Pushing the Envelope (with coffee??) – B1G1: Business for Good

The original article was published by B1G1: Business for Good on 14 October 2013. Written by Paul Dunn.

Ben Walker’s one of those guys you love to meet. Looks sharp, is sharp and clearly on the pace. And Ben’s a Chartered Accountant.

But the thing I like most about Ben is his intuitive understanding of this, ‘the power of any idea is only ever in its implementation.’

Ben implements like mad. Mention to him, for example, that timesheets have no place in any Professional Knowledge Firm, and he gets rid of them. Totally.

Or mention to Ben that we should do an event together and you don’t get ‘Oh …. What a good idea.” What you get back is “Great … let’s do it!” (http://inspireca.eventbrite.com)

Or this one, “Ben, in all these years I’ve been consulting to and mentoring Accountants, I’ve always felt that the basic office layout was in need of work. I’ve always thought we should not have reception desks and the like. What we should have is someone game enough to make the very core of their office as a café.”

Ben’s response: “I’ve been wanting to move offices to deal with our growth any way, so let’s do it.”

And the result …… the soon to be launched Inspire Café (a name completely consistent with Ben’s firm: INSPIREca.)

But even more than that. Ben’s well aware of this dictum too: ‘WORDS MATTER’. He’s seen what happens when we no longer have tabs on websites that say ‘Our Team’ but rather ‘Meet our Exceptional Team’. That one word ‘exceptional’ changes everything.

So when Ben advertised for a Barista, he got an exceptional one. How? Like this:

One word makes all the difference doesn’t it?

And Ben Walker’s pushing the envelope by making a difference in so many other areas too because of his Partnership in B1G1: Business for Good.

Oh ….. you’ll want to keep track of the progress of the Inspire Café too. Just click on this link and Ben will keep you right up to date. SO …. Go ahead and implement .. make sure you click that link now: http://inspirecafe.com/

Are You Using The 80/20 Rule? Or Is It Using You? 2 Simple Profit Improvement Business Ideas

In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. He also observed that 80% of the peas in his garden stemmed from 20% of the pods.

And so began what’s known as the 80/20 rule or the Pareto Principle—the idea that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.

This principle tends to show up more often then we realise. And our success lies in how we interpret it and react to it.

One aspect of business where we see this all the time is 80% of a business’ profit coming from 20% of their clients. It usually happens when a business moulds its methods around a client’s demands, rather than fitting the client into their business processes while still achieving its objectives—pricing, scope of work, payment terms, etc.

It’s important not let other people govern your business. Here are a couple of ways you can limit your efforts for the 80% of clients who bring you little benefit.

1. Apply Client Selection Criteria

In most cases, 20% of your clients will keep the business afloat, while the other 80% ‘pay the rent’ or smooth things over in the quiet times. Unfortunately, we often get hung up on those 80% despite the fact they’re unprofitable, high-maintenance, and difficult to deal with.

You can avoid this by having clear selection criteria for your clients.

Here’s a strategy you can try:

Work out your ideal client (look at your current “best clients” list), and list their attributes. These are your “green” clients. You like working with them, you give them great value, they pay their bills on time, and you wouldn’t hesitate to take on more work from them.
Now do the same for the clients you should never have agreed to work with in the first place. You’ll find they have common attributes—they may never see your value proposition, or they may finance their business on yours by holding off payment. These are your “red” clients. We recommend you stop taking on work from these clients, regardless of how much your revenue drops temporarily. Yes, turning down work can be hard, but once you replace them with more “green” clients you’ll be thanking yourself.
Any clients left over are “amber” clients, and you should consider them on a case-by-case basis. While they’re willing to listen to your advice, pay for the value you provide, and are good to work with, feel free to take them on as clients. Just make sure they don’t become “reds”.

Ultimately you want clients who are great to do business with. So save your sanity and let go of those clients who do nothing but test patience.

We understand that saying goodbye to most of your clients is a scary thought. But we have an idea that will make it seem far less dangerous.

Your “green” clients won’t necessarily be aware of every service you can provide for them. And many studies have found that, on average, it is 6 times more cost effective to sell to an existing client, than to invest in attracting a new client.

2. Stick to what you know, with who you know

One of the simplest and least stressful ways to increase revenue is to provide existing services to the clients you already have. Look at the table below. Which quadrant do you think would be the easiest to sell to?

Of course, the answer is the bottom left—selling services you already have to clients you already know. But businesses often focus on selling to the bottom right quadrant instead. Take our advice, and stick with what you know and who you know.

