Q 1. Kindly give our readers an introduction to your business. Please include what your business is all about, in which city you are located and if you have offices in multiple locations/ cities.
Ans: Goodhead Strategies, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia provides management consulting services to small and medium sized professional service businesses across the US and Europe. Our expertise and consulting spans firm and marketing strategy development and implementation, leadership development and coaching, buy-side and sell-side merger and acquisitions, organizational structure, and project delivery optimization.
Q 2. Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
Ans:Originally from the UK, I started my technical career as an engineer within large multi-disciplinary firms. After moving to the US, I worked with smaller privately owned companies, and went through the Private Equity purchase, merging, and development to large scale firms. I completed the executive MBA program at UGA, and developed the regional office I was General Manager for into the number one performing office in the company. I then moved to a global strategy and M&A role consulting internally for strategy development & execution, business plan execution, and M&A. Following the internal role, I moved to external consulting in 2018 and formed Goodhead Strategies in 2024.
Q 3. What inspired you to (start a new business venture) or (to make significant changes in an existing business)? How did the idea for your business come about?
Ans:Moving to external consulting was driven by the realization of the impact I could have on the families of people within multiple firms. Internally, I could impact the 1400 families of the firm. As an external consultant with multiple clients every month, I could have a positive impact on 3000+ families a year. Every professional service firm has needs – finding the real underlying problem is something I do well. I felt by brining together a group of consultants who can also identify and solve complex problems, we can have a bigger effect on the community we consult to.
Q 4. What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
Ans: This is tough to answer as each individual and firm they are developing can be so different – the common themes I see over and over are simply these: 1) You don’t know what you don’t know – getting an outside perspective is critical – even at early stages. 2) The problem you think you are facing likely is a symptom and not the problem – you need to dig deep to truly find what needs to be addressed. 3) Cash is important – know how and where your revenue will come from, and how much cost is required to get to generating the revenue for break even.
Q 5. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: One: Be able to get high quality sleep for whatever your duration need is. Sleep is, in my opinion, critical to being able to successfully solve the problems entrepreneurs face daily. It also gives you a great opportunity to solve items subconsciously. Definitely have a note pad by your bed. The second is checking your ego – it is important to bring in people who are as smart, knowledgeable or more competent than you in areas of your business. If you don’t do this, you will always be limited to your capability – which means leaving something on the table. The third could be the most important – be curious. Always ask questions, assume you don’t know all there is to know, and consume as much of that information as you are able. All news, good, bad, indifferent, is important as it gives you information and data that you can then make adjustments and decisions with. If you tear down those who provide the information, you will eventually be surrounded by people with nothing to say, and this will be detrimental to your operation.
Q 6. How many hours do you work a day on average?
Ans: I actually don’t know how to answer this. Those who know me will tell you I’m always working, simply because I don’t stop thinking about the problems facing my clients, my people, or my businesses. I try to turn off my business brain by 8.30pm or so to try and decompress for a good night’s sleep. So, on that basis 14 or so.
Q 7. To what do you most attribute your success?
Ans: I think there are three key factors here. Firstly there has to be a why. For me, it is my family. I have had multiple decade long personal strategic goals – the most recent is to ensure my family can choose their path without concern for means or time. There is a lot wrapped up in that small statement. The second is the people I seek guidance from pushing me to stretch and aim for boundaries beyond what I might think is possible. Those people have been leaders, coaches, friends, acquaintances.
Q 8. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Ans: Each of my businesses are focused on very personal experiences and very intentional growth. Word of mouth and strategic direct campaigns work for each. One business will be leading into a broader campaign in the next two years, although even that will be narrow in focus and intended outcome. What is important with marketing strategy is knowing your buyers and your buyer behaviors and reasoning. Trying to move potential clients and customers when they aren’t ablet o connect to your solution or brand is wasted effort, especially when you may have limited resources. For the type of companies and service offerings I have, very focused personal touches are the most successful.
Q 9. Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?
Ans: For each business I bootstrapped the initial firm and elected for slower growth to conserve cash and avoid bringing on debt before the market was fully tested. Essentially, I loaned the firm the money that it should pay back to me as it grows. That approach was unique for my motivators outlined previously – my family first and my desire to provide a personal experience for my clients. Other firms may elect for a different approach, but this remains true – the only way to pay back any debt is from the firms profits. So operating a successful and profitable firm is critical to however you fund the initial capital and growth trajectory.
