How Two Vans Became a $65M Brand with Alana Nicholls

[00:00:00]

Alana: the quickest, and I think the only way really to grow a business is the two R's repeat business and referrals.

And the only way you're gonna get customers repeating and coming back to you over and over again is because of the experience you're provided and they've been wowed by you. And the only way people are gonna refer you is because you gave them a great experience and they were wowed. So it's all the one percenters.

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Allan: Welcome to the Lean Marketing Podcast. I'm your host, Allan Dib, and joined with me today is Alana Nicholls. Now I really loved Alana's story because she's taken, I guess in quote Marks a normal business, massively scaled it put in a CEO. Now she's really working on something that gives her a lot of life purpose and helps a lot of other people.

And it's a journey that many of us aspire to. Some of us are early in the journey. Some of us are midway, some of us are later on in the journey. But [00:01:00] I wanted to invite Alana to really talk us through how she and her husband grew an electrical contractor business, massively scaled it, are now working on some bigger picture stuff.

So welcome Alana. How are you?

Alana: Thank you Alan. Such a great privilege to be with you today.

Allan: Oh, it's my pleasure. It's my pleasure.

So take us back. you know, you and your husband at 19 and 22. You founded an electrical company. Now it's a national business. You bootstrapped it completely. You've got over a hundred staff. And so, you know, multiple business awards and so on.

And Take us to the start and take us. What were some of the key stepping stones that really got you there?

Alana: Yeah. Fantastic. Well, we started super young, as you said, 19 and 20 22. we were dating at the time. We'd been dating for a couple of years. My husband left school at 15. School was not. Not his bag. I [00:02:00] was fresh out school was not his bag. However, he was a great delegator, so he learned how to get all the girls at school, you know, doing assignments and helping him with stuff.

So that was like the first alert that he was a brilliant leader. But I was first year out of high school, I was studying my business degree and one afternoon Josh said, I think I wanna start my own business. A lot of tradies and doesn't even need to be tradies, but people that are great at their job, sometimes when they're great at their job or their craft, they think, oh, okay, I might start my own business.

But what you do and the craft that you're good at and business are two very different things. But he just thought, well, I might start my own business. And I said, well, I learned MYOB at college last week. Literally had probably just done one class. Super, super, um, you know. Simple, humble beginnings, and that's literally how we started.

My husband was the last [00:03:00] year at school, which had not even used computers yet, so he started business and had never even really turned a computer on. So we started super, super basic.

Allan: Was he an electrician at the time or,

Alana: He was an electrician, so he'd been an electrician since 15. He'd only ever had one job for seven years with a company.

And then thought, all right let's start our own. And that's literally how we started.

Allan: And so how did you get from, you know, because there are so many people who are, you know, are coupled running a business. The the man or the woman is on the tools and the other person is kind of back office and admin and they never seemed to kind of grow. Very far above that level. You know, they're often stuck at just like a solopreneur.

Maybe they have a couple of apprentices or something like that, but they never really grow. What was your growth trajectory like and what were some of the sort of milestones that you had to break through?

Alana: Yeah. Well, it was very quick our growth, and [00:04:00] one of the actual key reasons why at the beginning is when my husband first started, he thought, oh, I don't know if I can fully do this by ourselves. And so, he started with one other tradesman. And that guy, they were kind of like partners, and three months in, this gentleman chased a girl overseas and then we were stuck.

And so literally we had two vans. So we were just forced into growth where it was like, well, we need to fill that van. So outgoing getting more clients, employing someone. So we were forced into it very quickly, and I think that's probably the biggest growth barrier for people is moving from one solo to your first employee.

Because once you crack that, you start to see, oh, okay, I can multiply this over and over again. So one of the things that was really quite intense at the beginning but actually became a blessing, not a curse, was that we were forced into, well, you need to go and find more work to fill this van.

Allan: So it's one thing to have the extra [00:05:00] van that's kind of supply, but businesses grow on demand. How did you get enough work to keep that other van busy, to employ that other person, pay that other person, that's something that a lot of people struggle with early on.

Alana: Yeah. It was literally the old school. Go around, knock on doors and say, I've just started business. We were young, so we had that to our advantage. We could sell the story. 22-year-old. I've just started and just went in really humbly actually, and just went into potential clients and literally drove down streets and we thought, Ooh, we'd like to work for them.

We'd like to work for them. And so Josh would literally turn up, say, Hey, I've just started my business. I'd love to help you where I can please just give us a try. And so, literally did a lot of that. Then it got a little bit more sophisticated where I'd ring and actually try and book a meeting instead of him just turning up cold.

But we literally hit the paths and went out and yeah, old school marketing.

Allan: Nice. Nice. so [00:06:00] you've filled the two vans. So how do you, so you're now at a hundred staff, what was kind of the next step in the next milestone in the journey?

