In The Know: Better Business Series - Behind BullsEye Ag with Mitch Highett (Ep☝️ of ✌️)

Our Better Business Series is supported by the Farm Business Resilience Program through the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund and the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries. Across these next few weeks and episodes, we're going behind the scenes and chatting to some people who are making some serious impact and inroads across Australia and they're not just limited to agriculture. Our aim is to uncover what worked for them, discuss their learnings, and through their stories provide ways for you to get some of those "aha" moments or things that might be able to benefit you, your business, and your community. Well good day and welcome to episode 1. I'm your host, Olyla Leve. In episode 1 and 2, we're sitting down with Mitch Hyde. Mitch is the managing director and founder of Bullseye Ag. Following an extensive agricultural career that saw him on farms around the world, then the corporate offices of some of the major agricultural companies. Mitch started Bullseye Ag in the pursuit of offering everyone access to quality farm management and consultancy services. In episode 1, we're going to explore Mitch's story and how and why Bullseye Ag started. How he juggled life, other roles, and building his own business. We understand how his approach growing his team, his approach to management and communication, and the importance for him in being transparent about where the business is at. Let's get into it. Well welcome back to the Humans of Agriculture podcast. We've got Mitch Hyde, a second Tom around for him Mitch on the Humans of Agriculture podcast. I think the first time we chatted and actually, you know what was bloody interesting off the back of that chat, I had someone come up to me and I was in Skone at the literary festival and they were like, off the back of Mitch Hyde's episode, my son got the confidence to reach out to Mitch and from that I think he actually started working for you, which is a pretty cool little story. Absolutely, yeah, and it goes to show that that one word yes can open up some pretty big doors. And so today I think last time we focused on your story, today we want to do a bit of a deep dive and understand more about Bullseye Agriculture and how you've built it, created it, what it means some of the I guess the learnings and lessons throughout it. But I'd love to start off like what is Bullseye Ag? Can you give us a little bit of an overview about what is the business? Yeah, so pretty much the old and elevated picture of Bullseye Ag is it's a farm management and rural management company. So we focused on the rural sphere and look after farms at its core is looking after farms for different types of owners, whether that be the individual, the corporate level, the government level as well, but more and more as well we're expanding what that means and what that's defined as. So we're looking now at how we can help manage rural projects like access to different grants and loans that exist in the farming sphere. So it started off as just supplying some labour to some farms and it was really kind of spread out from that. And was it a gap in the market? Was there something you saw, was there something you dreamt up like where did the idea come from? Yeah, so really it came from being a part of the I suppose the farming world going down and doing some time in more of the agriculture or corporate world and looking at how they assist those large corporate end of town. So there was a lot of support that existed for people that wanted to do deals in the hundreds of millions and there was all this different advice, all this different consulting and advisory that they could get their hand on, but really there was nothing for those people that were saying, "Hey, look, I want to get into farming. I've got some capital here. I don't really know how to do it. I don't really know which direction I should take." And yeah, we just kind of saw that as a bit of an opening and started with the first client off the back of that and then yeah, kept on going and like I said, it's not so much to start anymore when we're now working with people that have been farming all their lives and looking at doing their succession planning or their movement to another direction. So it just keeps on getting water. And if I remember correctly, I think you're working in Sydney at the time where you saw this opportunity for the first time. You held on to juggling, I guess, full-time work but actually then starting to dabble and create bulls eye from the very beginning. Yeah, well, if my life has been a juggling act to be honest, not enough hours, not enough time, but look, it certainly, you know, I was not comfortable leaving a really good job that I loved doing full-time until I was ready to commit. And there's also that support that you need. Contrary to real ship or starting a new business isn't for everyone and I first to admit that I definitely didn't go out there thinking, "Hey, I'm going to be a business owner or I'm going to go and start my own thing." It was just an opportunity that I saw and it took a fair bit for me to and still does take a fair bit to go, "Well, I'm going to 100% just commit to this one thing. I'm dedicated to the success or the failure of it." So, yeah, it does take a fair bit to take that jump and even when you do take that jump, there's nothing to stop you kind of soon back to the shore and dabbling in a few things and especially if you want to grow. You need to get that capital from somewhere and start up business is certainly not the most thinkable thing when you look at normal debt. Not at all. In there, a little bit of a track record. Have you looked at when you've been taking up off-arm roles outside of Bulls Eye? Have you been looking for specific businesses that are going, "Okay, this is a skill set I want to learn for myself?" Or, "How have you approached those different businesses?" In terms of their role either being as a cash support or actually a skill support. Yeah, look, it's a really good question actually because I do look back on it. I think at the time, it's funny how the relevance of what your good at kind of comes to you a little bit and how you can see that what might have started off as just a basic thing. Can we get you in to do a week? Turns into something longer and turns into something bigger and it's snowballs from there. I think certainly there's always