Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Optimum Professional Services are delighted to launch the new monthly conversational series, “Optimum: LIVE!” which will provide the opportunity for you to hear from members of the Optimum team and special guests each month as they delve into a variety of subjects in light-hearted, fire-side chat style productions.
Each episode will be shot or broadcast live (yep! One take!) which means that it is not scripted or edited and has a more natural and engaging tone.
This is a https://www.visual-pr.co.uk production
you
so so
Green tins.
What are we at?
Good afternoon.
I hope you've had a good lunch.
We're a little bit later
because of a meeting that
never happens before.
And Holiday Boy's back now.
My name is Chris Dawes from Visual PR,
but we're now here for Optimum Live,
Episode 8.
And this one is about busting, well,
I've called it busting the
myths of the business plan.
And that's really coming
from my angle of it blowing
my mind at times.
And it doesn't need to be as
complicated as one might think.
The person who's going to
make that all become
clearer is Mike Blakin.
Hello, mate.
How are you doing?
Okay.
I'm good, thank you.
How was your holiday?
Brilliant.
Yeah, I switched off from the world.
Debbie looked after the phone,
turned my own phone off and
just played with the family.
It was great.
Really good.
Brilliant.
No, it's good to see you back.
This is one that you've
actually recently done a blog post on.
The blog actually called
Beyond the Business Plan.
And I've just sort of like
slightly tweaked it a little bit.
It's busting the myth because...
We've got a whole number of
things to cover on this,
including not just for
businesses that started.
It's relevant for even
businesses that are going.
It doesn't need to be as complicated.
It can help be a signpost to things,
a whole raft of things that
we're going to touch on.
I want to start with a real
buster of a conversation, fairly obvious,
but I want to make sure
that we're not missing anything.
What is a business plan?
So most people would know a
business plan when they
first set up a business and somebody says,
I've got a great idea.
I want to do this.
And they go, so what's your plan?
How are you going to do it?
And that could involve,
that could be anything from
how they're going to source
a product that they're
going to make or sell or
how they're going to do this.
The finances behind it is
just one section of a business plan.
It'll be resourcing, the growth strategy,
a three,
five year plan of how they see
the business growing and developing.
um and it's everything it
could be a year one I
expect to have two staff
members a year for another
five um it could be
anything like that whereas uh and that's
that's what most people know
it as but actually it could
be anything a business plan
could be just something
that you look at a certain
income stream you've got
your business and go what's
this doing for me what's
the pros and cons some
people know it as a little
SWOT analysis strengths
weaknesses opportunities
and threats it's kind of
that but looking at it and
just being a bit more um
just a bit more open minded
about looking at the current year stuff,
and current position of a business,
not just not just that
thing that you set up.
But when you got this,
you wake up at two o'clock in the morning,
got this great idea,
you got some notes down, and go right,
brilliant.
And that's it, you put it to one side,
you never look at it again.
But equally,
it can go the other way is that
I mean, you said about this brilliant idea,
and I've been guilty of this,
is that you kind of go, yeah, it'll work,
and off we go, and I've got the price,
and we go,
and not really stop and put a
business plan together.
And we can kind of take over without it,
but I guess the key point
from your perspective is
that we're leaving
ourselves very vulnerable
because we don't know what can happen,
what could happen, what should happen.
what needs to happen even.
I mean, you said about the SWOT analysis,
and that's a key point.
I hadn't really thought about that.
And you touched on
protecting yourself for...
the unexpected and things like that.
It's also when you start writing it down,
you think you put things go
down on paper that you
hadn't thought of in your
mind when you've been doing it mentally.
But also once you've got it down,
now this is quite prevalent
to me is that my wife
bought a business last year
for her and it was turned
out to be rubbish.
we also lost sight two three
months after we bought it
of why we did buy it and
what it was doing for us
and what we were aiming it
to do we've done it
recently she just opened a
shop and we suddenly now
the shop's open going
brilliantly but like
freshers we open more do we
do this do we do that and
then whilst we were away we
sat down and was like
actually no the reason
we've done it at this time
of our life for the kids
young kids and stuff was to
be able to do it around the kids
So actually, we took it back to,
although it wasn't a formal business plan,
we took it back to the
conversation we had of why
we were doing it and how it
worked to remind ourselves that actually,
no,
it's doing exactly what we want it to.
You don't need to push it
anymore and create more chaos.
And so that's where these
things help because it
reminds you of the conversation you had.
But it also,
by having it down and having
those thoughts,
you can run it past anybody
else as a second person
who's not involved to go,
am I barking mad to do this?
This is what it is.
This is without me putting
any positive spin on the
way I deliver it to you.
Just read that and just let
me know if I'm going crazy.
Or if I missed something or...
yeah and and which if we had
done that with one of the
businesses we bought like I
got I've got a friend who
was is now that person if
I've got an idea I sit with him
the same way as I do for him
and his businesses,
and we just sound each other out.
But that's why I go to him and go,
I'm planning to do this,
I'm going to do it this way, and do the,
what do you think?
And you go, what about that?
Cheers, mate, forgot about that.
Thank you very much.
And it's as simple as that.
When you've got a new idea
or you've got a journey,
you're so passionate about it.
Yep.
that you will look for all
the positive things.
You will forget about some of the things.
And what if that happens?
How will that affect your risk and reward?
Every time there's a risk,
you might look at it and go, yeah,
the percentage is too small.
We don't need to worry about it.
I just need to be aware that
that could happen.
So I've got some armor ready for it.
Or it could be, if that happens, remember,
don't forget that that's
the next opportunity that
comes along that can really grow.
Don't lose sight of what
that opportunity is because
you're focusing on the bit
that's in your inner circle.
And I think one of the
things that resonated with
me is that where you were saying, pick up,
you were saying certain
things that maybe don't
make the big margin and they tick along,
but I don't know,
maybe you just enjoy it and
it's making ends meet,
but it's these areas that make the money.
Well, then you know, yes,
it's right to still do it.
Keep throwing resource at it
because that's not the part
that's going to make it.
This is the part that almost
becomes the funding of the
part you enjoy the most, I guess,
to some extent.
There's lots of it.
You've got it in your own life.
There's things that don't
make you the money that it should do,
but it's the ones that you
enjoy the most.
So therefore,
it's the time that you wake
up in the morning and go, yes,
I've got this.
