focusinterview.
By Jane Hillsdon Principal Consultant of Dragonfly Marketing
ShaneRyan r y a n
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ou’re a busy man and clearly very passionate about what you do! Not only are you the Principal of Chartered Accounting practice Ryan Financial, you’ve just launched Balance Business Partners (a cloud based accounting and bookkeeping business) and you are a stakeholder in a number of other significant startup ventures. How do you successfully juggle all of these hats? I have a very supportive wife, Rene, an exceptional management team (including Karyn Farr and Kieran Proberts) and 2 very honest, committed and hard-working role models in mum (Sue) and dad (Bob). With all of these business commitments, is it still possible to achieve a work-life balance? And how do you manage to do this? It depends on your definition. If it’s ‘equal time at work and play’, then ‘no’ ... but if it’s having the flexibility in my work life to attend a school function or take a long weekend when I want, then ‘definitely’. Life’s very busy, but the flexibility to work when and where it suits is a not negotiable element. Building solid relationships with your clients is an imperative pursuit for any business. What processes do you have in place to ensure that this activity is prioritised and implemented across your business activities? I thoroughly enjoy getting to know my clients and their varied businesses, and relationships tend to come naturally the more time you spend together. In terms of process, I keep track of who and how I stay in contact and my personal role in the practice includes speaking with clients and other business contacts as regularly as possible.
86 greater port macquarie focus.
How do you manage to keep your staff motivated and engaged with the growth of your businesses? We’re building a team of people who are naturally pretty motivated to do well. That’s not possible in all industries, so we are a bit fortunate. From there I try to keep the team up to date and involved in strategy development and implementation, and we offer a flexible work environment with an emphasis on family priorities. We spend a lot of time at work, so it’s important that it’s an atmosphere people are happy to turn up to. Your businesses operate in fairly competitive environments locally. How do you differentiate from the competition? You’re right, and there are a lot of very good tax accountants locally. We do tax (and we do it as well as the next guy) but it is very difficult to differentiate in this space – clients don’t always know if you’ve done a good job or not! We are a business like any other, and so we try to provide great customer service. For us this means keeping clients up to date with where things are up to and little things like returning phone calls and emails promptly. For the clients who want it, we also assume an enhanced role in their business by assisting them to identify their goals and developing the systems and strategies (and accountability!) to get to where they want to be. Not all accountants have this capability. What are some of the changes you have seen within your industry over the past decade, and how have you adapted your business model to adjust accordingly to these changes? What has traditionally been a very conservative and sedate industry is currently receiving a massive shakeup on a number of fronts. The
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are some of the areas we see successful startmain one is the introduction of some excellent cloud based accounting software (such as ups struggle. Surrounding yourself with the right Xero), which creates huge efficiencies but blurs people is critical. the line between traditional bookkeeping and What would you class as your biggest accounting roles. Balance Business Partners career achievement to date? addresses this development. The other emerging That’s a bit difficult to judge. On one hand I impact is from Financial Planners pushing into was CFO of a $450m turnover company before tax services due to changes in their industry. Our the age of 30. On the other, we have been market will undergo more change in able to cultivate a dynamic young the next five years than it has accounting practice whilst in the last 25. achieving quite a few personal In terms of startgoals on the home front. I thoroughly up ventures, how Probably the latter. enjoy getting to important do you What do you think s and know my client think the strategic is the single most nesses, their varied busi planning process important factor in s tend and relationship the is, and why do you running a successful lly to come natura think that? regional business? spend more time you Strategic planning is It’s all about cash together.” critical for all businesses, management. Businesses including start-ups, can strangle themselves growth businesses and those with their own success. operating in mature markets. Without good systems and an This needn’t mean a weeklong understanding of the cash impact of conference to produce a ‘telephone book’ every decision you make, life can be pretty that sits in the top drawer until next year. stressful. Without strategy, you have no idea what it And finally, what advice do you wish is that you want to achieve and whether there is someone would have given you before even a path to get you there. embarking on your journey as a business From your experience with working with owner? growth businesses, what are some of the Stay focused on what you are good at. biggest challenges you see them face, The particular product or service you deliver and how are they best to overcome these is somewhat irrelevant to you achieving your challenges? goals. Some of the most successful businesses The transition from successful ‘one-manin the Hastings don’t sell particularly ‘sexy’ band’ to profitable growth business is very products (and a lot of people probably haven’t challenging. Managing cashflow, engaging the even heard of them). Whatever you do, do it staff that do things ‘as good as you do’ and well. staying true to your goals during tough times Thanks for your time Shane.
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