Auckland builder Simon grows his company & makes a huge 244% extra profit in just 9 months
BUILDING COMPANY
The only hesitation was: You think you know it all.
There is a certain amount of ego attached – “I know what I’m doing. I’ve done this for 40 years. It should be easy”
But it isn’t.
I’d price a job thinking I’d put enough margin in there to give myself a profit at the end of it. And also pay myself each week. It got to the stage, as I was going through the job, where I could pay the guys – but I didn’t have enough leftover to pay me at the end of each week.
And at the end of the job, the profit was eaten up in basically paying the guys and paying my bills. Run through an 800,000 dollar job and come out with nothing at the end of it. Trying to understand why it’s gone that way. It was frustrating and stressful.
If you didn’t get an income out of it, that’s quite a scary thing. Last year was horrendous. By the time it got to Christmas, it was very uncertain. Shaping up that the profit margin was not in the house that we were building.
My partner was getting upset. All this money was going to pay the boys. They were getting their lifestyle sorted out. And I wasn’t getting any of it. They’re on 120 thousand a year, and I’m on 60. “You’re doing far more work than they are, why is that fair”
It shouldn’t work like that.
You’re not in business to keep money rolling in for other people.
You think it was just a one-off mistake. Or it was a glitch somewhere along the line. Unfortunately, sometimes, you need to get to the point where you’re on your knees, before you go and ask for help.
With Daniel’s input, there’s been some good growth. We’ve grown the work, grown the profit, and grown the labour force. So working with Next Level Tradie actually helped completely.
Now we’ve got 4 licensed builders, plus myself, and 2 apprentices in training. There are 7 of us all together, from 4 at the beginning of the year.
I’m looking into getting another team on board, because there is enough coming in. Come April next year everything will start to pile up. I know that’s gonna happen. So it’s not month to month. It’s year to year planning now. That’s a big step.
We’ve increased our sales 320% this year. And increased our profit 244%.
I’ve got off the tools almost 100% of the time now. I’m more into project management and site supervision. That’s been quite a big thing. Previously there wasn’t enough money to be able to do that.
Biggest challenge was actually understanding I needed to get off the tools and run the business. Be more behind the scenes, rather than driving the nails in and doing the physical work.
Actually taking that step back. Saying, “you guys do it, and I’ll organise it”. It’s a big jump.
I learnt I needed to step back, to be able to see the bigger picture. Let the guys do what they’re doing, and I concentrate on growing things, getting the money in, sorting out the jobs, pricing. All the stuff that needs to be done to keep the business moving ahead.
Rather than, if I’m on the tools day by day, that stuff slips. Then all of a sudden, there’s a hole.
It’s always a case of “you don’t know what you don’t know”.
Having someone saying: This is where you need to go. This is what you need to look at and concentrate on… Without that guidance, you’re just not going to get there on your own.
We haven’t been to business school. We don’t know the ins and outs of Xero. It takes quite a raft of knowledge to run a business now. It’s not just a case of being good at building houses.
Home life is good now, fabulous. Just the stress level of where is next months rent is coming from, where’s the bill for the car coming from. That money is there.
My partner is comfortable with the fact she doesn’t have to go look for a job that only pays $20 an hour. Because obviously there’s no point in that, it’s not worth it.
We’re just that much more relaxed with each other. We’re not bickering. There’s no tension over money issues.
We’ve made a visible profit for the first time. Got to the end of the year with money in the bank. All the taxes paid up to date and everything ready to go for the new year.
That’s got a huge good feeling about it. I can take 2 weeks not stressing over Christmas, just relax and enjoy.
I took the day out yesterday, drove down to Rotorua, and picked up 2 kayaks. We’re going to go off and do some kayaking over that 2 week break. Do some different things together.
My biggest advice would be: Just tuck your ego away. Ask for help. Just do it. You don’t know everything. And you’re never going to know everything. But it’s best to have a handle on the business, on how things are working, on where the moneys going, where all that cashflow is, and where you can take your profit from. 
SIMON THATCHER
SIMON & CO
(FORMALLY SIANCO BUILDING LIMITED)
Ben & Jenny fix cashflow & add 71k to bottom line inside 8 months!
LANDSCAPING CONTRACTORS
We’re a contracting and landscape supplies company based in Mid Canterbury.
Before starting coaching, we were struggling with cashflow and also struggling with direction. We were new to running a business and were floundering in some areas. Stress levels were very high.
