Paddle Out stage

Assess the surf (marketplace) and negotiate the white-water (start-up hurdles) as you get ready to ride the business wave.

Before you can ride a wave it’s important that you can understand and negotiate the ocean; the same is true for starting a business. Your marketplace is like the ocean, you need to know and understand what’s going on and how to negotiate the hurdles to enter it.

When you’re first starting out in business there are lots of things you probably haven’t thought about. Most new business owners are excellent at what they’ve done previously as an employee but don’t always know the essentials of running a business.

Lemonade Beach can help you get the basics right. We start by spending time with you to truly understand what you want to achieve in your business and then use this information to recommend structures, software, systems and processes to get you on your way. We continue to build low-cost tools for early-stage businesses that can assist you to acquire and implement the right advice. 

However, we aren’t just about telling you what to do, we want to give you the knowledge to operate your business with confidence, so we will also spend time building your knowledge and skill set so that we can continue to have meaningful conversations that focus on moving your business forward.

Surf’s Up stage

You’re using all your skills to catch and ride waves, whilst the ride is exhilarating it’s also lots of work and you’re seeking the zen of the greenroom.

To be able to enter the greenroom you need to utilise all your skillset, including deciding which wave to pursue and which to let pass by. There’s constant decisions, assessment of conditions, and other wave riders. Only when everything comes together, with the perfect wave (strategy) do you have the opportunity to enter the zen of the greenroom.

As your small business grows it requires ongoing assessment of the marketplace, industry, opportunities and forming of strategy to bring all the components together. You’ve got some great basics in place and have built your business knowledge but you want more. This means different things to different people, however one item usually in common is that business owners want to start working “on the business”, not necessarily “in the business”. This is typically a high growth phase for businesses, which often is accompanied by issues such as finding and aligning staff with the business goals; financing capital investment; entering new markets and introducing new products or services.

Lemonade Beach assists by working with you to create and implement business strategy. We discuss key goals and break these down into more sizeable chunks, then break them down again and set some timelines and action steps to keep the business moving in the direction you want it to. We also establish KPIs that allow you (and us) to ascertain how your business is performing. However, what we DON’T do, is “set and forget”. It is important to us that we keep talking so that we know what the obstacles and opportunities are for your business and can help you navigate challenges that arise and be positioned well to take advantages of opportunities that come up.

Check out our Swell program to help you ride the business wave. 

One Last Wave stage

You’ve had an awesome day riding waves and you’re debating whether to ‘get one last one’ or call it a day.

There comes a time when the ride is over. Ideally this occurs at the discretion of the business owner. Perhaps you’re ready for retirement, passing the business to the next generation or selling and wanting to do it all over again with a new business idea.

When you reach this stage of your business journey it’s important to ensure that the business is operating efficiently and effectively without the need for your everyday involvement. Having systems and competent staff in place reduces the business’ reliance on you, creating a truly sellable business.

Lemonade Beach can assist here by helping to improve the value of your business and advising on exit strategies. When the time is right, we help you carry out and implement your exit plan with assistance on business valuations, preparing documents for potential purchasers, advising on tax minimisation on sale or assisting to transition the business to a successor such as family member or employee.