The Wize Way

Episode 145: Firm transformation starts with the owner: becoming a better leader

• Wize Mentoring for Accountants and Bookkeepers • Season 2 • Episode 145

Share episode

In this week's episode of The Wize Way Podcast for Accountants & Bookkeepers, Jamie Johns and Kristy Fairbairn discussed how to free up your time while maintaining complete control of your firm. 

They shared the top 3 ways to build a culture of high productivity and how to create and communicate a vision for your firm that is big enough for your staff to feel like they can achieve their own goals within.

________________

PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm:

1. Take the Wize Accountants Scale Scorecard – Find out your potential to scale and the next steps you should follow – Start Your Scorecard

2. Download our famous Wize Freedom Strategy Map for FREE - Find out the 96 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here

2. Need to Hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here

4. Book a 1:1 Wize Discovery Session – Spend 30mins with our Wize CEO, Jamie Johns, a $7M firm owner who is ready to give you his entire business plan to build a firm that can run without you – Find out more here

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.

Kristy Fairbairn:

Oh hello! So we are very excited to have today's topic. Firm transformation starts with the owner becoming a better leader, and I think it's great that we have Jamie here today, who is the epitome of great leadership, with his team and the. The things that he's navigated to get to this point and to have his ideal lifestyle at his fingertips are ones to aspire to. So I'm excited to jump into that topic with you, Jamie. Let's dive in.

Kristy Fairbairn:

You've committed the time. Let's get into Jamie's brain and hear what he's got to share with us. So, Jamie, how do you free up your time while maintaining complete control of your firm?

Jamie Johns:

Where do you want me to start?

Kristy Fairbairn:

Take us back to the pain and then how you got through it.

Jamie Johns:

I think the answer is Kristy. There's one or two things in terms of you know leadership, obviously. You know leadership, obviously. You know a lot of accountants and bookkeepers I speak to around the world. Their biggest number one enemy is lack of time, and with lack of time, it's, you know, to go to the extreme. It's like you can often be a workaholic, so there's more and more work all the time and you know, I was once in that situation, of course, and then your life gets out of balance. And once your life starts getting out of balance, you just feel too much pain, and you know, the other side of the coin then is you're not achieving your aspirations, you're not achieving the things that you know you essentially started out to do in the first place. So you know, I think I started my own firm because I thought I'd have more flexibility, more freedom you know, pretty soon, ran got the opposite.

Jamie Johns:

So you know, sort of to go back to the start and to sort of try and emphasise with everyone you know, why they're here today. Is, you know either, one of those two reasons? You want more options, more choices, more freedom, which is a great aspiration to have, and a more balanced life.

Jamie Johns:

And you know, on the flip side, it's, you're just you know, and you know, on the flip side, it's you're just, you know, sick of just having lack of time, having appointments all day and then coming back to your inbox and you know, having 100 emails or 150 emails sitting in your inbox and then not dealing with them. So that sort of paints the picture, I guess, of either side of the coin in terms of why everyone might be here today. Of course, that was me, 100 percent before I met Ed Chan, my mentor, and I think it all changed with me in terms of getting my time back with mentorship. That was that would be the biggest, uh, you know, number one piece of advice I would give to anyone you know including my own kids. So you know it doesn't get any more sort of uh, serious or meaningful than that, and essentially it's just mentorship. So it's, it's really about trying to avoid the road box, trying to find a blueprint, blueprint, trying to find a plan that actually works.

Jamie Johns:

And when I met Ed and you know we formed Wize, that just emulates that blueprint, that plan that you know I've copied and many other firms have copied, that just works. It simply works. And when I say works, the outcomes are that you get your time back, you learn to lead people, you learn to delegate, and so they're all the things that essentially you have to learn on the journey. It's you know. It's about, I think, really at its core it's about who you need to become as a leader in order to achieve the outcomes that you want, and you must do that within the spirit of win-win. Whenever you're working with people, it always has to be win-win. You know The Habit 4 of Highly Effective People, a Dr Stephen Covey's book.

Jamie Johns:

I mean, look in my career, for example, I was just a simple kid off a farm in central Victoria, Australia, but I think I've, you know, I've either started or overseen. You know six businesses now accounting and tax and bookkeeping, financial planning, mortgage broking, recruitment, coaching, and now software. So the same principles that you know we teach at wise. You can apply them across different businesses, but the important point is it's always in the spirit of leadership and also in the spirit of teamwork. Like you are not an island, you know I've done what I've done because I've teamed up with people. People are the core of it. You know then systems and processes, and then technology, the tools that you need, and then, finally, sort of the performance or the results or the outcomes, and you know they're sort of some of the key ingredients to, you know, achieve. You know, hopefully, why you're here today is to get your time back and to be a better leader and to achieve your goals and help other people achieve theirs. That's how I probably sum it up.

