The Better SMB Podcast

The Better SMB Limited
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Join hosts David Altena and Rob Bull as they delve into the subject of small and medium- business productivity in New Zealand. With a focus on driving operational excellence and business improvement, The Better SMB Podcast is your go-to resource for strategies, insights, and success stories from the front lines of the SMB sector.  Despite New Zealand’s historical challenges with productivity compared to our OECD peers, David and Rob are on a mission to turn the tide. Tune in to discover actionable tips, expert interviews, and innovative ideas that will help your business thrive in today’s competitive landscape. Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, The Better SMB Podcast will equip you with the tools you need to enhance productivity and achieve your business goals. Connect with us on LinkedIn: @DavidAltena and @RobBull

  1. 4d ago

    Ep 46. A Fair Go? Dan Rosewarne on Labour's Plan for NZ's 530,000 Small Businesses

    Part of Better SMB's Election 2026 series — sitting down with each major party's small business spokesperson ahead of 7 November. Before two decades in the NZ Army and now Parliament, Dan Rosewarne struggled at school and found his path through vocational training. He walks David and Rob through Labour's Small Business Action Plan ("A Fair Go") and its follow-up, Small Business First — and what it would actually mean for a tradie, a café owner, or a sole trader. In this episode: The real story behind the 15-day payment rule: a $15k materials bill, a 90-day wait, and why "paid on time" isn't yet the lawScrapping Investment Boost for a $10,000 instant asset write-off — and Labour's answer to the "$5 billion tax grab" criticismRaising the GST threshold to $80,000, taking 35,000 of the smallest operators out of GST altogetherThe 15% target for government contracts going to small business — and who's accountable if it's missedCapability, AI support, and the case for "earning the right to automate" before pushing adoptionWhat two decades in the military and a cancer diagnosis taught Dan about leading under pressure Key quote: "Regardless of who you vote for this election, the future performance of your business won't be determined by policy alone. It will be determined by the decisions you make, the capability you build, and the actions you take every day." — David Altena Book recommendation: Dan's pick for SME owners — That Will Never Work by Marc Randolph, co-founder and first CEO of Netflix 🔗 Dan Rosewarne MP — Labour Party: labour.org.nz/our-team/dan-rosewarne🔗 Labour's Small Business Action Plan: labour.org.nz/small-business-action-plan🔗 Small Business First: labour.org.nz/small-business-first📊 Benchmark your own business with PerformIQ: www.thebettersmb.com/nz-manufacturer-signup/🌐 The Better SMB: www.thebettersmb.com🎙️ The Better SMB Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/0VmzaRqeU5g94kzfPRKQlq Proudly sponsored by Setseed — www.setseed.com #BetterSMB #Election2026 #NZPolitics #SmallBusiness #SMBPolicy

  2. Sep 21

    Ep 45. Will It Actually Help? Qiulae Wong on What the Opportunity Party Would Change for NZ's SMBs

    With hosts David Altena & Rob Bull | Guest: Qiulae Wong, Leader, The Opportunity Party New Zealand has been unable to meaningfully lift productivity for 40+ years, despite inquiries, restructures and reforms. Qiulae Wong — leader of The Opportunity Party, with a career in sustainable and ethical business including the B Corp movement — joins David and Rob to test her party's policies against one simple question: not whether they sound good, but whether they'd genuinely help SME owners build capability, capacity and confidence. In this episode: What "radically centrist" actually means, and why Qiulae argues the left-right divide is holding New Zealand backThe B Corp philosophy: putting social and environmental impact on equal footing with profit — and what that looks like inside a small businessThe tax reset policy explained in plain terms — and an honest admission that some SME owners could be worse off under itThe Breakthrough Economy policy: widening access to R&D tax credits and smaller, faster grants so the innovation pipeline isn't just for big businessRob's pushback: R&D policy is only useful if SMEs have the time and capability to act on it in the first placeClosing test for listeners: will this policy actually make it easier to build a capable, resilient small business — not just whether it polls well Key quote: "We simply need to enact the playbook that [other OECD countries] have done over the last couple of decades." — Qiulae Wong Book recommendation: Qiulae's pick for SME leaders — Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia 🔗 The Opportunity Party: www.opportunity.org.nz📊 Benchmark your own business with PerformIQ: www.thebettersmb.com/nz-manufacturer-signup/🌐 The Better SMB: www.thebettersmb.com🎙️ The Better SMB Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/0VmzaRqeU5g94kzfPRKQlq Proudly sponsored by Setseed — www.setseed.com #BetterSMB #NZPolitics #SMBPolicy #Productivity #NZBusiness