Working with Daniel for the last 8 months, we’ve seen the benefit of the pricing reviews, staffing advice (managing, employing, interviewing, firing etc), advertising, problem solving. And we are much more consistent from month to month, and across every level of our business.
Initially Daniel seems like a quiet guy but we quickly found that he knows what he’s talking about!
He tailored the program to suit our immediate needs. He is a great sounding-board for advice and discussing options.
The results have been great with sales increasing by 13%, margins improved by 31%, and we’ve added an extra $71,000 to our bottom line this year.
Our next focus is to start getting rid of debt now that the money is available from our increased profits.
We definitely felt it was a good investment!
BEN AND JENNY THOMPSON
KT’S CONTRACTING
Jaco & Fiona make epic playhouses & forts for kids – and a healthy 43% more profit than last year
CUSTOM BUILT SUPER FORTS
We went looking for help because we’d bungled our way through the last 5 years, just doing what we could, reading up. We’d had a couple of years that had been similar, and we wanted to “up the ante”, know more about being in a business, sharpen things up, get systems working. Lots of little frustrations – cashflow was a big one, planning, having the skills to pass stuff on to other people.
We’d talked to another business coach 2 years ago, he was promising all this big big stuff, it was pressure pressure, wanting us to sign for a really long term, and a huge amount every month. He wouldn’t put anything in writing or give us time to think about it.
Daniel was completely different. When we talked to him initially, he said “this is what I can do”, wrote it all down, talked us through it. It was really realistic, looking at improvements like 5%, 10%. We didn’t have any hesitation signing on because of Daniel’s openness about what he was offering. We felt really comfortable with his approach and support.
A lot of the things we did with Daniel, like pricing, we’d done what we thought was the right way to do it. We didn’t really have any clear idea of the profit margins and all that kind of thing. Doing that was a real eye opener and it made so much sense.
There were lots of insights. This process has taught us so much about Xero. All the spreadsheets and templates, they’re really good.
Even having a marketing plan, planning out what we were going to do for the year. Before, we would do things when we felt like it, every now and again, but there was no plan, no structure to it, we were just blindly following along, leaving it a lot to chance. There used to be lots of advertising we were doing that was ineffective. Now we are more focussed on what we’re trying to achieve with it.
We understand a lot more about Facebook Ads now. We are spending the same on ads, but they are working a lot better now that we’re using Ads Manager. A lot more enquiries and sales.
Now we’ve got a focus, we sit down and say we’re going to work on this product today, and we look at right through from the cost analysis to the advertising. We always made goals, but we’d never really looked at the different aspects of it in isolation and then bringing it all back together.
We’ve got a lot more written down. There are systems we can fall back on. Like if you’re going to employ somebody, obviously it’s going to be at a busy time – but have you got the processes in place to do that quite seamlessly? Are you going to be busy for 2-3 weeks training somebody else? VS. knowing you’ve got lists of exactly how to do things and it’s all broken down quite simple, which we’d probably never thought about before.
We’re more efficient in the way we process the timber, doing stuff in bulk lots. It is a bit tricky with timber being expensive.
The hours we spend are more effective now. And Fiona is doing less. 6 months ago it was 2 or 3 hours every night, 20+ per week. Now it’s cut in half. One thing she’s done is got help in, outsourced the boring parts, it’s been good.
Even though we decided to reduce some lines we still achieved an 8% increase in sales over the year. And profits have improved a healthy 43%.
To others thinking about business coaching, we would say “go for it”. Daniel is really approachable. He is a businessman as well, he is doing it himself, from a different point of view, but small business, he’s not some swanky corporate type. We don’t want to talk to people that will judge us for our lack of knowledge, and he hasn’t done that at all. It’s been very down to earth. Manageable little bits every fortnight, and not too much to do at once.
We’ll still see all the results coming into the next season. The wheels are already turning and things are speeding up. I’m pretty sure our results are going to blow last year out of the water!
JACO & FIONA BESTER
BESTERS OUTDOOR LIVING
Simple tweaks help Dean & Jane gain control, increase sales by 40% & exactly double their profits
MECHANIC
Our business had been at the same level for 6 years. We felt stagnant. We needed to make things happen, improve, progress.
We hadn’t really opened our business up to someone before. So it was a little scary – and logical – in the same respect.