Kristy Fairbairn:

I think too, Jamie, isn't it? It's knowing where to spend your time, and without direction, without a mentor, you're just kind of spinning your gears.

Kristy Fairbairn:

You don't know where to put your focus and you only have so much time in a day to know what blueprint to follow cuts out so much wasted energy that you can go straight into the action step that is going to have an impact on you creating freedom in your business. And you know, we talk to so many firm owners who say they don't get to switch off. They struggle to switch off. They either are still working weekends or late nights.

Kristy Fairbairn:

Every time they get an email from a client, they're responding to it. They're constantly in. You know that high energy of reacting instead of, with intention, taking action. Looking at those quad two activities of really building out the business and creating that teamwork so that they're not carrying the load themselves yeah, it's absolutely true.

Jamie Johns:

Kristy, you really must focus on working on the business and you must do that in with a rhythm and a routine. You know, what I've achieved in the person I am today is because of the rhythm and the routine that then become habits and some of those absolutely core things you know at a very practical level is, you know, at its core is, I think, focusing on the vision. So what you're trying to achieve and articulate that vision to your team, what it is you're trying to achieve. Secondly, surrounding yourself with the right people in terms of the finders and the minders and the grinders, and understanding how to build a team. You have to be a people builder.

Jamie Johns:

If you're going to get your business to even work a little bit without you, or some without you, or a lot without you, you have to be able to build people up. You have to be able to know, like, what their career goal is. You must sit with your team members at some point in time and ask them what it is that their ultimate goal is for their career, right, then you need, if you can, support, like, help them and support them to achieve that. I mean, I think I had six or seven jobs before I started my own business, and not one boss sat with me and said Jamie, what do you want to do with your life? What do you want to do with your career? Not one, and so don't do that.

Kristy Fairbairn:

No, and I think you know Sky is a perfect example of having someone come in at you know what could be considered an entry-level position and working away in your firm up to an executive level. And it's about creating opportunities to grow within your business, because so many people, as you say, are not asked that, so they leave a good workplace because they don't feel there's anywhere to go. But just as we want clients to choose how to work with us, where we give them a couple of options, we want our team members to choose how to grow in our business, how to find a new fulfillment, and that's the thing of not creating generalists, isn't it creating someone who's in their flow? What do they really enjoy doing? What are they great at?

Jamie Johns:

That's right.

Kristy Fairbairn:

Looking at the extension with them by setting goals and growth targets.

Jamie Johns:

Absolutely. You know, find the right people, put them in the right seat, as Jim Collins says in his book Good to Great. Give them KPIs, give them mutual goals that you both agree on and what you know what success actually looks like, what you know, what does that success for you look like? Which just is the KPIs, and then coach them and help them to achieve those goals. It's in my mind and the different businesses and things that I run it's all about the people first. You know, I think we hear from a lot of software companies. It's all tech. It's all technology and I've got to be more efficient. I've got to be this and I've got to be that. You know this has got to integrate with that. Yes, of course it does. But to be honest with you, it starts with the people. You get the people right, you find the right people and you keep the right people and there's no point hiring people hand over fist and then you know letting them go.

Jamie Johns:

People don't leave firms. They leave their leader. They leave their manager.

Jamie Johns:

You get that foundation right and then you overlay the technology in the tech stack and get them following the right processes and the right systems and then finally as I said, you have to be able to routinely show people the results of their efforts because results are non-emotional, results don't lie, results don't have an opinion, and ultimately results will affect human behavior.

Jamie Johns:

We see this in sports, across cultures, across races, across all different religions or whatever like sport, and the definition of a successful, winning team is globally recognised and that's what we have to take to our business. You know, and that's what, once you get your the foundations in your firm going, like, you understand what capacity planning is you understand five KPIs like the Fab5. You know, if you want to grow your firm, you've got to get the foundations right, just those basics right, and don't get too busy where you're like you think, oh, that's not important, you know, because it's not going to get towards what, whatever your goal is yeah, I think you know we often talk about gamifying the business or having that scoreboard, and that's what the Fab5 is for each and every firm owner.

Kristy Fairbairn:

You know when you've got your scoreboard. There are no lying numbers, don't have feelings and emotions. They just give you information that you can then make decisions about how your business is going and drill into the specific area when it's it's exactly right.

