April 30, 2024 • 21 mins
Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Smart Business Growth Podcast, where hosts Nicky and Ness dive into actionable strategies for achieving success in business while maintaining a fulfilling life.
In this episode, they introduce the concept of smart business growth, emphasising the importance of pragmatic, actionable advice over hustle culture. They discuss the core principles of smart growth, focusing on sales, profit, team, and planning and give you the tips on what is and what isn't smart growth so that you can reflect on this for your business.
The hosts outline the four phases of smart growth: crisis, build, grow, and momentum, providing insights into each phase's characteristics and challenges. They stress the significance of identifying one's current phase and offer a 60-second survey to help listeners determine where they stand.
You'll also be able to access the four favourite strategies from their clients to facilitate smart growth, emphasising practicality and immediate applicability.
The episode concludes with a call to action, encouraging listeners to engage with the survey and implement the provided strategies to propel their businesses towards success.
Learn more about Nicky and Ness https://businesstogether.com.au
Buy a copy of Healthy Hustle: The New Blueprint to Thrive in Business & Life www.healthyhustle.com.au
Follow us on socials
Instagram - @b2businesstogether
Facebook - @B2BusinessTogether
Connect on LinkedIn
Nicky LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/connectwithnicky/
Ness LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessamedling/
Give us a call
Nicky Miklos-Woodley 0403 191 404
Vanessa (Ness) Medling 0400 226 875
Or send us an email hello@businesstogether.com.au
Music by Jules Miklos-Woodley
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Nicky (00:04):
Welcome to the Smart Business Growth Podcast with
Nicky and.
Ness.
Ness (00:11):
We would like to acknowledge the traditional
custodians of country, theTurrbal and Bunurong people of
Brisbane and Melbournerespectively, where Nikki and I
both work and live, both workand live.
Nicky (00:31):
Hey everyone and welcome to the very first episode of
Smart Business Growth Podcast.
Say hi, Nicky, hello everybody,beautiful listeners, beautiful
watchers.
It is so wonderful to be back.
Ness (00:38):
It absolutely is, and we wanted to just take some time to
talk to you today about whatthis podcast is going to be
about.
It's a fresh season.
We're talking about smartbusiness growth and really what
we're not going to be doing ishaving just a far side chat, you
know, although sometimes it'dbe quite entertaining, but what
we want to deliver you issomething that's pragmatic, that
(01:00):
it's actionable, that'sstrategic, so that every single
episode that we do delivers realworld, high value, high impact
advice that empowers you to worksmarter and not harder, because
we are not about hustle culturehere.
Absolutely, it's a hill we'rewilling to die on.
It's about working smarter, notharder, and it's really about
(01:23):
finding a way to balance havinga successful business or leading
a team to create an outstandingresult and still having a life
that you love, that isfulfilling, that allows you to
spend time with the people thatmatter the most, and then those
two work hand in hand.
So many of you will know whohave worked with us or know us
(01:45):
and those who don't what Nickand I are all about in business
together is installing smartgrowth strategies and people
performance sorry, peopleleadership for peak performance,
and really what we see is whenwe have that combination of
those two, then your businessthrives, your team thrive and
(02:10):
you thrive, and that's reallyimportant to us, because this is
not about the 5am club.
It's not about go, go, go, workharder, work harder, and we are
so not into burnout.
You know we want to avoid thatand we know that when we have
smart business growth, when wehave strong leadership and
people strategies, those twocombined can really give us back
(02:32):
some time freedom.
It can really help us step awayfrom being everything to
everyone in the business, and Ijust think you know the ability
to really deliver in thisfast-paced world that we're in
is about working smarter and notharder, and that's no longer a
luxury.
That really is about how wemake a difference in order to be
(02:55):
able to love what we do insideof work and love what we do
outside of work, and it's justsomething that we're really
obsessed about, because we wantto empower you as business
owners, as leaders, to takecontrol back and feel like
you're in charge of what's goingto come next, which is pretty
(03:15):
exciting really.
What about you, nick?
Nicky (03:17):
absolutely, nessa.
I couldn't agree more.
And you know we've got toreframe what business success
looks like.
We've got to show it's kind ofa duty of care actually for us
as business leaders whether youare a business owner, whether
you're leading a team of peoplein somebody else's business or
in a big business, it's our dutyof care to show that there is a
(03:39):
different way and redefine whatsuccess looks like because,
let's face it, it's pretty damnchallenging sometimes between
navigating.
I mean, we've got economicuncertainties, we've got global
and local impacts of worldevents.
How is that impacting ourmental health, our team's mental
health?
Meanwhile, you still have tokeep the business afloat or the
(04:01):
team afloat.
You're managing day to dayoperations.
You're ensuring consistent leadflow.
You're delivering for clientshave to keep the business afloat
or the team afloat.
You're managing day-to-dayoperations.
You're ensuring consistent leadflow.
You're delivering for clients.
You're supporting and engagingyour team.
I mean, oh, my goodness, thereis just so much and it is really
easy and to feel stretched, tofeel pulled in a million
different directions.
