In January 2023, Optimum Consulting turns 20! I struggle to believe that the business has been in operation for 20 years and I have been reflecting on the journey quite a bit of recent times. There have been many “highs”, an equal number of “lows” and plenty lessons learnt during this time. Here are a few of the main ones:
Get your first recruits right!
I have been blessed with this. Let me say, I was extremely lucky with my first recruits. Alicia came to see me one week after I resigned and said that she was out and wanting to join me. I smiled straight away; Alicia gives energy, motivation and drive to any team she joins, and she is a brilliant temp recruiter. She was actually too good for Optimum in the early days – before we knew it, she had 35 temps working and while we were profitable, working capital was a struggle. Ben joined about six weeks after. Ben was an easy recruit for me but in other ways he was the most difficult. He was offered my old job and would have been far more successful than me. He was measured, experienced and had a great reputation. He was key to build the business around. Two months after Ben joined, we signed our “X factor”, Jason. Now Jason had not been nearly as successful as Alicia and Ben. However, he had something about him. He was the ideal person to be with in a scrap; highly intelligent and even more competitive. He just needed a chance to shine. These three key people, together with Narelle, our first Office Manager, did a stellar job and built a business that, within 12 months, was more profitable than the business we had left.
Focus externally, not internally
It is so much easier for us to spend our time looking inwards but in doing so, we lose touch with our customers and as we disengage, a competitor engages. Over our 20 year journey, every time our focus was too internal our revenue and profitability dropped markedly. This is why having key customer facing accountabilities is key for all team members, and will be so for as long as I am in business.
Manage your ego carefully
I am not too proud to admit that my ego has got the better of me quite a few times over the past 20 years and it has cost me and the business greatly. I have opened divisions of the business without any thought or plan. I have opened in new geographies without getting the initial hires right. I have spent far too much money too quickly on unprofitable business lines on a hope rather than proper due diligence. I made all of these bad decisions because my own ego was not in check; I had developed such confidence in my own instinct that I was lazy with these key decisions and it cost me greatly.
Work hard, be resilient and you will be rewarded
I proudly say to all new people joining us here at Optimum that I have never met a hardworking, unlucky consultant. This industry and sector is tough because you need to be able to deal with extreme highs and extreme lows. I did an exit interview with a former long term and highly successful consultant who commented that the hardest thing to deal with was the intensity; there was no down time from the roller coaster of emotions. However, the rewards can be extremely high and those that have the personality, creativity, and work ethic to manage the intensity tend to reap the rewards long term and build a prosperous career.
Ensure that your team members have the right “fabric”
Hiring decent people who treat people with respect sounds very easy however it is not always the case. As I sit here and write this blog, I reflect on some of the mistakes that I have made where the dollar signs shone brightly, and I hired people who did not fit this value. The results were always catastrophic. Good people attract good people and that is the key to a successful business. It should always be paramount when you think about hiring new team members.
Always look for the opportunity
One of the tough things with the industry in which I work is that it can be very transactional. This is how we tend to get rewarded. However, one thing that has served me and the business well is to always be looking towards the future. When dealing with our customers, what can we do for you now and how will this impact your future? How can we help you achieve your mid- and long-term goals? With our own team, how can we make you more employable for the future? If we keep this in mind, we tend to attract people to us and get better results.
Enthusiasm and passion are key
In our industry, we tend to deal with people in highly stressful situations. Experience has taught me that the best way to handle these situations is to own our customer problems and be passionate about finding a solution for them. Customer problems become our problems and their successes become our successes and we have to be willing to enthusiastically put ourselves in the position to help our customers when they need it and find a win/win.
The team is always more important than the individual
I have tried to recruit “lone wolfs” who wish to work as an outlier and not sign up to our standards and working drumbeats. These people are often good, highly successful people however they just don’t suit our culture. We are at our best when we work together effectively, openly and honestly and the lone wolf type person has just not worked well with us.
I am sure that there have been plenty more lessons – have a good accountant, listen to wise experts, be open to learn etc – but these ones are the most important ones in my opinion. 20 years at Optimum have been the best 20 years of my working life and I have been blessed to be able to be relatively successful during this period. I am not sure if I will be doing this in another ten or twenty years but whatever the duration, I look forward to the next chapter. Thanks for all of those who have helped me along the way.
BRAD MCMAHON
Managing Director
Brad is the Owner and Director of Optimum Consulting Group. Founding the company in 2003 he has seen it grow to over 30 staff across Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Brad is responsible for all operational and strategic functions for the group and he still actively recruits executive assignments for a select group of clients.