But you wouldn't be able to have, yes,
I've got this,
if you're not doing the ones that you go,
yeah, sometimes those aren't great,
but actually it works.
And it's getting the balance.
Again, is your balance right?
And is it covering what you want to?
And that's easy to lose track of.
And I've got a prime example
that I had recently.
One of the things you're
alluding to is that I'm very lucky.
I'm a professional motorsports commentator,
which is really cool, really good fun,
really hard work every
weekend doing that around Europe.
But it's so much fun to do.
But unless you get a golden
ticket from Sky Sports,
it's never going to be
enough with a mortgage, a wife,
a daughter, a dog and everything,
and a car and all those kinds of things.
And the transport to get there.
Exactly, yes.
it's never going to be
enough on its own and so I
set up open doors training
where I provide public
speaking presentation
skills and media training
and I set that up as the
one that was basically
going to be bringing in
some funds with the skills
that I've got and
experiences that I've had
to help people and it
basically was almost
funding the lifestyle side yeah
of that and I lost track of
that and was suddenly like
going I've got to make this
bigger and it's like it was
never going to be massive
but I started throwing
things at it forgetting
where I was at and I should
have gone back to a
business plan and gone no
that isn't necessary visual
pr that I'm in here now as
well my latest edition
that's a different ball
game altogether and we've
got to revisit business
plans and all sorts of soon
and what have you
And that's the key thing about it.
It's having that crib sheet.
I sat with a couple of
clients before I went away
for a strategy meeting and
this whole sort of
designing the plan for the business.
Now, they've done all the work.
They've got the plan.
They know where they're going.
I was there to second guess.
What about this?
What about that?
And we sat and it was a
three-hour meeting.
Brilliant.
We've gone through all the stuff.
But the key thing they came
back to is every time we
have this quarterly strategy meeting,
they want to go back to the
core things of what they're aiming for.
Are they on that journey?
And it would literally be a
piece of paper with three
bullet points on and go, that's the plan.
That's the journey.
That's what we're aiming for.
Are we going there?
And if so, great, we can take it.
We can move on with the rest of it.
If not, why not?
Why is that?
Because that essentially,
some coaches will use
certain different
terminology for what that is.
It's part of your business plan.
That's part of what you're aiming for,
that bit on the paper.
And so it becomes very important, again,
remind you why you're doing it,
remind you where you're going.
We all,
everyone loses sight of why they're
doing it.
Because once they start that idea, two,
three years down the line,
the whole world's changed.
COVID, cost of living crisis,
whatever you want to slap
on the last four years,
everything's happened.
So therefore, the business has changed.
The world's changed.
Your own absolute mindset changed.
So is it time to revisit it to go,
actually, what do I want from it now?
What do I want?
What did I want?
What do I want now?
Is it still the same thing?
It might be.
Just keep going.
I mean, you talk about the changes.
I mean,
Visual PR was born at something
that I started doing in
lockdown that suddenly was like, hang on,
this is a business in its own right.
And I really could have done
without adding more work to
my work schedule.
But sometimes if a business
slaps you in the face,
you've got to run with it.
And it's terrifically
exciting and growing.
And so that was a change because of COVID,
for the better, that created ideas.
And out of it,
we sort of come up with
inspiration and what have you.
But then you've got...
VAT threshold changing,
but we've put our prices up
because of our expenses went up.
That now means that I've
gone over that threshold.
You know,
all these different little things
that have suddenly changed
what was your business plan
five years ago.
And you might be ticking along doing X,
but you can't just do that to survive.
And so then the financial
elements of a businessman
comes in and goes, things are changing.
And it was, no,
I can't think where I was
going to go with that.
That's just gone.
That's right.
But I mean,
I guess that's the key thing is
that you've got a framework
of a document that you're
not starting from scratch
every time you go to
rethink and have a look, where are we,
what's changed, what needs to change,
et cetera.
You've got a plan.
I've got a note here that
says aren't they long
detailed and complicated to
do and that is spawned from
certainly when you start up
and you're talking to
people for I don't know
finance or bank accounts or
whatever and it seems
daunting as hell that's
generally your first your
first ever uh experience
with business plans when
you set the business and
you either go to um a
finance provider you
provide startup loans or
you go to a bank to get a
bank account or an
overdraft or something like that to
enabled a growth.
And they go,
I want to see a business plan.
You go, well, I haven't really got one.
They go, here's my art, right?
And they give you this massive template,
right?
All these spreadsheets to try and link up,
right?
But that's built for
everyone doing a thousand
pound a month to probably a
hundred grand a month as well.
Yeah.
so it's it's it's too
complicated but it doesn't
so that that is everyone's
experience if it's long
detailed yeah yeah I tried
doing it for uh for a brand
application for my wife and
their form and I was like
this is mental and I just
did my own sent it worked
because it still covered it
that's just their template
it doesn't always happen
yeah it doesn't always mean
you have to follow it you
can genuinely go well this
is actually what I've got
as long as they can look at
it and go yes you thought
about the business and it
looks sound and robust
then it ticks the box it
doesn't have to be always
be in their format that's
what they've got but you
also got to remember that
the bankers aren't
accountants aren't coaching
aren't um like that sort of
stuff they're all in their
own niches so that it's
like um me trying to put
together a plan for a car
like it would come from my
type of brain which would
be completely like upside
down support towards a
mechanic it would
eventually still get there
But it wouldn't be
necessarily the perfect journey.
So it's getting the right people.
Again, it doesn't have to be.
So as you evolve,
the business plan doesn't
have to be long.
It could be quite concise.
It might be quite a basic business.
You buy a widget for 10p.
You work on it for that.
And you sell it for a pound.
And you reckon that in your
market distribution,
you can sell so many a month.
I'm going to use Royal Mail to deliver it.
I'm going to use Shopify for my website.
Done.
There is no big business plan.
That's what it is.
I've seen a niche in the
market because of this.
A lot of business plans want
to show why you know
there's a niche in the market.
So they want you to show all the research.
It could just be a gut.
So that page, those three, four pages...
It's just down to, I feel it's this.
And that doesn't put you at
a disadvantage necessarily?
I don't think so.
They'll ask for more.
Yeah, they'll ask for more.
And sometimes it's just so
obvious that they go, oh,
why didn't we think of that as well?
Because it is like a simple niche.
And some are, yeah,
there are a lot more details.
Most clients who come to us,
I've got a dozen.
