Episode 85 Podcast Transcript
Speaker 1 (00:00):
That’s what a power team is all about. They’re there to protect you. They’re there to save you a lot of money, but they’re there also to make you a lot of money because they’ve got the specialist skill sets in their areas of expertise that there’s no way that you can be an expert in as well as trying to run a business. Hi everyone. Rob Kropp and Dan Stones here from Pravar Group and welcome back to another episode of The Trade Den. Hey Dan, how are you? Good to have you back.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I’m great. Thank you Rob. Hi everyone. Really looking forward to today. It’s a very important topic. It’s something that everyone needs and we’re talking about power teams and we’re not talking about when we say power team, we’re not talking about your ground crew or your office crew. We’re talking about the people, the external professionals and advisors that help build your business in a way that’s safe, that it’s the way that it should be built within the confines of the laws, the regulations, the professional advice that you need. And I think this is where a lot of business owners go wrong because they think that they underestimate the cost or the opportunity cost of businesses decisions and the idea of not making a decision, the idea of making the wrong decision, all of it comes with a cost and I think having the right power team around you minimises the penalties or the tax if you like, of trying to do this all by yourself.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, when I think about a power team, it kind of comes in two layers of support. There’s either those advisors or there’s the specialists. And when I think about what an advisor is, they’re the people that somewhat help you on an ongoing basis to help them make the strategic decisions. They’re like your coach, your accountant, your lawyer, almost someone you advise. They’re almost in your pocket, your inner circle of people who make those ongoing decisions with you. But then you’re always going to have those specialists who they can either handle a certain function that you want to be able to engage someone for or it might be a specialist project type of thing that you want to get them involved in. So this power team can somewhat come in two forms, but it’s about understanding who’s who in the zoo and the role that these people play.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, and I think the other thing is that continuity. You spoke about your advisors and people like that, keeping them up to date, keeping them close and you’re touching base with them. Often for me, specialists like you said, an IT person or someone that’s coming in to help with a specific project, a specialist marketing person, they’re people that you’d bring in for specific moments or times or events that happen in the business, but they’re just as important a function in the business or in that power team. So some you’ll hire directly and some you’ll pay for the specific service as it’s needed at the time it’s needed.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I think it’s important that we remember that when you’re trying to grow a business that it not your power team isn’t a set and forget type of thing. And I know I was like when you’re trying to get a business out of the ground, you’re somewhat bootstrapping this business and it’s almost like you’ve got to find the best person you can at what you can afford at the time. And it’s important to remember that as your business does grow, there’s going to be times where you as a business owner or the business naturally does outgrow your advisors and your specialists. The people that help you get to here aren’t always going to be the people that get you to where you want to go. And that’s okay, isn’t it?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, of course it is. I think it’s a sign of growth. It’s not a personal attack, you’re not dumping people, you’re not selling out or whatever it is that might be in your mind about what a good bloke would do versus someone else. But what you’re really doing is picking the right people to help you along the way. And like we said, the penalties will be there regardless whether or not you’ve been loyal to that person or not, but as your business demands more, you do something wrong, you make a wrong step, you will pay the price for that. So part of that is not having the right advice on the right people in your corner. So I think there’s that element as well that people think, well, I’ve ticked the box, I’ve got an accountant, great, but just as you said, you get what you pay for to an extent. Not all accountants are equal just because they can say they’re accountants. And I’ve seen countless times with clients where it’s blatantly obvious that you’ve got to change accountants, but the mindset is almost like, well, why I’ve got an accountant, why do I need a different one? But I think this is all coming back to it’s time to grow past that, it’s time to stump up because you can access that next level of advice. There’s a lot of differences in terms of people, even though they call themselves the same thing in this advisory world.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Definitely. And I think a lot of people go down the line in business and they either hang on the loyalty of that relationship that they’ve got or they don’t know what they should be looking for or they don’t know that they’re actually being under service from a service point of view. And so someone that if your business is turning over half a million dollars, that marketing agency or IT person or accountant might have served you well at that point. But as your business grows and as you grow and things become more complex, you’ve got to understand that sometimes you need a more complex relationship and advice and that’s really important. So the bookkeeper that got you into the business may not be the bookkeeper you need. Now, the account that helps you when you’re a one man band may not be the advice that you’ve got now when you’re running a $3 million business.
