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enlisted Alan’s help since late 2016 and continue to invest in his support due to how successful it has been. “I’ve always looked forward to Alan’s leadership sessions. I consistently feel like I’ve walked away from them gaining valuable information. “Sometimes it may be a simple tip, but you can see the benefits of putting it into practice straight away. One of those things is maintaining an up-to- date schedule just so no task gets forgotten, no matter how busy it gets.” Alan also brought on board the assistance of fellow Action Coach, Yvonne Webb, to provide the SouthSide team with an array of new perspectives and valuable business insights. “Working with Alan and Yvonne for a long time means the advice they can provide is more specific to our business and ourselves,” says John. “Now we know each other so well, they know our strengths and weaknesses and we can really work on what needs to happen to ensure the business continues to run smoothly.” RETURNING TO THE BRAND Since establishing itself as a major player in the Edinburgh property market, SouthSide has aimed to stick to its key brand values: safe, happy, and during our toughest time through Covid, when a fifth of our properties were vacant for around 2-3 months, we still managed to achieve 2% growth. “Now I’m looking to decrease my hours to 50-60 a week consistently. I feel confident we have built a team who will continue to be successful with less and less input from me. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the business flourishes while I can enjoy more time with my family and on other projects.” PROPERTUNITY KNOCKS SouthSide’s business model and its standing in the community has been central to it winning the award for Best Service-Based Business at BizX 2023. Now, the focus has shifted towards two key developments: expansion and futureproofing. “We’ve come a long way since 2009 but we don’t want to stop there,” says John. “It’s so important to establish a solid foundation for the future – whether that be through bespoke software systems or the professional development of our people. But one thing is clear, if you want to ready your business for a successful future, you should be working with experts.” THE COACH’S PERSPECTIVE Since working with SouthSide, Alan has been able to understand how John has made the business such a success – and where ActionCOACH can help elevate that further. “It was clear very early on how much of an exceptional businessman John is,” says Alan. “When coaching at SouthSide, I knew I wouldn’t be a knight in shining armour, coming in to make drastic changes to turn the business’ fortunes around. Sometimes there are more subtle changes that elevate a good business to great.” sustainable. “Sticking to your principles in business is vital as they serve as the foundation for your identity and reputation in the community,” says John. “We’d noticed, around the same time as Alan joined us, that we’d strayed away from them somewhat. That’s not to say the business had lost its identity, but I don’t think we were implementing them as much as we could. With Alan’s help, we reintroduced our values into all aspects of our day-to-day operations at SouthSide.” A WORK-LIFE WIN The priority for John was to improve his work-life balance so he could spend more time with his family. From starting the business to the birth of his first son in 2013, John had been putting in more than 100 hours per week. Action Coach Alan aimed to help John in scaling down his workload as he looks to gradually step back from the helm. “The hard work definitely paid off. We’ve grown every year since we started in 2009,” says John. “Even “I’m really looking forward to seeing how the business flourishes while I can enjoymore time with my family and on other projects” Action Coach Alan Smith changing the lives of business owners at his monthly group coaching session Franchise Overview ActionCOACH Established: 1993 Number of franchised outlets: 200+ Locations available: Nationwide Investment range: £69,000 or £29,000 initial investment Minimum required capital: £30,000 working capital Contact: freedom@ actioncoach.com www.franchise. actioncoach.co.uk WHAT-FRANCHISE.COM 31 ACTIONCOACH