Our team
Roger Baxter
Business Success Partner
People are in business because they can see a better life for themselves and their loved ones. Or they have a skill that other people need and will therefore pay them for it. Some have taken over control of a family business that parents or grandparents had founded. Perhaps they have finally taken the plunge and started out on their own, to be the masters of their own future.
“Ki te kahore he whakakitenga ka ngaro te iwi, without foresight or vision the people will be lost” - Maori proverb.
All of them have a passion and desire to be successful in their endeavors.
Roger knows what it’s like to be a business owner - during good times and not so good times. As an SME owner himself, he is fully aware of the pressures a business owner faces - staff and employment, bank loans, expansion plans, paying the bills at the business and at home, and getting paid yourself. Meeting all of the government compliance on taxes, health, and safety, national and local by-laws. An owner can be weighed down with all this, and still not have actually produced anything yet.
Roger has a varied business background starting from managing large-format store 7-day operations, 30 staff, and turnover in millions. Then area managing a small privately-owned business supplying to other small businesses before buying his own SME. Roger owned this business during the GFC and the introduction of what was then new employment and health and safety laws in New Zealand.
“Our business focused on outdoor power or farming equipment mainly. What I found really interesting is my customers were coming to me for solutions- they didn’t mind how or where I took their quite specialized vehicle or machine for servicing, so long as worked properly when they got it back. I learned we’d become a solutions provider as much as we were spinning spanners”
This desire for business knowledge and understanding was still present when Roger sold the business and commenced working for a large publicly listed New Zealand corporate. The small businesses he was interacting with assumed the big business had a firm grasp on all these things. In reality, they too were implementing changes, progression planning, or trying to understand the business, just on a much larger scale.
During most of his working life, Roger has been active in the Territorial Army as a soldier and officer and has deployed on overseas operations where he worked in a headquarters supporting 13 other nations. “Many of these nations spoke English as a second or third language. What I learned from this operation is the importance of concentrating information. Cutting out what’s unnecessary and getting to the real root of what you need to say or do.”
Roger uses the ConsultX business consulting system, giving him the ability to cut through the clutter and uncover the true, impartial state of a business at the time.
“There’s so much a ConsultX consultant can offer - I’m part of an international team of people working with all sorts of businesses. Alongside the ConsultX system, there’s a huge pool of knowledge I can tap for you”
Roger has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and a Post Graduate Diploma in Health and Safety.
What he’s most passionate about is helping SMEs can achieve their goals so owners can maintain a balance of a successful home life and successful business.
Roger’s favourite quote comes from the author Henry Miller:
“The real leader has no need to lead – he is content to point the way”
You know what success should look like in your business, let Roger show you how to get there.
Contact us to schedule your FREE Business Diagnostic meeting to find out how you get your business to the Cutting Edge of success!