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Recently our Marketing Intern, Beth Bavich, sat down with our Momentum program coach, Justin Davies, to have a chat about the program and why he is passionate about helping business owners succeed.

Justin is the Managing Director of Emergination and has over 30 years experience working with business owners to help with them overcome their challenges and support growth. He contributes to mentoring and advisory roles and facilitates regular small business workshops to educate business owners.

What do you enjoy the most about working with Momentum?

One of the things I enjoy about the program is that the business owners have a lot of factors they’re dealing with and spending a lot of time thinking about them. What they need is clarity and direction. During this process they tend to second guess themselves in terms of what they should and could be doing. One of the things I enjoy, is when they get that clarity and that vision, they get quite excited about it and you begin to see their whole mindset change. And it’s rewarding to see them get the results they aimed for and the feeling of satisfaction of taking the idea and growing it themselves.

What would you say to someone who’s considering joining Momentum?

From my experience, any business needs the strategy, the capability and the commitment to make changes if they want to grow. Growing a business is a demanding process to go through alone and it’s easy for stress levels to increase. So what you get included in the Momentum program is a process of working through these issues together which has a big educational component so you’re building and improving your skills base.

The group coaching component means there a few businesses in a similar position so there’s that sense of moving along together, sharing, learning and trying new things as they go.  Also another beneficial outcome I have noticed within the group is the participants are finding opportunities to do business with each other too, which creates a community environment and another way to move a business forward.

What kind of positions are the businesses in when they come to Momentum?

The position varies from business type to another. In some cases we’re dealing with businesses in the early stages and in that case, they’re looking for more clarity on a business model, pricing structures and how to enter the market etc, so often they’re looking for clarity in several different areas. There are other businesses which are already quite established and they’ve got them themselves to a point where they want to get to the next point but they aren’t quite clear on what the next point looks like. Or they aren’t sure how to break through and get to the next level.

When you’ve been doing something the right way and you’ve got to where you are right now, it isn’t necessarily going to get you to the next level without some support, solutions and guidance. There are a couple of businesses in our current program who need that push to get to from that one point to the next; they need that help up. My coaching approach encourages them to work together to get to that point where they can execute an actual plan, without involving hundreds of tasks. Rather they isolate just one task with an outcome that will make the most difference.

What are you hoping businesses can take away from the program?

I’m hoping the businesses involved will build stronger and more sustainable businesses, which are more capable of expanding business strategies, employing more resources and function in a more enjoyable way.

What is a key practice within the Momentum program?

With Momentum we confront the crucial issues quickly and efficiently. For example, in the first session we usually find the skeletons and focus on the main improvement required. It’s trying to uncover what are the greatest fears and concerns in terms of driving a business. Often sales and marketing are a huge part of what challenges businesses; teaching them to grow fast and find the work. It’s different with each business but it’s mainly teaching the business owner to define their focus and develop an idea of how to move forward.

What is your aim with Momentum?

The aim of Momentum is to systematically work on those things that are important for business; strategy, sales, marketing support, innovation, people and processes, system processing, productivity improvement, technology and risk. There are all these things we’re thinking about and trying to work through, making it custom for each business as opposed to a straight learning schedule. While educating business owners on new approaches and skills is an important part of the Momentum program, the support and guidance for new owners is a focal point.

Accountability is another important element, which motivates participants to be disciplined in their responsibility to meet targets. My role as coach is to lead the participants in the right direction to meet the targets they set for themselves.

One thing I like to focus on is that you don’t want a business to have the same year they had this year, again next year because there is no progress in that and it just gets progressively harder. Therefore, what I’m here for is to support and guide the business to the next level to keep growing stronger.