The Wize Way

Episode 125: Wize Factor Chat: Brett Angus & Jaycen Wilson - Element Accountant & Advisors

• Wize Mentoring for Accountants and Bookkeepers • Season 2 • Episode 125

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In this episode of The Wize Factor Chat, Jaycen Wilson and Brett Angus, co-founders of Element Accounting & Advisors discuss their journey of transforming their accounting firm with the help of Wize Mentoring.

Jaycen and Brett share how they started their firm in 2014, initially working within a flat structure that left them overwhelmed and stuck in day-to-day operations. They recount the early challenges of modernising their firm—bringing everything into the 21st century—and how Wize Mentoring’s 'deep and narrow' model helped them systematise their business, reduce workload, and grow smarter.

Key insights include their shift from trying to find "superstar" employees to focusing on extraordinary systems that allow ordinary people to excel, as well as the importance of buying into the Wize Mentoring process fully to achieve success.

If you're looking for inspiration on how to build a business that runs without you and want to hear how Jaycen and Brett are implementing Wize Mentoring’s strategies to achieve long-term growth and freedom, this is the episode for you.


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Wize Mentoring:

From Wize Mentoring is The Wize Guys Podcast, a show about accounting and bookkeeping practice owners and the many stories, lessons, and tips from their experience of transitioning from a time-poor practice to a business that runs without them. I hope you enjoy and subscribe.

Wize Claudia:

Welcome, Jaycen and Brett. Very excited to be here talking to you. I'm glad you could make it make some time in your calendars for me to talk today. Very excited for you starting your wise elite journey and that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about today. I don't know if you've heard of it, but we have this series called The WizeF actor Chat. Talk to this. Firm owners that we think have it factor, The Wize Factor because we consider you guys have been in the West journey for a long while, even if the WizeE lite is just starting, and after talking to the mentors, they consider you guys have been great at what you've done, that you've stuck yourself to your goals and haven't stopped and just keep progressing, which is awesome. So, yeah, I wanted to hear some backstory from you guys. When did the business start? Whose idea was it to become element accounting and advisors?

Brett Angus:

All right, well, I guess with Jaycen and myself. So the way it started was back in 2014 and there was an original business partner that was there, so very sort of old school filing cabinets, paper files, the whole sort of thing. So I've been there for about a year. I used to work with Jason at another firm we're both supervisors, managers I guess you'd say there, Jaycen, managers. I guess you'd say there, Jaycen and so I gave him a call and said if you're interested, I'd love to have you come in here and you know, for him or Jase and I to take over the firm sort of the plan in my mind. So, Jaycen, you came across. What about a year later?

Jaycen Wilson:

Yeah, about a year bit under a year I think it was and the plan was that it was going to be a long transition to ownership for myself from the existing owner. Probably sometime around about now was the original plan. But once we got in there and started making changes that quickly progressed he decided that he didn't want to be involved anymore, that he wasn't probably up to speed with the technology and things that he needed to be, and decided to move that forward.

Wize Claudia:

About eight years, yes, and for the last eight years we've been in partnership together, which is been running very smoothly that's all, and I can sense a chemistry that you have from your previous work, which is amazing, that you found that you had this synergy and that you decided to create something for you awesome it definitely works when you've got two members in that joseph are on the sort same page.

Brett Angus:

Very similar with everything there.

Wize Claudia:

That's awesome. So fast forward a little. You were having challenges in your firm, I guess, or were wanting to improve things. What were those challenges that made you at that point? Look at any type of advisory, coaching, or mentoring like in this case. What was happening at that point? Look at any type of advisory, coaching, or mentoring like in this case. What was happening at that time?

Jaycen Wilson:

Yeah, well, probably the first four or five years was taking the firm from what it was and bringing it into the 21st century, so we were very busy during that period getting everyone under zero, getting the staff up to date with what they should have already known, to be honest, and putting those systems in place, and Brett was huge in instigating that throughout the process. Then, about three or four years ago, we decided, well, we've got that humming pretty well now and we're ready to take that next step and grow. We just didn't really know how to do that because we've always been stuck as the doers and coming in from the business model that we came from in our previous employer. We kind of replicated that and thought that was the way to go, which was a very flat structure, the exact opposite to what the wise model is, and deep enough and we've made mistakes along the way, with staff as well, where we tried to put them in the wrong seats.