And we see so many businessowners, so many leaders that are
(04:24):
drowning in that day-to-daywhirlwind of business.
But we know you.
We know that you are a highperformer.
We know that you want successand, most importantly, we know
that you don't want to let thepeople around you down.
And so, despite feeling pulledin a million different
directions, you're going to getup again tomorrow and you're
(04:44):
going to do it all again.
We totally get it.
And, again, this is why thispodcast is here to help you with
this.
We don't want to add to yourfrustrations.
We don't want to add to yourfeelings of guilt sometimes when
you're trying to juggle all theballs and dropping some.
What we want to do is we wantto introduce you to this concept
of smart business growth, andthat's why the entire podcast is
(05:07):
called this, because it isliterally everything we do and
talk about is about this smartgrowth in business.
As Ness said, it's leveragingthat people leadership component
.
So I would love to take amoment to share a little bit
about what actually is and isn'tsmart growth.
What do you reckon?
Ness (05:24):
Ness.
I think that's a brilliant idea.
Let's go for it.
Nicky (05:27):
And I'll keep it really simple because again, we're
introducing this concept andwe're redefining what success
looks like.
But, as an example, smartgrowth is not just focusing on
vanity numbers, just focusing onthose high level, surface level
numbers, sales targets, revenue, turnover.
It is about focusing on thosenumbers as well as profit in
(05:50):
business.
So when you're only focusing onone and not the other, that
means you're not focusing onsmart growth.
You're going to find that yourwheels are turning and it might
negatively impact cash flow.
Another area that you know ifyou are not in smart growth is
that your team are a team ofdoers.
Now, of course, we want ourteam to do.
(06:11):
That's kind of the point.
But when you do have smartgrowth, you also have a team of
decision makers.
So, the difference being a teamof doers, they're constantly
looking to you for guidance.
They won't work autonomouslywithout you in the business
doing the do, whereas a team ofdecision makers are empowered,
(06:31):
they're autonomous and they arenot relying on you being
tethered to the day-to-day toactually take action.
Make sense?
Yep, totally Excellent, good,okay.
The other thing is that we seea business or a business unit or
team that is not embracingsmart growth are very reactive
with their sales marketinglegion, and by that I mean maybe
(06:53):
it's purely relied on word ofmouth, it's relied on people
coming in, versus a smart growthbusiness is actually being
proactive in terms of howthey're doing sales activities,
how they're following up, what'stheir marketing strategy.
They're proactively reachingout and they're proactively
efficient with their salesstrategies.
(07:14):
And then the final tip I'llgive is that a business that's
not smart growth.
You find that the leaders andthe individuals in the team
they're kind of winging it.
So they're rocking up to workthat day and they're kind of
going, oh okay, where's my to-dolist?
And just picking a random task.
They're winging it throughoutthe day.
(07:35):
Not smart growth people.
A smart growth business, theteam, the individuals and the
leaders are really clear on whatare the top priorities that
week that they need to focus onso that, no matter if the
whirlwind happens and spoileralert, the whirlwind happens and
spoiler alert, the whirlwind isgoing to happen.
It will.
It will Guaranteed.
(07:57):
It's never not going to happen.
But no matter if that happens,you're still getting to the end
of the week where you've perhapsgot your top five or top three
tasks completed that are goingto help move the dial in terms
of achieving goals.
So there's a couple of differentways that you know if you are
or are not embracing thisconcept of smart growth in your
(08:18):
business.
Ultimately, it comes down tofour key areas.
How are you embracing the salesaspect, including systems, not
just conversations your profitaspect, which again, we could go
so deep into and we will withinthe podcast episodes in future.
How are you embracing yourplanning and your strategic
(08:39):
vision and actioning for yourbusiness and team and your team?
How are you creating aempowered, autonomous team?
So smart growth comes intothose four key areas and
categories and you might want torewind and listen to those key
contrasts that I shared and seehow many yeses or no you
received to kind of start tothink about is my business
(09:01):
embracing smart growth?
But we're going to help youtake it even a little bit
further, aren't we, ness?
Ness (09:05):
We absolutely are, and I think that this is really on the
back of some work that we'vebeen doing over the years that
we've been in business not justin business together, but in our
previous roles and what we'reseeing out there in the business
landscape, and it's really thatawareness of identifying at
which phase you're in right nowwhen it comes to smart growth,
(09:28):
so that you can be on the frontfoot, that you can build up to
this space, which we like tocall momentum.
But there's a few phases thatwe go through in order to get
there, and I'd love to share thefirst as we go through that in
relation to what we call crisismode.
Crisis mode is a businessthat's just in survival, and
you're going to be able tounderstand whether you're there
(09:50):
or not, because if you'refeeling like you're just running
off fumes, if you are focusingonly on the loudest thing that
gets your attention, whichusually doesn't have anything to
do with what you want to do andeverything to do with what
everybody else wants you to do,so that you're starting your
work at the end of the day, wheneveryone else has taken all
your energy out of you right,when everyone else has taken all
(10:14):
your energy out of you, right,it's just getting through day by
day.
It's just that exhaustion ofthe alarm's gone off.
