Engineering Your Business for Your Bucket List

Anthony Perl: 00:00:00

Engineering your business for your bucket list.

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Join the bucket list accountant

himself, David Paterson, as we

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explore how to align your professional

goals with your personal dreams.

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Learn why saying no to the wrong

opportunities is vital for growth.

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Discover the power of reverse

engineering your business milestones

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through quarterly planning, and gain

insights into facilitating honest

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conversations about your vision

to avoid the fear of missing out.

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This episode provides a practical

framework for ensuring your

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business serves as the vehicle

for your ultimate lifestyle.

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I'm your co-host Anthony Pearl.

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Let's get into making

your bucket list happen.

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David, your bucket list for your

business, how do you fund it?

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How do you frame it so you can fund it?

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How do you work out what the

bucket list is for the business?

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Because it can be tied to your

personal goals, but the business

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itself is its own entity.

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David Patterson: Oh, a- absolutely.

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And as important as it is to have your

personal goals, I mean, it's just as

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important to have your business goals as

well, because they're very closely linked

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and tied together, those two things.

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So you need to have an understanding

of your business goals and how you're

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gonna achieve them so that you can

work towards them, so that you can

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tick them off, so that then you can

start ticking off your personal goals.

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So it's, uh, each one are

as important as the other.

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Anthony Perl: And I think to your

point, it's really about the business.

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Ultimately, you're in it so that

it's gonna fund your personal goals.

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So whilst the business needs to have

its own goals and you need to be aware

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of that and moving that, ultimately,

it does need to be tied back because

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at the end of the day, why do we work?

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Well, we work because we love it and

we enjoy giving back, and that should

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always be a central focus of a business.

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But ultimately, we work because

it then affords us to be able to

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do the things that we want to do,

hence your personal bucket list.

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David Patterson: 100%.

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100%.

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So it's just as important to

have those business goals.

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And again, having the breakdown of those

so that they can be achieved, you know?

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There's little pockets.

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And quarterly's really great

'cause it t- ties in with a BAS.

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So you can sit down and meet every

quarter, your bookwork's up to date.

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You can kind of see where you're

at, kind of s- see how you're going

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towards achieving the goals that

you're setting s- out for yourself,

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so you're not caught down the track

and, and miss out on something because

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you haven't been planning towards it.

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Anthony Perl: So how do you make sure

that your business is still firing

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to help with those personal goals?

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Because if it is the business that's

just you in it or maybe one or two

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others, that's not so difficult.

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But as the business tends to grow and

opportunities might come in front of you-

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You have to measure that against your

personal goals, and I guess some of that

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is, is things that we've talked about in

previous episodes, where your bus- y- your

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goal for your business may not be to be

a multinational business that's turning

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over hundreds of millions of dollars.

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It might be on a smaller scale, and

so there are opportunities you might

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say no to because you don't want it

to go down that path, because your

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personal goals draw you back in.

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So, how do you make sure that

things are aligned, and that you

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are achieving those personal goals?

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David Patterson: I think the most

important aspect of this, and it's

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a good point you make, i- i- is, is

having that clear understanding of

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what your business goals are and what

your personal goals are, and when one

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of these opportunities come up, do

they fit in to achieving these goals?

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And there's a lot of cases where people

have this FOMO, so fear of missing out.

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So, if this opportunity comes

along that looks fantastic,

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unless it fits in with your philosophy

and your goals and what you're trying

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to achieve, if you're trying to force

that into your business because you

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think it's an opportunity that you can't

miss out on, it can cause more damage

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than benefit if it's not aligned with

what it is you're trying to achieve.

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And there's nothing wrong with passing

up on opportunities that don't fit in

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with what you're trying to achieve.

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Anthony Perl: Yeah, I know.

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I think that's an

important aspect, isn't it?

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That if the personal bucket list is

aligned with the professional bucket

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list, then that shouldn't be an issue.

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It should give you a clear

course of what the actions are.

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Whether it's investing more, or

deciding not to do something, or

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deciding you should do something, they

need to be aligned with one another.

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And people that are working in the

business with you need to be aware of

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that as well, because that can develop

a degree of frustration if someone

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thinks, "Oh, there's a really great

opportunity and you could do this,

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this, and this," but you realize that's

not aligned with what you want to do.

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That's going to have some clashes.

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So, how important is it that not only your

own bucket list, but, and your personal

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bucket list, but the bucket list of those

people that are working in the business,

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and the general values are all aligned?

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David Patterson: Oh,

it's extremely important.

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I think it's to share with the whole

team what your goals are, and, and even

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from the business owner having an idea

of what the goals of their team are.

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It's all important, and it all works

towards creating a cohesive unit that

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all knows what they're working for,

what they're trying to achieve, and,

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and they can all then understand that-

You know, th- this potential opportunity

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that's out on the side, whilst it might

look good, doesn't align with what

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we're all trying to achieve, doesn't

align with the values of what we're

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looking at, and it's just one of those

opportunities that pop up from time to

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time that you just have to let pass.

