“50% Yearly Turnover Increase, Much Needed Accountability and Realistic Goals”

It was inexperience and a lack of knowledge about running a business that led Liam Hoyland of Matrix Consulting Engineers and his fellow business partners to seek help from ActionCOACH Wakefield.

Like many business owners, they were very good at what they did – having trained for years as engineers, but without formal business training, they were struggling.

“We’ve always said, we’re engineers first, and business owners second.”

This lack of experience was becoming more of an issue as their business grew. Whilst they were getting a lot of new contracts and could cope with the engineering work, they needed support with running the business. That’s when they took the decision to work with a business coach.

ActionCOACH Wakefield lead, Jenni Morgan, was just that coach for Liam and his partners, helping them to step out of the business and evaluate it step by step. By doing so, they could fully understand how the business was performing, and what they could aim for in the future.

“When you’ve got a clear image of how the business is performing, it’s easier to set realistic goals. You believe a bit more that you’re going to reach those goals, because the picture is a lot clearer.”

The extra accountability that Jenni provided was essential for Liam and the team. Having someone “be on your back a little bit” was integral to them making time to work on the business goals and create a plan for achieving them, rather than getting pulled into engineering work. And carving out that regular time, Liam says, is “worth its weight in gold” and “massively helpful”.

With the support of ActionCOACH, Liam and the team have been able to grow the business significantly, taking on two new staff members, and, in turn, a 50% increase in turnover each year.

In addition, the partners have benefitted from a mindset shift. While they’ll always be engineers at heart, they now see themselves as business owners too, thinking much more in business terms than they ever have done before.

They are very mindful of how the success they are achieving now is the result of the support and guidance they received from their coach at ActionCOACH Wakefield.

“It gives you access to all those business resources and that wealth of knowledge on the [business] bits that you are weak in. It’s kind of like a temporary business partner that you can bring in to help.”

And while Liam freely admits that there’s more work to be done, he feels confident that they are heading in the right direction.