Jarrod Deaton's Linkedin Analytics

I was tied to my last business. Working 7 days a week and feeling like I couldn’t take a single moment off without returning to an absolute mess. I’d taken a break in the past and returned to chaos that took months to repair. The clean-up was so painful that it made me think twice about taking another holiday... But thinking like that is a slippery slope. That mentality makes you believe that it’s not your fault and that others let you down. In some cases maybe that's the case, but the reality is, blaming others is the easy path. And that story you tell yourself about the business needing you to survive. It's a load of BS. The solution for escaping your business is simple (not easy). Empowering good people with high standards to create good processes. As well as telling yourself to snap out of that negative way of thinking... Thankfully I snapped out of it quickly and began looking for ways to grow and unlock freedom. Have you ever felt this way? Love to know your thoughts on how you escaped working huge hours in your business.

There's a part of recruiting that sucks.. - It costs you a ton of cash through recruiters - You spend loads of time interviewing and re-interviewing - Then there's a lengthy onboarding process if you want it to go well. And then they might turn around and leave anyway... When you have to do that over and over again to grow a business, it's easy to see why people don't like it. Partly why I've always looked for ways to do it differently Things like: 1. Build a culture that attracts excellent people instead of only chasing them. 2. Build excellent repeatable onboarding processes to set people up for success. 3. Invest in leadership training so your management team become the type of people who others want to stay and work for. The key thing to remember is: People join companies and leave bad management. When you get culture, onboarding and training right, recruiting problems seem to get way easier. What are your thoughts?

There's nothing better than eating pastry straight from the oven. It's one of the perks of working in the baking industry. But most people don't get to experience it. Even if you get to your local bakery as the doors open, the pastry is often baked a couple of hours ago so they can get set up for the day. It's part of the reason we created a range of artisan pastries you can bake in your home oven. This is a Sour Cherry Danish I baked in a tiny oven at a house I rented a few years ago. It's one of the first trials we did for our Bake At Home range of artisan pastries. The range started as a way to get through COVID, but turned into a new way of living. - A way of levelling up weekend brunch. - Catering for family and friends. - or just rewarding yourself. It became an opportunity for us to share the joy by helping you pull fresh pastry from your home oven and eating it while it's still warm. And it's hard to go back once you'd tried it.

Replace yourself. That's the goal for most business owners. And so it should be because your business increases if value when you do. But the first time I tried in a previous business, it was way too early. After installing a management team I instantly pulled back. I was doing all the pointless jobs and wasn't relied upon for day-to-day operations. I felt like I'd nailed it and had gained some freedom. But I hadn't actually replaced ME. The person who sets the vision and strategy. Instead, I wasted my time 'supporting' the team doing low-level tasks. As I started focusing on the next new opportunity, the business quickly lost its way. Good people didn't want to be there anymore. Sales dropped and the culture turned. I was instantly vacuumed back in to rebuild it. It set me back at least 12 months. But I did learn one giant lesson. Handing over isn't just about handballing operational tasks. It's about building a leadership team that can think and execute strategically.

Feeling stuck? Overwhelmed? Not sure where to start? There are three simple questions I come back to every time. They help cut through the noise, bring clarity, and drive action. Swipe through to see how they work.

Company values aren't wall decals. You're meant to bring them to life. One way to do that is through rich stories. Finding those moments that happen throughout the year that embody the core value entirely and wrap it up nicely in something others can relate to. One of the best ones I can share is around our core value: 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆. On it's own, it's a pretty ambiguous word. And for that reason, it can be interpreted differently by every member of the team. So instead of letting people think that it's giving free stuff away to their mates, we use stories to describe why the word generosity is important to us. Last year a regular customer at one of our stores broke their favourite coffee cup. It had a pretty significant sentimental value to them. So, a few members of our team went home that night and searched the internet to find the exact same one which was no longer available in stores. They ordered it and when it arrived, presented a beautifully made coffee in it to our regular customer the next time they came in. It blew them away! It doesn't just sum up the word generosity, it touches most of our core values in one go. But you can see how stories bring core values to life in a way that wall decals never could. That's the power of using them inside your business.

