Momentum. When you’re ‘in the zone’, when everything seems effortless, when success becomes a constant by-product.
At Machines4U, we’re building it like a flywheel, bit by bit, crank by crank.
To start this process, we had to stop, focus and reset our course. We see the value in bringing the basics back to our business: passion, drive, innovation, and mainly, just giving a damn.
Luke Bruce, Machines4U founder, says reviving business basics is essential for growth and is the starting block for building momentum. “Everything in our business comes back to giving a damn about our clients, our platform, our users, who we work with, and our own goals. Everything we do, for ourselves and for work, links to our success or our failure.” he said.
The importance of the team ‘buy-in’ cannot be overstated. Even Google has recognised the benefits of high-performance teamwork, to the point they built an entire project on analyzing teams and identifying specific factors that contribute to success.
“While we’re not quite on Google’s scale (yet), at Machines4U we truly believe in the buy-in. That is, every one of us—from myself and Steve, down to our hard-working sales reps, writers, developers, accountants and marketers… we all play an essential role in building our business momentum.” Luke continued.
Steve Krebs, founder of Machines4U, added, “So, we took everyone out of the office to cause a bit of disruption and get on a path we could all be excited about.”
On a Tuesday morning, the team travelled to a secret location on the Gold Coast.
The venue opened up to reveal a huge open-plan space, full of plants and beautiful industrial furnishings.
It was airy, light and spacious: the ideal recipe for collaboration and ideas.
“We dove right in,” said Steve, “Luke and I were keen to get started. Mick [the marketing director] had designed these great shirts for everyone, to unify us. But I wondered why he’d chosen the word ‘omentum’, I didn’t have the heart to question it until later…” Steve laughed.
After decking the team out in matching shirts, Steve and Luke took the floor to talk about their own journey.
“It was important to us to show our team why we created Machines4U. Coming from that place of ‘why’ rather than ‘how’ or ‘what’, it showed the story behind our business. The reasons we made all our decisions, right or wrong, and how we’ve come to be here, 12 years later.” said Steve.
It was inspiring to hear about their years of dedication, constant evolution and doing the hard yards themselves. Steve and Luke built this business to help others. That vision remains unchanged today.
“We understand that our people can make or break our business. So, who better to discuss our business goals, ideas and future with than the team who keep the cogs turning every day?” said Luke.
To set the tone, the teams broke up into their departments; sales, development and marketing. Each team identified what they want to be known for, who their team ambassador is, and come up with a team name (or in sales’ case, a war cry). Each team then presented their findings, further cementing their ideologies, passion and drive for the business moving forward.
“It was awesome hearing the teams work with each other, getting excited and coming up with some really great ideas,” said Steve.
“On top of that, we ran a few more challenging workshops to help improve both the professional and personal lives of every team member. Everyone contributed, and everyone benefited.” Steve added.
Throughout the day, the team covered topics such as:
“At Machines4U, we work hard and we play hard. We strongly believe our achievements should be celebrated.” Said Luke. “So to end the day, everyone participated in a Mexican cooking class.”
“And in true Machines4U style, we had margaritas,” Added Steve. “I may not be great at chopping onions, but I can drink margaritas!”
Everyone had a hand in cooking tortillas (from scratch), making guac, prepping and cooking the pulled pork and fish, and even making churros!
After the cooking, we sat down as one big team to enjoy the fruits of our labour.
“We are so proud of our team for contributing as heartily and enthusiastically as they did,” said Steve. “They really showed us they are part of our business, and it’s exciting to know we will all be growing the business together.”
“I’m absolutely proud of what we’ve achieved today. The future’s looking good for Machines4U, and all of us within it.” added Luke.
It’s always exciting to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We’ve all set goals and we’re on course achieve them, no matter what.
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