(05:37):
The agency that helps you just get out of the ground and start a basic website may not be the agency that you’ve got now. As you said, evolution is inevitable, growth is inevitable, and sometimes you naturally do outgrow people in your power team and that’s okay because what got the people who helped you get into business aren’t always the people who need to help you today and going forward and having the right people around you can not only save you a lot of money, but it can unlock a lot of opportunity in terms of growth in your world with the right advice and that’s why today’s episode’s so important.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, absolutely. So let’s have a look at the power team in detail who they are and the roles they play. Just to give you some ideas about the scope and the amount of work that can be done by these essential players. And Rob, I think the first one without a doubt has to be your accountant.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
The accountant would absolutely be a foundational player as an advisor in your power team. And when I think about what the role of the accountant does, they play the role of having the correct corporate structures in place. They obviously play a key role in terms of tax, tax advice, tax minimization, and keeping your compliance underway. But then where I think a lot of people miss the trick with their accountant is that they don’t lean on them or leverage their advice throughout the year to be able to get advice from them, from ongoing decisions around implications around purchasing vehicles or putting on new people and all those types of things throughout the year. And so your accountant is more than just someone that you speak to once a year at tax time. They’re really that person that should be in your corner for around structures tax and then ongoing, not necessarily coaching or business advice, but it’s the implications from a financial and taxation compliance side of things when you do make those decisions within your business.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, I see a lot of clients and a lot of people treat their accountant as if they’re the judge and jury, and that one meeting a year is, well, how did I get on? How did I do? Did I good or did I not do good? And that’s basically the extent of the conversation and they get their bill and then they get their tax bill or whatever it is, and that’s the extent of the arrangement. I think the big trick outside of the ones that you had, the other one I think of a lot is forecasting. What are my obligations going to look like? As you go through business, you start doing well, you underestimate the amount of regulations and taxes that you’re going to be subject to, but if you can talk to your accountant regularly enough, they can help you plan for that as well in a future sense. Not just tell you what the bill is and when it’s due, but when it will be due in the future and how much you should be looking at. Which then allows you to start to plan out a few more things and get a few steps ahead.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Correct. And we see it a lot with business owners and they’re like, well, how do I know if I’ve good got a good accountant? And at a minimum you definitely want to be doing tax planning with your accountant and it’s not you going to your accountant going, let’s do some tax planning. They should be on the front foot and doing tax planning well before June 30 because they want to be able to talk to you around your projected tax bill if you’re going to have one around your superannuation and your obligations and all those types of things because tax planning is timing of the essence before June 30. So you definitely want to be doing tax planning around April and May of each year. Then you want to be talking to them closer to end of financial year to make sure you’ve got everything ticked off.
(09:19):
And then that period between August, september, October, November, December, you’re going to be in there with your accountant, they’re going to be doing your end of year financials. So really the first six months and the last six months is tax planning and tax reporting and that completion when I think then that the next layer to that is, like I was saying before, is you want to go to your accountant to be able to talk about decisions before you pull the trigger on it. So before you buy something, talk to your accountant about it before you make a move on this, whether it’s something inside of the business or an investment outside of the business. Once you’ve done it, it’s too late. You can’t undo a tax implication. So when you go to put a new vehicle on, talk to your accountant about, well, how should we structure this? Where should we do it? What’s the implications of doing this? Or if you’re buying an investment property or whatever it is, talk to them about the implications of decisions so you fully understand what needs to happen from a purchasing and a tax implication before you pull the trigger on it. Once you do it, it’s way too late.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah, absolutely. I grew up in an accounting firm household. My dad was an accountant and the two things he used to say is you need to be able to anticipate what’s coming and you need to maximise your options. And that’s just pure good accountant thinking is that I can maximise my options if I get in early enough to have the conversation with the accountant. As you said, if you wait too long, it’s too late. If the decision’s made and now we’ve got to rectify a situation or we’ve just got to live with the consequences, your options go way down. So big trick that people miss when they deal with their accountant. What about the next one? And it’s probably good to talk about the differences here, but the next one I think is financial planner.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, the role of a financial planner has very much changed over the last years and over the last few years and your accountants somewhat looking back on what’s been done, they’re looking back on the numbers from a business perspective, a financial advisor is more looking forward and they’re more looking, they’re somewhat like your personal coach for your personal finances. They can’t give you advice on necessarily tax and structures. They can talk to you around certain implications, but they’re going to be talking to you around three main areas around wealth protection, wealth creation, and wealth distribution. They’re probably the three main buckets that I would say an advisor has and your accountant and your advisor should work together to be able to give you a well-rounded advice of looking back and being able to look forward to make sure the decisions you’re making go hand in hand.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Why do you think a financial plan is really important for a business owner in particular?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
