Growth Newsletter

It had been a year since I’d visited clients, in person, in Melbourne. COVID 19 and the disruption it brought meant that, from late February, 2020, it was all on Zoom, pretty much like everyone else.

Today would have been my mother-in-law, Peggy’s 95th birthday. Sadly, she passed away in March 2012, the effects of dementia finally taking her. It’s often why I’ve called the disease “the long goodbye” as it takes it’s toll on the body and the mind of the individual and the spirt of those around them. Perhaps one day, the wonders of medical science will find a solution to this condition.

It’s profit reporting season for some of the big corporates at the moment, and the large banks in particular are showing some remarkable turnaround in their financial results.

The 5.0 litre V8 in my 2016 Ford Falcon XR8 Sprint has 345 kilowatts of power at its disposal or, in the old language, 462 horsepower. To put that in perspective, the Ford Mustang V8 Supercar that my team, Tickford Racing, will run in the 2021 Supercars Championship pumps out 447kw. So, the beast sitting in my garage has 77% of the power capability of a racing car.

It’s early in the New Year and already, a number of my family business clients are pointing out the stupidity they’re having to deal with from their large corporates clients.

I’ve long argued I have one of the most privileged roles of any professional, bar none. People tell me things, about their business and about their lives, that they don’t tell any other professional – not even their doctor. Sometimes, what they say isn’t all that new to me. What is surprising, however, is their honesty in being willing to admit what their foibles are, or what they can do better.

I learned very early in my career just how detrimental to a business’ livelihood it was to have a reliance on a large client. I’d started a new job in North Sydney with a small accounting firm, lured by the promise of new and exciting work – and a reasonable pay rise.  The City based firm I’d been with were already paying me well and throwing me interesting work. Perhaps I was greedy – the offer of more was on the table and I jumped at it.

I’ve had some interesting conversations with family business owners and managers over the past few weeks. The return to work after the Christmas/New Year break inevitably brings up the issue of what people did with their time off. As many and varied as these people are, there’s a constant theme amongst all the conversations. Everyone was ready for 2020 to finish.

Last week, my wife and I took advantage of the Christmas/New Year break and ventured into regional New South Wales. A week of wine tasting, enjoying local produce, driving though gorgeous countryside and catching up with relatives was the perfect way to start 2021.

Happy New Year! May 2021 bring you and your family good health, much happiness and great prosperity.