Jonathan Stacey Of Altitude B2B Consultants On How To Use Digital Transformation To Take Your Company To The Next Level

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

Thank you for having me! Sure, to provide a little bit of a backstory, I worked in the corporate world all throughout my 20’s, doing well by getting promotions and landing in senior roles before my 30’s. As time went on I wasn’t getting the sense of accomplishment or satisfaction that I yearned for. I knew deep down that I needed to do something about this and decided in the middle of the 2020 pandemic it was now or never. I initiated plans to start my own consulting business where I knew there was a big gap for small to medium sized businesses in the industry, and it took off.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?

Sure, early on when I was planning and plotting for Altitude B2B (www.altitudeb2b.com), I definitely over-thought and over complicated initial steps. I was getting ahead of myself and overcomplicating things which made me my own worst enemy early on. I was fortunate enough to have a close friend and mentor whisper some words of wisdom to me by encouraging me to keep it simple, take it one step at a time and don’t bite off more than you can chew. Those words have stuck with me and I apply that to what I do in Altitude B2B everyday.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

Absolutely, I can say I am grateful to my girlfriend and now wife for being there for me from day one. Back when I was in the corporate world contemplating the transition into the entrepreneurial world she was super supportive and encouraged me to take that leap. If it weren’t for her encouraging me and supporting me through the whole process, Altitude B2B wouldn’t be a thing.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

The 2 books that made a significant impact on my view of the world and how I would create my business would be Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and now 12 Months to $1 Million dollars by Ryan Daniel Moran.

• RDPD was really an eye opening book as it just showed the rat race of working a 9–5 job and not ever being able to get ahead due to the way the taxation system worked. You are always on a fixed income and strive to get that 3% raise each year, where in reality your value is much more than that. The true power of wealth building is taking pre-tax money and investing it in businesses, stocks, real estate, etc.. where your pre-tax money is almost double than post-tax (40% tax rate if you are over $100K in Canada).
• In the book 12 months to $1M dollars, was also an eye opener as most people think that $1M is so hard to achieve. But the book made it so simple by showcasing use cases where people developed a product, business or SaaS platform and sold it to many at a low cost. In these cases, the book showed where real life businesses sold 1000 products at $1000 or 10,000 licenses at $100 to make $1M. With the power of solving a simple problem (you don’t need to build a rocketship) you can easily achieve $1M in revenue, especially with a SaaS platform where you have access to every single person on the planet that may need that service.

Are you working on any new, exciting projects now? How do you think that might help people?

Yes, I have a couple items in the works but focusing on one to get it to market sooner rather than later. It will be a game changer for many business owners in the fact that it will provide so much value and time savings to them and my team and I are so excited to get this service live. Stay tuned for more information or reach out if you are curious to hear more about it!

Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion about Digital Transformation. Digital transformation can mean many things to many people, from your perspective, how do you define digital transformation in your industry?

We all know that technology changes faster and faster each and every day. In most cases of business owners, if they don’t keep up with these technological changes they get left behind. It doesn’t matter whether they have the best product or service out there, if they don’t keep up, they will lose out. So to me, digital transformation is a relative, ever evolving term. It’s not only integrating the latest and greatest technology solutions, but it’s constantly educating oneself and pivoting to what serves your business best with respect to the technological solutions out there.

Which companies can most benefit from a Digital Transformation?

Speaking from experience, any company or business from manufacturing, production, farming, restaurants, hospitality, and even the local mom and pop shops can all benefit greatly from Digital Transformation. I know this for a fact as Altitude B2B has implemented Digital Transformations for these industries and many more which has resulted in cost savings, increased revenue, time savings, improved customer insights for better decision making, etc.

Has integrating Digital Transformation been a challenging process for some companies? What are the challenges? How do you help resolve them?

There are definitely instances when integrating Digital Transformation has been a challenge for some companies. One of the most common challenges Altitude B2B has seen with companies we’ve consulted with includes a hesitation towards new platforms/technology, or a belief of “We’ve always done it this way and it works”. To show the value to these clients we showcase real business cases from previous clients (with their permission) to show how these simple updates have significant positive impacts. In addition to this we provided support and resources for education, training etc so that the company and its members can be confident in implementing the changes that are required for their desired outcomes.