Strategic Mentors

► What We Do Differently?
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We 𝗮𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲 companies, 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 with owners, or 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿 individuals to build high-income, high-value companies. We structure them so as business grows life becomes easier, not harder. 

We help founders 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 so they're financially set for life for the rest of their lives. 

Whether post-acquisition, or while partnering or mentoring, we use this framework:

🔸 𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝟭 - 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲
→ Starting position: there's a revenue ceiling, and roller-coaster income pattern
→ New outcome: consistent leadflow, high conversions with 'pull' rather than 'pitch'
→ Breakthrough the ceiling, stay at the new level, continue to build

🔸 𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝟮 - 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁
→ Starting position: delivery capacity is limited, constraining growth
→ New outcome: unblock the model to expand capacity at higher profitability
→ Cashflow consistently building as constraints on scale and profitability fixed

🔸 𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝟯 - 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
→ Starting position: business depends on founder, hence locked-in and low valuation
→ New outcome: evolved business no longer depends on founder
→ Founder is now a Profit Orchestrator, no longer locked-in to the hamster wheel

See how it works: https://strategicmentors.co.uk

► Want to know more?
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𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼𝘄? - we are open to acquiring the right businesses
𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 '𝘀𝗼𝗼𝗻'? - we can partner with you to secure your target valuation
𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻? - join The Multipliable Hub to scale your company, your leadership and financial security

𝗦𝗲𝗲 𝗮 𝟳𝗺𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 of the approach here: https://share.zight.com/NQuBKgq8

Tips & insights on Becoming Multipliable at https://profitorchestrators.com
Learn more at https://strategicmentors.co.uk 
Email: ✉ chrisgardener@strategicmentors.co.uk

Strategic Investor & Mentor

Finance Director to a number of SMEs across numerous industries and sectors.
Size range from £500k sales to £10m sales.

Portfolio Finance Director

Electrocomponents plc

Strategic change leader, international business manager, Europe and Asia executive mentor, business unit manager, finance professional

General Manager, Finance Manager & Marketing manager

Grant Thornton

Advisor to range of clients from £500k - £30m sales across many sectors and industries.

Chartered Accountant

1️⃣ Helping turn Founder Businesses into Sellable/Freedom Businesses - from "I'm busy in the business" to "I own this brilliant asset", with the option to keep or sell 2️⃣ Investor & Mentor

For B2B service business owners who've hit six figures but found themselves working harder than ever: there's a different path to seven figures that doesn't demand more of your time and energy.

This isn't just theory - it's wisdom gained from experience....

I've spent 20 years building, exiting, and helping others scale their businesses. But my greatest business lesson didn’t come from financial success—it came from personal tragedy.

When my wife was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor, I had to reimagine everything. With young kids at primary school, business had to fit my life—not the other way around. Money wasn’t the issue. Time was.

After losing her, I had to rebuild with new boundaries. Limited working hours forced me to think differently. The surprise? My business performed better than ever.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗠𝘆 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁?
Most six-figure businesses grow through addition—more revenue, more clients, more complexity. They hit a ceiling because their business depends on them.

Instead, I help business owners become Multipliable—so as the business grows, it gets lighter, not harder to manage. 

Breaking the £1M barrier changes everything—we use surplus cashflow to build a £2M Freedom Fund for true financial independence.

❯ Multiply results while reducing stress—grow without more work.
❯ Retain control while lightening the load—protect your autonomy.
❯ Build financial independence—a business with profits, not pressure, and £100K+ in passive income for life.

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗜 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵:
1. B2B service-based business owners ready for sustainable, intelligent growth.
2. Founders who want their business to fund their freedom, not consume their life.
3. Leaders who know success isn’t just about more money—but more choices.

𝗠𝘆 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱:
❯ Chartered Accountant turned entrepreneur & investor.
❯ Built and exited multiple businesses over 20 years.
❯ Advised & invested in 250+ businesses from startup to £20M valuation.
❯ Amazon bestseller: The Busyness Delusion.
❯ Active portfolio across B2B services, marketing, advisory, IT & cloud, analytics.

𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁:
1. Becoming Multipliable
2. Freedom-First Business Design
3. Removing Growth Constraints
4. Building Wealth Through Business Assets
5. What Actually Matters in Life & Business

𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁:
DM me or learn more at strategicmentors.co.uk

Chris Gardener

Catalyst Careers

Central to everything we offer at Catalyst Careers lies our genuine belief in unlocking career potential for ambitious professionals.

Forget about cookie-cutter approaches. With us, it's all about creating unique strategies that shine a spotlight on the brilliance of individuals and the organisations they work for.

With our blend of business awareness and coaching genius, backed up by trenches-tested corporate insights, our advice isn’t just effective – it’s real. We're not just about the talk; we're about sparking genuinely positive change for both employees and organisations.

What’s more - we are picky about who we work with. Only companies who truly care about their people tick our boxes. If you're all about valuing your team as much as we do, then you're speaking our language.

Who We Help

Individuals:

Our services, from CV advice to career coaching, are designed to guide you at every stage of your working life. Whether you’re hunting for your dream job, need a CV that opens the right doors, or seek support for your first 90 days in a new role, we can help you navigate your professional path with confidence and clarity.

Organisations:

We understand the importance of both finding talent and nurturing it, ensuring your teams are equipped to achieve business goals while fostering a supportive environment. Put simply, we love to work with businesses that value their people.
And for those facing the difficult goodbye of redundancy, our outplacement services help to smooth the path to their next career move.

