Over a series of Blogs I thought I would share some of the experiences I have had in my career. Although my specific commercial time only spans a period of 7 years: it was certainly action packed and has taught me some valuable lessons. Lessons, which I continue to draw back on when helping clients through their own journey's in business.

My career  started in 1991 when I started Uni and shortly afterwards decided to work in my chosen field of Accounting and continue my Uni study part time. I could not see myself sticking at the theoretical side of my chosen career and wanted to start applying it practically as soon as I could. It is interesting my first choice as a career was a fighter pilot, however colour blindness prevented me from doing that. I have no regrets because as it turns out my business career had me dealing with the defence force in a major way, which was the next best thing really (more on that later).

I had some great mentors and got to work in some very reputable second tier firms in  Brisbane. Having worked with BDO Nelson Parkhill (as it was formerly known) and Grant Thornton I was 7 years into my career and making good progress, however I found that whilst I was advising my clients on all aspects of their business I really did not know what it was like to be in business. Our training to this point was very technical and I could not effectively advise on all facets of business. My audit training to date did provide me some insight however I wasn't quite sure.

My family had their own business in Darwin and I was their Accountant (thankfully they had made that decision) and it was getting to a point where Dad needed more help. My two brothers and Mother worked in the business, However none of them had any formal training just a good work ethic and an opportunity to be involved in a business. So in 1997 I make the decision to leave the public practice arena to try my hand at commerce. I had no idea what impact that would have but have never regretted it.

So I turn up to work in January of '98 and as can be the case in many family owned businesses, communication is not always the best and my role had not really been explained to my brothers. Without that communication at the outset we were now working in a world of perception, which is never good. Suffice to say one of my brothers did not stick around too long and is very sad as he has never spoken to me since, nor my Mum and Dad. The man can hold a grudge!

My mandate (my objective) was to establish what we should be doing with a strategy for the business, i.e sell, close the doors, or try and set up the business to trade its way into a good position to provide Mum and Dad for retirement. They had lost virtually everything when they owned pubs in Warwick Qld. I was 26 at the time and naively thought this would be easy.

The business was essentially a wholesale business of food and grocery items, and we were what was called a Ships' Providore. We supplied all grocery and catering needs to the offshore oil and gas industry and general shipping. I soon established our market place and our competitors. A couple of small players and our major competitor "Sealanes", which was quite significant in size and operations in Darwin and on the west coast, and based in Fremantle. The way the staff talked about them and particularly my Dad, it was like two rivaling footy teams and it does not matter what they do, you just hate them. If a ship pulled into Port and you did not have the contract already in place, you had to be first onboard to get the gig. I likened this to tow truck operators are at the scene of an accident. Very cut-throat.

Anyhow I felt I had something to work with, with this business and could see potential, so in my mind just closing the doors or just selling seemed a waste. After lengthy discussions with my parents, they knew they could not retire anytime soon and on the basis the company was worth nothing at that time, trading their way forward was the best way to go with a sale some time in the future, and yes you guessed it, my view was that our rival footy team was their ticket to retirement.

So that was my plan, I set a three-year timeframe and away we went. I did not know this at the time, but that essentially was the business plan. It was not very well thought out and the implementation of the plan was not established yet but a vision was there. In hindsight l learnt that this is where all successful businesses start - with a vision. However that will never be enough. What I have learnt through my own mistakes is that you need to take that vision and break it down into a well thought-out plan and this is where my advisors should have come in. They knew what my plan was however offered no assistance or even a sounding board. This is common with a lot of Accounting firms and business advisors. I have taken this lesson into my role as a business advisor now. When I become aware a client is about to embark on a new venture, I will insist I be there in some capacity to play devils advocate.

To be continued...the next chapter is about the next phase in the plan: "becoming competitive"

Regards

Troy Furness