Why these are important to us

Supporting accountants and others is extremely important to Shane Lukas and all the AVN team

The images on the bottom of our emails are incredibly important to us here at AVN.  Let me explain why…

The Vonage Nexmo Business Enabler of the Year Finalist – The goal of AVN is supporting accountants to build the business that they desire, and we do this by enabling accountants to help their business owner clients to develop and grow.  To be recognised for this makes us incredibly proud.

The Global Goals -In 2015, world leaders agreed to 17 goals for a better world by 2030. These goals have the power to end poverty, fight inequality and stop climate change. Guided by the goals, it is now up to all of us, governments, businesses, civil society and the general public to work together to build a better future for everyone. An inspirational mission statement and AVN truly believe that supporting the UN Global Goals can make the world a much better place for all of us, and we are delighted to be supporting this.

Buy1Give1 – Is one of the ways in which AVN bring purpose and meaning to our business and supporting the UN Global Goals.  By making a regular contribution to the projects of B1G1 we can put our desire to help make the world a better place into practice.

The reason we have these on our email is to inspire you to not only think of others but to also spread the word for these amazing causes. So, don’t wait click on the links and find out how you can help others.

Find out more about AVN by contact us on 01246 571191

Why grow your business?

Tell me if you agree or disagree with my answer, I’d love to know your thoughts.

A good friend of mine asked me the other day “Why are people so obsessed with growing their business to make huge and increasing profits year after year, why not just earn enough to live on?”

Is it Greed?

It’s actually a fair question isn’t it? There are businesses out there generating millions in profits – do they really need all of that money?

On the other hand, there are many people who have their own small boutique business and they’re happy that it earns them a wage and gives them the lifestyle they want without any inclination to earn more than they need.

Are some people simply unambitious?

I suspect that in many cases the boutique lifestyle business owners will view the growth oriented business owners as greedy. Conversely, the growth oriented business owners may well view the boutique life-stylers as having no ambition whatsoever.

It’s fair to say that in some cases, each is correct, but not in all cases.

An enviable lifestyle

My friend who asked the question is self-employed, he has a boutique business.

I wouldn’t describe him as unambitious in the least. In fact he has an enviable lifestyle often working for a few months and then taking a few months off to tour parts of the world with his girlfriend and his dogs.

His basic needs are met, he’s debt free. He takes many extra holidays throughout the year including snowboarding and motorcycling with friends such as myself.

It’s easy to see why he asked the question about the obsession for year on year growth.

I’ve also spoken to people whose business is making millions in profits but it’s so reliant on them they’re working every waking hour with no life.

Why grow?

There are many reasons why you might want to grow your business. If you’re a business like Apple for example then a) there are millions of people around the world who want your products and therefore you’re responding to demand. b) they have lots of shareholders who expect their shares to grow and give them a return on their investment. A drop in profits can cause outcry and panic for shareholders as it might well mark the turning point of a business’ success rate.

You may believe that your competitors don’t deliver a great service to people and so you want to grow your business so that ‘your way’ is delivered to many more people.

I believe that the purpose of the business owner and his/her business will largely determine whether the owner will focus on growth after getting established.

Do you have a duty to grow your business?

If your purpose is to change lives for the better, then where should you stop? Is it fair on the lives you don’t touch because you felt that you’d grown enough?

If your purpose extends beyond your own needs to that of others then perhaps you feel it’s your duty to grow and expand what you do in order to reach and affect more people.

Growing a business can mean:

• Helping the economy through the tax you pay on the profits you earn
• Employing more people and giving them careers
• Making a difference to more lives through your business and its profits
• Profits can be reinvested in to the business to enhance its offerings
• Keeping competition from ruining you
• Being able to survive if you lose some big clients

A growing business is more likely to attract talented people than a business that’s merely earning enough to get by. Most people want to develop themselves and progress in life. Joining a dynamic business that’s innovative and growing is much more attractive than a business that’s – well, not!

Growth doesn’t mean greed.

Profits are a consequence of doing the right thing. If your business is making a positive difference in some way that it will make profits as a consequence of that. Many of the businesses who are making millions if not billions in profits are using that money in ways to make the world better, Richard Branson, Bill Gates, JK Rowling to name a few are great examples of people who are using their money for good.

