Help on way to get hundreds of WA small businesses through pandemic

The West Australian
Lisa Smith and Vicki Hodgson co-Founders of Blow Your Own Mind and presenters of the PIVOT program.
Lisa Smith and Vicki Hodgson co-Founders of Blow Your Own Mind and presenters of the PIVOT program. Credit: Ross Swanborough/The West Australian

A new initiative aimed at helping WA small business owners adapt and respond to the COVID-19 environment begins this week, as part of the State Government’s WA Recovery Plan.

Rebecca Gulvin, director of relocation business Executive Step, is among more than 500 local businesses that have signed up to participate in the PIVOT program.

The government-funded program, valued at about $4500 per participant, is run by Perth business strategy coaches Vicki Hodgson and Lisa Smith from Blow Your Own Mind.

Ms Gulvin’s business involves bringing people into WA for the oil and gas sector, which she said had “hit the skids”.

“I’m focusing on Executive Step, which is a 30-year-old business and I literally need to know how to pivot my business effectively,” she said.

“I also own Beck & Call Property Group and I’m going to pivot into buying for expats or locals coming home, so I have to reinvent myself.

“I want to reassess the current business model I use and I’m open to new ways of doing it because everything is going to be different.”

Ms Hodgson said the PIVOT program aimed to address the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and look at how they can plan.

“Businesses … have had to really consider their planning and how well they have planned for something completely left-field, which may have caused them to stop operations as they knew it,” Ms Hodgson said.

“Some of the pain points we’re looking at include finding a sustainable business model.

“It’s about refocusing and repositioning products that they’re offering and the markets they’re looking at.”

Ms Smith said the program, which includes online webinars and one-on-one business coaching, would assist business owners looking at diversifying into different streams and producing new offerings.

“Often in a crisis people find it really difficult to think creatively and get themselves out of what they’re experiencing. This is where we’re hoping to add value,” she said.

“Pivot is a business word, not a buzz word. Pivoting is what people should be doing all the time — it’s just that this unprecedented event has caused owners to really take stock of what their business looks like.”

The PIVOT program has four main steps over six months, including getting participants to complete an “entrepreneurial mindset profile” questionnaire, and a process to review internal and external factors affecting their business.

“For the first time ever the State Government will have a benchmark of the collective entrepreneurial mindset of a few hundred small businesses,” Ms Smith said.

“We’ll have a starting point with the intervention of the PIVOT program, and by the end of it we’re going to remeasure that mindset.”