Jamie Johns:

Like everyone, again, I always use the sport as an analogy. When you go to the hockey game or the football game or the soccer game or whatever, let the scoreboard do the talking, Let the scoreboard do the talking, but you think about it. If you're the owner of your firm and you don't have a scoreboard right without trying to sound arrogant like it was, like me I was lost. You know, it took Ed Chan. You know who I worked with. It took him to change the old grey matter up here. Right, you know, because for the first 20 years, I was taught whatever I learned from school, you know, like, wherever you know, but I had to work. You know, I had to work with Ed.

Jamie Johns:

Going had to learn the Wize Ways we say to understand, to change myself first, to change Kristy thinking, to understand what's important. w w .

Jamie Johns:

back to Kristy your point earlier, you know you, to understand what's important. Going back to christy your point earlier, you know you said understanding what is important., you, really, fundamentally, you have to understand the difference between, you know, quad one and quad two. Quad is urgent and important and quad two is not urgent but important. Like, at a fundamental level. an e-book. We wrote what's it called?

Jamie Johns:

christy, the account's 20 hour work week or yeah, I think so 70 hour work week, you know, grab that book and in quad two, you know what. What is it? It's like training, edu. You know, educating and training your staff. How, how often do you do that? You know like I micro train people. If anyone's ever worked one-on-one with me, I micro train them like to the it,, to the finest detail. At times, you know, um, you know, there are micro train, don't micro a spin manage. You know and then Kristy educate and train your clients, train them how you work. And that's where all the tools in WISE, all the tools are there. You just have to understand the tools and live the tools. The no bypass policy, you know. Senior client manager, assistant client manager, bookkeeping, it's all there. It's just learning the knowledge.

Jamie Johns:

A great way to explain it, I think . everyone is. You know, if you go on a great journey and you're leading an There's the what do you need plan WizeV ault need to understand the territory. You need to understand like what will kill you that's You know this is in terms of that expedition. time need Ed like what will kill you. You know this is in terms of that expedition. Um, you need to know who you need to take, you need to know the equipment you need to. You know you need to know when you're actually going to arrive there. You know your business is is really no different. It's just that it's not life and death.

Jamie Johns:

You know if, if it doesn't work out you know you might not have balance in your life and you might, whatever the negative outcomes of, you know, being a workaholic or not having time or not having a balanced life are, but your business is no different. So you've got to be able to follow that blueprint, follow that plan or map, know what tools to take, have the knowledge to do it and then execute that plan. And really that's the key to it. And there's different ways to put spin on it. I suppose Christy, in terms of the understanding of it.

Jamie Johns:

But the quad activities, you know, that Dr Stephen Covey talks, talks about. That's a very good way of looking at it. Um, there's another um, there's another document that's in the um, you know, in the in the wise vault, and that's about you know how to delegate, um, you know. So there's all. There's different ways and a lot of the times, um, talked would Wize to me things like the fifth time, and the fifth time I'd get it. So Ed would apologise for repeating himself, but he would say it again and then often, sometimes the fifth or sixth or seventh time.

Jamie Johns:

I'd formally understand and allow time for it. For me personally, as an executive, say my calendar runs my day. My calendar runs my day. fulfill know my assistant I've got process, PA at Sky Accountants Jess now and also Selena, like they help me run my life.

Jamie Johns:

Yes, they do. And so you know you've got to honour the calendar and you know, follow that calendar. But because what's in your calendar will be a lot, for everyone you've got an hour a day in there to work on your business to work on your firm, stick to that one hour. Because if you stick to that and implement and as the things that we talk about wise, as I've done and other- firms have done, then you will get the results.

Jamie Johns:

You'll get the results, you'll get the results and then your sort of circle of influence, if you like, will help other people in that process fulfil their career and in that process you'll delegate what you used to do when I started. I used to do everything, like a lot of firm owners here. When you start out, I started in the home office. I literally did everything, like a lot of firm owners here. When you start out, you know I started in the home office. I literally did everything, um, but then I delegated and I delegated, and I delegated and I delegated. I learned from ed um, these leaderships of aspects that we're talking about and um, and then you know that's where you, that's where you end up.

Jamie Johns:

You have setbacks Jamie and you overcome them so you don't just say like it's all easy, you know, because it's not, that's, that's just. You know the only way everyone to to grow right is to get outside your comfort zone. You like, you need something to push up against so that you can grow as a leader, as a, as a person, as a professional right. You need something to push up against so you know whether it's, however, you can relate to that. If it's, you know, going to the gym and trying to get fitter, you know you're pushing up against the weights. Um, you know, if you're trying to be a better speaker, you know you've got to practice that. And then you know, have an audience of five and then have an audience of 100 or whatever, but you're not going to grow professionally unless you try something new that you've never done before and and just implement it and then and then you'll grow professionally. You know that's. That's what they call out being outside your comfort zone.

