Doug D’Aubrey is joined by ETC business consultant Rob to explore how experience, coaching and networking can help business owners achieve sustainable growth. Rob shares his career journey, from working with Microsoft technology and managing large teams at Pepsi to travelling the world helping businesses improve their sales processes and performance.

Rob explains how his experience in corporate leadership eventually led him towards business coaching, where he discovered a passion for helping people develop their skills, overcome challenges and achieve their goals. He also discusses the important role BNI has played in his own business journey, the lessons he's learnt from failure and why joining ETC allows him to combine his coaching experience with practical business support for small and medium-sized businesses.

People, Processes and Technology: Rob explains how his early corporate career taught him that successful businesses need more than just the right technology. Understanding how people, processes and systems work together is essential for improving performance and achieving long-term goals.

Small Changes Can Deliver Significant Growth: While working with Cisco partners around the world, Rob helped businesses move towards a more consultative sales approach. By understanding customer needs rather than simply selling products, businesses were able to identify new opportunities and achieve growth without necessarily making major changes.

The Power of Business Coaching: Rob shares the story of a headteacher who initially wanted to retire early but rediscovered his passion for education through coaching. By improving delegation, understanding his team and focusing on what mattered most, the headteacher was able to achieve remarkable results and enjoy his role again.

Networking Is About More Than Referrals: Rob discusses how joining BNI during lockdown transformed his approach to business. Beyond generating opportunities, networking provided structure, accountability and a valuable support network that helped him navigate the challenges of running his own company.

Learning From Failure: After experiencing the closure of his own BNI chapter, Rob used the experience to identify what wasn't working and improve the performance of other chapters. He explains why setbacks can provide some of the most valuable lessons for business owners, provided they're willing to reflect and make changes.

Combining Coaching With Practical Business Advice: Rob explains why he joined ETC to help smaller businesses access the kind of structured support often available to larger organisations. While coaching helps owners develop confidence and discover solutions, consultancy can provide practical guidance when they simply don't know what they need to do next.

"Spend more time requirements gathering rather than just selling."

"What I found was that I actually quite liked that environment and it was the support network primarily that was the thing that really, really made a difference to me."

"If we don't learn from those failures, we just don't survive as a business."

"At the end of the day, they don't know what they don't know."

About the host

Doug D’Aubrey, founder and Managing Director of Executive Training and Consultancy (ETC), leverages extensive senior management experience to help businesses across the UK and Europe. With tailored consultancy packages ranging from short-term projects to 3-year growth programs, Doug aids companies in improving operations and achieving results. Doug’s success lies in his honest communication with leaders, identifying strategies to enhance management skills and optimise service delivery for measurable outcomes.

Take advantage of a FREE 2-hour Business Review with ETC’s expert consultants to identify goals, tackle challenges, and create a clear plan for growth. Visit https://exec-tc.com/ to book your review.

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Stop Doing Everything: Delegate to Grow Your Business

In this episode of Business Made Smarter, Ed Nell sits down with Doug D’Aubrey to explore how delegation can improve productivity and help business owners focus their time on the work that really matters. Doug explains how many small business owners start out wearing every hat, from sales and marketing to bookkeeping and administration, but continuing to do everything themselves can eventually hold the business back.

Doug shares practical ways to identify which tasks should be delegated or outsourced, why paying someone else can actually make your business more profitable, and how to hand over responsibility without falling into the trap of micromanagement. He also explains why the ultimate goal should be to move from being the person who does everything to the person who makes sure everything gets done.

Key Takeaways

Being Busy Doesn't Mean Being Productive: Business owners can spend their days constantly working without necessarily focusing on the activities that generate the most value. As a business grows, continuing to do everything yourself can actually reduce productivity.

Delegation Can Make You More Profitable: Outsourcing tasks such as bookkeeping, administration or answering phones costs money, but it can free up valuable time for revenue-generating work. Doug explains why business owners should consider the value of their own time when deciding whether to outsource.

Live in the Flame: Doug shares a simple exercise where business owners separate the tasks they enjoy from those they dislike. The aim is to spend more time doing the work that energises them – the "flame" – while finding ways to delegate the tasks stuck in the "wax".

