Busting Road Blocks

"Grow the profitable categories." Sounds like a strategy. But is it? In this episode, I share a story from my time working on the Edgell brand in Australia, where the business objective was simple: sell more of the products already making money. The challenge wasn't understanding the objective. The challenge was understanding why consumers would want to buy more. What followed was a...

What if the biggest roadblock in your business isn’t strategy - but your life? In this episode, Janet Charteris sits down with Leo Asprey to explore how personal hardship, career success, and life imbalance collide - and what it takes to redesign your path. Leo Asprey’s career started like many high achievers - trade-qualified, technically skilled, and steadily climbing into senior leadership role...

When businesses talk about strategy, innovation, and growth - the spotlight usually falls on leadership, sales, or product. But what about the people who actually make it work? In this episode of Busting Roadblocks , Janet Charteris speaks with Liz Wilson, whose career across administration, bookkeeping, and operational support roles has given her a unique perspective on how businesses really func...

Running a business comes with no shortage of systems, processes, and strategies - but when pressure hits, it’s people and leadership that determine the outcome. In this episode of Busting Roadblocks , Janet Charteris is joined by Taranaki-based business advisor Paul Duynhoven to explore a leadership challenge many businesses face: taking on more work than a team can realistically deliver. Paul sha...

Sometimes the biggest roadblocks in business aren’t technical challenges or lack of ideas - they’re the decisions we make after the data is already clear. In this solo episode of Busting Roadblocks , Janet Charteris shares a story from early in her career working in product innovation for a multinational cooperative. After developing a premium smoothie product that performed well in testing, Janet...

Sometimes the hardest lessons in business are the ones that test your self-awareness. In this solo episode of Busting Roadblocks , Janet Charteris shares a personal story about ambition, ego, and timing -  when saying “yes” to a great opportunity looked right on paper but didn’t work in practice. After being headhunted for a senior leadership role, Janet found herself in an environment that wasn’t...

What if the biggest barrier to success wasn’t skill or strategy — but mindset? In this episode of Busting Roadblocks , Janet Charteris talks with Robert Triggs , who started his career as an introverted service technician before becoming a top-performing sales director and coach. His transformation didn’t come from more training or new techniques - it began with a shift in how he thought about sel...

We often think implementation is about structure, planning, and discipline - but sometimes the biggest barrier to execution sits quietly inside our own heads. In this episode of Busting Roadblocks , Janet Charteris talks with Keith Dalmar - digital specialist, business coach, radio host, and serial entrepreneur - about how negative self-talk nearly derailed his business, and how he turned it aroun...

One of the biggest growth roadblocks in business is learning how to let go. The shift from doing everything yourself to trusting others with your clients, your systems, and your reputation can feel daunting - but it’s also essential if you want to scale. In this episode of Busting Roadblocks , Janet Charteris speaks with Sarah Groth , a CPA who has worked across large accounting firms, not-for-pro...

What would you do if one of your core product lines was actually losing money - and the problem had been signed off by senior leaders, missed by finance, and hidden in plain sight? That’s the situation I faced when I stepped into a new role. A factory shift had left labour costs underquoted by 400%, and on one SKU we were giving away 50 cents per unit. The obvious answer - just raise the price - w...

What does it take to walk into a failed project - and walk out with a win? Andrea shares how she rebuilt trust, reengineered a path forward, and later applied the same mindset to hiking the entire length of New Zealand. When a UK construction project collapsed mid-flight, Andrea’s company got the call. The previous builder had gone under. Contractors were exposed. Clients were emotionally invested...

What happens when you stop reacting and finally make time to fix the real roadblock? This is the story of how one small baby food brand went from scrappy underdog to category leader - by creating just enough space to think differently. Stuck in firefighting mode? You’re not alone - and you’re not broken. In this episode, I share a story from my time working with an organic baby food company in New...

When crisis hits, your business doesn’t need hierarchy - it needs clarity. In this episode of Busting Roadblocks , I sit down with Dave, a former rescue helicopter paramedic with 25 years of high-stakes experience, now a crisis management consultant. We unpack a real-world example where the person with the title wasn’t the right person for the job - and how ego, emotion, and poor self-awareness ne...

In this episode of Busting Roadblocks , Kerry opens up about the layers of self-discovery, the hard-won insights into how she thinks and leads, and how understanding neurodiversity has changed everything—from how she sees herself to how she supports others. We talk about: The impact of masking in early leadership roles How coaching helped—but also shaped her to “fit the mould” The real challenges...

What does it take to overhaul a 15-year-old system in a high-stakes healthcare environment - without losing the people in it? In this episode of Busting Roadblocks , we sit down with Leanne Simpson, a General Manager who led a major operational transformation in the patient transport sector. From paramedics and pilots to hospitals, government procurement, and funding bodies, Leanne was working at...

When the COVID-19 lockdowns hit, many businesses focused on survival. But for the service business Taka worked in, the real challenge came after the crisis. Gone were the casual chats, shared coffees, and spontaneous team moments. In their place? A relentless stream of emails, meetings, and blurred work-life boundaries. In this episode of Busting Roadblocks , Taka shares how his team recognised th...

When performance dipped across his team, Adam Harris could've responded with pressure and micromanagement. Instead, he did something far more powerful - he took ownership. In this episode of Busting Roadblocks , Adam shares how a personal commitment to coaching and peer accountability sparked a complete rethink of how his business approached roles, responsibility, and trust. From getting his...

In this episode Janet takes us through an example of how asking 'stupid' questions to challenge the solutions presented led to a £500,000 saving. You'll hear how getting a good understanding or the problem, the conditions that lead to it, the options available and the customers position and consumer concerns led to better questions and a solution that halved the £1m procurement issu...

What do you do when your innovation isn't hitting the mark?  In this episode of Busting Roadblocks Janet takes you through an example of where she worked with a family owned business, added just enough process and realigned innovation with the consumer at the center. Sometimes your solution solves two problems. The insight into why a problem is occurring is often more important than looking t...

In this episode of Busting Road Block our guest, Amy Smith, takes us through a situation where she found herself a young, under experienced, slightly naive female in a high performance environment holding her own with CEO's and Senior Executive from the African Private Equity world. Amy shows us how with the right attitude you can over come intimidating circumstances to find your lane and thr...

In this episode I'm joined by Justin Brown of Icehouse Capital. We're discussing how he got 'Sharks to dance'!  We explore interdepartmental competition for resource in the highly competitive financial world.  We've got limited resources, new company owner and structure and to top it all off, a regulatory project that has to be done, but is no way sexy! If you find this po...

A real world example where a supply chain crisis caused a roadblock that could have impacted the customer, consumer and your ability to achieve budget. Janet explains how she broke down the roadblock by utilising the process and leveraging stakeholder relationships. #roadblocks jcconsultancy.co

in 2008 businesses were looking everywhere to save money. We're in the UK now and a young marketer is tasked with growing the bottom line without spending more money! Janet will take you through how she busted this roadblock by asking the stupid questions! #roadblocks jcconsultancy.co

Hi Everyone, a quick introduction into what Busting Roadblocks podcast will be about and of course who I am! #roadblocks www.jcconsultancy.co