If there was any advice I would give to young ( early 30’s, early 40’s) Accountants looking to make that bold move into ownership its this..."Learn to be comfortable in your own skin"

Be comfortable and confident in being able to deal with people,  have that authoritative persona about you so that it is reflected or magnified in your language, your character, your personality and your appearance!

If you have worked your "butt" off to become CA and CPP qualified, then stand tall and walk and talk like a Chartered Accountant with a  personality.

On the Accounting front,

We have spoken to many potential vendors and they have stated they cannot afford to sell and retire! They, I assume, have been doing the same old thing year in year out since they commenced practice.

The next 5 or 10 years will be more or less the  the same if you don't make slight changes!

Most clients want us to be proactive and go and see them without a reason!!  To call in say ‘how are things going Bill?’ Have you done this recently?

Clients see Accountants as their first port of call for anything financial and yet Accountants can be  too busy or too scared to respond and be proactive.

The stereotype accountant is a grey suited, introverted bean counter and this is true to a large extent!  One of our team members  Don Wood not only bought and sold accounting practices, he also sold accounting services (mostly cold calling businesses!) He never got past first base unless or until the potential client could see smoke coming out of his ears and he showed some real PASSION!!

Then that potential client became enthused as well and the rest they say is history!!

A few tips below:

1. If you have some downtime then do some  PLANNING!!
2. Stop being a processor and start being a financial/advisory wizard!
3. Get excited about talking to your clients
4. Go and see your clients without a reason
5. Be part of a BNI group or form a syndicate of Accountants
6. Plan for your own future and retirement
7. Looking for advice or to sell then plan to see us first at Accounting Practices Limited.

Good Luck!!