I was not sure what to expect the first time I sat down with Lana Potgieter little less than a year ago to discuss the possibility of me doing one of her SMI courses. One thing was clear - I was at a stage where I seem to have gotten stuck in a rut in terms of both my business and personal life. Working from home, I only realised how intertwined these two areas of my life had become after we had our first session of the Dynamics of Successful Management course.

By the time we had our first meeting I had heard the expression that it takes three years to build a business. As we sat down and discussed the status of the business Lana made me realise that there were a number of achievements attained up to that point that I should have acknowledged and, even more important celebrated at the appropriate time.

I was almost two years into running my own accounting business. I still recalled being part of the team that interviewed my replacement at the firm from which I resigned in the early months of 2009. He asked me in the interview about my future plans to which I replied that I am starting my own business. When we had a few moments alone he was quick to ask whether I was sure that it was the right time to start a business.

We were smack bang in the middle of a worldwide economic crisis. Magazines were telling us that our jobs were the only things we've got to hold on to during those times. I left fulltime employment with only three clients, and by the time I had met Lana I had run the business for almost two years with over a hundred clients. I told Lana I wanted to have two hundred clients by the end of 2011. I only realised during our fourth or fifth session that the total number of clients is maybe not the best yardstick for measuring the business' performance. The three-year-to-build-your-business quote came to mind again and I really wanted to make the third year count.

Things were going along semi okay up to that point but I knew that I was facing a number of problems, from constant cash flow problems and being overworked and underpaid to outgrowing my local 56m2 home office space. I had staff issues, I had clients issues, I had legislative issues with the New Companies Act coming about, and I needed a way to make sense of it all in my third year of building the business. As I heard Lana say at that point: "What got you here won't keep you here". This was definitely true about my position. Something had to change, and I just knew I could not make it on my own.

I would like to stand still at one aspect of the course, without going into detail of all the life changing components addressed by it during our weekly sessions. We started off with an assessment of where I stood at that stage followed by a compilation of what it was I really wanted to achieve, which we transformed into a list of specific, realistic goals. One of the exercises I had to do in-between our weekly meetings was to compile a list of a hundred dreams for my business. A hundred business dreams - no holds barred. It sounded quite easy and it was - up to the first thirty or forty dreams or so. Those were the more immediate needs, such as air conditioners, more than one boardroom to meet clients, separate ladies and gents bathroom facilities. After number forty or so it became a bit harder. You had to think a bit outside the box from here, where the big office copiers, professional looking signage on the front door, golf days and boxes at Newlands came into play.

It was the penultimate week of my SMI course when I received the seemingly alarming news that one of my most-valued client's investment manager had resigned and decided to move to Johannesburg to pursue a new career. The investment manager had used us as a preferred accounting firm to assist with any of their private equity investments who might require management accounts / audit pack preparation or general accounting work. I spoke to my wife Annelie, who had become an integral part of my business over the last couple of years and together we decided to come up with a pitch to the directors of the company in order to see if we can take over the responsibilities of the departing investment manager and the void left by his resignation.

I had known the investment manager for number of years and with him being my point man I had limited dealings with the directors of the Plattekloof-based company. The new approaches to business and life in general, freshly acquired through my time with Lana and the SMI course gave me the confidence to create an opportunity through a door which seemed to have slammed shut less than a week before. I was not sure who his replacement would be, but I was quite sure that this business distribution channel might be closed in the foreseeable future. The directors agreed to see me the Monday after and we all had to make a couple of very quick decisions. I did not go back to my Milnerton-home office for the rest of that week and by the beginning of June I had moved into prime office space in Plattekloof on a relationship based mainly on trust. Me, and my three staff members with all our equipment relocated, and suddenly we had the aircons, the receptionist, the big copier and access to three professionally outfitted boardrooms. We even have separate ladies and gents bathrooms.

I did not know it at the time when we prepared the pitch, but sensed that this was a once-in-al-lifetime opportunity and within a month I was appointed as financial director of a newly established company who landed its first deal in excess of R6 million shortly thereafter. My practice still continues going from strength-to-strength, although we have had our fair share of hiccups along the way. The Dynamics of Successful Management course has helped me to steady the ship and take corrective action as soon as we realised that we seemed to be veering of course. The course was not a quick fix solution to all the problems the business faced, but it has taught me how to keep on refocusing on past and present goals.

A business dreams list remains only that until you start realising these dreams one by one. The chances are that you will probably not realise these dreams until you write them down and start to take ownership of them all through constant revisiting and affirmations. It is less than a year since starting the course and to date I have managed to achieve thirty-one of the hundred goals initially set for my business.

In the old days I would have seen the glass as just under a third full, but now I realise that I must celebrate these achievements knowing that more than half of them came about from one single meeting with the directors of that company that Monday-morning in their Plattekloof boardroom. A boardroom that my firm now shares with them. My name is next to theirs on the front door. They introduce me as the owner of their inhouse accounting firm, and together we keep on building our relationship through new deals and meeting new acquaintances.

There is still some way to go, as I understand now that a business never stands still, it is either moving forward, or slipping backwards. I will keep on searching for that which pushes us forward, for I know that what got me here today will not keep me here tomorrow.

Regards

Stefan Schutte

Professional Accountant (SA)