CHIRON! THE BUSINESS DOCTOR.™ … here’s everything you need to know about how he helps clients, as explained by his alter ego, Graham Segal
Hello. You are at the reception desk of Chiron! the business doctor’s™ clinic. Let me warmly welcome you here. In this webpage clinic, I will set out some information and advice concerning the services that I have developed over many years in conjunction with small and mid-size business owners like you. Within that context, I will also explain how you can access these services.
At the outset, I must stress that the sole, the only, purpose of my services to clients like you is to improve your company’s profitability.
Warning. This is an information-rich webpage. It outlines the services I provide to clients. You may find this information to be important when deciding who is best able to help you get your business performing at a higher level or best able to help you expand. Consequently, please expect a long read.
For convenience, you can use this table of contents to look at specific items, if you don’t want to read down sequentially.
Chiron! the business doctor.™ as your company GP
My work for clients is analogous to the work of a respected family General Practitioner looking after his or her patients on a long-term basis. That is, when you become a client, I will initially assess your company’s five vital economic health signs, diagnose the symptoms adversely affecting your company’s commercial activities or holding back your business expansion and then prescribe a suitable course of action as the treatment to improve your company’s performance, which is the public view of your company’s business health.
Relationship between people health and company health. Although I have used this analogy for a long time to illustrate my work, I am now indebted to Susanne Goldstein, a problem solver, storyteller and a business doctor in her own right who can be found at www.susannegoldstein.com for very ably and succinctly making my work more easily understood. I have used some of Suzanne’s writings as the basis for my comments about the relationship between people health and company health.
SMBs power the Australian economy. Let me begin by saying that I fully understand that the success of the small and midsize business sector powers the engine that drives the Australian national economy. This is the business sector of great entrepreneurial spirit, pro-active business development and significant job creation. The importance therefore of healthy businesses to the Australian economy is paramount.
Let’s put that in a practical context.
Let’s look at people. There is a simple analogy here. Healthy people exercise, brush their teeth and eat right. They get enough sleep, try to reduce stress in their lives and check-in periodically with their General Practitioner to make sure their fluids are in check and topped up and their gears are still meshing as they are supposed to. Of course, where a healthy person becomes less healthy, even unwell, they have a doctor in place where they can get help immediately.
Now let’s look at companies. It’s exactly the same for businesses. Businesses, like people, need to maintain their economic health. They need a business doctor to monitor their five vital economic health signs on a regular basis and suggest remedial action when things are not quite right. The five vital economic health signs are
- cash flow,
- productivity,
- international competitiveness,
- profitability, and
- shareholder value.
Company health is no different to people health. From the perspective of business owners like you, this is no different to real life biological health. No one wants to find out too late that an inoperable cancer has taken hold and the prognosis is imminent death. Similarly, no business owner wants to turn up for work only to discover that his or her business is in a serious distress situation that could be fatal.
What I am leading to is this. Keeping a business healthy isn’t that different from keeping a body healthy. As your friendly business doctor, I can monitor your five vital economic health signs and recommend remedial action when and where necessary.
You must check me out
While you are visiting my site, make sure you spend a couple of minutes checking my background at page Meet Graham: Chiron’s Helmsman. From the information in this page, you will realise that I help my clients to not only seek equity capital but also to improve their business operations and business performance in other ways. When you check me out below, you will see that I offer my clients a high-level value-added service. After all, that’s what I am here for: to help clients just like you.
A bit about me. Before I start however, I need to explain a little bit about me because it’s important that you know who you are dealing with.
I am fiercely independent. At the outset, I would like to make it quite clear that I am not associated in any way with any of the now prevalent franchise-based business consultancy or coaching chains that tend to pigeonhole companies’ commercial operations through the application of generic computer software programs. The business help that I provide to you starts from the simple premise where, on a confidential basis, you tell me what your present situation is and where you would like your company to be at some defined point in the future.
Core issue boundaries. Those two answers then set the core issue boundaries for my work with you. My work with clients therefore is unique to each client because each client is different, with different needs and different circumstances. Importantly, the help I give is always one-to-one with you.
Services. Getting back to basics, I have a range of functional activities that clients find useful. You may them useful also. These activities all have one thing in common. They all focus exclusively on helping you to make your business more profitable.
Here’s how I help. You can identify the ways and means through which I can help you from your own responses to some questions that I pose below. From these questions and my associated brief comments, you will very quickly get a handle on where I am coming from to help you. As you answer the questions in your mind, you may suddenly realise that you could use some help to improve your business performance in one way or another. So when that happens, why not call me confidentially and without any obligation on 61 (0) 0405 702 544 for a quiet chat.