Alana: Yeah. I would say probably the next milestone for us was our first five years. So in five years we had over 30 staff, we had 12 vans. Josh was fully out of the day-to-day operations. We had a management team in place and. I was always working on the business. I never worked in it as such, always on.

So looking at projects and development of different things we needed. So I'd say those first five years was our quickest growth. And that's when my husband went to a business conference and the gentleman was talking about franchising and it caught my husband's attention and he thought, Ooh, this is our next step.

Instead of spending another five years doing what we've done in another state and then another five in another state, he thought, Ooh, this is how we could leverage out and our brand could actually grow across Australia, but actually invite franchisees to join us on the journey.

Allan: [00:07:00] So I'll get into the franchising in a moment, but be before that. So you said you'd put in a management team. How did that come about? So again, that, that seems to be another roadblock for many business owners where they're stuck in the day to day. They're a bottleneck with everything. Every decision has to go through them.

Uh, Often they feel like they're running an adult daycare center, you know, if it had they, they're supervising everything. So how did you get to the stage where you felt confident in either hiring or promoting people to management and stepping outta the day to day.

Alana: Yeah. Well, I think two things. I think back to the origin story, where it was very quickly had to employ staff, so never. Was able to be in the position to think, oh, you know, are we ready for other people? So that we were kind of forced into growth instantly. But I think probably the biggest thing is actually that leadership journey that we all need to go on, which is actually how to delegate and leverage.

And I [00:08:00] think especially for my husband's business journey, because school was never his gifting or his bag. And he, he always grew up thinking, okay, well I'm not really great at school, so who can help me? And so it was always about surrounding ourselves with people that could do things better than us. And I think sometimes that's the thing that holds many of us back, because often we think, oh, I'm the best at it.

But the quicker we can actually learn, well actually there's other people that can help. So I think that leadership ability to release and trust and give ownership to others. I think that's probably been the biggest part of our growth journey, is that seeing the gold in people, drawing it out, giving them opportunity, also knowing that team and never gonna get it right straight away.

And you know, there may be some things that you are really good at and you bring team in to help you and they might not. Execute at the level that you do now, but I think one of the [00:09:00] things that bottlenecks growth the most is we hold on too long and we don't give people the time and space to grow.

And sometimes you will go backwards in turnover or you know, there may be seasons where the numbers aren't hitting as high, but in the long run, it actually is great because you give people time and space to grow and that's how then you can leverage out as an owner.

Allan: And did you build the management team out of internal people kind of rising up, or did you bring external people who were or had already done that role successfully in

Alana: Pretty much for the last 23 years, it's been homegrown.

Allan: homegrown?

Alana: We have had seasons where we have brought people in for expertise, but there's this saying around, you can always train skill, but you can't train culture. And we've always been so strong about culture and there's just something beautiful about empowering people and seeing that when you invest in them and [00:10:00] seeing them grow and thrive and flourish like we have.

I'm looking out my office window now and I'm looking at our very first apprentice that started with us and now what we've been in business 23 years, so he would've been with us 22 years. We saw him grow through as an apprentice to a tradesman, to the general manager of our Sydney business. And then when we started franchising, he then became an area manager and was training our franchisees how to run their businesses.

Now he works in our, and our national teams. So it's awesome. Like to, I think that's one of probably the most rewarding things is to see people flourish in their lane.

Allan: I totally agree and I mean, I don't do the hiring in my business anymore, but when I did, I always looked for someone, not only for the role that we wanted to fill, but could they be two or three roles higher down the track and move people up within the business and. I've found that to be something that has really worked well for us.

As you say it's very hard to train [00:11:00] culture. I would say probably impossible, but you can train skills. It is also a harder track often when, because if someone is learning skills on the job, they will make mistakes. They will make errors. And it is a longer road than just dropping someone in who's already done this five times before in other roles and can hit the ground running.

So there are pros and cons to it, but I think for someone who's grown with the organization and other people in the business can see, hey, there's upward mobility. You can grow, you can make more money, you can get into a higher role, you can do different things. I think that's a really cool thing for the business culture.

Alana: Oh, definitely. And I think, I remember when we've had seasons where cultures been tricky, and sometimes it would be people that were outside with skill and came in, but I remember someone saying this statement, which was so meaningful for me, where they said, sometimes when you're looking at team and looking at people [00:12:00] within your team, sometimes you have to ask the question, are they in the culture or is the culture in them?

See, because we've always had such a strong, attractive, amazing culture that people wanna come to. Sometimes they would be in our culture and they love it. They love all the perks of the culture. They love being in the environment, they're in the culture and they love it, but the culture's not in them. And that starts to bubble to the surface and you're like, this is not the right fit.