Most small businesses aren’t “professional.” No corporate rituals. No real structure. Just hustle. That worked for a while—until it didn’t. Communication broke down. People hustled in different directions. Growth slowed. We needed structure...but without the corporate BS. So we started with one simple 5-minute ritual. And it changed everything. Swipe through the carousel to see how. 👉

IMO every business can be fixed by focusing on these five areas: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 – Is what you’re selling good and different enough to stand out? 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 – Are you charging enough to survive and thrive? 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 – Do you have the right team in place, or are you carrying dead weight? 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 – Are you bleeding money on unnecessary costs? 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 – Are you running things efficiently, or are you wasting time and effort? You rarely have the luxury of fixing all 5 at once. So you've got to uncover which one gives you the most leverage to survive long enough to fix the others. (Something I've had to do repeatedly in my own business) This weekend I'm breaking down how we made that decision and worked through it to improve the business. If you'd like to read it, jump on my newsletter before Sunday. The link is in my bio. --- And no, I don't spam your inbox, sell your data, etc. Just useful business insights every Sunday.

Your role as a founder will change and if you don’t change with it, growth will stall. In this carousel, I’ve shared the five phases of growth I’ve experienced and what each one requires from you as a leader. If you're navigating growth (or feeling stuck), this might give you some clarity. Swipe through to read more.

The Dead Horse Theory: Last week, a friend sent me this post that hit home. It was about knowing when to stop, pivot, or push through—something I’ve been wrestling with recently. Most of us don’t even consider stopping until it’s too late. - We like to fix things rather than let go. - We think more effort = better results. - We fear admitting failure and what it says about us. But here’s the brutal truth... More effort won’t fix a fundamentally broken idea. You say things like: “Maybe if we change the branding, customers will love it.” “Let’s throw more money at marketing—it’s just a visibility issue.” “We need more meetings to figure out why it isn’t working.” But the real problem isn’t lack of effort—it’s refusing to let go of an idea that’s screwing everything up. - The best leaders know when to stop. - The best entrepreneurs cut their losses early. - The smartest teams reallocate resources instead of doubling down on failure. If you're in this situation, it's worth asking: 1. Am I solving real problems, or just making myself feel productive? 2. If I started from scratch today, would I still invest in this? 3. Is there actual evidence this will work, or am I just hoping? If you’re holding onto sunk costs, it’s time to pivot. Quitting isn’t failure. It’s a strategic decision to free up time, energy, and money for better opportunities. Stop feeding the dead horse and find the courage to move on. What are your thoughts? --- #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #DecisionMaking

Growth is great... until it isn’t. Read this before scaling your business. I used to believe that more was always better. Chasing hero metrics like topline revenue and head count. More sales. More stores. More customers. Until I realised that more also meant: More moving parts. More complexity. More stress. The reality was... Not every product we made was excellent. Not every revenue stream was profitable. Not every part of our business was scalable. So instead of chasing ANY growth, we started chasing the right growth. - We stopped making inefficient products and focused on products that made sense. - We stopped selling to anyone and started attracting the right customers. - We stopped pushing top-line and focused on the right revenue. It all comes down to getting the right products, to the right people, at the right price. So before you chase more, ask yourself: Do I actually want more of this?

One simple question changed how I think about my business: If you’re growing a business, ask yourself: “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗜 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳?” Not just “more revenue” or “more customers.” But more of the right things. - Do you want more of a certain type of client? - More of a specific type of work? - More high-margin products? - More scalability? When I sat down to answer this question, I realised I had been chasing growth without intention. I thought I wanted more sales. But what I really wanted was more of the right revenue. I thought I wanted more customers. But I really needed more of the right customers. This one question changed how I've rebuilt my business for the future. So... What do you want more of? Drop it in the comments—I’d love to hear it.