I reckon I have all the ones
I've looked after that have
had a formal business bump.
really yeah most of them
just come with I've got an
idea this is what I'm going
to do but like it could be
anything to a builder right
you've still what you don't
realize is you've still
made a business plan in
your mind yeah because
you've thought of the idea
you thought about how
you're going to do it you
thought what it's going to
make for you and you've
gone and done it yeah but
that thought process is
still a business plan you
just haven't put it onto
paper and called it a
business plan yeah yeah you
but you still done it you
still thought about it
which was one of the other
things that certainly stood
out for me is that it's not
as big and focused as you
might think it can be just, you know,
working.
But my big concern is,
and then this probably
stems still from the overly
detailed ones that they put out there,
is an awful lot of
assumptions and guesses.
Because I've been there going like,
I'd like to think that I
would be able to do this
many a month or whatever it is.
No one knows for definite,
certainly in the early stages,
and yet we've got to put
something down on that.
And I find that terrifying as well.
And that starting bit's coming from here.
It's just what you think
you're going to do.
But also with a lot of
self-employed people,
this always gets me with the mortgages.
They go, oh, yeah,
but you haven't been doing
it for long enough,
so therefore your history
isn't strong enough.
It's like, yeah,
but most self-employed
people know that they've
got to do something to earn
the money to pay the mortgage.
So if it was,
say it was doing carpentry
and they stopped their work
and they can't get any work in carpentry,
I'm pretty sure most people
would not sit there and go,
find anything to do they're
going to go uh I've got a
skill set I'm going to go
drive a van for a month
while I cover that and then
I'm going to do that and
it's yes it's all different
businesses but it's I call
it that's self-employed
that's just earning money
for yourself yeah and
you're paying your way and
so it is it always evolves
um but it's taken away from
that sort of strict
rigmarole that people have
yeah or thought process
it's not that it can be anything
I was also thinking of this
in another way.
And it's certainly something
I have is that I know what
work is involved with the
services that we provide.
And I was able to sit there
and kind of go with the
staffing levels I have now,
I cannot take any more than
this many clients on.
But if I get to that level
and then take on another member of staff,
it will enable me to go that.
That means it's just about
breaking even for that,
but it will enable me to
increase that margin.
And you sit at a point that goes,
do I justifiably want to
grow that team or am I in
the sweet spot now?
And you can actually look
back and see that sort of stuff.
And it also was inspiring me to go,
actually,
complimentary service that would
need another member,
but that would cost me that
much per month,
but I'll be able to add
this much per month.
Definitely need to go ahead
and do all of that.
But a little business plan
at that point would be,
do I employ someone or do I outsource it?
Yeah.
And you weigh it up without realising.
You weigh it up, right,
what's the pros and cons for that?
So if I outsource it,
a little bit more expensive
because they're self-employed,
but if I haven't got the work,
I don't have to use them.
Yeah.
But the pros of being internal,
when I need the work done,
I've got them because
they're working for me.
But if I haven't got the work,
then I'm paying for
something that I'm not
getting a return on.
So therefore, what's my risk and reward?
And it will all naturally
come back to the numbers at
some point because, unfortunately,
for everyday life,
money does make the world go round.
All right?
more for some people less
for others but it's working
out like what does it do
and and so then you would
you weigh it all up and you
go actually based on that
I'm making the decision to
outsource it right that
might be the case of five
minutes thought process
yeah it might be actually
jotting down in your
notebook and going like
this this this this right
I've got that.
I'll put that there so that
when I kick myself later,
why did I do that one?
Using hindsight, I can look back and go,
well, at the time, I did this.
And it's a big thing that, again,
me and my wife will do is that
We try not to let hindsight
kick us in the ass when we
look back at something and go,
if only we had done that,
that would have been all right.
And we just make sure that
when we make a decision,
we chat it through and go, this is,
based on what we know at the moment,
the right decision to do.
If six months later,
it turns out to be the most
stupid thing we've ever done,
which we've done.
OK, we've got a few of those.
And we do remind ourselves, well, actually,
at the time, it looked perfect.
So let's just come to the real.
Yeah.
And now we develop it.
We move it on for what we got now.
But isn't the key point
being going back to the
overriding subject is that
you've got the document, the framework,
the thoughts that were in
your head at that point to refer back to.
Yeah.
To kind of go, right, we had assumed X,
but it turned out it was Y.
If only we'd known that then.
But actually,
you wouldn't have even had a
context or a concept of what Y was.
Why is this important?
What does it impact going forward?
But because you've got a
frame of reference from that,
it actually pays.
And it can simply be it's a
point that you look back and you go,
just give yourself a break.
yeah right okay it's
happened it hasn't gone
what you thought it would
do give yourself a break
but now pick yourself up
dust yourself off and off
you go again yeah and make
a new plan and here lies a
key point that I was about
to give on to your perfect
timing for it is that
you're a massive advocate
but it is not a one and
done for a business plan no
is that it's something that a
should be probably done periodically.
I don't think you commit to
a period of time that they
should be done.
Again, that's going to vary, I'd imagine.
But actually also, maybe more than once,
split them out into the
different revenue streams
or the different activities.
Yeah,
and you can say you have one big
business plan that's made
up of loads of sub-business plans.
Which would be appropriate for me.
Yeah, that's it.
And it might be you look at it and go,
why am I selling that?
And that is to enable this
service to come in or this.
And we have services here
that aren't the most
profit-making services, but without it,
we would have less of this one.
And it's all that.
So why are we doing it?
Then you look at it and go, right,
what is that?
And you look at the numbers and go, right,
what income comes in for that?
What's my resource in?
What does it make?
It makes that.
I don't really make very much.
but how much does it
contribute over here
because it's there yeah
like we're talking about
networking different
networking groups it's like
on the face of it you would
go well that one doesn't
make anything for me but if
actually this one over here
subconsciously grows
because it's had a bit more
exposure then actually it
you might look at it and go
actually it's still worth
spending the time yeah and
resourcing it which is your
time and go and spend it
And equally,
you could have certain things.
I mean,
I use my motorsport commentary as
an example that we said it doesn't,
I mean, it makes reasonable money,
but not enough to live off of.
But that is exposure that
would actually cost someone
a fortune to be getting.
Absolutely.
I'm actually paying.
Sorry, I'm getting paid to do it.
So then if you were to do your numbers,
you'd go da-da-da-da.
