Usman Sial of Sial Accountants now has a successful accounting firm, specialising in healthcare clients. Here, he shares how AVN helped him discover what he really wanted from his firm and then showed him how to achieve it.
It’s too easy to forget how much has changed. I remember sitting in my office with very few clients, very few employees, struggling with how to grow and how to manage everything. I’d reached a stage where I was working all the time; growing it all myself and doing everything myself.
AVN showed me how to get my time back
Since then, so much has changed that it’s hard to point to just one or two things. If I sat down and started writing a list, it would be very long. But if I had to pick three that really made the difference to me and my business, the first would be learning how to get my time back and stop doing the things I shouldn’t be doing.
That’s not easy. It’s easy to say but hard to achieve. You try, and you always drift back to the same things you used to do. So the biggest achievement for me was learning how to stop, to delegate to my team, to think outside the box and actually implement it. I managed to stop working in my practice and start working on it. Everything is more systemised now. That’s the biggest change.
Learning how to systemise my firm
We have a system for everything. Since I joined AVN and learned how to systemise the practice and let it run without me, it’s given me more time and more life. One of the biggest changes is that I now work from home, where I can spend more time with my kids, and I’m far more relaxed than I used to be.
It also gave me the confidence that I really can do this. Before, I was just going along with no direction. Now I’m confident in what I’m doing, and everything I’d been learning through the AVN books turned out to be genuinely doable. That confidence is what let me achieve what I’ve achieved, and what I’m continuing to achieve.
AVN is a brilliant organisation
When I signed up, I said I wanted a practice turning over half a million. Looking back, that was naïve. Because I’ve since learned it’s not just about the number you reach. It’s the team you want to create, the clients you want to look after, and the work you actually want to enjoy doing.
AVN is a brilliant organisation. It’s changed the lives of many – maybe thousands – of accountants. It’s a proven thing that changes people’s lives, and it’ll keep doing so.
I always tell other friends running practices, but they don’t get it. They think I’ve got some kind of magic wand; that the way I keep winning more clients is some trick.
I tell them, “No, you need to sign up and do this, and it won’t happen overnight; I’ve been doing it for years.” Only the people who really get it, and who spend the time, money and effort, will achieve it. Otherwise you’re only dreaming, and nothing comes from a dream alone. You have to work to achieve it.
So a big thank you to AVN.