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But you're right, if, if you haven't

shared the, your values of, or your goals

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of what you want the business to achieve,

people within your team may be looking

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at this opportunity and saying, "We need

to get this in, we need to get this in,"

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and then don't understand why you say no.

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You, you need that kind of alignment

with everyone so that you can

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work as best as you possibly can.

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Anthony Perl: So in terms of doing

that, how difficult, easy is it to

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facilitate that kind of a conversation?

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And indeed, is that something that

you're facilitating as well in some

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way, whether directly sitting down with

them or, or indirectly encouraging them

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and, and teaching them how to do that?

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David Patterson: Yeah.

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Well, it depends on how inclusive

they've been in the past as to how

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difficult that conversation is.

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If they've never had the conversation with

their team, it can be a little daunting

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at times, because you're kind of opening

yourself up to say, "Here are the dreams

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and goals that I've got for my business."

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Can open you up for being judged

and comments and everything else.

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But I think the hardest part is to start

the conversation, and that's where I can

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join in and sort of be that person in

the middle just to facilitate the thing

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to say, "Well, this is where we're at.

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Here are the goals of the business

owner," and start to have the conversation

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with the team as well to get a feel

for what their goals are as well.

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Now, sometimes these conversations

will end up in people that are

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currently working for you not working

for you anymore, because they realize

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and understand that their goals and

values aren't aligned, which is fine.

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There'll be someone else out there whose

goals and values are aligned with what

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you're trying to achieve, and ultimately

you'll end up in a better place.

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So there, there can be difficult

conversations, but at the end of

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the day, that difficult conversation

can quite often turn out to be the

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best conversation for both parties.

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So the more you can involve your

team in what your business goals

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are, the better chance you've

got of achieving them, I think.

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Anthony Perl: I think, you know,

that is a conversation that needs

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to be had on a regular basis.

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Obviously, you want to ideally

have that conversation before they

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start in that particular case.

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Yep.

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But it is important that everyone's on

the same page as to where the business

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is going and what it's trying to

achieve, because there is a world of

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difference between a lifestyle business,

between something that wants to become

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a franchise, something that wants to

become a global enterprise, something

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that wants to buy a bunch of other

businesses and go off and do other things.

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Like, there's so many possibilities

and opportunities that you can find

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yourself in business And indeed,

it's very easy to find yourself with

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another business within the business

that you didn't realize you had until

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you start working on these things.

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And then all of that has to

come back to this is, is it

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achieving what you want it to do?

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And I think then it leads to how

you actually engineer it so it does

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achieve what you want it to do.

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David Patterson: Ab- absolutely.

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And it also helps with explanations

as to why things are done or

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maybe things aren't done, too.

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When everyone understands the clear

goals and purpose of the business,

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it allows them to get a greater

understanding of decisions that are

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made and why those decisions are made.

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Um, rather than just saying, "Well,

you know, this is the decision I've

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made and that's it," i- it's, "We've

made this decision because it helps

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us do these things that are the

goals that we're trying to achieve."

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And, and you're right with all the

someone coming into your business as

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a team member may have these grand

visions of working their way through

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and having ownership or moving on or b-

building this bigger empire themselves.

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So if they're knowing the goals and

the values and the objectives of

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the business right from the start,

it, it makes it a lot easier to

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either employ or not employ or...

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And for the person coming in to say,

"This business is not quite for me."

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So having those goals clearly

outlined just makes for a smoother

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operation in the business.

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Anthony Perl: Hey, everyone.

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Just a reminder, check out the show notes.

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There is lots of information in there,

including a link you can click on to

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download a workbook from this episode,

dedicated to just this episode, and

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it will have information about all

of the tips and tricks that David has

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given in the episode, things for you

to fill in and think about so you are

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on your journey for your bucket list,

action steps, as well as some key

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takeaways and quotes from the episode.

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So you don't wanna miss that one.

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Please go and check it

out in the show notes.

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A reminder again at the end of the

episode, but it's one not to miss.

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David Patterson:

Engineering is an easy term

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Anthony Perl: to kind of throw

away, but engineering itself

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is a difficult piece of work.

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It's why it's such a specialized

area when you talk about actual,

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you know, electrical engineers,

mechanical engineers, et cetera.

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A- and I think that's an

important aspect as well.

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Actually engineering your business to

achieve what you want it to achieve

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is not a straightforward task, and

you can get pushed and pulled in lots

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of directions by people who might

be mentors and advisors and things.

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But at the end of the day, having that

frank conversation on a financial level

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and understanding where that's going to

go tied emotionally is the heart of what

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you need to be doing, and that's where

the real conversations need to happen

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David Patterson: 100%.

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I mean, we- we've probably

all seen the graphs here.

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A business is not a smooth

line from here to there.

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There's ups and downs and ups and

downs and ups all the way through.

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It's, it's certainly not a, a

simple process all the way through.

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But when you're having the downs, if you

have a understanding of what you're trying

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to achieve and the reason you're trying

to achieve those, it makes it a little

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easier to work through the tougher times.

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Because you know that if we can get

through these tougher times, the outcome

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and the goal that you get is worth it.

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You know, you've got this personal element

that you're trying to work towards.