But actually,
the cost of what you're saving,
you add that on, and you go, actually,
that's earning quite a bit
if the marketing.
But then if the marketing
works by getting a few other jobs in,
then you go, well, actually, yeah,
I can equate that to that.
And that was, I've had, over the years,
I've had the odd,
coach or or you know
unofficial mentor you know
someone being helpful or
whatever and they'd go well
hang on how much are you
making off your commentary
oh well then you need to
sack that off it's like one
I enjoy it and two the
exposure is just amazing
for my other businesses so
it's like I don't think
it's as simple as that so
you but at least I know and
it's why we were able to
negotiate prices up because
we suddenly went look
fuel's gone up hotels have gone up
food has gone up and it's like, seriously,
we're now at a situation
that this is breakeven and
I'm not prepared to do it
for breakeven because I work hard.
Again,
because your trades are not off all
your time, your weekends.
It's not Monday to Friday.
No, exactly.
I mean,
the prep is and then suddenly it's
that on the weekend.
So yeah, exactly.
We kind of have to, you know,
it did enable me to look at it and go, no,
seriously, look,
here's the reason we need
slightly higher for what
we're doing there and it was successful.
But then all the other bits, I mean,
I've got a big one at the
moment that is and I'm sure
many people will relate to
this and if you're watching
you've got questions or
comments type them in
comments to wherever you're
watching because we'll be
able to put them up on
screen and answer any
questions or respond to the comments but
i need to be doing a plan
that is not just I want to
grow the business I know
we've got that and that's
all there and I want to
make it profitable blah
blah blah but I need to get
myself working on the
business rather than in it
because at the moment I am so flat out
I'm just doing the do, as I say.
And that doesn't help the
growth of the business.
That doesn't help at all.
But to be able to sort of
extract myself from that,
I know that I've got to do
a plan that says, right,
what do I need resource-wise, people-wise,
outsourced and employed, whatever?
Okay, what's most important?
What's going to make the
biggest difference?
What's actually going to
help bring in more revenue from it?
So that at which point can I
then be guiding this
business with resources
people doing the work but
it's also important to go
that you're aiming for that
but actually to analyze
that as a role for yourself
to go is that actually a
role that you that does
actually tick all the boxes
for you yeah because if you
like so like naturally for
accountants you you as you
grow and you become a
partner you do less of the
doing and you do more of
the oversight and just like
doing meetings and bits like that
But actually, it's a geeky thing.
Every now and again,
I do love to crunch a set
of accounts and pull some
management accounts and do
some stuff like that.
One,
because you feel in touch with the
numbers, but two,
it keeps everything working
well in your head.
You can't say, back in my day,
I knew what I was talking about.
And so actually,
it's working out that
sometimes the natural thing
is to grow and push and
stuff and you get to the
top of the parapet.
But actually,
if the top of the parapet
isn't something you want or it doesn't...
doesn't change anything for
you yeah then actually
you're aiming for something
that doesn't work so that's
where again coming back and
putting bang on paper and
being honest I've been
doing it this morning
working with our coach that
we've got just going like
what what are these things
which are the bits that
make it really work for you
yeah and going like picking
like actually that bit so
like real weird thing for
me is that actually for a
few days of the year I'd
love just to clear off and
go drive a tractor for a
day yeah yeah all right
that would just mean the world to me.
I don't think I want to do
it like 365 days a year so
no one panic on that bit.
But actually to disappear
for a few days and go sit
and do 14 hours going up
and down the track would be
actually bliss for me
because that's part of me.
And so therefore my business
plan as a personal one
is to do some certain things
to enable that.
And then as here, as Optum,
and there's five, six of us as partners,
that we got to work out if
all of our business plans
come together to make one
big one for the company that works.
And so it all feeds in.
And I think what people
don't realise is it's,
I call it a business plan,
it's probably just a cliche word,
but actually it's that thought process,
that sort of just thinking
out where you are, does it all join up?
Where do the puzzle pieces don't fit?
what can you do about it to
make them fit and because
it like life and business
is puzzles absolutely
because even as you're
explaining that I was there
thinking well yeah you were
touching on personal
personal plans and that is
not just as an individual
but then as a family okay
well at this point when
when our daughter finishes
that school we'd like to be
able to move to this kind
of house and we'd like to
do this and we'd like to
get her that and so you've
got those plans so I guess
it's the same thing is that
what we're talking about
here is don't be scared by
the business plan it's not
As committal,
it's not as detailed necessarily.
Certain things might,
but then you can do it.
And I know that you guys are
on hand to help.
If it's suddenly something
that requires a real roll your sleeves up,
we need to get really detailed.
You guys can interpret the numbers.
And that's when it really
drives in the financial
element of a business plan.
He wants us to do your
forecast and the plan.
And we talk about it time and time again,
making sure that the
business does what it wants
for you financially.
Sometimes it's grow, like grow, grow,
grow.
Actually,
someone's going to look at the
business and go, actually,
my business plan for three
years is to grow as big as possible,
like for you to then sit
yourself at the top so you
don't have to work in it.
But for three years,
I'm accepting to do it.
But it's important to know
that when you're 18 months
through that journey and you're going, oh,
this is really tough.
Actually, no, no,
we're still on this journey
to getting where I'm aiming to get to.
But other people might be actually going,
actually,
I'm trying to prove that I'm not
part of the business.
And we talked about sort of
selling and potential exits
before and go in.
Actually,
I'm trying to show that I'm not
part of the business so
that in three years time I can go.
Anyone want to buy it?
It runs itself.
And again, and it will change.
So and like especially with
you hear all the stories at the moment,
I've unfortunately got a
couple of clients that have
been caught by cancer now.
their their things will
change and some people it
might be a journey that
means that they were on for
five or ten years and now
it might be a two-year plan
or something like that
that's changed and it's
just being like let's pivot
it what does it need to do
and and I think going back
to the key point there is
that if you've got those
business plans it's not a
problem that they're about
to pivot change um you've
got some bits wrong that
needs tweaking on it it's
like yeah but if you didn't have that
to work from,
you'd have to be starting
from scratch at this moment in time.
And it's like, no,
we can actually pivot from that point,
which kind of makes sense.
