Gripping Business Tales

Neil Smith has a long history working with animals. His professional career began in the Queensland Police Service as a dog handler. Through many years of operational policing Neil developed deep skills in working with animals and understanding people. While in the police service Neil began helping dog owners with training programs. This grew into a business so large he left the police service to concentrate on his new venture.

As his business grew Neil saw further opportunities in the provision of pet products online. Capitalising on this opportunity, Neil developed his business into offering a large range of pet products across four websites in Australia and New Zealand, including Bark Control and Ready Pet Go.

In this episode Neil discusses his approach to business, the importance of thinking through decisions, trusting your instincts and when to focus on improving the structure of your business for further growth and to weather the many storms of the sea of business.

Daniel Williams is the founder of several successful businesses and Certified EOS Implementer. Yet few know of the struggle he has had for most of his life with managing his mental health. There have been some difficult times for Daniel as he has progressed through his life and some amazing breakthroughs. 

In this episode Daniel opens up about how he navigates his personal journey, his conversations with leadership teams in his EOS practice and the commencement of his latest venture, Without Fear. 

Without Fear is a clothing label that exists to inspire others to live without the fear of seeking help with their mental health. It all starts with a conversation, like this one on Gripping Business Tales.

Sammi Jaeger is a co-founder of Independent Executives, a company designed to the meet the needs of businesses running on EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) and having difficulty filling their integrator talent gap. 

Finding the right person for the integrator seat in a business can be difficult. Mark C. Winters, the co-author of Rocket Fuel, describes the integrator as 'unique' and 'harmoniously integrates the major functions of the business, run the organisation, and manage the day-to day issues that arise. The integrator is the glue that holds the people, processes, systems, priorities, and strategy of the company together.'

Sammi has been an integrator in a number of EOS run businesses and has brought her knowledge and skill to assist in the establishment of Independent Executives. In this episodes she explains what the gap she was seeing was, what pain businesses might be feeling and how this can be solved. 

Nathan Harding is the founder of Yo Media, a digital marketing agency operating across Australia. 

Yo Media was founded after Nathan had spent a lot of time building his skills in Wesfarmers. Nathan then took the big leap and bought his own business, a newspaper, that had a significant revenue base. Unfortunately, Nathan bought this newspaper as advertising and information consumption was moving from print to electronic. While running his newspaper Nathan honed his skills in selling and marketing and what it means to hustle as he was sometimes making 50-100 cold calls to generate advertising revenues from his car!

Having the skill for marketing and technology, Nathan was asked to improve the on line advertising for a small business. What he did worked and then more people kept asking him to improve their business, and from here Yo Media was born. 

In this episode Nathan reflects on the value of exposure to great leaders, listening and experimentation. He also talks about the value of building an 'engine' around marketing hard, selling to target market and providing a great customer experience. Finally, he talks about what affect EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) Implementation has had on his business.

Mirko Roettgers is the Integrator for Triggerfish, a Brisbane based technology company that helps enterprise clients maximise their customer experience platforms to better engage and market to both long standing and new customers. 

Mirko has had quite a geographic and professional journey to get to his current role. Now firmly ensconced in the Australian way of life, in this episode, Mirko discusses his leadership experiences, how he engages his team and where his motivation is drawn from. Mirko also provides insights into the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)  and how it has shaped Triggerfish into the business it is today.  

Operating for more than 10 years and with extensive partnerships within the real estate industry throughout Australia and New Zealand, Smoke Alarm Testing Services (SATS) specialises in providing a compliance service to real estate agents and property managers.

Daniel Kramarzewski joined the business in its formative years. He helped build the business with the founder and developed a deep understand of what it takes to continually search for excellence. He was part of the leadership team when the business was bought by PieLAB Capital and has led the business since. 

In this episode Daniel talks about his experiences of being in a business from, essentially, its beginning through to its purchase, how he and the team navigated that and how he developed when he took on the senior leadership role for SATS. Today, SATS is responsible for checking smoke alarms on over 100,000 properties every year both here in Australia and New Zealand.

Daniel also discusses what he thinks it takes for leaders to be and do their best for the people they lead and what it takes to build a great business, including the introduction of EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System.  

