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 journey through consumer behaviour, business insights, stakeholder alignment, agency management, retailer engagement and execution across every touchpoint.

Because strategy isn't a PowerPoint.

The real work is turning insight into coordinated action across an organisation.

If you've ever wondered why good strategies fail to deliver results, this episode is for you.

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 roles across global engineering businesses.

But behind the success were roadblocks most people don’t plan for.

In this episode, Leo shares:

•  How he overcame extreme fear of public speaking (literally getting sick between sessions) 
•  The life-changing impact of losing his wife while raising three young boys 
•  The reality of building a successful career that no longer fit his life 
•  Why “balance” isn’t something you find - it’s something you design 
•  How he rebuilt his life, health, and business with intention 

Together, we explore a powerful idea:
Life has seasons - and the hardest ones often shape your greatest clarity.

This isn’t just a story about resilience.
 It’s about recognising when success becomes a roadblock - and having the courage to change it.

Key Takeaways

•  The goal doesn’t change - but the plan must 
•  Hardship builds perspective that improves leadership 
•  Success without alignment creates new roadblocks 
•  You can redesign your life - but only if you’re intentional 
•  Business performance is often driven by personal clarity 

About Leo

Leo Asprey is a business advisor and peer board facilitator based on the Central Coast, Australia. He works with business owners to drive growth, accountability, and long-term success through structured peer support and practical experience.

Connect with Leo on LinkedIn

Connect with Janet on LinkedIn or jcconsultancy.co 

If this episode resonated, follow Busting Roadblocks and share it with someone navigating their own turning point.

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 function.

Often “voluntold” into new roles and projects, Liz developed a powerful generalist skillset - seeing how decisions made at the top ripple through operations, compliance, and frontline teams.

Together, they explore:

•  Why back-office roles are often underestimated 
•  How “connecting the dots” prevents implementation failure 
•  The gap between strategy and operational reality 
•  Why generalists are critical during change and transformation 
•  How small and micro businesses benefit from operational clarity 

Through real examples - including large-scale operational change and compliance initiatives - Liz shares how understanding the full picture helps businesses avoid roadblocks and implement change successfully.

Because sometimes the biggest insights come from the people quietly making everything work.

Get hold of Liz on LinkedIn or her website

To get in touch with Janet try LinkedIn or jcconsultancy.co

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 shares a real-world experience from his career where, under direction, his team found themselves stretched beyond capacity. With no option to walk away, the challenge became how to lead through the pressure - keeping the team aligned, focused, and supported while still delivering results.

This conversation unpacks the practical realities of managing through overload, including:

• how to prioritise when everything feels important
• when and how to bring in external support
• the importance of clear communication and expectations
• and why delegation and trust are critical under pressure

Drawing on experience from both business and managing a competitive cycling team, Paul also shares insights on team dynamics, role clarity, and how people can rise to the occasion when given the opportunity.

If you’re leading a team, navigating competing priorities, or feeling the strain of “too much to do,” this episode offers practical, grounded insights to help you move forward.

To get hold of Paul - try LinkedIn or https://plusmore.co.nz/

To get hold of Janet - try LinkedIn  or https://jcconsultancy.co

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 reached stage three of a four-stage development process and made a difficult recommendation: cancel the launch. The market had become too competitive and the numbers showed the product wouldn’t be profitable.

Despite the analysis, the business decided to launch anyway.

Six months later the product was pulled from shelves after losing money.

This episode explores the real roadblock behind situations like this - organisational momentum, internal commitments, and the challenge of stopping something that already feels “too far along.”

Janet reflects on why strong processes alone aren’t enough, and why good leadership requires the discipline to act on the information those processes reveal.

If you’ve ever watched a project move forward even when the warning signs were clear, this episode will resonate.

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 ready for the structure and commercial discipline she was hired to bring. What followed was a confronting experience about culture, readiness, and the importance of asking better questions before jumping in.

She reflects on how to detach self-worth from job titles, why cultural alignment matters more than process, and how to spot when timing - not talent - is the real roadblock.

👉 If you’ve ever taken a role, project, or partnership that looked perfect but didn’t fit in reality, this episode will help you reframe the experience as a lesson, not a failure.

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 selling and success.

Robert shares how one book changed the trajectory of his career, why self-awareness and mindset matter more than personality type, and how viewing sales as service can completely reframe your results.

From early lessons at Xerox to leading high-performing teams and building his own coaching program, this episode is packed with practical insights for anyone wanting to grow - in business, leadership, or life.

👉 Tune in to discover how reframing your mindset can help you unlock new levels of performance and purpose.

To get hold of Robert on LinkedIn or https://www.rtrofficial.com/

To get hold of Janet try LinkedIn or https://www.jcconsultancy.co

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 around. From running a start-up solo in a shed to rebuilding confidence and clarity through self-awareness, Keith’s story is an honest look at the mental side of performance.

They explore how self-management and mindset directly influence implementation, and how simple shifts in how we talk to ourselves can reignite energy, focus, and results - both in business and in life.

If you’ve ever pushed yourself so hard that your own inner critic became the loudest voice in the room, this episode is for you.

Listen now and learn why self-talk might just be the most important system you’ll ever improve.

To get in touch with Keith you'll find him on LinkedIn

For Janet Charteris try LinkedIn or jcconsultancy.co

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-profits, and general management before starting her own boutique bookkeeping firm. Sarah shares how she overcame the fear of delegating, the practical tools she used to build systems, and the mindset shift that allowed her to grow a capable team without losing control.

Whether you’re about to make your first hire, or you’re simply struggling to let go, Sarah’s story offers practical lessons you can apply straight away.

👉 Tune in and learn how people and process can unlock growth in your business.

To get hold of Sarah here or email her [email protected] http://www.sgbalancedsolutions.com.au/

to get in contact with Janet try linkedIn or [email protected] or http://www.jcconsultancy.co

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 - wasn’t that simple. With a competitor effectively locking the category, advertising spend already committed, and egos on the line, navigating the fix meant solving more than just the numbers.

In this episode of Busting Roadblocks, I share how I:
✅ Uncovered the true issue buried in the COGs
✅ Built the case for a two-step price increase
✅ Took it all the way to the board
✅ Executed the plan without losing market share
✅ And fixed the problem - without exposing the leaders who had made the mistake

This story is a reminder that leadership isn’t just about commercial acumen - it’s about protecting relationships while driving results.

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