The benefit of growing your small business with the help of a reliable team
2023 has been a year of significant growth for our small business, with some challenges, lessons, new friends, and lots of fun along the way.
Back when I started out in business in 2012, fresh from a full time employed job as an accountant in the Sydney CBD – I was immediately struck with the freedom that comes with running your own show. A double-edged sword though, because at the same time as you are “free” (you can work when you like, do as you feel like), you quickly become a slave to your business as it grows and you’re eager to keep all your clients happy. Overnight I went from employee to business owner – responsible for admin, marketing, website design, IT, coming up with business ideas – executing them, taking new client enquiries, attending meetings – the list goes on. In order to generate enough funds to grow Freshwater, I did a lot of bookkeeping (which I still do now to be honest and really enjoy!). Bookkeeping, as you probably know – is quite labour intensive (especially back then using standalone MYOB files!!!) – which meant that even more of what little “free time” I had left after all of the above mentioned activities very quickly became eaten up!!
Anyway, I’m a bit of a workaholic and very OCD, so while I was able to handle the intense workload of starting my own business – I did become pretty burned out after a while. Finally, in early 2016 – right before I gave birth to my first daughter, I was lucky enough to meet Kate, our amazing practise manager. I am sure it was fate. Kate was perfect for the role- also a Mum working from home, incredibly intelligent, honest and reliable and she one of my best friends whom I’m eternally grateful for! For a long while it was just Kate and I: me doing the work, Kate handling our admin and that worked perfectly. Once I was pregnant with my second daughter – our business started taking off significantly and I realised that we were going to need some help doing the actual tasks too. From this point in time onwards, Kate and I have had the pleasure of working with other team members who assist on tax or bookkeeping (or both).
Now, working with a wonderful team of (currently) – 11 accountants and bookkeepers, I thought I’d share what I believe is the recipe to success for working with a team as you grow your small business.
Choose Wisely
Personally, I always prefer to select team members with the highest possible qualifications. I would far rather spend my time focussing on business development than I would training team members. Choosing wisely is not just about education and experience though, it’s also about the moral fibre of the person you’re working with along with their consistent reliability and respect for you and your business systems. These qualities don’t necessarily make themselves clear until you’ve been working together for a while. For that reason, I always suggest trial periods.
Never rely too much on one person
Again, this is personal choice and of course depends on your business model, however I’ve definitely found here at Freshwater Tax, that what works best is ensuring that no one team member is heavily relied upon or loaded up with work at any point in time. Bottlenecks cause stress and they ultimately risk in a breakdown in communication and burnout.
Put your hand up – say no
I have always been really big on encouraging our team members to say: “no” / “stop” / “I need more time” etc. The ability to set boundaries is so important within a client service role, but also – in life generally. It’s far better to realise you’re approaching your limit than risk taking too much on, burning yourself and letting other people down. I always find that (basically everything) takes far longer than you think it will too. With that in mind, I am careful to ensure that no one in our team is overloaded where possible and – if that is unavoidable – ensure that we are advising extra-long turnaround times to our clients that takes the heat off our team. In most cases, clients don’t mind. Where they do, we can usually bump clients up or in some cases, switch accountants if the client does not mind.
The importance of having a team with diverse skills
We aren’t all made the same, and I believe that it is extremely important to respect the differences that each team member can bring to your team. I’m huge on focussing on what you do best, and letting the experts handle the rest. For this reason here at Freshwater, we focus purely on Australian personal and small business accounting, tax and bookkeeping. If you’re wanting help with your self-managed super, deceased estates, estate planning, international tax, financial planning, mortgage Broking, non-profit / auditing, business law; we’ll put you in touch with our affiliated specialists who ONLY focus on these areas, meaning they really are the best in the business and -in my opinion – Australia in their fields. The same logic goes internally, within our team here at Freshwater. We are all encouraged to respect and appreciate the individual strengths that each member brings to the team, whether it be efficiency, thorough-ness, ability to chat to clients effortlessly, skill with the written word, ability to research, ability to build / create / automate etc.
Commitment to the cause
To have an effective, dedicated motivated team – I believe that not only do you need to respect each other’s differences, but you need to ensure that your team are committed to the cause. Again, trial periods are handy for this reason I have found. I’ve heard it said so often that your co-workers should not be considered your friends, for various reasons. While I do understand this logic, I don’t necessarily like it. Having worked with many different personalities over the years, I do believe it is possible to be friends with your co-workers and have a solid mutual respect; where everyone wants your business to succeed – for the collective greater good.
Documentation in place
Finally, no matter if you have employees or contractors – always ensure that you have the correct legal documentation in place. This is just so important. I’ve seen business relationships turn sour so many times over the last 12 years with various clients, and when it goes bad – it can really go bad. So, no matter what – ensure that you tie up all lose ends in order to protect yourself – and your team member. Speaking of which, we have some handy employment contract and contractor agreements templates on hand that we will soon be making available for download from our website. If you’d like to request a copy, please feel free to drop us a line.
Conclusion
As our business continues to evolve, the above principles remain integral to our success. By embracing the power of a reliable team, we not only share the workload but we. also cultivate an environment in which collective efforts propel our business toward sustainable growth and accomplishment. On that note, I’d like to extend a huge thankyou to our amazing Freshwater Tax team. In amongst all that 2023 has brought us, you guys have stood as a beacon, steering our ship through challenges and triumphs alike and I can’t wait to see what 2024 has to bring!
