Testimonials

“As a startup business in the education industry, STEM Punks Education has experienced tremendous growth over the past few years. With the abundance of opportunities that come across our desks every day, it can be difficult to navigate the path forward. This is where Sean and his business come in. Sean has provided us with direction, guidance, and objective feedback, helping us to reevaluate our approach and move forward with the best possible opportunities.

Sean's value to our business goes beyond this, however. He is also a skilled Mentor, helping us to develop personally and professionally. As three co-Founders with different backgrounds, having an independent perspective has been essential to our growth. Sean's rigorous monthly meetings have helped us take stock of where we are and assess whether we are on the right path.

Overall, Sean's guidance and personality have helped us become better business leaders and build a more successful business. We are grateful for his expertise and support.”

“We have had the pleasure of working with Sean as our Growth Mentor for some time now and have found his support to be dependable and invaluable during the ups and downs of growing a business. Sean brings a wealth of experience and expertise to our sessions and is able to provide us with guidance in real-time that we can apply immediately to our business.

What we appreciate most about working with Sean is his ability to deliver tangible outputs out of our sessions. He is not just about the chatter but is focused on helping us move the dial and achieve our goals. Sean is also flexible in how he works with his clients, adapting our sessions to what we want to get out of them, where our business is at, and what it needs. He is always available to us, no matter the timezone, week days/weekends, and he has resources like tools and templates readily available to help with implementing ideas.

When looking for a Mentor it is so important to have someone who demonstrates integrity, personability, and possesses credibility in their feedback. We have found that working with Sean has given us the fit we need, which has been incredibly important in approaching challenges and opportunities in our business. Being in business is tough, and having a Mentor who displays empathy and a sincere approach within their interactions with you makes all the difference.

Overall, our experience with Sean has been positive and constructive. We highly recommend his services to any business looking for a Mentor who can bring a wealth of experience and expertise, coupled with a humanistic side to deliver the support they need.”

"We've been operating Spectrum Property and Projects for over 20 years, with substantial growth in the last three. As experienced Directors and operators in the property and project management business, we thought we had a good handle on our business, but working with Sean over the past 12 months has opened our eyes to new ways of thinking and crystallised our business goals.

Sean has been a true mentor to us, helping us consolidate our thinking and advising us on our brand promise. His guidance has helped us think about our business from the perspective of our clients, staff, and ourselves, creating a framework for success that has been invaluable. With a range of tools and methodologies, Sean has encouraged us to think about our business and growth prospects in new ways.

What sets Sean apart is his ability to get to the core of issues quickly. His insight has been critical in helping us make core decisions about our business and its prospects for the future. We highly recommend Sean as a Growth Mentor for any small and growing business looking to make a difference and achieve their goals."

"You have been an absolute game changer for our business, providing invaluable guidance on strategy, structure, systems, and processes. Without your expertise, we wouldn't have any of these in place, and we wouldn't be where we are today.

Your ability to help us set up our short to medium-term goals, and create processes and systems that cascade down from that has been a real game changer. You've kept us honest and on track, and provided fantastic advice on a range of issues from commercial and M&A to systems and connecting us with great people.

Your approach as a sounding board has been invaluable. You have helped us stay focused, on track, and accountable. We are very grateful for all the work you've done for us, and we know that we wouldn't be in the position we are now without your expert guidance. Thank you for your dedication and partnership."

“The reason I chose to establish an Advisory Board in the first place was, like many Founders, I hadn’t done what I was about to attempt before i.e. I wanted to double the size of my business over a reasonable period and hadn’t built a business that large before, I knew I needed assistance but I didn’t want to give up any control over the business by appointing Non-Executive Directors to access ongoing quality advice, guidance and support.

After considering 5 other capable Chairs and narrowing the choice down to a final 2, in the end I chose Sean as I felt we connected in a more genuine and open way, even though the other front-runner had great skills and experience as well. I felt like he listened to me and I wanted to listen to him. It’s become clear to me over time that this is one of Sean’s greatest strengths; he makes you feel heard, acknowledged and doesn’t talk over you even if he disagrees with something you say. His views are always provided in a palatable, relatable manner.