Kristy Fairbairn:

You need to get outside your comfort zone yeah, absolutely you're stretching least stretching it, expanding it, because that's what creates more for you. And you know, if we look at nature, all of the beautiful things have twists and turns and knots. They're not perfect and pristine. It's about continuing to face the fear and take the action because you know that on the other side of it, we'll have the results for you.

Kristy Fairbairn:

What's, jamie, if we're looking Simon at Sinek key things for building a culture of high productivity, I think definitely touched on some already, but what's something that comes to mind for that high productivity level for our firm owners and leaders here?

Jamie Johns:

Yeah, look, I think in of there are high productivity, you know at a high level. You know every firm owner here and But employee these here are You must have a for either your firm or your career and it must be in writing. And it's got to be in writing and not vague. It needs to be in detail. A lot of people say, yeah, I've got goals and that, but they don't have them in writing and they're very vague. So you know, whatever point you are in your career, have your goals in detail written down so that you know what they are. That high- be the first thing learning because you've got to know, like why are you doing this? a

Jamie Johns:

what's what's the why? You know simon, sinek, all the greats they talk about. You know what's your why. So that'd be the first thing that leads to productivity. You know, you, you want to be able to get out of bed, not because you have to, but because, like the other day, I think, for example, my son was going for a surf and he got out of bed. You know what he said. He said oh, dad, it's easy to get out of bed when you know what you want. Isn't that a classic, everyone, it's easy to get out of bed when you know what you want, right? So that's the first point, um.

Jamie Johns:

I think the second point is um, there's two things really believe in. I'm getting old now. I'm 52 next week. Um, but this is two points I'll make is surround yourself with the right people. You will be the average of your five closest associates. Another thing I've read is you will earn within $10,000 of the three people that you associate with professionally. So surround yourself with the right people. That rule of 33, a third of your time learning from mentors, people who have done it before you. It's so important that we forget this, um. So I think the second point, this high performing productivity, is learn from others how they're. You know how they're doing it someone who's done it before you and you know why is the community and all the intellectual property. There's's hours of videos. There's so much now, isn't there, christy there is.

Jamie Johns:

Just these sessions that we've had, they're all recorded. just, even if you watch one hour a week, and just you know, take one little percent, what am I going to learn? What did Ed say in that session? Geez, I could do that. a

Kristy Fairbairn:

I think, too, when you're unsure of what is that build quad two activity or what is that one hour a day time that yeah, look into the resources that you have access to look at a recording yeah, I think. in

Jamie Johns:

I think that that'd be my second point is, um, uh, just be careful with who you listen to. That's very important. Who you surround yourself with, and that includes you know your teams, that you build in that people aspect. The third point would be, I think, to build a great culture, and in building a great culture, the way to do that is to develop win-win relationships. You know so, if it's in your business, you you know one of the little things you might be able to do is a profit sharing arrangement that we promote at wise. Learn how to do that. How does that work? You know that's win-win.

Jamie Johns:

Um. Document what your own goals are, but, more importantly, building a great culture, document what the career goals are of each individual person that's in each team all the way through, and then make a concerted Dr. Covey support them to to achieve their career goals. And they know what it is. That doesn't matter. You can do that together. But if you do that together, from you and the top down, that will create a great, a great culture. Because I mean, imagine working a firm where the leadership understands what your goal is and is willing to help you get there, and you define what success for you means together. I mean tip I wouldn't want to leave. Why would you want to leave?

Kristy Fairbairn:

Yeah, absolutely it's. You know, it's even in your own goals with your firm to know the goals of your team members, you can identify who is going to help you with that next team creation or that next leadership role. It's, you know, I know for me in my firm I've got my production manager for my second team. I don't have a second team yet we're a little while off that but I've already had someone express an interest in that kind of position so it's now taking time to nurture him and give him the skills and see if he is the right fit for that. So when you identify the goals of your team members, you can help create alignment with your own goals in your firm and identify who is coming on that journey and who is comfortable where they are, without causing disruption of oh I've got a second team, I need you to be the leader of that one. That doesn't work for everyone. So, having the open conversations as you say, creating that strong culture in your team to communicate, collaborate and work in an interdependent way.

Jamie Johns:

Yeah, but I would think that would sort of be the three main ways at a high level, you know, to achieve a high level of productivity that's internalised, not just like on the surface. You know, dr cubby talks about this I think I can't remember which chapter but he talks about the personality ethic and the character ethic. You know, the person the personality ethic is is very, um, superficial, you know. It's like oh, we've got to work faster, we've, we've got to be better, we've got to be more efficient, you know, um, and then he shows an example of an iceberg. The personality ethic is just like the top of the iceberg that tips you out of the water.