When you’re running a business, there’s a whole nother layer of risk that you carry, and I think what they do is there’s the, it’s about putting the strategy in place to mitigate that risk, but then it’s about getting the profit that you make from that business actually working for you and building wealth outside of the business at the right time. So your accountant is going to be working with you around structuring your entities correctly, minimising the tax that you pay on the profits that you make, but remember you want to maximise profits, not minimise your tax because paying tax is the sign of a healthy business and it’s just a cost of success. But then when you get that profit and you pay the tax on it, well, what are we going to do with it and how are we going to build wealth and how do we get our business maximising the amount of profit we make and then extracting that profit at the right time once you’ve earned the right and go and do something with it. And that’s where a financial advisor could somewhat coach you through what are the right strategies outside of the business world to go and build wealth outside of the business.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah, I love that. It’s a huge one and you can trip yourself up massively. You can do everything right with your accountant and then still on that extraction side, that wealth creation side, you can miss a trick. So financial planners are pretty essential in that space to keep you up to date with the best ways to move forward longer term as well. I think there’s a longer window that they could look at. So Rob, you mentioned there’s sort of the three key building blocks or the strategies. Do you want to just go just a little bit more detail about what you mean by the difference probably between protection, creation and distribution of wealth?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, when I think around protection, that’s probably the fundamental layer of just having the right mechanisms in place. I would say that’s probably getting your structures incorrectly, mitigating any risk management that you’ve got, any powers of attorneys or anything like that at a foundational level, even just the fundamentals of having your personal insurances in place. A lot of people assume, well, I’ve got my superannuation and I’ve got my insurances bundled up in there, but do you have the right insurance in the right names at the right level of coverage and the right cover? And so that’s where a really good financial planner will help you get that foundational level. In terms of the protection side of things, the wealth creation side of things, planners have evolved over a period of time where they’ve gone from just selling product and now selling strategy and this is where they can kind of give advice around, well, what to invest in?
(15:04):
Is it going to be a share portfolio? Is it going to be a property portfolio? What are you going to do with your superannuation and make sure that that’s working for you. So really the wealth creation piece is getting your money outside of the business working for you. And then the wealth distribution part is, well, the wealth distribution part is really important because what’s the point in building a great business and making all this money if you don’t have the right mechanisms in place around estate plannings and wills and intergenerational wealth planning and advice. And so something can happen like this tomorrow to any one of us and we want to make sure we’ve got those wills and estate planning in place to be able to ensure that the money flows to the right people over a period of time. So those three layers are super critical and that’s where an advisor will give you the advice around that, but they will work hand in hand with your accountant and a solicitor to be able to make sure those things are all tied in together. That’s why an accountant, a financial planner and a solicitor are the three most important people in your foundational power team.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
You mentioned it there. The third one, which is lawyer or solicitor.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
This person is really important and these people in your power team play a really critical role for the different elements within your business. And even within a solicitor, there’s probably not a one size fits all either. And so it’s about finding a solicitor company that probably has different departments because you’ve got to remember there’s the commercial element of your business, there’s the human resources and the industrial relationship side of things, there’s the contracts element side of things as well. And not one solicitor can generally specialise in these areas. And so over time, what you’ve got to be able to really lean on is a really good solicitor that can help you with commercial contracts and HR side of things in your business to be able to make sure that you’ve got the right things in place at the right time and it’s not good enough to be able to ask one of your mates around, Hey, can you send me through an employment contract? Or, Hey, can you just send me through your terms and conditions or worse yet, jump into chat GPT and get a whole heap of T’s and C’s spat out because the laws and regulations around these different areas differ from different states and different types of business. And so what might suit one industry may not suit the construction industry. And so it’s so important that you get the right advice from the right person when you need it now. And a copy and paste is not good enough in today’s world.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Absolutely. Underline that 100%. Alright, let’s move into this one. Now, I dunno if I need to put a little time box around this one, but let’s talk about it anyway. It’s super important. But what we’re going into now is business coach or mentor.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Huge one. Why do you think people need a coach at mentor at different phases of their journey?