I mean,
even with what you're saying there
is that, yeah, there's that whole,
to be able to sell it in the future,
you need to make sure that you're not
too fundamental to it at the
right time because
otherwise it's not really
viable or being replaceable
yeah because you need they
wouldn't buy it if it still
needs you and or certainly
it doesn't make it that
attractive for you because
you're then just owned by
someone else or whatever
yeah but equally my biggest
one at the moment is not
that I want to be at the
top of the pile it's more
that if at the moment I am
literally so busy doing
everything but I can't
be strategic I can't go okay
we can go in this direction
we can open this out and we
and you need to be able to
be free enough to make
those decisions and have
the oversight to kind of go
well I see what's working
and actually I can see
what's happening there that
will enable us to also
offer that as well I
literally do not have the
time because I'm doing
everything I bet the time
as few as flying as quick
as it is for me in that you
look at it we're what 12 for june
Absolutely.
Right.
But the last time I checked,
we were just finishing off in January.
Yeah.
I had a good Christmas.
Yeah.
Tax season's done.
Finished January and we're
just looking up into February.
And now we're halfway through the year.
And that's the thing.
So part of the process we
have with clients is we do
a lot of quarterly meetings
where we review the management accounts.
We look at the forecast
going forward of what it's going to do.
But what I've realized over
time is actually part of
that becomes this strategic
stuff where you start quizzing and go,
so what are you aiming for?
Where are you going?
What do you want?
What's this?
And I always say to people, I'm nosy.
I go into the personal life.
What is it?
So like client in just
before I went on holiday,
he wants to sell his house
to get to a big house
because it's really
important to him to have
the space for the kids that
he's got that's growing up
and he needs to do it now.
Otherwise, if he waits,
the kid's going to be too
old to get the real
enjoyment of going through
that pain and doing it.
So therefore,
his business had to enable
him to do that.
How do you do it?
So that was his plan.
At this moment in time,
his business plan was to
extract as much money from
the business as tax
efficient as possible to
buy the next house and get
a mortgage and deal with all that.
Yeah.
But that meant that the
business was fully affected
by his own personal
decision that he needs to do for his life,
which is normal, right?
It's a small business.
We're not a big corporate.
So therefore,
that's why I'm so intrigued
about people's personal lives and stuff,
because it will all do it.
Someone might be going along going, right,
actually,
things have happened I need
to grow this as quick as
possible as strong as
possible so I can sell it
cash out and I'm going to
go tour the world yeah okay
I mean that could be
someone who's 28 or it
could be someone who's 58
right so isn't you can't
put any you can't just
assume that someone's at a
certain point in their life
going that must be that
because actually people
don't change and then it's
a certain point in their
life whether it is possibly
here yeah yeah and then and
then you so then what you
end up doing is you that
that quarterly meeting that
we do becomes a right so what do you want
How do we get there?
And we sometimes can direct
the conversation and direct the thoughts.
But a lot of it will be just
that conversation like we're doing now.
Go actually this, that.
Oh, that's quite important.
I'll pick up on that.
We'll aim for that.
And we just build this bit.
But we create that open
atmosphere and sort of
comfortable atmosphere to
just to talk it through.
I've got, I don't know,
a couple of dozen clients
that we have this quarterly chats with.
that is just this we've got
the numbers of one part
it's not the main part of
the countings everyone
thinks it's just the
numbers but actually it's
what do they mean what
could they do what what
what is it doing for you
because if you're if I'm
there going drive drive
that business look at the
opportunities you got all
that and they go I don't
really care about the money
I've got plenty of people
that who could probably
double triple their income
yeah but that will
obviously put on more
stress more time less time
at home they just don't
want it and like other people say well
make the money like you've
got to understand the whole
thing and build that plan
And do you think,
this is probably a silly question,
but I'm probably admitting
this myself now,
does it always have to be written down?
I'm assuming we kind of need
to write something down.
It's easier to have it
written down so that you
can go back to it,
because otherwise you're
going back to a thought process,
but you'll go back with
rose-tinted glasses of what
you think you did remember,
not what's actually there.
But written down could be just an email.
So I tend to take all the
notes in a meeting,
And I tend now to do a
follow-up email and just say, look,
these are the points.
Share it if I've got something wrong.
And then you've got an email,
even if you don't,
I try to look at it again,
like when I go to the next meeting,
we'll pull it up and go, right,
those are the bits.
Those are the main bits.
Let's make sure we bring that in.
Some people won't ever look
at it again because once they put it down,
they remember it, right?
But it's always there.
And so I think it's quite
important because you think
at the time you remember it,
but as you said, right,
if you're forcing yourself
to come out of that sort of
doing part just to work on the business,
I'm pretty sure that if
it's that much pressure like that there,
You'll walk straight back
into the doing half an hour
after the meeting and you
and you forget half of it.
So if you can have it written down,
like even like an email,
handwritten notes on the
tablets or whatever it is.
And I tell you what,
my my wife bought me this
this book that sits by my bed.
It's got just words on the
front that says things I
thought about while I was
asleep because it helps me
to just wake up.
And I don't know about you,
but I come up with so many
ideas in the night.
And I would stay awake.
I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep.
Because you want to forget it.
Exactly.
It's the biggest one.
And plus,
it would then spawn off into other ideas.
And it's like, right,
just wake up momentarily, write it down,
any bullet points to go with it,
close the book, put the pen in it,
and then go back to sleep.
Because I'm like, fine,
I'm not going to forget it.
And I'm going to allow
myself to go thinking off
of those points tomorrow.
And it's all really good.
And I guess it's that same thing.
I mean...
I'm guilty of it because I
think I can even remember
the details now is that I
know a service that I can
add to our retainer
contract to the visual PR.
And I need to take on a particular person,
you know,
with a particular set of skills.
So I'm becoming taken now.
And
I worked out, okay,
so they're going to cost me
roughly this much per month,
and I'll be adding that
much on per month to the
retainer to include that service.
I only need three retainers
to include that,
and it will pay for that
person and everything thereafter.
And that's a business plan, isn't it?
That is.
You've looked at it.
It comes back to numbers.