Create a culture in your business of providing existing services to your current clients (identifying, suggesting, delivering, etc.) It can develop through regular nurturing meetings, identifying opportunities while working on existing projects, running events and webinars, and so on.

And don’t forget tell your clients about your complete ‘menu of services’. It helps them identify help they may need, and who they can call on to get in.

A great way to identify who is missing out on what services is to create a client matrix. Create an Excel spreadsheet with your services across the top (columns) and your clients down the side (rows). Then simply place a ‘tick’ in the services you provide for each client. A blank space means either the service isn’t appropriate for that client or you need to start offering it pronto.

The key is to take action and implement. We’ve had great results using this process, and so have many of our clients.

Cashflow By Design: 3 Ways WorkflowMAX Creates ‘Cashflow MAX’ For Design And Creative Agencies

Many design agencies and creatives use a business model where getting paid is one of the last steps in the job cycle.

While we’re fans of both the ‘price upfront’ and ‘get paid upfront’ pricing models, without efficient workflows and turnaround times you’ll either have poor cash flow or unhappy clients. Or both.

1. Implement a job monitoring system

A job monitoring system gives you a number of benefits, the key one being able to track the work coming through the door. And once that’s happening, you can start reporting on job turnaround (“Work In Progress Days”). By having access to the jobs on hand, your team will be on the same page. And you’ll be able to manage your agency’s capacity more effectively. Your system can be:

Electronic

Part of our “Optimise” strategy is to make sure you use your time efficiently. It’s the reason we implemented an electronic job monitoring system. While you can find plenty of workflow management tools online, we’re a big fan of WorkflowMAX. (It’s what we use for our business.)

It’s tailor-made for design agencies, and integrates with Xero so we can optimise our administration process even more. The easy and efficient flow-through from quoting, to invoicing, to data in the accounting system saves a lot of administration time and ensures your business and accounting data is up-to-date and accurate.

Visual

While using only one method to track your workflow saves time, having a whiteboard system as well gives you team buy-in and a subconscious motivation to turn around jobs quickly. Let’s say you have a service standard of ten days from job in to job out. On your whiteboard, draw up 11 columns and a row for each team member.

For each team member write their assigned job name in column one, and the date it starts in column two. The idea is to write a date in the next column each day (say, during your workflow meetings) until the job is finished and out the door. It acts as a visual progress bar and motivates everyone to get the job done before day ten. (But no more than two or three jobs per team member, okay?)

2. Get the information you need before you start

Every time you put down a job and pick it up again, you lose efficiency. And that’s not good for you or your client. So don’t start the job until you’ve got everything you need.

Make sure you have a process in place (such as a questionnaire for the client to fill out) so you have all the information and files you need before you begin the work.

And make sure they’re available in case you need more information or feedback down the track. They’ll appreciate it when your turnaround time is half that of your competitors.

3. Set some efficiency standards

How about setting some standards for turnaround times? You could even set a “Ten day turnaround” brand promise so clients know when their job will be finished.

It’s a great way to keep the cash flowing. Just make sure you’ve got the processes in place, because chances are your prospects and clients will put it to the test.

Think of it as self-imposed accountability. When you accept a job, let the client know when it will be ready. It not only adds to their expectation, but also gives you and your team an extra incentive to meet the deadline. It also readies the client for any further information you’d need.

We do this ourselves, and it works. We even set a delivery meeting when we receive the project.

We use these tips in our own firm, and they work a treat. So why not try them yourself and see how you go? And feel free to let us know how it goes. If you need any help, or have further questions, give us a call. Oh, and if you have any questions about WorkflowMAX we’d be happy to help you out. Your cashflow stems in large part from your workflow, so it pays to get it right. Literally.

Zero Excuses: 4 Reasons Xero Rocks Your Business World

You and Henry Ford have some common characteristics. Both entrepreneurs. Both growth oriented. Both focused on systems and processes that enable your business to scale and grow.

Ford achieved it with his production line approach to building Model-T Fords.

Your business can achieve it with Xero.

You see, Xero is actually about more than accounting. It is a platform for building efficient business processes. Processes that make it easier to manage, control and grow your business.

Processes that make it easier for you to make business decisions, look after your clients or customers and, frankly, to sleep at night.

We are massive fans of Xero. We use it in our own business and we help our business clients implement Xero and the various Xero Addon software integrations that streamline business processes.

We are such big believers in Xero, we feel that once a business truly understands the power of moving their accounting, CRM and other processes to the cloud, there are no excuses for not implementing Xero.

Feedback from our clients has been further fuelling our enthusiasm for Xero as a fundamental tool that businesses should implement. Clients who we’ve implemented Xero with typically report back that they save 2 to 3 hours a week on administration tasks.