Jamie Johns:

But the character ethic, the reason why you're a bookkeeper and accountant, what's the why, the reason why you're staying with this firm? Do your values align with the firm's values? You know, and is that, you know? Is that motivating you to get out of bed every day? You know. And so the character ethic is the big part under the water that you don't see. But what's going to drive the most efficiency is the big part that you can't see. Hopefully, everyone understands that. So it's probably the things, the discussions that we may not have as we normally do, but they've got to be had because you're trying to achieve something special. Yeah absolutely.

Wize Mentoring:

That's the thing.

Jamie Johns:

So if you can get into that character ethic and understand why people do what they do, you know why they chose this career and what they want to get out of their career and their life, you will tap into more efficiency, more productivity than you ever dreamed of. ?

Kristy Fairbairn:

Yeah, absolutely, Jamie. I'd love to know an action point from you. What's something that you suggest those who committed their time today to attend the coaching call, what's an action step for them to take?

Jamie Johns:

Look, I can give you three. I can give you three, but you know, one of the I think the most practical things is grabbing your calendar. You know, honouring your calendar and marking out one hour a day to just look at wise material. And take one percent, you know one, even if you get one percent. If you put it this way, if you get one percent improvement a week, that's, that's 52 percent in a year, but roughly right. So you've improved by half right. And then you'll gain momentum from that habit, internalise that habit, that one hour a day of just trying to find one nugget of gold that you can implement in your firm.

Jamie Johns:

You know it could be anything. It could be identifying how to master the capacity plan and knowing when to hire. It could be understanding what your resource mix is. and getting know well when do I hire a bookkeeper or when do I hire an assistant manager. You've got to learn the tools, learn the knowledge and then simply just you know, even if it's one percent. But for me the big kicker was just that one hour a day, because you know, if you don't sort of honour, that you'll just go back to your email inbox with 100 emails, 150 emails, and it'll be just. You know, you'll be like that hamster on the treadmill and think, well, when am I going to get off this wheel?

Kristy Fairbairn:

It's the most important client meeting of the day, isn't it?

Kristy Fairbairn:

With yourself, yeah to honour it with yourself. You know, so often we get caught up. prioritise our clients, we prioritise meeting you recognise, taking their calls, getting their work to,, but if you've we need to have that client meeting with ourselves first and prioritise that, protect it as much as we do our clients, because without a successful, sustainable business you won't go the distance get or you won't be able to support as many clients if you're at capacity because you just get do any more on your own. w

Jamie Johns:

That's right, it's just. You know, Wize in one of those industries where we don't have to chase work, you WizeHub And it doesn't matter what country you're in. You know there's taxes, right, you know. So that's just the way it is. And, yeah, if we can build out our teams, if we can get highly organised and, you know, touch on the things that we've said, then you know we can help more people in the long run. You know, and you can live a normal life Everyone needs to live a normal then you know we can help more people in the long run. You know, and you can live a normal life. Everyone needs to live a normal life, a normal, balanced life, from, you know, from the owner of the firm to the person who collects the trash, it doesn't matter, everyone's equally important. It's just that we have different roles and we're all on different journeys, different stages on that journey.

Kristy Fairbairn:

Yeah, I just want to close you off with a few things before we do go today, five- if you're. looking to hire, Wize you're recognising that you don't have people to delegate to or you've got the wrong wizementoring. com/ there's a gap in your team. I'd The love Accountant's to 20- you Workweek with Playbook Danny and our Wise Talent team. If you need any help with great recruits and getting a great system in place, please. If you need any help with getting great recruits get a great system in place, please. If you would like to know about our Wize Market offerings, Wize Market is a fantastic place where we put our own tests, our own skill tests for accountants and bookkeepers, as well as a training program to get graduate accountants up to intermediate level. So the tests are very practical based. It really tests out if the person has got the right experience for you and you get access to the questions and answers to know what areas their strengths and weaknesses are. So they're really great parts of your hiring toolkit.

Kristy Fairbairn:

And if you haven't already got your Wize Hub set up, then please reach out to Ali or Selena from our Wize Hub team. They'll be able to get you set up. We have a seven-day free trial access to you If you would like to learn some more about how to accelerate the path down your own Wize blueprint, let us know. If you'd like to learn more about our Wize Growth one-on-one mentoring program as well. That's certainly the way to get clear intention. With a compass in that map that you have, we really show you the direction to head and help keep you on track so that you don't go off into the bush without knowing where you are. Okay, thank you all so much for investing the time today. Have a great rest of the day or evening.

Wize Mentoring:

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 on the next episode.