Bursting to become a BUSINESS buddy
What is BUSINESS buddy?
- If it means analysing the profitability of jobs fast enough to make a difference to a company’s bottom line right now – BUSINESS buddy does it.
- If it means establishing systems to minimise paperwork wars that growing businesses encounter –BUSINESS buddy does it.
- If it means holding a workshop to demonstrate the latest innovation in entrepreneurial technology – BUSINESS buddy does it.
- If it means holding business owners and managers accountable for meeting their own business goals – BUSINESS buddy does it.
- If it means filing tax compliance documents on time, every time – BUSINESS buddy does it.
- If it means sharing a glass of something cold and bubbly with a happy client – BUSINESS buddy does it.
To enable business owners to achieve their business goals and dream
BUSINESS buddy uses the latest business tools and systems to help other businesses achieve their goals. There is no limit to what that might take and with solid accountancy skills to keep things real, BUSINESS buddy generates tangible plans and aims to eliminate any nasty surprises for their clients.
Power to BUSINESS buddy
With the 21st century revolution of cloud-based software such as Xero, GeoOp and Receipt Bank, the nature of chartered accounting took a giant leap forward. Many basic admin tasks that kept businesses shipshape could be taken care of with little more than a click or two on a smart device. Where did this technological shift leave chartered accountants who had developed a niche tidying up data and spitting out annual reports that were often 18 months behind the times? Nowhere for those who refused to change and everywhere for those who saw new opportunities.
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Become a BUSINESS buddy and you’ll get
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What it takes to be a BUSINESS buddy
- Ideally, you’ll be an undies on the outside, heroic kind of business person who puts your clients’ needs first.
- Importantly, you’ll be a chartered accountant or CPA, and believe the future of your profession lies in comprehensive business support for your clients.
- You’ll be proactive, prepared to think a little differently and love getting involved with a broad range of business elements that impact on your clients’ companies.
- You will have the internal fortitude to learn something new and run with it when you have mastered it.
- A BUSINESS buddy is a team player and you will aspire to have a great squad in your own hub.
- You’ll also be happy to pick up your smart phone and contact us a HQ when you need a mate to chat with about ideas or questions.
- You will strive for excellence and be realistic about times when things don’t go as planned.
- Like all good mates – you’ll accept mistakes, learn from them and not be risk averse the next time a challenge pops up.
You’ll also be prepared to celebrate the awesomeness of your BUSINESS buddy. If this sounds like you, keep going.
Becoming a BUSINESS buddy
The BUSINESS buddy team wants to ensure we recruit people who are a great fit with our purpose, values and principles. More than anything – we want people who understand what BUSINESS buddy offers and what makes it stand out in a crowd.
Jonathan Sturm Chartered Accountant/BUSINESS buddy franchisee
A career that started out in a New Zealand bank call centre
gave our Waiuku BUSINESS buddy an
exceptional understanding of customer service.
Jonathan Sturm also learnt that when you are determined –
anything is possible, and it wasn’t long before the self-starter leapt into his
commerce degree at the University of Victoria in Wellington.
His banking vocation progressed beyond answering phone inquiries
to providing business support, lending and finance.
The allure of travel took Jonathan to London where he found
himself in the middle of the global financial crisis (GFC) working with a major
European bank and analysing staff reduction strategies.
The excitement of London came to a sudden halt when Jonathan
experienced a serious accident and returned to New Zealand, with some long-term
rehabilitation ahead of him.
You can’t keep a good person down though and Jonathan briefly
returned to his banking career while he completed some accounting papers.
Later, while working with a multinational manufacturer and a
Kiwi IT telecommunications company, Jonathan completed his chartered
accountancy qualification.
During those years he became a father and decided a long day
commuting in Auckland traffic was not achieving the work-life balance he wanted
with his young family.
He found a new management accounting role in Franklin, found
the perfect property for his family in Waiuku and thought there had to be more
to life.
“I was looking for a challenge and wanted to make a
difference,” says Jonathan. “I even had a crack at studying to be a secondary
school teacher.”
“When I saw an opportunity to run my own BUSINESS buddy franchise – I could see the
potential to really help other business owners.
“I worked with a few local smaller companies and saw how
helping them with their business – helped them with their lives.”
His strength comes from good understanding of business
banking, as well as business and manufacturing systems.
Jonathan can identify ways to apply big business principles
to growing businesses, helping them achieve their goals.
And, because he loves hanging out with his wife and three
daughters – he’s often found in the garden or tackling his latest DIY project
around the home.
Here is how the process goes:
We are everywhere
Technology enables BUSINESS buddy to spread its wings to the farthest shores, and places big and small.
The business model works in Bradford-On-Avon in Britain, Melbourne in Australia or Dunedin in New Zealand
It doesn’t matter if you want to work in in a big smoke, boom town or lifestyle hideaway – BUSINESS buddy can work for you and your clients.
BUSINESS buddy beginnings
There are some accountants who are bursting to breakout of conventional stereotypes and BUSINESS buddy’s head honcho Kirsten Hawke is one of those. Far from wanting to hide away with a spreadsheet and screeds of IRD regulations – Kirsten is quite a friendly type and thrives when she is becoming best buddies with a new business. Yes, there were studious years when she was a school kid and loved nothing more than crunching numbers to earn some spending money and she discovered chartered accountancy was her destiny. For more than a decade Kirsten ran a chartered accounting firm in Auckland but when technology revolutionised the industry – she jumped at the opportunity to revolutionise BUSINESS buddy.
Businesses looking for decent support demand more than spending hours sorting through shoeboxes of receipts to produce end-of-year accounts. With smart technology Kirsten and her BUSINESS buddy team could become really good mates with clients and get down to the nitty-gritty of building successful businesses. There has been a shift from seeing an accountant once a year for the good or bad news, to catching up with them regularly for a decent chinwag and real business planning. It’s much more fun and rewarding for everyone – just like when a casual acquaintance becomes a best buddy and you can cut out all of the bollocks.
BUSINESS buddy confidentiality undertaking
BUSINESS buddy contact details
PHONE: 0800 283 399
HQ: 35 Allens Road East Tamaki Auckland
POSTAL PO Box: 58 359 Botany Manukau 2163
WEB: www.businessbuddy.co.nz
EMAIL: [email protected]
