Between Christmas and New Year, my wife Carmenza and I decided to work from home and it was time to spend a little time on our own business and review the lesson we had learned in 2019 and plan for 2020.

We reviewed our SWOT and made some changes to our 2019 business plan. We have learned a lot of lessons some of them costly.

We continue with our Mission :

Projects RH, will be the premier independent provider of targeted specialist advice in project investment, finance and management in Australia with focus on efficiency, safety and attention to each one of our clients. We will treat our clients with transparency and honesty.

Telling clients what they don’t want to hear can be dangerous and costly – but we agree we sleep better at night. We had two occasions were clients felt we had promised more than we delivered – we had done the agreed work but it had not had the outcome they had wanted. We are now very careful to document what we are doing and what we are not. This was an expensive but important lesson.

This lesson lead us to embrace our motto: WE DON’T PROMISE. WE DELIVER!

We would prefer to over deliver than over commit.

It does seem like years ago but Projects RH and Tabatinga -based in Singapore- only became our business focus from 1 April 2019

We have had to implement many unexpected strategies to deliver our business model of linking business with money. Projects RH never sought to be a funds raiser but we saw our role as providing the business promotor with the ability to show that their business had potential. Our role was to be their coach and not hands at the wheel. We worked with them to produce the financial model, information memorandum, pitch deck and teaser- but the client needs ownership. It is their role to do the pitch, work out the offer and do the deal. Yes, we would introduce them to some people and take them to events but our clients need do the selling as investors are investing in the promotors and not the support team.

Our role was as much as a coach and discussing with them what they needed to do.

The year saw us working across some exciting projects

• Fintech
• Beef supply chain
• Confectionary
• Copper
• Solar power collection
• Oil & gas processing
• Property
• Health services

From Singapore and Sydney, we worked across a number of countries:

• Australia
• Singapore
• Hong Kong
• China
• United Kingdom
• Cyprus
• Canada
• Colombia
• Chile
• Sri Lanka
• Argentina
• Indonesia

Being a small business, we had to learn to develop strategic alliances – we cannot do it all and some of it we could not do. We need strategic alliances with:

• A social media marketing team
• A credit licence holder
• A financial adviser
• Accountants
• Lawyers
• Professional business planners
• Offshore fund raisers
• Insurance brokers
• Migration agents and lawyers

Like many small businesses we have learned a lot quickly and have had to put into practice much of what we were telling others. This teacher is not always the best student, but thanks to our accountant and bookkeeper, I understood that I particularly needed to learn to delegate and trust my own team. Our teams are flexible and need to allow for our people to be in teams with others. This was hard for me.  We have found that a fortnightly review works best for us.

We have also had to learn to quickly see scams and projects which are just being marketed to get an investor.  I have had to dismiss ports, coal projects, hotels … as the vendors simply would not provide the data we needed to prepare our preliminary assessment.

We have learned to work with a small but talented team based in Colombia who do our digital marketing.  I must admit at first, I was cynical to the idea but Carmenza was positive and I was reading the training materials of Kyle Hammond’s Directors Institute and she was recommending the same thing. I had to let go, take a risk and trust. The outcome was wonderful.

Our accountant and long-term friend Sabina said we needed to appoint a bookkeeper as I was never going to do the accounts on a timely basis. I think it was the best decision of 2019. 2CentsWorth, with Carmenza, remind me on a regular basis of how the business is performing. It is cold numbers and something I can relate to.

The first lesson is to focus on what we do:

Our business is focused on helping directors of companies to achieve what they want for their business. We are very clear that we are not involved with investors or retail. Many of our potential clients come in and just want us to raise money for them – we know that this is not what we do. We are good at preparing financial models, information memorandum, pitch decks and 1-page summaries (teasers) and working with our clients. We are not doing it for ourselves but to assist the companies and their directors to raise money. Big difference.

Planning our new service:

As part of this Carmenza has developed a nice business which works with migration lawyers and migration advisers who want to purse an investment-visa path. We insist that the migration lawyers and migration advisers tell us -in writing- that this is the path they want their client to pursue. We then work with other professionals’: accountants, credit arrangers, approved venture capital funds and specialist advisers each of which has their own accreditation and professional office. We work as project manager with a team which is each paid to do what they do well.

Some important lessons  

• No everyone responds according to our time lines.
• Diversify our revenue streams; seek longer retainer based advisory / advisory board rolls – stable cash flow.
• Monitor we are paid in a timely manner.
• We are dealing with people and their passions.
• Investors ask lots of good questions which need considered and detailed responses.

Carmenza is a more natural sales person than I but I have had to learn to go to business meetings/briefings with the aim of networking. The great lesson for me has been to ask someone I trust – who do I need to meet? They are generally delighted to be of assistance.

What we need to do in in 2020

• Remember we deal with people; our own team, our clients and market, are all people with differing priorities and responsibilities.
• Continue to be authentic and approachable, but balance with a realistic view of what we can do and deliver.
• Look to diversify our income streams.
• Work with overseas clients face-to-face.
• Continue to recruit people who can add value and work according to our ethic.
• Be more decisive on which potential clients we select.

We need to remain resourceful and optimistic – 2020 will not be without its challenges but every challenge is an opportunity for those who accept it.