Is it really success?

I do believe though that success isn’t really success if it’s at the expense of family, friends and health.

Many people who focus on growing their business often do so at the expense of their own lifestyle. As they grow the business they end up working more hours themselves and not getting the time to enjoy the benefits of the greater income they’re generating. This often leads to worry, stress, divorce or death.

If you’re happy with your life then you don’t need to change anything.

There is the saying though – “If you continue to do what you’ve always done, you’ll continue to get what you’ve always got – or worse.” Why worse? The world is rapidly changing. Anyone who remains stagnant or set in their ways is likely to suffer as the world grows around them.

Growth needs to be done right.

If you grow too quickly you may run the risk of over promising and under delivering. Quality might become affected; customer service may deteriorate.

At AVN we help accountants develop their practice using our signature roadmap. The first part of the roadmap helps accountants create stability, profitability, enjoyment and importantly make more of a difference with the clients accountants work with. The second part is focused around growing and scaling in a way that maintains high service levels and the lifestyle and enjoyment of the practice owner.

We focus on putting systems in place for scaling, getting the right people involved and engaged and developing a great culture, having a vision in place that inspires those people – if your purpose is around making money then that’s not likely to inspire others to go that extra mile for customers or the business. If the purpose has a deeper meaning then it will motivate people to want to give their very best to customers and to the business.

Business growth is a choice.

We’re all different and all have different ideas about our place in the world and about our own lifestyle wants and needs.

My purpose is to help improve people’s ability to have better lifestyle choices; one way I do this is by helping business owners improve their business, which in turn reduces their stress and gets them their lives back.

I work with accountants to help them improve their business because accountants are each best placed to help the hundreds of business owners they work with grow their businesses. And from the profits we make, we’re helping people in developing countries by providing education, business support funding and the basics in terms of hygiene to give them more of a chance in life.

At AVN we have aligned ourselves to several of the UN Global Goals, we contribute to the Global Goals through Buy1Give1 (www.b1g1.com) where for every time someone buys from us we give through Buy1Give1 and several lives are positively affected in developing countries around the world.

By growing and scaling AVN in a way that retains its high standards in supporting, coaching and training accountants then I’m helping more people. That’s my reason for growing the business.

What are your thoughts?

Do you want to grow your business? If so, why?
Article Source: Shane Lukas

New Year’s resolutions? – do it right.

So many people set New Year’s Resolutions but fail to maintain their new way of life for more than a few weeks on average.

Why?

Well, too many people strive for big change in a short space of time.  In my book – What’s Next for Accountants I share in detail why that’s not a great strategy.  In short though, it’s too much.

People don’t like change and can’t maintain a big change for very long.

This is why fad diets don’t work.  It’s hell!  It’s just too much change in one go. It’s a big shock to the system. As is joining a gym and suddenly going 3 times per week.

I remember the first time I decided to come off of caffeine, I had a terrible headache for a week and gave up, I went back on the caffeine.  The next time I decided to come off it, I swapped one typical cup of coffee for a decaf version and each week swapped another, I weaned myself off of caffeine in a more successful manner.  Habit changed and no headache.

Couch to marathon?

Rather than deciding to get off the couch and run 20 miles per week it’s much better to plan and increment change so that you can adapt more easily. We know this because our body couldn’t possibly take that level of change in one go.  And yet we try and make other lifestyle changes that put mental, physical or habitual strain on us without a second thought.

Adapting to a healthier lifestyle might be better adopted by simply swapping one typical meal per week to a more healthy one.  Or having less chips on the plate and a little more salad. Perhaps a short walk once per week.  One bit at a time, one small change at a time.

Monthly resolutions, planned now.

Perhaps after a month, another meal per week could be exchanged for something more healthy.

This same principle applies to all of the goals we set whether it’s a personal goal or a business goal.

What one thing could you change each month that will begin to make your life better and in a more achievable and maintainable manner?  Take time to plan your year by having a month by month small resolution.

Measure and Track

It’s important to measure too.

If you’re looking to change something, what’s the outcome?  If it’s to lose weight that’s easier to measure than if it’s to start doing more social media activity. How do you know it’s successful?