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I think everyone that gets into business, you start a business, you have a goal, you have an idea about where you want to go, and invariably you’re going to come up against challenges. You’re going to have obstacles. You’re not the first person to in business coaching sense start a business. You’re not going to redefine the business world. You’re not going to redefine your trades business. So there are clues, there are ways to do this. We say it all the time, success leaves clues. The people that study this, the people that coach this, us as coaches, we know what that path is. We’re like your guardians, your mentors to help you work through those challenges, to give you an outside perspective and to make sure we can be your eyes and ears watching out for you from the sidelines to ensure we minimise the mistakes you make or the troubles you find yourself in. It’s not that we say we eliminate risk or we guarantee success, but you ratchet up your chances of success if you’ve got the right people around you, people with experience, people with knowledge, people that have studied and know the journey ahead. And I think for me, that’s a simple way of looking at it, but for me that’s what your business coach and mentor does.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah. They’re either there to be able to help you with a skill gap. So it’s a skillset thing, a level of guidance or mentorship or it’s a blind spot in your mindset. So it’s either really it’s a skills experience or a mindset thing that you’re going to be working through with your coach. Now a skills thing is if you want to keep growing and expanding, you have to learn new skills. There is no two ways around it. You’ve got to be continuing to evolve your skills around pricing and knowing your numbers and management and leadership and recruitment and retention and culture and everything that just comes with skills. But I feel the true power of a coach is it’s more than just skills and strategy. It’s the mindset element and it’s you don’t know what you can’t see. And we’ve all got blind spots and I think that’s the real power of a coach is more than just skills and strategy. It’s the ability to help you work through challenges. When you come up against it, it’s your ability to help you see something that you are not seeing like a blind spot and really stretch you in your mindset to be able to help you unlock your potential that already exists inside, you just haven’t tapped into it. But that’s the true power of a coach, isn’t it?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, I think you said it there, keep you sharp and stretch. I think that’s the thing to keep you striving for it. I think that’s the secret of good coaching. You’re always moving forward in that sense with a bit of tension and a bit of stress in terms of, well, I really want to get there. There’s work to be done. And they’re always sort of outlining that next step for you and helping you get to that next phase without ever just sort of saying you’re there and all things are good. So yeah, absolutely critical to have your business coach or mentor in place.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
We’re going to get into specialists in a minute, but I like to think around in my word, I think around a specialist might be a bit of a sales advisor or a marketing company or someone like an IT specialist. We’ll go into them in more detail shortly, but I like to think of it as a football team for example. You’ve got your head coach and that head coach looks at the strategy and the direction and they’re there really to get the most out of the players and look at the culture and the team and the direction and all those types of things. But then you’re going to have your forwards coach and your back coach and nutritionists and all those types of things, the coaches in the business world as somewhat the overarching person and who really surrounds you as the individual to get the most out of you and your business, give you the strategy, the skills, and create an environment for success.
(22:11):
And then you’ve got the ability to bring in the specialists to be able to give you that specialist advice because not every coach has skill sets in every area. We know that within Pravar we’re not experts in everything. We know what we’re good at, we know what we’re not. And that’s where then specialist people in your power team can come in where you can leverage off those key individuals or groups of people to be able to give you that advice and that that’s what I see is the power of a coach versus a specialist as well.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Definitely. It also, I think bears repeating that again just as we talked about with your account and those sort of things as your journey shifts and changes. So will your need for a certain type potentially of a business coach or a mentor, no, we don’t sit here and say, Hey, we are the best coaches in the world that you will and you’ll only need one forever. And that’s all there is to it. It’s the same thing. So again, this idea of as you grow, as you shift, as your challenges change, you’ve got to be on top of this in terms of what you need right now that’s best for you. And it’s the same for the coaches or the specialists we’re about to talk to.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
So let’s jump into those specialists. The first specialist would be obviously an insurance broker. I feel that they’re really critical because obviously you need money, you leverage money to be able to grow a business. So what do you think the role of insurance broker is?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
I think this is, you can, you’ll go crazy trying to understand the insurance world is what I’ve learned over the years and having an insurance broker helps you obviously shortcut some of that process. They’re the ones on top of it. They’re the ones staying on something that is changing almost constantly. You look at it one week, you look at it the next, I guarantee it’ll almost be different. It doesn’t matter what it is. So there’s that element that you’re going to save a lot of time by using an insurance broker, but beyond that, you’re talking about they assess the business risks. They know where you need the coverage, they understand the pitfalls of you being exposed in that area of your business and they have the strategies to be able to get you protection where you need it. The other thing is when things go wrong, a broker is there to help you with claims and assist you in the process, which is just a whole nother minefield that you’d otherwise have to go through with yourself. So I think those are probably the three key areas I see an insurance broker working in.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah, no one likes to pay insurance, let’s face it.
