Category: Chairman’s Blog

When building a business, you encounter many challenges. From the ordinary growth stresses to extraordinary curveballs (like pandemics, for example). In those situations, most leaders will ask the advice of someone they trust – or someone who has been through a similar experience.
 
But do they listen to that advice and act on it?
 
The answer is: it depends. Studies show that when leaders pay for advice by hiring consultants or industry experts, they are more likely to follow it. But if the advice is freely given, they are less likely to trust it or see its value.
 
I think this is a mistake, and one that we all must try to avoid.
 
I’m both a giver and receiver of advice. When I started BigChange, I was lucky enough to be able to turn to family and peers for their take. They never led me astray. The only times in my career that I have made errors in judgement were as a result of paid advice. I once brought in a consultant and ignored my own instincts, making a mistake that I later had to rectify.
 
When I do my Shop Floor days, I meet BigChange customers out in the world. And while about a quarter of my time is spent talking about our technology platform, the other 75% is me giving free business advice – have you considered x or done y? I would never think of charging for my advice and it brings me real joy when something I’ve said helps a fellow business owner.
 
But I have noticed that when I meet organisations, and offer my advice for free, the response is somewhere between shock and disbelief. How could my advice be valuable if I’m giving it away for free? The culture of paid advice is pervasive.
 
There are a few reasons why leaders may choose to ignore free advice. Maybe we worry that they don’t understand the problem fully because we haven’t paid for their time to listen. Perhaps, we sometimes struggle to admit that we don’t know it all? If we take free advice, are we subconsciously admitting that someone who doesn’t even value the advice enough to charge for it knows more than we do? Whatever the psychology, it’s flawed.
 
So, the next time you need advice, be empirical about how to seek it. Speak to people with experience, or whose instincts you trust, and give them the opportunity to advise you – and benefit from all the warm-and-fuzzies that go along with helping a friend or fellow business owner. Don’t immediately go down the consultant route or presume that paid advice is best.
 
That’s my advice, take it or leave it.

Anyone can start a business, I truly believe that. But to be successful in business, you need one character trait above all others: assertiveness.

What is an assertive person?

Someone who is not afraid to go after what they want. They are confident and able to express themselves clearly to others. They do not take no for an answer. When they run into problems, they don’t give up, they keep trying to find solutions until they succeed.

Assertive people are never aggressive. They do not exaggerate their abilities – they admit that they can’t do everything. They are goal-orientated and don’t get distracted easily. They also favour logic over emotion – if you take things personally, you’re less likely to risk rejection.

At BigChange, we reward and value the assertiveness of our people. When colleagues take the initiative, or go the extra mile (when they could easily have clocked off for the day instead), we notice. That’s why we host our annual BigChange awards ceremony, celebrating those who give their all. Without people like these, organisations falter.

Most people could work on their assertiveness. We know when we should make that phone call, push back on that offer, say yes when we can’t be bothered, or think of a better deal. We all have that little voice inside our heads that pipes up with, ‘Well, you could…’ But many people choose to ignore that instinct and take the easy route.

Assertiveness is like a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it becomes. Ever had a day where you start smashing out all your tasks, and as each is finished, you become more creative and more forceful in resolving the next?

I have spent my whole life practicing – and now, I don’t hesitate. If a customer says they are about to sign with someone else, I refuse to lose, and keep trying to win that business. I don’t always follow the process – some rules are made to be broken – and will move heaven and earth to help a customer.

The ability to assert yourself is so powerful – one of the best things anyone could learn. According to this study by Harvard Business School, assertiveness is among the big five character traits that can benefit the entrepreneur.

I think it’s so important to feel that you have given your all in every situation, and to train yourself to learn from failures rather than to fear them. I know it’s easier for some than others – if you are shy or introverted, picking up the phone can seem like an impossible task. But we can all make small incremental improvements over time.

So, what actions should you take today? How could you be more assertive in work and in life. Make your move!

The heroes who help children on the margins

One of the things that I find most rewarding about building successful businesses is that success gives you the ability to give back.

Throughout my life, I have been honoured to support many incredible charities, individuals and organisations that help others, or protect our environment. Being able to offer time, money, contacts, or technology has brought me great joy. I would like to tell you about some of the amazing people that I’ve had the privilege to meet recently, as part of my travels as chairman of BigChange and founder of Port Growth Partners.