been, "I'll do this because I can see that there is a potential for a bigger Bulls Eye Ag piece to play." That's not discounting as well that cash piece that is driving the business. There's been several times where I've had to remove myself from Bulls Eye Ag as a paid employee, received that money from somewhere else so that Bulls Eye Ag can actually grow and prosper, which seems really backwards. But like I said, that capital needs to come from somewhere and generally if you're running a business where there's only one or two employees in the business, you as the one that owns it are generally the biggest person trying to pull the needs of the money out of it. You're the biggest expense to the business and you need to pull that back. I just went out looking for where I could make a difference where Bulls Eye Ag potentially could play a part and where there was also good income to be made as well. So I'm interested with you actually then, I guess at times, let's say removing yourself, whether it's just literally from the expense sheet because I know you care about it and you're too passionate about the business to ever remove yourself. But how do you actually find and what was it when it came to building a team? What were the characteristics of people you were looking for that you hired, given that the nature of the work and position you're at in the startup business? It was, I guess, floating in and out in terms of being able to be around them all the time versus sometimes completely removed. Yeah. So employing the right people is without a doubt the most vital and critical part of a business growing and developing. I've found the step going from hiring one person really, really hard and then to hiring kind of, you know, your fifth and your sixth and your seventh and so on, it gets easier. But those first one or two people that you hire, I think, is the most critical to the success of the ongoing business. We look for people that are absolutely self-motivated, self-driven, autonomous. They don't need their handheld. They're just ready to get in. And we try to really feed that entrepreneurial spirit in them. When they come and you go into that interview and they're talking to you about how they think they can make a difference in your business, how they love parts of the business and how they think you can really really thought about it, that feels made with a heap of trust straight up the bat. Like they're thinking about it. They've got an idea and it's my job and the company's job to support and structure them to be able to go for that. So I don't necessarily employ for an opening that I've got at a certain point of time. I'm really looking at the person and saying, how do we build a business around you? The piece that you add, how do we go, look, this wasn't a direction. I wanted to go right now, but you're here. You're ready to go. You're keen. Let's get you in and start driving that pathway forward. And there's some classic examples in our business where we pivoted. We were probably a good couple of years away from where we've gone and need that. The right person came with the right skill set and we said, right, let's do this. I'd love to know like from the management point of view. So you then built, we brought these people in to then build the business around it. How have you managed that I guess the business isn't nearly that momentum is moving in front of the wagon and you're actually taking off? How do you keep the reins in when you've got these really skilled, capable people? Why are you still kind of figuring it out? I think I get tired a little bit too much that I'm just racing, racing, racing. It's always going forward, forward. And we got caught a little while ago when we had so much work and not enough people. And you can see how the team dynamic was starting to suffer because everyone was flooded out. Like so flat out that no one really, we weren't doing a great job. We were kind of getting bees and everything and that's not really what our business is about. We want to be the best of what we do. So we had to figure out and likely some things happened and we were able to manage through that. But I think it's been conscious of what the team is telling you and being able to read the dynamic of the team. No one said to me, hey, Mitch, this is ridiculous. You've got to stop. It was more how I could see how things were changing when we were going to our weekly meetings and doing a catch up. And you can just say there was a bit of a lack of excitement or the lack of drive or, you know, I want the guys and the members of my team to be really pumped about what our next plan is and what we're working towards. Not, you know, oh God, I've got to go do this. Like, you know, how am I going to feel this in with my weight? It's just too much on. So it's been able to pick up those cues and yeah, that's how I kind of read it is picking up the cues Like I said, none of your staff are ever gonna come up to you and say, mate, you know, you're a shit boss And this up this train is just going off the rails They're only gonna tell you that when they said hey, he's my redundancy and I'm kind of going. Yeah I'd love to know on that so we'll call it systems or prices or whatever it is in your business But how have you actually built that to being able to manage the team as it has grown? So like you kind of just gave the example there of meetings But what other that yeah systems and prices have you actually used to help you manage your team? Yeah, so look we started off very basic like we're on Gmail accounts and Excel spreadsheets like it was just Basin can free and that works fine Like I think what's the important part about that is as you're growing and starting up is don't try to think that you need all those Programs and mechanisms in there from the stuff because they do cost money like I'll tell you now in our IT I never thought I'd pay the IT bills that I pay now, but it's required so get be scrappy like do it through your Excel spreadsheets Have your Gmail account and just kind of battle through it when there's a certain size and scale and look I think you're for me came to the world at around five staff is that it was time to start thinking a bit more around How do we kind of protect our clients security and our clients? You know because we hold a lot of financial information and you know sensitive information We need to make sure we're protecting that as best we can But we also need to make sure that we're