When you invest money in coaching, you always think “is this person actually going to be able to help us?”
And because we’re only self-taught, “what if we’ve been doing things wrong all these years”
When you’re in the business, running it every day, you have to think about the practical management tasks that have to be achieved, alongside tweaking those numbers.
Having someone like Daniel who’s open to discussing all the different aspects of business has been great. Our feeling is, sometimes the numbers will come if you get the other things right.
Daniel put the strategies he gave us into proper easy-to-understand language for our business. Like getting 2% extra, when Daniel talks about it, you can understand it, you see it, it’s achievable.
If the accountant had said “get 2% extra” we would have been like, 2% out of what, where, how do we do that? We’d have gone away and never thought about it again.
One thing we did with Daniel was adjusted our charge out rate for work that was out in the field, our grease and sundries rate as well, for different size machines.
We’ve increased our profit just by adjusting two little key lines that we hadn’t priced well. That alone has made a $20,000 a year difference to business.
Having a conscientious look at everything, and making tweaks during the year, has made a big difference to us.
Overall, sales have increased 40%. Gross profit margins increased by 40%. Profits have exactly doubled.
Dean: Working through how to manage your staff has been good. There are definite management factors that are helping the running of the business hugely. That’s been golden.
Jane: Like Dean getting really sorted with the morning meeting. It’s not high cost, high tech stuff. But it just makes a huge difference. It puts everyone on the same page.
Dean: The best part is having a level of control when it’s not an “easily controllable” business to be in.
One thing for me was the fact that “I was the business”. It’s been a learning curve to try and step away.
Jane: The way we do things between us has changed. Having gone through the spreadsheets and looking at some of the numbers, Dean has seen more of what I do, than he has ever seen before.
He understands now when I might push him on certain things. Like if I’m saying “can we get this job charged out this month, I know you’re busy but can we push it through, because it’s month’s end and we’ve got a lot of costs outlaid on it”. (Before he would’ve gone “yeah yeah, but we’re busy, stop harassing me”. Just got cross with me nagging.)
Jane: Dean worked around 80 hours per week before. That was starting to put pressure on our family life. We are still improving. But now it’s 55 average. And not every weekend.
At home he is more willing to switch off. Turn the phone off, or onto silent. Say “this is family time now”. We have definitely made progress in that regard. When he does come home, he’s home.
Coaching is definitely worth it. It’s been really helpful.
It has helped us think about things differently. Opened our eyes to things we can do better. Different ways of looking at them, that we wouldn’t have done otherwise.
Do you really want to progress your business? If you do, go for it. Commit to the process. Set aside the time to do the things you talk about and achieve them. So you can move forward each session.
DEAN & JANE HURLEY
DJ MECHANICAL & SERVICES LTD
Pete & Claire take their marketing next level & land a new client worth 70k with more to come
DRAINLAYER
The cost of coaching was a wee bit scary. However Dan was dealing with a friend at the time, and he was happy with how things were going.
We just wanted to fine-tune the business. We’d spent a lot of our energy getting it going. And we felt it wasn’t running 100% yet. We wanted to make it better. Make sure we were doing everything we could to make it successful. Having some fresh eyes on the business.
Daniel’s help with the marketing campaign was invaluable. That’s been a huge step forward. The extra business we’re going to get from that (Google Ads and website). We’ve had quite a bit of success already. It’s brought in extra business we needed with things quietening down. That’s been one of the big things.
After the letter we sent out, one of the companies that contacted us said it was “the best letter he’d ever seen”. He rang us before we rang him. We’ve since done 4 or 5 full jobs with them, and got jobs booked in for the new year. A really good win.
That’s thousands that has come in, short term, from jobs we picked up that we wouldn’t have had. Obviously it’s been very beneficial. It’s filled in gaps where we would have had guys not working (while it’s been a bit quieter in the economy). So that’s been a massive part of it. It’s looking pretty good at the moment. That will be worth around $70,000 extra profit over the year. Just from that one.
Some of the catch phrases we’ve been using (in the sales process), I’m still educating myself, but the companies just love hearing them… I don’t think it’s a question that they get asked very often.
And then the negotiation approach, I’ve used that a couple times, it definitely takes pressure out of the whole thing, and people seem to respond well to that, along with the things that we were doing well already. It’s also opened my mind on really how we need to handle enquiries and educate people. The new tools are going to help with that as well.
