Richard Cullen, Trusted Advisor to Small Business Owners
I love working with small businesses (under 50 employees) and helping the owner and the team to improve their business management skills.
Larger businesses or fast-growing businesses have no shortage of help that they can avail of, but traditional small businesses often get forgotten.
Usually, they are so busy in the business getting and keeping customers that they never have time to stop and assess what works, what doesn’t, and what they can do to improve.
I have worked in larger businesses, and I love taking the best practices I learned there and simplifying them to help smaller businesses.
What do you like about your current role?
The satisfaction that one piece of advice or one change has had on the health and well-being of a small business and a small business owner makes all the hard work worthwhile.
I see how hard all my clients work to keep their businesses going, I see how many people depend on the success of their business and I see the impact on them when it’s not working well. I will help anyone who wants or needs help and quite often it’s a small but consistent change can and will make all the difference.
What are your favourite books?
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. This is one of my favourite books, as it was the first one that started me on this journey of understanding how people work together and how they can improve.
Who do you most admire and why?
Every small business owner who takes a risk to become a leader in their business. Most seem to go into it blindly without fully appreciating the impact it will have on them and their families, but they still go ahead anyway.
Then the courage they have to keep going when they do find out how tough and lonely running a business can be. Without small businesses taking these risks, we would lose all the benefits they bring to a community.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
It’s a long time ago now, but I always remember my grandfather teaching me how to give a proper handshake (a firm grip, not too firm, and eye contact). For him, it came from a place of respect. He was teaching me about respect for others and for ourselves.
That value of mutual respect is an important part of how my business works and who we work with today.
Another piece of advice I got long ago, can’t remember from who, is that “everyone can be my teacher”. We can learn something from everybody we meet in life if we are curious.
What motivates or inspires you?
My biggest motivation has been growing my relationship with my wife (and my best friend ) for over 33 years and helping to raise 2 amazing children into adulthood.
Also, really proud of the impact I have had on my clients, their businesses and their teams over the last 15 years.
Both of these challenge me to keep finding ways to improve, to grow as a person and a leader, to be a better communicator.
What would you like to highlight and share with our audience?
So many businesses are started each year by people with an idea who have never built a business before. Having an external advisor, especially in the early years, will make a significant difference in their speed of success.
I’m a big believer in the philosophy “When the student is ready the master arrives”. Even if I had known what I needed to know I probably would not have had the wisdom or context to really apply the learning.
I see life as a journey, and I am attracting challenges to me all the time that I need to overcome to keep growing and become the best me I can be.