But I haven't written it down.
no but you know about it you
reeled it off yeah you've
reeled it off lucky and and
then when you go when you
go to put it into practice
you'll be based on that and
that's what that's as basic
as it basic as it can be
yeah but it still works and
that's the important bit is
that it's still working
it's still it's that making
you do the thought process
you said about the book
next to the bed I email
myself off my personal
phone I email my work phone
in the morning I could have
four or five emails in
there and when debbie's
covering she's like what
was this about like three
o'clock in the morning
maybe some garbage message
I've written to myself and
I'm like oh that was this I
thought if we could do this
or I've forgotten I need to
speak to this client so
I'll write that note in
there like we're all doing
it it's just in different ways
and and it is important
because those those
spontaneous thoughts are
whilst we are working on
our business or we hear
something else or we see
some figures it could be a
degree of panic where
things maybe haven't gone
right and you sort of I
find I found when uh I lost
a couple of clients uh well
they were linked two
clients linked together and
natural nothing wrong they
just got to the end of when
they were doing this and I
suddenly went oh my gosh
that's that's that much per month
that was probably the most
creative evening and
following morning that I've ever had.
So that by mid-morning, I was buzzing,
absolutely buzzing.
Because you take what that
thought was really negative
into a real positive drive.
Because it makes you,
it forces you to be creative.
It forces you to come up with ideas.
And suddenly,
even down to some basics of
rewording ideas,
the marketing message for
our service or little
things that could be added
on that were complimentary
or understanding that
actually half of my problem is, is,
is this.
So I need to overcome that
with our clients and it
will keep everything tickety boo.
I always think the most creative, the most,
um,
most efficient in your thinking is
when a self-employed
person's got back against the wall.
Yeah.
Something's happened.
The right hand person's just said,
I'm off.
And you thought you could
never survive with, you know,
And you go through that first bit,
you go mad.
And it tends to be, let's grab a cuppa,
sit down, go away.
But actually, the last couple of months,
I've had a few of them,
their right-hand person has said,
I'm gone.
And they've suddenly realised,
this isn't the best thing
that happened for us.
Because you felt so reliant
on that person.
You took them away and they're like...
It's actually okay.
We'll just do this.
And it's, again,
having that confidence to say,
if you've already been
thinking of the business,
when that happens and you
get over that initial factor,
you sit down and you're like, okay,
this is what we're going to do.
This is how we're going to
get out of this hole.
And this is how we're going
to drive forward.
And actually,
the outcome looks pretty good now.
And I think this is the key
thing that I'm really
gleaming from originally your blog post,
but equally this conversation,
is don't think that you are...
committing 100% accuracy to this.
There could be some best guesses in there,
and that's still okay.
Obviously,
the utopia is that they're 100% accurate,
but even that would be 100%
accurate today.
And it's okay just to get
something that gives you
some kind of clarity, some kind of vision,
some kind of goal,
And I mean,
one of the other points that
I've got coming up next is
about from that you can set KPIs,
key performance indicators, which again,
I'm really scared because I
automatically think that
they're overly granular,
but they don't need to be.
They could be number of new
clients this month.
You might go, actually,
if I get one new client every month,
it all adds up to the end
game at the end of the year,
meaning that you've got 12
more than what you had at
the start of the year on a
running 12-month basis.
And it could just be you sit
down and look at the month and go,
did I make a new client?
That's just a single figure.
It's a yes, no, how many,
one single number or double-digit number,
all right?
It could be as simple as that.
Again, KPIs all mean different things.
I know I can run, for our business,
two reports, and I can look at those,
and I can generally tell
what the bottom line's
going to be for a month.
And you've got 25 staff,
all things changing.
I can look at two numbers,
and the way I interpret numbers,
I can work out what the bottom is.
But again, John works in a different way,
Hannah, Rob,
they all work in different ways,
so they can't do it that way,
but they'll do it another
way that doesn't work for me.
But again, that's technically a KPI.
If I see that and that,
does that equal a green flag over there?
And it could be all sorts of things.
The construction client we've got,
they look at what their order book is.
If their order book goes up,
that's really strong,
it actually becomes a
traffic light where that's
an orange or red.
Because it's actually the
hidden thing is with the
order book going up,
does that mean they're not
servicing enough in the current month?
So therefore, the current month's gone.
You were expecting to do 250K,
but you've only done 100K.
And it's all pushed.
It's all right.
It's still there.
But you can't push your
wages up with the next one.
Your wages still go out this month.
So actually make a loss,
even though you've got a
massive order book.
And what does that do?
Is there a cash flow knock on?
So it's all those little
things that have become very,
very bespoke for a business.
And so those KPIs could be anything.
I mean, you know,
that was resonating again
with me there is that I even,
for this business,
for Visual PR in particular,
which was new for me,
was that I could actually
see a KPI would not just be
the number of clients I've got.
I mean, I guess it would,
not as in I'm aiming for an item,
because I know that there
is a break point with the
resources that I have,
both internally with
obviously growing the internal team,
and I've got some outsource partners.
It's like kind of,
If I go above that, we start creaking.
You start letting people down.
Exactly.
And therefore, growth becomes a hindrance.
Correct.
And it's knowing when that point is.
And that's part of your plan.
And that's the joys of the
scale-up challenge that we have.
I remember having this
conversation with you.
I always thought that the
real stress in business is
when it's not working.
And I've since found, actually,
I think it's even more
stressful when it is,
when you're in that scale-up phase,
because I'm there going, right,
I need more to grow the business.
I need more people and space.
but to afford more people in space,
I've got to grow the businesses.
So you're kind of going like this.
And it isn't just like, right,
let's go and get countless
new clients on board.
It's like, no,
we categorically cannot do that.
Where is that bright point?
We can go, we can go,
right now I need someone else.
That means I need to be
lining up some more clients
to justify that.
And it's an interesting challenge.
And that, again,
like understanding the plan,
if you're talking to a client and going,
I'm going to scale it.
So I've got one at the moment,
go between one and two
million a month sort of turnover.
But actually understanding that,
I know where the weaknesses
are with that and therefore
the things to be wary about.
He might not have thought of that.
I have.
So therefore,
when we're talking about this
plan and understanding his journey,
I can go back and go, right,
these are some traffic
lights we can put in.
Are we OK or are we not?
And again, that's why it's important.
That's why I love the
businesses who actually
want to get involved in
working with an accountant.
The perfect client for me is
someone I work with quarterly,
do some numbers, sit down,
and they're a business that
doesn't want to naturally
grow massively or be huge
or something like that,
but just someone who just
has got something going on
in their business that
they've got a journey,
they've got an end game to aim for.
Because then you can help
them get to that.
And when they get there in two years' time,
you go, how's that?
I helped you out there.
Well done.
Off you go.
You've done what you needed to do.
Have a great time.
And it could be just getting
to a point that goes, yeah,
I'm making some good money now.