2 to 3 hours every week. Your time. Your staff time. Freed up.

What can you do with an extra 2 to 3 hours a week? (100 to 150 hours a year!)

Have more time to work ON your business. Have more time to BE with your family. Have more TIME OFF, away from your business.

The choice is yours, and will depend on the stage of your business’ development.

Here are just 4 ways (there are more) that Xero helps grow and scale your business

1. Xero helps eliminate low-value time-wasting tasks

XERO saves you a lot of time by automating tasks such as:

importing bank statements
guessing which account your common expenses go
reconciling your money coming in with your outstanding invoices.

They’ve also put a lot of thought into making the system easy to use. The time you save using XERO compared to MYOB and Quickbooks means the software will pay for itself in no time at all.

2. Xero integrates with mind-blowing software apps

XERO has formed strategic partnerships with other software providers (or “add-on partners” as they call them). This means XERO will integrate with your CRM, workflow manager, payment gateway and other solutions.

This means you can have a simpler business to manage, with apps and data updating themselves, across systems. Apart from the time-saving aspects, it also improves quality, reduces errors and speeds up your processes.

We’ve kept up-to-speed with the Xero’s major add-on partners such as WorkflowMax, Vend, Unleashed, GeoOP, ReceiptBank and others. We’re confident we can identify a vertical solution for pretty much any industry.

So we should talk.

3. Xero makes collaboration easy

With Xero’s collaboration feature you can have multiple advisers and employees working from your one, master always-up-to-date Xero file. This means that in our role as accountants and business advisors, we can help our clients in real-time to work through any issues they may have. No need to wait for data to be updated, files to be sent, imported, and so on. Those days are over.

Real-time accounting via Xero also lets us do things like monitor our clients for accountability if they haven’t reached a certain revenue target. This helps us do what lights our fire: Help our clients focus on the future and achieving goals, not just reporting on last quarter, last year.

On the employee side, your team members can use Xero and addon apps to prepare their timesheets online, which then pushes information through to the fully-integrated payroll system. This makes payroll a dream—especially if you’ve ever experienced payroll done by Excel spreadsheets. This is reason enough to use Xero, if you do pay runs.

4. Xero helps you make faster, better business decisions

As an entrepreneur, you need relevant, real-time and accurate data to make decisions. Businesses often shoot from the hip, making decisions without the appropriate data to base them on.

Using Xero you will feel more control of your business than you ever have before. You’ll even be able to see how it’s tracking, in real-time from your phone or tablet device. This gives you transparency on the real performance of your business, which equals peace of mind. To us, this is another feature of Xero that on its own is reason enough to make the switch from MYOB or QuickBooks or any other system.

These are just a handful of the many reasons it makes sense to switch to Xero.

But just as Ford’s Model-T Ford evolved over time, so is Xero evolving and getting better with each new release (which you never need to install, by the way, being cloud-based software).

If you’re serious about scaling up your business and getting better insights and control on its performance, get in touch and let’s make a time to step you through those aspects of Xero that apply most to your business and industry.

We look forward to rocking your world with Xero.

FAST CASH FLOW: Three Easy Ways To Get Paid Faster

Cash can kill a business. Well, a lack of it can.

In recent weeks a number of clients and friends shared with us concerns about their cash flow. While some are putting it down to election concern slowing down business, we prefer to “control the controllables” as the top athletes say.

Focus on what you can control, not what’s happening “out there” in the economy, outside of your control.

When it comes to your cash flow, the more you focus on “the controllables”, the less you will stress when it comes time to pay the bills.

Let’s look at three ways you can help your debtors—the people who owe you money—to pay you faster and more easily. In accounting lingo, this is termed “reducing your debtor days”.

Keep a track of your debtors

A nice and easy one first up. You are not a bank.

You don’t exist to fund your clients’ businesses and lifestyles through interest-free loans.

To avoid becoming an unpaid bank, make sure your accounting system is kept up to date, to the day. Many businesses get a bookkeeper to come in once a fortnight or once a month. That is too much grace to give to clients if they haven’t paid.

Late payers need to be followed up promptly. They’ll respect that, and they’ll pay you sooner.

We recommend Xero accounting software for easy and almost automated accounting for debtors.

Create systems to efficiently follow up your debtors

We can help you implement systems which will automatically send a follow up email to any debtors who fall overdue. Nice. Chasing up debtors while you sleep. Once set up, this requires very little maintenance.

Give multiple payment options

Nice and simple.

