Jason Goto: President, AnalysisWorks.
A few years ago, Jason Goto's company AnalysisWorks hit $1 million in annual revenue – a “mental milestone” he had set several years before. After taking time to step back and reflect, the president of the management consulting firm realized it had taken twice as long to achieve that goal as he had thought it would.
“I have to admit that as an adviser I had gotten used to having the answer for pretty much everything,” said Goto. “It was kind of an awakening for me to realize I'm a pretty smart guy, but I definitely don't know everything about everything.”
He decided he needed to do something different and began to read up on the concept of mentorship.
This led him to ViRTUS, an organization focused on helping leaders address strategic and organizational development-related challenges.
Through ViRTUS, Goto got the support he was looking for. He's now part of a group that meets monthly to discuss significant risks or opportunities that members might be facing and to come up with solutions together.
“Through that format, I've been able to learn a whole bunch of things about what could go wrong as my business unfolds in the next few years, so it's been good just from an osmosis-style learning experience.”
One of the areas he has addressed as a direct result of his involvement with ViRTUS is empowering his staff. That has freed him up to work on more strategic projects rather than day-to-day issues.
According to Business in Vancouver's recent list survey, AnalysisWorks is now one of B.C's fastest growing companies. (See “Top fastest growing companies” – BIV issue 1196; September 25-October 1.) Over the past five years, its revenue has grown from $740,000 to $1.9 million. Goto said that growth is directly attributable to its new business model.
“I guess we could have kept doing what we did, but I probably would have lost key members, and I probably would have lost my own sanity in the process.”
On freeing up his time | “I've gone from spending maybe 80% of my time working on billable projects, working as a consultant and helping meet deadlines. Now I'm probably down to less than 50%, and the remainder is being truly devoted to improving the business, increasing its value, investing in the team, getting ready for the next stage of growth, business development and marketing.”
