A Year of Growth for Realise Business through our Products, Services and Expertise
It’s been a big year for Realise Business as we’ve grown in our team, our services and our expertise. We’ve come a long way with our strategy and our new product development, and we’ve enhanced the skillset of our team to deliver a specialised and consistent service to our members and clients.
Strategic Planning and a new Vision
I’m proud of the work we’ve completed with the Board of Directors in the last year. We now have a solid 3-year Strategic Plan and Business Plan in place, developed in collaboration with the Board and the Leadership Team. I certainly appreciate the Board’s willingness to volunteer their time and expertise to help build a new Business Vision, Mission and DNA as part of our Strategic Planning activities.
Strategic Business Development
With the new strategy and a Leadership Team in place to take care the day to day responsibilities of the business, I have been able to devote more time to business development.
In the last year, I’ve developed an intensive Coaching Program for those looking for ongoing support and accelerated growth in their business. I also took an in depth look at our existing Mastermind program and redeveloped it to align to our new vision. The new program has been successful, and both clients and Facilitators are happy with the outcomes they’re achieving through the program.
I’m pleased to say we’ve tripled our Mastermind group participants in 2019. There’s been substantial interest in the Mastermind and the Coaching Programs, and I expect the upcoming year to be a busy one for the team with both products already in high demand.
I certainly feel passionate about our offering and I know from experience that clients can, and will, grow their business through these services.
Strengthening our Leadership in Business Coaching
Upskilling the team has always been a priority with continued professional development being paramount to our ongoing success and leadership in the business coaching world.
In expanding our pool of advisors and coaches over the last 2 years, we’ve increased our capacity, recruited specialists and worked on developing our talent to deliver a strong and consistent service to our clients.
With our continued growth, three training programs were developed to standardise our delivery and improve scalability. This year we piloted training programs in Mastermind Facilitation, Business Advisory and Business Coaching for our team of Coaches and Advisors. The standardised service and expertise will allow us to roll out our programs faster to help more people while increasing our capacity to scale.
Membership and Chapters
In growing our business, we saw a need to create capacity to scale across the Sydney region. In May this year, we launched our new Chapter Regions and Presidents.
We created three Chapter regions in Sydney: Southern Sydney, CBD & Eastern Suburbs, and Northern Sydney. The Chapter Presidents host Pub Biz Networking, attend community events and support local business owners and Councils in their region. I’m pleased to say the launch and rollout has been well received with our Presidents already making a big difference for businesses in their area.
Membership has continued to grow steadily with a record high of 2035 members at the close of the 2018/19 financial year. I’d like to thank the Chapter Presidents for their hard work and dedication in their roles, as well as the entire team for doing their best to ensure our members, both new and existing, are engaged and benefiting from all the activities available through our membership program. Most importantly, I want to thank our members for their continued support and feedback as we try our hardest to provide the best opportunities and support for you in growing your business.
Specialists in Disruption
The last financial year saw us cement ourselves further as specialists in the disruption advisory space. We successfully completed the Sydney Light Rail Advisory Project and kicked off our Parramatta Light Rail Advisory Program working directly with the Department of Transport. We have three Advisors based in Parramatta and we recently celebrated our 100th client since its launch in September 2018.
We’ve also secured the lead Advisor position for the Business Connect Community Transport Program. The Program is in its early stages and we look forward to sharing some great results with you in the coming year.
Off the back of our disruption expertise, we worked on numerous localised disruption advisory projects in our Council areas, helping businesses affected by fire, industry reform and construction disruption. Helping disrupted businesses is certainly rewarding, we understand the stress businesses face when the uncontrollable occurs. Our Advisors work with clients to find innovative solutions to keep their business viable, as well as providing a source of emotional support.
National Virtual Coaching Program Expansion
From our launch in 2018, our Virtual Coaching Program has tripled in size with 3 programs running in 2019. We’ve secured another partner in Speech Pathology Australia and continue to successfully deliver the program for Occupational Therapy Australia. The program continues to empower our participants to grow their business and the feedback is positive. I’ve now passed the baton on to other coaches in our team so we can offer more programs to more Associations in the upcoming year to help more people succeed in business, nationwide.
30 years strong
We’ve just kicked off our 30th year in business and it’s a pleasure to be able to lead us into such a great milestone. This year saw us achieve continued growth, improve our service with a competent and dedicated support team, and embed a team of high achieving advisors to deliver excellent services to our clients. I feel honoured and grateful to lead such a strong team of people who focus on putting our customer first in every interaction.
We engaged with 2,136 businesses and provided nearly 9,800 hours of business support in the last financial year. I’m proud of how far we’ve come but nothing compares to seeing our clients grow, learn and succeed on their journey with us. I can safely speak for the entire team and say, the engagement with our clients and their passion is the reason we heartily do what we do every day.
It’s been a fabulous year for our business and our clients’ businesses. We appreciate your ongoing support and look forward to another great year of growth for all.
Jacqui Attard
Chief Executive Officer