How They Do Business

It’s called “You Should Be Stressed” and you should be when starting your own business. It’s stressful as f*ck, it’s a big investment of your time and money. Is trust earned in business? What’s the most brutal thing? Have I specifically tried to “get better” at networking…?

Have I ever deliberately signed a bad contract? No, and no business owner should do that. Have I signed contracts that are financially “bad” in hopes to build something greater? Yes. Do I think you need to uphold your end of a contract to a T? Hell yes. It’s a contract.⁠

This week’s question was “What is the biggest barrier stopping you from moving forward?” and I enjoyed answering this. It’s a great question, but I also think the answer changes what I said in this podcast is still correct – but there are always other acute barriers at play. Other business owners might agree with me, but two of the major things that cause barriers for @Fuel Your Life is skill-shortage and time. As we’ve built, I’ve tried to hire Operations Managers, Business Development Managers, and Marketing Managers that have all fallen flat – so I am trying to see who in our company can be built up to these roles.

As a business owner, it’s all on you and you really have to be “on point” at all times. On point in the way you manage your staff, on point in the way you manage your relationships, on point in decision making and on point managing yourself and your emotions. I made my bed and I am happy with my choices, but it’s not always easy.

As announced last week, Fuel Your Life has officially partnered with Melbourne Storm & Sunshine Coast Lightning. Growing up on the Sunshine Coast and being a part of the local sport in the area since I was young, I feel a sense of pride being able to support these teams and the community that surrounds them. I couldn’t be happier to be on board with these elite sporting teams and hope that it is the start of a new chapter in the dietetics industry. My crew and I are ready.

“I’ll always be in it, I’ll always be doing something, I won’t be retiring… But at the same time, there’s other people that are in the company that I want to build up in a way that they’d become the next me.” This week on my podcast, I answer your questions! I talk succession plans, early investors and transitioning from working “in” your business to “on” your business.

I’m going off-script to talk about what’s going on in our organisation/my life right now. Or at least, what was happening two weeks ago when I recorded this one. Major business developments coming up, a huge company restructure that included removing mid-level management roles, rewriting the website entire website, a new “work for us” page that I’ve passed on to our web developer. And that’s only part of what’s been happening. 

This week, I talk about the downsides of rapid growth. Is there a downside? And if so, what is it?⁠ To be honest, I hadn’t found any “downsides” that wouldn’t exist in a smaller company. However, there a couple of things that you must have in place to cater for the rapid growth if you are trying to minimise the negatives.⁠

To be honest, I’m not inspired by much externally. I’m inspired by things like competition, I’m inspired by growth and development of the business. If someone enjoys their role 80%, I want to make that 85%. If you think you’re getting one thing, I always want to outdo that and that’s my kind of inspiration.

Something we pride ourselves in at Fuel Your Life is our culture and our values. They are so important to us – they are who we are, who we strive to be as a company and as individuals. And, I care a lot about what we do and how the people within the company feel.⁠ I work so much to make that happen, so it truly hurts me when I hear that it’s not quite working.⁠ It’s brutal, man.

First of all, let’s define what ruthless actually means. According to the Oxford Dictionary, it means to “have or show no pity or compassion for others,” so no, I don’t think anyone NEEDS to be ruthless in business by that brutal definition. That being said, the way that ruthless can be interpreted in many ways and there is room for a certain level of ruthlessness from time to time.

Compromising in business, compromising your appearance, compromising who you are… Should you ever do any of them?⁠ In my experiences, sometimes you have to compromise. I had to do a lot of compromising through university, and still today as a leader of our organisation. At the end of the day, it’s about knowing what you are willing to compromise on and what you’re not.⁠

In some cases, the answer is always yes. Yes, I want more, yes I want to grow. When it comes to removing something, saying no, it might not be as simple as that. Our organisation is only three years old, so we’re still young but my decision-making process has played a large part in our growth.

“They don’t know that you know…” is the name of this week’s How They Do Business podcast. I chose to speak about dishonesty in the workplace for this episode. It is something that I’m sure every business owner has dealt with. It is entirely up to you, how you chose to handle it… But this is what I do.

“Honesty, honesty, honesty…” In this episode I cover dishonesty in the workplace, what I don’t like about the dietetics industry, how I help my staff level up, and my weaknesses (to name a few).

This week is all about the ins and outs of what true support is, how holding someone accountable is one of the best ways of providing that support and how you can do so without making the staff member feel personally attacked. A lot of managers struggle with it, but it is not as hard or daunting as you might think. 

To be really straight, I don’t do ANYTHING for the sake of it. If I wanted to do something for the sake of it, I could start running 3-hour consultations and charge people by the hour for it. That would be doing something for the sake of it.⁠ We do what we do for a reason. 