And so, you know, everyone's leadership growth story is different. You know, I can only share what ours has been, but for our purpose, like if we come back to purpose for my husband and I, our purpose and why we do what I, why we do what we do has always been about empowering others and creating opportunity for them.

So when we look at our team and what we've built over the last 23 years, it has been for that so that we are empowering people. They've got opportunity and just people that we've been with us over the years and the journey that has been, and those that have had the culture [00:13:00] in them.

Allan: Hmm.

Alana: Fast forward 23 years and then at, you know, 41, 42 and 45, we were retired and it was, it fully runs without itself.

And we believe that was because we took a path which was believing in our team, giving them opportunity, empowering. To a point that then we were fully released and before we appointed A CEO, which was within our homegrown, it was Carla on our team and she'd been with us for 15 years. She started in admin, then went into head of Finance, then into head of operations, and then became the CEO last year.

But you know, even before that, I know a lot of people used to watch my husband and think, you have such a big business with all of this happening. And he literally would have worked. Let's call it six hours a week. And he'd been doing that for years until it was like, all right, now it's time to pass the baton on.

[00:14:00] So yeah, investing in people has really it's been a win for us. It might not be for all, but I think for us that it really helped us build and scale our business.

Allan: I totally agree.

I'd like to talk about franchising a little bit. So the idea to franchise and for people who maybe they've heard the term franchising. It's essentially licensing your intellectual property to someone who's gonna operate in a different state or different area and things like that.

And it's kind of this weird hybrid between an employee and an entrepreneur. So, and as an entrepreneur, you take all of the risk you have no certainty about whether it's gonna work out or not. And hopefully it does, a lot of times it doesn't. As an employee conversely, you have pretty much zero risk.

You show up, you do the work you get a paycheck. And a franchisee is kind of like this weird hybrid, right? So where you are running your own business, but you're buying into a business system that already works. There's a lot of regulation and legals and things [00:15:00] like that are there to protect the franchisee, make sure that they're getting a system that actually works and that they're actually investing in something that's legit.

So talk me through your idea to do that versus, you know, expand nationally or do other things that are kind of similar, like maybe just licensing or sending your own you know, starting another head office in another state those sorts of things.

Alana: Yeah, well I think, you know, as I shared our first five years fast growth, 30, team members, 12 vans, the business fully worked without us, with the management team. And so we had created a model in five years that worked really well. And I think, you know, for my husband and I, business has always been.

Not our purpose. It's not our identity. Business is a tool to achieve your why, but it's not your why. And so we had built a tool of our business. It was flourishing, it was kicking goals, and then the question becomes, well, what's next? Because literally within five years, my husband [00:16:00] was 27 and was bored.

Allan: Yeah.

Alana: So what do you do?

And so, we didn't want to go and spend another five years and then another five years doing what we had done. And again, it was about empowering others, leveraging but you know, creating a franchise model was a way for the platinum electricians brand to grow across Australia. But it was also a way to help other tradies who were brilliant at their trade, but struggling on the business front.

And we just knew, we know how to do it, let us teach you. And it was actually quite an unusual concept in Australia at the time when we started back in 2000 and I think 10 or 11. 'cause a lot of people think, why wouldn't an electrician join you? Like they can just do it themselves. But the reality is many can't.

And many of of us who have had tradies turn up to our house and you think they're not turning up on time. Their slack, their paperwork, all the rest, and that was the part that we could help them with. So that was. That was why we did it. It was a way for our brand to grow, but also [00:17:00] for a way to help others.

And so seeing, you know, many people joined us who already had their own business. Some of them had been struggling for 10, 15 years, had been at one van or two vans and could not crack it. And then they came and joined us and learned all of our systems and our branding and our marketing was always really great for a TRA business.

And so they loved that part, especially. And just all the systems and the support because we really had the time and capacity to help them. And so we'd have businesses come, they'd been struggling for years and they would implement our systems and they got to that 12 van mark. Well, they got to eight vans.

So yeah, it was wonderful to see how we could help them.

Allan: And um, specifically like, like for those who are in trades based businesses what do you think was the secret to some of your success? Both, either from a marketing or customer service or delivery? You kind of, Remi remind me. I had an electrician who I visited my house like two days ago to quote me on some stuff.

He still hasn't sent me a quote.

Alana: Yeah.

Allan: Follow him up now, and hey [00:18:00] man, send me the quote. So I'm assuming it's stuff like, like that, like being on it with sending a quote on time following up, getting it done, not spreading dirt all over the customer's house you know, cleaning up after yourself.

Is that the sort of stuff or like, is it the common stuff done uncommonly well or is there other secret sauce?

Alana: You've nailed it, Allan It's exactly that, and this is what we always used to teach our franchise owners was that. You know, anyone can install or repair something electrical, but what makes you different from the other Sparky? Number one, you've, you return the quote when Allan reaches out to you and says, can I have a quote?

