Review of business coaching

My business, Jem Archaeology, provides services for civil construction and development sites across Victoria. We are engaged by councils and developers to deliver archaeological assessments and heritage consulting advice.

I started out as a solo operator in 2012 and as my workload grew, I used a subby here and there for fieldwork. I ran like that for about 6 years before I became a company and at that point I hired a casual and had two subbies doing work as required. Even then, I still felt like I was scrambling to keep on top of things.

I wasn’t working on the business because the business was me. I wore every hat, everything that needed to be done was done by me: quoting, scheduling, payments, site digs, project management, reports for clients. 16-hour workdays were the norm.

I was an archaeologist, not a business expert

My husband, Rowan, was working in civil construction and he could see that there was huge potential for the business, but he could also see that I needed help. I thought, “Oh, well, maybe I do need some help, because I’m an archaeologist, not a business manager. I’m not an HR manager, I’m not an operations manager or an accountant. I know what I’m doing in my job, but I don’t know how to be a boss.”

He suggested we look in to coaching; I hadn’t had coaching before – I had no idea it was a thing. Rowan looked into some options and found that Tenfold was a firm of coaches, so I arranged to meet with them.

I laughed at the coach when he told me what was possible

In the initial meeting the coach, Tony, reviewed how my business had been performing. He asked me how much revenue I expected to make that year – I had no idea. In my mind, it was just me doing my thing month to month. I knew there was enough money to pay my salary and my part timer and the 2 subbies. He ran the numbers and said, “You’re running a million-dollar business.” I laughed in his face uproariously because I just couldn’t see the path forward. But he showed me the financial model and he was right.

My mindset changed immediately. This expert could see that my business has a really strong future. He showed me what we’d work on. And he wasn’t just talking about massive revenue, but a business that that runs well, that people want to be part of.

I started working with Tenfold in February 2019.

Building a team was essential for growth

One of my biggest challenges was that I always want to control everything. But clients and projects kept coming and I knew that if we didn’t get more people we’d be cooked. And getting more people on meant I’d have to let go of things. Coaching made a huge difference with these strategies:

• My coach gave me practical advice on how to delegate, what to delegate and what to keep control of;
• Recruiting and thinking outside the box for non-archaeology roles such as office manager and operations manager;
• We went from a flat structure with everyone reporting everything to me, to having tiered management layers with team leaders managing archaeologists, and a strong operations and admin team.

We now have a team of 33 people and a plan for when we add more people.

We got to where we are now because my coach pushed me to hire the right type of people at the right time. I look back and think, “How was I doing this?”

The business used to rely on me. Now there are lot of functions running without me having to be involved.

Business coaching has taken us to the next level

As a small business owner, you want to know where you stand. My coach put the right financial management structures in place:

• Financial modelling and planning tools to see we could afford to recruit indirect labour roles
• Strategic planning for the bigger picture and private wealth creation

I’m in control and I’m not working as much, and that’s priceless.

What success looks like to me

You know, being in a position where I’m able to just go into Mitsubishi and say, “Hey, I want 4 Tritons,” and just pay for them on the spot. That is pretty majestic, to be honest.

• Bought 2 new factories and fit them out
• Built our fleet to 12 vehicles. I bought 4 new Tritons in one day
• Bought 4 new excavators
• Working on much bigger projects with ideal clients
• Rebuilt our family home