Reflecting on our first vs fifth year of Future Advisory
Back in year one of Future Advisory, Greg, Jase and Shelley (the third Director the the time) reflected on the year that was. A huge, overwhelming, exciting and incredibly exhausting first year of business – as is the case for anyone! Now that we’re at the end of year five, we thought it’d great to look back and discuss where we are now versus then – are our pain points the same? Have they evolved? What are we particularly proud of?
The 2020 pain point:
Hiring. Hire earlier and plan better for it.
The 2025 version:
Hiring is always going to be a big (if not the biggest) challenge of business ownership. This one has very much evolved for us into hiring the right people – focussing on more than skills. Cultural fit is something we prioritise now and it often means that finding the right hire takes longer and feels harder. The wait is always worth it though and it’s a lesson we’ve learned multiple times!
We really understand who and what we’re looking for now so in some ways, hiring has become easier because of that clarity. Maintaining an energetic, fresh, communication focussed and fun environment is something we don’t want to compromise on because we’re so proud of where our team is at culturally and it’s vital to our team’s happiness and success.
The 2020 pain point:
Needing a systemised process for onboarding new clients and team members.
The 2025 version:
We could now split this one into two. Our onboarding process for clients has drastically changed for the better. It’s really systemised and process driven from the initial discovery call through to who we’re onboarding and why. We have a really clear approach to the services we provide and who we provide them for. The onboarding process is something that we will always continue to improve because it’s not perfect yet, but it’s getting much closer!
We could tell you that our new team member onboarding process is also in a really great place, but in the spirit of honesty – it’s simply not there yet. It’s certainly progressed from where we started but it’s an area that needs refinement and we know that. It’s such an important aspect of the business and we want to get it right. We’re very critical of ourselves on this front and we’ve got all the ideas but have had the classic issue of not enough time to implement (yet).
The 2020 pain point:
We need better internal processes for upskilling and educating our team.
The 2025 version:
This has been a big area of improvement and something we’re really proud of. We focus on both internal and external education. Internally, senior team members host a weekly education session either on something they’ve brought to the table or a topic that someone else within the team has expressed interest in. This is voluntary and we’re pleasantly surprised at the fact that the sessions get just as much attendance as our compulsory ones. We have a team who’s very keen to learn!
Every fortnight, we have an external education session that the full team must attend which covers topics like current and emerging FBT, trust losses and GST and reimbursement. We do other CPD days, retreats and conferences like Xerocon where possible too.
As with everything, we’re always refining but we’re really happy with how this is tracking and the uptake and shared enthusiasm of our team.
The 2020 pain point:
We grew too fast which couldn’t be helped but it created process issues and we weren’t servicing clients in the way we knew we could and should be doing.
The 2025 version:
The business has evolved so much in the last five years. We aren’t in the position of needing growth for growth’s sake anymore. Our focus has very much shifted into doing more and doing it better for our existing clients, rather than needing more of them – quality over quantity in all areas. Efficiencies, processes and systems are now in place that means we’re actively refining and working towards this goal.
The discovery calls have been a game changer in this sense. We get an initial feel for what the client needs and wants and whether that aligns well with our service offering and the kind of client we want to work with.
Another piece to this puzzle is the fact that we don’t have aspirations to grow to a team of 50+ people. We’re heading towards a team of 30 and that’s allowing us to achieve the balance of providing an excellent service to a group of clients that can enjoy everything we have to offer, without becoming a bigger business that’s trying to engage with 1000+ businesses. It all harks back to knowing who we are, what we do and who we do it for. And those three magic works again: quality over quantity.
The 2020 pain point:
We didn’t prioritise our own wellbeing enough which of course can only lead to one thing… burn out. It’s not a sustainable way to work.
The 2025 version:
We can safely say the 70+ hour work weeks are behind us. Wellbeing has become such an overarching and shared value of our team more broadly. Leading by example is really important to us and being fit and healthy is something they see us prioritising all the time. We certainly learned the hard way that taking care of ourselves outside of work directly translates to showing up as our most efficient and productive selves at work.
Any newer challenges or focus areas that’ve come up as Future has evolved?
- Implementation of AI and streamlining of the software and tech we use internally is both a challenge and a focus. The rate at which this tech changes makes it really tricky to stay as efficient as possible (like I’m sure many of the readers do, we often use 10% of what the software offers rather than really understanding how to use it fully).
- Still people! Always! Hiring and maintaining culture and long term employees will be a constant pain point for any business owner. People are complicated –we all have things going on in our personal lives, we all like to work and be managed in different ways.
- Reliance on us (Jason & Greg) as Directors for workflow is something we’ve tried and failed to manage better. It’s something we will keep changing and experimenting with. Finding that ideal structure and communication chain is very tricky! We’ve created an internal support structure for newer accountants and have made really good inroads on this front, but it’s always a work in progress.
Things you’ve tried and haven’t worked?
Trying to create that new level of management was something we’ve tried and failed at. We created a bottleneck by having a senior manager who sat directly under us to essentially vet questions and issues rather than coming straight to us. This just didn’t work – we learnt that relying on one person is filled with risk and just isn’t practical. We went back to the drawing board on this. Definitely a good example of two steps forward, one step back! We’ll get there though.
What HAS worked?
- Transparency and openness with our team is something that sets us apart from many other firms and we’re really proud of it. Our team know what’s expected on the KPI and budget front and give them a lot of oversight on this area of the business. They have a really clear understanding of what it means to be successful within Future. We take our team along for the full ride and they have ownership over their output and are genuinely invested in the businesses success.
- The refinement of our services and ideal client has had an amazing flow on effect across all facets of the business
- We’ve had another crack at internal structure and this time, we’ve seen vast improvements. Pods and pod supervisors are working well, we’ve had an epic run of team members who are supported and support each other
- Amazing client results! So many businesses are making great, informed decisions based on our work and it’s just so joyful and satisfying to see
- The team’s energy and the workplace culture is something we are so proud of. It really feels baked into the Future DNA now – it’s not just words on a website or screensaver. The group of people we are lucky enough to work with are collaborative, enthusiastic and genuine. We never take it for granted
Whew! That was a long one but some absolute pearls of wisdom in here. Working on our own business has taught us more than accounting experience ever could and we love passing on that knowledge via business advisory now too.