Plan this out.  If it’s replacing one typical meal per week for a more healthy one then put a chart on the wall with all of the weeks on it and tick off each week that you replaced the meal.  That way you can visually see that you’re sticking to your new regime and will be aware as the week is progressing that you haven’t yet swapped that meal.

Get others involved

As a family – myself, my wife Jenny and my 10 and 9 year old kids – we’ve mapped out our goals for the year, broken them down in to measurable and trackable targets which will keep us each on track.  We had a fun goal setting session over a meal in the local Wetherspoons.

Statistically, people are much more likely to achieve their goals if they’re shared with others.  As a family we’re accountable to each other on our goals.  I feel compelled to set an example with my children now that we’ve all set goals together which means I’m much more likely to achieve them otherwise what message does that send to my kids?

WHY?

Finally, it’s important to have a strong WHY for each change.  If you don’t fully subscribe to your goal then you won’t have the impetus to continue it.  Make that WHY clear and present.  Put your goals in a photo frame next to your bed so it’s the last thing you see each day and the first thing you see in the morning.  This will keep your goals in focus.

Action you can take.

Sit down with your family and come up with some targets for the end of 2018, then break them down in to incremental chunks, take ownership and commit as a family to each of your own goals.  Doing it as a family first will help you get your priorities in business right too.  If your family are wanting more of your time and you decide to commit to that then how will you develop your business to ensure that happens?

I wish you a prosperous, successful and very happy new year.

What resolutions have you set?  Personal or business related?  Give me a comment below.

Article Source: Shane Lukas

Interview with Tim Davies – John Davies and Co

Hi there, I’m Shane Lukas, and I’m the Managing Director of AVN. The AVN team are excited to announce the release of our new book The Business Owner’s Guide to the UK’s Best Accountancy Practices which is free to download here: https://unbouncepages.com/business-owners-guide-claim-free-book/. Our book has been designed to help businesses find accountants who go the extra mile to help improve the success of the company and make the business more enjoyable to run.

I recently spoke to Tim Davies, the Managing Director of Wrexham based accountancy firm John Davies & Co. John Davies & Co are one of the accountancy firms which feature in The Business Owner’s Guide to the UK’s Best Accountancy Practices.

Interviewing Tim Davies, helped me understand how John Davies & Co stand out and why they are head and shoulders above traditional accountancy practices. Through speaking to Tim Davies, I found out how John Davies & Co use benchmarking and goal setting effectively. Benchmarking helps businesses to compare key criteria against their competitors and work out what they need to do to become more successful. By identifying areas of weakness John Davies & Co can tailor their advice to the individual company and help to make improvements and increase profitability.

During the interview, Tim Davies told me an incredible story of how a client came to him three years ago, with an overdraft of £230,000 and minor profitability for his bakery business. Tim and his team benchmarked the bakery against over 200 competitors, focusing on the gross margin and gross profit. The conclusion from the benchmarking was that the client could increase their prices by 10%.

Naturally afraid of losing customers, the client was reluctant to raise prices. Using innovative software, Tim showed the client how he could afford to lose 5-10% of the customer base and still be profitable. After a year of following Tim’s advice, the client’s overdraft had disappeared, and profits had increased. The success has continued, and the client now has £250,000 in the bank and is making a yearly profit of £225,000. Not only is the business much more successful, but the client’s lifestyle has changed, and he has gone from a stressed out entrepreneur to a relaxed business owner.

Tim and his team at John Davies & Co help clients who have a vision and who want to succeed. It is wonderful to see accountancy firms that want to go the extra mile for their clients, as Tim says; “I want to leave a mark and be able to say that I’ve helped businesses get to where they should get.”

