Lessons from the other side
I’ve never been a cookie-cutter employee. Being good with people usually saw me being defaulted to a sales function within corporate organisations. I had a seed of an idea for a business and eventually, frustration with complex hierarchies, and rigid confines of the roles I had motivated me to say ‘screw it!’ and start something of my own.
My first Venture… Jive Juice!
My first venture began one day when I was drinking freshly squeezed fruit juice from an established franchise, and it hit me that Ghana has a myriad of fresh tropical fruits with an untapped market for similar freshly squeezed juices such as Boost which would also be a great way to encourage fruit consumption. From here, JIVE Juice was born.
I will always be proud of JIVE Juice’s journey. The product was well received, and the business grew rapidly from the get-go. Unfortunately, the business environment wasn’t as sustainable as I had initially thought: operating costs were just too high. While at the time this felt like the end of something, in reality, the lessons I took away enabled me to try something new.
And my second… Sydney Budget Services
My second business was Sydney Budget Services, a maintenance company for commercial properties. I kind of accidentally fell into this company and had no experience or knowledge about starting a maintenance business, so I had to learn the ropes very fast. Between you and me, I won a contract before I even had a team in place.
The business grew quickly and I was also able to win over some big clients, which led to this becoming another opportunity to provide employment to the youth which was my core motivator. When the Covid pandemic hit, all office cleaning contracts were put on hold and some were cancelled, and when the pandemic was over, I didn't have the energy to try and win back the contacts. The cleaning industry is very price competitive and it takes a lot of effort to keep your contacts because the next guy can do it cheaper. I was ready for the next adventure.
But this time…
During Covid, I reflected and felt upset that I was not able to provide regular good paying work for my workers. I promised myself that I was not going to start another business until I learned the things I felt were holding me back. This time I wasn’t sure what that adventure would look like. So, I wrote down things I was good at, things I wanted to learn, and the environment that I wanted to be in (I particularly love startups and helping people). Vollardian stood out to me and a line on the website at the time “Champions behind Champions” was the real decider for me. I just wanted to learn and grow - I would have worked for free if that's all they had.
My role at Vollardian has given me perspective; a holistic view of how to start & maintain a business.
If I could go back and speak to a younger version of myself, here are a few things I would say:
Ask for help
When I first received seed funding for Jive Juice, I had a mindset of “I did this all by myself,” and this thought remained in my mindset for so many years. In my mind, I had a great product, a thirsty market (excuse the dad joke), and a plan. Why did I need anyone else to tell me how to spend the money?
With Sydney Budget Services, as the business grew I put on too many hats at once and took on too many things to do, whilst not knowing when to ask for help.
I’ve met many entrepreneurs in my time at Vollardian who, in so many ways, were so similar to me. There was one key difference, they recognised that they needed help.
Vollardian specialises in commercial growth and we're the best at helping determine what growth means to you, and how to do it. Whether it's expanding into new markets, or empowering your people, we'll come along for the ride and help you execute. We've done exactly that for a full spectrum of clients - from scale-ups like Shippit, to well-established companies like Bunnings. If we can't do it, no one can.
Understanding the ‘why’
It’s not enough to have a great product, you need a ‘why’. In the past with my ventures, my “why” was not strong, yes there was a problem being solved but my solution was just not unique enough to set me apart.
People have a strong personal connection to the “why”. This helps to create an appealing story which forms a strong connection to clients.
In my role at Vollardian, I work with companies (of every size!) Making your ‘why’ tangible. Holding your hand until you are ready to go ahead without us. Afterwards, we’re here as friends, to act as sounding boards.
Find balance
I, like so many others in the position, invested 95% of my seed funding into the product.
My experience with Vollardian, working with so many who are in the same position I was, is that every stage of going to market is as important as the next. A great idea isn’t enough, you need a solid value proposition, a sales strategy supported by a well maintained CRM, a clear pricing model and more!
Vollardian focuses on finding these holes or weaknesses in your business to help improve these areas for you. In many cases, because businesses are so involved and familiar with the day to day operations, it makes it difficult to zoom out and take a fresh perspective.
Giving back
It was so important to me that Jive Juice was more than an epic juice bar. It was intended to be more of a social enterprise, and I wanted it to be sustainable so it can provide employment for the youth.
The same principles applied for Sydney Budget Services too, as it presented another opportunity to provide employment to the youth.
One of our mottoes at Vollardian is, “helping our client’s clients”. Because our clients provide unique value to their customers, by working with this principle, I get to help people that I never would have been able to by myself.
For example, a client of Vollardian’s is Kinora, a leading NDIS marketplace provider that connects NDIS service providers to those in need of their services. We helped them grow their marketplace to reach more people by setting up their CRM, and also directly performing outreach for them, expanding the number of people they are able to help.
Don’t just take our word for it, take it from the pros: Vollardian worked with a property management SaaS company to determine and implement their go-to-market strategy. This consisted of creating a value proposition, creating collaterals, sales playbooks, developing pricing models, and directly performing outreach. As a result, the client was able to focus on developing their product, whilst we developed their business functions.
Vollardian’s team specialises in helping businesses grow. With a team of diverse industry and professional backgrounds including finance, sales, science, product, start-ups, and more, we understand that growth is defined differently by each company, and we tailor our approach to fit any need.
Please reach out to us at hello@vollardian.com for anything you want to ask us!
