Build Your Empire

Mark Bouris shares his hard-won strategies on how to be your own boss and turbocharge your business.

- Luke Benedictus

IT’S PAYBACK TIME for Mark Bouris. Ever since selling his company, Wizard Home Loans, for $500 million back in 2004, the Sydney business guru has established himself as Australia’s face of entrepreneurial success. Yet for all his big wins in the property and finance sectors, Bouris admits he couldn’t have done it alone.

“When I was starting my businesses, people taught me and showed me things and they helped me along,” he says. “What I’m doing now is returning the favour back to Australian small businesses.”

That’s the motivation behind The Mentor. In the new Channel 7 series, Bouris is parachuted into struggling businesses to offer strategic guidance on how to transform their fortunes. “We’re not talking about fancy businesses, we’re talking about hairdressers, pizza shops, lawnmower fixers, florists,” he explains. “They’ve all got a different problem and they’re all seeking help.”

Filming the show highlighted key principles that can help any business to get ahead. Use the mentor’s strategies to set yourself up for success.

WRITE YOUR OWN RULE BOOK

Lack of structure. Bouris reckons that’s the single most common problem holding back businesses on The Mentor. “A lot of these people weren’t tracking themselves to a forecast so they didn’t know if they were making any money,” he says.

It doesn’t matter how good your product or service is – any business will splutter without sound structural scaffolding to support it. Basic non-negotiables include a solid accounts system, a firm business plan and detailed forecasts to chart your progress.