Before Sean and I launched the Advisory Board with two other Advisors on it, Sean helped to shine a light on my blind spots, helping me see my “unknowns”. I was doing lots of things and lots of things well but they weren’t necessarily cohesive strategically or would result in me growing the way I wanted to. Since establishing the Advisory Board I have realised I’m getting a lot of value out of being held to account. I can come up with grand ideas but have been known to procrastinate on the strategic things from time to time! I’ve found the positive pressure and accountability that comes with taking action and having information prepared to enable quality conversations at an Advisory Board level has been invaluable.

Another rewarding part of my experience so far has been the renewed passion and vigour for my business. I know where I can take it now. I can see the opportunities and I know I can outperform my 2 and 5-year plans and am excited by that. I have found the mix of Mentoring with Sean monthly and quarterly Boards quite effective. I also like that the model has been flexible; I was able to tap into my own networks when putting together the Advisory team which was helpful in getting the right mix of skills and experience into the room.

With myself in Victoria and Sean in Queensland I did have some initial concerns as to whether doing all of our sessions virtually would work. On reflection it has been completely fine and created a real benefit as it allowed us to think nationally with our search for Advisors. Our Advisory Board now has one representative from Victoria, New South Wales, ACT and Queensland. A truly national Advisory Board. If anyone is considering in investing in a Advisory Board I’d recommend they see it as an investment, not an expense. I knew the only way we’d achieve our 5-year plan was with support and therefore the cost of that support is an investment specifically in that plan. Given the possibilities I can see now, that investment will be a drop in the ocean from a return perspective. Be brave, come up with some money and invest in your future."

“My Co-Founder and I originally established an Advisory Board in late 2017, with the goal of doubling the revenue in our business by the end of 2020. We had built the business from the ground up 16 years whilst studying at Uni, but now wanted to find a way to step back and spend more time working on the business, than in it so that we could achieve that goal.

We knew that to get there we were going to have to explore and road test different growth options including: further market penetration, geographic expansion, mergers and acquisitions, diversification and more. We knew that once we’d settled on the strategy we’d also need to make sure our skills as Directors, marketing and sales strategy, value propositions, systems and organisational structure lined up to be able to execute on that plan. We also had to make sure that the strategy we went after would work well in the context of our values, strengths and lifestyle choices.

We had a gut-feel for which direction we could take the business, but the Advisory Board process was invaluable in helping us get clarity about what we didn’t want, what wouldn’t work or wouldn’t fit for us. The group of Advisors were able to help us tease out the implications of choosing different strategies, challenge our thinking and help us create perspective.

Sean was a key part of the Advisory Board and came highly recommended from everyone we spoke to about his style and experience. We found that Sean added immense value in the process in conceptualising options, road testing strategies, working through the implications and helping us ultimately make a more informed decision about how we wanted to move forward.

Sean’s experience spoke for itself, he’s a career business-grower. He brought significant depth to conversations about the different growth strategies and the foundations we’d need to execute on them but over and above that, we really valued his style; he was both credible and approachable. He challenged us, but in a way that created insight, perspective and we never feel judged. Sean regularly followed up in between meetings, added additional value beyond the Advisory Board structure and was unwavering in his support for us. Sean is the only person from our Advisory Board that we’ve remained in close contact with since it had come to a natural conclusion, and he continues to encourage us to strive and succeed in achieving our business and personal goals.

We’ve come very close to achieving the financial goal we set out to achieve 3 years ago and have done it in a way that’s worked for us personally. Had we not engaged an Advisory Board we may have wasted time, money and increased stress along the way by undertaking the wrong strategy for us. I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending Sean as a Chair for someone looking to develop plans on how they can scale their business up towards some kind of exit and make sure they avoid costly mistakes along the way by getting the foundations right. I’m only too happy to chat about my experience with Sean to any prospective client, should it be required.”

"About a year ago, we were going through a growth phase and looking for someone to help us take the next steps. We had a few people in mind, but Sean's impressive CV and experience really stood out to us. After meeting with him, we knew he was the right fit for our business. Sean is a straight shooter with a strategic approach, which is exactly what we were looking for.

