What' s the price of good advice? By Steve Marsten

We love talking to young business entrepreneurs who are working on new ideas and or bringing a product or service to market, especially here in Gladstone. Right now it is an exciting time to start business. For one thing – it’s never been cheaper to set up a business. Rents are cheaper, property is good value, and skilled labour is available at reasonable prices again. Throw in to the mix that the local council seems to be supporting new enterprise as well. These are often the key ingredients to a start up business and if there is one thing we know – if business can survive during a slow down then it can usually survive anytime.

We recently assisted a new enterprise commence his business. He didn’t want to seek any advice because “it cost too much!” However he came along to an obligation free meeting with us to identify if there were any areas we could add value to his business.

He identified a niche in his local market and after the initial meet and greet - we had a consultation before he opened up for business. He asked whether it's possible to manage all aspects of the business by himself?  Generally the answer is “of course you can.” It just depends on how fast you want to fly or how gradual you want the start to happen.

We went through the key aspects such as:

1. His Value proposition
2. Who his customers were going to be
3. How he was going to get in touch with those customers;
4. How he was going to create demand for his service;
5. How he was going to charge for his services;
6. Identifying the key services he was offering;
7. What additional resources he required;
8. Who his partners and structures were going to be  – both strategic and consultative;
9. Looking at his revenue streams and profit levels and cashflows.

Now his initial thought was that all he required was an initial consultation and he would be up and running. What we identified in reviewing the various aspects of a business start up, were numerous issues to be carefully addressed without the need to delay a start up. What he gained was ways and means of saving money; increasing revenue and maintaining a lean business. The value in terms of revenue generated and funds saved was 3-4 times the investment of his consultations.

He wrote to us recently and wanted to know why we don’t tell clients that financial advice is cheap? To which we replied – “good financial advice is good value and it is never cheap.”

Therein lies the problem. Non-finance professionals often don't understand how difficult the field really is. They don't know what they don't know. Managing business may seem simple, but it is not easy. We believe that paying a good financial adviser is worth it – that’s provided that they can show you how your investment can be recovered quickly.

At Sothertons, our goal is to articulate your return on your investment. Call us on 49721300.