I really just want to stay inbed, but I have to get up.
I've got to get moving, I'vegot to be there.
I'm the one who's going toeither make or break this
business being there, eventhough I've got a team, and it's
really frustrating.
So I would imagine that you knowwhen you're in that space, and
(10:37):
what we hear from our clientswho have been there, is that you
just feel like you don't haveany direction.
There's it's chaotic, it's ait's.
The whirlwind keeps sucking youdown.
You're in this vortex of justdoing, doing, doing all day, but
no breath to come up and looktowards the future, because we
all started business or wentinto our careers for a reason
(10:58):
right, there was the vision thatcaptured us into this, and
that's what our passion is about.
As business grows, as the teamcome on, you've got to deal with
people.
My God, how complicated are weas human beings.
The challenges of you know, theexternal factors, your clients
like it all comes into this bigball and you're just starting to
(11:19):
feel a little bit adrift.
So chances are, when you're inthat space.
There's no forward planning,there's no 90 day goal, there's
not even a reconnect backed intoyour vision, back into why
you're doing what you do and howthat helps you to live the life
that you want to live.
And, ultimately, I think it'sthat feeling of frustration with
a lack of autonomy and the poorcommunication within your team
(11:43):
which spoiler alert is areflection of you, because of
course it's going to be, ifyou're feeling exhausted, sapped
of energy and all of the above.
Nicky (11:56):
Do the Smart Growth Survey in under 60 seconds to
get your hands on our SmartGrowth Blueprint.
You'll get immediate access toour four favourite strategies
for sales, profit planning andteam, and you'll identify which
phase of smart growth yourbusiness is currently in,
whether it's crisis, buildgrowth or momentum mode, so that
you can move your way to thenext phase with ease.
(12:17):
All you have to do is click thelink in the show notes.
Ness (12:22):
So that is the starting point that we don't want you on.
We want you to move throughfrom really quickly from crisis
mode to build phase.
So, Nicky, do you want to talkabout build phase?
Nicky (12:33):
Yeah.
So when we look at the fourphases of smart growth, as Ness
said, we want if you're incrisis mode, we want to help get
you out, and that's alsoanother purpose of this podcast.
When you move from crisis tobuild, you know you might be
still feeling some of thosethings that Ness talked about.
You know you're feeling likeyou're spinning the wheels and
you're definitely still jugglingall the balls, but the
(12:55):
difference is that whilst somedays you might feel like you're
holding on by the skin of yourteeth, other days you're
starting to see the light.
You can see the light at theend of the tunnel.
You might have some reallygreat ideas and you've got the
space to ideate, but there's nota lot of space to actually
execute the ideas.
There might be some clarity onthe business goals, on the
(13:16):
business vision, but perhaps ithasn't translated to empowering
the team, so the team aren'tnecessarily autonomously
striving towards hitting thosesame outcomes or those same
goals.
It's almost like there's a lothappening in your mind and the
planning, but perhaps it hasn'ttranslated to the people around
you to help deliver that.
Definitely what we talked aboutbefore.
(13:38):
The team are delivering, butthat's reliant on you being in
the business and there'sprobably some inconsistencies
with sales profit communication.
The communication is betterthan in crisis mode, as Ness
ness talked about, but it'sstill hit and miss and there's.
You know we like to say thatwhat often happens in build
phase is there's this bury yourhead in the sand strategy.
(14:00):
It's like, ah, it's.
It's easier for me to bury myhead in the sand than to
actually do something different,although it's just there's a
lot of discomfort in how thingsare working.
It feels scarier, it feels likemore time than to try and do
things differently.
So you kind of stay as you areinstead of changing.
And I might jump into grow modeas well, ness, while I'm here,
(14:23):
because what we find is that alot of the clients that we work
with are getting out of thatcrisis mode and they're in the
build and the grow phase.
And you know there's reallysome commonalities there because
, again, growth is building onbuild, if I can say that.
So you're starting to see moreconsistency with the team, but
it's still a little bit wobbly.
(14:44):
There's more clarity ofoutcomes and autonomous with the
team, but you're still tetheredto the business in order for
results to happen, despite theexternal challenges that are
happening around you.
You're starting to get somegood systems in place.
In growth mode, you're startingto put systems in around sales,
(15:04):
around profits.
So again, it's creating alittle bit more space for you to
be able to step back.
Now in growth mode, there'sdefinitely some really good
things happening in business.
The danger zone is that you fallinto a space of it's good
enough Now.
That can be the thing thatcauses a plateau or a decline in
(15:25):
the business, and there's stillso many spinning plates that
you're a bit nervous as thebusiness owner and leader, that
if you take your eye off one ofthose spinning plates then all
of them will be dropped.
So what we find in growth modeis that, even though the team is
starting to step up,communication is starting to get
better, there's a bit moreautonomy.
(15:46):
You might have a holiday.
You might be at the point whereI feel like I could have a
holiday, but success is stillreally relying on me.
You might have a holiday, butyou feel like you have to work
on your holiday or you've got tocheck in on your emails or have
your phone handy in case you'reneeded.
So that's a really big tell thatyou're in growth mode.
