Beyond Billables

Today, our good friend (and powerhouse business mogul), Caralee Fontenele, joins us on the show. Caralee is the director of Scalable Law, a firm helping lawyers grow their business to new heights. She is also the director of Collective Family Law, founded in 2008. But wait – there's more. When she isn't busy running her two firms, Caralee is also a successful podcast host, author, and co-ordinator...

Our guest this week, Mollie Tregillis, coaches clever women to reconnect with themselves and find their own unique ways to thrive in work and life.  Mollie is also a facilitator, strategic advisor, former lawyer, and legal operations director – she's impressively worn many hats in the last few years, with all of her experience driving her passion to help other women.  On the show, we discuss - Pur...

Fractional GCs are the rage right now. My awesome guest this week, Celeste Norman, happens to be one of the best!    Celeste owns Rayne Legal, a law firm delivering fractional legal, risk, compliance, and governance to financial services firms. Not just a great lawyer, Celeste deeply understands all commercial drivers of financial services businesses and has set out to create a business to help th...

Meet voice coach and public speaking sensation, Sally Prosser.  Sally's mission is simple: to help business owners find their authentic voice, speak with confidence, and land their message clearly.  With several impressive qualifications, including a licentiate diploma in speech & drama teaching, and a bachelor of laws and media communication (majoring in journalism); Sally is more than experience...

If done well and from an authentic place, imagery can completely change the perception and success of your business.  Today, we host the brilliant Kate Karanges, owner of imagery and production agency The Latest. For full disclosure, Kate has taken our images for the last few years – and has also worked with our clients – so we know how significant the impact of her images can be.  This episode, h...

Meet John Farren, Partner and Co-Founder of Farren McRae Workplace Lawyers & Consultants – and one of the very best lawyers on LinkedIn! As a leading employment lawyer, John saw the opportunity LinkedIn presented to build relationships and leverage his time. Since then, he has made LinkedIn central to his business success.  John has quite the story, from professional trumpet player to business own...

How come some businesses can scale, and others can't? Have you thought about advertising, but found it all too complex? On today's show, I sat down with Lauren Swidenbank, Founder of Cali Social and owner of Collabosaurus.    Lauren is truly a guru of all things online advertising, so I was excited to pick her brain on your behalf over Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn ads and everything in between....

Meet Leanne Hughes, self-proclaimed 'thought breeder'; successful business strategist, author and podcaster! Leanne's biggest focus? To have a great business, you need a great team – and Leanne is an expert in helping grow them.  With a background in psychology, and experience working for a range of organisations; Leanne set out on her own as a consultant in 2019 and hasn't looked back. Her joy li...

Meet Steph Taylor, self-confessed corporate dropout turned online business entrepreneur. Steph is part of the Hubspot network; and the host of the Imperfect Action podcast, with over 800 episodes recorded.   So what does she actually do? Well, in a nutshell, Steph helps her clients build reliably profitable online businesses so they can spend less time on work and gain more time to enjoy their lif...

Today's smiling guest is the one and only Jason Malouin. Jason is a creative wizard, founder and incredible portrait photographer at Super Power Portraits. He also happens to be all around one of the most infectiously positive people I know. With his incredible energy and commitment to insanely good photos, Jason helps his clients show up at the top of their game. From portraits in Pennsylvania to...

Meet Ella Doyle, social media expert and founder of Social Cut agency. Ella may not have intended on being an agency owner, but that's what happened after she was begged to help with a friend's social content over 8 years ago.  Can you build a successful agency by accident? Yes! Are there still heaps of opportunities to grow your business using content? Absolutely! Fast forward 8 years, and Ella h...

It's our last podcast episode of the current season! This week, we're joined by Dan Mackay and Michael Chapman from Melbourne-based firm Mackay Chapman. Mackay Chapman are high-stakes regulatory, financial services, insolvency and complex disputes lawyers – and they also happen to be two of our long-term, ongoing clients (and friends in business). Specialists at what they do and with 25 years of s...