Desmond Russell is an experienced business leader. He has built businesses, been part of successful companies and worked for large enterprises such as Microsoft. Along the way Des has been able to gather an incredible amount of knowledge and how businesses, particularly those in vendor relationships, are missing opportunities by not organising themselves in a way to make themselves more attractive to their customers and their vendors. 

In this episode Des describes the journey to Partner Elevate.  The first step was creating a program within Microsoft to roll out EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) into partner businesses in Australia.  Following the deployment of EOS into the Microsoft partner community Des saw an opportunity to support businesses further by unpacking what it takes to develop a more valuable vendor partnership.  This has resulted in the establishment of Partner Elevate in which he has identified the three attributes of what makes a business a valued partner to a vendor. 

Des also describes the difference he sees in the businesses running on EOS as opposed to those that don't and how businesses can address problems such as qualified lead generation, managing current customers and how to remain focussed on outcomes. 

Gripping Business Tales is returning to your playlist. In the next series of interviews, you will hear from experts in the field of marketing, sales, people management and of course great leaders running their business on EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System. So, get ready for more great content to help you understand what EOS can do for you and insights that might just help you run a better business.

Brought to you by Murray Smith, Certified EOS Implementer. 

Setting 90 goals can really set you business on fire. It brings clarity and purpose to team effort in reaching the goals of the business. However, sometimes it is hard to break those goals down into daily tasks. In this episode best selling author of the 'Habit Switch', Romney Nelson, discusses why it can be difficult for people to develop good daily habits and what can be done to overcome the challenges of implementing new habits. 

Romney discusses a resource available for you to use - 'The 90 Day Business Goal Tracker' that can help you break down your 90 day goals into daily actionable tasks. It is designed to be both a planner and reflective journal to help identify what is working well and what is stopping you from reaching your goals. 

Romney co-authored 'The 90 Business Goal Tracker' with myself, MIT Graduate and Professional EOS Implementer.

Dane Meah's first business adventure was at aged 18 where he developed and sold digital information products from his home, via online stores. This experience gave Dane a taste for business and pursued a career in sales. After several years in the recruitment and pharmaceutical sectors, Dane relocated to Australia and entered the cybersecurity industry with an early cloud provider called MessageLabs.

In 2014, Dane identified a gap in the market in the way organisations were addressing security management and co-founded InfoTrust. InfoTrust are a specialised cybersecurity practice, that supports their clients to become secure and more productive. InfoTrust has evolved to develop deep expertise that combines internally developed products, professional services, managed services and third party technologies, across a range of cybersecurity domains.

In this episode Dane discusses the evolution of InfoTrust and the impact of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) has had on the business. Having graduated from his EOS implementer, the business continues to grow. He now has the opportunity to explore other opportunities and to live his 'EOS Life'. 

Anuj Bhalla is the founder of serviceMob. serviceMob, is a US company with a mission to fix the many inefficiencies in how consumers access and interact with companies when they need customer service. 

serviceMob began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where it was accepted into the StartMIT accelerator, and a winner of the Funding Board Award from the MIT Sandbox Innovation Program. serviceMob's roots run deep in customer experience, with over 30 years of experience in customer analytics, customer experience strategy, and end to end consumer/brand strategy.

In this episode Anuj discusses the power of data and how, when used effectively, it can transform your business. He identifies looking for insights beyond traditional performance indicators and understand, through data, what is driving customer behaviour. 

As data is one of the six key components to the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), this episode is full of great tips to improve your data sources and how to use them more effectively. 

To get in touch and learn more about data with Anuj email him at anuj@servicemob.com

As the founder of West Island Digital Trudy Rankins's passion is helping others find the technology solutions that best fit their business and create the functionality a business needs. Having lived and worked in the US, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia, Trudy has an incredible appreciation for how valuable technology is and its effectiveness in breaking down borders and barriers. 

West Island Digital delivers their unique 'Online Business Liftoff' program to people in communities that need to regain their own identity, confidence and see possibilities for their future that they previously couldn't. 

West Island Digital are using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to help them scale the business in order to reach as many people as possible and help them achieve their potential. 

Karl Pisor started his first business at the age of 27, an Internet design shop in Tokyo.

He loved the freedom of the entrepreneurial life, but the pace was exhausting. From managing employees and cashflow to marketing the company and hustling for new business, each day brought a new set of problems.