If you want to find out more about John Davies & Co or other firms that go the extra mile for businesses, you can find them in our book, The Business Owner’s Guide to the UK’s Best Accountancy Practices. This book is free to download at https://unbouncepages.com/business-owners-guide-claim-free-book/

You can watch my interview with Tim Davies, one of the founding partners of John Davies & Co here: https://youtu.be/1jDSQTYWilU?list=PLDQoKaIXbLSw1G3RtE5Dp-C25Uyx-zTbU

Article Source: Shane Lukas

The Business Owner’s Guide to the UK’s Best Accountancy Practices – Rennie Evans Interview

AVN Accountant, Murray Associates, Helps Small Business See Astonishing Growth By Increasing Turnover By £250,000 In Just Seven Months

Glasgow based accountancy practice, Murray Associates has seen extraordinary success for their clients through their innovative mentoring group. The mentoring group helps small business to fast-track their business growth and has been noticeably successful with one client seeing astonishing results: an increase of £250,000 in turnover in just seven months. This story is just one of the many reasons why Murray Associates feature in AVN’s book; The Business Owner’s Guide To The UK’s Best Accountancy Practices.

Standing Out From The Crowd

In a recent interview with Gloria Murray, the founder of Murray Associates, I found out more about the incredible results she has achieved for her clients and exactly why her practice deserves to feature in AVN’s book. AVN, the UK-wide association for accountants, have published a book that is designed to help business owners find an accountant that will help them not only grow their business but also make it more enjoyable to run. The accountants that feature in the book have a proven track record of improving and measuring the numbers that really matter to their clients.

Murray Associates were formed over twenty years ago when Gloria noticed that accountants were not serving their customers as well as they should be. In the interview, Gloria said; I realised there was a need for someone who understood real-life business, not just the theory of it. With ample experience in the service industry, Gloria is not a stereotypical accountant. Gloria sees her role as interpreting the numbers in a way that is meaningful to the clients, to help grow their business and become excellent entrepreneurs.

What Being An AVN Accountants Means

As a long-term member of AVN, Murray Associates utilise the many tools provided to AVN accountants to help businesses achieve success. Gloria uses AVN’s benchmarking tool to help clients to compare their services to the competition. Gloria finds this tool so useful; she provides this service to her clients annually as a review tool. As well as benchmarking, Gloria uses AVN’s Business Potential tool; this helps clients achieve their goals and get to where they want to be, in many cases using this software shows clients that they may have to rethink their business model to get to where they want to be. Further proof that Murray Associates and AVN accountants don’t simply offer standard accounts and management information.

By providing her clients real-life business knowledge, Gloria enjoys working with micro and small businesses who are striving to be the best in their industry. Predominantly in the service sector, Gloria likes to worth with enterprises that have a turnover under £6 million, but who have passion and drive to grow their business.

Find Out More

If you want to discover more about Murray Associates and how Gloria’s practice will go further than standard accountancy practices, they are featured in AVN’s book: The Business Owner’s Guide To The UK’s Best Accountancy Practices. In this book, you can find Murray Associates as well as other accountancy practices that will go further for your business than traditional accountants. Click here: https://avn.co.uk/free-book/ to claim your free copy of the book.

If you would like to watch the interview, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeFmQprNz8s&index=8&list=PLDQoKaIXbLSw1G3RtE5Dp-C25Uyx-zTbU&t=15s

Article Source: Shane Lukas

Goddards Accountants Prove That Cloud-Based Real Time Accounts Can Save Your Business From Imminent Cash Flow Crisis

Article Source: Shane Lukas

How Artisan Accounts Help Creative Businesses To Shine

Article Source: Shane Lukas

Accountants, be liberated as artists

We know that technology is automating compliance accounts production at an ever increasing rate.  

Does that mean that accountants are automatically going to go out of business? No.  

This is simply a time to repurpose those skills with numbers.  

Let’s take a look at a very different industry at a very different time.  

Until the 19th century if you were an artist, you were in very high demand.  

The only way you could preserve an image of your baby, children, family, grandma was by commissioning an artist to paint or draw a picture for you.  

If you wanted to brighten the house with a nice picture of the landscape you’d buy one from an artist or commission one.  

There were a great many artists, all paid to paint like-for-like – exactly as you see it. 

The invention of the camera was seen as a huge threat to most of those artists.  

Price wise, it was still expensive to approach a photographer who had invested in a camera and it’s related equipment.   But in those early days it was better to pay a premium and stand still for a minute or two than to stay still  for hours for an artist.  

The typical artist, who painted and drew like-for-like images felt that their career in artistry was over.  Their regular income depleted and many retired or found alternative work literally wasting their skills.  

Innovate and become liberated

However, about a 3rd of those artists saw the opportunity to become truly liberated.  