Fuck the taboos and the stereotypes, we are a team of misfits with a common goal and it is absolutely integral to the way our organisation runs. The people in our organisation are individuals, just like members of the public. We don’t all fit one mould, we welcome all. Some may have tattoos and swear, others are as straight-laced as anyone can be, some are sporty, others are self-confessed book nerds, some like cats, some like dogs, some have too many of both, but what we have in common is much more important – we care about the job we do and the differences we make with people every day.⁠

This week on How They Do Business, I answer questions from the audience about everything from my goals on my @bossdietitian Instagram page through to my tips on how you can become more self-aware.

Short answer? I didn't start with them and to this day, don't have one. However, that is just me... Let's talk about YOU. Whether you should have a business plan or not comes down to your skills and how your specific brain works and you can find out more by listening now!

To be really honest with you, my only mission when I STARTED the business was "do work, get more work, do work, get more work" but as the business grew rapidly, that changed... How it changed and the decision-making process behind that was huge, but you’re going to have to listen to the podcast to find out more!⁠

I've always said that I don't aspire to anybody as I am happy being exactly who I am, but when it comes to running a business, there are two people I'd name drop. Who are these two business guns? Listen to find out now!

While work ethic, speed, confidence and resilience are all paramount skills that helped me become successful, at the end of the day it's the fact that I know myself inside and out, so I am able to manage my weaknesses effectively. You dig?

This week on How They Do Business, I discuss making, identifying and rectifying wrong decisions. As I said, you want the wrong decisions to be the smaller ones, rather than the big ones and you do this by carefully considering the outcome of those decisions ahead of time. Tune in to find out more!

WARNING: I seem to have a little bit of an attitude in this one… Are you a wolf or a sheep? This week on How They Do Business, I discuss what that means to our organisation and why it has served as one of our mantra’s for success over the last few years.

Erica and I have a shared a very similar pathway into running our businesses. Whilst our goals have differed, there are several points that we can agree on when it comes to how a business should be run. In this podcast, we compare our perspectives and discuss the points of difference that set us apart in this space.

My whole business philosophy is “a little off a lot” and this week on How They Do Business, I talk about how I learnt to run a business successfully. I discuss my journey working in hospitality before I becoming a dietitian and then through my dietetics career prior to owning Sunshine Coast Dietetics. The good, the bad and the biggest learnings of my working life which shaped me and how I operate my businesses and how I treat people today.

“I have the ability right now to just go, nope I'm done. Yes, there is a lot of things that would fall if I did that but I could. That's my ability as the business owner. But I made my bed and I will not let the people in my organisation down.” This one is all about resilience as a business owner. With the recent news surrounding COVID-19, businesses across the world are being forced into isolation (or worse) and my businesses are not exempt from that.

Ever lost your videographer at the airport, cleared your savings to pay your staff, forget your wallet at dinner, had your phone die when you need to use your wifi hotspot and then arrived home to a blocked toilet at the hotel??⁠

Flashback to my interview with Katie Hankinson from the Sasha Group HQ in NYC.

Life as a business owner, what it takes to do what I do and some of the more challenging aspects of it.⁠If you think business is all fun and games, you’re WRONG.

Tyson shares his views on what it means to be a great leader. Whether it be within the world of business or elsewhere. 

How I define my downtime and my approach to work/life balance. 

Questions from the audience, Tyson gives his views on managing staff in the business.

This week, I spoke with the owner of Young Nails Inc, Habib Salo about his experiences running a successful company.⁠

What are the things in life that lead me to choose business and where I am today? Listen and find out!

Questions from the audience - Today's question: What Business should you start?

Buckle in for a little rant on my views of leadership within a company. 

Have you ever wondered just HOW the big dogs do what they do? Well, look no further! In this episode of How They Do Business, I am joined by James Orsini President of The Sasha Group. 

Your host Tyson Tripcony explains about that and why/how he has got to this point. Knowing full well he doesn't really feel successful and wants more and more.  

This is a bit of a story of how Tyson got to this point from university, through business, to now and brief insights into what he cares about in business and his philosophies. 

My name is Tyson Tripcony and I am the host of How They Do Business. How They Do Business was built to share advice, tips and the stories of successful businesspeople throughout Australia and the World so that you can gain insights into what it takes and what different (or similar) approaches successful people have. All people on the podcast have achieved success in their industry, whether it be C-suite executives, entrepreneurs, managers, business leaders, you will hear from a range of people from a range of industries and backgrounds all dedicated to succeeding.I also want this to be interactive and allow audience members, you, to DM me questions that I can ask guests, or answer personally so that you get the most out of the experience.I will also be attempting to match craft beers with guests (for those that drink) whenever I can, to add a different dynamic to the podcast. I know that you will get value from this collection of audio files and if you do, I would really appreciate it if you would like, subscribe, review and share this with your friends.Welcome to How They Do Business.