Hello

I’m biased, but coaching is the best way to learn and grow. Coaching is a vehicle to take you from where you are to where you want to be. It’s hard to see all of your problems and opportunities exactly as they are in real time. When you’re on your own, it’s easy to get stuck in the thick of it and like quicksand, the harder you struggle, the further you get pulled in. We chase dead ends and the issues we think are our biggest problems are really just symptoms of other problems. This is where coaching comes in. Coaching helps you to take a step back and be more strategic about what you’re facing and what you’re trying to achieve. It helps you to focus on the things that really matter and will make a difference. Once you have a worthy target and the right motivation, it’s as simple as setting out a path and getting into it. You’ll face obstacles on the way, and instead of getting stuck or off-track, your coach will help you stay on course and work around these obstacles. Good coaches create a high-trust relationship where you can explore ideas, problems and opportunities and take feedback, guidance and see things from different perspectives. A good coach will help you to build the business (and life) that you want by inviting and encouraging you to take meaningful action in the direction you want. Learning by first hand experience is the best way to create lasting change and this is why coaching works so well - You’re the one doing the work and getting the results and learning. (I feel like my coaching would be way more powerful if I had this outfit)

Small / medium business owners & managers who want to grow or go to the next level in an area of their business & life. If you’ve got a vision for somewhere you want to go with your business, I’m your man. The focus of that growth varies from person to person, but generally we’re looking at growing: Time Money (profit) System & process Joy I primarily work with established businesses, but also offer a limited amount of free and low-cost coaching to startups, solopreneurs and the like on Fridays - drop me an email to find out more. (Me checking in on your progress from the Jet)

For most people it will be some combination (or all) of the following: Target setting - Working out what you really want to achieve and how you want your business & life to be in the future. Planning - Setting a clear plan for how you’re going to achieve that target you set. Staying on track - Making sure we always keep the eyes on the prize and don’t stray off course. After all, the most important thing is to keep the most important thing the most important thing. Maximising profit - There’s almost always more to be made from the business you have by working smarter. Work to maximise profit from existing structure so that you can make the most of what you’ve got and have more money in the bank. Structuring the business - Planning and building the business intelligently and deliberately to create a business that actually works for you. We all got into business for a reason, I’ll help you build the business you set out to when you started. Getting ready to sell or succeed - Getting your business to the point where it can be run under management or sold. This means profitability, structure and systems that serve you and your objective. A win in this area looks like you being able to choose the work that you want to do in the business. (Whoever came up with this was obviously good with innovation)

If you’re googling business coaches, probably. And if coaching isn’t right for you at the moment, I’ll most likely have a more appropriate solution for you, or at least be able to point you in the direction of someone who can help. A lot of people think that they need to be a multi-million dollar business to even consider a business coach, but it’s just not true. People are often surprised by how much additional profit can be added to their business with the right focus, and often this is one of the first things we’ll work one. As a coach, my first objective is to make sure that you’re set up for success in business, and a large part of this is financially. If you’re not sure, let’s have a chat and I’ll give you my take on it. I want to work with businesses that can get the most out of my services long term, and if I don’t think it’s sustainable to work together, I’ll let you know up front. I take a very limited number of 1:1 coaching clients, and it’s crucial to me that I’m able to retain my reputation as a coach who delivers results and works with integrity. (If you're unsure (or you're a lasagne loving cat) let's have a coffee first and chat it over)

Primarily I work with people who own or manage businesses and want to get it working for them. People who are ready to take charge of their business and get what they deserve out of it. I also offer some training around customer focused selling which can be delivered to salespeople or sales managers.

You can expect to get some results quite quickly, but just like going to the gym, one workout doesn’t make you Mr. Universe. As a general rule, I’d wouldn’t consider taking on a 1:1 coaching engagement unless you are looking to commit a minimum of 3 months to get stuck in and focus on the business. Just like going to the gym for the first time, it takes time to get a feel for the exercises and the new routine. You’re probably going to feel a little exhausted after your first few business workouts too, but it feels great to be exhausted for the right reasons, and even better when the results start showing. (One of my weirder clients, who for some reasons joined the zoom meeting shirtless?)

You can expect to quickly and simply take a better view of your business, and clearly understand the path to taking charge of your business and making it work for you. Every business is different, but my initial focus is always on helping clients make quick and meaningful improvements to the areas of their business that need the most focus and attention. As soon as you sign up, you’ll receive a personalized toolkit (worksheets and resources) and business dashboard tool which is yours to keep forever. Each week we work on your business and the problems and opportunities that face you. We’ll take new perspectives and discuss modes of thinking that help you fix problems once and for all. You’ll develop new skills and modes of thinking that help you address the problems and opportunities in your business now and in the future. The skills you develop will change the way you approach business forever. The first thing we do when you come on board to the coaching program, we start with a total business snapshot which is designed to identify the most pressing needs in the business and the greatest areas of opportunity. Once we’ve completed and discussed this initial snapshot, we’ll move to work on the most pressing opportunity. Generally, we’ll identify an area of opportunity focussed on profitability, sales growth, more effective use of time or improving the cohesiveness of the team. During this initial phase, we meet once per week for about an hour and work on the business. This might range from perspective taking to working through problems that you have encountered in rolling out the plan or even looking at motivation and beliefs that are holding you back from achieving what you want to. Every business is different, but by the end of this first three month period, we’ll have a strong foundation built for your business to grow from. Throughout the initial period you’ll be introduced to a series of tools and resources designed to help you run the business you’ve always wanted, and these are yours to keep forever. After this intensive three month period, you’ll have a strong foundation in place and the nature of our engagement changes as generally business owners need a little more time and space to get on with the work they have to do. Each business is different, and I cater the program accordingly to get the best outcome. Generally speaking though, most businesses work best with the following structure: Start of the month session: Review metrics, finances and opportunities. Aligning broader goals and focus. One ‘normal’ coaching session each fortnight: where we work on the achievement of the goals and any day to day matters of the business that pop up, as they inevitably do. Roughly once a quarter, or when a body of work is complete: Take a step back, snapshot the business and the opportunities and spend time defining the most important piece of work to focus on next. (What you'll get out of it)