(24:31):
But you’ll be exposed very quickly when something goes wrong and you don’t have the right premium and policy in place. And I don’t like to say it, but I’m going to, insurance businesses are in the business of not paying out. That’s what they’re, that’s that they’re in the game of. And if they can find a way to not pay out on a claim, they will absolutely find any grey area in that policy and not pay out how they make profit. And so having a really good insurance broker in your corner, you’re right, they assess the risks, make sure you’ve got the right policies at the right time. Then they’re there to support you because you don’t want to be t trawling through premiums and policies and T’s and C’s. You just go, Hey mate, this happened here. We had damaged this or crash this car or whatever it is. Can you help me work this through? And then that’s what they get paid for. They get paid by the policies, a clip out of the policies to do that work on your behalf.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Yeah, they jumped through all those hoops and believe me, there are a tonne of hoops the minute you get into those situations. Let’s go into another one, it’s another broker. Let’s talk about banking and finance broker. I think to a certain extent it’s the same thing, right? Banking, finance, you want to jump through all those hoops by yourself or you employ someone to help you with that, which is a broker and typically a banking or finance broker.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Having a good banker in your corner is really important. And I think as your business gets bigger and you’ve got a lot more things going on, you don’t want to be getting someone different than you have to deal with within your bank. So aligning yourself with a good bank and then having a direct line to a business banker is super critical because you can cut through all the bullshit and you get straight to, Hey, can you help me out with this? Hey, can you help me out with that? Hey, can you help me with this? And so you need that support from a banking point of view for your business and your investments and everything. But a broker is something different where you almost want to hedge your bets when it comes to broking because when you’re trying to borrow money, it’s not about being loyal to a bank, it’s about finding the right lender with the right rates, who’s going to lend you the most amount of money on that deal, whether it’s a investment property shares or just trucks and equipment for your business.
(26:47):
You need a good broker who has visibility across all the lenders. They can somewhat work with their preferred people, they can then broker you the best deal and it can be outside of your normal bank that you deal with. And so the broker that I’ve got when I think about the investing that I’ve done is I bank with a certain bank, but pretty much the majority of my loans are outside of that bank because they were better deals. So there’s a big difference between a good banker, they’re there to help you on the day-to-day business side of things and personal side of things, but you need a really good broker who can help you move and groove in the right areas. And again, don’t forget that there’s not a one size fits all broker. You need a good commercial broker who can help you with your equipment and financing costs, but then you need a probably good resi broker for your property and a good commercial broker if you’re going to go down that line. So there’s even different layers of brokers in that space as well.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yeah, absolutely. I think the underlying thing is if you’re going to grow your business and you’re looking to do that, it’s very rare that businesses get funded by themselves out of growth. You will run into the banking, the finance sector at some point and having a broker on hand that understands it can work with you on that is going to be critical. Alright, next layer of specialists. Let’s leave the brokers alone for a moment. Let’s get into our specialist. The first one being marketing specialist.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Having a good marketing specialist in your corner is absolutely essential regardless if you run a B2C business as well as a B two business to business business, when you run a business to consumer business, you go heavy in on digital marketing. And so you need someone who understands your business. You generally hopefully want someone who understands your industry, then they’ve got the ability to set up Facebook ads, Instagram ads, like your meta stuff, your Google AdWords, do your SEO and all those types of things. So when you’re in the business to consumer game, you’re going to need someone in your corner who really understands the transactional nature of that business. When you’re in the B2B game, you still need some marketing support around you, but it’s more demonstrating your capability, not necessarily trying to generate leads. So that marketing person will help you with your websites, your capability statements, your collateral, maybe a downloadable thing to build a database.
(29:12):
They can help you with your social media and your online presence to demonstrate capability. So depending of the nature of the business that you’ve got, whether it’s business to consumer B2C or business to business, you still need a marketing agency around you because let’s face it, things change so quickly in the online space and the digital space that it’s very, very hard to keep up. Now I look back at our journey in Pravar, there’s been numerous people that have helped us over a period of time and you need to be able to find someone who understands you. You need to be able to find someone who understands your industry and you’ve got to measure not just how good things look or that you’re getting things out there in the marketplace, you’re measuring them based on results. And if they’re not getting results for you, be quick to cut them and move on and don’t be afraid to move, but in the end of the day, you’ve got to hold them accountable to get great outcomes. And I think that’s the key, isn’t it?