And so we literally, for us, it was all about experience. And so for any service based business, but I even think product as well is what are you doing differently? That creates an experience that's unforgettable and when you leave, people go, wow. Because the quickest, and I think the only way really to grow a [00:19:00] business is the two R's repeat business and referrals.

And the only way you're gonna get customers repeating and coming back to you over and over again is because of the experience you're provided and they've been wowed by you. And the only way people are gonna refer you is because you gave them a great experience and they were wowed. So it's all the one percenters.

Allan: Yeah, I

Alana: It's all the little things that people forget to do. So we literally created a program but we used to have this phrase experience, the wow. And that was what we wanted to teach all of our tradies across Australia to do. And so there was literally a 21 step process if you do this from this to this every time you do a job.

And most of our clients were businesses, not residential. And if you do all of this. These are the one percenters that people go, oh wow, okay. Yeah,

Allan: Yeah. I love how you've systemized the customer experience. 'cause a lot of people just kind of leave it to chance, you know, one of the tradies does it really well. Another one does it. [00:20:00] So, so another one does it badly and it's left to the discretion of the individual worker.

Alana: and I think with franchising, that's one of the best things about franchising, I think, is that it forces you as a bus, because we chose to franchise our business, you have to systemize everything. You have to look at what was the secret sauce for us, because it needs to be replicated. So when you see the businesses like Boost Juice, glory jeans, like the people that helped them build.

Their franchise model helped us. And so those businesses that can really scale that, it's because you've been able to systemize everything. So it's like McDonald's, when McDonald's was like 15 year olds could run the shop, that's because it was franchised. And so even if, you know, there'd be many of your listeners today, they're not gonna franchise their business.

But if you applied a franchise thinking to your business to go, well, how do I systemize this? Because even for some of your listeners who may not have any staff yet, probably one of the best ways to, especially when you get your first staff member, it's like, okay, well how do I, what is it that I do?

Because [00:21:00] sometimes we do it intuitively, but actually write down the processes. It actually helps you to refine your process, think How can I make it better? And it makes it a lot easier to empower team. And because a lot of people bottleneck, often it's because they haven't done that part, right? It's get the wisdom and the brilliance that you hold as a founder or as a business owner and think, Ooh, if someone wants to do this for me, how?

How can I set them up for success?

That's why going on holidays and a break is awesome. A lot of business leaders go, I don't have time, but probably the best thing for your business is go on a holiday and from the very beginning. We always had the month of January off. That was just a culture that we wanted to create, and that instantly enforces you to go, well, this business needs to run for four weeks without us.

And so when you do that, you empower others. And then when you come back from your holiday, biggest tip, do not take the job back on.

Allan: Yeah.

Alana: some of your team actually do it better [00:22:00] than you. And you think, oh, and they probably love it because they love that you've given them some ownership. Now, I can't say don't take it back on, like there'll be certain things that you need to, but there's certain things that you think, wow, they really flourished in that it's a win-win for both.

I would suggest that franchise thinking of how do we systemize, how do we process?

Allan: So you talked a lot about repeats and referrals, and that's fine once you're in the door already. What, What did you do at a larger scale to get in the door? So I know initially you were door knocking, you were phoning cold calling for appointments. Did you just continue that? Or how did, like, once you're at a franchise level and things like that, you are clearly not gonna be the cheapest in town, right?

There'll always be some solopreneur who can do it cheaper or whatever. So how did you, how did you position yourself? How did you market yourself? How did you get new clients in the door once you're at a larger scale?

Alana: Yes. So I think you know, so much of our growth came without traditional marketing because [00:23:00] we really honed in experience. 'cause if you do experience, your business will sell itself repeat referral. So your current clients can actually be a marketing arm of you because they're referring and they're bringing leads in.

So. I would really highly recommend like, don't jump too forward without thinking what's your experience? 'cause that will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. But yes, you're right. When you truly wanna scale, you need some other things as well. So in the early days we thought it was that time where kind of digital marketing was coming in and website, and we looked at where our website currently was and we thought, okay, no, we need to invest in that.

To the point that my husband sold his favorite car because the investment into a website was, and the type of website that we needed that would be great for SEO and lead generation. It was an investment. So we literally sold his car to invest into that. So, and that, company, they're great friends of ours.

We don't, well, they weren't, we became friends from [00:24:00] them being our web company. They're no longer our web company 'cause our in-house team do it. But they love telling that story when they're out there trying to get new clients.

We have this client and he sold his Holden Minero, you know, this is in the nineties maybe?

Yeah, no, 19, the two thousands. But yeah, so he sold his car and so we invested in partnering with a great business that could help us with the digital strategy.