Giving your clients or customers multiple payment options means that your debtors have less of an excuse for late payment.

Options such as Visa and MasterCard should be given, and venturing into realms of American Express or even Fee Funding services add other attractive ways for your clients to pay you. Again once set up, this requires no maintenance at all.

Treat this article as a checklist for implementation. If you have not set up each of these systems, let us know and we’ll help you make it happen.

Hobby or Business – Eight simple questions to ask yourself

With more and more entrepreneurial businesses popping up, we’ve come across a few clients who are wondering when a weekend hobby turns into a tax generating “business”.

Generally, if the activity constitutes a ‘hobby’ or recreation, profit generated is not usually assessable for tax purposes. On the other hand, if you’ve got more a what appears to be a business activity, this will be assessable for tax purposes.

The ATO’s Guidance

We like the ATO’s humour in their answer to ‘Am I in business?’ – “There is no simple answer”…

Like a lawyer putting a bet on each way.

But there are some good guidelines that are provided, as each case needs to be looked at independently. The more “commercial” the activity is, the more likely it will be classed as a business. This is important as the profit that it generates may be treated as assessable income with tax consequences. Not only this, but you may be required to register for GST and an ABN.

8 Questions to Ask Yourself

To work these out, we’ve narrowed down the ATO’s list into what we think sums it up:

Do you have a purpose of profit as well as a prospect of profit?
Is your activity carried on in a similar manner to other businesses in your industry?
Do you have a business plan?
Do you use specialised knowledge or skills?
How much capital have you invested in the activity?
Is the activity a part-time side-line or your main income earning activity?
Do you give quotes and supply invoices?
Do you advertise?

The conclusion? Exercising professional judgement. If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck… Then it probably is a duck!

We’re all about the Underdog

The ground ain’t no place for a champion

– Muhammad Ali

We LOVE hearing stories of the unlikely people in life achieving so much with their lives – professionally or personally. The same with businesses – we love seeing independent or family owned chains of restaurants or shops competing with the big players globally – it inspires us to support and contribute to their growth! We love the underdogs who get out there and give it a go!

We’ve put together some motivation for you to get up and get out there – regardless of who’s backing you:

1) Take the fight to them

If you haven’t got what your competitors have in staff or revenue or resources, but are still able to perform to the same or even a higher level – don’t run away from it! Take the Fight to Them!… You can’t wait for new business or opportunities to come to you… It doesn’t matter what competitive edge someone else has or if you think a new prospect will think less of you for not being bigger than you currently are… PLEASE Get out there and take the fight to them!!

2) Embrace the trials

You’ve got to embrace the trials… Embrace the tribulations… We all go through them – but you’ve GOT to talk about them differently! There’s no shame in wanting to quit… When we as entrepreneurs or business owners are still working on a Friday night or getting up at 5am every day, because that’s the only way we’re going to fit everything in it can get disheartening… A week ago, we’d had a big week and I’d been feeling less motivated because we were having difficulty gaining traction… We’d been to a great event by our Global Giving Partner Buy1GIVE1 on the Thursday, and after asking a client we brought along his thoughts on the day, I got a response that spoke right to “Our Why“… Having this effect on clients makes the trials worth it!!

3) Believe against all odds

If you are an underdog… You’ve got to BELIEVE against all odds… Close your eyes to everyone… Learn to block out the distractions and get focused… This is first quarter 2014FY and here’s the big idea: CAST A VISION; have a CENTRAL FOCUS… Make sure you don’t get caught up in doing, without setting a goal and then pacing yourself there… Set a goal and find your pace; and BELIEVE it against all odds.

So, what do you have to do to get from where you are now, to where you want to be?

What skills do you need?
What information do you need?
What changes do you need to make?

If you can believe it; if you can conceive it – you can ACHIEVE it!

Do you see an apple seed, or an apple tree?

“What you are [going] to be, you are now becoming”

After our first few months out and about, we’ve seen some HUGE potential to lead our clients and future clients to the next level! The current “economic climate” has presented its challenges to quite a lot of businesses, but our question is – what can YOU do to change that? How do you CREATE the environment in which you can bring YOUR dream into REALITY?

At Inspire CA, we have recently implemented Verne Harnish’s ‘Quarterly Themes’. In summary, these themes are used to get the whole firm on the same page and focused on our quarterly targets. To kick off the first 90 days, our theme is ‘Seed or Tree’. As we have launched Inspire CA in the early part of 2013, we thought it prudent to adjust the focus from us as a ‘start up’ or ‘seed’ to our vision ‘Not just adding value, we’re multiplying it’ or our ‘tree’. This is where we want to be an integral part of our clients’ businesses, that we’re not only going to have an effect on them, but they will in turn have an effect on their clients, staff and friends. We want to be an accounting firm so inspirational, you won’t recognise us as the ‘accountant’ stigma. We want the best for our clients, our friends and our family and pushing them towards greatness is part of the process.