Q 10.What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
Ans: Protect your integrity, do what you say you will do, adjust your plans as needs arise, sell work in a profitable manner, and listen to those around you (but don’t always act on what they say).
Q 11. Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
Ans: I personally am in the camp of “if I lift others, I will rise”, so the more I help other firms, and the more I am able to elevate my people, the more successful I will be. I have provien this in large companies, and now I will test it in a small practice. If that means the businesses I own become larger, or stay the same, it doesn’t matter to me. As long as my primary goal is achieved.
Q 12. Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
Ans: One of the firms that seems to always keep me curious is Red Bull. While on the surface it is an energy drinks company, the marketing portfolio of sports and connectivity with their primary target audiences is astounding. They have won racing world championships in multiple categories and vehicle types, sponsored some of the best athletes in the world, continue to be a presence in the night life scene, and are front and center at every gas station drinks refrigerator. The investment in talent is clear to see whenever you meet someone who works for the company, and the success they have had is a demonstration of leadership, strategy, and awareness of their buyers. It is an interesting company to watch.
Recommended Questions –
Q 13. How important have good employees been to your success?
Ans: Good employees are everything. Finding those people relies on good networking, good review processes, and awareness of organizational behavior theories. An interview is not, in my opinion, enough to properly cover the needed ideas. Concurrent with good employees is good clients/customers. If you don’t have good employees, your good clients will leave you. If you don’t have good clients, your good employees will leave you. The combination is important. In addition to that, if you have mediocre employees, your good employees will resent your leadership and your company – this risks your good employees leaving, and mediocrity entrenching itself within your firm. This can be very difficult to get out of, and the claim “we can’t lose anyone” is the start of that slide.
Q 14. How long do you stick with an idea before giving up?
Ans: I haven’t really thought about this before. I allow ideas to embed in my mind and see how they develop with time and space. Some move on quickly, others can take a while to evolve, sometimes years. Something that is important is to remember is this: failure isn’t an option, it is critical. For it is the failures you buy that provide the greatest lessons. I know where I have failed in the past, and my goal is to not repeat that failure.
Q 15. What motivates you?
Ans: There is perhaps motivation and then fuel. So much of my motivation comes from a design to solve problems and do good – you might think of this as strategic giving; I have a belief that giving will come back to me in the future in a positive way. The fuel for these motivations is my family.
Q 16. What are your ideals?
Ans: You may have heard me say this before, but in business integrity. People will not want to do business with you, or work for you, if it is known you cannot be trusted. Equally, you must trust first until there is a reason not to, otherwise you will always be approaching business from a place of fear and therefore make harsh decisions or sustain mediocrity. When I look at client perception studies, the reason a customer starts buying is because they trust you, the second reason is they like you. The reason they continue is because they like you – the second reason is they trust you. Without trust and rapport – there wont be a sale.
Q 17. How do you generate new ideas?
Ans: Mostly it is when I can get total silence and isolation. This gives me time and space to think through the problems I have encountered. Interesting problems tend to stand forwards of others. From that, I break down what the basic principles are and what might be needed to solve those.
Q 18. How do you define success?
Ans: Achieving your strategic goals. Success is how you define it for your or your business.
Q 19. How do you build a successful customer base?
Ans: It takes three good contacts to get a meeting, three meetings to get an opportunity to work together, three opportunities to work together before you get an assignment or project, and then three projects to solidify your customer. So fundamentally, a customer base is achieve by one contact at a time. If you sales cycle is minutes, this might be a short process. If your sales cycle in months or years, then it will take time, patience, and sustained effort.
Q 20. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
Ans: For me it is the problems. I like to solve the problems and I like engaging with the people who are able to help me solve those problems.
Q 21. What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
Ans: The first payment to a new business or offering – it says there is something here and you need to nurture it for continued success,
Q 22. What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
Ans: Risk tolerance. So many of the people who work with entrepreneurs are brilliant – absolutely as smart as or more so than the entrepreneur. Their preference though, is to protect what they have “just in case”. This is important and these people are CRITICAL to success. An entrepreneur is willing to put something on the line in the belief of those people around them to can help solve the problem the business was founded for. Each group needs to other for a truly symbiotic relationship.
Q 23.What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this particular type of culture?
Ans: Curiosity. The people I have brought into each of my businesses have to be curious. And that is difficult for some to relearn after time within more corporate structures. Patience and encouragement is needed to allow people the space needed to be able to fully explore their potential.
