I have a business coach and I believe every business owner should have a specialist coach who knows their industry inside out. My coach is called Taki Moore. He coaches Business Coaches. I’m in his top tier (you have to qualify to be invited) private program called Boardroom.
At my last coaching meeting we had 2 special guests come speak to us. Alex and Leila Hormozi from Gym Launch. In less than 2 years they have built a $40M recurring revenue business (yes you read that right) coaching gym owners across the world.
The explosive revenue growth story is spectacular but what intrigued me more was their people structure & culture.
Get this. 100% of their team (74 of them) are dispersed all across the USA. They do not have a physical office!!!
All of their team work from home and it works. They have client facing team members (by using Zoom) and of course back office team. The have build an amazing culture of innovation, sales, service and team. Importantly they said “we are NOT a family, we’re a team”. Since they started they have had only 1 person resign.
Here is a random team member review on glassdoor.
“The company culture is second-to-none, the owners are two of the most influential people I’ve ever met, the entire team is a genuine pleasure to work with, our mission is not just profit-based or greedy, we aim toward helping people and improving our clients’ (and THEIR clients’) quality of life. I feel truly blessed to be part of such a great company. I’m a lifer!”
What do your team members say that about your firm?
When Alex and Leila spoke what came through was a relentless pursuit of excellence. Excellence in service, fulfillment, technology, team work, culture and profit. I am not going to tell you what their profit is (that was told in private – the revenue is public) – let’s just say it is OFF THE CHARTS high.
So what’s a successful gym coaching business got to do with Accounting firms? Everything. It’s just business and I find I learn secrets from any type of business. In this case how to manage a virtual team.
In the past few years the “business acceptance” levels of people have changed.
If you look at your Accounting firm more than likely 80% of your clients are within a driving radius of your firm. Why? Because the clients originally ‘brought the stuff in’ and you had a meeting. With technology (like Zoom or Skype) you can still meet and have clients all over the world and never meet them physically.
It’s acceptable to be located in a shared office – like a WeWork.
It’s acceptable to work from home and serve clients from home.
It’s acceptable to wear whatever you want to work. Jeans and T-shirts for me all the way.
It’s acceptable to have your team in another country. Many of my coaching clients have Accountants that work full time for the firm in the Philippines or India. A new coaching client (from LA) has 8 team members in Albania. You might have tried outsourcing in the past – offshoring is a better strategy.
I have already met loads of virtual firms (I am currently coaching 4 of them) where they do not have an office, their people are located where they can find the best people and they work remotely.
Think of the money you’d save by getting rid of the office. Think of the efficiency you’d have without the ‘water cooler’ chit chat. I also coach a firm that has a ‘5 hour work day’. They pay their people for 8 hours if they can get their work done in 5 and then they can go home.
It’s acceptable to re-invent your business model. It’s acceptable to be different. It’s an exciting world we live in!
As my buddy Michael says “a breakthrough often happens after a break-with”
What do you need to ‘break with’ to get your breakthrough?