Speaker 2 (30:14):
It really is I think there’s a depth when you go and find a marketing specialist, you’ve got to find the depth that suits, like you said, they’ve got to know the industry, they’ve got to have that knowledge. I think you’ve got to remind yourself when you engage a marketing specialist that the return you want isn’t a good marketing company. It’s a goal for your business that they are working and plugging into you rather than you plugging into them. Because a marketing specialist could do their job perfectly and you could still get no results and you will be charged for it. So I think being able to understand your marketing specialist is there to get you a result and they’re part of your power team, it’s not just a nice to have or just some commodity that goes well, they’re the ones that understand I don’t understand that stuff. So I think working hand in hand with them and working closely with them is a good starting point when you engage your marketing specialist rather than it’s a hands off thing that I can tick that box and just move on.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
I think the punchline of this is it’s not about getting things done or things looking good, it’s about getting results in the end of the day. And I love what you said there around you are not part of their team, they’re part of yours. They’re there to represent you. And I know that you might be a client of their business, but they’re a function within your business that need to be held accountable. And where people go wrong is they’re like, well, I’m hiring an agency because I don’t understand what needs to get done. I know I need to market, but I’m just going to hire them. They’re going to look after it. That’s like hiring a project manager and not talking to your project manager for three months and then wondering why your margins got complete slippage because you haven’t held that person accountable even though you’re a client of theirs, they’re part of your business, they’re your function and you’ve got to hold ’em accountable on a week to week, month to month basis to deliver results, not just to get a job done.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Alright, so next one, next specialist IT support. Now before we get into this, I’m going to tell a little story. I still find this funny. When I first joined Pravar and Rob, he put up the org chart, there was a box and it said IT genius. And for us it was like, alright, cool, it genius, I wonder who this is. And Rob just kept talking and then there’s IT genius and it was under his name and it was all sort of in line and it was like, okay, cool. He talked about it genius. He must think he’s really, he’s the IT genius. And I think it took, it was ages as we were going through stuff and working through things and I was like, he’s still mentioning it genius, but there’s stuff that this isn’t very genius, some of this stuff. But at the same time it was like, who’s it genius? And he said, it’s the company we use. And I was like, ah, I thought that was just you taking the piss on our org chart that you are the IT genius because you’re the one that sets up the computers and you are the one that delivers all the stuff to the workers and stuff. So it’s quite funny, but IT support, we have it. And we’re saying to people listening today that it support’s a critical part of your power team.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Especially for those of you who are technophobe like myself, I’m absolutely retarded when it comes to tech and Dan, you’ve got a tech background so you understand this shit, but I hate technology. And that’s why you need someone to be able to oversee all your backups and all the functions around calendar and your IT services and it even goes beyond that around things around your equipment and your maintenance. And then IT support then can also flow into things around your software providers like your Zeros and MYOB and your job management system and your estimation support. So it’s not just IT in its traditional form, it’s also then the ongoing advice and support you get from a technology point of view. And let’s face it, we live in a technological world and we need this to be efficient in our businesses and I find that most trade is are technophobe like I am, and you just need good people around you in the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
You do. I think beyond just the lack of knowledge and the gaps that they’re filling in, I think this is a black hole of a part of a business as well. If you get your IT support, I would say wrong but not wrong. If you underestimate the work involved in that or you undercook your time spent in this space just because you’re not good at it, you’re going to be throwing dollars away left, right, and centre. So there’s a real cost benefit to be able to have a good IT support person in place. And it’s not just a person but a company or someone. You pick up the phone and go, Hey, I’ve got this. Someone you trust, someone who’s not out to just purely keeps selling you on the next latest and greatest thing, but someone who generally understands a fit for purpose, a good part of your power team to be able to give you the right advice and the right support that minimises costs or maximises return. So you could either save because they’ve given you the advice or you can implement what they said, spend some money and you’ll get the benefit in efficiencies and productivity from the technology that’s available. So I think there’s a real benefit to IT support and there’s a real cost to it if you get it wrong as well.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yeah, it’s underestimated and a lot of people think I’ll just get my admin to do that, but there’s specialists out there who know this stuff back to front and it’s such an important part of your business.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