(16:08):
It's almost like you've got onefoot in and one foot out.
In terms of by out, I mean,you've got almost a little bit
of freedom in the business andit's just a few tweaks to be
able to really be able to stepback.
That danger of good enough isby staying stuck in the business
.
For example, the business isstill achieving results, or it
(16:29):
might be that, ah, we've gotsome good systems over here
around sales, we've got noneover here.
But you know what, it's fine,it's good enough.
And when you can, if you findyourself thinking that, when you
can catch yourself in thoseareas, when you can put
strategies in place in thoseareas, that's when you can move
to the next stage, which I'mgoing to hand back to you.
(16:49):
Ness, because this is the goldenticket of where we want to end
up.
Ness (16:56):
Well, we like to call this momentum, and really what we
want you to do when you're inmomentum phase is to take time
to acknowledge that you're there.
Step back, celebrate thisresult.
Time to acknowledge that you'rethere, step back, celebrate
this result.
Reflect on what it is it'staken you to get here.
What's the secret to success inyour business, or if you're a
leader in your team and we know,as you do too, that it's not a
(17:23):
done and forget.
Right, we don't clean our teethonce and then we have great
dental hygiene for the rest ofour lives.
It is something that we have tocontinue.
I know how good that would be.
Imagine how many minutes ofevery day we get back, but it's
that whole.
No business is 100% consistentand 100% steady all the time,
because you could be at thatphase and then something can
(17:46):
happen.
In the market, you could loseyour highest paying client, you
could have team members thatleave that are key people in
your business.
There's always going to besomething out there or for
yourself, something could happenin your life that's going to
take your attention away.
So this is why we call whereyou're at momentum, because, as
we know, momentum builds, andonce momentum builds, it is
(18:09):
easier to move forward, but it'simportant to look at what's
working and make sure that thoseplates don't drop.
So what is it that we need tohave in place in order to be
able to continue at this level?
And sometimes what is actuallyneeded is for you to slow down,
maybe step out of the business.
What is actually needed is foryou to slow down, maybe step out
(18:31):
of the business, get away to dothat big picture on the balcony
, looking and gain momentumtowards what's the next frontier
of growth for us, what's next,and so really stepping into that
visionary role that thebusiness needs you to be, that
your team needs you to be.
So, really, this entire podcastis going to be dedicated to
these smart growth strategiespeople leadership for peak
(18:54):
performance, as I said earlier,so that you're thriving, your
business is thriving, your teamare thriving, and Nicky and I
will be sharing our knowledge,our experience with you along
the way.
Plus, we will be having someamazing guests that will be
joining us over the course ofthis season, who are going to
help us to be able to just lookat things from a different
(19:15):
perspective or a different lens,or bring a different idea into
it that's going to perhaps sparksome curiosity in you and maybe
some innovation in you andmaybe something that you want to
take away and apply so that youcan continually move through
and get out of these sort ofcrisis and build modes and
towards that growth and momentum.
So, nick, what do you reckon aswe wrap up our first episode of
(19:39):
season two?
What is the actionable actionthat we can have our viewers and
our listeners do today?
Nicky (19:46):
I love it and for those of you who are dedicated,
long-time listeners and watchers, you'll notice this ain't
changing.
We're going to finish everyepisode with an actionable
action, because we want this tobe a pragmatic tool that you can
use in your business and life,and what we'd love for you to do
today it's kind of a no-brainer.
We've talked about the conceptof smart growth.
(20:06):
What are some key areas toidentify if you are or aren't
embracing smart growth?
And we really think it'simportant for you to be able to
identify what phase of smartgrowth am I in?
Am I in crisis?
Am I in build?
Am I in growth or am I inmomentum?
And, as Ness said, it's veryfluid.
You could do this every six to12 months and you might get a
(20:29):
slightly different result, andyou'll also know exactly what
you need to focus on to move tomomentum.
So we've created a 60 secondsurvey, super quick survey for
you to do, where you will findout immediately what phase of
smart growth you're in, and thenwe're also going to share with
you that will unlock whereyou'll get immediate access in
(20:49):
your email our four favoritestrategies and actually I say
it's our four favorite, but it'snot our four favorite
strategies.
It's our clients favoritestrategies.
So the four strategies aroundsales, profit, team and planning
one for each that our clientsare loving.
That is helping them stay in aplace of momentum or growth,
(21:10):
moving to momentum.
So we want to give you thisbecause we know how powerful it
can be and we understand thechaos that businesses are in at
the moment.
So all you have to do is clickthe link in the show notes.
You will find out exactly whereyou sit, what phase you're in
and you'll have four strategiesthat you can implement.
And I will say that these arestrategies that are designed for
(21:31):
busy people.
You can do them straight away.
It's not like a big hoo-ha.
We're not faffing about.
We just want to get in and getsome results for you.
So that's your actionableaction for today.
Ness (21:44):
Fantastic.
I encourage you all to jumpacross to the link below in the
show notes and carry that out.
Please feel free to reach outto us, as always, on LinkedIn or
wherever you may be, and untilnext week we shall say goodbye
for now, see you later.
