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Your business, scored honestly, in ninety minutes

The free Business Health Check. Six parts of your business, scored out loud with you. Not a sales pitch with a form attached, a diagnosis, including the bits I cannot help you with.

An example scorecard
Six areas, ten each · 31 / 60
1 · Strategy & Mindset
4/10
2 · Sales & Marketing
3/10
3 · Customer Experience
7/10
4 · Operations & Admin
6/10
5 · People & HR
5/10
6 · Finance & Numbers
6/10

A made-up example, and a very ordinary one. The interesting part is not the 31, it is that the two lowest are Strategy and Sales, and that fixing Sales first would be the wrong order.

20
minutes of pre-work, on your own
90
minutes together, one-to-one
6
areas scored out of ten
3
constraints named, in order
$0
and a follow-up call two weeks later
How the three fit together

Three steps, one scorecard

The six areas you score in the webinar workbook are the same six we score here, and the same six we re-score every quarter once coaching starts. Start at any step, stop at any step.

01

The free AI webinar

Ninety minutes on where AI actually saves an Australian small business time and money. You score your six areas in the workbook.

Register →
02
You are here

The free Business Health Check

Ninety minutes, one-to-one. We score the same six areas properly and name the three things holding the business back.

Book now →
03

Coaching, if you want it

One-to-one or the Growth Circle. Same six areas, re-scored every quarter, so you can see whether it is working.

See the options →
Anit Patel
What it is

A diagnosis, before anybody talks about coaching

You already know something is not right. What is harder is naming which thing to fix first, and in what order, because sequence matters more than effort.

You do about twenty minutes of pre-work on your own. Then we sit down for ninety minutes and score six areas of your business together. I score them out loud, with you, and tell you why each one is what it is. No form filling, no questionnaire emailed back a week later.

A health check that always concludes “you need my coaching” is not a health check.

If an area scores low because of something outside what I do, I will say so and point you somewhere better. You keep the one-page summary either way, take it to your accountant.

Book the Health Check →
The six areas

Every small business has the same six areas

Nobody is good at all six, and nobody needs to be. Two of them are usually carrying the problem. Each is scored out of ten, against questions like these.

Scored out of 10
Strategy & Mindset

Where the business is going, and how the big decisions actually get made.

?Can you say in one sentence what you do, and who for?
?Is there a written goal for the next twelve months with a number attached?
?When did you last spend time on the business rather than in it?
How it runs

Twenty minutes of prep, ninety minutes together, then a follow-up

Book a time →
Before · 20 min
Eight questions, on your own

What the business does and who for, roughly what you turned over, how many people, how many hours you work, the task you would stop tomorrow, and what made you book.

The session · 90 min
We score the six areas together

Fifteen minutes each. I score them out loud and tell you why. Bring last quarter’s numbers if you are comfortable. I do not keep a copy.

At the end
Three constraints, in order

Which is not always lowest score first. You do not fix marketing in a business that cannot deliver, and you do not fix delivery in a business with no cash.

Two weeks later
A thirty-minute follow-up call

Did anything change? What got stuck? No obligation attached to it, and no sequence chasing you afterwards.

Ninety days
We re-score, if you want to

Six lines side by side with the first set. The only honest measure of whether anything is working, whether or not you ever pay me anything.

Reading the score

Your business, out of sixty

The total matters far less than which two areas are lowest, and whether they move in ninety days. Almost every business improves the part it measures, and almost none improve the parts it never looks at.

A 34 out of 60 is not a failing business, it is a normal one with two things worth fixing.

45–60
Solid

The business works. What is usually missing at this level is the owner getting out of it. Look hard at Operations and Strategy.

30–44
Working, but held together by you

Where most Australian small businesses sit. One or two areas are dragging the rest down, and fixing them in sequence is very doable.

18–29
Under real strain

Do not try to fix everything. One area, ninety days, then re-score.

< 18
Stop and get the right help

If cash is the problem, that is an accountant or a restructuring adviser before it is a coach. I will tell you that if it is what I see.

Before we start

Three things you should know

Some of what you need is free, and it is not mine. Where the answer is a free or low-cost service that already exists, that is what goes in your summary.

01
This is not professional advice

Coaching is educational and motivational support. It is not accounting, tax, legal or financial advice. The point of the Finance area is to help you ask your accountant better questions. I make no guarantee about outcomes.

02
What is said here stays here

Confidential in both directions. If you go on to join the Growth Circle, nothing from this conversation goes into that room unless you put it there yourself.

03
I will say when I am not the right person

If an area scores low because of an employment problem, a genuine insolvency risk, or something about you rather than the business, I will point you somewhere better, and it goes in your summary.

Employment, awards and super

Fair Work Ombudsman, or an employment lawyer. Do not guess at this one.

Tax, structure and GST

Your accountant. If you have not got one, that is the first thing to fix.

Serious cash trouble

A registered insolvency or restructuring adviser, early rather than late. ASBFEO runs a free small business hub.

Digital and online setup

Digital Solutions through Realise Business, low-cost one-on-one advice if you are under twenty staff.

If you are struggling personally

NewAccess for Small Business Owners, through Beyond Blue. Free, phone or video, no GP referral needed.

Anything else

I will say so on the day and tell you who is. That is the whole point of doing this before anyone talks about coaching.

Where it leads

If you want a hand with it afterwards

Two ways to work together, and no pressure attached to either. We work out which one fits on the follow-up call, and sometimes the answer is neither, for now.

One-to-one coaching

For owners who want the whole conversation to be about their business, in private, on a fixed day every fortnight.

Two intensitiesThree commitments a sessionQuarterly re-score
How it works →

The Growth Circle

For owners who have been making every decision alone and are quietly tired of it. Eight owners, in a room, in Penrith.

Fortnightly, in personNo two competitorsFour hot seats each
How it works →

Fees are not published here. We talk about them on the call, once we both know what you actually need, and only if coaching is the right answer at all.

Common questions

Before you book

Coaching is educational and motivational support. It is not accounting, tax, legal or financial advice, and it is no substitute for your accountant, your bookkeeper or a lawyer.

Book the Health Check →
Is it really free?+

Yes. Ninety minutes, plus a thirty-minute follow-up two weeks later, and you keep the written summary. No card, no trial, no sequence chasing you afterwards. It is free because it is also how I work out whether I can help you, and often the honest answer is that someone else can help you better.

What do I need to bring?+

The eight pre-work answers, and last quarter’s numbers if you are comfortable. You do not have to bring the numbers, and I do not keep a copy of anything you show me.

In person or online?+

Both. In person around Penrith, the Hawkesbury and greater Sydney; online anywhere in Australia. It works about equally well either way, which surprised me.

Will you try to sell me coaching at the end?+

No. The session ends with the three constraints and the referrals. If coaching looks like the right answer I will say so on the follow-up call, and if it does not, I will say that instead.

What if my business is too small, or too new?+

If you have no revenue yet there is not much to diagnose, and I will tell you that rather than take the time. From roughly your first employee upwards, it works.

Book the Health Check

Ninety minutes, free, no obligation of any kind. You leave with six scores, three constraints in the order I would deal with them, and a written page you keep, whether or not we ever work together.

Book your free Health Check →