Everyone thinks I've gone mad lately... Spending my spare minutes pulling apart a dark corner of the warehouse... But my plan is to create a content kitchen. A space to come together and talk about food, innovation and outrageous ideas. The reality is, we're constantly working on things that never see the light of day but inform or underpin products we end up making. That's the iterative process we live by. But we never share it becuase: - the camera wasn't set up - marketing didn't write a script - it's a bit awkward to say on film But we've got to force it until it feels natural. So I'm dedicating a space in the warehouse to it to firstly force myself to get on camera and share my passion for the food industry and the products we make. Hopefully it breaks a few barriers down for others to join me. Looking forward to sharing more soon.

Building this tiny habit has transformed my business: Every business has a daily rhythm. The things you do on autopilot. But most of the time they're designed to sustain what is there and not improve things. That was exactly what was happening with my business... We'd come in each day and do the: Same actions Same processes Same conversations Over and over. It's hard to see new things when you get in that habit. So you need to make a conscious effort to reprogram your daily rhythm. For example: Instead of walking straight in the door, pause for a moment and see the place like a customer would. Look around like they would. Stand where they would stand. Sit where they would sit. It's powerful stuff when you do things like this daily. You start to see improvements everywhere that make your business better instead of just walking in on autopilot. The key is to program the right things into your daily rhythm that sustain what's there as well as growing it.

Most businesses are waiting too long to greet their customers. By the time they acknowledge you, you're already standing at their counter. It's the equivalent of letting someone walk through the front door of your home and arrive at the kitchen bench before you say hello. But when you treat the front door of your venue as if it's the front door of your home, you see things differently. Imagine a knock at your door. Your best mate is entering because they noticed that the door was open. You haven't seen them for a couple of weeks so you're pretty excited to see them! Your facial expression and body language say enough at this point. But then you let out a massive warm "Heeeey!" that verbalises your excitement. "Good to see you!" you say. "I'm so pleased you dropped by" See how different this is than just leaving someone to walk in in silence. The reality is, often we project to our customers that we're too busy. We're tired from the weekend. We'll get to you when we're ready... So by the time you get around to saying "Hi, what can I get for you", it doesn't feel genuine... You've already told your customers they're not important. The same thing applies to every business. (Even online ones) I know it's easier said than done to execute on this 100% of the time. We struggle with it too. In our case, we make sure someone is standing there ready to go. Making people feel welcome when they arrive at your front door is the starting point to delivering excellent service that they'll return for.

It took us two years to create, but it was worth the wait. Here's what to expect from our new B ake at home sourdough! The problem with buying bread is that you have no idea when it was baked. I love it when bread is still slightly warm after coming out of the oven. But you rarely get a chance to experience that (unless you work at a bakery) so we've been on a quest to give people that same incredible experience by baking it themselves. This product allows you to bake artisan quality sourdough in your home oven in 40 minutes without all the fuss of managing sourdough cultures, mixing and caring for it over a series of days. It gives you the ability to bake amazing fresh sourdough anytime, anywhere. And it's got no nasty additives, no shortcuts—just 100% natural goodness. I cant wait for you to try it! It's in our stores now if you want to give it a go. Look for the red box when you visit.

I make mistakes all the time in business. But often when other people on the team do, it's tempting to call them out. Maybe because when it's your own business you accept your own fails as you grow but expect others perform at a higher standard? It's one of the mindsets I'm thankful I grew out of years ago. I found it was almost always my mistake before theirs. A process or communication problem. Not a people problem. Something that you could have solved. Back then I saw things like: - People in a role they weren't ready for. - Didn't help iron out process problems. - Didn't give them enough training. - Set unrealistic expectations. - Didn't communicate well. When you look at yourself before you point the finger at others, you often find the root cause. And if you acknowledge it you take responsibility first, you: - Create a better culture - Gain control of the outcomes - Solve root causes to big problems And that's the stuff that makes brilliant companies succeed. Love to know your thoughts?