Thanks for listening to today'sep.
If you loved what you heard,connect with us over on LinkedIn
(22:05):
and let's continue theconversation over there.
Connect with us over onLinkedIn and let's continue the
conversation over there.
Nicky and I are obsessed withhelping businesses install smart
business growth strategies andleveraging people leadership for
peak performance.
We bring two business minds andtwo perspectives into your
business, and our number onegoal is to make sure that your
(22:25):
business is thriving, your teamare thriving and you are
thriving.
We offer a 30-day businessdiagnostic, taking you from
chaos to clarity in just 30 days.
Are you curious to find outmore?
Send us an email or go oldschool and give us a call.
Until next time, happylistening and here's to thriving
(22:45):
in business and in life.
Welcome to the Smart Business Growth Podcast with
Nicky and.
Ness.
Ness (00:11):
We would like to acknowledge the traditional
custodians of country, theTurrbal and Bunurong people of
Brisbane and Melbournerespectively, where Nikki and I
both work and live, both workand live.
Nicky (00:31):
Hey everyone and welcome to the very first episode of
Smart Business Growth Podcast.
Say hi, Nicky, hello everybody,beautiful listeners, beautiful
watchers.
It is so wonderful to be back.
Ness (00:38):
It absolutely is, and we wanted to just take some time to
talk to you today about whatthis podcast is going to be
about.
It's a fresh season.
We're talking about smartbusiness growth and really what
we're not going to be doing ishaving just a far side chat, you
know, although sometimes it'dbe quite entertaining, but what
we want to deliver you issomething that's pragmatic, that
(01:00):
it's actionable, that'sstrategic, so that every single
episode that we do delivers realworld, high value, high impact
advice that empowers you to worksmarter and not harder, because
we are not about hustle culturehere.
Absolutely, it's a hill we'rewilling to die on.
It's about working smarter, notharder, and it's really about
(01:23):
finding a way to balance havinga successful business or leading
a team to create an outstandingresult and still having a life
that you love, that isfulfilling, that allows you to
spend time with the people thatmatter the most, and then those
two work hand in hand.
So many of you will know whohave worked with us or know us
(01:45):
and those who don't what Nickand I are all about in business
together is installing smartgrowth strategies and people
performance sorry, peopleleadership for peak performance,
and really what we see is whenwe have that combination of
those two, then your businessthrives, your team thrive and
(02:10):
you thrive, and that's reallyimportant to us, because this is
not about the 5am club.
It's not about go, go, go, workharder, work harder, and we are
so not into burnout.
You know we want to avoid thatand we know that when we have
smart business growth, when wehave strong leadership and
people strategies, those twocombined can really give us back
(02:32):
some time freedom.
It can really help us step awayfrom being everything to
everyone in the business, and Ijust think you know the ability
to really deliver in thisfast-paced world that we're in
is about working smarter and notharder, and that's no longer a
luxury.
That really is about how wemake a difference in order to be
(02:55):
able to love what we do insideof work and love what we do
outside of work, and it's justsomething that we're really
obsessed about, because we wantto empower you as business
owners, as leaders, to takecontrol back and feel like
you're in charge of what's goingto come next, which is pretty
(03:15):
exciting really.
What about you, nick?
Nicky (03:17):
absolutely, nessa.
I couldn't agree more.
And you know we've got toreframe what business success
looks like.
We've got to show it's kind ofa duty of care actually for us
as business leaders whether youare a business owner, whether
you're leading a team of peoplein somebody else's business or
in a big business, it's our dutyof care to show that there is a
(03:39):
different way and redefine whatsuccess looks like because,
let's face it, it's pretty damnchallenging sometimes between
navigating.
I mean, we've got economicuncertainties, we've got global
and local impacts of worldevents.
How is that impacting ourmental health, our team's mental
health?
Meanwhile, you still have tokeep the business afloat or the
(04:01):
team afloat.
You're managing day to dayoperations.
You're ensuring consistent leadflow.
You're delivering for clientshave to keep the business afloat
or the team afloat.
You're managing day-to-dayoperations.
You're ensuring consistent leadflow.
You're delivering for clients.
You're supporting and engagingyour team.
I mean, oh, my goodness, thereis just so much and it is really
easy and to feel stretched, tofeel pulled in a million
different directions.
And we see so many businessowners, so many leaders that are
(04:24):
drowning in that day-to-daywhirlwind of business.
But we know you.
We know that you are a highperformer.
We know that you want successand, most importantly, we know
that you don't want to let thepeople around you down.
And so, despite feeling pulledin a million different
directions, you're going to getup again tomorrow and you're
(04:44):
going to do it all again.
We totally get it.
And, again, this is why thispodcast is here to help you with
this.
We don't want to add to yourfrustrations.
We don't want to add to yourfeelings of guilt sometimes when
you're trying to juggle all theballs and dropping some.
What we want to do is we wantto introduce you to this concept
of smart business growth, andthat's why the entire podcast is
(05:07):
called this, because it isliterally everything we do and
talk about is about this smartgrowth in business.
