Business Advisor Louise Lye believes that understanding finances in a business is key to ensuring sustainability and growth and it is the numbers that provide a true indication of where the business is heading, or what’s possible.
Her skill and knowledge about the sales, finance and other aspects of business operation is proving invaluable for her SME and startup clients right across Sydney.
For nearly five years Louise has worked with a range of businesses from startups to established businesses focusing on the “real basics of business planning to staffing, time management, outsourcing and when to employ, cashflow and financial management and dispute resolution”.
Louise believes she leans towards a focus on finance and accounting backed by her previous experience as a bookkeeper for small businesses and a financial planner for Macquarie Bank.
Having worked with clients over a number of years she has many stories of the highs and lows of business growth. One ongoing client, that remains top of mind, started as a business partnership that had secured a lease but did not have finance for equipment. Louise worked with them to develop a business plan that was used to source funding for the equipment. When the partners decided to go their separate ways, she worked with one of the partners to secure further finance and set up their new company.
She loves working with small business people who are “energetic and creative”, seeing results, and being able make a difference. Louise also believes it is her role to acknowledge the hard work that goes into making a small business a success, as well as being around to give people a “pat on the back”.
When Realise Business expanded its footprint, Louise came on board working with clients right across Sydney. She believes that the organisation is now greatly strengthened, commenting, “the team has now grown so that we each have expertise across the whole range of business issues. The geographic location of the businesses no longer really matters and there is a huge opportunity too for businesses to build bigger networks.”
Since joining the Realise Business team she is also enjoying the opportunity to learn from the expertise of the other advisors, including her husband, Realise Business Advisor, Matt Lye.
Louise believes that the three biggest issues impacting businesses include:
- not really understanding the customer and knowing their market well enough
- a fear of spending money and at the other extreme spending too much without planning.
- businesses undercharging and not acknowledging what they are worth. This is particularly relevant for professional services consultants.
One of Louise’s favourite business quotes is “failing to plan is planning to fail”.