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Mark Strathern | Founders Consultant

@markstrathern_

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We help founders 2-4x their business through acquisition, retention, team, hiring, operations and systems.
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People will look at Jack and think…

Easy for him, he’s been in the game a long time, well known, educated up to his eyeballs, gets great results, he’s the fitness industries Gandalf.

Been in the game a long time? Yes.

Well known? Yes.

Educated up to his eyeballs? Yes.

Gets great results? Yes.

The fitness industries Gandalf? Absolutely.

But don’t kid yourself, that doesn’t equate to “easy”.

Jack lost 50% of his annual revenue overnight. Most would sh*t the bed.

There was safety and predictability that suddenly vanished.

So Jack, had to do what anyone else would do that wanted to grow their revenue…

→ Build new skills
→ Challenge beliefs
→ Work hard
→ Be consistent

There was security in the familiar, anyone that knows what it’s like to ditch familiar and enforce change understands it’s not an easy process by any means.

To increase your own businesses revenue by 150% in 7 months, doesn’t just happen by staying comfortable.

It happens as a result of getting incredibly uncomfortable, the majority of the time but sticking with it.

Jack’s an open book and he’ll tell you outright that it’s been challenging but that the rewards, have been worth it.

I think if you say it’s easy for someone else you do two things…

→ You downplay their effort and commitment.

→ You find ways to convince yourself it’s not possible for you.

Jack deserves it because he worked for it. He put his attention into the right areas. Stayed true to his values. Saw out the more challenging periods and didn’t get too hung up on the milestones.

He stayed objective and focused on the mission. The why behind everything. He celebrated when he won and reflected when he failed.

Great coaches can be great business owners if they don’t lose sight of what’s really important.

→ Service
→ Contribution
→ Mastery

Never stop learning, never stop growing. Even when it’s tough.

Jack would agree. by @markstrathern_

There’s a reason why some coaches make progress and others don’t.

While some coaches…

→ Are scared to take action
→ Procrastinate
→ Get easily distracted
→ Focus on chasing fast cash
→ Are inconsistent

You’ve got coaches like Soraya.

Your businesses growth doesn’t come down to anything other than what type of person you are.

If you’re someone who…

→ Isn’t scared to make decisions
→ Takes imperfect action
→ Develops new skills
→ Takes responsibility
→ Works hard

And, most importantly, focuses on building a business centred around client service…

You’ll go places. That’s Soraya.

Always showing up with a smile on her face even when she’s got a lot on her plate (including two kids).

Always giving it her best effort and not frightened to adapt or pivot where necessary.

Always asking the right questions (even challenging me when necessary incase there’s a language barrier).

Always building what’s needed to make the experience better for her clients.

Always looking at ways to better serve her clients and improve her community.

An absolute gem.

Even when there’s challenges, she’s open minded. Doesn’t pass blame on things outside of her control or complains about a journey she chose to embark on.

There’s differences in the market in the Netherlands that I’ve discovered when it comes to how people buy (they’re extremely direct) which has also taught me a lot about how to navigate conversations.

Just an all round solid coach, business owner and human being. by @markstrathern_

It’s no surprise the clients that stay the longest achieve the best results.

Coaches will constantly talk about clients leaving prematurely, whether that be 3/6/9 months into a coaching process when there is so much more to be achieved…

Coaches aren’t that different.

They think the long term growth of their business can be determined by 3/6/12 months when in reality, if you stayed invested for 24/36 months, your business would be in a drastically different position.

For most, a life altering position.

Has it been smooth sailing for Paddy? Absolutely not.

Has there been huge growth throughout this past year? Yes.

Has there been times he’s had to pull back from selling to focus on infrastructure? You bet.

The coaches who build great businesses over time like Paddy know that it’s not just all about sales.

There will come a time where more sales will only get you so far before having to strategically restructure areas of the business to ensure the next level of growth can be achieved.

At that point they don’t think “I’m not selling so this is pointless to keep investing in” because the thing you’re investing in should help you with all areas of your business.

That’s one of the definitive differences between those who get to where they want to be and those who don’t…

They act in accordance with what they’d want their best clients to do.

I think more coaches, if they recognised exactly how they’re acting in alignment to some of the clients they moan about most, and decided to operate differently, would get a lot further ahead.

If you want to lead and build the business you want you need to think bigger and better than the clients you know pull out way before they ever should.

This has been 12 months of ruthless implementation from Paddy…

Restructuring the entire business.

Creating new opportunities.

Putting a huge emphasis on retention.

Hosting in person events countrywide.

Now, it’s about creating even better infrastructure to alleviate unnecessary strain he finds himself under to create time and availability to scale to £200k/y.

Excited to see what the next 12 bring. by @markstrathern_

I think I like being the underdog.

Once upon a time I thought I was unfortunate.

That I was dealt a shady hand.

That I was talentless and worthless.

That I was void of any endearing qualities.

When the reality was that it’s what I chose to believe.

So I spent time analysing, thinking and surgically removing the negatives that I believed about myself and put them back together again.