And I think this is what happens. I mean, you can flounder around in the dark looking for a solution and the simplest one is communications or something like that. How do I get this mobile phone transferring numbers and what do I do? I’ll just hand it to someone and it never really gets solved. It just becomes a gigantic pain in the ass for everyone. But if you have someone in your IT support crew, they can point you in the right direction and go, Hey, this communications platform exists where using software or technology or a subscription, you can get exactly what you were looking for and you get time back, you save money, you get more productive. So you get all those benefits, but you probably would’ve missed that without the right IT support in the first place.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
And let’s face it, you get leverage in a couple of forms, you get it leverage money, you leverage through people or you leverage through good systems. And that’s why a broker or a banker’s good to help you get money. Your people is your internal power team, your own people, but then your systems come through technology and systems and software. That’s where that leverage piece comes through. And so this is why it’s so important that you get the right people around you and not, it also goes as far as saying where it’s not like, oh, I’ve set up and I’m all good to go. It’s the constant reiteration and the unlocking new capabilities within your software and systems and technology that you’ve got to ensure that you maximising the benefit out of this stuff that you continue to pay for.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Yeah, absolutely. Let’s look at our final one. We sort of about throwing this in, but we didn’t want to assume that everyone did this and some people start with it and then they forget about it. But let’s come back to it. And that’s your industry body or your industry association.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
I think a lot of people know that well, they’re a part of their industry body, whether it’s master plumbers, master electricians, master builders, everyone’s got an industry body that they belong to in their trade, but where people go wrong is they don’t leverage and utilise that industry body correctly. And whether it’s a decision that they need to make or a bit of advice that they need, I’m often going back to clients and going, well, have you gone back to your industry body and asked that question? And so I think it’s one of the most underutilised subscriptions that a lot of business owners in the trade space make is they’re a member of the body, but they don’t utilise the resources and the people and the contacts and everything that exist in that industry body to be able to get the right advice at the right time.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
And I think the other thing, just to add to it is a healthy industry body is one that can then advocate for your interests and does a whole lot of work in the background. So if nothing else, being active in there, keeping it relevant, keeping them, keeping them serving your interests, even if it’s at that higher level, there’s still value to that as well. That’s nine. So we’ve been through nine. That’s it in terms of power team, as we’ve looked at it, there might be some other people and some other specialists that you could bring in. We’ll leave that to you. Before we wrap up today though, we want to talk about, well, how do you build this out? What should I do? If I’m listening today and I’m thinking, geez, I’ve got some gaps, how would you suggest we start off building out a power team if we haven’t got one already?
Speaker 1 (38:34):
I think the key to this, anything in business, it’s not about going all in and trying to get a whole power team all at once. And I think where you can start is your core four. We spoke around at the start, it’s having a good accountant, a good financial planner, and a really good solicitor. They’re the three really key people within your foundational crew and then overlaying your industry body. They would, in my world, be your core four power team. And if you can get those people around you, then you’ve got good structures and tax advice, good risk mitigation and strategy moving forward for you personally from your planner, you’re getting good legal advice and then you’re getting good advice from your specialists of your industry body, and I think those four people in your power team are absolutely the most important thing. From there, then I would say your next one’s your coach.
(39:27):
And if you’re getting coaching already, it’s about how do you show up better in your coaching and look to go all in on coaching. We see it in those people who get coached, but they kind of flirt around the edge of the coaching. You’re always going to get out of it or what you put into it. So if you’re in that position where you’re getting coaching at the moment, think to yourself, how can I commit more and show up better? But if you’re not getting coaching at the moment, this is your opportunity to be able to go, well, who’s the right coach that I jam with that I gel with and I feel is going to give me the best skillset, the best strategy, and help me through the mindset blockages that you’re inevitably, inevitably going to be able to come up against. Then beyond that, then you can start working and incorporating your specialist over a period of time in your business and personal journey if and when you need it.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
And obviously within the boundaries of the budgets and size of the business you’ve got and what you’re working in. There’s no guarantee that you plug one of these in and everything changes. So don’t think it’s a oh, if I get that, that’s the missing piece. It’s an investment to be made on a relationship to be built and it comes into its own over time. I think that’s probably the other thing I think as well, and a lot of successful business owners know this, that good power teams know each other just like there’s good crews that come together, there’s good linkups in terms of construction and things like that. Good people work with good people. Same will happen for your power team. So one place you can also start, I think Rob is talking to, if you’ve got an accountant and they’re good, talk to them, who would they recommend? I need to start building this out? Who else do they know that they work with and they’ve got a relationship with that they’d vouch for or give you an introduction to that you can go off and start to chain up and link up in that next phase of your power team?