This week, I visited a faith school run by the tireless and compassionate Rabbi Avrohom Sugarman MBE. Haskel School in Gateshead welcomes children with additional needs from the local community and has been twice awarded an Outstanding rating by Ofsted. He was inspired to found the school by his son, who needed specialist provision.

Haskel School caters for pupils with Down Syndrome, ASD, and other rare genetic disorders. It also helps other mainstream schools to support their pupils with additional needs. It is a beacon of hope within the community for parents and young people alike, giving kids a first-class education and a bright future. 

I also want to talk about the work of Katie Parlett MBE, founder and CEO of Lighthouse Future’s Trust. Like many of the people who create organisations that help others, she too was inspired by her own experience. Her daughter has Retts syndrome and autism, and she felt that the mainstream education system wasn’t providing the support that she needed.

Lighthouse School opened its doors in 2012. It was the first Special Free School in the country, based in Leeds. She later started the Lighthouse Academy for 16–25-year-olds.

I have a personal connection to Lighthouse. My son Joseph has learning difficulties, but Lighthouse has helped him secure a supported apprenticeship at St James Hospital, working in building maintenance. It can be incredibly hard for young people with special needs to get a foothold in the workplace but being able to achieve some financial independence and work as part of a team is vital to their quality of life.

These two people are doing so much for our children and our society as a whole. It takes an extraordinary individual to change the world, despite many challenges, and both founders have done just that. I’m very proud that BigChange has partnered with Lighthouse to offer supported internships to three young people, to help kickstart their careers.

All employers need to do their bit to support the work of Lighthouse and Haskel. Just 16% of autistic adults manage to secure full-time paid employment, according to the Autism Society. But this is not by choice: 40% of autistic adults working part-time want to work more hours.

I’m hoping to do my bit to support both organisations in any way I can over the coming years. To find out more about their work, visit: haskel.org.uk and lighthousefuturestrust.org.uk

Some people dream of the day they can give up their day job and devote all their time to other pastimes, such as socialising or golf.

Not me, though.

I will never retire. At least, not while I still have energy and drive.  

I believe that work gives us purpose and that purpose is vital to a happy life. I love working and always have. I loved the single-minded journey to growing each of my businesses, and I also love the wonderful variety in my career today.  

I recently watched a speech by the great Warren Buffet where he talks about a woman named Rose Blumkin, the founder of Nebraska Furniture Mart. Rose started her business with just $2,500 in 1937. Berkshire Hathaway bought the business for $60m in 1983. She continued to work in the business until she was 103. I am so inspired by this!

Sadly, she died the year after she retired. And Rose isn’t unusual. Many studies show that mortality rates tend to spike soon after retirement. Weirdly, the earlier you retire, the less likely you are to live a long life .

The truth is that many people slow down when they retire. Despite their best intentions, they may lead more sedentary lives, spend more time alone, drink more alcohol or eat less healthily. These are all sweeping generalisations but it’s not hard for bad habits to take root when you don’t have to be up and working every day.

I feel energised when I’m out there, meeting customers and colleagues every day. The conversations stimulate my mind and it’s invigorating to live in a world where I can effect change and where my ideas come to life. I get a real thrill out of creating employment and helping my customers. It’s the best feeling in the world.

I know I’m very lucky to love my work. Some people are deeply unhappy in their careers, so retirement must seem like paradise. If that sounds like you, I would say this: life is short. If you’re not happy, find a way to get out and do something else.

My wife, Mandy, supports my desire to stave off retirement as long as possible. She wants us to have holidays together, but knows I’ll be much happier working. And she probably doesn’t want me getting under her feet all day at home!

I know that my career will evolve over the coming years. BigChange has a brilliant CEO so I am not responsible for the day-to-day operations any more. I’ve moved into a more strategic, consultative role – and I love it. I have also started to draw on my experience as an entrepreneur to guide other business owners. Helping them to reach their goals gives me a real kick – perhaps, 60 to 100 will be my “guidance years”.

I’ve heard of FIRE (financial independence, retire early). I’d like to start a different movement: WERN (work enjoyment, retire never). I’m a great believer in enjoying the life we are living right now, rather than hankering after retirement. If you’re desperate to retire, what changes could you make to improve your working life today?  