Allan: Okay. And the digital strategy was what? Ads? SEO Google My Business,

Alana: Bit of all of the above. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. And that really helped us. I think because our growth strategy was actually franchising. That was when we actually invested in that. Because we could do enough to keep a you know, a team of 30 working without too much marketing as such. It was really about experience.

But though, but you know, back in the old school days we did Yellow Pages,

Allan: Yeah. Yeah.

Alana: So we've been around for a while. But yeah, so we used this company to help us with digital and that helped with [00:25:00] attracting franchisees as well.

Allan: Amazing. Was there any particular strategy or tactic that worked particularly well? Outside of everything else or was it just a mix of everything together?

Alana: Yeah, I think investment in brand is really important. So we've always been passionate about that and I think we were in an industry which was always needed. There's always a need for electricians, but so many. Weren't really standing out in the marketplace. And from the very beginning, we made sure we had a good looking brand, so it caught attention.

And so our vans were and still are literal signboards that drive around. And so it just grabbed people's attention. Our boys, our team were dressed well not, you know, your bum crack hanging out and different things, so everything looked sharp, which was very unusual for a tradie business.

And so I think brand is so important and always investing in brand. Because brand is kind of, you know, reflects who you are, what [00:26:00] you believe you know, how you behave. And marketing is that voice that, you know, shares your identity. But sometimes people go to marketing before they've looked at, well, who are we and how do we wanna be perceived in the marketplace?

So I'd say definitely brand was a huge pillar for us before marketing.

Allan: Amazing. Amazing.

Hey, it's Allan here, ready to dive deeper into today's marketing insights? Head over to lean marketing.com/podcast. To get a full summary of today's episode, including all of the resources mentioned, go to lean marketing.com/podcast. Now, back to the show.

Um, And so, take us through to what you're doing now. You said you wanted to kind of go beyond just the business tap into your purpose and things like that and what did that look like and what does that look like now?

Alana: Yeah. Well, I think, you know, as I mentioned, our purpose has always been about empowering others and creating opportunity for them, and that looks like within our team. But it also looks like how do [00:27:00] we empower others and create opportunity for those outside of our team and our immediate circle, and that looked like those in poverty and disadvantage.

And so for my husband and I, we've always believed in profit for purpose. You know, creating a business as a tool to achieve your why, and having this ability to create finances, but not for ourselves. We are believers in, you know, you don't need a million houses and so many cars, but you know, we don't have a poverty mindset.

We definitely enjoy nice things, but we like to have an and mentality, this and that. And so part of that for us has always been about how to be generous. And so when we were franchising, we were faced with this question. Okay. How's our social impact going to look and grow now that we're inviting franchisees in?

Because we always believed and knew and were passionate that the bigger our business got, we wanted it to have more impact. And so we had this idea when we first started [00:28:00] franchising one van, one child. what we now call a purpose pledge. Whereas a business, we thought, okay, well what can we pledge and how can it align strategically to what we are doing to our growth but be sustainable?

And so we launched this idea amongst our franchise network and it took off. So over a 10 year period, we had over 200 children sponsored. We'd raised a million dollars in water wells and toilet blocks, and doing some amazing things in the community where all of our children were sponsored in Zambia.

And it was just such an amazing way to unite people within our business towards a common impact goal. It was great because we were able to share that tangible impact with our clients. And our team it was just awesome. We had franchisees join us because they said, we love this part where there's this collective impact amongst, we wanna be a part of that.

Uh, We have customers that hear about what we are doing and. [00:29:00] You know, wanna learn more or, you know, now our business growth strategy is in tendering and so we'll be at tender meetings and then people will draw it out of us and they're like, tell us more about this social impact thing that you're doing.

yeah, it was amazing to have that impact growth and see that power of collective lean in amongst our business. And yeah, so that was amazing to have that happen as we were franchising. And, you know, when I first launched that idea, we had a bus company in Sydney reach out to us. They'd heard my husband speaking at an event and they said, we love this idea.

We wanna be one bus, one child. What do you think? And we said, yeah. So we created them a logo and got them set up on their way. And I kind of knew back then, which was over 10 years ago, that what we were building was never just gonna be about us and the impact our brand was having, but that we would help other small and medium businesses do the same.

But that idea sat on the shelf for a decade. And then picked that up a couple of years ago and thought, all [00:30:00] right, well, how do we now do this and help other businesses?

And so we started what is now Pro Purpose, and that's our nonprofit, which helps bring small and medium businesses together, help them build a pledge better into their business, tell their impact story, track their impact.

And I just had this idea that, well, you know, if our business could raise a million, our, you know, small or medium business, raise a million over this period. Imagine if. Like hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of Aussie businesses, we could all do it. And so this has just been my desire to go right, everything we learned over a decade of doing it, how about we help other small and medium businesses do that?

