Over the past few years, I’ve subscribed to, invested heavily in and closely observed many personal growth businesses and the people who run them… and two things stand out for me in almost every case…
Firstly, it’s almost always all about them.
Secondly, other than making a lot of money in the business of offering advice, most of them have never run a business, never employed anyone, never experienced the challenges I’d faced and could only talk about the issues I raised theoretically and not practically.
That said, I’ve had tremendous value from my investments in this space and I don’t regret a single one of them as they all provided opportunities to learn in their own ways.
So, when I launched Renegades I knew I wanted something different for this business. I wanted a team of Leaders, not a single voice. A group of experienced business owners who could collectively help people, whatever their challenge. As Ken Blanchard, author of ‘The One Minute Manager’ says, “None of us are as smart as all of us”…
By recruiting experienced business people who “knew their shit” so to speak, I felt our members would have the option to engage with different voices, personalities and perspectives, and not be limited to a single voice!
I also had ambitions to take the Renegade Mastermind business model to the US and this added another dimension to consider… I needed a team that could work together across two continents…
Fortunately, I’ve been blessed to work with so many great people on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean during my career that it was very easy to find the first two people I needed. You see, I’m an opportunistic type of entrepreneur… a visionary I guess, but I lack the ability to follow through because I get bored easily. So, I need the support of people who quickly get that vision, know how to build even further on it and then have the knowledge, skills and experience to carry it through.
In the UK, I’ve had the great fortune to work with an incredible individual for the past 20 years as we built several businesses together. Darren James and I merged our printing businesses in 1997 and have never looked back.
Our printing business has grown steadily every year and only lost money once in 20 years. During this time, we’ve acquired 3 other print related businesses and launched several non-print related businesses, including two in the US, and bought some property to house them.
Throughout, Darren’s ability to see where systems are awed and how to increase their efficiency has made the difference between success and failure for us on many occasions. His attention to detail is impeccable and I’ve never met anyone with more integrity and honesty… I’d trust him with my life (and very often do!).
As Ken Blanchard, author of ‘The One Minute Manager’ says, “None of us are as smart as all of us”
In 2015, I also had the great fortune to meet Ian Stewart. A New Zealander, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ian’s a passionate entrepreneur who possesses one of the best business brains I have ever seen. To put that into context, I’ve been in business since 1990 and worked with hundreds of business owners, directors of some the UK’s largest companies, and some very large businesses in the states… but Ian’s understanding of the entrepreneurial mind-set, his knowledge of business systems and his understanding of customer behaviour is unprecedented in my humble opinion.
Ian has a “crystal-ball” type vision from a business perspective and that made him the perfect choice to join the board and head up the US operation.
He’s a savvy guy, a great philanthropist and a man with a big heart, so it didn’t take Ian long to see the opportunity to make a great impact on business owners the world over. Renegades also fitted perfectly with something he was already looking to do, so it was a no brain decision for him too.
I’m absolutely stoked that Darren and Ian join the board of Renegades and head up our Operations and Strategic Development Divisions respectively.
So, operations, strategy and marketing… Check! Our next challenge was to identify and recruit a sound Finance team for both the US and UK operations.
Thankfully, I was blessed with some great people already in my inner circle… what is it they say about luck = preparation x opportunity?
Inside our UK operations, Darren and I have worked closely with the wonderful Clare Byrne for 15 years. A Chartered Accountant for some 30 years, Clare has worked in one of the UK’s largest accountancy firms before setting up her own practice and working with a wide variety of businesses in sectors as diverse as manufacturing, business support services, software, charities and film & TV production.
Clare has a very analytical mind and can see things very clearly, despite my grandiose attempts to overcomplicate stuff, and cut right to the chase… often seeing the solution before I finish my explanation! If that wasn’t enough, she’s also a Magistrate, a civil officer who administers the law, deals with minor offences and preliminary hearings for more serious offences.
I’m delighted to say that Clare has agreed to become our UK CFO.
That left the CFO role for our US operation and there was only one choice in that spot too.
I first met James Vanreusel at a John Maxwell Team conference in Orlando back in 2014 and we immediately got on like a house on fire.
Born in Belgium, he was schooled in the UK and completed his education in Texas. James then worked in the Tech sector in San Francisco before moving to New York and spending 8 years on Wall Street. He then moved into social finance, helping to open several micro-finance operations in the Southern Hemisphere.
He then met Betsy, got married, moved to San Francisco, had twins (well Betsy did the heavy lifting there of course!) and launched his own company providing Financial Services, coaching and mentoring to businesses of all shapes and sizes including many in the 3rd sector.
James and I have worked together in Mastermind groups for over a year now and as I’ve said, it was a no brainer for me to ask him to join the US board… and I’m delighted to say that James accepted our offer and becomes our US CFO.