Definitely on the tanks is the biggest conversion we’ve had recently. We’ve won a lot of the enquiries that we’ve had, which has been really pleasing. The flyers have definitely been a big help with that. And the change of mindset, being able to spend a bit more time and care getting clients on board has helped also.
Some of the staff helps have been impressive too. Giving tools to our Operations Manager to bring in, there’s been some good changes there. Having a format for going through reviews. We’ve just done a meeting trying to get staff on board, to see how we can improve things and what can we do better. I have noticed an improvement in attitudes already. A few are coming back at me with things they’re going to do to sort things out. So that’s been a bonus.
We’ve also taken on some help in the office. Definitely that’s been a good move – and has taken the pressure off Claire.
Because everything had got so much bigger than it was in the beginning, and it had become difficult to manage that (with life), and it started getting a bit out of control.
Previously it was just all a bit messy. You feel like you’re chasing your tail, bogged down, not following through, not doing your best job.
It’s been fantastic. Being able to clear the backup of work. We have streamlined the invoicing as well, made it easier, so it’s also not taking as much time. She has taken the bulk of that work.
So Claire has dropped 10-20 hours a week, is mentally more free, can now come in and be able to focus on important things.
We have a better handle on the numbers now. We weren’t really following much before. There wasn’t “this is your margin for this month” and “this is what your percentage is”. We were looking at the graphs on Xero that told what our sales were, what our expenditure was. But there wasn’t a breakdown or anything like we have now.
We had spent all that time with Pete so occupied setting up the business. We knew we wanted to look at it one day. But we just didn’t have the capacity to do that. With getting office help on board, it’s meant we can properly look at things and run it economically, looking at all the figures and numbers.
It’s been helpful. Rather than just going month to month. Seeing after the fact, if you’re having a low month then “that’s that”, but we couldn’t see where we could be going wrong or why.
We’d definitely recommend Next Level Tradie.
It has given us some extra work, we would say that. But that is part of breaking things down and looking at them, understanding the systems better. There is obviously time involved. There’s going to be benefits to that as well.
We’ve definitely taken some big steps forward. And we are yet to see all the benefits, they will keep coming during the next 6 months to a year. Things are only going to get better from here. We’ve got tools to do that now.
PETE & CLAIRE HANSEN
PETER HANSEN DRAINAGE
Mike finds 90k more profit for the family business and everyone is happy.
FENCING CONTRACTORS
Olivia and I sat down and decided we are the next generation taking over the business, and we need goals on where the business is going to go.
If we’re going to run it, we’re going to run it profitable. And still have time for family, which is what we’re doing it for. And to get there, we need help doing it.
After we heard Daniel speak at the FCANZ conference, we knew coaching was our next step. We needed to learn more about how to improve the figures and how to run the behind-the-scenes.
We are fencing contractors in Blenheim, our company includes 6 family members and another 9 staff. I’d been running the day-to-day for some time.
We had debt that we needed to work on getting down, and we wanted to increase % up in the right areas, but without losing work. We’d just had a break-even year, and cashflow was tight.
Dad was struggling with the changes, so when we looked at coaching, he was definitely skeptical. And hesitant about the cost. The biggest thing was, we needed to do it, but coaching needs to work if we are paying the money.
This year, our margins are better, and we have added $90,000 extra profit, and also been able to give ourselves a pay rise which we couldn’t do before. Dad has now fully handed over and been happy to step back and let go.
Work keeps piling in, we have at least 3 months in front of us at any time, and all our crews are just as busy even with the increase in prices.
I also feel comfortable doing more hours in the office, the things I need to get done. I don’t feel so guilty that I should be out on the tools.
It’s the hidden things Daniel has brought to us that we can now see, now that we’ve dived in, it’s his knowledge and the little tweaks that have helped us out, and speed things up.
Definitely we now have a lot more control of the business.
It’s the not knowing that gets you. Having those figures in front of us now, I look at it a lot more. And have learnt how important it is to do. Before, I wouldn’t have known until the end-of-year-figures come out, and even then, I wouldn’t have known how I can do something about it.
Our next goal is to get rid of the loan over the next two years. Cashflow is also easier now, only once we’ve had to go to the bank, where normally we used to do it several times a year. Before, cashflow was tight, but now we have brought our limit down, and we’re sitting between $40,000 -$70,000 below that.