As Ness said, it's leveragingthat people leadership component
.
So I would love to take amoment to share a little bit
about what actually is and isn'tsmart growth.
What do you reckon?
Ness (05:24):
Ness.
I think that's a brilliant idea.
Let's go for it.
Nicky (05:27):
And I'll keep it really simple because again, we're
introducing this concept andwe're redefining what success
looks like.
But, as an example, smartgrowth is not just focusing on
vanity numbers, just focusing onthose high level, surface level
numbers, sales targets, revenue, turnover.
It is about focusing on thosenumbers as well as profit in
(05:50):
business.
So when you're only focusing onone and not the other, that
means you're not focusing onsmart growth.
You're going to find that yourwheels are turning and it might
negatively impact cash flow.
Another area that you know ifyou are not in smart growth is
that your team are a team ofdoers.
Now, of course, we want ourteam to do.
(06:11):
That's kind of the point.
But when you do have smartgrowth, you also have a team of
decision makers.
So, the difference being a teamof doers, they're constantly
looking to you for guidance.
They won't work autonomouslywithout you in the business
doing the do, whereas a team ofdecision makers are empowered,
(06:31):
they're autonomous and they arenot relying on you being
tethered to the day-to-day toactually take action.
Make sense?
Yep, totally Excellent, good,okay.
The other thing is that we seea business or a business unit or
team that is not embracingsmart growth are very reactive
with their sales marketinglegion, and by that I mean maybe
(06:53):
it's purely relied on word ofmouth, it's relied on people
coming in, versus a smart growthbusiness is actually being
proactive in terms of howthey're doing sales activities,
how they're following up, what'stheir marketing strategy.
They're proactively reachingout and they're proactively
efficient with their salesstrategies.
(07:14):
And then the final tip I'llgive is that a business that's
not smart growth.
You find that the leaders andthe individuals in the team
they're kind of winging it.
So they're rocking up to workthat day and they're kind of
going, oh okay, where's my to-dolist?
And just picking a random task.
They're winging it throughoutthe day.
(07:35):
Not smart growth people.
A smart growth business, theteam, the individuals and the
leaders are really clear on whatare the top priorities that
week that they need to focus onso that, no matter if the
whirlwind happens and spoileralert, the whirlwind happens and
spoiler alert, the whirlwind isgoing to happen.
It will.
It will Guaranteed.
(07:57):
It's never not going to happen.
But no matter if that happens,you're still getting to the end
of the week where you've perhapsgot your top five or top three
tasks completed that are goingto help move the dial in terms
of achieving goals.
So there's a couple of differentways that you know if you are
or are not embracing thisconcept of smart growth in your
(08:18):
business.
Ultimately, it comes down tofour key areas.
How are you embracing the salesaspect, including systems, not
just conversations your profitaspect, which again, we could go
so deep into and we will withinthe podcast episodes in future.
How are you embracing yourplanning and your strategic
(08:39):
vision and actioning for yourbusiness and team and your team?
How are you creating aempowered, autonomous team?
So smart growth comes intothose four key areas and
categories and you might want torewind and listen to those key
contrasts that I shared and seehow many yeses or no you
received to kind of start tothink about is my business
(09:01):
embracing smart growth?
But we're going to help youtake it even a little bit
further, aren't we, ness?
Ness (09:05):
We absolutely are, and I think that this is really on the
back of some work that we'vebeen doing over the years that
we've been in business not justin business together, but in our
previous roles and what we'reseeing out there in the business
landscape, and it's really thatawareness of identifying at
which phase you're in right nowwhen it comes to smart growth,
(09:28):
so that you can be on the frontfoot, that you can build up to
this space, which we like tocall momentum.
But there's a few phases thatwe go through in order to get
there, and I'd love to share thefirst as we go through that in
relation to what we call crisismode.
Crisis mode is a businessthat's just in survival, and
you're going to be able tounderstand whether you're there
(09:50):
or not, because if you'refeeling like you're just running
off fumes, if you are focusingonly on the loudest thing that
gets your attention, whichusually doesn't have anything to
do with what you want to do andeverything to do with what
everybody else wants you to do,so that you're starting your
work at the end of the day, wheneveryone else has taken all
your energy out of you right,when everyone else has taken all
(10:14):
your energy out of you, right,it's just getting through day by
day.
It's just that exhaustion ofthe alarm's gone off.
I really just want to stay inbed, but I have to get up.
I've got to get moving, I'vegot to be there.
I'm the one who's going toeither make or break this
business being there, eventhough I've got a team, and it's
really frustrating.
So I would imagine that you knowwhen you're in that space, and
(10:37):
what we hear from our clientswho have been there, is that you
just feel like you don't haveany direction.
There's it's chaotic, it's ait's.
The whirlwind keeps sucking youdown.
You're in this vortex of justdoing, doing, doing all day, but
no breath to come up and looktowards the future, because we
all started business or wentinto our careers for a reason
(10:58):
right, there was the vision thatcaptured us into this, and
that's what our passion is about.
As business grows, as the teamcome on, you've got to deal with
people.
My God, how complicated are weas human beings.