And so we launched Pro Purpose and now we're on a mission to unite 70,000 small and medium businesses across Australia to collectively create $1 billion in social impact by 2035. And it's so amazing to see the transformation that's happening, not just in the [00:31:00] communities in poverty and disadvantage, but also in the businesses.

You know, when we went on our first field trip to Zambia in 2015, we put a call out to our franchisees and my husband and I said, we're gonna go and visit the children. Who wants to come? And, you know, all different franchisees across Australia had two children or had five or had eight. And we said, who wants to come?

And three of our franchisees said, we will come. And some of them hadn't even met each other yet. We had a guy from Rockhampton, one from Gippsland, one from Ipswich in Queensland. And we traveled from all of our states to Sydney to Johannesburg, then to Lusaka and Zaia. It was like a 30 hour round

trip and we traveled we flew multiple flights on one plane that I think Allan, I thought, I think I might die on this plane.

We hop off, we go in a you know, bumpy six hour, four wheel drive drive on African bumpy roads to the most remote, like when [00:32:00] you're helping people in poverty and disadvantage. It's not near the local like city airport super far. And then we get out of the van and it was just intense. I don't know.

Have you been to Africa, Allan?

Okay, man, they can sing, they can dance, they have a soul. And I remember hopping out of the van and just being overwhelmed. They're singing, celebrating that we had come to visit. I was telling myself, do not cry there. And I would just remember thinking, wow, look what our business had been able to do.

It was so easy for all of us to sponsor children. Like a van brought in $25,000 of income a month to a business owner and to sponsor a child for $48. It just, it's like, we can do this. But then when you are there and you see the impact. So I was seeing the transformation that was happening in this poverty and disadvantage, but equally, I was seeing the transformation in the lives of the business owners that had lent into generosity [00:33:00] and they were seeing the power of what their business had done.

And since now joining Pro Purpose and just multiplying that impact, I'm seeing other businesses come, we help Them build a pledge and just them being connected to something really meaningful, it's a game changer, and it starts to give them. A reason for, okay, I'm inspired to grow my business 'cause I can see the impact it's having, it becomes meaningful for the owner and, you know, you can inspire your team around it and you can influence your customers when, 'cause you know, there's so many stats that show that the brands that will thrive in the future are those that have a purpose beyond profit.

Like, purpose driven brands grow 30% faster. Gen Z and millennials. The second most important factor for them when they're wanting to work with a business is, does this business have a purpose beyond profit? Is it making an impact on the world? There's so many stats around customers championing brands that have a purpose beyond profit

Allan: [00:34:00] I've not done a lot with the philanthropy and giving and you know, it's just something that hasn't been front of mind and it's something I'd wanna do more of. How did you choose a like, did you choose just an organization that was already set up and helping people in Zambia, or did you set something up yourself?

Like how how did you go about like, first of all, selecting something and then why did you choose something in Zambia versus say something locally or something in the Asia Pacific region

Alana: Yeah. Great. Well, literally it was just an idea. I thought, I wanna do one van, one child, and because you know, as business owners, we can be passionate about wanting to create an impact, but creating impact is a whole nother business. And so, as we know in business, the power of a strong business is in relationships and partnerships.

So it's about partnering with the best. You know, in Australia there's 37,000 charities, but who do you partner with? Who do you trust? And that's why it's so important to be in strong partnership with vetted, trusted charity partners. When we started, we chose to partner with World Vision and we [00:35:00] partnered with them for 12 years and we still do, it's still one of our projects.

But it really is important. So there's so much that goes into trusting who you partner with. So it's being across their financials, governance, seeing the tangible impact that's being made. There's a lot to it so that, you know, as a business leader, if we are going to be generous with our finances, is it actually translating into impact?

Because you know, when you think in business, you want return on investment, I like to talk about return on impact. If we are going to give a donation, is it actually going to transform lives? So, you know, for Pro Purpose, we're all about collective impact. All of us doing a little bit to transform lives.

And that's the thing if you're going to give a donation, you're gonna be generous. Is something shifting? Is something changing? Are we seeing lasting generational change? And the way you do that is not a handout, but a hand up. How do you equip and empower people so that, because often people in poverty and disadvantage, it's a generational cycle, or it could [00:36:00] be just the fact of the country that they were born in.

So, you know, we started with child sponsorship. We literally spoke with our trusted partner. And this is where relationship comes in. And we said, where is the need? You tell us, you know, sometimes as business leaders we can come in and we can go, we wanna have create, we wanna have social impact, but we can come with all our ideals and, and what we think.