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Correct. When I look at my power team, it’s started with a good accountant. They introduced me to a financial planner. Then that financial planner introduced me to a buyer’s agent. That buyer’s agent introduced me to a finance broker and then that led onto this, and then the accountant referred the financial planner, referred to a solicitor here. I got a family, one solicitor for all their wills and estate planning. Then I’ve got a commercial solicitor over here and they’ve been through a referral here. So it’s not like I had to go to the market and look up someone and Google and go, who should I utilise? All these people sit within their buckets together, and if you can get your power team working, that’s what you want. So when you’re emailing your accountant, you can cc in your financial planner and go, Hey team, I’m about to do this.
(42:07):
What do you both think? Is there anything that I need to consider? Or what are the implications from an accounting or financial planning side of things? And if they don’t need to add any advice to it, they’ll let you know. But if you’ve got your power team working all together, then you get well-rounded advice and that’s what a power team is all about. They’re there to protect you, they’re there to save you a lot of money, but they’re there also to make you a lot of money because they’ve got the specialist skill sets in their areas of expertise that there’s no way that you can be an expert in as well as trying to run a business as well.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
And you should be feeling confident, you should be feeling like I’ve got a confident team behind me providing solid advice, which allows you to go off and march forward in what you want to do, which is build your business. So that’s really the crux of it. Should we do an action plan?
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Let’s do it.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
All right, so step one this week, audit your current team. Just work out who do you have, go back through this. Look at the nine. We listed out any others that you’ve got, who do you have on your team and what gaps do exist? Once you’ve done that, go in and identify your biggest challenge right now. The one area where you need the most help or where you think you could benefit from having a new power team member coming in. And then as part of step three, talk to someone who’s in your power team, like we just said, your accountant or whoever it is, have a chat to them and see if they can introduce you to the right person or go out and get some referrals and ask some other business owners that you admire, you know, trust they’re doing a good job, who do they use? And go out and ask and have some conversations and try and find who that next good member of your team is going to be. Then no matter which way you go from that point, whether you engage or not, and I think this is the critical ending point, is that you’re still going to have to make the decisions. The responsibility is still going to be with you about what step you ultimately take.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
In the end of the day, you’re absolutely right. In the end of the day, your power team can give you the advice and the strategies and offer up their suggestions based on their area of expertise. But in the end of the day, it’s your decision and your responsibility for the achievement of your goals, your dreams, your future for you and your family. And we can never forget that they’re there to be able to inform your decisions, but they’re not there to make the decisions for you. You’ve got to step up and make that decision and take the action. A good power team can give you the options. They can explain the pros, the cons, and help you understand the upside, but also the downside, but they can’t necessarily tell you what to do. You have to make the decision and take the action in the end of the day.
(45:02):
And there’s one last bit of advice that I want to do before we wrap up, is the most expensive advice that you will get in business and life is free advice from a poor source. Now, you might be at a barbecue or at a pub with some of your mates, and you are always going to talk to people around you, and they’re always going to have their opinions about your business and what you should do based on what they’ve done or what they’ve heard or what they’ve seen on social media. But it’s so important to be able to have a power team around you who are in the trenches and work in this stuff day in, day out, and it’s built on strategy and skillset, and it’s their profession, not just opinion around what someone should do, ought to do based on what they’ve heard or seen in the other day.
(45:51):
So be careful of what your source is because that bit of advice that you take on and run with could be the worst and most costly bit of advice that you have in the end of the day. The punchline of today is stop trying to be the expert at everything. You just can’t do it. Start paying for the specialist advice from people who are experts in their field because you can’t run a business and know everything that all these specialists have around them. In the end of the day, if you leverage your power team well, you can not only save you, but it can make you a shit load of money in the end of the day. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed today’s episode. We’ve thrown a lot at you in terms of who are the people around you, what to utilise them for and how they can help you. But start with the action plan. Start with your foundational core for and let it build over a period of time. What a great episode, Dan, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Yeah, I love it. I love getting all that out there. There’s so much work to be done in that space and so much good that can come from it. So follow through, get it done, and start leveraging up in terms of the support that you get and see that confidence rising in you going off and building your business.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
Until next episode, take care. We’re looking forward to coming back to you soon.