OK, the formalities are over, let’s get down to business …
Growing Your Business: accessing investment funds for business expansion
Business expansion equals spending money. Are you short of funds to expand your business into new products, new services or new markets? Are you are an Entrepreneur looking for venture capital to start up and commercialise a potentially profitable business venture?
Have you seriously considered equity capital? Equity capital is valuable because you don’t need to repay it and it doesn’t attract any interest payments. Equity capital therefore is particularly useful in funding substantial expansion projects. As you probably know, the Australian Corporations Act makes it illegal for individuals or companies to raise equity capital funds directly from the public without the publication of an expensive prospectus or product disclosure statement that must be first registered with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).
The Chiron! the business doctor.™ exemption. Under ASIC Class Order 02/273, which is a set of official government regulations that govern my equity raising activities on behalf of clients, I have a personal exemption from that requirement. This personal exemption permits me to publish a formal Offer Information Statement (called a Class Order Compliant Document – COCOD for short) on your behalf to help you to raise equity capital funds without breaking the law. Importantly therefore, I provide you with three crucial imperatives:
- the ability to raise the equity capital funds you need,
- the appropriate framework to raise the equity capital funds you need without breaking any laws, religious or Corporations Act, and
- the opportunity to raise the equity capital funds you need at modest cost; that is, without you incurring the high costs associated with the preparation of an expensive prospectus or product disclosure statement, the total cost of which can easily exceed $AUD 100,000.
The Chiron! the business doctor.™ advantage. When you see the advantage of working with me to help you raise equity capital, it doesn’t matter Whether your company is shari’ah-based or a company that follows the usual Australian financial and accounting guidelines. The process to raise equity capital is the same and does not breach shari’ah law or Australian Corporations law.
If you would you like to learn more about how I go about helping you to grow your business by using equity capital, and why wouldn’t you, please follow this link to my webpage Equity Capital Powers SMB Growth.
Here’s a shameless plug. I recently published my eBook about raising equity capital with the self-explanatory title: The Venture Capital MasterClass: everything you always wanted to know about raising capital … but until now, you had no one to ask. Copies can be purchased through this link for $AUD 49.50. The eBook contains 350 pages so at about $0.14 cents per page, it’s pretty good value when the information could potentially make you thousands if not more! What’s more, once a first copy is purchased, additional copies can be purchased for up to 9
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Managing for survival in tough times: if your business is in distress, cash flow is king, focus on it – nothing else matters
When disaster strikes! What do you do if you suddenly discover that your business is in trouble or distress? Do you have a Plan B, a response plan in place for such an emergency? Are you aware that you have very little time to respond to an emergency like this and any delay can be fatal? If your business becomes distressed, you need help; and you need it fast. My flexibility as a sole-proprietor permits me to respond to emergencies quickly.
Managing for survival. Managing for survival in tough times is one of the things I do to help distressed companies. If your business becomes distressed, it faces the toughest of times; make no bones about it. Survival management (also called turnaround management) is my one service activity for which I sincerely hope I never see you as a client! Managing for survival in tough times involves a two-stage survival management strategy: company resuscitation followed by company resurrection. I explain this in my webpage Saving Distressed Companies. If you ever need my services as your turnaround manager to implement a survival and recovery program, and let’s hope that never happens, then I am only a phone call away on 61 (0) 0405 702 544.
If you would like to learn more about how I can help you if your company becomes troubled or distressed, and why wouldn’t you, just follow this link to my webpage Saving Distressed Companies.
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Crisis Management: crises can be fatal! so be warned! be alarmed! but most of all, be prepared!
Beware the crisis! Have you faced a crisis without having earlier prepared a proven crisis management plan? Are you aware that crises almost always strike without warning? Are you aware that a crisis can fatally wound your company? Are you aware that a crisis that is mismanaged can, in a flash, completely undo your company’s years of business prosperity, success, community goodwill and public image?
Crisis management. Crisis management is a crucial subject that does not get the degree of attention that it deserves. From the perspective of companies like yours, a crisis is the arrival, generally unexpected, of a set of circumstances that, if not addressed promptly, has the capacity to inflict a fatal wound. Consequently, crisis management is about the steps that a company must take to resolve crises and mitigate the damage that crises inflict.
Crises don’t discriminate! On the balance of probabilities, most companies, yours included, will undoubtedly face a serious crisis at some stage. The crisis will inevitably occur without warning and it is this element of surprise that makes crises so difficult to predict and difficult to manage.
