According to Business
Mentors New Zealand (BMNZ), the nation’s only not-for-profit mentoring
organisation, demand for business mentoring is high and with many older companies
seeking help for the first time chiropractors are starting to recognise the
benefits of assessing the health of their businesses.
Hamish
MacMillan began practising chiropractic in Tauranga in 2003 after seven years
of study. After a two year associateship he opened Oceanside Family
Chiropractic in Papamoa. In May 2010 he opened a second practice in Cherrywood,
Otumoetai. He recently welcomed two more chiropractors to the team and a
marketing assistant. He got his Business Mentor in early 2009.
`I
needed general business advice to get the business growing. It had stayed on a
level for quite a few years. I looked around and most of the chiropractic
businesses seemed to be operating in a similar way. I thought it was time to
start asking some different questions. I
rang the Chamber of Commerce who put me in touch with my Business Mentor, Ian.
He’s been working with us for two years now. He has helped me take a new look
at how we work, the sort of hours we open and the location of the clinics. He
helps me to focus on the business from a productivity perspective rather than a
chiropractic point of view.
‘For
example, I’d always understood that people didn’t want to see a chiropractor
during the day so we opened mornings and evenings. Ian got me to think
differently and when we opened more hours, more people came and we have been
nice and busy. It’s enabled me to take on new chiropractors and other new staff
and increase capacity.
`It’s
now got to the stage where I don’t have to be working for the business to be
open. We
catch up every couple of months or if I have a new idea I want to discuss with
him. He is always very free with his time and very sympathetic. He is very much
my sounding board and motivator. He tends to ask the questions and let me find
my own answers. Whatever
your professional service is it’s only part of what you do. The business half
needs to be right so you can continue to provide a quality service. Independent
advice frees you up to do what you are good at.
`We
have seen a huge jump in turnover since having a Business Mentor, in fact it
has almost doubled, at a time when many businesses are going backwards. More
than anything my mentor has given me the confidence that my ideas are good and
worth taking a chance on. I
will have opened three more practices by the end of 2016 and be providing
chiropractic care for people of all ages and stages of health.’
BMNZ chief executive Ray
Schofield explains: `We are seeing increases in demand for our services in many
parts of the country well up on last year. Older businesses are now being
affected, some who have been trading for 20 years or more who are being
affected by cash flow and collection difficulties and the domino effect of
economic disturbances which are running right through the SME sector. Small
business just doesn’t have the resources to carry that sort of burden
indefinitely. It can be a vicious circle as jobs drop off it gets harder for
the remaining companies.'
Business Mentors provides access to 1,700 volunteer
mentors (who provide their experience, skill and knowledge free of charge). The
focus of the organisation is on developing capability, profitability, and
employment generation. Since the organisation was established in 1991, Business
Mentors has assisted over 60,000 small to medium businesses. It is funded
largely by patrons from the private sector, with additional support from New
Zealand Trade and Enterprise. It provides a mentoring service to any businesses
that are trading with evidence of accounts.
There is no limit on the amount of mentoring sessions. The term of the relationship with a mentor depends on the
objectives and goals both client and mentor jointly agrees upon. They can also
contact their co-ordinator at any point for further assistance
For more information on Business Mentors New Zealand,
visit www.businessmentors.org.nz
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