But that wasn’t the end of the journey in terms of finding people I knew could add value to small business owners. People with the credibility, the experience, knowledge and/or skills necessary to help where, and when, it’s needed.
To do this I need to step back a little in terms of chronology.
When circumstances conspired to lead me to the decision to lunch Renegades I spoke to my “inner circle” to let them know of my decision. At that time, my plans had not yet taken shape and were vague to say the least. But that didn’t stop Steve Matthews from immediately saying “Great, when do we start and what do you need me to do?”
Ex-Navy Gunner, Steve has been in the IT and telecoms sectors for decades and currently owns a “converged IT” business based in Birmingham, UK. He’s one of few business owners I know who walks his talk.
Steve is a product of the Renegade process. He had a vision for the business, saw what he had to do to achieve it and so he joined the John Maxwell Team, certified in their coaching, speaking and training programme and immediately began coaching his leadership team. Sales are up, profits are up and the team is growing exponentially. Steve’s managed to remove himself from his business successfully and the results have been fantastic.
Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success
So, Steve became the first of our Renegade Faculty, the “founding founder” so to speak…
As the plan began to take shape, the board was formed and the structure of the Renegade Process evolved. We were ready to bring the rest of the Founding Faculty members on-board.
First was Ashley Burgess-Payne, a qualified teacher and another graduate of the John Maxwell Team, Ash now heads up the communications team of Parfitt Cresswell, his family’s South East England based group of legal practices. Never one to sit still, Ash decided, if he was going to work in the legal sector, he’d better become qualified in the subject. So, he’s currently studying his second Degree, this time in Law, and will complete this in 2018.
Meanwhile, Ash has joined the board of Parfitt’s, new venture Connections International Ltd, a business growth network franchise. As you can see, Ash is a busy boy, but not too busy to want to give back to business owners through the Renegade process.
Next came, swimming pool guru, Dean Thistleton. Dean has been in the wet leisure industry since he was 17 years old, climbing the ranks quickly to eventually become senior engineer despite only being in his early 20’s. In 2011, Dean found himself in charge of the highest profile pool build contract the UK had ever seen… the 2012 Olympic swimming pools.
Anyone who watched that extraordinary spectacle will know how successful that project was and will understand why Dean decided to setup his own business immediately afterwards. He now runs the most sought after pool construction company in the UK and has launched two other wet leisure companies since. Dean also runs several successful Masterminds for his partner, Lauren’s, network sales business.
Hot on his heels, came our extraordinary butcher, Gavin Bradbury. Another entrepreneur who knew exactly what he wanted at a very early age, Gav turned down the opportunity to study medicine at Queens College Cambridge to become a butcher. At 17, he told the owner he would buy his Northamptonshire store off him, and just a few years later he did just that.
Not satisfied with one of the most successful independent high street butchers in the UK, Gav saw opportunities elsewhere for his store and began to learn what he needed to know to take the store ‘online’. He’s since launched 3 niche online stores and grown revenues to almost 25% of the bricks and mortar store. Watch this space I say.
That left two more spots in the group and I had two people in mind but wasn’t sure if they were ready for the Renegades!
Andy Stace and I were in a Mastermind together in 2016. Andy is the CEO of Stace Roofing. Based in Melton Mowbray, his family business has specialised in at roofing for almost 20 years and he’s seen the business grow from nothing, to over £1m in revenues. Like many business owners, he says the bulk of the growth occurred in the last 5 years and put’s this down to a major shift in his thinking and personal development which also included going through the John Maxwell Team certification.
Andy’s now using his coaching skills to develop his leadership team and taking the opportunity to launch a new business in the mobile catering sector.
Which brings me neatly on to our next Faculty member, Jay Emery. Jay is the founder of Dingley Dell Enterprises and the architect of the Bushman Wood Fired oven. His ovens are in use in hundreds of mobile catering businesses, high street restaurants and at least one of those is a Michelin star venue.
South African born Jay has been a military officer, pro ski instructor and street entertainer, even entertaining royalty before he started Dingley Dell. He has a passion for people and will, one day, use his proprietary technology to help build thousands of low cost dome homes in 3rd world countries.
Until then, Jay wants to help other business owners reach their potential through the Renegade process.
That leaves just one more member of the team to tell you about… the glue that binds the team.
They say, behind every successful man there’s a surprised woman… and in my case, that woman is my better half, Michelle Dean.
Michelle, will become Renegades Head of Admin and will oversee all things administrative, including customer services, event management, new member on-boarding and of course, recruitment of the rest of the admin team that we need to facilitate the growth we aspire to.
Having spent 10 years in the South Wales Fire Service business support team, Michelle took a sabbatical to work with me in my last business role. She became PA to the business owner and oversaw his operational admin and event management before leaving to join me in the Renegades and is truly, the wind beneath my wings.
So there you have it… the Renegades team!
As Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
I look forward to experiencing the next phase of life’s journey with our team and, of course, with you.