On 4th February, we will celebrate two years of partnership with our brilliant owner/investor, Great Hill Partners. That’s two incredible years of growth, innovation and success.

When I look back and see all that we have achieved together, I’m blown away.

Like many entrepreneurs, I had some preconceptions about private equity. I’d heard the horror stories: founders losing control and companies being pulled in the wrong direction. My experience couldn’t have been more different. We raised £75m to supercharge growth, valuing BigChange at £100m. Great Hill have always operated with integrity, with the best interests of the business at heart, and their support has surpassed all my expectations.

The deal has been a gamechanger for me, my colleagues, our customers, and our future.

Last year, I posted about our experience with Great Hill, one year in. Since then, we have continued to thrive. I want to thank Drew Loucks, Chris Busby, Greg Stewart, Ryan O’Malley, and Pablo Ramirez for all their support. I also want to thank our exceptional CEO Richard Warley, who was introduced to me by Great Hill. He’s added such value to the business and his leadership has been transformative as we enter this new chapter of growth.

Great Hill’s support over the past 12 months has been invaluable in two key areas: marketing and technology. Suaad Sait at GHP has been our point man on marketing. His experience helping fast-growth companies like Rackspace to grow has been such an eye-opener. He has helped create over $15 billion in value over the course of his three-decade career. We are extremely lucky to have him on board.

On the technology side, our non-executive director Mike Profit has brought a wealth of experience and advice. He’s been driving growth at US-headquartered start-ups and blue-chip companies for more than 25 years.

Over the past two years, BigChange has doubled in size. That recurring revenue growth has been accompanied with an increase in headcount to support that growth. Great Hill recognised that we had an opportunity to grow faster, and provided extra investment to support that growth. As we look to the future, we are well-capitalised and every team has the firepower it needs to grow and succeed.

Great Hill is opening an office in the UK as we speak. Drew and his family have relocated permanently. This is an incredible development for fast-growth firms across Europe. Every midmarket entrepreneur that wants to go places should speak to Great Hill.

“Great Hill has been investing in Europe over the last 20 years,” Drew tells me. “Given the amount of strong entrepreneurs like Martin, we felt that now was the time to put a more concerted effort to build more of those relationships.”

It will be exciting to watch Great Hill add value to even more businesses as they grow their presence here.

Happy dealiversary to BigChange and Great Hill. Here’s to many more years of success.

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”
 
The legendary boxer Muhammad Ali said these words back in 1978. They have always resonated with me: I am a great believer in giving back.
 
Throughout my career, I have always tried to carve out time to support charities, fellow business owners, and my local community. When you’re building a business and working every hour of the day, cramming more into your to-do list may sound like madness – but I have found these experiences to be rewarding, eye-opening, and life-affirming.
 
Many studies have found a strong link between giving and happiness. Whether we are spending money on others instead of ourselves or giving our time to those that need it, the results are undeniable: a marked increase in wellbeing. There’s even evidence showing that elderly people who help those around them tend to live longer
 
Over the past year, I have doubled down on my efforts to make a difference in my local community. I am now President of a Leeds Synagogue, and I’m supporting a their Kosher Bakery, which makes the most incredible speciality breads,  bagels, cakes and doughnuts. Juggling these roles around my chairmanship of BigChange isn’t always easy – I work most evenings and Sundays – but I love it.
 
As the founder of BigChange, I’m able to make a real difference to businesses like these. I created the platform to simplify and streamline processes, eliminate paper, and help organisations become more efficient, so it won’t surprise you that both the bakery and synagogue are now customers. 
 
BigChange is now so much more than a mobile workforce platform – it’s also a facilities management tool, a members management system, and a health and safety resource. The synagogue has around 2,000 members and BigChange has replaced five separate software packages with a single system. As you can imagine, maintaining such a large building can be challenging. With BigChange, we can be more proactive, creating a planned preventative maintenance schedule, which means we never reach breaking point.
 
I used to run a bakery business, and it’s been great to draw upon this experience to help the Street Lane Bakery. The bakery now uses BigChange technology to track its delivery van, find the most efficient routes and flag when customers get their bread, but it’s also handling rotas, finance, and health and safety in the bakery and shop, which is massive when you’re dealing with food hygiene. We do all this without using a single sheet of paper – previously, bits of paper were constantly passed back and forth.
 