Crises are unpredictable! While you cannot predict when a crisis will happen, you can take proactive action to control and mitigate its adverse effects. You must implement a crisis management strategy for your company that focuses on the protection of your company’s prosperity, success, public image and goodwill; as well as ensuring the protection of your shareholders, staff, customers and suppliers.
If you would you like to learn more about how I can help you to develop and implement a crisis management plan, and why wouldn’t you, please follow this link to my webpage Are You Crisis Ready.
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Email, SMS, LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, laptop & notebook computers, smart phones & tablet devices: are they useful tools or dangerous hazards?
Here’s a thought-provoker for you: Is email and your other electronic communications systems and equipment beneficial to your company or a risky, dangerous hazard secretly concealing a grave danger to your company’s long-term future? Are you aware of the two business realities facing you here? Take email as the generic example. The first reality is that when you permit your employees to access your email system, you put your company’s assets, future and reputation at risk. The second reality is that for your own protection and the protection of your company, you must control this risk.
This is a difficult subject. Implementing a policy for the control of your company’s electronic communications is a difficult but important subject that is often unseen, overlooked or simply ignored. Electronic communications are now ubiquitous, which is a fancy way of saying that they are simply everywhere, you can’t escape them. Electronic communications however, create very sensitive issues that direct relate to the control of your electronic communications.
Why am I raising this issue? The answer is quite simple. Control of electronic communications is much more than simply preventing employees sending rude jokes, or harassing staff with sexually suggestive messages or pictures or being offensive and discriminatory in other ways. Unfortunately, most companies today focus on those obvious forms of abuse and miss the broader scope of the business risks involved and the associated legal liability. That legal liability can include vicarious liability for your employees’ actions, whether intentional or accidental.
You cannot ignore that legal liability. When you permit your employees to access your electronic communications systems and equipment, you put your company’s assets, future and reputation at risk. The accidental misuse and the intentional abuse of electronic communications systems and equipment by employees can, and too often does, create very expensive headaches for companies.
If you would like to learn more about how I can help you to prepare and implement a control system for your company’s electronic communications, and why wouldn’t you, please follow this link to my webpage Social Media: friend or foe?
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Improving Your Business Operational Performance: boost your bottom line – uncover hidden profits and untapped profits
Review your company’s performance. Are you concerned or worried that your business is not performing as well as you would like? Do you consider that your company’s present performance is below par? Do you feel in your heart that you should be doing better, even though your business performance appears to be adequate? Have you recently had two consecutive quarters where your sales have declined either across-the-board or in key product or service areas without any commensurate decline in your operating costs? Do you want to unlock hidden profits or unlock untapped profits that may be reducing your profitability and shareholder value?
Review your company’s five vital health signs. Through use of my trademarked Chiron ‘Business Health MRI Scan’™ protocols – a self-developed proprietary analysis technique, not a computer program – I can assess your company’s five vital economic health signs (viz., cash flow, productivity, international competitiveness, profitability and shareholder value). Importantly, this technique can only be applied with your personal involvement; it is not some esoteric program that is applied independently from you.
Chiron! the business doctor.™: your company GP. The Chiron ‘Business Health MRI Scan’™ permits me to look after your company in the same way that a respected family GP looks after his or her patients’ health. I go through a process of assessment and diagnosis, which leads to the prescription of a treatment to bring your business to its optimum level of business health. The major sidebar element in this process of course is that this process will usually find hidden profits and untapped profits, which will obviously have a beneficial effect on your bottom line.
If you would like to learn more about how I can help you to improve your company’s commercial operations, and why wouldn’t you, please follow this link to my webpage Chiron’s Profit Revival Program.
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Pricing Management: Do you use price to target specific results?
Analyse your pricing. Do you know if your pricing policy is helping or hindering your company’s profitability? Do you price for lots of sales or do you price for lots of profit? Do you have a written pricing policy that takes into account all the factors (internal and external) that can influence your prices?
Pricing: the heart of business success. Nothing influences your bottom line as much as the prices for which you sell your products and services. Moreover, your prices also influence the public perception of your company and its’ products and services. The reality of pricing therefore is that it lies at the very heart of business success, which makes it the most sensitive, contentious and controversial subject facing business owners.
