Dr Tony Aitchison (MBA) has travelled the world and worked in France, USA, and Australia. Providing business strategy advice, brand equity building services, and new venture development and management to his clients, and within his own ventures.
This has seen him develop a cure for cataract blindness, develop renewable energy sources, develop rechargeable batteries that work as low as -60C, and has accelerated the growth of many businesses.
A strategist and implementer, he leads a team of experienced consultants and has worked in industries such as FMCG, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, financial, chemical, plastics, finance, beverages, wholesale, energy, retail, med tech, not-for-profits, automotive, toys, festivals, technology, allied health, software, insurance, education, law, virtual reality and more.
This global and diverse range of experience provides a dynamic approach to his work that creates unparalleled growth for his clients.
For more details, visit their website here.
Here we sit down with Tony, to know a bit more about his journey as an entrepreneur.
Q. Tell us a little more about your journey as an entrepreneur – how did you get started? What inspired you?
Tony: So essentially, I did the typical thing of my generation, which is going to university. I ended up doing a degree that was labelled as nanotechnology, but realistically, it was quantum mechanics. This was interesting, but not my passion and so I moved on to doing a PhD in chemistry (very materials-focused). And that was good. This led to becoming an academic and while I enjoyed teaching, it still was not my passion.
Eventually, I moved on to doing industrial consulting utilising my skills in chemistry and materials. I was working with lots of big corporations and helping them to develop new products that they could then go to market with.
And from that, that inspired me to create my own businesses. So I eventually moved on from my employer to create Paradelta Strategy: a management consulting and brand equity building firm. And Click Rabbit: an SEO agency that I spun out of Paradelta Strategy.
In terms of the other businesses I have created, there have been bumps that I overcame and successes. Essentially these improved my skills even more to be a well-rounded and experienced business advisor.
On another note, I did get an executive MBA, and I have had a growing interest in performing Mergers & Acquisitions for my own company. So in the future, we will be looking to acquire companies to improve and grow to create significant value.
Q. What are your long-term goals in business? Paint a vision for the future
Tony: Paradelta Strategy has grown, helping clients that are $3 million plus to some over $150 million plus to increase their scale and diversify their offerings. That has been great and we will continue to bring on new clients while helping our current clients grow even further.
And that is the same for Click Rabbit. To keep improving and growing this entity
As we move into the future, I will be looking to expand the group of companies in the areas of “growth and development services” for businesses. Achieving this by leveraging our current resources or through acquisitions.
Add to that the expansion plans for the North American and UK region, and I could say overall, I want to grow, scale, and expand my operations.
But if an opportunity outside the “growth and development services” should arise, it would be something to consider.
Q. What motivates you?
Tony: I think part of the reason why quantum mechanics didn’t really resonate with me was that a lot of it is theoretical. It’s all calculations… and it’s not a tangible thing. It’s not something that’s been made or produced. It’s thinking.
So when I moved into the realm of chemistry (and consulting to industry), it made more sense… You work out the problem, build the new material and watch it work.
Its the same within a business – find the problem, help the company with the solution, and help it get bigger.
Building something and watching it grow is something that really motivates me.
Q. What business-related book has inspired you the most, or, what is your favourite book?
Tony: I’ve bought a ton of books. Like lots of them. However, the one that stands out the most is the very classic one “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.
Q. What strategies do you use to optimize your performance or mindset?
Tony: Time management and performance are something that everyone struggles with which is caused by a lack of good habits.
For to stay on track, I keep a productivity journal that outlines what I am currently doing and where I am heading. I boost this with timekeeping, making sure I keep the small tasks moving along just as much as the big tasks.
In fact, I turned it into a book, it’s called “7 steps to getting off your couch and into high productivity”. It details ways in which to create healthy habits and includes a productivity journal.
One of the key benefits of the book is it helps you to break down big tasks into smaller tasks so you can stay on track and meet those big deadlines. In fact, we give this book to our clients because some of them have teams that don’t necessarily have great productivity for long projects (only great productivity for the short ones).
It’s not publicly available, so if anyone reading this would like a copy, just reach out.
The other way I keep my performance up is exercise and for that, I swim and I have my dog, Arlo, the mini Schnauzer. We go for walks twice a day and that’s really helpful.
Q. If you were to write a book about yourself, what would you name it?
Tony: I’ve got a whole list of topics of what I want to write. In fact, I’ve helped clients write their own books. I just haven’t finished mine yet. Except for the productivity book I mentioned before.
The first one on my list though is about strategies to grow your business. Look out for it in the future.
Q. What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made?
Tony: I did my MBA, and that was really good. And I did it at one of the top schools in Australia. I got to meet a lot of great people too.
In fact, the most interesting thing about the people as they were on a scale from an entrepreneurial mindset to a corporate mindset. This made the conversations very interesting and deep as we talk about the world’s and particular industry’s problems from different viewpoints.
Q. Where do you see the future in your niche/industry 3-5 years from now?
Tony: Well, at the moment, there are a lot of developments in business intelligence and AI. This is growing and is being incorporated into all sorts of areas. Most won’t even know that they are already using it in some form.
But as always, we will still have people with entrepreneurial spirit disrupting current industries. In fact, this led to Saas companies and I see the market wanting to move away from that.
People (unless there is huge value there or it is very very cheap) don’t want to have to keep paying for something if they can have it as a one-off expense. This continued overhead concerns owners and if they can do a flat one-time lifetime fee, they are more likely to take that up. Because they don’t want that ever looming continual cost attached to their business. So I just don’t see Saas being a big thing forever.
Q. What is your ‘one-sentence’ piece of advice you’d like to give to someone who wants to become an entrepreneur, coach, or business owner?
Tony: Don’t become a coach. The industry of coaching is getting overcrowded with people making huge promises. This has led to very disappointed buyers who feel burned and are unlikely to buy from another coach. Essentially the industry is starting to erode.
Entrepreneurs, you have to have the energy to do that and you’ve also got to really understand your customer. You need to understand what they need… Because if you build something that they don’t need, they are not going to buy it, and you’ve just wasted a ton of money and time.
And if you’re a business owner, then the biggest thing you’ve got to do within your business is to “not stand still”.
If you’re a business owner, that is just “oh, we make enough money. We’re happy and we’ve made $5 million this year. That’s up by 100k from last year, and that’s pretty good. We’re happy.” That is probably the worst mindset you can have.
Because if you’re not growing and expanding, you’re sitting still and you’re going backwards.
And when you have other people, other competitors of yours, that are wanting to grow, they will essentially take your market and that could be the end of your business in the next couple of years to weeks.
We’ve seen this happen many times before where business owners have been a little bit relaxed and haven’t necessarily pushed back on their competitors or wanted to expand their serviceable market… And because of that, a bigger player from another state or another country comes in and just takes over the whole market straightaway.
To keep up to date with Tony and his journey, connect with him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.