Jas Gave Us The Courage To Expand Our Business

What were the drivers for you wanting to work with a Business Coach?

We were working seven days a week – and clocking up around a hundred hours, which was ridiculous, and we weren’t making a lot of profit. My husband was leaving the house before our children woke up and getting home after they’d gone to bed. It might sound like a cliché, but we wanted a lovely lifestyle for our family and we just weren’t getting that quality time we so desperately wanted. Our biggest WHY for working with a business coach was ultimately our children.

A friend of ours was in a similar situation with their business – they recommended Jas to me. When you work for yourself, it’s as if your accountability goes out of the window – there’s no referee. And sometimes, you need one – especially when you’re a husband and wife team. He has his view and you have yours. Sometimes you need to step out of the business and take a pragmatic view. We’re also very keen to learn and knew that having a coach to guide and teach us would be invaluable.

Why did you choose REACH Business Coaching?

A friend encouraged me to go along to one of Jas’s Cycle of Business events. We couldn’t afford to commit at the time. So, about a year later, I dragged my very cynical husband (kicking and screaming) to another event. Simply put, it was a gamechanger!  We loved Jas and Angela’s values – plus they have kids, so they knew where we were coming from. We knew we were looking at minimum, a twelve-month commitment if we wanted to see the results and it is an investment – but we felt confident it was the right thing to do.

What were some of your specific challenges and outcomes?

Because of the hours we were working, Jas advised us to employ someone – which is challenging when cash flow is tight. Creating and paying for a new role was very daunting and a huge worry for us.  Why pay someone when we can do it ourselves? However, after many talks with Jas and following his guidance we hired Dani as an administrator/PA. We followed REACH’s recruitment process and Dani was the result.  She is outstanding and, after recently recruiting another PA, we have just promoted her to office manager. For seven years we didn’t have a proper holiday.  If we did have the odd week, we would be constantly checking into work.  Now we go on at least a two-week holiday every year and we don’t check our emails. That’s because we recruited well and have a great team in place to give us that peace of mind.

Jas gave us the courage to expand our business. He helped me to understand the numbers – especially our cash flow in terms of where we were. He encouraged us to put up our prices and to know our worth. He helped us to maintain our accountability and take our learning forward. He encouraged us; he’d very often say – ‘I know you can do this!’. I definitely suffered from imposter syndrome, but Jas made me see that I am good at what I do, and I deserve to have the great business we have got.

We love the REACH Planning Days too – I don’t know of another community like it where you’ve got all these businesses who come together and share processes and best practice without being guarded. We all share the same values and everyone in the room wants to help each other grow and be successful.

Jas helped us to price our business services properly – so when we put up our prices, we had no complaints. Previously we had no financial cushion, but we do now. We’ve been able to re-equip our business and have recently invested in two new Litho presses and reprographics software and hardware. It’s tough in the printing sector right now, but we’re still growing. In fact, during 2017 and 2018, our net profit increased by 58%.

What is it about Jas you’re buying into?

He’s got a heart of gold. He’s very open and transparent with his own financials, which helps us to learn. They’re just our kind of people. Passionate, genuine and knowledgeable with strong values. We honestly see Jas and Angela as friends. I’ve met other business coaches in the past, but I’ve never felt the same way about them.

Jas has a saying – ‘a life worth living’ and that’s exactly what he has given us.  When we were working all those crazy hours, I was filled with ‘mum guilt‘ – I’m not ashamed to say I have cried a few times in our sessions with Jas and he has been like a councillor and therapist!  That’s the heart of gold. He makes sure our business can be the best it can be, but he also takes care of us as people too.

We are celebrating our 50^th year and I’m not sure we would be here without Jas’s help, encouragement, ideas and, at times, tough love. They are the best and we certainly have a business to be proud of and a life worth living!