Delegate Outcomes, Not Just Tasks: Good delegation means clearly defining responsibilities, setting expectations and giving people the authority to do their job. Rather than insisting everything is done exactly as you would do it, focus on whether the right outcome is being achieved.

Track Where Your Time Goes: Doug recommends recording what you do each day for a week or two and then ranking those activities according to how much they contribute to profitability. This can reveal where time is being wasted and which tasks could be handed to someone else.

Build a Business, Not a Job: The long-term goal is to create a business that can operate without the owner doing everything. If the company can remain profitable and continue growing without your constant involvement, you've created something with genuine value that could eventually be sold or passed on.

Key Moments

"As a business owner, don't hold on to stuff you don't want to do."

"We want you to live in the flame."

"They might not have done it exactly the way you do it, but did they get the result?"

"If you can make yourself redundant and the business can continue to be profitable and progress and continue to grow, you've now built a business."

About the host

Doug D’Aubrey, founder and Managing Director of Executive Training and Consultancy (ETC), leverages extensive senior management experience to help businesses across the UK and Europe. With tailored consultancy packages ranging from short-term projects to 3-year growth programs, Doug aids companies in improving operations and achieving results. Doug’s success lies in his honest communication with leaders, identifying strategies to enhance management skills and optimise service delivery for measurable outcomes.

Take advantage of a FREE 2-hour Business Review with ETC’s expert consultants to identify goals, tackle challenges, and create a clear plan for growth. Visit https://exec-tc.com/ to book your review.

Subscribe, share, and leave a review to stay connected and keep your business journey moving forward

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Business Made Smarter, Doug D’Aubrey is joined by ETC consultant Earl Lynch to explore what business success really looks like. Earl shares his varied career journey, from being a professional musician with a number one hit in Spain to leadership development, working with global organisations including Microsoft, and eventually establishing his own training business, The Kairos Experience. He explains why he joined ETC and how working with small and medium-sized businesses has allowed him to use his experience to help owners grow, become more profitable and create businesses that support the lives they actually want to lead.

Doug and Earl also discuss the loneliness that can come with running a business, the importance of having someone to challenge your thinking and hold you accountable, and why business coaching isn't always about simply making more money. Sometimes success means working fewer hours, spending more time with your family or even recognising that a business should remain a passion rather than become a full-time career.

Business Owners Don't Have to Do It Alone: Earl describes the "leadership loneliness" that can come from running a business. Having trusted people to bounce ideas off, challenge your thinking and provide accountability can be hugely valuable for owners who would otherwise have to make every decision alone.

Success Looks Different for Everyone: Business coaching isn't necessarily about pushing every company towards rapid growth. Earl shares examples where the right outcome was helping someone recognise that their business should remain a passion alongside their career, while other clients have used coaching to restructure, retrain or expand.

Start With the Personal Goal: Doug and Earl explain why one of the most important questions they ask a business owner is what they actually want from life. Once that personal goal is clear, the business can be shaped around achieving it rather than becoming an end in itself.

Protect Your Life Outside the Business: For couples and families running businesses together, work can easily become a 24/7 conversation. Setting boundaries – such as a guaranteed day off or a cut-off time for talking about work – can help restore family life and ultimately improve focus when you return to the business.

Think About Life Management, Not Just Time Management: Earl argues that managing your diary shouldn't simply be about fitting in more work. Making deliberate space for holidays, date nights, family events and time away from the business can help owners create a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.

"We suffer with leadership loneliness."

"We need to make a difference."

"Our starting point is always: what is the personal goal? What is it they want out of life?"

"It's no good having what you want in life after all your kids have grown up... you've got to be living it."

"I call it life management."

About the host

Doug D’Aubrey, founder and Managing Director of Executive Training and Consultancy (ETC), leverages extensive senior management experience to help businesses across the UK and Europe. With tailored consultancy packages ranging from short-term projects to 3-year growth programs, Doug aids companies in improving operations and achieving results. Doug’s success lies in his honest communication with leaders, identifying strategies to enhance management skills and optimise service delivery for measurable outcomes.

Take advantage of a FREE 2-hour Business Review with ETC’s expert consultants to identify goals, tackle challenges, and create a clear plan for growth. Visit https://exec-tc.com/ to book your review.

Subscribe, share, and leave a review to stay connected and keep your business journey moving forward

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.