How can I help your business?
Hello, I’m Joe Cussens.
I formed Yardstick to help business owners solve problems & develop strategies for growth.
Having started, grown, then sold a company, I've learnt many lessons forged in the real world. Lessons I'd be happy to share with you.
How can I help you?
My background
My experience comes from founding and growing a successful business through the turbulent times of the 2008 financial crash, Brexit, and the pandemic. I made plenty of mistakes and learnt a lot along the way.
Now I've started Yardstick to draw on that experience and help other business owners.
GROWTH & EXIT
I can help you regardless of where you and your business are on your journey. I can help bring clarity to ‘growth and exit’ - to help you understand where you are on that journey, whether that’s a first business case, funding for growth, rationalising, shortlisting acquirors for exit or anything in between.
My job is to add real value to your business.
How I can help
Strategies for growth
Fresh perspective is invaluable to business owners when developing growth strategies, enabling them to see their business in a broader context & identify new opportunities.
I can bring this and help you identify new opportunities & potential threats. Working together we can maximise the former & minimise the latter.
Brand & marketing
Non exec director
Preparing for exit
Creating the right culture
Operations
It's a crowded world out there - you need to stand out for the right reasons. How do your customers & prospects see you now? Is it how you want them to see you?
Your brand says everything about you, communicating your values & positioning to the outside world. It's much more than just a logo, it should shine through in all your touchpoints.
I can help you develop a compelling brand proposition, and strategies to communicate it effectively to your customers.
Creating a fantastic company culture is possibly the most powerful thing you do for your business. A vibrant, heathly culture unlocks the potential in your organisation, delivering increased employee engagement, higher customer satisfaction & improved company performance.
I can show you how to create the right culture for you, and how it can deliver happy staff & healthy profits.
Successful businesses are built on a foundation of robust systems & processes. There are a wealth of constantly evolving tools & platforms that can help your organisation - my job is to know about them and the value they can offer you.
Working together, we can implement solutions to increase efficiency & deliver better management information.
As a non-executive director I can bring experience & perspective to help your executive team with decision making.
Call it mentoring or general one to one support, I can also act as a non-judgemental sounding board you can talk to in confidence.
The prospect of selling your business can be daunting - from finding a buyer to navigating due diligence.
I can help you to prepare & guide you through the process, helping you find the right legal team & ensuring you achieve maximum sale value.
experiences
I love the business of business.
I love the challenge of solving problems & overcoming issues.
MY STORY
I started The Bath Pub Company with one small pub – over the years we expanded & opened new sites until we employed over 150 people with an annual turnover of £6m. In 2023, we sold the company to St Austell Brewery.
Before that, I worked in advertising, where I developed a solid understanding of brand strategy, marketing & advertising – handy stuff to have in your toolkit.
Starting, building, then selling a company takes you on a real journey - testing your resilience & resourcefulness.
Business is all about relationships.
A few people I've worked with...
”Joe has been invaluable in immersing himself in our business to offer guidance on our new website, customer proposition, finance, strategy and brand. Having an expert advisor to navigate us through our rebrand was incredibly beneficial and we’re delighted with the outcome.”
Piero Carrino, MD,
Football Careers
”I worked with Joe over a number of years, supporting him in his role as Managing Director of The Bath Company group. I was impressed with the breadth of the work he undertook in this role; he not only took the lead on the strategic direction of the group, but the financial and human resource requirements, as well as the very important day-to-day operational activities."
Ian Lloyd, Partner,
Milsted Langdon
”I’ve known Joe for about thirty years and regularly checked in with him across two of my own start ups. He’s grounded, honest, and hugely insightful. I’ve come to rely on that honesty, painful as it sometimes is, to help stay true to the longer term goal. In my experience most consultants tell me what they think I want to hear. Joe tells me what I need to hear.”
Nik Margolis, CEO,
Team Eleven
”I had the pleasure of working with Joe for over 4 yrs. He has a wealth of experience that you can only develop from living the reality of running your own successful SME for over 10 years. Joe has a broad set of skills that are of enormously valuable to any growing SME”
Myles Arnott, Co-Founder
Full Stack Modeller
”I’ve known Joe and tracked his successful ventures with Bath Pub Company for several years. He created an excellent pub business and it was no surprise that he successful exited the Company as proof of the value he had created. Joe’s experience would be highly beneficial to other business owners looking to tap into his positive experience”
Mark Crowther
Board Member, Advisor, Investor