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Whereas if you don't have that and

you're not aligned, when you have the

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tough times, that's when it tends to

fracture and fall apart a little bit.

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If you've got the clear understanding

of what you're h- trying to achieve,

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you can dig in a little bit more in the

tough times because you know that once

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we get through this bit, it's worth it.

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You know, the outcome makes it worth

it, because you know what that outcome's

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gonna be if you can get through it.

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Anthony Perl: Yeah.

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And I think that kind of idea of seeing

the future and thinking about and having

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those frank conversations with the

business owner, with yourself, and looking

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at where you are and, and understanding

what are the tough decisions that you

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might need to make along the way to make

sure that you actually are going to get

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there, 'cause it's rarely in business a

smooth straight line point A to point B.

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David Patterson: Correct.

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And I guess the tough decisions

when you don't have a clear

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direction, they're harder to make.

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The dec- the tough decisions, they're

not easy to make, but they're easier

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to make if you have a, a, a clear

understanding of why you're doing it.

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"I'm making this decision now because this

is gonna help me do these other things,

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which will help me do this," you know?

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Whereas without that clear outcome,

the tough decision is a tough

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decision, but you don't fully

understand why you're making it or

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the purpose of why you're making it.

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Anthony Perl: So give me some stories

here, David, because I know you've

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worked with lots of businesses,

but in a practical sense, how does

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this play out with some businesses?

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'Cause there's, there's the good

and the bad side of how this might

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be working through, because as we

alluded to, there's the engineering

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stuff where there is the hard stuff

and there's the engineering where you

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see the end result, and it, it's worth

the hard yards that you've had to do.

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So give us some of your favorite stories

of things of how that's happened.

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David Patterson: I think the one in

particular, and I've referenced this

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one before, a business owner who

was really stuck, lot of debt, a lot

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of problems with team members, just

not knowing where or what decision

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to make to help free them up.

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And that was causing- so much stress that

they couldn't make a rational decision.

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So the, well, what we've done is,

or, I mean, this is a while back now,

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but we were able to sit down, and

'cause they didn't have a clear goal

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of what they were trying to achieve.

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So we actually sat down, and the first

thing we did was say, "Okay, let's

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forget about the business for a minute.

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Let's have a talk about what it is that

you want to achieve, what the goals are

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that you wanna do," and we got those down.

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Then with those personal goals in mind,

we went back into the business and said,

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"Okay, what are the things that are in

here that are gonna stop and block and

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hinder you from achieving those goals?"

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At that point in time, there was

one team member in particular

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who was blocking at every move.

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You know, "That won't work 'cause of this.

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That won't work 'cause of this."

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So the client sat down with the entire

team and said, "Right, here's what

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we're trying to achieve in the business.

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Here's what I wanna do.

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Here's my vision, and I wanna get the

business from this point to this point.

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And if we can do that, kind

of everyone's a winner."

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And this person, the team

member, was still kind of

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going, "This is not gonna work.

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That's not gonna work."

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We were able to then have this

conversation, and the business owner

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came to the realization that we

need to move this team member on.

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And they were able to do that in a more,

a less stressful, it was still stressful,

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but a less stressful way because they

knew that removing this team member was

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gonna free the rest of the business up to

able to get to where they wanted to go.

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Before, when they didn't know the

direction they were going in and

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just sort of doing their work,

doing their work, doing their work,

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the decision was just too hard to

make because they didn't have a reason

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why they had to make it, you know?

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So i- it's, it was just a good example

from my perspective of the importance

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of knowing why you're in business w- and

what you're wanting to achieve out of

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it in the long run, and the short run.

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Anthony Perl: I suppose we should kind of

wrap this conversation up by saying, are

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there some particular steps in an overall

sense that we can give people as tips

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to start taking to start thinking about

this and putting some actions in place

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to start this process of engineering it?

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David Patterson: Yeah, there is.

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The first step is stopping, thinking,

taking some time out, or spend a Saturday

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or a Sunday or, and having a think about

where you want the business to get to, and

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why you want the business to get there.

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They're the two most important

elements that you need to do first.

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Once you get those two bits in place,

then you can reverse engineer and go,

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"Okay, well, what are the things that

I need to start to do so that I can

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get there at a certain point in time?"

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Reverse engineering it, and then breaking

that part down even further so that it

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becomes- smaller manageable chunks so

that you know that, okay, I take this

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step, then I take this step, then I take

this step, and then I take this step.

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And you know that you're heading

down the path that you wanna head

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because you've worked out what

the end goal needs to look like.

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I think if you haven't got that,

you don't know whether you're making

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the steps in the right direction.

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So that's step number one, is to have

the ultimate goal written down and having

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a clear understanding of what that is.

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Anthony Perl: The Bucket List

Accountant podcast is brought to

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you by David Patterson and his

team at Bucket List Accountant.

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: 00:18:26

Go and visit their website

for more information.

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: 00:18:29

Details, of course, in the show notes.

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: 00:18:31

I'm Anthony Pearl, your host

from Podcast Done For You.

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: 00:18:34

We look forward to having your

company in the next episode.