I love using my experience as an entrepreneur to help others, and it’s so exhilarating watching the technology I created make such a difference to these charities. Right now, times are tough for many business owners, so if you have skills and resources that you can share, make the time. You won’t regret it.
  
 #community #entrepreneurs #technology

Season Greetings from all at BigChange.  As the year comes to a close, I hope that the holiday season brings you joy, peace, and time to relax with loved ones.

I am grateful to have such an engaged and supportive readership, and I look forward to continuing to bring you informative and thought-provoking content in the year ahead. Thank you for joining me on this journey, and I hope you enjoy reading my most popular blogs of the year.

I am excited to share the top-performing articles from the past year. These are the pieces that resonated most with my readers and generated the most engagement and discussion.

First on the list is We all deserve a chance. This post was all about the chronic shortage of opportunities for people with physical disabilities and learning difficulties. This received an overwhelming response from my audience. Next up is Don’t wall yourself off from your team. Most modern bosses are no longer found on the battlefield but in the boardroom – but the lessons from ancient times are as valuable today as they have ever been. You need to have a rapport with your team, and you need to spend time in the mix with your colleagues to stay close to the inner workings of your business. This is why I am such a fan of an open-plan workspace, where leaders sit beside colleagues, not in their own offices. And finally, No more empty desks sparked some interesting debates among my readers.

2022: a year of growth, energy, and customer obsession

As another year draws to a close, I’d like to reflect on all we have achieved here at BigChange. This year has surpassed all our forecasts – like many business leaders; we expected a difficult 12 months because of political upheaval and the sudden biting recession and cost of living crisis.

Despite these challenges, our team has outperformed our wildest expectations, our customers have thrived, and our ground-breaking technology has attracted many new businesses – large and small – into the fold. Our customer numbers are up, revenues are soaring, and we are moving ever closer to our ultimate ambition – to be a “unicorn” business and the global brand leader in our industry.

I look forward to continuing our relationship in the new year and working together to create even more success. Wishing you all the best. 

2022: a year of growth, energy, and customer obsession

As another year draws to a close, I’d like to reflect on all we have achieved here at BigChange. This year has surpassed all our forecasts – like many business leaders, we expected a difficult 12 months because of political upheaval and the sudden biting recession and cost of living crisis.

Despite these challenges, our team has out-performed our wildest expectations, our customers have thrived, and our ground-breaking technology has attracted many new businesses – large and small – into the fold. Our customer numbers are up, revenues are soaring, and we are moving ever closer to our ultimate ambition – to be a “unicorn” business, and the global brand leader in our industry.

Here’s an overview of our year to date.

The best in class

Our platform continues to outperform all our rivals and the proof is in our numbers: over the past year, new contract wins are up 40% on 2021, generating £33m in new business for BigChange.

We welcomed nearly 400 new customers this year, taking our total to 2,000. Across the globe, some 80,000 individuals use our technology day in and day out, which is an incredible achievement.

Our technology now supports every function within our customers’ organisations, and we logged 30m transactions in total over the past year, as companies created jobs and invoices, tracked vehicles and tools, logged time sheets and processed expenses. BigChange is truly the architecture underpinning business success: some £2bn-worth of invoices were delivered though our platform.

A diverse and thriving customer base

We built BigChange to be the partner of choice for companies of all sizes, across every industry. We are proud to say that we now boast customers across 60 sectors, from one-man bands to multinational enterprises.

This year alone, we have welcomed an impressive range of new clients, including: EFT Systems, which does everything from sprinklers and fire alarms to cyber security and CCTV; fleet installations specialist RS Connect; ventilations expert EnviroVent; RGE Services, which protects people and property through fire and electrical compliance; Edinmore Contracts, the building insurance and maintenance contractor; property repair specialist Merlin; Shenton Global, which has over 30 years’ experience in the supply, installation and maintenance of critical diesel power systems; Motivair Compressors; and Kaboodle, the  independent installer of white goods.

Helping our customer become more resilient

The beauty of BigChange is that we grow only when we help our customers become more successful: it’s a virtuous circle. This year, we have continued to drive efficiencies and cost savings across the board. DBS, a specialist in the repair and maintenance of petroleum forecourt structures and retail sites, has boosted operational productivity by 20%. J W Hinchliffe (Tanks), a specialist in fuel tank services, has boosted its annual turnover by 35% following the introduction of a BigChange job management system. While new build after-care specialist A&S has used our mobile workforce technology to double its business to a £5m turnover in two years.

