David Catley is a mentor and business coach, working with SMEs and companies of all sizes, from startups to well-established businesses.
His experience in the finance industry and involvement with hundreds of businesses in a variety of sectors gives him a unique insight into the business world, which has helped Mattix Design scale up successfully.
“I share what I have learnt with my current clients, and apply that experience to their business. I have also built up an extensive collection of contacts in the area and can call on them to help my clients, or introduce them to each other, when appropriate,” David explains.
We have been working with David for almost two years, meeting him on a monthly basis to discuss our business goals and how we can work towards achieving them.
“Being at the top of your business is great, but it’s very easy to let yourself off from not doing something that you said you wanted to do. Meetings with an advisor like yourself ensure things happen month by month; for business owners to work on the business, instead of only in it,” he continues.
Working with David is just one part of our collaborative ethos. As we’ve mentioned countless times on this blog, we actively seek to work with other freelancers and business owners. Our work with David allows us to develop our service and provide even more to our clients.
One example of this is working with David to seek grant assistant for a project for one of our clients.
“For me, collaboration enables the right people to be brought together to achieve a goal that couldn’t have otherwise been achieved as quickly, easily or competitively. It uses skills that are around a business, but not directly within it, to be joined together to make your business offering much larger, comprehensive and compelling – which has got to be good for all concerned!”
Unsurprisingly, the former financial advisor’s top tip for business owners centres around profit and cashflow:
“There’s a distinct difference between profit and cash flow, and businesses go bust when they run out of cash (not necessarily when they don’t make a profit). This is very often overlooked but it is in fact key principle for businesses to understand – especially growing ones – whereby it is that growth of the business that can, in fact, place it in danger,” he tells us.
“So my tip is… understand the cash cycle in your business and negotiate the timing of when your clients pay you as thoroughly as the price they pay. Both are equally important to your success.”
David’s support has helped Mattix Design tremendously over the last two years and we look forward to meeting with him each month.
“Matt is easy to work with and has a genuine desire to help his clients. It goes without saying that he does the standard stuff of quality work, on time, etc that everyone wants and expect. But, he is also great at finding ways of adding value and being an advocate for clients or suppliers,” he adds.
You can find out more about David Catley on LinkedIn. Meanwhile, see who else we work with here.
