.
You started well but gradually things started slowing until they came to a complete stop. You're treading water and don't know what you need to do to get your business growing again.You’ve been given a wonderful business-changing opportunity but you'll need to hire more people to make it work and you can't afford to do that.
Most businesses aren't making the most of the potential that they've got. Yes, you can hire more people but as we've seen that's risky, time-consuming and expensive. There are ways that you can have your cake and eat it. I can help you find out what they are.
You probably experience some of these symptoms every day
You're overwhelmed by the sheer number of things that you could work on, all of which are demanding your attention right now. You're always feeling that there's something else that you should be working on now. You're desperate for some breathing space and it's hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel.
You know you're not getting to the long list of projects that you know are the really valuable ones. That's incredibly frustrating, because these are the ones that will take you where you want to go.
You're losing clients to your competition, either because you're already over-booked or because they're fed up with unanswered emails, missed deadlines, and things that simply get forgotten.
You've lost count of the number of hats that you're wearing. One or two fit your head. Most don't but you feel that you've got to wear them anyway. "Isn't that just how running a business is?" No, it doesn't have to be that way.
It's hard to stay focused on any one thing so that you can get it finished. Multi-taking is a way of life.
You're drowning in email, text messages, and social media. The important ones that you do want to answer get lost in a sea of junk.
Last minute, burning the midnight oil deadlines are your normal. You know that you're not delivering your best work for your clients in the way that you want to.
Things keep slipping through the cracks. Important and easy things get inexplicably missed, and you just don't understand why.
Someone or something is always interrupting you.
You don't know when you last had a weekend and going on holiday (if that happens at all) just means that you're stuck in an expensive hotel room in a foreign country answering email or making calls to the office "just to check that everything's ok", instead of sitting on a beach, drinking a cocktail, and watching your kids play in the ocean.
You might have already tried...
Battling through. But willpower is a limited resource and forcing yourself to do more and more just isn't sustainable, even short term.
Pedalling the hamster wheel even faster by working harder for longer.
Planning out everything on your calendar. But that only works as long as you can stick to it. And if you ever get interrupted or don't finish something when you've planned to this approach falls down quickly, and you have to reschedule everything all over again. How long is that going to take you?
Signing up for another trial of another app that promises that it's the one-size-fits-all answer that you've been waiting for. The same goes for whatever book's currently at the top of the best-seller lists that's never been tested in the real world. (At least the real world that you live in anyway.)
Some of the ways I can help you:
- Fix a specific problem, unblock a bottleneck, or remove a roadblock.
- Personal productivity coaching.
- Create bespoke workflow systems for you and your business.
- Advice and recommendations for choosing and implenting the best team and project management software for you and your business.
- Automate processes in your business to free you up to do much more interesting and valuable work.
- Anything in between.
You can choose from a combination of consulting and coaching advice, and (once we've worked out what needs to be done) as much help from me as you would like to make things happen.
A lot of the work that I do with clients is about implementing the changes and doing the projects that fix the problems that you've got (the bit that I'm good at) whilst you get on with the work that you're great at doing. Whatever you prefer together we'll design the best solution for you.
Don't know exactly what the problem is? Not sure how to start?
It doesn't matter whether or not you're just looking for a one-off session to pick my brain about a specific problem or if you need something more involved, I always start with the aim of becoming a valued long-term partner for you and your business.
The first thing I do with any client is to do a deep dive into your business. I want to make sure that you have the best solution for your problem and just like a medical consultant we need to start with a thorough diagnosis.
I want to understand what's going on in your business, how you do what you do, what's working now and what isn't. We'll talk about where you'd like to take your business in the future, what you'd like to get out of it, the opportunities that you can see, different areas you might want to move into, and more.
When we've finished you'll know what and where the underlying issues are, the untapped potential you've got in your business for achieving more and specific recommendations for sorting things out. Then you can take things from there or we can work together on a project-by-project or an ongoing basis. The choice is yours.
And yes, we might be able to fix your problem without doing this, but the chances are we'll be fixing a symptom not the underlying problem. That means that while you might get two or three months' respite you'll be coming back to this sooner rather than later.
Asking for help and choosing to put your trust in any consultant, coach or advisor can be hard.
Here's how you can be as sure as you can be that this will do what you want and be as risk-free as I can make it for you:
- Please send me a message letting me know what kind of problem you have and how you think I might be able to help you. You don't need to have clarified exactly what the problem(s) are first; we can do that together. You can give me as little or as much information as you're comfortable sharing.
I'll review your message and see how I might be able to help. I don't want to waste your time (or mine!) so I'll only take things further if I'm certain that I'll be able to help you make the changes that you're looking for.
I only work with clients that I know I can help, so if I don't think that I'm going to be the best option for you I'll tell you why and recommend some alternatives for you to look into.
- If I do think that I can help you solve your problem and make significant and substantial improvements we'll arrange a conversation so we can explore the problem and your options in detail. Getting to this point won't cost you anything and there's no commitment to go any further.
Why not take the first step and send me a message now?
Please remember that I want to make this as risk free for you as possible. I've personally and professionally had my fingers burned by consultants and coaches who didn't deliver on their promises, costing me well over £10,000 along the way as well as a lot of unnecessary stress, frustration, and time.
I need to be able to sleep at night which is why if you're not happy with the work that we do, we'll put it right at no cost to you. If we can't do that I'll give you your money back. It's as simple as that.