Absolutely. The following are just some of the tools and resources provided upon signing up, which are yours forever: The Money Machine - Use real numbers from your business to model what different actions would mean to your bottom line. Breakeven calculator to help you understand Time Audit exercise Target Market Mappers - To help you attract and serve your customers, the way they want to be served Whose Job is it Anyway? Business structure and org chart planner Business Planning Canvas & Playspace Could do list (turning your never ending to-do list into something that actually works for you) Customised Profit and Loss templates 99-Point Check - Diagnostic tool to identify and act on the things that matter Impact Matrix - To help you identify and understand the work that will be most transformational for you business and the work that will help you transcend your current situation. Heaps more - I love creating tools and resources for my clients. It’s rare for a month to go by without a new tool or resources popping up. (Actual footage of me in the business lab, probably)

Upper Limit is the name of the business. It actually comes from an idea in the book The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks (great book, recommend to everyone). It’s a bit of a sneaky name, because on the surface level, it sounds like it’s about high performance and performing at your best - like “reach your upper limit” - but it’s actually about the fact that there is no upper limit most of the time apart from those limits we impose on ourselves. This idea of exceeding our Upper Limits can be seen in the logo. You metaphorically start at the bottom of a mountain you want to climb and you can only see the first peak. You’re climbing a mountain and then you get to what you think is the top… but then you see another peak, so you climb that…. Then you get to the top of that one, and you jump in a hot air balloon. This could go on forever with airplanes and spaceships and you name it… In the end there is only so much room in a logo though! The point of it all is that we’re almost always capable of more than we give ourselves credit for initially, and that it’s important to remember that and be aware of how we’re placing these limits on ourselves.

Simple - show up, keep an open mind, and be willing to do the work to get the results you deserve. The hardest thing for people to do is keep sustained focus on the right things. We’re all world champions at behaving almost exactly the same as we did yesterday, and changing this takes some getting used to. It’s almost never about doing more, it’s about doing more of the things that matter.

When I say ‘intergenerational’ I’m talking about two things. 1. When the running of the business is taken over by the next generation of a family or 2. When the running of a business is taken over by an employee from within the business. Both present similar, but different challenges and opportunities. If you’ve done your homework and read my back story you’ll know that I took over the running of the family business when I was younger. I started out just doing some of the jobs and grew to a point where I was running the day to day management of the business. This was my first experience of intergenerational business. Since then I’ve also worked in several situations where I’ve worked with other families who have changed leadership / ownership of the business and also with some employees who have moved up through the ranks and purchased the business that they work in. It’s one thing to buy a business from the outside and come in and have to learn the ropes, but it’s another altogether to come from the inside and then have to be the person who runs the business. The natural inclination is to just do what you always did (or more of what you always did) and this isn’t the solution. It’s much easier to move into a new role when you have a little guidance and someone helping you remember to take the right perspective and look at the right things.

Simple answer: You want to take charge of your business and get better results - whether that means with time, money, better team dynamics or something else. More specific answer: There are two best times to start - The first is when you have a burning desire to get somewhere with your business, but you find that you struggle to stay on track and actually get it done: you’re stuck in a loop and you get the same results over and over. The second is when things are good, but you know that they could be better and you’re ready to start putting the work in to get it under control once and for all. There are two major functions that a coach needs to fulfill in order to deliver effective coaching. Identification - helping people see things from the viewpoint they need to identify a compelling, and actionable destination to move toward. Path finding - keeping on track and following / clearing an effective path to where you’re going. “The most important thing you can do it treat the most important thing as the most important thing”

B2B is short for “Business to Business” meaning businesses that have a focus on serving other businesses as their main customer. The other sort is B2C or “Business to Customer” meaning that they serve the general public. My business has a B2B focus and my coaching programs focus on some of the niche elements of what makes a B2B business thrive. I also work with some B2C clients as well, but specialise in B2B. (No webpage of mine would be complete without a Simpsons reference)

Upper Limit specialises in working with service focused businesses. I define a service focused business two ways: You sell services and / or You sell products, but the service element of what you sell is most important It’s not just about being the cheapest or the newest or coolest product. It's about how you do your thing for people & how it makes them feel while you're doing it. Does that sound like your business?

Most of the work we do happens online, so in that sense, we're located everywhere and anywhere In the physical world though, Upper Limit is based Brunswick East, Melbourne. We have an office inside the Brunswick Tax Store at 114 Nicholson st, Brunswick East, 3057. All in-person meetings are by appointment only, but can be organised most days, so drop a line if you want to catch up in person.