Then, just two years in, he lost everything when the internet bubble of 2000 burst. It was a jarring defeat. Successful entrepreneurship clearly required more than just passion. He resolved to get better.

After an MBA at the University of California, Berkeley, he returned to Japan, where he spent the next 15 years as an independent management consultant, delivering solutions in IT infrastructure, sales, marketing, and software development. But something was missing. The traditional consulting approach seemed to only address surface issues, and wasn’t helping his clients move forward in a lasting way.

That’s when he discovered EOS®. The EOS tools and process integrated everything Karl had learned about running a successful business into one coherent philosophy and system. In 2018, he became Japan’s first Professional EOS Implementer™.

Today, Karl lives the EOS Life® by helping business leaders throughout Japan, East Asia, and Australia.

Having lived in India, Kenya, Zimbabwe and now New Zealand Vijay has experienced business from a number of different angles. Yet Vijay knows there are timeless concepts and principles that can be applied to making a great business no matter where you start it. 

In this episode Vijay describes his journey to becoming a Professional EOS Implementer and how he is driven to work out how he can add the most value to other businesses across New Zealand. He offers insights into some of his best business failures and what business owners should pay attention to, even when the revenue is high and you don't have a care in the world. 

Driving cash flow in any business is crucial to remain viable. One of the most simple and effective tools you can use to do this is  - The 8 Cash Flow Drivers - which is part of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS).

In this episode leading accountancy and financial planning specialist Damien Butler discusses this tool with me and takes us on a journey of how businesses should be looking past pricing, understanding other areas of the operation to improve cash flow and deliver real results to the business. 

Debra Chantry-Taylor trained originally as a biochemist and food technologist. In the first 7 years of her career she worked at Glaxo Smith Klein and Roche Pharmaceuticals in sales and marketing. 

As she grew her skills Debra changed gear and shifted into senior management positions, GM and CEO roles in entrepreneurial businesses across a  number industries.  

After earning her start up wings and driving business performance Debra started her first business. The company saw enormous growth and she bought out another company to support growth. Initially the business soared and then failed miserably, forcing Debra to close the business and return to corporate life. 

Undaunted Debra left her comfortable role in insurance and joined one of the Top 10 incubators in the world to coach their clients – from start-ups to established owner-managed business and from there began her EOS Implementer journey.

EOS Worldwide recently selected a new visionary to lead the company into an exciting future. Mark O'Donnell is that person. 

In this episode we hear from Mark about his experiences as an engineer and starting a number of companies on his entrepreneurial journey. We hear from Mark about what he learned along the way and how that led him to his current role. As he transitioned into EOS Worldwide he reflects on what drove him in the past, what drives him now as he leads EOS Worldwide in partnership with his great integrator and how he sees the work of moving the business forward as a collaborative effort, drawing on the strengths of others.  

Jodi MacKinnon is leading her best life. Driven by a passion of getting the best out of people and a love of animals, Jodi has combined these to deliver an amazing business and continue to improve the lives of those she works with. 

Commencing her professional life as a veterinary nurse, Jodi soon learnt the difference she could make by getting others to focus on their passions and drive incredible business results. From her bold begins of explaining to two seasoned veterinary doctors how she could change their practice she has risen to be a partner of the business and growing their practices across Australia. 

Jodi credits her success to a deep conviction for empowering people to do what they are best at and coupling this with the power of clarity, execution and discipline of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). Initially Jodi commenced as a self implementer and then moved into becoming a Professional EOS Implementer, this is her story....

To contact Jodi send her an email at jodi@puretraction.com.au or contact her on 0458 747 400

Roger Vertannes is the Founder of Leadership Counts and his philosophy is “Be true to yourself, define what you really want and surround yourself with great people to help you achieve your vision."

Born and raised in London, Roger is the youngest of 10. At the age of 24, he took over the management of his family-owned freight forwarding company, then at age 32, used his passion for sport and health to cofound his UK sports enterprise. He built and sold the company in 2006 to achieve his dream of settling in Australia.

With his expertise in leadership, management and building high performing teams, Roger was introduced to the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) here in Australia. Roger has helped leaders of over 400 companies to take themselves and their teams to the next level with EOS and is a Certified EOS Implementer. 

