How we shine

Let us help grow your business

No matter how small you start, you’ll eventually need to grow your business so that it’s sustainable and reaches its full potential.

We’ll help you create a successful and structured business that will also help you as the business owner to be sustainable too!

We become a key member of your Advisory Board

What does an advisory board do?

Strategic & Exit Planning Guidance
Accountability, Focus, Structure and Processes
Ongoing Project Management and analytics that ensure benchmarks are met and tactics are modified to reflect your evolving needs
3rd Party Independent View
Wider Level of Experience & Insights
Stop-check – excuse me I have to ask my advisory board, I will get back to you.

We work with you as your Business Advisor

Business Advisors help business owners and managers:

With strategic direction and vision statements and as narrow as HR, finance, systems or exit.
To develop and implement strategic & operational plans.
To problem solve and find solutions
To recommend change when needed and implement accountability and structure
To help set priorities
To help make good decisions
Help in personal and business accountability.

The details

The nitty gritty of what we help you with:

1. Business Discovery Program

A full analysis of the business goals and your personal goals resulting in a 90-day action plan with key milestones with dates and accountability. Each month we review your business performance and your strategy as a member of your Advisory Board.

2. Business Planning & Strategic Growth

We determine where you are now and what you wish to achieve over a selected time frame. This includes business, exit and personal goals. What are your high-level strategies?

3. Profit Improvement & Cash Flow

We analyse your Cash Flow, Profit & Loss and Balance Sheets identifying areas where the business can save or outsource with our large network of partners.

4. Leadership & Team Vision

A unique company profile that will help your leadership team focus on goals and communicate them to the entire organisation. We help you to align employee goals and targets with the company and then set-in play a system to motivate and engage employees through consistent communication and accountability systems.

5. Marketing & Customer Analysis

By performing a sales, market and customer segmentation analysis we can align your organisational culture to these findings.

6. Product/Service Analysis

We’ll help you review the success factors of your business and translate these into strategic goals. We will start with your customer success factors and then review the other areas of your operations.

7. Business Structure

We review the organisational structure and audit positions within the business to refine employee roles.

8. Systems, Processes & Technology

You’re an expert in your business and we are the experts in the systems and processes to build your business.

9. Business Value & Exit Planning

We’re here to help for the long term, however when you get to that fork in the road where you’re considering moving on to bigger dreams, we’ve got the expertise in the due diligence process.

10. Franchise & Joint Venture

We’ll refer you to our network of franchise specialists, including consultants and franchise lawyers, to get you on the right track to duplicating your business model.

Yes let's do this!

Frequently Asked Questions

Hiring the right consultant or business advisor can be a cost-effective way for a small- or medium-sized business to leverage specialised knowledge. A Lighthouse for Business Advisor will be able to help your business in a number of key areas and help develop strategy, improve efficiency, and expand into new markets.

Are we collaborative?

: We love teamwork that makes the dream work! You can’t be expected to know everything, and our program is about filling in some of those blanks for you. A full engagement of your team and getting their “buy in” is paramount to moving closer towards the vision.

Do you have knowledge of our industry?

: Our Business Discovery Program initial consultation with you is free; the intention of which is to learn more about your business, establish our credibility with you and see if there is anything that we can help you with. At that point we will agree a commercial rate with you. Typically, this is based on a rate appropriate to the service we are providing. Sometimes it may be a fixed fee for a given project. Our experience is that you can quickly recover our costs through the impact we make on the profitability and performance of your business.

Who are your services for?

: Our target audience is managing director/owners of businesses, government and non-profit organisations with 10+ staff and/or a turnover in excess of $1,000,000. Having said that, we do work with start-up companies and have successfully raised funds for new ventures.

Why should I use you?

: It’s the old adage of working ‘in’ a business rather than ‘on’ it. If you’re in top management or the managing director, you are probably dealing with (firefighting maybe) the daily issues that are ending up on your desk. By working with us, you are accessing an Advisor as part of your team who knows what it takes to run a business, with the benefit of being able to take an unbiased, ‘helicopter view’ of your organisation. It can also be a lonely place to be and having an experienced ear to use as a sounding board will impact your business and help relieve some of the day-to-day pressure that you may be experiencing.

What happens if I don’t agree with your findings?

: In the unlikely event that you do not agree with a Lighthouse for Business Advisor findings he/she will discuss the reasons why and will always leave the final decision to you.

How will it affect my employees and customers?

: The objective of a Lighthouse for Business Advisor is to improve the company, grow the company, eliminate money losses and make the company much more profitable and secure. When this message is conveyed correctly to your staff, they usually want to co-operate in any way they can.

Will the associated work be strictly confidential?

: Absolutely. The Lighthouse for Business Advisor Code of Ethics strictly forbids any of our consultants to discuss your business with anyone. This also applies to any referred specialists who are engaged to work for your company.

Is it a ‘hard sell’ by the consultant carrying out the Business Discovery Program?

: Absolutely not. The Lighthouse for Business Advisor will advise you what may be wrong with the company and what is the cause. He/she will also tell you up front the costs likely to be incurred in solving the company’s problems. You will then have a decision to make regarding how much the company can be improved vs the cost of the consultant. Usually, the consultant’s fees are returned to you three times over. But rather than ‘sell’ to you a Lighthouse for Business Advisor will be forming a partnership as part of your Advisory Board. If there is a partnership the objectives will be achieved.

How will it differ from advice from my accountant or bank manager?

: Your accountant is working for himself or his company and your bank manager is working for the bank. Therefore, their advice will be geared to ensure they make a profit for their enterprises. Lighthouse for Business Advisors are working for you. Neither your accountant nor your bank manager can give you this type of advice, support and assistance.

How do I know I am getting the right specialist?

: This is the responsibility of your Lighthouse for Business Advisor. He/she will source the appropriate specialist. He/she may appoint someone they have worked with previously or bring a specialist in from another part of the organisation or our comprehensive network of trusted specialists. The choice will be discussed with you before the work is confirmed. In this way you will have some idea of the type of person and their experience before they commence work for your company.

How much will I be expected to do?

: Your Lighthouse for Business Advisor will expect you and your team to assist him/her in as many ways as is necessary to implement the solutions to the problems that have been identified. The relationship between you and the advisor is a partnership where you work together to make sure that the solutions to the company’s problems are implemented fully. If you do this, it will ensure that the company gains the most from this exercise. Obviously, we will not ask you to do anything unplanned or put pressure on the time you spend running your company.

How quickly will I see results?

: Very quickly, certainly within the first 90 days. It is worth stating though that a Lighthouse for Business Advisor is only effective if you are committed to learning and implementing change and are open to being advised and educated on how to improve your business. If you have been in business for a while, you will know that ‘quick fixes’ don’t work, and meaningful improvement takes time. It normally takes 12 months to effect significant change. You will however see small improvements in your business each month which add up to significant overall improvement.

How do you guarantee your services?

: We are confident in our ability to provide you with an advisory service that will significantly improve your business, therefore, for most of the support we provide there is no long-term contract (past 3 months), and you are able to cancel at any time.

Can you start immediately?

: In most instances we can parachute into your business and start providing our services within a month.