It's not Just the Numbers

In today's episode we make our first attempt at defining 'advisory' and provide listeners with a framework to help better define their service offering. In Penny's upcoming book she breaks advisory services into four quadrants:

• The Catalyst
• The Strategist
• The Steward
• The Operator

Where you choose to operate is up to you, but it's important to put a stake in the ground and help your clients understand what advisory services means to you and the client. Don't think that that you have to offer services across the 4 quadrants, and that's an important part of being a trusted advisor - recognizing your strengths. Plus you can always add quadrants to your services with time.

What does 'advisory' mean to you? Find us on LinkedIn and let us know.

***PS Please excuse a few technical glitches we experienced.

Be sure to check out the book that gave us the inspiration for this podcast: Strategy and the Fat Smoker. Buy it on Amazon.

If you'd like outside help on this process or have questions about anything discussed in this episode, please do get in touch.

Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57

Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

We're focusing today's episode on bringing your team along for this ride. Your success is dependant on your team delivering an exceptional level of service day in day out and remember they're the ones who will be using these tools, implementing new workflows, and a whole lot more. But don't forget that change is hard, so you'll need to be clear and consistent when you communicate what you're doing and why you're doing it.

As you bring your team together recognize that we're all created differently, and cloning more accountants won't help you towards your goal. People have different skills, likes and dislikes and just as you went through a process of getting clarity about what you want and don't want to do, you should do the same thing with your team. In fact you'll probably want to do the same thing with your clients at some time, to help them get clarity on their 'why'. We also touch on how to spot a saboteur in your firm and how to handle such team members.

Building a high performing team is a challenging and rewarding process - remember to keep your vision front and center.

Good luck and remember to find us on LinkedIn and send over your questions for us to discuss on the next episode.

Be sure to check out the book that gave us the inspiration for this podcast: Strategy and the Fat Smoker. Buy it on Amazon.

If you'd like outside help on this process or have questions about anything discussed in this episode, please do get in touch.

Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57

Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

In episode 4 of Strategy and the Virtual Controller, we discuss the importance of leadership in business. Too many firm owners get stuck as the technician doing the work and are never able to set an intentional direction for the firm. For those firm owners that are able to set time aside for strategic thinking, the next biggest challenge is to lead the team and get their buy in.

We talk through different ways to engage the team in this strategic planning process, including the same traffic light activity that we encouraged you to do. To achieve your long term goals you need to get the team that's going to execute, on board. And ultimately there has to be a leader of this process, you can't delegate that.

Own the message and the intent, and then get the team involved. You'll be pleasantly surprised by your team's willingness to engage and take ownership of specific parts of the process.

Good luck!

Be sure to check out the book that gave us the inspiration for this podcast: Strategy and the Fat Smoker. Buy it on Amazon.

If you'd like outside help on this process or have questions about anything discussed in this episode, please do get in touch.

Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57

Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

Penny is on the road! And has attended her first conference since this whole pandemic kicked off. We decided to catch up on Friday afternoon (Saturday morning Sydney time) to debrief on the key themes.

What conferences are you headed to in 2021? Send us a message:

Find us on Twitter - @SATVCpodcast

Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57

Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

Big news!

We have intro music - we're almost a proper podcast.

Episode 3 feels like a #selfhelp class, but it's an important episode because we get to the heart of what makes a business a success - and that's being very clear on what you do and what you don't do.

To get to this clarity, you need to go through a challenging process identifying what you love and don't love about your business (processes, services, clients etc). Without it, it's going to be Same As Last Year (SALY). You need to do this a business, starting with the owners and then the wider team. If you have partners, who knows, they may love some of the activities you hate and vice versa. There will be 'necessary evils' and you will have to have some difficult conversations but before you move forward, you need this as a starting point.

Penny highlight's Edi Osborne's book Firm Forward as required reading for any firms going through a strategic planning process. And be sure to check out the book that gave us the inspiration for this podcast: Strategy and the Fat Smoker. Buy it on Amazon.

If you'd like outside help on this process or have questions about anything discussed in this episode, please do get in touch.

Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57

Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

What are you in business to do? Today's episode focuses on asking yourself the hard question of do you enjoy what you're doing? Or have you just fallen into being a Jack (or Jill) of all trades. Especially what we've been through in the last 15 months, now is the time to be very intentional about what you want to do. It's OK to say no, and in fact you need to become comfortable with saying no. Saying no will give you the capacity to focus on what's important to growing your business.

We discuss a Harvard Business Review article Creating a Purpose Driven Organization.

Make sure you read the book that gave us the inspiration for this podcast: Strategy and the Fat Smoker. Buy it on Amazon.

Connect with us and send us your questions:

Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57

Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

Welcome to episode 1 of the brand new podcast, Strategy and the Virtual Controller.

The podcast title comes from David Maister's great book Strategy and the Fat Smoker.

The same is true for accounting and bookkeeping firms.

Your hosts Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead have worked with thousands of accounting and bookkeeping firms around the world helping them navigate the rapidly changing public accounting landscape.

Penny highlights the book The Robots are Coming by Andres Oppenheimer. Check it out at https://amzn.to/3g9ORLh

This podcast is designed to help listeners focus on what's important in building their firm for the long term!

Connect with the hosts and send them your questions:

Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57

Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH