Ryan rides on

Almost a year on from when WA Business News reported DJ Carmichael managing director Denis Ryan was moving on, Mr Ryan has told WABN he has engineered a lifestyle and work solution to suit both where he is at and where he has been.

These days Mr Ryan is a business coach, operating from a custom-built apartment in King St while still chairing the not-for-profit Foodbank, and able to find time to participate in the second Variety Club bike bash on his Honda ST 1100.

"I’ve learned to have fun again, and have a better balance in life," Mr Ryan says.

Although still nursing a nagging shoulder injury from a motorbike accident a few months back, Mr Ryan says he has worked through other frustrations of the past year to overcome a professional setback and some personal dissatisfaction.

Quality of lifestyle was high on the agenda when he left DJ Carmichael, Mr Ryan said. And having always been one to deliberately choose the types of organisations in which he worked, he sat back this time for a total re-assessment and to weigh up new options.

Long-term experience in banking, finance and funds management, including establishing and managing Commonwealth Financial Services in several States, and as regional manager for Perpetual Trustees, meant he had plenty from which to choose.

The best way to go – to combine what he enjoyed with what he considered the best features of his personal skills set - seemed to be his own consultancy business.

Following a diligence period, concentrating on philosophy and ethics and talking with clients, Mr Ryan decided to set up as part of an independent network of business coaching for small-to-medium-sized businesses.

Ninety per cent of Australian businesses are in the small-to-medium bracket, Mr Ryan says.

Business operators typically want to grow and improve revenue, at the same time as achieving a better balance of work and lifestyle, Mr Ryan says.

But most of the time they find themselves working harder, not enjoying it, and wondering for how much longer they can keep going.

Hence, the importance of a clear picture of the positioning, distribution and functionality of the business, to help process information, rather than just react, Mr Ryan says.