The challenges of you know, theexternal factors, your clients
like it all comes into this bigball and you're just starting to
(11:19):
feel a little bit adrift.
So chances are, when you're inthat space.
There's no forward planning,there's no 90 day goal, there's
not even a reconnect backed intoyour vision, back into why
you're doing what you do and howthat helps you to live the life
that you want to live.
And, ultimately, I think it'sthat feeling of frustration with
a lack of autonomy and the poorcommunication within your team
(11:43):
which spoiler alert is areflection of you, because of
course it's going to be, ifyou're feeling exhausted, sapped
of energy and all of the above.
Nicky (11:56):
Do the Smart Growth Survey in under 60 seconds to
get your hands on our SmartGrowth Blueprint.
You'll get immediate access toour four favourite strategies
for sales, profit planning andteam, and you'll identify which
phase of smart growth yourbusiness is currently in,
whether it's crisis, buildgrowth or momentum mode, so that
you can move your way to thenext phase with ease.
(12:17):
All you have to do is click thelink in the show notes.
Ness (12:22):
So that is the starting point that we don't want you on.
We want you to move throughfrom really quickly from crisis
mode to build phase.
So, Nicky, do you want to talkabout build phase?
Nicky (12:33):
Yeah.
So when we look at the fourphases of smart growth, as Ness
said, we want if you're incrisis mode, we want to help get
you out, and that's alsoanother purpose of this podcast.
When you move from crisis tobuild, you know you might be
still feeling some of thosethings that Ness talked about.
You know you're feeling likeyou're spinning the wheels and
you're definitely still jugglingall the balls, but the
(12:55):
difference is that whilst somedays you might feel like you're
holding on by the skin of yourteeth, other days you're
starting to see the light.
You can see the light at theend of the tunnel.
You might have some reallygreat ideas and you've got the
space to ideate, but there's nota lot of space to actually
execute the ideas.
There might be some clarity onthe business goals, on the
(13:16):
business vision, but perhaps ithasn't translated to empowering
the team, so the team aren'tnecessarily autonomously
striving towards hitting thosesame outcomes or those same
goals.
It's almost like there's a lothappening in your mind and the
planning, but perhaps it hasn'ttranslated to the people around
you to help deliver that.
Definitely what we talked aboutbefore.
(13:38):
The team are delivering, butthat's reliant on you being in
the business and there'sprobably some inconsistencies
with sales profit communication.
The communication is betterthan in crisis mode, as Ness
ness talked about, but it'sstill hit and miss and there's.
You know we like to say thatwhat often happens in build
phase is there's this bury yourhead in the sand strategy.
(14:00):
It's like, ah, it's.
It's easier for me to bury myhead in the sand than to
actually do something different,although it's just there's a
lot of discomfort in how thingsare working.
It feels scarier, it feels likemore time than to try and do
things differently.
So you kind of stay as you areinstead of changing.
And I might jump into grow modeas well, ness, while I'm here,
(14:23):
because what we find is that alot of the clients that we work
with are getting out of thatcrisis mode and they're in the
build and the grow phase.
And you know there's reallysome commonalities there because
, again, growth is building onbuild, if I can say that.
So you're starting to see moreconsistency with the team, but
it's still a little bit wobbly.
(14:44):
There's more clarity ofoutcomes and autonomous with the
team, but you're still tetheredto the business in order for
results to happen, despite theexternal challenges that are
happening around you.
You're starting to get somegood systems in place.
In growth mode, you're startingto put systems in around sales,
(15:04):
around profits.
So again, it's creating alittle bit more space for you to
be able to step back.
Now in growth mode, there'sdefinitely some really good
things happening in business.
The danger zone is that you fallinto a space of it's good
enough Now.
That can be the thing thatcauses a plateau or a decline in
(15:25):
the business, and there's stillso many spinning plates that
you're a bit nervous as thebusiness owner and leader, that
if you take your eye off one ofthose spinning plates then all
of them will be dropped.
So what we find in growth modeis that, even though the team is
starting to step up,communication is starting to get
better, there's a bit moreautonomy.
(15:46):
You might have a holiday.
You might be at the point whereI feel like I could have a
holiday, but success is stillreally relying on me.
You might have a holiday, butyou feel like you have to work
on your holiday or you've got tocheck in on your emails or have
your phone handy in case you'reneeded.
So that's a really big tell thatyou're in growth mode.
(16:08):
It's almost like you've got onefoot in and one foot out.
In terms of by out, I mean,you've got almost a little bit
of freedom in the business andit's just a few tweaks to be
able to really be able to stepback.
That danger of good enough isby staying stuck in the business
.
For example, the business isstill achieving results, or it
(16:29):
might be that, ah, we've gotsome good systems over here
around sales, we've got noneover here.
But you know what, it's fine,it's good enough.
And when you can, if you findyourself thinking that, when you
can catch yourself in thoseareas, when you can put
strategies in place in thoseareas, that's when you can move
to the next stage, which I'mgoing to hand back to you.
(16:49):
Ness, because this is the goldenticket of where we want to end
up.