Finally they were free to express themselves.  It was so limiting to paint like-for-like to them. They wanted to do more.  

This was the birth of Impressionism.  Artists were painting images in very different ways.  Ways that portrayed how what they were painting made them feel. 

Their interpretation.  

And the people who bought those painting felt the same way.  They were moved not by the accuracy of the painting but by the way the painting made them feel.  

Differentiating

Each artist differentiated themselves by expressing their personality, their individuality in their paintings.

No longer were all artists the same.  Pricing competitively, undercutting each other to effectively produce the same thing.  Each produced work that would only appeal to a minority – their ideal client.  The ones who ‘got it’.  This meant that their work was better appreciated by those few, rather than trying to please the masses. Better appreciated, better valued, better income. 

It’s time now for accountants to do the same.  

Not all accountants will ‘let go’ of producing compliance work – the equivalent of the like-for-like paintings – that some accountants see as mundane.  

Many though are allowing the technology to liberate them from producing that work and they’re using the outcome, the produced compliance work to breath life into the numbers, taking time to talk to their clients in more detail about those numbers, asking them great questions and providing their interpretation of the numbers to their clients about what those numbers mean and how different the business would be if those numbers were different even by just small amounts.

My Amazon #1 best selling book: What’s next for accountants gives you step by step guidance on embracing business advisory as a core service including key strategies you can explore with clients that will help them grow their businesses.

It’s available on Amazon but you can get a free copy here:… https://www.avn.co.uk

Article Source: Shane Lukas

Why do we enter awards?

As a company we encourage our members to enter awards and as company we practice what we preach! So AVN entered the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards UK.

We encourage our members to enter awards because its a great opportunity to reflect on what you have done. We are often too involved in the day to day dealings of our business to appreciate the efforts our teams put in everyday and the impact we can have on our clients.

A reflection of 20 years

As part of the process we got to apply and recognise not only what we have done over the last 12 months but reflect on almost 20 years. We have been changing Accountancy practices to achieve the aspirations of their owners. Deliver better and more transparent services to their clients and in turn their families.

Whilst some decisions are never easy we have helped some of our members actually understand why they are in business and what it means to them personally. A very different journey for them all, a journey that constantly changes. Helped them get the most out of their teams and work out who is right for the journey.

A personal journey

Whilst some of our members may look for practice growth while in their 20’s. This may change into their 30’s as young families come along and time is a more precious commodity. During their 40’s they may start to look to their future and design a practice that can let you do what you enjoy. Into their 50’s they may start thinking about passing the practice on to up and coming team or family members and starting to take it easy.

The reality is a personal journey, one member I work with is in his 70’s and not thinking about retiring, its not about the money it is about a sense of pride, ownership… its what he wants from his practice and gives him enjoyment everyday.

Having been around for nearly 20 years, it is nice to see people come back. They take the ideas and practices we have shown them and build a successful business, but they want to be challenged more and develop new skills. They raise the bar time and time again and turn to AVN to support them in their endeavours. It with a sense of pride we see these practices change and can be their to support them.

Why did we choose Lloyds Bank National Business Awards?

Well, it has been described as the “Oscars for Business” by David Cameron. Looking back at the previous entrants we are truly in prestigious company and to be a Finalist is a mighty achievement, completely down to such an amazing team we have. Including a few that have moved on to new challenges, but have supported us and wished us well in the “Enabler of the year” award.

So on the eve of the awards dinner it felt right to reflect. Awards are great for raising your profile. Making you stand out from the crowd and giving you a great marketing angle. But to be honest its about making a difference day in day out to your clients.

Good luck to all the entrants for the Lloyds Bank Business Awards 2017, The Vonage Nexmo Business Enabler of the Year.

The finalists

• Altia-ABM @altiasolutions
• Avalara Europe @vatlive
• Volo Commerce @volocommerce
• Gatwick Airport @gatwick_airport
• Close Brothers Retail Finance @closebrothersrf
• Give A Grad A Go @giveagradago
• Mobysoft @mobysoft
• DCSL Software @dcslsoftware
• Radius Payment Solutions

The sponsor

And also a big thank you to the sponsors Vonage @vonage @nexmo.

Article Source: James Miller