But sometimes, to be honest, we have no idea. That's why partner with amazing charities and it's this partnership we like to talk about as a profit for purpose partnership. How do we do this so that we can really move the needle? And so, you know, we started in Zambia. That's where then there was need. But as we started to build out Pro Purpose, we knew that businesses, small and medium businesses would wanna have impact in Australia and across the globe.

So we just chose a variety of projects so that when businesses come, they know everyone we are partnering with. We are trusting them. We're across all their governance, we're across all their financials. We're actually in [00:37:00] relationship. And I think that's the thing why so many businesses, sometimes giving back charity doesn't, can be on the back burner sometimes and it can sometimes become more transactional.

Whereas we believe that what really works is how do we embed intentional generosity into our businesses in a way that's meaningful. It's done in partnership. It's deeply rooted and aligned with our values as a business, and it's gonna look different for everyone. Some people are gonna wanna do homelessness in Australia.

Some people are gonna wanna help people start their own businesses in Indonesia as their pathway out of poverty. Some people have a heart for children, and so they want to do education in Uganda. There might be something for moms. It could be First Nations Youth in Australia. And so I guess that's why for us, and I've been so passionate, I've seen how it transformed our business.

And I believe there's just so many, you know, small and medium businesses in Australia that wanna do the same, but they just don't know where to start.

Allan: Yeah

Alana: And that's why we're like, how do we make it easy and simple for businesses [00:38:00] to give with purpose?

Allan: And so is that what Pro Purpose is? It's like, hey, these are the 10 or 20 or whatever vetted charities and you can choose whether you wanna work with children or people homeless locally or whatever. We've done the review of their governance, their financials. We know that most of the money goes to the cause and actually has an impact.

Is that how?

Alana: yep. Yeah that's part of it. So we have a full framework of how we make giving with purpose easy for businesses. First and foremost, Pro Purpose is a movement. It's a movement of a business community. How many Australian SMEs can we get together and create this movement and this revolution in generosity of how we've embedded it in?

So first and foremost a movement, but secondary, we have a framework to support. So it's very easy for businesses to join the movement and embed generosity in. So we help a business uncover their purpose 'cause that's actually the first place you need to start, is that. So it doesn't become transactional charity.

And so that your team can understand why are we supporting this? Or your customer's [00:39:00] like, okay, so why are you supporting that? Because people get quite opinionated when you start to talk about charity and impact. They're like, oh, you should, you know, if you did overseas, people will be opinionated. You should do local.

Or if you do local, people think you should do overseas. And so it needs to be firmly grounded in your purpose because when you know what your purpose is and then you align it with a project that aligns with your purpose, then it makes it very easy and clear to articulate as a business leader so that there's no room for people to get all judgy.

And I mean, people are still gonna judge, but at least you're confident going no, this is our purpose and this is how this aligns. And so we help a business build a pledge uncover their purpose, build a pledge, connect it to one of our trusted charities. We have like a, pledge calculator where businesses can put in data and it spits out like what's a financially sustainable pledge?

'cause sometimes it's not about big random ad hoc, large donations in one moment it's like, how do we weave this in business as usual every month that you almost don't even notice [00:40:00] it, but you can look back and go, wow, look at what we did. And so, we help a business build what we call their purpose pledge.

We track their impact. So each for-purpose partner has an impact tracker. So if you chose to do clean water, you could see on your impact tracker, oh, we are up to providing water for this many people. So the impact track is a huge piece, and that's where it's about partnering with trusted charities where we can actually see and touch and feel the tangible impact.

So all of our partners have an impact tracker so they can see what they're doing so that they can then share their impact story. And so, our framework provides a portal access for all of our partners to go in and grab all the ready to use templates and tools so they can share their impact story in a way that's credible, that's not, look at me, aren't we great?

But done in a really tasteful way that highlights and markets your brand really well. But from a values led position. So we help our [00:41:00] businesses do that. And then the best part, I think is being part of the Pro Purpose community because there's this sense that I'm doing my small bit, but together you're like, wow, look what Australia's SMEs can do.

This is brilliant. And so the government actually wants to double philanthropy. So giving back, they wanna double it by 2030. And they've said that a lot of charity or giving back has sometimes there's a lot of high net worth individuals like you think of the Bill Gates of the world, et cetera, but really we see this sweet spot right now where there's this potential.

Do you know in Australia, Australian businesses, 99.8 are small and medium businesses. 97% are small. And small means one to 19 employees or up to, 10 mil in revenue, 97% of us, and so often we think can't do anything, but we can all do something small and if we embed it in, and that's why we talk about this being a movement.

Allan: And what [00:42:00] are your thoughts around, okay, we're gonna, we're gonna find an existing charity that, that we'll support, that aligns with our values and all of that, versus just doing something directly. Like for example, like I've seen some businesses will run like a monthly day where local disaffected youth come in, someone comes to mentor them and all of that.

