Video Transcript:
Everything has changed for the better, to be quite honest. In business, I’d kind of reached a plateau where I felt relatively comfortable. Things were going okay. We weren’t doing spectacular, but I got to this plateau and really needed a little bit of a boost to get off and move to the next level, and joining the EC as allowed me to connect with people who are aspirational and motivational as well. They come up with ideas that I would have never come up with by myself. Through listening to what they’re doing in their business, I can look at those ideas and see how I can adapt them and change them and use them in my business to better that.
Also the access to the tactics that you can use as well with the implementation plans and so on in there, in the vault. There’s so much information that you can get access to and work your way through the implementation plans and actually see how they produce results. And then when you can see the results coming back, it inspires you to do even more.
So everything has changed really. And I think another big change for me is my attitudinal change as well, and aspirational changes as well, that I can see how other people are achieving things by implementing the strategies that are discussed in the EC. It’s probably a bit strange to say, but I feel like if they can do it, why can’t I do it? I see that they implement things and get results from it, so I implement them and get results, and it’s like a self-perpetuating cycle really.
So yeah, really, really good, really positive, very motivational as well. I mean, I bring members of the team along and it motivates them as well. And there’s a buzz back at the car care centre. After they’ve been to a national event or one of the training courses where you’ve got the team membership as well. So the guys and girls come across to the training centre and get training on the various different courses and just come back fired up. And so we have really, really good, massive change.
Yeah. I mean, from when I first started, it was probably getting on for five years ago, something like that, when I first joined the EC. And in terms of the number of people that we had then, we’re probably close to double in size. I think there was about five of us back then and there are now 10 of us. In terms of turnover, that’s more than doubled. Also, in terms of profitability, that’s had a big impact, although we are gearing ourselves up so that I can move away from the day-to-day running of the business and I can look at more about developing the business.
We’re now in a position where we’ve got a plan for the next 10 years, and that is to grow and have multiple car care centres. And we’re just about to move into our first one, but we are geared up so that I know that what’s going on back at the existing car care centre, everything is running as smoothly as it can be. And I don’t need to be there on a day-to-day basis to make sure that it’s running properly. We’ve got systems and procedures in place. We’ve got people who are far more skilled and far more aware of what we need to be achieving, and the EC has really helped with all of that.
I think, just being part of it, to be honest, and the kind of buzz and the motivation. Like today, I’m at one of the meetings and just the ideas that are coming out and you write down in your diary and you just go home just full of enthusiasm and you just want to get onto the next one. That enthusiasm spills out into all of the rest of the staff back at the car care centre and they’re enthusiastic and it’s just being a part of it really, and seeing what other people are doing and enjoying their success as well. And recognising the difficulties that we all face in business and coming up with strategies to overcome them and make the best opportunities of what we have ahead of us. So yeah, really good, really good.
Stuart Williams – Ace Car Care Ltd
