Paul Claessen Consulting

Paul Claessen Consulting Paul Claessen Consulting exists to make it easy for anyone to run a world-class business. Full stop.

19/06/2026

Nobody tours to promote the album anymore. The album promotes the tour. Are you still thinking the old way?

17/06/2026

A football coach doesn’t just hand over the game plan and hope for the best. Neither should you.

Everything I teach, you could probably find in thirty books for three and a half grand. That's basically free. So what's...
05/06/2026

Everything I teach, you could probably find in thirty books for three and a half grand. That's basically free. So what's unique about what I bring?

I've actually implemented it all. I've walked into enough knives to tell people what's going to happen if they go down a particular path. That can't be Googled.

Andrew's working through the same question for Digit. His team's real strength is diagnosing problems nobody else can solve. Human complexity is being sorted by humans.

Figure out what's genuinely scarce about what you do and lean into it. That's where the value lives.

The Saudis are deploying roughly $30 trillion globally, and they've got the smartest people figuring out where to put it...
03/06/2026

The Saudis are deploying roughly $30 trillion globally, and they've got the smartest people figuring out where to put it.

They're pouring it into experience-based businesses. Hospitality, live events, and tourism.

Human-to-human stuff.

Ed Sheeran doesn't make meaningful money from albums anymore. Nobody does. The money's in concerts. Artists used to do concerts to promote albums, and now they release albums to promote concerts. The human experience is where the value ended up.

If you're in professional services and wondering what's going to hold value as AI gets sharper, pay attention to that pattern. Bet on your people.

In 1999 everyone said physical retail would be dead within eighteen months. Twenty-six years later it's still here. Xero...
01/06/2026

In 1999 everyone said physical retail would be dead within eighteen months.

Twenty-six years later it's still here. Xero's CEO predicted 90% automated transactions within five years back in 2016. A decade on, they're still getting close.

Andrew's industry is facing a wall of change with AI reshaping what bookkeeping looks like. The temptation is to panic and overhaul everything at once. But change moves slower than the grand promises suggest.

Where you want radical change, you've got to provide radical stability. Know the wave is coming and keep your feet planted while you prepare for it.

If you can get someone to work at 80% of your intensity, that's a damn good outcome. I'll forgive up to 40%, because if ...
27/05/2026

If you can get someone to work at 80% of your intensity, that's a damn good outcome. I'll forgive up to 40%, because if I hire someone who works exactly like me, I'm probably just training a future competitor.

Andrew's wired to move fast and break things. His team is wired for accuracy and getting every detail right. Those are the exact traits you want in people managing other people's money, but they make an owner feel like everything's moving through mud.

The meta skill is accepting that tension without letting it eat you alive. 60 to 80% of your effort from a good person is a strong outcome. Recognise how much they're actually carrying.

Andrew Erkins started Digit because he loved coding and didn't particularly want to talk to people. Twelve years later, ...
25/05/2026

Andrew Erkins started Digit because he loved coding and didn't particularly want to talk to people. Twelve years later, he's running a team of thirty and says the thing he loves most is watching his staff grow.

That shift didn't happen by accident. The business needed a people leader, which is about the furthest thing from sitting behind a screen writing code. So he grew into it. That's a meta skill worth paying attention to.

Every SME owner hits a version of this. The role you signed up for and the role the business actually needs from you are rarely the same thing. The ones who grow into the gap are the ones who build something lasting.

Excellence is subjective. You're really just telling yourself you're good enough. World-class gives you an objective ben...
22/05/2026

Excellence is subjective. You're really just telling yourself you're good enough. World-class gives you an objective benchmark against the best in the world, and that's a very different standard to hold yourself to.

Andrew Erkins had excellence as his internal theme for the year. I challenged him on it. For a business that started global from day one, being locally excellent doesn't protect you. Anyone can enter your market from anywhere with almost no barriers. Andrew called it a penny drop moment. The word excellence came off the wall. World-class went up in its place.

Put a red line through excellence. Write world-class above it.

Most businesses have everyone chucking rocks at a monster in different directions. Doesn't matter how hard you throw. Yo...
20/05/2026

Most businesses have everyone chucking rocks at a monster in different directions. Doesn't matter how hard you throw. You're never going to do anything but glance the thing.

A tsunami moves slowly when it hits land, but it's a coordinated wall of force pushing forward on every front at once. That's what real operational ex*****on looks like. Everyone moving in the same direction, all at once, with the leader orchestrating the push.

Your job is to build the wave.

If the person running the business can't articulate the destination clearly, thirty people definitely can't either. That...
18/05/2026

If the person running the business can't articulate the destination clearly, thirty people definitely can't either. That's a gap worth closing.

The fix is radical simplicity. Drill your strategic goal down to a ten-word sentence you can repeat in a thirty-second soundbite. Think about Bunnings. "Everyday low prices." I know that phrase because I've heard it so many times it's stuck. Your team needs that same level of repetition from you about where the business is going.

Without that clarity, decision fatigue takes over. Simplify the decisions your team has to make and watch what comes back.

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West Leederville, WA
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