Q 24. In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
Ans: Full
Q 25. If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
Ans: There is very little I would do differently. Each phase of my career has served to inform the next. I am appreciative of those experiences in leading me here.
Q 26. How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?
Ans: I am fortunate to have more time with my family now. Travel can be disruptive to that, but within a corporate role, I was working in an office 60 hours a week. I now am able to make practices and games for my four kids, pick them up from school, read to the classes, and engage much more than I was before. The consequence though is that I don’t truly get time off – so even when I am on vacation, I need to be connected to my businesses. For me though, because my businesses do the things I love, it doesn’t always feel like work, despite probably working the same amount of not more.
Q 27. What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?
Ans: For me personally my greatest fear is failure. As you may have heard me say previously, failure is required to learn the best lessons. Despite that, I struggle personally with that as a fear and so I work strategically and thoughtfully to head failure off before it becomes a real risk.
Q 28. How did you decide on the location for your business?
Ans: I am fortunate to live near the worlds busiest airport, and so thanks to my local airline, I am able to get almost anywhere in the world. One of my businesses last year worked from Hawaii to Maine. I likely will need to be in London multiple times this year. Already I have been to Seattle twice. My location is based on my clients and customers – their offices are where I do my best work.
Q 29. Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: Where I see the greatest challenges are where there is no clear revenue model. And a business without profit is a hobby. Success has to have revenue exceeding expenses consistently. How you choose to make the revenue piece is important as that will define what makes sense for the expenses and move it from a hobby to a business.
Q 30. If you could talk to one person from history, who would it be and why?
Ans: This is hard. There are so many for so many reasons. Possibly Augustus Ceasar to understand more behind his thoughts on overthrowing the Roman Republic and whether he genuinely thought that, strategically, a single ruler over the empire would be more successful than a republic.
Q 31. Who has been your greatest inspiration?
Ans: I would say at the moment Daniel Pink. I think there is so much wisdom in his literature that can apply to life and to business. Another would be Malcolm Gladwell.
Q 32. What book has inspired you the most? (OR what is your favorite book?)
Ans: To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink is monumental in understanding the key elements of moving people. When I conduct sales training, I draw on a combination of works, but I think this book is amazing for life.
Q 33. What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
Ans: For business, hands down the biggest was related to an emotional intelligence failure where I called the CEO of my company to express my concern as a decision the executive team had made. It was not taken well, despite my intent being what I thought best for the company. The COO flew to Atlanta, took me out for a wonderful dinner, and then made it crystal clear how the call was received and that such a move should never, ever, be undertaken again. My lesson here? Consider the emotions of the receiver in the communication moment and then check yourself – is this the right communication moment, method, and content.
Q 34. How can you prevent mistakes or do damage control?
Ans: Damage control is generally about honesty. People don’t generally do things to be malicious. Preventing mistakes – that’s impossible if you are trying to create change. Eventually something will go wrong. If you aren’t making mistakes, you are sustaining, which means fundamentally you are going backwards as the world progresses.
Q 35. What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
Ans: I enjoy driving in the mountains (when allergies allow). I have followed Formula One for decades, and look forward to both the races, but also the strategic analysis of the races and the cars. Travel is a big piece of my work life, but also my non-work life. And I enjoy the time with my kids – my house is one in the neighborhood where any given day there may be a bunch of bikes on the front lawn with multiple little visitors. I also LOVE spy movies.
Q 36. What makes you happy?
Ans: I am generally an optimistic person and enjoy a life full of laughter and jokes. I am probably happiest guiding my kids to solve problems so they can learn the skill and seeing them work through what they are trying to do.
Q 37. What sacrifices have you had to make to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: The biggest sacrifice at the moment is not having a dog. I deeply miss the companionship of my dogs that passed away, and with the amount I travel, it simply isn’t a reality. I have started sitting for neighbors dogs when I am at home which has been amazing.
Q 38. If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask?
Ans:Would you change the timing that got you here? For me, I wouldn’t. The time and experiences that have led to here are exactly what they needed to be. If I had done this sooner, I wouldn’t be ready. If I did it later, I would have wasted time.
Company Detail:
Company : Goodhead Management and Strategy Consulting
City : Atlanta
State : GA
Country : USA
Phone : 770-715-6871
Email : info@goodheadstrategies.com
