Free · 90 minutes · One-to-one
Your business, scored honestly, in ninety minutes.
Six areas of your business, scored out loud with you. Not a sales pitch with a form attached: a diagnosis, including the parts we cannot help with.
Example scorecard
31 / 60
- Strategy & Mindset4/10
- Sales & Marketing3/10
- Customer Experience7/10
- Operations & Admin6/10
- People & HR5/10
- Finance & Numbers6/10
- minutes of pre-work, on your own
- 20minutes of pre-work, on your own
- minutes together, one-to-one
- 90minutes together, one-to-one
- areas scored out of ten
- 6areas scored out of ten
- constraints named, in order
- 3constraints named, in order
- plus a follow-up call two weeks later
- $0plus a follow-up call two weeks later
What it is
A diagnosis, before anybody talks about coaching
You already know something is not right. What is harder is naming which thing to fix first, and in what order, because sequence matters more than effort.
You do about twenty minutes of pre-work. Then we sit down for ninety minutes and score six areas of your business together, out loud, with the reasons for every score. No questionnaire emailed back a week later.
If an area scores low because of something outside what we do, you will hear that, along with who can help. You keep the one-page summary either way. Take it to your accountant.
“A health check that always concludes you need my coaching is not a health check.”
The six areas
Every small business has the same six areas
Nobody is good at all six, and nobody needs to be. Each is scored out of ten, against questions like these.
Scored out of 10
Strategy & Mindset
Where the business is going, and how the big decisions actually get made.
- Can you say in one sentence what you do, and who for?
- Is there a written goal for the next twelve months with a number attached?
- When did you last spend time on the business rather than in it?
Scored out of 10
Sales & Marketing
How work is won, followed up, and priced.
- Do you know where your last ten customers came from?
- What happens to a quote that has not been accepted after a week?
- When did your prices last move?
Scored out of 10
Customer Experience
What it is like to buy from you, and whether people come back.
- How quickly does a new enquiry hear back from you?
- Do you ask for reviews and referrals, or wait for them?
- What do customers complain about most, and has it changed?
Scored out of 10
Operations & Admin
The systems, tools and processes that decide whether the business runs without you.
- Which jobs only happen because you personally do them?
- Are your core processes written down anywhere someone else could follow?
- How many hours a week go on admin a tool could do?
Scored out of 10
People & HR
Who does what, how they are led, and whether they could step up.
- Does everyone know what they own, and what good looks like?
- Is there someone you should have moved on last year?
- Who could run the business for a fortnight if you were away?
Scored out of 10
Finance & Numbers
Cash, margin, and whether you are looking at the right numbers often enough.
- Do you know your gross margin by service or product?
- How many weeks of costs could you cover from cash today?
- When did you last sit down with your accountant looking forward, not back?
How it runs
Twenty minutes of prep, ninety together, then a follow-up
- 01
Before · 20 min
Eight questions, on your own
What the business does and who for, roughly what you turn over, how many people, how many hours you work, the task you would stop tomorrow, and what made you book.
- 02
The session · 90 min
We score the six areas together
About fifteen minutes each, scored out loud with the reasons why. Bring last quarter’s numbers if you are comfortable. No copies are kept.
- 03
At the end
Three constraints, in order
Not always lowest score first. You do not fix marketing in a business that cannot deliver, or delivery in a business with no cash.
- 04
Two weeks later
A thirty-minute follow-up call
Did anything change? What got stuck? No obligation attached, and no email sequence chasing you afterwards.
- 05
Ninety days
Re-score, if you want to
Six lines side by side with the first set. The only honest measure of whether anything is working.
Reading the score
Your business, out of sixty
The total matters far less than which two areas are lowest, and whether they move in ninety days. A 34 out of 60 is not a failing business. It is a normal one with two things worth fixing.
Solid
The business works. What is usually missing is the owner getting out of it. Look hard at Operations and Strategy.
Working, but held together by you
Where most Australian small businesses sit. One or two areas drag the rest down, and fixing them in sequence is very doable.
Under real strain
Do not try to fix everything. One area, ninety days, then re-score.
Stop and get the right help
If cash is the problem, that is an accountant or a restructuring adviser before it is a coach. You will hear that plainly.
Before we start
Honest about what we are not
Some of what you need is free, and it is not ours. Where the answer is an existing free or low-cost service, that is what goes in your summary.
- Not professional advice. Coaching is educational and motivational support, not accounting, tax, legal or financial advice. No guaranteed outcomes.
- Confidential in both directions. Nothing from this conversation goes into a Growth Circle room unless you put it there.
Employment, awards and super
Fair Work Ombudsman, or an employment lawyer.
Tax, structure and GST
Your accountant. If you do not have one, that is the first thing to fix.
Serious cash trouble
A registered insolvency or restructuring adviser, early rather than late. The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) runs a free hub.
Digital and online setup
Digital Solutions through Realise Business: low-cost one-on-one advice for businesses under twenty staff.
If you are struggling personally
NewAccess for Small Business Owners, through Beyond Blue. Free, by phone or video, no GP referral needed.
Three steps, one scorecard
Where the Health Check fits
The six areas scored in the webinar workbook are the same six scored here, and the same six re-scored every quarter once coaching starts.
- 01
Free AI webinar
Ninety minutes, live on Zoom. See where AI saves an Australian small business time, and score your six areas in the workbook.
Register - 02You are here
Free Business Health Check
Ninety minutes, one-to-one. The same six areas scored properly, and the three things holding the business back, in order.
- 03
Coaching, if you want it
One-to-one or the Growth Circle. The same six areas, re-scored every quarter, so you can see whether it is working.
See the options
Common questions
Before you book
Is it really free?
What do I need to bring?
In person or online?
Will you try to sell me coaching at the end?
What if my business is too small, or too new?
How is this different from the discovery call?
Coaching is educational and motivational support. It is not accounting, tax, legal or financial advice, and it is no substitute for your accountant, bookkeeper or lawyer. No outcome is guaranteed.
Book your free Health Check
Ninety minutes, free, no obligation. You leave with six scores, three constraints in order, and a written page you keep.