‘How We Got Here’, By Simon & Sue

25th June 24

Think you know the ReThink story? As Co-Founders of ReThink Productivity, read Simon and Sue Hedaux’s ‘How We Got Here’ story to discover when, why and how ReThink was established.

Did you always want to start a business?

Simon

Yes, it is one of those things I always had in the back of my mind. But I thought it would probably never happen, because once you start working in the corporate world, it’s difficult to step back and start something new. What about you?

Sue

It’s not something I ever thought I’d do, but once we started, it just seemed really sensible. I guess one of the challenges is, as you get into your life and you get a mortgage, have kids and bills, it’s quite a brave thing to do – to step outside, away from a regular paycheck and set up a business. 

What is your history of working together?

Sue

We started working together at Boots. At the time, I was Head of Productivity, so part of my team looked after the workload model. And then you came in to look after the workload planning piece, didn’t you?

Simon

Yes, and the workforce management bit at the time.

Sue

And prior to that, I’d always used the sort of data that we now produce for clients to do process review and workload planning, because I’d been involved with productivity at Boots for a long time. You’ve done quite a bit of what we do now in your past lives, haven’t you?

Simon

At Focus, I did some of the budgeting stuff, and then worked for one of the workforce management vendors. It was part of the core of the system set-up.

What inspired you to start ReThink?

Simon

I left Boots because I was ready for something different. I was in one of those internal expert jobs that, if you do it relatively well, it’s difficult to leave. I was approached by a consultancy and, within the first week of starting, I realised some of the way things worked just didn’t sit comfortably with me. I came home one night and said “We could do a better job”. 

Why did you start ReThink together?

Simon

Ultimately, it was down to a bad experience which sparked the thought, “If we do even a slightly better job, we’re in a better place”.

Sue

In a lot of my career, I’ve used the sort of data that we produce – so I’ve been an end consumer of the insights that we produce. I knew data could need some translating to make it really useful and, generally in the marketplace, that wasn’t happening. There’s a lot of people that use our sort of data infrequently – it’s not something that they’re doing all day, every day – so having that help with the translation piece is really important. For me, productivity has always mattered, because if your business is going to stay strong and healthy, you’ve got to use your resources in the right way. If you’re going to have the capacity to concentrate on new stuff – try things, learn things and grow the business – you’ve got to manage your core cost base effectively. It’s never been about cost-cutting – it’s always been about, how do you drive the best value for the business?

Simon

Yes, I think the same. My bad experience proved that companies would not provide insight or value for what had been paid. So that’s when the conversation started. We formed the company and, I suppose, worked it out as we went along. 

Any advice for new business owners?

Simon

Something we learned quite quickly is to play to your strengths. If you’re not good at marketing, get expert advice. If you’re not good at finance, get expert advice. You’ll try to be everything in a small business, which is fine, but there will come a point where you’ll realise you need experts. Building a website, for example – use an expert to make sure it looks good and credible.

Another piece of advice is to use your network because they are your superpower. People you’ve worked with before, for example, and be sure to keep in touch with people. Using social media, such as LinkedIn, is a great way to do that. 

Don’t undervalue yourself or what you’re doing, is another piece of advice. If you believe in what you’re doing and you’re delivering something that’s good, high quality and adds value to organisations, don’t sell it cheaply or undervalue it. Have a fair price, have a value – a price that you know works for them and you – but be sure to understand your value.

Over time, the bigger thing I’ve learned is that some organisations or some projects won’t work for you. You’ll know when this happens because you’ll get a gut feeling from the conversations and interactions with those organisations. Not progressing with a project, if you feel there are warning signs, is sometimes the better option because they can be costly, time-consuming and morale-draining.

Think big. If you think you’re a small company, you’ll behave like one. And if you think you’re a big company, you’ll behave like one – that’ll make you even bigger and attract more opportunities.

Sue

One of the things I’ve always liked to do is keep an eye on our pressure points because, as you’re growing, there will always be areas that start to feel under pressure as your capacity gets tighter. When I started to work full-time in the business, it made a huge difference to our capacity – having two people onboard. As we’ve grown, and added different skills and different things into the business, we’ve grown into that capacity. It’s about understanding the productivity of your own business! You have to decide what size business you want, but if you are growing, then you have to watch your capacity because, in the end, you can become your own worst enemy by restricting your own growth.

What defines your company values and principles?

Simon

We don’t just create an Excel spreadsheet, dump it and run. We provide insights and value to all our clients across many sectors and markets, helping them understand more about their operations, identifying opportunities to grow sales and aligning their operating model to better deliver their strategies.

Sue

I really love the fact that we can do things the way we want – for example, we can look after our team in the right way. When you’re a bigger business, all those decisions get made for you, and in a corporate world it was often my job to implement someone else’s decisions. With ReThink, we decide how we do things – as Simon mentioned, we decide which jobs we go for, and if we think we can’t add value, or perhaps how a company does things doesn’t align with our values, we don’t take the job.