Jaycen Wilson:

Because of that model we now, if we knew now or back then what we know now, there would be some staff that would still be here and the whole firm would be benefiting from that. But we learn as we go, so that's been. One of the really pleasing things is that we have been able to learn from the Wize team and 100% buy into what that is as well.

Wize Claudia:

Awesome, how many staff did you have at that point, and versus how many do you have working for you today?

Brett Angus:

It's a hard one to answer because we've actually gone less staff simply on the things that Jason and I implemented that's usually what happens when you implement the deep and narrow structure oh, this is prior to then.

Brett Angus:

So this was basically staff who would take 10 hours to do a work paper. When we implemented systems are now taking three so and it's sort of evolved to find staff who were struggling with those concepts and things. So we actually staff left as a result of that. But the staff that remained and were trained and could do those work papers could handle the workload quite easily at that point in time. So that that was all pretty wise and that's sort of where Jaycen sort of said we got to that point and that's when you guys, we reached out to you guys. So at that point it really hasn't changed that much, has it, Jaycen? It's actually probably grown a little bit back now. More Does it, more work.

Jaycen Wilson:

Yeah, that's right, so we just had people in the wrong seats as well. It's probably the big thing because we were that flat structure and trying to get everyone to do everything, which just wasn't the way to grow Because it all fell back on us. Yeah, kind of thing, and we also had only Australian staff at that stage oh yeah, in the last 10 months at some point yeah, only in the last year oh, got it, so you're in that wave.

Wize Claudia:

Still like the transition to that type of business yeah, definitely team structure sounds like it was a huge thing for you guys, and was there any other thing that had an impact on how you do things at your business ever since WizeE lite, or ever since wise in general big one's COVID?

Jaycen Wilson:

Yeah, I haven't changed everything, so we used to have everyone come in and see us face- to- face, basically. But now we've got cameras, as you can see and it's no longer that, and yeah, we've evolved as a result of that, and before even offshoring, had staff members working from home and things like that that we just didn't think was possible before COVID, essentially.

Wize Claudia:

Great and I guess that once you joined Wize, since everything in Wize is offshoring and and we're very used to the remote model, Even being in the same country, there are remote people. You felt like you had the systems at that time, and that they provided the systems in order to make this transition smoother.

Brett Angus:

Yeah, definitely. I think it also prompted us to, as Jaycen said, look for directions. So we had ideas and systems that we thought were right, but we didn't really know whether they were. So to then see what you guys had and sort of validated everything and gave us much better ideas and a pathway, I guess, to systemize everything and what, how to do it step by step, as opposed to just this huge big task to try and get the firm how you want it. So that's a lot of what we got out of Wize, which has been great. We loved it.

Jaycen Wilson:

Yeah, for sure, and really focus on certain areas as well. That because, yeah, I have in the past had these great ideas where we sit down for a day and come up with 30 different things we're going to do, but you can't do 30 things at once so, but we always tried to do that, rather than just going making it one percent better that.

Wize Claudia:

That's the progress over.

Brett Angus:

Well, a big one too that I'd say in there would be, which is the old Eddie Chan, the butterfly garden and all that sort of stuff. But for us, with staffing, we were always trying to get superheroes to take the load off Jaycen and I, and then we could do all these other things where that whole idea of having great structures and systems in place and having normal people who are, you know, they've got the right attitude and committed to work they didn't need to be superstars is huge for us and that's where we're heading in this path yeah, and that's probably the biggest change we've had.

Wize Claudia:

You get the nail on the head exactly the mindset from us of who we're actually after yeah, yeah definitely that's a huge lesson from Ed, and I think he puts a lot of emphasis on that when hiring.

Wize Claudia:

I think he's a recruitment master and one of the things that he says, like the quote that he used to say is to build extraordinary systems so you don't have to look for extraordinary people, which I relate to a lot. So you can have to look for extraordinary people, which I relate to a lot so you can have anyone who's trustworthy, reliable, someone who does the job great. But if you have systems, you'll know you'll get it done. So I have a question on this. So you know that we talk about building a business that runs without you. I wanted to see if that phrase resonates with you. Are you eager to get to that point? How do you feel about progressing up to that point? How do you feel about that?

Jaycen Wilson:

Yeah, well, this is probably a discussion. We have all the time, yeah exactly.

Wize Claudia:

We like the idea of it but we also enjoy our job.

Jaycen Wilson:

So we're happy to. As long as we can do 35 or 40 hours a week of useful work, then we'll be happy. So we don't want to step completely back from the business or anything like that. We'll take over the world. We just want to continue to build the business but not have to do 60, 70 hours a week to do that.