And so, that's a much more hands-on approach where you're actually just directly impacting people versus say, Hey, I'm just gonna choose this charity. We're gonna donate wells in

Alana: Yeah. I'm such an advocate for generosity. I think do it all. You know, generosity can come in time, treasure, or talent. Time, as a business leader, you may have time and capacity just to invest into someone and just time's huge. That's a huge resource to be generous with.

And talent, sometimes you might just be really gifted as a business leader in a certain skill or whatever, and you're like, I can help someone with that. And treasure, it's like finances. And so I think as a business [00:43:00] leader, if you can be intentionally generous with your time, treasure, and talent, you'll be so fulfilled.

You know, there's such, what I love about generosity is the giving and receiving nature of it is that, you know, when you are generous to someone, yes, that person on the receiving end will be totally blessed, but at the same time you're like, this is awesome. So I would say do it all with what you have in your hand.

And sometimes people think, I can't afford to be generous. And often that might just come to a sense of lack. And just fear often, well, if I give of my time, I don't think I'm gonna have enough. Or if I give of my finance, I don't know if I'm gonna have enough. And also I think sometimes people sometimes think they can't be generous 'cause perhaps they just don't, haven't yet unlocked their purpose in just, oh no, this is what I'm on this earth to do.

And I think we all just have this sense of when we help others. It's just helping others and it comes in so many different forms. So I think for those that you wanna go and be more hands-on, I think there's ways you can be hands-on as well [00:44:00] with you know, in the nonprofit sector, that's their gift.

Like they very much know where the need is and ways to help. And so I think just partnering with amazing charities, 'cause it could be in your talent or it could be in your time, doesn't always have to be money. But then of course, do homegrown stuff as well. I think do it all.

Allan: That's great. That's great. Well, Alana, it's been fascinating talking to you. So talking entrepreneurship, talking business growth and talking philanthropy. Of course. So we don't often have people talking philanthropy and sort of, you know, going beyond what hap what happens when you scale, when you built a great business?

What's next? You know, we talk a lot about, hey, having a, an amazing lifestyle as an entrepreneur and all of that. And that's super important. I think you've gotta take care of yourself and your family and your immediate community first, and then think about, okay, well what's next? Who else can I impact and how else can I have a bigger impact on the world?

Alana: Yeah, I love that. And I think sometimes we can fall into that trap where we [00:45:00] think, oh, when I get to that stage of business or that stage of life, or then I can be generous, or then I can do that. But our story is one that has totally reflected how you can do it at any stage. We have partners that join us now that literally start their business with a pledge in place.

And generosity fuels growth. We know specifically that generosity fueled our growth from a startup to a $65 million brand. And that was generosity in all its forms and it really does transform your business and your life. And I just love this end mentality. You can still have great holidays and beautiful houses and beautiful cars, but also, you know, be generous to others and help where we can.

Allan: I love that. And that's so true. I've heard it said, and I've definitely experienced that, that money just amplifies who you are, right? So if you are, if you're generous at a small scale, you'll be generous at a larger scale. And a lot of people do fake themselves out saying, Hey, when I get to this level, that's when I'll start giving, or, and.

And it always sort of [00:46:00] ratchets up and up. So,

Alana: Yeah, it's such a trap. I remember this quote where it says, the world of the generous gets larger and larger, but the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. And often we can find ourselves in that trap where we think, oh, I don't know if I'm gonna have enough. And we become like this dam where we dam up our resources, where I believe that there's this invitation for all of us to be more like this river approach where it's like what comes in, goes out, what comes in, goes out.

And our life story and business story has been one of that where it's just grown beyond our wildest imaginations. Like at 19 and 22, we had no idea that we would be stewarding the business that we do today, but it literally has been because we chose to be generous to inspire our team, generous to encourage our team generous, to give them opportunities when yes it would've been more better for the bottom line if we just did it all. But when you're just generous in all its form, generosity can even look like just saying an encouraging word to someone [00:47:00] because you've walked past them. And you know, often as business owners, we can be on a mission, but not with much margin and just walk through past our team and we can see it.

But we didn't stop to say, how are you? That's actually generosity. Is that

Allan: Love it. Love it. Well, thank you Alana that's, it's been such a pleasure talking to you and really, hearing your story and yeah, you've definitely got me thinking for sure.

Alana: Oh, awesome. Thanks, Al

Allan: Thanks for tuning in to the Lean Marketing Podcast. This podcast is sponsored by the Lean Marketing Accelerator. Wanna take control of your marketing and see real results with the Accelerator. You get proven strategies, tools, and personalized support to scale your business. Visit lean marketing.com/accelerator to learn how we can help you get bigger results with less marketing.

And if you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review or share it with someone who would find it helpful. See you next [00:48:00] time.

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