The whole family (including Dad) are very happy with the results we’ve achieved with Next Level Tradie.
MICHAEL RENNER
RENNER FENCING
Jeff & Sarah go from cashflow stress & not making money… to highly profitable with 7-10X return on investment in just 9 months.
ELECTRICAL COMPANY
The biggest problem for us was cashflow. We were getting busy but not making money. Our first year was hard with not enough profit to cover the overheads/wages in the business so we were running lean very quickly.
We both agreed from the outset of meeting Daniel at one of his training courses that we needed our business model accessed and measured to see what was causing the holes in our bucket and how to plug them up.
Through working with Daniel, we now have a better hold on the business as a whole. We’ve defined what areas we needed to put more focus on. We established methods in which to measure our performance and therefore we have the ability to determine where we are and aren’t making money ie. which areas are performing
We have improved our margins in all areas of our business. We have improved our gross profit from 5.5% to 26% over 12 months. Which has meant we are now making good healthy profits and cashflow is much easier.
We have learnt to analyse our business in different ways and now have the systems set up to accurately measure our business consistently.
We now feel more confident we are making the right business choices based on our data and overall vision/goals for our business. Decisions are now based on data rather than emotion.
This has proven itself with regards to diversions of services we provide in our business, where we invest our money on marketing and how to utilise our staff better to increase work efficiency and ultimately, lift sales and overall production.
We’ve found Daniel invaluable. He is approachable and we know we can share our business affairs with confidentiality assured. We enjoyed hearing real-life case studies or other client’s experiences and hurdles they have had to get over like us.
We like Daniel’s trade specific focus and he was able to teach us the art of discipline in the office and achieving tasks in a timely manner. We have the tools now to move forward more efficiently.
From our initial investment, we’ve got 7-10 times the return in a 9-month window working with Daniel.
JEFF & SARAH PIERCE
JEFF & SARAH PIERCESULLIVAN & SPILLANE ELECTRICAL
Caleb grows his business, slashes his working week from 80 to 50 hours & profits are up 209%.
BUILDING COMPANY
I was a new business just starting out, and Daniel gave me an initial free session. He told me to work on specialising, increasing prices and growing my team, which I did. A year later I’d gone from just me to 11 staff, but things were getting out of hand.
At this stage I decided to start the full coaching program with Daniel, even though cashflow was tight, and I was worried about the money.
I’m stoked to say I’ve got my investment back many times over.
Things had been getting out of control. I was exhausted and working 80 hour weeks, so time was a big issue. Also I wasn’t following up and getting jobs I quoted for. I didn’t know how to market or even how much money I was making. I was lacking direction as well.
In the last year while working with Daniel, my sales increased 124% and profits are up 209%.
This is even after having to write off a bad debt of $27,000.
I now work no more than 50 hours a week and have time to go hunting again. I also got married this year and now have a lot more time to spend with my wife Rachel which she is really happy about.
I realise now that I needed a coach to get my head around the numbers and the business side. I trained as a builder and I know my trade, but they just don’t teach you the business side, which is just as important.
I recommend business coaching to my friends after seeing what it’s done for me. If you are thinking about working with Next Level Tradie, give it a go, you won’t be disappointed.
CALEB HONISS
THE DECKING GUYS, CHRISTCHURCH
Jamie & Ellen rise to become leaders in their franchise group. The pressure comes off & profits soar by 151%.
BUILDING COMPANY
When we first began working with Daniel, we were feeling frustrated – we knew things could be better, but we did not know how to make it happen, and we wanted to get our whole team working to their full potential. Being part of a franchise, we had access to some good systems, but we weren’t getting the results we wanted.
Daniel has made such a difference to our business in such a short time.
After 15 months, profits have increased 151%, productivity is up (25% more annual completed jobs), conversions have increased 21.5% to 35%, and we receive positive feedback from customers on our customer service every week.
We have also received awards including 2018 Supreme Business Award Winners at the North Canterbury Business Awards (#1 out of 95 local businesses) and 2017 Totalspan Franchise of the Year Winners, also taking out Strategic Excellence, Sales Excellence, and Local Marketing Excellence (With 28 other franchises around NZ, this is a huge achievement, as we only took over less than 3 years ago).
We now have a much greater understanding of our business, financially and the roles within our organisation. The systems we have set up including financial and sales dashboards enable us to address issues in a timely manner and give us opportunity to correct before it is too late.