We call our dedication to customer service, “Customer Obsession”. This year, RoadCrew has supported over 100,000 calls, emails and self-service requests. Onboarding is a crucial part of the BigChange journey but it doesn’t end there, and our Customer Success team works tirelessly to nurture existing customers and help them get even more out of our technology.

As we continue to improve the lives of our customers, it’s been great to see our Customer learning team launch our Digital BigChange University. There are now 67 online modules; over 21,000 modules have now completed by our customers (that’s 11,000 hours of online training!). The BigChange help centre has had over 130,000 page views allowing our customers to get the support they need instantly!

People power 

We have strengthened and grown our BigChange sales and marketing team by adding an extra 60% headcount to the most knowledgeable team of experts in the industry.

The team here at BigChange is our most valuable asset. We are blessed to have the most innovative, hard-working and dedicated colleagues in the industry. As we have grown the business, we have recruited new BigChangers and given our existing team new responsibilities and opportunities.

To ensure that our unstoppable, entrepreneurial, and customer-centric culture remains at the heart of our business we have worked hard in 2022 to define what it means to be a successful BigChanger. This led to us launching the BigChange Leadership Principles which apply to all of us and are embedded in our customer interactions, our recruitment and the way we judge success.

Spreading the word

Like most companies, BigChange became a remote-first company during the pandemic but I’m delighted that, this year, we have been getting out and about again.

We set ourselves the mission to create an established events calendar, consisting of 14 tradeshows across a variety of industries. We attended those exhibitions, showing attendees how we can help their business become unstoppable. Next year, we are setting our sights even higher and have 30 shows on the calendar.

We have also entertained many customers and prospects at our Leeds United box and are looking forward to the last game of 2022: Leeds v Manchester City.

International ambition

Our team in France has continued to drive the business forward. BigChange France is now fast approaching 100 customers, which is an incredible result.

Meanwhile, our Partnerships team has continued to build upon the successes of our international resellers, establishing new relationships in both Canada and Greece. Our resellers in New Zealand, Australia, and Cyprus, have all seen continued growth in 2022. We now have 130 customers in these countries.

Technological advances

Over the past year BigChange Technology has lived up to its name, and we have increased investment into innovation. This has enabled us to start delivering even more value into the BigChange platform.

We now have a data warehouse with new dashboards (currently in beta) that will be going to general release early in the new year. We have transformed the foundations of our Job Finance function, helping our customers to better understand profitability, work in progress, and forecasting. We have enhanced our group job functionality to allow for greater control over multi-job projects. We have launched a completely new look and feel to our booking site that resizes for any device.

Alongside all this, we have developed a very exciting roadmap for 2023 that will see lots of great new functions for Job Finance, Business Intelligence and Job Management.

Making a positive impact

In 2022 BigChange took a major step on the road to Net Zero by carrying out its first carbon audit and putting in place a carbon reduction plan and commitment to be carbon neutral this year through offsetting.

Our BigChangers have carried out litter picking, lobbied for better recycling and worked with our local business park to encourage car sharing and other joint sustainability initiatives. We know that BigChange helps our customers be more sustainable through its reporting of driver behaviour, scheduling and job visibility and we will be focusing on understanding how we can improve this support in 2023.

We have also continued our proud history of charitable donations in 2022 through a series of employee-led initiatives to help our community. With our wonderful Customer Success Director, the unstoppable Tansy Sheehy, leading the charge, we have organized food bank collections, a day in the community at Living Potential care farm, clothing donations, volunteering at St George’s Crypt to support the homeless, and our Christmas Party with a Purpose where BigChangers overwhelmed us with their generosity buying presents for the homeless and teenagers in care.

Awards for BigChange

Our dedication to the team helped BigChange to achieve a Best Companies 2* Award in 2022, which means we continue to be an outstanding employer. We also completed our re-certification in ISO27001 in October. Other awards include: Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Award, Virgin Atlantic & Delta Air Lines Business Enabler of the Year, a ranking in the GP Bullhound Northern Tech Top 100 Companies, and Mid-Market Corporate of the Year at the Yorkshires Business Awards.

Thank you all for your ongoing support. I – and all of us here at BigChange – wish you a joyful festive season.