I think overthinking is a luxury.

From standing in court rooms under a microscope, facing a life where I’d always be thought of and branded as a criminal, to building three businesses…

Is a result of overthinking.

It’s a byproduct of strategically choosing to be different.

To create a new path. A new life. A new identity.

Business problems to me are small in the grand scheme of things I’ve endured in my life - many of them by the cards I dealt myself, not that others thrust upon me.

But it’s why I believe I’m the best person to help people move forward and overcome theres.

Sometimes the thing you need outside of the strategy is someone in your corner who is resolute and unwavering when your mind is getting the better of you.

Hardwired different. Built for the ones who are too. by @markstrathern_

So many business owners go wrong with their decision making.

They think AI without being trained will save them from their business being messy.

They think hiring agencies will transform their marketing when they themselves aren’t even clear on it.

They think more visibility and attention automatically equates to a better reputation and increased revenue…

When it can, but it needs to be the right attention.

I think the best thing you can do as a business owner is build skills others aren’t willing to, that they take shortcuts on and take complete ownership of understanding how your business operates from the top down instead of abdicating to people hoping it’ll save you. by @markstrathern_

You wouldn’t try and get shredded and not track your nutrition.

You wouldn’t try and get stronger and not track your lifts.

You wouldn’t try and save money without figuring out how much you could put away each month specifically.

Your business isn’t any different, stop treating it like it’s random or that bad things are happening to you when you just don’t have the data (haven’t tracked the data) to tell you exactly what the constraints actually are. by @markstrathern_

Sales is service.

Most business owners pride themselves on their product but the reality is that their service standards should start before money has ever changed hands.

Your service is your speed, honesty, attention to detail.

If you bring it to your product, make sure it’s in your sales.

One of the easiest ways to increase conversions. by @markstrathern_

Another trip back to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 complete.

This is the 26th time I’ve flown back to the UK since moving to Dubai in October 2022.

4 years, 52 flights, over 20 days spent in the sky, longer if we count the travel time to and from airports on either side.

These trips are very rarely for fun or leisure but I do try my best to carve out time for friends and family.

When I moved to Dubai in 2022 when I was still running my coaching business, I vouched that community events and interaction wouldn’t change just because I was overseas.

I made a promise to be home every 3 months for big client meet ups, which I upheld.

Then, we launched 2 new businesses.

Jen and I needed to spend more time in person putting our brains together. We needed more time face to face to gather marketing material. We needed to apply the same in person ethos we had in our business previously.

Do I love flying back and forth to the UK? Not really.

I love seeing friends and family but most of the time it means I’m working for weeks at a time without a day off, landing and getting to sleep at 3am only to be up working again for 7.

But it’s what you need to do when you’re setting a standard for how you want to help and support people with what you’re building.

The fact that many coaches live close to their clients and never meet them blows my mind.

Equally does the fact that they are terrified to reinvest back into their people.

If you know how much a return flight is from Dubai, I’m sure you can do the maths on how much I’ve spent on flights alone before room hire, event merch, food, drinks, etc.

I will continue to stand by the fact that if you don’t reinvest back into your business, not only will you not achieve the goals you want to achieve, you don’t actually deserve to achieve them.

Scared money don’t make money. by @markstrathern_

I don’t know why people waste their time doing anything other than accepting responsibility for their reality.

Starts with you, ends with you. by @markstrathern_

It’s a whole new challenge going from solo business owner to leading people.

It’s not just that nobody teaches you how to do it effectively…

It’s the fact that as a founder, you need to learn how to let go of control in areas of the business that are now actively holding you back from growing.

It’s about knowing that hiring, doesn’t mean you’re eliminating yourself from the business but instead elevating yourself into a role where you get to choose where to spend your time.

It’s about understanding people’s needs now above your own and having a shared vision to work towards collectively, while giving the team autonomy to bring their ideas and innovation to the table.

It’s about building strong working relationships, not just friendships and knowing how to communicate effectively to different people on your team to get the best from them.

It’s about being transparent with others about what you’re doing to drive the business forward with clear and defined progression along the way for how people want to elevate themselves as the company grows.

The team culture is just as important as the culture you create within the community of clients you work with.

Most people give terrible team development advice…

- Hire a CSM and hand off all the tasks you don’t like

- Pay them as little as you can but rinse them for all they’ve got

- Pigeon hole them to the specifics of the role

You’ll never develop a highly effective team if you don’t create an environment for people to grow and play to their strengths.

That’s why with our coaches who have team, we’re making sure they don’t make mistakes that cost the business more in the long term just for some short term breathing room.

Great to spend the day with the Badminton Strength team that’s grown to a team of 4 in just 3 years and explore how they can work collectively to ensure the business fulfils it’s vision in the coming years. by @markstrathern_

When will people realise that you’re responsible…

- For your own thoughts
- For your own emotions
- For your own success

There’s clearly two types of delusion. I know which one I’d rather be. by @markstrathern_

Every successful person I know is mental in their own way 🤷🏼‍♀️ by @markstrathern_