Ness (16:56):
Well, we like to call this momentum, and really what we
want you to do when you're inmomentum phase is to take time
to acknowledge that you're there.
Step back, celebrate thisresult.
Time to acknowledge that you'rethere, step back, celebrate
this result.
Reflect on what it is it'staken you to get here.
What's the secret to success inyour business, or if you're a
leader in your team and we know,as you do too, that it's not a
(17:23):
done and forget.
Right, we don't clean our teethonce and then we have great
dental hygiene for the rest ofour lives.
It is something that we have tocontinue.
I know how good that would be.
Imagine how many minutes ofevery day we get back, but it's
that whole.
No business is 100% consistentand 100% steady all the time,
because you could be at thatphase and then something can
(17:46):
happen.
In the market, you could loseyour highest paying client, you
could have team members thatleave that are key people in
your business.
There's always going to besomething out there or for
yourself, something could happenin your life that's going to
take your attention away.
So this is why we call whereyou're at momentum, because, as
we know, momentum builds, andonce momentum builds, it is
(18:09):
easier to move forward, but it'simportant to look at what's
working and make sure that thoseplates don't drop.
So what is it that we need tohave in place in order to be
able to continue at this level?
And sometimes what is actuallyneeded is for you to slow down,
maybe step out of the business.
What is actually needed is foryou to slow down, maybe step out
(18:31):
of the business, get away to dothat big picture on the balcony
, looking and gain momentumtowards what's the next frontier
of growth for us, what's next,and so really stepping into that
visionary role that thebusiness needs you to be, that
your team needs you to be.
So, really, this entire podcastis going to be dedicated to
these smart growth strategiespeople leadership for peak
(18:54):
performance, as I said earlier,so that you're thriving, your
business is thriving, your teamare thriving, and Nicky and I
will be sharing our knowledge,our experience with you along
the way.
Plus, we will be having someamazing guests that will be
joining us over the course ofthis season, who are going to
help us to be able to just lookat things from a different
(19:15):
perspective or a different lens,or bring a different idea into
it that's going to perhaps sparksome curiosity in you and maybe
some innovation in you andmaybe something that you want to
take away and apply so that youcan continually move through
and get out of these sort ofcrisis and build modes and
towards that growth and momentum.
So, nick, what do you reckon aswe wrap up our first episode of
(19:39):
season two?
What is the actionable actionthat we can have our viewers and
our listeners do today?
Nicky (19:46):
I love it and for those of you who are dedicated,
long-time listeners and watchers, you'll notice this ain't
changing.
We're going to finish everyepisode with an actionable
action, because we want this tobe a pragmatic tool that you can
use in your business and life,and what we'd love for you to do
today it's kind of a no-brainer.
We've talked about the conceptof smart growth.
(20:06):
What are some key areas toidentify if you are or aren't
embracing smart growth?
And we really think it'simportant for you to be able to
identify what phase of smartgrowth am I in?
Am I in crisis?
Am I in build?
Am I in growth or am I inmomentum?
And, as Ness said, it's veryfluid.
You could do this every six to12 months and you might get a
(20:29):
slightly different result, andyou'll also know exactly what
you need to focus on to move tomomentum.
So we've created a 60 secondsurvey, super quick survey for
you to do, where you will findout immediately what phase of
smart growth you're in, and thenwe're also going to share with
you that will unlock whereyou'll get immediate access in
(20:49):
your email our four favoritestrategies and actually I say
it's our four favorite, but it'snot our four favorite
strategies.
It's our clients favoritestrategies.
So the four strategies aroundsales, profit, team and planning
one for each that our clientsare loving.
That is helping them stay in aplace of momentum or growth,
(21:10):
moving to momentum.
So we want to give you thisbecause we know how powerful it
can be and we understand thechaos that businesses are in at
the moment.
So all you have to do is clickthe link in the show notes.
You will find out exactly whereyou sit, what phase you're in
and you'll have four strategiesthat you can implement.
And I will say that these arestrategies that are designed for
(21:31):
busy people.
You can do them straight away.
It's not like a big hoo-ha.
We're not faffing about.
We just want to get in and getsome results for you.
So that's your actionableaction for today.
Ness (21:44):
Fantastic.
I encourage you all to jumpacross to the link below in the
show notes and carry that out.
Please feel free to reach outto us, as always, on LinkedIn or
wherever you may be, and untilnext week we shall say goodbye
for now, see you later.
Thanks for listening to today'sep.
If you loved what you heard,connect with us over on LinkedIn
(22:05):
and let's continue theconversation over there.
Connect with us over onLinkedIn and let's continue the
conversation over there.
Nicky and I are obsessed withhelping businesses install smart
business growth strategies andleveraging people leadership for
peak performance.
We bring two business minds andtwo perspectives into your
business, and our number onegoal is to make sure that your
(22:25):
business is thriving, your teamare thriving and you are
thriving.
We offer a 30-day businessdiagnostic, taking you from
chaos to clarity in just 30 days.
Are you curious to find outmore?
Send us an email or go oldschool and give us a call.
Until next time, happylistening and here's to thriving
(22:45):
in business and in life.
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