Craig practicing what he preaches
"The idea was to get outside of Taranaki to get a different view of things."
Craig Oliver
Craig Oliver runs the only New Zealand business selected to participate in a mastermind mentorship programme in Australia.
Oliver, who is behind New Plymouth’s The Project Guys and podcast Talking Better Business, saw the mentorship as a way to practise what he preaches.
‘‘Why should I charge you to help with your business if I’m not willing to do the same to better myself?’’
The Business Growth Mastermind is run by Australian business guru Anthony Kirby who Oliver said he clicked with right away. ‘‘I just liked the cut of his jib and what he was talking about.’’
The programme, launched by Kirby last year, hosts a group of 15 to 20 businesses owners of the same level of growth and holds workshops with them to make them better. Oliver, who was a banker by trade, started The Project Guys, which offers business coaching and consulting, in 2008 after getting made redundant.
He’d been working in sales at a construction company and knew the redundancy was coming so thought about creating his own business in construction but knew costs would be high to bring in the labour knowledge that he didn’t have.
So with his banking knowledge he decided to start a business in what he did know - business.
‘‘There was a gap there I just had to find it. It’s about helping businesses sort their s... out essentially,’’ he laughed.
Oliver said running your own coaching business was a hustle as New Zealand was a very do it yourself country.
‘‘I do have people coming to me though and saying ‘I can’t bust through the glass ceiling by myself, can you help me?’’
Oliver created his podcast Talking Better Business in 2016 to coincide with The Project Guys.
‘‘When I first started I did the low hanging fruit and just started using my phone and picked the local Taranaki people but slowly I’ve had guests from the United Kingdom, Canada, America, and Australia on.’’
Oliver hopes the Business Growth Mastermind, which runs over 12 months and features quarterly workshops in Australia, will allow him to offer global advice to his clients.
‘‘The idea was to get outside of Taranaki to get a different view of things. Coaching and consulting is relatively new in New Zealand so I can bring back those learnings and spread that back out to the people I work with.’’