Our Journey

Following the success of our podcast "Career & Leadership Real Talk", Pamela and I launched Catalyst Careers to provide this same “real” advice to organisations and their people. The idea was born from our combined experience in HR, recruitment, coaching, and corporate leadership. We've since worked with remarkable companies, providing outplacement support and leadership training, ensuring talent retention and business success.

Co-Founder

Corndel

Coach - Executive Development Programme

Career & Leadership Real Talk

Beyond Boundaries Coaching Limited

My passion for coaching started way before my business did, and is now focused in two specific areas

I support those in transition into senior leadership roles within SMEs - people newly recruited or internally promoted within a flat structure where they need to hit the ground running and make a tangible difference at pace. 

The key areas of focus tend to be 

- creating a focused plan for learning and development in the early days of the role whilst also delivering the critical quick wins the business needs

- supporting new leaders to step into their identity as a leader and develop an effective leadership style that is true to them (rather than the way they feel they should be)

- understanding the impact of emotional intelligence in leadership and using the EQi leadership tool to assess and feedback on opportunities to develop this

- understanding the drivers for improving team performance

I also work with founders of service based business owners who are sick of playing around the edges and are ready to back themselves to go all in on what they actually want. Here the focus is on the 'CEO mindset' needed to step up and lead themselves first and foremost rather than hold themselves back.

Coaching with me is not for the faint hearted. Comfort zones get left behind as we get to the heart of what really matters to make the progress that's needed. 

As a coach I'm pragmatic and straightforward rather than academic or fluffy. I don’t use big words, I have a fairly sarcastic sense of humour and I work best with people who are committed to the process but don’t take themselves too seriously. Anyone with a touch of the rebel or mischief maker about them gets bonus points.

If you (or one of your team) might need my support, drop me a DM to find out more about how I could help

Owner & Director

Positive Intelligence

Mental Fitness Coach

The Bird Table Group Ltd

As a certified SME Group Coach at The Bird Table Group Ltd I run small affordable specialist business development groups for women running their own business in the Coventry area.

Group Coach (SME)

Ann Summers

Responsible for 23 stores with a combined turnover of £15m, I achieved sales growth averaging 10% across flagship stores while reducing cash spend on payroll by 9% for 2014/15 financial year.
I acted as retail lead on a project to review, update and relaunch bra fit proposition to customers, resulting in £1m incremental lingerie revenue for the business within a year

Regional Business Manager

La Senza Limited

Responsible for 19 stores in a variety of formats (standalone, concession and clearance) with a combined turnover of £21m and teams totalling approx 275 people. 
In addition to operational responsibilities, the role involved project work such as store openings, establishing a health and safety audit and re-brand projects (converting stores to new brand standards following  a change in ownership).

Regional Manager

Bravissimo

Combined hands on operational and strategic role - full responsibility for store operations plus mail order / website and fulfilment operations (combined turnover of C£45m)

Responsible for determining, implementing, reviewing and improving operational policies and processes to ensure they remained efficient, effective and fit for purpose as the business grew. Shared responsibility for the overall strategy and direction of the business 

Achieved cost savings of over 10% on £1.7m fulfilment staffing budget by improving processes and therefore productivity in 2008/09 financial year

Established and implemented sales through service training programme in stores to maximise sales results while maintaining business service ethos

Retail & Customer Services Director

The first 90 days in a new senior role have a disproportionate impact on your career trajectory. Get it right, and you create momentum that propels you forward. Get it wrong, and you risk damaging your reputation before you've truly begun.

I specialise in helping senior leaders create impact in new strategic roles. Whether you're moving organisations, stepping up internally, or transitioning between corporate and SME - those first few months set the tone for everything that follows.

How do I know? I've lived it. Back in my late 20s I was that high flyer in a fast-growing SME, promoted to director level and suddenly responsible for former peers, remote teams and strategic decisions that would impact the entire business.

Now I help ambitious leaders navigate these transitions successfully. My approach combines strategic insight with practical tools, helping you create immediate impact while developing sustainable leadership practices.

Working with me, leaders consistently report stronger stakeholder relationships, greater clarity on strategic direction, and increased confidence in their decision-making within their first three months.

My signature programme, Leadership Launchpad, supports senior leaders through their critical first 90 days, helping you:

- Create strategic impact without working yourself into the ground
- Build influential relationships that accelerate your success
- Lead authentically rather than trying to fit someone else's mould
- Navigate complexity while maintaining your confidence

Investment: £2,000 with a discount & payment plans available for self-funding leaders.

Lead with Confidence is for established leaders facing new challenges. When the stakes are high and confidence wobbles, this six-month programme helps you rebuild your leadership impact through:

- Strategic decision-making in uncertainty
- Building influence that aligns with your style
- Managing complex stakeholder relationships
- Creating boundaries that protect your energy
- Strengthening your resilience for high-stakes leadership

Investment: £2,000 (£2,250 including Emotional Intelligence assessment)

Need focused support? My First 90 Days Strategic Planning session helps you start strong. We'll craft your roadmap for success, identify potential pitfalls, and ensure you lead with intention rather than simply reacting to demands. £299

Ready to make your next move count? Let's talk about which approach would work best for you - DM me for more info on any of the options.

taplio

The Battle

Chris Gardener

Jacqui Jagger

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