I am a business owner just like you. I work a job, I have side hustles, I have a family that needs my focus, I have community projects that I devote my spare time to and (most importantly) I live and breathe what I am writing about.

Rewind 20 years ago to when I began my accounting career.

I crunched the numbers wondering what career I had got myself into.

I worked my way up, invested heavily in educating myself with professional qualifications, a Master’s Degree in business, attended countless conferences, courses, seminars and webinars. This preparation gave me all the theory I could ever want, but it didn’t give me the practical application I craved.

I still couldn’t pinpoint a blueprint of what made business owners successful that I could replicate to give those people I worked with an unfair advantage.

I desperately wanted to put small business owners back in control of their lives.

I’m experienced and vulnerable enough to say I’ve got a lot wrong in business over the years. The one mistake that sits at the top of the list was not having a clear and distinct plan that put other people on the same page as me.

If I think back ten years when I first got into business myself, I realise now nobody had actually taught me how to run a business.

So, I sought out the best business coaches in Australasia. I’m thankful to both Mark Jenkins and Trent Taylor for showing me a new path to follow when working with my clients.

Suddenly I had a blueprint that I was able to adopt, adapt and test for more than six years.

During this time not only have I mentored numerous clients, as a CEO I have also led a traditional regional accounting firm to evolve quickly. We had a team of seventy we wanted to take on a journey to secure all of our families futures as the industry around us was beginning to be disrupted.

Six years on and we are unrecognisable from where we started. We have transitioned our business into the cloud, harnessed the power of Xero, Figured and Receipt Bank to help build enduring wealth for our clients.

We have created a new start up in another city and learned how to deliver effective business development services to clients that is making a meaningful difference to their lives. We have attracted top talent and go about our business with a different mindset to most accounting firms.

Through a one-page plan and regular accountability coaching, our business has gone from strength to strength. We have been recognised nationally winning the prestigious ‘Xero Large Partner of the Year’. The firm was also recognised in the New Zealand’s Sunday Star-Times CAANZ Top 30 Accounting Firms two years running.

Having been on the journey, the one thing I am sure of is that there is no magic bullet.

Change doesn’t happen overnight.

It doesn’t matter what you are trying to implement, if you have people involved with it, the project will take time. There are learning curves that have to be observed. Things aren’t going to work out the way you thought they were going to work because our environment is constantly changing.

Think, plan, act and review is a great formula for success.

Consistently win 1 % at a time and you will win big in the long run. Adapting is always about people’s attitudes and what they are willing to learn and how open they are to change. A plan will help provide the mindset for change and help each person understand what’s coming next, why it’s coming and why it will be better for them in the long run.

Could you use a Four Hour Business Plan?

Today, I have created a new business that will help you gain an unfair advantage.

None of this has been easy, I still work hard but I do it because I know what I want to achieve, and I know how to go and get it.

Why?

Because I have a plan and I have support.

Listen.

People love to complicate the process of planning.

I know I’ve made that mistake too.

But it’s actually ridiculously simple.