  3. Sep 8

    Ep 44. Better Isn't Bigger — Dr Paul Wood on Why Continuous Improvement Starts With the Leader, Not the Business

    With hosts David Altena & Rob Bull and special guest: Dr Paul Wood, author of Better Never Stops. Growth and improvement aren't the same thing. Some businesses get bigger and more complicated. Some hit their targets while quietly drifting from what made them great. Dr Paul Wood — psychologist, former SAS and Hurricanes performance consultant, and author of Better Never Stops — joins David and Rob to unpack what continuous improvement actually looks like for the person running the business, not just the business itself. In this episode: The line between healthy continuous improvement and never feeling like anything is good enough"Personal prisons": the limiting mindsets that quietly hold capable owners back — including the assumption that everyone should care as much as you doWhat elite environments like the SAS and the Hurricanes do differently that an average NZ business could actually borrowGenuine self-accountability for a leader with no one above them to report toThe smallest first move to reverse slipping standards — service, culture, or your own habitsWhy "can't" is the word to ban from your leadership team's vocabulary — and what to replace it with Key quote: "Better isn't really about fixing a business. It's about continually refining the person leading it." — David Altena Book recommendation: Paul's pick for business owners — Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown 📖 Paul Wood — paulwood.com📚 Better Never Stops — HarperCollins NZ: www.harpercollins.co.nz/9781775542971/better-never-stops/📊 Benchmark your own business with PerformIQ: www.thebettersmb.com/nz-manufacturer-signup/🌐 The Better SMB: www.thebettersmb.com🎙️ The Better SMB Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/0VmzaRqeU5g94kzfPRKQlq Proudly sponsored by Setseed — www.setseed.com #BetterSMB #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement #NZBusiness #BetterNeverStops

  4. Sep 1

    Ep 43. Listed Isn't the Same as Discoverable — What 2,000 Businesses Get Wrong About Getting Found

    With hosts David Altena & Rob Bull | Guest: Elise Balsillie, Head of Thryv Australia & New Zealand Three-quarters of NZ business owners think their online presence is strong. Only about half their own customers agree. Elise Balsillie draws on Thryv's 2025 Business Index — 2,000+ SME decision-makers and customers across Australia and NZ — to unpack that gap, and what it now takes to get found when customers are asking AI, not just Google, who to trust. In this episode: The confidence gap: why owners rate their own online presence far higher than customers actually experience itGEO vs SEO in plain English — what changes now that AI tools do the "searching" on a customer's behalfWhat ChatGPT or Google's AI Overview actually looks at when it recommends a plumber, accountant, or bookkeeperWhy reviews and response speed matter more than a flashy website redesignThe one hour a week that moves the needle further than a full rebrandA simple starting point: 15 minutes a week Googling your own business and three competitors, from your phoneKey quote: "Being listed is not the same as being discoverable." — David Altena 🔗 Thryv — Small Business Marketing Software: www.thryv.com📊 Benchmark your own business with PerformIQ: www.thebettersmb.com/nz-manufacturer-signup/🌐 The Better SMB: www.thebettersmb.com🎙️ The Better SMB Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/0VmzaRqeU5g94kzfPRKQlq Proudly sponsored by Setseed — www.setseed.com #BetterSMB #Thryv #GEO #SEO #SMBMarketing #NZBusiness

  5. Aug 27

    Ep 42. Connecting the Dots — Why Busy, Capable Businesses Still Aren't Moving Fast Enough