The meetings we've had with Sean have been incredibly useful. His method to develop growth stategy (8-Figure Strategy Program) has been a game changer for us. It has helped us set a clear direction for the next five years. His method ties everything together and has been an essential part of our growth strategy.

The execution calendar is particularly impressive, and we love how it gives us a clear direction on what we're doing for the year and what we need to do at certain times. It's making a big difference for us and is a testament to Sean's expertise and guidance. We can't thank Sean and the team at ScaleHQ enough for their contribution to our success."

"Your meetings have been incredibly helpful, with a clear structure and lots of new learnings, especially on the StratEx (8-Figure Strategy model). Your approach to rhythms, KPIs, lead and lag indicators, and coordinating everything has helped us put some good structure around what we're doing and given our planning an extra boost.

It's like what we're doing now is on steroids, and we're thrilled with the progress we're making. Every business needs someone like you to help them reach their goals, and we're grateful to have you as our mentor. Your guidance and expertise have been invaluable, and we look forward to continuing to work with you for the next year and beyond. Thank you for your dedication to our success."

"I can't say enough about the positive experience I've had with developing my StratEx (8-Figure Strategy methodology). The process forced me to step out of the day-to-day and engage in a thought-provoking and challenging process that has been incredibly valuable for our organisation.

The systematic and straightforward approach was no bullshit, which was excellent for me. The structure and flow were easy to follow. I really appreciated the challenging aspect of the discussions around the content, which allowed us to challenge our thought processes and make sure we were on the right track.

The hidden gem in the process was the opportunity to sense-check our company values which helped us validate them and ensure that they were being lived and breathed in the business.

Looking forward, the process will allow us to connect our goals into an executable plan that will give our team a platform to execute with confidence. We've always had big goals and dreams, but we struggled to connect those goals into an executable plan with some items. We've now been able to break it all down and rebuild it into a simple framework that will help us move forward with confidence.

Overall, I feel really comfortable and confident with our direction. This experience has been an invaluable asset to our business, and we're grateful for it."

“Sean's StratEx (8-Figure Strategy methodology)  has been an absolute game-changer for our business. The most important part of the entire strategy, discussion, and execution plan was the process itself, which compelled us to think about and beyond, leading to a very high quality of thinking. It helped us improve our business model as we went along in this journey, eventually improving our positioning, brand guarantees, and differentiators, making them very sharp. Most importantly, the outcome was nice and easy to communicate to the entire staff, enabling them to understand what the management is thinking and how it will impact the business over the next three years. There are three things that clearly stand out in this process. Firstly, identifying two or three initiatives to double down for the next three years was initially scary, but powerful in aligning all the resources and sharpening the focus. Secondly, carving out a three-year org chart created amazing clarity for all of us, but also for our team. They could identify the growth plans and opportunities they have in it as we grow the organisation. Lastly, committing the time to do the hard thinking while running a business was worth it in the end because we have a clear plan that we all believe in as a team. In fact, we increase our ambition as we grew more once we fit throughout the process. We knew that larger growth rates and stronger market positioning would make our business more profitable and valuable.

The right documentation played a vital role in the process, giving us the flexibility to make it a desktop background for each and every employee in the end. That desktop image gives them visibility of what we stand for as a business, where we're going, when and how we are going there, and what activities from their side are going to help us get there. They all became accountable while having a constant reminder as a part of their desktop, the priorities were very clear. The PowerPoint version gave us the real flexibility to present it to the entire team, making life much simpler and easier, and communicating with so much sharpness in the messaging.

This process provided ample clarity and made it very easy as a leadership team to understand what needs to be done, when, and how. Secondly, it builds greater confidence and excitement about the future as a leader. It still comes down to the right execution strategies, but it's an amazing way to get clarity and inspire the best efforts from the entire team that is involved in the process. Sean's use of a well-thought-out process results in a plan that you can believe will give you the best chances of succeeding in the next three years. He's an amazing and successful mentor who implements practical ways of going through the journey, scientifically thinking through and arriving at what you should really be doing in the next three years of what you want to achieve for the business or the organisation that you are working for.”