Three thoughts:

1) You’ve got to have VISION

Everybody has ‘SIGHT’ very few people have ‘VISION’. You are the captain of your own ship, the choice of destination is 100% yours. You don’t need a co-signer on your dreams! Our recommendation is to set these goals high, to set them so ridiculously outstanding that they seem unachievable. We find that most people only push themselves as far as they can currently see… Impossible is Nothing, so we say go for it!

Our challenge: Write down an AWESOME vision for your life, business or career.

2) Create the right ENVIRONMENT

One of our beliefs is that you are the average of the closest five people around you. This can be a positive influence or a negative influence… There’s going to be plenty of people who think you can’t, or you’re unprepared, or you need a certain certificate or need this or that – forget them!! Find people that are going to SUPPORT your dream; find people that INSPIRE you; find people that ENCOURAGE you and follow these people!! If they’re out there getting it, join in and go get it!

Our challenge: Invest in those who think you CAN and forget those who think you can’t…

3) Believe in YOU

The first step, the first move forward is believing that you CAN. You are POWERFUL BEYOND MEASURE and at Inspire CA, we really want our clients, our staff and our friends to take ownership of the FACT that they are powerful beyond measure. Sometimes we can get focused on what has gone wrong in the past or we can focus on our weakness or what holds us back and this discourages us. Failing does not make you a failure!! We challenge you to focus on what has gone RIGHT and focus on what you have been called to do. We know that everyone has a skill set, a gift or a talent that is on a level that ordinary people do not possess. We want to urge you to use this gift to take your life or your business to the next level! If you need any encouragement on this point, please check out Eric Thomas’ video ‘Powerful Beyond Measure’.

Our challenge: Don’t settle for average – believe in yourself regardless of your circumstances. BE PHENOMENAL!

So what do you see in your life or your business or your career? Do you see the seed, or do you see the tree?

Why use a Chartered Accountant?

We are frequently asked what the difference is between an ‘Accountant’ and ‘Chartered Accountant’.

This article aims to give you an insight to the differences between an ‘Accountant’ and a ‘Chartered Accountant’, along with why we have chosen to align ourselves with the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia (“ICAA”).

Differences between an accountant and a Chartered Accountant:

In summary:

A Chartered Accountant or “CA” is a member of the ICAA
A CA has completed a university degree, along with the CA Program to earn this membership
The CA Program consists of three years mentored practical experience, together with a rigorous study component
The use of ‘Chartered Accountant’ in Australia is restricted to members of the ICAA
We have chosen to be aligned with the ICAA for the highest level of accountability, excellence and confidence in the industry
See the ICAA’s article on the same question here

Institute of Chartered Accountants

The Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia is the professional body for Chartered Accountants in Australia and those members working abroad.

The ICAA represents more than 72,000 current and future professionals and business leaders and is a big player in upholding the financial integrity of our society.

Members strive to uphold the accounting profession’s commitment to ethics and quality in everything they do, alongside an unwavering dedication to act in the public interest.

To become a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia, accounting professionals are required complete the ‘Chartered Accountants Program’. This program includes both a study component (Graduate Diploma of Chartered Accounting) and a minimum three years of practical experience, mentored by a Chartered Accountant – in addition to their university studies.

The Chartered Accountants Program, currently preferred by the “Big Four” accounting firms, is a rigorous pathway designed to test the accounting graduate. The program provides candidates with industry leading training and knowledge, designed to set them ahead of the pack.

As a firm belonging to the Institute of Chartered Accountants, we are subject to these various membership, training and professional obligations. We have chosen to align ourselves with the ICAA as it is our opinion that it provides us with the highest level of accountability, excellence and confidence in the industry.

“The more people you inspire, the more people will inspire you”

We were recently heard a speaker refer to Simon Sinek’s “Golden Circle”. This is a concept where the great leaders of our time command loyalty by communicating in the complete opposite way of anyone else.

In this short YouTube video, Simon uses Apple as an example firstly by communication from the What -> How -> Why, and then reverses it to communicate Apple’s existence from the “Why” outwards.

Although a simple idea, you can see that it has a great ability to enhance communication and interaction with each other and with organisations or brands in our culture.

Can you adopt this technique to enhance communication with your clients, staff and friends?