Daniel was able to help us implement user-friendly systems, improve our sales process and sales training to guide our staff into following and buying in to the new sales model. The systems help us keep a close eye on if the process is being followed and we feel much more confident about approaching staff if there are any issues.
We have also seen improvements in margin after implementing a new pricing system, and it is easier to recognise cost blow outs immediately, whereas previously it could have gone un-noticed or take months to pick up.
One of the most important benefits we have gained is how ‘not to stress, or feel desperate’ when things are not going as planned. In the early days of our business we would worry a lot about what could go wrong, and if things were not going well, about how much worse they could get. Many of the tools we now have in place enable us to understand our business and employees and to correct issues or try new strategies if required.
Daniel makes us feel like the pressure is off and that is what we have tried to pass onto our staff. We feel our work place is a relaxed but productive environment, where everybody feels comfortable sharing ideas. Our staff have also learned many valuable tools.
Ensuring the right people are employed in the right roles has meant we have been able to lighten our responsibility load and work more manageable hours as well!
JAMIE & ELLEN PETERSEN
TOTALSPAN NORTH CANTERBURY
Barney & Wendy no longer frustrated working long hours with endless paperwork. Now enjoying regular holidays & working a nice 4 day week.
BUILDING COMPANY
We have had our building company for over 38 years. We wanted to look at retiring in the next few years. Before we met Daniel, we just did not know how we were going to do this.
Barney was very sceptical in the beginning and wasn’t sure if coaching was going to be practical or just a whole lot of theory. But, very quickly, we found that everything Daniel taught was very practical and easy to use.
Things used to be overwhelming and chaotic. Barney was not getting the pricing done, could never get on top of it. Now, there is planning rather than chaos. Systems are in place and everyone is much more accountable. We are definitely in better shape.
Previously Barney was doing all the pricing himself, now our staff do ¾ of it. He’s doing the stuff he wants to do in the business, and has handed over the rest. Wendy always knew that systems would mean we would be able to let go, but until we started working with Daniel we didn’t know how or where to start. We even have a part time office person now.
Letting go was easier than we thought, and the difference is huge.
Barney never thought he’d ever be able to hand his skills on – he didn’t think it was possible. Now he has.
One of the biggest benefits is that we now we only work 4 days a week, no weekends, and have holidays overseas. When we get back from holidays, it’s organised (we used to come back to chaos and stress).
Based in Hurunui we are also going through a downturn with less dairy payouts = much less spending in the area. But we were well prepared – we saw it coming and Daniel gave us some great marketing ideas and showed us how to make sure we had a spread of different customers. In previous downturns, we’ve had to scale back and ride it out.
This time was different. While other trades here have had to lay up to 5-6 people off, and are really struggling, we have been able to keep all of our staff and are still in great shape.
Working with Daniel was a great decision. We’ve definitely had an excellent return on investment. We’re very happy, and now we are on track to retire when we want to.
BARNEY & WENDY BEAVEN
BARNEY & WENDY BEAVEN B G BEAVEN BUILDERS
Darren & Vicki knock it out of the park with 14X profit growth and 255% increase in sales.
FLOORING INSTALLATION
We are flooring specialists and recognised leaders in our area for our high-quality workmanship and customer satisfaction.
We sought business advice from Daniel because we weren’t business people and needed professional help. Vicki was attempting to run the office but could only manage the basics and needed help with this.
When we started working with Daniel a year and a half ago, we were only making a small amount of profit. Since then, we have increased sales by 255%, and by concentrating on the type of work we are best at, we are now making excellent profit and income.
In fact, our profit has increased by 14x what it was before.
We’ve gained a lot from this process, obviously financial gain but also having the confidence to move forward and the support to back us with that.
The best thing has been gaining confidence in what we do and recognising the skills and potential that we have. It is great to have the encouragement to do the things that we needed to do but never did because of our busy schedules and burdened minds. We also appreciated the support to do the invoicing properly.
We would definitely recommend to other business owners to get a mentor. There is so much more to learn, don’t be afraid to get some support and see how it will benefit your business.
DARREN & VICKI MEAD
CANTAB FLOORING INSTALLATIONS
Wayne & Maxine no longer stressed & working long nights & weekends. Now have more time for family.
PLUMBING COMPANY
Working most nights and sometimes weekends, our business was relying too heavily on both of us, and if either of us could not work income would immediately be affected. This was putting too much pressure and stress on our business.
