Credit: ID 111031018 © Rudi1976 | Dreamstime.com
The power of peers
Through all of this success, Bhana cites “the power of peers” as what has been a great help; the connections made with fellow business owners at IT industry events — ARN events included.
“In Western Australia, it's rare to get so many other owners in one location to go and attend something,” Bhana said.
“That was that kind of opportunity where you learn from others who maybe are a bit further along, have had that challenge before, have gone through that experience.
“And then you take it all the way back to something like the Connectwise evolve program which is a quarterly meet up with other business owners for two days, going through profit and loss in your balance sheet. Anyone can tell you something in a hallway, until you actually see their profit loss and balance sheet.”
By attending these events, Bhana said discussions with his peers that have been in similar situations are much more productive than general discussions about how to make profit.
“When someone's giving you some advice, if you actually know this person's on a team of 15 sales people, or 30 engineers, I need to pay attention to them,” he said.
“You're only as good as those people you compare yourself to. So if you're not comparing yourself to anyone, then how do you get that knowledge on, 'Am I tracking well or badly? Can I do better or not?' And that's rare.
“You can get that outside of the industry, but those that are in the IT industry; it's incredibly complex and those that are walking that journey are sometimes the best to learn from.”
This sentiment is compounded by the fact that Leap is based in Western Australia, with Bhana labelling the state as insular, so vendors and events that go the distance are particularly welcomed by the managing director.
“We've been very fortunate to have vendors that have included us in programs and allowed us to meet up with other executives in other countries and that engagement from those vendors and distributors has been really impactful on our thriving as a business long-term,” he said.
“I always encourage partners in Sydney and Melbourne that may be a bit further along, if they ever get some regional partner that ask you a question and they help and answer – thank you. Thank you for giving back, thank you for helping, thank you for your advice, thank you for experience, because it makes a difference.
“We might never see them again for another six months or another conference, another year. Sometimes those restaurant conversations, pub conversations, hallway conversations can make all the difference for someone's business in a regional location.”
Want to be featured in 'ARN spotlight on'? Send an email to arn@idg.com.au with the contact details of the partner you’d like to nominate for us to profile.
