Dreaming Big with EOS®

Located in New South Wales, JasonL Office Furniture installs and delivers office furniture Australia-wide including to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, and more.

Marc Levin and his brother Jason grew up the best of friends. And because they were the sons of a commercial furniture wholesaler, one would think their entrepreneurial partnership would come naturally to them. And it does … now.

Growing up, Marc said his father encouraged him to get an auditing degree and work for a good firm. He begged his sons to become professionals and NOT get into furniture.

Being a good son, Marc listened to his father and became a chartered accountant. After graduation, he landed a job at a global accounting and professional services firm. There he spent three “miserable” years in accounting and another two years in corporate recovery. Five years gave him enough experience to know this wasn’t what he wanted in life. Meanwhile, his brother Jason got a degree in marketing and finance. Because of the job market at the time, he couldn’t find a position, so his father suggested he come work for him.

Becoming Entrepreneurs

Around the time Marc knew he wanted to leave corporate life, Jason launched an online business selling — you guessed it — office furniture. Marc joined him and they made great teammates. Jason focused on sales and marketing while Marc used his skills in operations and finance.

Although initially they started as an online business only, without inventory, they soon adjusted their model. They listened to customer requests for a showroom. Customers wanted to see and touch products. They wanted to better understand how the fit-out solutions might look in mocked-up environments. Marc and Jason opened a showroom to address these needs.

“So we found a small warehouse and made our first move into our own space out of Dad’s back office,” Marc said. “That was a big milestone.”

For the first three years, Marc said it felt like flying blind. Once they opened their first showroom, he felt a constant pressure to “catch up” with cash flow to cover overhead.

Business boomed and they grew quickly — perhaps too quickly. Marc and Jason operated out of multiple warehouses and often felt overwhelmed and frustrated trying to do everything themselves. With no structure in place, they found themselves firefighting all day … and constantly at loggerheads with one another.

“It was untenable,” Marc admitted. “We knew something had to change so we wouldn’t kill ourselves — or each other — by trying to do too much.”

Finding EOS®

Marc belongs to a local chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organization. During one of their monthly meetings, a fellow member brought in an EOS Implementer®. While Marc found the discussion interesting, he said it wasn’t something on his radar to address right away. It took him a full year to finally make the call, and that’s when the journey really started.

“I thought, ‘Oh my god, we need this!’ Our 90 Minute Meeting was a total game changer.”

They learned that other businesses shared their circumstances. The brothers trusted the process, including being “forced” to create a leadership team. Over the course of 12 to 18 months, they pieced together their leadership team. They worked hard on the People Component™ to get the right people in the right seats.

“By elevating others, my brother and I elevated [ourselves] out of the day-to-day work,” Marc said. “We saw how other people took responsibility with the right structure in place. We trust the process and we follow it to a T. EOS is embedded into the rhythm of the business.”

Now the structure and discipline of the Level 10 Meeting™ allows time and space to discuss and solve problems. Marc said he’s found they have removed the bickering and drama that used to revolve around issues.

Changing Models in a Pandemic

When COVID-19 hit the world stage, overnight everyone stopped going to the office. JasonL Office Furniture had to pivot their business model hard and smart. Before COVID, they worked a primarily B2B model with average sales of $3,000 to $4,000. As workers built out home offices, they moved to a B2C model with average sales of $300 to $400.

Now, even as many businesses begin to reopen, they plan to keep their plan diversified. To reduce vulnerability, they will continue to offer COVID safety products and reach into new markets like education and hospitality.

Continual Growth

Marc said that since implementing EOS, he’s found he and his brother get along much better. And they have the ability to look further forward to longer-term business goals. Rather than taking one day or one week at a time, they can look one to two years ahead at higher strategies.

And they dream big. As a big hairy audacious goal (BHAG), they want to dominate their own middle market in commercial furniture. But while dreaming big, they have priorities on their lifestyle and the legacy they’ll leave behind one day.

“We want to leave a business that’s run properly with a care factor,” Marc explained. “Even as we grow, we want to maintain that family feel. People shouldn’t feel the need to work until 6, 7, 8 or 9 at night. Lifestyle balance has been the biggest element for us.”

Marc has seen an enormous improvement in his health and well-being in the last two years since implementing EOS. He goes to the gym regularly, meditates, and gets the kids to school before heading into the office.

For any business owners thinking of implementing EOS, Marc offers this advice: Don’t overthink things.

“If you get analysis paralysis, you can’t take a step forward,” he said. “Doing nothing is worse than doing the wrong thing. You can always fix something that goes wrong. Try something small and see what happens.”