    Smart people, sensible ideas, real effort — and yet the business isn't moving as fast as it should. David and Rob unpack why: it's rarely a strategy problem, a people problem, or a technology problem on its own. It's a connection problem — and it's quietly cancelling out good work in businesses everywhere. In this episode: The All Blacks analogy for misalignment: brilliant forwards, brilliant backs, no shared game planWhy only half of NZ SMEs have a documented plan — and why the rest run on reactive managementThe "hamster wheel" trap: teams return from training or conferences inspired, then slide straight back to status quoHow to actually get a team to own the plan — devolved, military-style leadership over top-down mandatesWhy throwing technology at a broken process just makes chaos happen fasterA simple test for your own business: ask your three most senior people to write down their top three priorities, independentlyKey quote: "The behaviours of your people are the result of the system that you built." — Rob Bull, quoting W. Edwards Deming 📊 Find out where your dots aren't connecting — benchmark your business with PerformIQ: www.thebettersmb.com/nz-manufacturer-signup/📰 Read the article this episode is based on — Connecting the Dots, NZ Manufacturer, The Last Word, June 2026🌐 The Better SMB: www.thebettersmb.com🎙️ The Better SMB Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/0VmzaRqeU5g94kzfPRKQlq Proudly sponsored by Setseed — www.setseed.com #BetterSMB #NZManufacturing #Leadership #BusinessAlignment #SMBNZ

  6. Aug 20

    Ep 41. Election Year Excuses — Why NZ Manufacturers Can't Afford to Wait

    Every three years, New Zealand business hits pause and waits for political clarity before it moves. David and Rob call time on that habit. In 2026, hesitation isn't caution — it's a competitive disadvantage, and the data on productivity, closures, and unemployment backs them up. In this episode: Why election years trigger a "wait and see" mindset — and why it's mostly noise, not strategyThe uncomfortable truth about NZ's business closures, inflation, and where we actually stand against the OECD on unemploymentThe real problem isn't the election — it's that most SMBs don't plan, don't set 90-day sprints, and end up purely reactiveFour practical moves to build momentum now: benchmark your reality, lock in capital plans early, double down on customers, and run 90-day sprintsThe Warren Buffett lesson: be greedy when others are fearful — why the quiet ones now are positioning to jump ahead Key quote: "There's three types of people in this world — people who make things happen, people who watch things happen, and people who go, 'what just happened?'" — David Altena 📊 Know where you stand before you plan where you're going — benchmark your business with PerformIQ: www.thebettersmb.com/35-by-35/🌐 The Better SMB: www.thebettersmb.com🎙️ The Better SMB Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/0VmzaRqeU5g94kzfPRKQlq Proudly sponsored by Setseed — www.setseed.com

  7. Aug 9

    Ep 40. Your Voice at the Table — Why Lobbying Isn't Just for Big Corporates

    Has a government regulation, policy shift, or piece of legislation ever directly affected your business? Chances are it has. And chances are your response was a BBQ rant, a frustrated call to your accountant, or a LinkedIn post — but not a conversation with the people who actually made the decision. David and Rob sit down with Holly Bennett — lawyer, former political staffer, and founder of Awhi Group, one of New Zealand's most transparent government relations firms. Holly also founded Engage, the country's only organisation dedicated to teaching everyday Kiwi business owners how to lobby effectively. What most SME owners get wrong: they think lobbying requires connections, cash, and a Wellington phone book. Holly dismantles that assumption completely. The biggest myth? That only the big end of town can do it. The most underused tool available to every business owner? Their local MP — and it costs nothing. The conversation covers how to actually engage government — who to talk to, what hat they're wearing, and why sending correspondence to the wrong office means it disappears into a void. Holly also opens up on building Awhi from scratch in a sector most New Zealanders couldn't define, launching Lobbyist.nz to bring ethical standards to a largely unregulated industry, and why now — with an election on the horizon — is the most important time for SMEs to demand their seat at the table. The room where decisions get made has empty chairs. This episode shows you how to pull one out. Show Notes Guest: Holly Bennett — Founder & MD, Awhi Group | Founder, Engage🔗 awhigroup.nz🔗 engage.org.nz🔗 lobbyist.nz The Better SMBEverything for the NZ SME on a high-performance journey.🔗 thebettersmb.com Episode Sponsor: SetseedThe business diagnostic tool built for New Zealand SMEs — benchmark your performance, identify your gaps, and chart your roadmap for growth.🔗 setseed.co.nz Key Topics: Lobbying | Government Relations | SME Advocacy | NZ Policy | Political Engagement | Business Growth | Awhi Group | Engage Follow & Subscribe: Find The Better SMB on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts. If this episode changed how you think about your relationship with government — share it with three business owners who need to hear it.