Or it's,
I'm going to flog it now and I'm
going to go off to the Caribbean.
Yeah.
Great work.
And I really do enjoy that
part of the journey of being on it.
It always has been.
You've always loved the
startups and the scale-ups, haven't you?
It's definitely been a personal passion.
I mean, you know, I was even,
one of the other reasons
why I know that I need to
be sort of putting these
plans in where I can get
people on is not just to
suddenly be working on instead of in.
There are things that I do
in the business because I have to,
and I'm good enough at doing them,
But if I can grow the
business and get people
that excel at those
particular individual tasks,
whereas I just can do them well enough,
that's what enables the
business to grow even further.
But, of course,
I can't afford that skill
from the get-go.
No, and you look at your opportunity cost.
So if you haven't got
anything else to go and do,
then actually there's a
point where it's not worth paying for it.
It might take you three
times longer than...
paying somebody else to do
it but you you're free yeah
it's a business over you're
free yeah true right okay
so if you can do it for
free and it doesn't stop
you doing something else
but it's the point when you
go I'm going to spend three
hours on that but in that
three hours if I wasn't
doing it I could earn that
and but I'd have to pay
that I'm on what I could
earn it's more than what I
pay out for the bit to do
it because they can do it
three times quicker and and
I've found as well is that um I think uh
said that I've got a mix of
outsource and growing the internal team,
is that an outsource on one
particular thing was that
they did that job.
That, for me, was done.
Right, there you go.
There's another one.
Can you get on with it?
And then the enforcement, it was done.
Whereas I've now managed to
employ that is doing that
because it's within their speciality,
but is there internally,
so is able to do these
other things related around it as well.
Yeah.
they're in there and so it's
like now was the time to
take that on and go grow
that side of the business
but just push more and more
away from you to enable the
next things to go
absolutely and I love the
um the phrase if I'm the
smartest person in the room
then I've employed wrongly
so that's like playing
around with those things at
the moment but it is this
business plan um okay kpis
uh we've then got
watching um effects we've
touched on already where
where margins might be
getting squeezed and you
kind of go right do we need
to go and look at
new suppliers do we need to
negotiate new prices for
that do we need to up our
prices then as we touched
on earlier is that that can
lead on to a number of
other things where we also
then have to say yes but
that now takes me into this
level of that of
corporation tax of this of
that it's just no and and
again it's just
understanding all the
knock-on effects of doing a decision
and some of it you just do
naturally sometimes you
have to pen it out and work
it out yeah um and but
they're still both
technically a plan you're
planning it you're
understanding it you're
thinking it through um and
it yeah it's just different
one of them you've got
something to come back to
the other one you go
actually I remember a
little bit that thought
process back before but
I've slept since yeah quite
uh you make a comment as
well in your article about
identifying and protecting
from areas of risk
Is that,
I guess that is genuinely possible to do,
loosely speaking, I guess.
Like every business has some form of risk,
right?
Whether it's, so like your,
say one of the risks for
your business is what if you can't work?
You're one of the main cog
of the business.
So if you can't work, what happens?
It's not necessarily a risk
of a competitor doing
something or a new startup
taking over your industry.
It's what,
and it could be all sorts of
different risks.
Yours could be that, right?
ours could be like
regulation changes what's
what if that changes can we
like what happens to the
amount of work we've got to
do behind the doors to do
this what about other
startups other like
movements of staff if we
like it's though it's all
those sort of risks and
it's it's sitting down and
it's it's taking a view of
being negative and going
right what's all the things
that can go wrong
But then, like what you said before,
spinning them into, right,
that's an opportunity, actually.
Most downturns in businesses
and economies and stuff
creates massive opportunities for people.
And there's some businesses
that grew out of COVID.
It's just mental because
there was an opportunity.
An opportunity comes from
these risks and stuff.
So again, going back to the SWOT analysis,
doing something like that,
like what is the risk and
how do you either protect
it so that if it does happen,
it's controlled or like what?
And it could be just so a
risk of like a builder is
that they don't get paid.
They run into debt.
and stuff so how do you
protect that risk have a
limited company because
then it's wrapped up in
there and if it's not your
fault that it's gone wrong
or something a customer and
you can get paid and stuff
like you've protected the
risk that you've seen of
your own life being
affected by this right so
there's that kind of
protection right you've got
it done another form of
protection is having insurance
If it happens, right, done, right?
And it's those risks that
you've kind of identified,
done something about.
You might not realize you've
done it because everyone
goes and gets insurance,
but actually you've identified a risk.
There could be something,
so we'll have some insurance.
And there's some risks that
you will look at.
I always remember looking at,
I worked years ago with an
electrical company doing
the big installs of housing estates,
main grids.
And you look at their
business plan and risk assessments,
and the bottom one was always,
Because it was high voltage electric,
there was always a risk of death.
And naturally you would think, well,
actually they wouldn't be
able to do that.
But it's like being aware of it,
protecting it.
There's only so much you can
do to protect certain
things and you put it all in.
But there's always still an
element of risk.
You could put all the
protection in the world,
but there's still an element of risk.
And then that's when you look at it and go,
yeah,
I'm still okay with that risk to go
and do this business.
Or you look at it and go,
I'm really not going to
sleep well knowing that
there's that little bit of risk.
So therefore that,
that direction isn't right for you.
And do they still have,
I'm sure I used to hear key man insurance,
something like that.
Cause you kind of go right
in our business.
If, if,
One of the, let's say,
if I can say two directors,
if one or both of them went,
the company's screwed,
so we need to have some
kind of key man insurance.
You get key man,
you get death in service ones,
you've got shareholder protection.
These are ones that you need
to speak to your financial
advisors about because
there's ones that can...
Because not everyone would need them,
would they?
No, no, that's it.
And unfortunately,
a client I've had has got
cancer and they've had to
call on the shareholder and say,
policy but the idea of that
one is that where you've
got two people more that
when if someone's to pass
away the insurance would
pay out to to buy the
grieving spouse's shares so
naturally if you've got
john and bob and bob dies
naturally john doesn't want
bob's wife who's just
dealing with her husband dying
haven't run the business
because naturally that's
what will happen is his
shares are transferred to
her and you're over here so
actually the idea is that
the insurance body pays out
to pay they get the money
for the shares and then he
gets to run the business
himself sell it do whatever yeah
And it's, again, that's a risk.
You've looked at it.