Brad Turville is a strategic advisor who works with business owners to better manage, grow and exit their business – something he successfully did himself before showing others how to do the same. Recently, his work has a specific focus on strategic planning and financial management consulting. Brad's portfolio is impressive, with experience in running workshops and group accountability programs....

Tyrone is an expert in Australian estate planning and wealth protection. He founded firm Empire Law with the goal of helping Australians protect their businesses and secure their wealth so that they may leave a legacy behind for their families. His passion for estate planning and belief that tailored estate planning isn't exclusively for the rich and famous – but for every Australian – is admirabl...

Andrew Goldstein is Managing Director and Founder of Goldstein Legal, a boutique legal practice advising and supporting financial services businesses. Andrew's legal background includes several years in private practice with mid and top tier firms, and several years a senior in-house practitioner with Macquarie, Challenger, Australian Ethical and Ardea. Now, his focus is on the legal needs of inve...

Chris Kondou works alongside driven & passionate CEO's to build financial strategies and unlock business growth. He has lend his guiding hand across a wide range of industries, from professional services, to manufacturing & wholesale.  Chris has recently embarked on his biggest challenge as founder of his own CFO Advisory firm, finding a new passion for business development & entrepreneurship. On...

On the show this week, we welcome Tim Whybourne, Managing Partner at Emanuel, Whybourne and Loehr, an investment advisory firm with offices in Sydney and Brisbane.   EW&L have also been an ongoing Beyond Billables client for the last eighteen months.  On the show we discussed Tim's career, how he and the team have grown EW&L, and the challenges all professional services firms face. We also discuss...

Stefanie Costi is a speaker, writer and lawyer whose true passion lies in advocating for a safer and more inclusive future of work. After an experience with bullying left Stef with workplace PTSD, she decided to share her story to help make a real difference. Stef has delivered keynotes on workplace bullying, psychological safety at work and mental health at the National Press Club of Australia, t...

In this week's Beyond Billables podcast I sat down with Devan King, founder of Ikigai Wealth. Devan has a fantastic story and shared his insights on business and life over the course of what was a very enjoyable show. Devan has a great philosophy that drives his business which I know will resonate with a lot of our listeners.  Devan is a financial planner with over 15 years of industry experience....

On the show this week, we welcomed back the always outstanding James d'Apice, founder of Gravamen, and 'Coffee and a Case Note'. Today, we answer one fundamental question I get a lot - can social media help you grow a real business? For James, the answer is "absolutely"! As one of Australia's most prolific professional services content creators, James has been building a personal brand across soci...

In this episode of Beyond Billables, Mike engages in a candid conversation with Claire Styles, founder of C Legal and Co. Claire shares her journey of building a successful legal services business over the past two and a half years. The discussion delves into the key elements of her business development strategy, encompassing branding, social media, content creation, and marketing. As a solo entre...

Business development can be a minefield. How do you become great at it? Which strategies work? Which don't? On the podcast this week, we dive into key questions surrounding BD with returning guest Matthew Hollings, Director of Clients and Marketing at Sky Discovery. While this discussion is largely focussed on business development, we also discuss Matthew's background in law, the industry of many...

AI is changing the SEO game forever. Is your business ready? Today on the show, I chat with James Banks, Founder of Rankmax. AI. Rankmax is an AI SEO business that assists enterprises looking to leverage the power of AI, and ultimately grow website traffic. Having worked in the industry for 15 years, James recognised the huge changes AI was bringing which drove him to launch Rankmax in 2023. Today...

In this week's show, Mike dives into the  "Net, Lure and Spear" marketing framework as a way to make better decisions on where you invest your marketing, BD and content investments.  Mike dives into the significance of distinguishing between these three elements when investing time and resources in marketing your business. Net fishing involves broad messaging and brand building, creating a lasting...

On this week's show I sat down with my friend and incredibly successful online business strategist Steph Taylor. Steph helps service-based business owners build profitable and sustainable online businesses that continue to grow even when they're offline.  This was a great discussion on Steph's business journey, what's worked and what hasn't, and how she has managed to find success. Steph and I wor...