35 years of professional consultancy and executive work has laid the foundation of Dennis McCluskey’s obsession with building great businesses. During that time, he has accumulated a wide range of skills and expertise ranging from IT deployment through to strategy development and execution in over 300 businesses In the last ten years, Dennis has worked extensively with Start Up’s and small to medium sized business in various roles, including General Manager, Chief Information Officer and board advisor. 

In this episode hear how Dennis still gets a buzz gets a buzz from dealing with seemingly intractable problems be they technology, business, people or process based. For many organisations he is their go-to adviser and Professional EOS Implementer as he is able to actively listen and develop options or resolutions that enables execution and traction. Dennis strongly believes that the EOS Process provides inherent sustainability and independence that no other methodology comes close to. 

You can contact Dennis via LinkedIn , email him at dennis@wiseheadsconsulting.com.au or telephone 0418 644 667

Ed was plucked from a budding banking and finance career in London to fulfill a promise and help build the family wine business, Frog Rock Wines. After 10 years he took the business from selling wine out of a tent in a paddock on the weekends to selling wine on 4 continents with annual production growing from 500 cases to 60,000 cases and then getting out before the demise of the wine industry. Then he learnt some incredible business lessons which he took into his next ventures.

With several of his own successful enterprises under his belt – as well as some failures that he learned from, with the battle scars to prove it – Ed developed a desire to help other businesses avoid the mistakes that he had made.

Now as an EOS Implementer, Ed lives for helping business owners develop the confidence and freedom to really feel in control of their business and their lives.

Anthony Wood has been in business for over 20 years. He has started successful businesses in a number of different industries both here in Australia and overseas. Anthony has experienced the highs and lows of owning and operating businesses. Through those moments of hardship and excitement Anthony has forged his skills and is driven to help others. 

Always remaining optimistic and realistic Anthony brings an incredible array of skills, advice and observations to anything he does. During his most recent venture into the technology industry Anthony wanted to grow and scale his business. Having read the book 'Traction' Anthony and his executive team implemented the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) into his business. The results were stunning and Anthony was so taken by the results his help first attitude drove him to become an EOS Implementer. 

In this episode we hear from Anthony talk about his business journey, the good, the bad and the ugly and how he now helps others be the best they can be.

DWM Solutions started as a family owned and run business with the aim to provide IT Systems and Proactive Support that give customers the tools to succeed. It takes on the responsibility of managing  IT, so their customers don’t have to think about it. Over the years DWM has developed, and continue to develop a methodology that ensures that they are able to provide their customers with the best possible support. To enhance their business DWM adopted the Entrepreneurial Operating System and the results have been stunning. 

Guy Newton is now leading DWM and has 'grown up' through the EOS process. In this episode he discusses the clarity EOS has brought to all staff and how it has encouraged an open and honest workplace. 

Given the difficult times now faced by many businesses this special episode is designed to highlight a digital platform that may help businesses survive through the Coronavirus Pandemic. 

Having done the hard yards in both corporate roles and the founder of a business with her husband, Jeni Clift has had diverse career. 

Underpinning her professional journey is a passion to help others achieve their best. Originally from regional Victoria Jeni and her husband have carved out and developed a successful IT business supporting a number of regionally based organisations. It was during the scaling of her company that Jeni was introduced to EOS as a client. As the business continues to grow Jeni has taken the brave decision to step away from her role as General Manager and continue her quest to help others through her EO network and by becoming a Professional EOS Implementer. 

Dan Williams, a resident of Melbourne, first came across the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) in 2015. By that stage he had been running his IT business for about 13 years. Dan and his team implemented EOS into their business and the results were staggering, seeing a 30% growth and certification as a great place to work. 

With a long history and passion for the entrepreneurial spirit, business and leadership Dan embraced EOS so much that he became a Professional EOS implementer so others could experience what his business did. Since becoming an EOS implementer Dan has worked with businesses around Australia to improve their outcomes and guiding them on their journey in getting what they want from their business. 

Get ready to hear the stories businesses want to hear. How do I run my business better? How do I address my daily challenges so that they no longer stop me from having the life I wanted? By implementing a proven and effective way to manage your business those challenges will begin to be seen as opportunities to separate yourself from the pack.