AVN: 25 years old and counting
By Shane Lukas, managing Director, AVN
Did you know the average age of a UK business is 8.6 years?
And less than 5% of businesses have been around for 20 years or more?
So I’m really proud that AVN reached our quarter century in 2023.
If a business has lasted so long, what does that say about it?
(When Steve Pipe set it up in 1998 he had no idea it would still be here now. In fact, when there was a disaster just before his first Masterclass, he wasn’t even sure he’d make it through the first 3 days!).
I thought about this recently when I spoke to an accountant who has just started working with us and I asked her what had made her join AVN. One of her key reasons was that we’d been around for 25 years.
Why reaching 25 years matters
It was really gratifying to hear her say this. After so long, there can be a perception that perhaps you’re out of touch or stuck in an old way of doing things. It was even more gratifying to hear the difference AVN has made to her business (more time to spend with her family, more time to work ON her business and drive it forwards, higher productivity, new clients, happy team and so on).
And I don’t think we could have helped her in this way without those long years of experience and learning what works and what doesn’t. Of course, we’re continually improving the way we do things and the tools we use and create; AI for instance has had a big impact. But because there’s such a solid foundation beneath all that, we have a good idea of whether something’s just a flash in the pan or really worth taking on board.
Anyway, I’m putting my learning from the last 25 years into a new live event that’s happening in March, called PracticeBoost. There are more details in the link but essentially, it does what it says on the tin – gives your practice a boost! It’s had some fantastic feedback so do check it out.