functioning as a business really well - and I learned of some of those programs Working for those companies outside of Bullseye Ag like what was some of the programs that they were using that were really really good Well, the ones that I hated using and you know avoid them at all costs so to answer your question is I Really look for things that are integratable with each other so if you're running your accounting software through zero for example Is look for the different apps and plugins and things like that that will speak to it So prime example of that is for our project management tool that we've got we use zero accounting Project management tool that we've got we've found that there was a project management function that actually existed in zero That will automatically do all your invoicing and things like that and we coded it up We probably don't use it right but it works for us and it means that for the team is the only ever like when they're logging a time when they're looking at their Pays lips when they're putting in their league when they're doing everything it's all it just one Out and that makes it really easy for onboarding for ongoing work And yeah, it makes it easier for me that I've got one click functionality and one kind of you know home It's been a game changer because we've only recently started to use that as well And I think for me one I'm a very visual person, but being literally able to look at it and go this is what we forecast and estimate it's going to expense as you're going through it's like cool This is where we're blowing out budget. This is where we're conserving and then you start to look at it And it just gives you that literally up to date information as long as you're doing you putting your info in it's all there Yeah, and especially when like us when we're developing new service offerings that we can do is The first couple always going to be a shot in the dark right like you don't know if it's going to take you 15 hours or 50 hours like you look at it through a lens of oh, yeah This is pretty easy and then first hurdle comes and the second hurdle comes and the third hurdle comes and all of a sudden You're blowing out and so for the next person that you know you're applying that service for you look at it and go okay Here's where we went over here's where we went under and you're able to really refine that estimate or that quote So that you can better prepare your clients for the cost and also have a business that doesn't just go backwards in money Yeah, because it's very easy to do that Absolutely one other question a few months ago. I had someone come up to me and they were like oh the unreal thing about the podcast All these that sometimes it's the only other voice. Oh here across a day because people are out working in patics By themselves fencing or whatever it might be but for you how have you approached managing your team because often you want to see them for Days weeks at a time you could be in one side of the state they could be in the other How do you actually check in with them at a personal level but actually from a business productivity level that you're managing the aid also different staff? Yeah, no look It's one that you've got to be careful because you never want to be that micro manager right like you know as I said When we employ we employ for that autonomy and that entrepreneurship spirit that they've got There's no point doing that and then micro-managing them Yeah, so that they don't do anything other than your with your approval So the way that we generally do it is that I know got this from the corporate world is For instance, we just had an end-of-finance we year party where we all kind of caught up and had a big lunch and we were all in the one spot for a lunch Like we carved out that time we do the same thing for End of year we look at different team events We do a quarterly update as well where we'll all be in the one place are trying to bring people all the whole team together At set dates upon really important and the team gets a lot out of that the other one is regular catch up So we dissect our team into what the different roles that they have within the business So there's going to be you know your farm managers and farm staff There's ones that are focused on management of adjustment and leasing There's project teams so we kind of cut them up We did try to do whims where everyone was included and it went on forever No, I really got much out of it. So then we've now chunked that down and gone right out Let's just talk about what's happening on the different farms that we're managing for clients and that that's that team Then let's go over to this team. We have that we've but it's much more concise and much more structured around who's in the conversation The other thing is I don't think it can be rated more highly is understanding what is going on a little bit in your team's private life So it might be that someone's kids sick it might be that someone's going through a family issue That they've had to tell you about because they've got to take leave or something like that is just having that little bit of a check in just saying Hey, hope everything's okay, you know One of our guys his family starts sale going on for his family heard how's the start sale go? What was your price and did you get good interest just those little things which you know I have to jump down in my diary because I'll forget but Those little things made a big difference. I think that you know as someone that's trying to lead a team forward Is that you think you care about that little stuff? I don't know if as you get a bigger and bigger business that that's harder and harder to do But I really tried to make an effort to jot down some notes about what's happening with the different team members and Usually I get the same back which is awesome So I might say that I've got to be offline for the next two days because I'm gonna sip Pena Calada's been my bum in the sand Somewhere which doesn't really happen but I'll come back and someone will say you know How are the cocktails or something like that and we share that a lot and the team does it with each other as well Which is really really important. So that's a big one as well I think it's not always about when I contact you. It's about work It's about it's either a chat or it could be about work It's that whole sandwich compliment sandwiches, you know Sometimes you start off with something off the cuff and then it leads into the work