Ben Le Ralph – Impact Positive – Strategy & Ops Platform for Small Businesses – Helping small businesses owners develop systems and automate their business

2021 and 2022 has been a tough year for business around the globe. In your experience can you share how businesses prosper in 2023?

It certainly has been a tough and transformative few years and I suspect the uncertainty and the need for constant change isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Especially not in 2023. In my experience business owners need to do 2 contradictory things simultaneously if they are going to thrive in 2023. Firstly they need to invest in technology and specifically AI and automation. It is going to transform businesses more than the internet did in the early 2010s and more than covid did in 2019. Secondly, business owners need to invest in their people. AI and automation can do a lot (and soon will do a lot more) but the real differentiator most businesses will have is how inspired, engaged, creative and productive their workforce is.

The economy has been turned on it’s head in the wake of the pandemic. What should businesses focus on in 2023?

They need to focus on sustainability over growth. Sustainability in all senses of the word. To thrive in 2023 businesses need to become more environmentally sustainable but also more financially sustainable and the 2 go hand in hand. Over the last 10 years, money has been relatively cheap and easy to get which has led to a lot of businesses growing too fast and we have already seen many make significant cuts to reflect the change in the economy. By 2030 most national governments will have strict environmental regulations and standards and the companies that invest throughout the downturn on re-configuring their companies for sustainable growth will be the leaders in the next decade.

What are the pro’s & con’s of working from home and have you any first hand experience?

I’ve worked with many companies big and small on their work-from-home transition and also experienced it with my own company. The truth is where you work has received a lot of focus but actually, the real game changer that often gets forgotten is when you work. Flexibility around when you work is often more important to people. Parents (as well as many other cohorts) desire flexibility around the hours they work. For example, being able to work around school pick up and drop off, or working longer 4-day weeks rather than 5-day weeks. My prediction is that as companies figure out their hybrid working policies this year we will see companies provide more flexibility around which hours people work and standardisation around where people work.

How can business owners combat the rise of inflation and what have you done that you can share?

For better or worse I think that automation and AI (along with a slowing economy) are going to significantly reduce wages and in turn inflation by the end of the year. My advice would be for businesses to first (as previously mentioned) invest in automation technology to reduce costs, secondly invest in upskilling your people so they are engaged, productive and loyal and lastly don’t panic. It will all be alright.

In the last 5 years we have seen the rise to Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, NFT’s, Digital Marketing and many more! What do you think will impact the world most in regards to online selling?

For most companies, in most situations, AI and Machine Learning are going to be the most transformative technologies of the next decade, particularly around online selling. My prediction would be, (and what I share with my clients), that as technologies like Chat GPT reduce the cost of content creation down to essentially $0 the only way to compete and stand out is to be MORE human. AI-generated content is about to flood google and social media platforms making it very noisy and hard to stand out. This means companies have to simultaneously invest in updating their technology just to keep pace while also building a genuine connection with their existing audience by behaving very human and doing things that don’t scale.

On a more subtle note. If you could have dinner with three people, dead or alive who would it be and why?

Ezra Klein, Kara Swisher and (slightly more obscure) Dany Milham

Reading is still one of the most popular ways to learn anything. What is your most recommended book(s) by who and what did you learn from them?

Built to Sell by John Warrillow (Every small business owner should read this book even if they’re not thinking about selling their business). Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber (which had a lot to do with why I left and sold the consultancy I worked so hard to build so I could go and work with small businesses).

What is your purpose for getting out of bed each day and what do you aim to achieve in the future?

Helping inspired people with big, bold, and creative ideas start businesses without it taking over their life. Death to hustle culture.