  8. Jul 29

    Ep 39. Small Business, Big Stakes: ACT's Blueprint for NZ's SME Sector, with Laura McClure MP

    Episode Overview New Zealand has around 530,000 SMEs — they employ 29% of the workforce and contribute over a quarter of GDP. Yet small business owners have long carried a regulatory and employment-law burden built, as the episode puts it, by people who've never signed a payroll or lost sleep over an employment dispute. In this episode, David and Rob sit down with Laura McClure MP — a former small business owner herself, having helped grow her family's fire safety consultancy into a national operation — for a deep, practical conversation on cutting red tape, reforming employment law, and what will actually move the needle on New Zealand's productivity ahead of the 2026 election. From business owner to Parliament: Laura helped scale her family's fire safety consultancy from the South Island into Auckland, and later found herself ironically being paid to help other businesses navigate the very red tape ACT now wants to cut."Orange fatigue": Laura's term for regulatory overload — when constant compliance signals (like endless high-vis and road cones) stop registering as real warnings, making everyone less safe, not more.All that glitters is not gold: The 2015 health and safety reforms are Laura's go-to example of good intent gone wrong — a regulator was created without clear rules on how to actually comply, spawning a costly compliance "cottage industry."The regulation tip-off line: Run by the Ministry of Regulation, it's already fixed absurd rules — like hairdressers unknowingly breaking the law by offering a client a glass of wine or even a cup of tea.The "Golden Handshake" Bill: Laura's member's bill would let employers and employees have honest, protected conversations about ending employment by mutual agreement — modelled on similar law in the UK, Canada, and Australia — without it automatically triggering a personal grievance.Personal grievance risk and hiring: Laura argues the cost and risk of getting a hire wrong is a major reason small business owners hesitate to take people on at all.Leadership over technology: Laura agrees the biggest productivity lever is leadership and culture inside the business — government's job is to get out of the way, not to be the driver of productivity itself.Access to capital: Banks remain risk-averse to lending against a business case versus property, and NZ continues to struggle attracting foreign direct investment — partly, Laura argues, due to Resource Management Act uncertainty.Procurement pain for SMEs: A vivid example — a small-town painter missed out on a swimming pool repaint tender because the process was too complex, and a big contractor won it at four times the price, then subcontracted the same painter to do the job.Quickfire round: book recommendation — Habits of High Performers by James Loughlin. Key Quote "The best thing government can do for a small business owner is to get out of the way — and then actively remove the obstacles it has already placed in the path." The Better SMB is on a mission to lift New Zealand's productivity by helping SMB leaders take practical steps to improve business performance — through the podcast, our column The Last Word, and our growing community. 🌐 Website: The Better SMB — Turning High Performance Into a System Setseed — for your online platform requirementsPerformIQ — for your in-depth business assessment and benchmarking Enjoyed this episode? Like, share, and comment — it helps us bring more great guests and content to New Zealand's SMB community.

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About

Join hosts David Altena and Rob Bull as they delve into the subject of small and medium- business productivity in New Zealand. With a focus on driving operational excellence and business improvement, The Better SMB Podcast is your go-to resource for strategies, insights, and success stories from the front lines of the SMB sector.  Despite New Zealand’s historical challenges with productivity compared to our OECD peers, David and Rob are on a mission to turn the tide. Tune in to discover actionable tips, expert interviews, and innovative ideas that will help your business thrive in today’s competitive landscape. Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, The Better SMB Podcast will equip you with the tools you need to enhance productivity and achieve your business goals. Connect with us on LinkedIn: @DavidAltena and @RobBull

Information

  • Creator
    The Better SMB Limited
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    46
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © The Better SMB Limited
  • Show Website
    The Better SMB Podcast

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