Pricing is difficult. Whether you are a multinational corporation or a self-employed small businessperson like me, the inescapable fact is that you have to set the prices at which you sell your products or services for enough profit to remain in business for the long term. There is no doubt therefore, that the task of setting prices is difficult. The pitfalls in the process can damage your company. There is no doubt that those charged with the complex task of setting your prices must have nerve, guts, audacity and daring. After all, their pricing decisions profoundly affect the future of your company.
Pricing is sensitive. I understand the sensitivity involved in setting prices. I understand that the process of setting prices is complex. I understand that there are associated factors in setting prices that are beyond your control, such as actions by your suppliers and competitors. I understand that your company’s long-term future depends upon your ability to manage your prices.
If you would like to learn more about how I can help you set prices to more effectively achieve your profitability objectives, and why wouldn’t you, please follow this link to my webpage Pricing for Profitability.
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People Management: there are no experts in industrial relations, only survivors
People management is difficult. Are you getting the best out of your employees? Are they as productive as they should be? Do you feel that the industrial relations policies of your industry association are not reflective of your personal views on the best way to manage your employees? Would you like to have an alternative or independent source of industrial relations advice?
Second opinions are valuable. Over the past three decades, I have helped many companies like yours to solve their people management difficulties through the application of commonsense solutions to the issues involved. During this period, I held senior management positions that provided me with a high degree of expertise in industrial relations in Australia and Malaysia. You can call upon that expertise to help your company.
If you would like to learn more about how I can help you with your people management, and why wouldn’t you, please follow this link to my webpage People Management.
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Is writing letters in English difficult for you? Why not outsource your English language tasks to my Business English Drafting and Editing Service?
English is the international language of business. In many companies, particularly those in countries that do not use English as the language of daily use, company directors and senior managers often have difficulty writing business letters, reports, tender bids, submissions to government, project proposals, annual reports, webpages, newsletters and advertisements in good business English. I offer a reliable, confidential, anonymous and trustworthy business English drafting and editing service at modest cost.
If you would like to learn more about how I can help you to write effective business documents in English, and why wouldn’t you, please follow this link to my webpage Need Help Writing in English?
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Chiron! the business doctor.™: your team’s 12th man!
Your 12th man. Are you beginning to see how you can benefit from my help? You can actually use my help to support many aspects of your business operations. In that regard, why don’t you think of me as a useful partner in your company’s growth? Even if it is just to have a chat about some problem or difficulty that is troubling you, I am only a telephone call away; and I would be delighted to help you out where I can.
Everyday communications are free. By the way, unlike solicitors and accountants, when you retain me for assignment work, I will never charge you for telephone calls, emails and the like that are necessary because you need some urgent practical advice.
Mix & Match Chiron! the business doctor’s™ functional activities
Flexibility is the key element. In order to help your company to the highest degree possible, I must point out that you do not to have to talk with me about any of the above functional activities on a one-by-one basis. You can mix and match the various functional activities that I provide to help your company in the most useful way. For example, you could request me to help you to raise a substantial amount of equity capital to fund your business expansion plans, and concurrently, you could subscribe to my people management service. The extent of my involvement in helping your company is entirely up to you.
A Personal Invitation for a Free Telephone Consultation
Confidentiality guaranteed, no-obligation incurred. With absolutely no obligation or commitment on your part, please accept this personal invitation for you to privately and confidentially discuss with me any business expansion proposals you may presently be considering for your business. Alternatively, you may simply wish to discuss some niggling business management or business planning issues you may be facing at the moment. You never know, but I just may be able to help you. You can call me by phone on 61 405 702 644 or Skype at graham.segal1. If a phone call is inconvenient, you may prefer to email me at graham.segal@chironthebusinessdoctor.com. I welcome all your questions, comments and feedback and I will reply to you.
By the way, don’t forget to sign up to receive my blogs, white papers and other helpful material for Business Owners that I distribute from time to time.
Thanks again for visiting my website. Just to reiterate my core functions, if you are a shari’ah-based company that needs equity capital to fund some expansion plans, please feel free to visit my webpage the First Australian Islamic Finance Capital Raising Board Equity Offers. If you are a conventional company that complies with the usual Australian financial standards and guidelines, then you should visit webpage Australian SMB Equity Offers.
Yours sincerely, Chiron! the business doctor.™ ... relieves business pain!™ Contact Information:
© Graham Segal, Author. March 2013. All Rights Reserved Creative Commons Licence:
This website and the associated webpages content are produced by Graham Segal trading as Chiron! the business doctor.™. They are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License based on Graham's work at https://chironthebusinessdoctor.com.
Graham Segal
Date This Page Was Last Reviewed/Updated: 4 May 2013