portion and then finish it off So yeah always trying to bring a bit more of a personal dynamic to a request or something And has it surprised you in terms of the amount of time it takes to actually really think and plan out those different aspects and Spend the time being really conscious of your employees. Yeah, no it takes a lot of time But I think that that's the more and more that I go through it the more and more that that is the important part of time that's leading a business is I don't hide like I said to tell people what to do I have people that are either better at that thing than I am or I can do it more efficiently or It fits a gap and so my role I see it is just trying to get all those different components to work together as smoothly as possible I obviously get it wrong But when everything's going smoothly and the work is kind of coming in and everything's getting done Is it some you know, it's a real pleasure to run the business. There's always challenges Like there is always always challenges always fires to put out But it is a lot of work to make sure that you are keeping in touch with what the team's doing Especially in this remote world like you know, what the team's doing Where in the air that's another big one is that safety thing for me is you know, we all work on a farming kind of platform And you might be the only person that's out there on a job in the middle of book Making sure that Everyone knows where someone is and we use our look calendars for that is that they've got their jotted down weeks ahead So someone calls me and says hey So and so did come home tonight. I can figure out where they were meant to be then go from there One final question on this and I think it really ties into that team and taking them on the journey within the business as well But for planning the strategy and the vision of where you guys want to go How do you manage that in terms of yes saying this is where we're trying ahead And this is how we're going to get there but also knowing that you are a growing young business and it can evolve really quickly Yep, and no no good question Make complete transparency the only way you're going to get to where you want it to be is if everyone knows the goal and you know Be open and be vulnerable in that. I think I've learned to be much more vulnerable through this process Usually money and finances and things like that you don't feel open to share But I think the more you share about okay. Here's what we did this year This is our goals to set for this year coming I don't think you get looked at as well, you know you learn so much money because When you then break it down for them and go hey See this is my little share here of and this is why I've got great hairs coming up every day is because that part is the only part that actually Matters is just been honest with how the business is going Are you happy with it? Are they happy with it? Can we be doing something better? Are we inefficient somewhere like where's the fence? We talked about that program through zero going look yes, this map look like on paper that it was a really good performer, but when we break down how much time was spent on and resources, it actually was no better than the one we did across the road. So being transparent and taking the team on that journey, really, really important. Yeah, it's been really interesting. I've done that of late. I think just to go, there's a reason we're trying to slog so hard at some of these different things. And also too, these are our priorities, which is we know these are the things that are working. And so over the next six, 12 months, this is what we're just going to focus in on. But this is what it actually takes at a very baseline in order for us to literally just to keep the doors open to try and achieve this. And it's bloody confronting hate. Like you said, the word vulnerable like it is confronting to go through that. Well, I mean, as you know, and most business owners know is 90% plus of their life and their earnings and their income is within a business. So you're kind of almost going to everyone, here's my bank account. This is what it is. It is you got to be vulnerable. But the more I go through it, the more I realize that you can't pretend that you're the holder of those facts and figures and that everyone else just needs to do what you say because you've got the knowledge, you've got to share it and yeah, and be vulnerable to it. And let them ask questions like generally, if the business is going really well, you also need to make sure that they get a benefit of that as well. Or if they can see that you're super stressed, like you said, super stressed and super hungry. And then they see the finances and go, oh, shit, that's why because we're just keeping the lights on at the moment. And particularly in farming, right? Like understanding that in the good seasons, yes, we made a lot of money. And okay, all of that, we're putting for the rainy day fund. But yeah, it's just letting them know how everything relates. And I think you get equity out of that. You get better resourcefulness out of that as well because they want to make sure like instead of doing five round trips in a week, they might do three and that saves fuel and you know, all that kind of stuff. Literally comes down to dollars and cents. Massively. Beautiful. So that brings the first part of this two-part interview with Mitch Hight to a close. Join us next week where we sit down with Mitch to understand what makes Bulls I different from other fund management businesses. How he's approached being a facilitator of conversations within his team and business to make sure that he can empower his staff that their voices are heard, but ultimately that they're making decisions which are in the best interests of the business and their clients going forward. Mitch and I chat about his approach to outsourcing various aspects of the business. And how this then allows them to focus on the areas which are their greatest strengths. So join us next week for part two. This series is supported by the fund business resilience program through the Australian government's future drought fund and the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries. And our aim is to sit down and chat with various people who have lived experience in business management. Through their stories, it's our aim to share their learnings, their approaches and how they've supported developing themselves, their businesses and their teams.