Again,
part of the decision would have been,
actually, what if that happens?
All right, okay, let's put that policy in.
So then it's there.
Hopefully you never have to use it,
but unfortunately I'm
seeing it being used
recently for a couple of cases.
So it's there.
what's there and it's
generally it's paid for by
the business and that as a
if you get it set up in the
right way and again go like
those are the ones where
you have a conversation
with the the financial
advisor to put see what
protection you can have if
you need it if you see if
you perceive it as a risk
you need to protect it all
makes sense and it could
even be as simple as that
it just that you're aware
of something that if you
see this happening you know
you need to pattern down
the hatches or whatever it
might be final thing then um
and I'm able to ask this
because I'm independent to you guys,
is that I'm sat here as a
business owner kind of going, right, yeah,
do you know what?
I need to have better
business plans drawn up.
I think I know what I would be doing,
and I probably need to
revisit it more often than I do.
What would I be able to do with Optimum?
So I think the way that
businesses at that point
who want to adapt it and change,
is to come in, let us quote,
to do quarterly meetings with,
that includes management accounts,
face-to-face chats,
discussion through the quarter as well,
we'll never stop that,
but a specific sit down with a coffee,
go through this, these accounts,
And naturally, we will talk about things.
We will get things out of
you without you realizing
because we just like to
have a conversation.
And then that will build up
where you go and what you're doing.
And then with that,
we put these plans together.
It's not a title business plan.
It's just the notes and the meeting.
But that is our strategy meeting.
And those are the ones where
we can help the most.
Those businesses that are
either growing or have
something that's going on
that's good in there,
that they either got staff,
nice big project going on,
and we just need to analyze it,
or ones that know that they
want to come in and go, right, actually,
I want to come in and I
want to sell in five years.
They've got a definite plan.
We can help with those to
work out how you get there.
Because I think it is important, you know,
and even, again, speaking from experience,
is that I start playing
around with numbers and
guesses and assumptions out
of that and costs that I
anticipate and blah, blah, blah.
And I get overwhelmed.
I can get tired just from trying to do it.
And I can end up throwing
toys at the pram and just going,
I just can't.
Forget it.
It's pointless.
Whereas I know I need to do these things.
to know that we've got,
and the other point I was
going to make is that we
are not impartial.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
A hundred percent.
Like I said, with me and my wife, we, we,
we bought it because we saw
what we wanted to see,
not what was actually there.
Exactly.
And I know that you have
sometimes have to get
involved in some pretty
tough discussions that kind of goes, guys,
you do realize this here.
Look,
I had one a few weeks ago
and one of them said, no,
you're asking some awkward questions.
I said, yeah, fully intended.
At this point in time,
I'm not your friend.
I'm trying to just create
those thought ones.
So you do have that question, that answer,
that discussion now.
not when it goes wrong.
Because it's easier to do it
when you're friends.
Exactly.
So that makes sense.
Optimum, you can come,
you can have conversations with them,
all of that sort of stuff.
But you can also do a lot of
this on your own.
That's a key one that you're saying,
isn't it?
Is that people can be doing
these and it doesn't need to be
uh death and glory you know
everything in these
business plans but do do a
lot more and it certainly
makes a lot more sense to
me I'm bought in and I do
need to write more things
down not always work in
spreadsheets although excel
lets us do a lot of magical
things with it with
equations but it could just
be it could be the back of
a fact packet this is the
thing a lot of people other
paper sources are available
You can send it over.
People think, oh,
I've got to write it in a nice,
pretty way and stuff like that.
If you scribble some stuff
down on the back of paper and say, look,
I'm thinking of this,
I can generally interpret
it so that I can get what
you're aiming for.
Again,
I've got the notepad so that makes
it easier.
It's handwritten because I handwrite.
I don't type as well,
like handwritten notes.
That's where I get the most
out of my brain.
And if I do send it over, that's enough.
And you just go, look,
I'm just thinking of this.
What do you think?
And it could be just a few minutes.
Yeah.
What about this?
Brilliant, thanks.
And it could just be as simple as that,
or it could be something a
bit more formal and structured.
Yeah.
No, it makes sense.
Well, listen, Mike,
thank you for this one.
Hope you've all found it really useful.
I found it useful to be involved in it.
And some of it is fairly common sense.
Some of it is what we're
probably already doing.
But it's just as important
to reinforce that if you're
doing it without thinking about it, hey,
that's a good thing.
Keep doing it.
And I saw multiple things there as well.
It's not as scary as it needs to be.
And it's not just a one and
done at the beginning of a business.
It's something that could be redone.
periodically it could
actually be broken down
into different revenue
streams or activities all
those kind of things and it
is worth the little bit of
effort and as you said it
could be just right down on
the back of a piece of
paper dump down what you're
thinking and then work out later which
I've been doing when I'm talking about,
yeah, I can add this person and do that.
You're doing it.
You start doing it.
Yeah.
But I need to note it.
Hopefully everyone saw the
room get bright every time you heard, ooh,
local movements.
It is.
That's why you enjoy doing
these shows as well.
You see that happen with me.
I'm like, oh, okay, that makes sense.
Thank you so much for joining us.
I hope it's been useful.
If you're watching back, of course,
please do get in touch with
the team here.
Let me just put this up is
that we've got the website
optpsopticalprofessionalservices.co.uk
optps.co.uk
If it's Mike in particular,
you've got mblaken at optps.co.uk.
Get in touch with them.
Well worth it.
And they can advise you more
specific about your
situation and help guide
you through these things or
confirm that you're on the right track,
whatever it might be.
And it's been a pleasure again.
Thanks, Mark.
It's been good.
Yeah, it's just great.
It has.
We'll see you next month for
what will that be?
Episode nine.
In fact,
we're about to have a meeting and
plan the next three episodes.
So we'll be back with a
whole raft of things that
are hopefully useful.
If you have any ideas or
requests of certain subject
matters that you think
would be really handy to go
into with any members of
the team here at Optimum,
drop them a line, let them know,
or you can let me know at
Visual PR if you wanted to.
But either way,
it gives us content that we
can be covering in more detail.
It's there to try and
hopefully help you all with
more information,
go into it in more detail,
and not just in writing
that you've got to sit
there and read it all.
It brings it to life.
You can catch all of this
again on Optimum's YouTube, Facebook,
and LinkedIn pages,
and you can get in touch
anywhere you want.
But for now, see you next time.
Cheers.