Wize Claudia:

And that's perfect. That's a huge goal for us. That's perfect. Even that is a huge goal.

Brett Angus:

Yeah, which for us it doesn't necessarily. We're still using the Wize model. So if we had a whole heap of these deep and narrowed teams, Jaycen and I could then cherry- pick our clients under our teams that we want and do what we love doing. So that for us is a win. I mean, if I win the lottery, I'll be later tomorrow. But outside of that, I love what we do and I enjoy working with Jaycen and building together what we are.

Wize Claudia:

Yeah. That's awesome. Love to hear that. It went through all these things all these years and it's still still smooth. So I want to hear from you guys this is my last question and it's about past Jason and past Brett what would you tell them? As someone who hasn't discovered any of this, who's doing the old model, who's hesitating, who's working too many hours because there are a lot of people, who's going to look at this and say I want to be in that spot because I'm nowhere nearby that, and I know this for sure because I've talked to many, many firm owners. So what would you say to the people? But looking at yourselves, about this, about why is the lead and about choosing this path, yeah, I'd probably say it doesn't say on your tombstone how many hours you worked.

Jaycen Wilson:

Yeah, it's probably the main thing I've got. So I want to get back to that, spending more time with the family and all those kind of things that create a happier life, because at the end of the day, you don't want to just work, work, work and then die.

Brett Angus:

Yeah.

Wize Mentoring:

Probably a bleak answer.

Wize Claudia:

Oh, I wasn't expecting that.

Brett Angus:

Well, mine would probably.

Brett Angus:

Yeah, mine might be a little bit cheerier, I guess what I'd say is look, what they give you is confidence and a path.

Brett Angus:

So, you know, five years ago he's gone through COVID and I'm going to this point. We, Jaycen and I, needed somebody to set us on the right path, and for the first time, we feel like we are, and Wize is a big, big part of that for us personally. So, yeah, I'd highly recommend, I'd gladly go back to Brett five years ago and say get on this path because you enjoy what you're doing but with everything and the workload you start to not enjoy what what it is. So this gives you a clear path and be aware that it's not going to take six months, Jaycen, I have this joke where he said, for the last eight years together, 12 to 24 months and we're going to be where we want to be. Eight years later we still weren't so, but we feel for the first time now, with offshoring, with getting the right attitude, looking at the steps, having that library there, that we can work our way through as well.

Jaycen Wilson:

It's priceless and probably the other thing is to buy in quicker because we did for that first couple of years of being on board. We didn't really buy in, like we were there, it was in the background but we weren't actively buying, probably because we weren't seeing the results yet yeah, I'm all very busy at the time.

Brett Angus:

We weren't, you know, putting in that hour into the business. We would go four hours on one day and then eight months later, oh yeah, remember these ideas we had. So you've got a like Jamie has. You know, you got to commit to it yeah, the accountability in the group coaching also.

Wize Claudia:

You see other members and other firm owners progressing and then it kind of gives you the momentum you probably need to complete your own tasks and say, hey, I want to be there, and there will be other people looking at you and thinking I want to be where they are. So I think that's also the exciting part about sharing all this process with other firm owners, like peers, and then with mentors who have walked this walk. So it's amazing that you're getting to experience that and I really look forward to circling back in a couple of months when you've been deeper into your YCLEAD journey. You'll probably see this video somewhere or I can email you and ask where are you guys. What has changed since we last spoke? I just to check in on you because I love seeing the progress firm owners go over from when we talk and into the future. So really excited to see what you guys be working on in three months.

Brett Angus:

Well, we're gonna win the lot well, I haven't bought a lotto ticket in probably a year, so you got to be in it to win it. But uh, no, so are we? We're really excited about the next 10 years 10, 10, 15 years, yeah.

Wize Claudia:

Very excited. Thank you guys for making the time answering my questions talking to me today Really happy. We got the moment and the space to talk about you and your firm and, yeah, I wish you a great day. Talk to you soon.

Wize Mentoring:

That's it.

Jaycen Wilson:

All right Thanks Claudia.

Wize Mentoring:

All right, Bye. Thanks for tuning in. If you liked this episode, please remember to subscribe and leave us a five-star review. For more practical Wize tips on how to build a business that runs without you, head over to wizementoring. com/ podcast to download a free copy of the Accountant's 20-Hour Workweek Playbook. We've included a link in the show notes below. See you in the next episode!