We had a good business but it was not giving us the results we wanted. We were frustrated and knew we could do it better. In effect we were floundering around without clear direction on where to go next with the business.
With Daniel’s help, we now have some great systems in place in all aspects of the business which has meant that we have most nights and weekends free again, staff are now much more manageable, quality of work is better, and we have clear direction for the business.
We feel much more in control and are far less stressed than we used to be! We have a much better lifestyle now and more time for family.
The most valuable thing for us is having a coach who pushes us to get the important things done. This has helped us achieve our long term goals much quicker – including being able to afford a new property.
We also now have an independent view of the business which reduces arguments and helps us make better decisions – for us and the business. Thank you Daniel!
WAYNE & MAXINE SERVICE
WAYNE & MAXINE SERVICE HURUNUI DRAINAGE & PLUMBING
Grant & Sally increase profits by a massive 186% in just 9 months – while reducing workload & worry.
LANDSCAPING COMPANY
We specialise in all aspects of domestic landscaping & fencing needs. Our business was growing so quickly and we were both concerned that we didn’t know how to handle a larger business as we could see the problems were getting bigger as the business expanded. Grant was working massive hours every week and we realised that if something happened to him the business would be in real trouble.
Daniel was able to show us how to put the right systems in place so the business could become less reliant on Grant, while also increasing profits without compromising on the quality of our service.
With Daniel’s continued support we were also able to increase our profit by a massive 186% in just nine months, and have over doubled our sales and staff at the same time, which has been awesome.
The other thing we found invaluable was that Daniel was able to give a different perspective and direction which helped reduce inevitable tensions that can arise in a husband/wife team!!
We are both feeling much more relaxed and in control of our business and now have the confidence to take some valuable time off for leisure which had not previously been possible without major worry. We would therefore have great pleasure in recommending Daniel’s services to anyone who is looking for the help & expertise to maximise their business structure in any way and especially as outlined above.
GRANT & SALLY STEWART
STEWART CONTRACTING
Steve doubles profits in just 6 months while cutting his average working week from 70 to 45 hours.
ENGINEERING COMPANY
I have been working with Daniel for six months now and have had incredible results. The business had been growing but was not making any more profit. I was tired, doing 70 hour weeks, and feeling really frustrated as I just didn’t seem to be getting ahead.
After working with Daniel for just six months, things are now completely different.
We deal with a lot of corporate customers who can be tough negotiators; Daniel has shown me how to negotiate fair rates and simple ways of getting the best new customers for my business.
This has meant that I was able to grow the business by 126% over the past six months, and double my profits compared to last year. Previously I was working 70 hour weeks, but with Daniel’s help systemising the business I now work around 45 hours weeks while getting more done.
I feel much less stressed and finally have control of my business. Working with Daniel has been one of the best business decisions I have made for a long time.
STEVEN GILLIES
PURGE RITE PIPE SERVICES
Murray & Jackie improve profits by $40,500 from a single idea.
ELECTRICIANS
Working with Daniel has been a great experience both for our business and for us personally.
With just a single idea we were able to increase our profits by $40,500 per year. We now also have much better control over our business and have learnt to keep costs and margins tightly managed.
He has also helped us with motivation, guidance in dealing with some tough staff issues, and achieving more in our day. Now we have much more time to work on improving the business instead of just reacting to the day-to-day challenges.
We have direction and purpose at a whole new level and know what needs to be done to ensure that our business continues to thrive.
MURRAY & JACKIE MARQUET
CANTERBURY POWER SOLUTIONS
Rene & MJ go from “business blindness” to healthy profits with 185% increase in margin.
BUILDING COMPANY
In Holland there is a term we use called “business blindness”. Which is when you work a certain way and can’t work out how to change things. This was what we had in our business, along with trouble communicating between us as a husband and wife running a business together. We also weren’t putting everything on paper which meant cashflow and margins were always behind.
Since working with Daniel we have increased our margins by over 185% because we are now doing the right kind of work, rather than jobs we can’t make money off. We now have healthy profits instead of painful losses. It’s a huge turnaround and we’re really happy.
He also gave us specific guidelines with our communication which has reduced stress for both of us. If we have problems Daniel always gives us honest answers and tries to help us out and find a good solution. Even the bank told me they had more confidence in us because we were working with a business coach.