Three Mills turns 9 years old this weekend! But it almost never launched. Here's a quick story from the beginning: Nine years ago I was in a business partnership that went sideways. (yep, the usual story) After a year of trying to sell my share of the business and being blocked by my partners, I had no choice. I had to walk away or lose more than just cash I poured into it. I had three choices at that point. 1) File for personal bankruptcy because I had no way of paying the personal loans I took out to join the business. 2) take a small piece of the business that my partners didn't want and make something of it. Or 3) Find a job and slowly pay off debt for a decade. I wasn't done with business. So with the support of my family, I accepted the terms to buy the used bakery equipment from my business partners. But as it was signed, they gave me two weeks to leave. I had to: - start a company - find bakery space - fit it out and open a cafe - handle legal, finance, banking, branding - move all the bakery equipment out of the space across town Literally set up a company, find a space and build a brick-and-mortar bakery from scratch in 2 weeks. With no cash... After maxing out a credit card to make it happen, I had nothing left for a float for day one and no eftpos yet... So I decided to give coffee and pastry away as a welcome. Then something strange started happening. Customers were so happy we were there that they started doing their own cash transactions with the tips on the bench. They wanted us to succeed! At the end of that first day we had a small pile of money to take to the bank and actually start the business. None of those people realised how much that meant at the time. That type of support for local businesses can mean make or break. For us, it helped us grow to: - 130 incredible employees. - Support loads of wonderful clients. - And create some of the best sourdough and pastries around. It's been a wild ride! Hugely grateful to those first clients who walked in the door on day one. And for some quality mates who pitched in to get us set up. And then every single customer since day one. The amazing team. And for a family who backed me. Hard to express it in a LinkedIn post but THANK YOU ALL!

I took on a business coach a year ago. Here's one pretty massive insight: It took me nearly two decades to go to a coach. I always felt like I could solve the problem myself (in time). I told myself that they were just going to tell me what I already knew and was working on solving. I don't mean this from an ego perspective. More like I knew what to do because I was in the thick of it each day. But the thing is, that's when problems can be the least clear! It's virtually impossible to see what's wrong and how to solve it when you're on the inside every day. It's partly why ideas come flooding in the minute you go on holidays. Or when you go to another business and you can see their problems immediately and know how to solve them. Or when a friend asks you for help and the answers are obvious. The answers are really hard to see when you're the person IN it. That was a big lesson for me. The quality of ideas and questions that came from an outside perspective was a game-changer for me. I thought this might be useful if you're considering asking for coaching.

People with the most leverage in the future will be those who’ve established trust in this low-trust world. Most likely it'll be the ones with an audience of true fans. It’s why so many brands are flocking to add a face to the name instead of relying on their logo. But the problem you face is: The digital world is saturated. Every second person seems to be a guru of this, or that. But watching them get ahead was the final straw for me. So in 2022, I jumped into content creation. At first I was shit scared of what other people in the industry would say. Not to mention my family who no doubt thought I was an idiot. (maybe still do) But want to know something? No one said anything when I launched. Nothing. Nada. Just silence. And then... I started getting DMs from other business leaders wanting to meet up. People joined my newsletter and started writing to me to say how refreshing it was. Don’t get me wrong, it shocked me at first. I wasn’t ready for the engagement. I was just posting and running. But slowly I started taking coffee meets and video calls with others. And the best bit about that? All of a sudden my network was expanding after years of being stagnate. My content started conversations with people I never would have had access to. But let’s get one thing straight - It was only a handful of people. In fact, a few months in, I almost quit (the first time). I was still posting to the void daily and waking at 5.30am to engage with people online for an hour. I was growing nowhere. But after about 6 months of slow growth, I found a crew of people heading in the same direction. And since then, growth has steadily increased to a couple of thousand on here and 24,000 followers X. I gotta admit though, it still feels like a time suck. The lack of immediate results makes you think you're not adding long term value. But the key is to be patient. Got back and re-read that opening line. 'Ultimate value in the future will sit in the hands of those who've developed trust.' And you build trust by continuously showing up. By being visible. By putting value into this world without an ask. It’s the stuff that attracts people to you and makes them stay. And long term, that trust will be the most important asset you own in business. Something that will be impossible to buy or grow quickly. So I say, get off the sidelines and start building online. Good luck!