From Spark to Strategy: Starting Your Biz

Every biz starts with a spark, that cheeky little idea that won’t let you sleep or shampoo in peace. In this episode, we dive into the thrilling (and sometimes terrifying) early days of turning your “what if” into a real-deal biz.

Hosts Leethal Lee and Aly G unpack how to validate your idea, build confidence, and back yourself before the bank will. We talk biz plans (yes, really), branding blunders, and why being bold, brave, and agile isn’t just cute inspo, it’s essential.

You’ll hear the juicy story of how All In Advisory came to be, why talking to literally anyone about your idea matters, and the tools and mindset you need to go from dreamer to doer.

Whether you’re in the “is this a side hustle or nah?” phase or knee-deep in rebrands this one’s for you.

🎯 Takeaways:

• Why your biz plan is your North Star
• How branding fear held them back, and what changed
• Free tools, pro tips & starting like you mean it
• The power of consistently showing up

💬 Mantra of the episode: Start how you want to continue. Be bold. Be brave. Be all in.

SHE MEANS BIZ IS PROUDLY BROUGHT TO YOU BY OUR SPONSOR

Ignition | Spending days engaging clients? Chasing late payments? Dealing with scope creep? We get it. Ignition helps accounting and professional services businesses reclaim time, profitability and cash flow. Automate proposals, billing, payments and workflows in a single platform

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Every business starts the same way. A spark, a late night thought, a what if just moment that refuses to shut up and go to bed. It might arrive while you're in the shower, stuck in traffic. Love a shower thought. So do I halfway through a job thinking, surely there's a better way than this. That spark is the idea nudging you, not so subtly, towards something more, more freedom, more impact, more you. And that's what we're going to be talking about today, the spark, turning the idea into a business. And this is something, um, it's that early stage dreaming part. And how do you validate that and get the confidence around that? And I we see this a lot. Um, well, I see it a lot, certainly, in my advisory and people kind of coming in, having that first conversation. So I guess initially the talking point here is how do we even know if the idea is viable?

SPEAKER_00 1:00

That's a good question. I think um for me, the more people you can talk to, the better. Yeah. Even if it's just friends and family, and sometimes that's hard because you've got to share your little innermost thoughts and dreams. Um be bold. Yeah, and also talking to people already in the industry. Yeah, I think we underestimate how willing people are to share their knowledge, and we're like, oh, I don't want to take up their time. But if you want to come talk to me about accounting, I'll talk your ear off.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Oh yeah, baby.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Line up, I've got so much to tell you. Um, and and they're like, should I pay you? I'm like, nah, I just do this for fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

And then sometimes I know they need to pay us.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

No, really, you do. But people already in the industry are usually like pretty willing to share their information and to say, hey, like, that's a good idea. Or I think maybe you need to rethink the following, or yeah, you're on the right track, but maybe, or you should go talk to this person, they're already doing that. Um, so talking, just yeah, talking, research.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Um research is so important, and I think this is where people lack, they get a bit excited.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Yeah, like is there already someone out there doing it? Yeah, because you've micro and can you make money from it?

SPEAKER_01 2:24

That well, that is a good point, or is this a lifestyle business or just a hobby?

SPEAKER_00 2:29

For some people that doesn't that's totally okay. Yeah, like it's why and and that's probably more important too, is what are you wanting to do and why are you wanting to do it? And what are you hoping to choose? What what's the outcome here? Like, sure, this is a great idea, and people need whatever you want to sell them. You've got this really unique thing, but how is it going to happen? And what is your ultimate outcome? And you need to be realistic about what you can achieve. And in the county world, that's called a business plan.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Oh my gosh, yes it is. And if we go back to our little baby, all in, we had an extensive business plan.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

And yeah, we did, and it was it was before Chat GPT.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

It was before, like this was all manual work, my friend.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

And it was extensive and it was fancy.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

And I can I I'm just gonna give a little offside a note, and I do this a lot. This is my rabbit hole. One of the reasons we did a business plan was we wanted to get some bank funding. And now um we between us at that point had about 40 years of experience between us. I had a half a meal client base ready to literally jump on the line. We were starting up with a subscription-based model, so we didn't need a lot of um funding, and we couldn't get a bank to sign on the dotted line. We couldn't even get a credit card. We couldn't even get a credit card for a couple of grand. And my partner at the time um was going for an American Express card, didn't even finish the application and freaking got it without a credit limit. And I was like, Are you serious? We won awards, like it wasn't just an you know, it was both of us had.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

We had a five-year business plan with full financial um analysis, we had everything in there. We done met that plan, like oh, we met it in year two. No, and I just it was like, Are you joking? And I think I said, You, oh, we've already done our five-year plan in two years. Do we have to do another one? And that, but that and then the bank would lend to us.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

That's right. Well, after you've got a few years behind me. And I remember one bank was saying, okay, yeah, we'll lend to you, but we want you to get every client to sign that they're gonna come across to you. And I'm like, you've gotta be joking. Anyway, we landed without having to do that, and we were profitable from day one. And I want to put that in there because um, one, sometimes you're gonna struggle with banks, and I don't know whether that was a gender thing, I think it was. Um, but um that business plan, although we did it for that purpose, helped us enormously to actually work through what the business was gonna look like. Like it makes you think totally. What's our why? Who's our target client? Where are we gonna work from? Who's our competition?

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Um, what HR? Well, the SWOT analysis is really important. Like, what are our strengths, what are our weaknesses? Where might we fall down? Yeah. So that we can be prepared um in advance so that we're not like six months in going, oh, we didn't think of that. Yeah. And accounting, I guess, because we've been doing it for 20 odd years, it wasn't an unknown. We've yeah, it's pretty easy to do, not easy, but it it's fairly a known industry, it's a known business model. So there's low risk, um, and you can do it. If you're venturing into something completely unknown, it's obviously a lot harder and you're gonna need input from it.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

But it it put it puts questions to you that you need to think about. Yeah, so that you have this really fulsome idea of what it's gonna look like and how you're going to deliver it. And there are so many things now, like we you said it before, we did this pre-Chat GPT, but if you pulled that into ChatGPT now, even the small business office has and um business plans just literally pre-fill it. Like it's it's amazing how you can pull out a business plan these days in a click of a finger.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Even without the financial side of the business plan, which I think is overwhelming for people that aren't good with numbers, but just running through the word worded part of a business plan and like you said, the the how, the who, the what, the why that is a really eye-opening experience. So even if you're not gonna run the numbers just yet, because you do need to know that it's going to work numbers-wise, the actual the doing part of it, I think is really important too.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

And you mentioned it before, actually showing other people, conversing with other people about your business plan. What do you think? Testing it out, getting somebody who's a devil's advocate and actually fire testing this thing. Is it does it actually float? Are you being too optimistic? Are you being, you know, underrealistic? Like all of those things actually matter. And I think that leads to common fears when starting. And I think this might be different for men and women. So I'm just gonna come from the female perspective because that's all I know.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

We both know.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Yeah. There was fear when we started all in. And I'll I'll express my fear was that we were an all-female practice going into a very stoic market, and our first branding showed that we weren't trying to be bold.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

No, and we had had the conversation, hadn't we? And we had deliberately we scaled it back, scale, we made sure our branding was quite neutral, not masculine.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Yes, it was a bit masculine.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Um, because look at us now, and it's not because we wanted to be sure that we weren't just seen as female and that we were for males as well. And to be fair, a lot of our larger clients are actually male, so it it the right type of person isn't put off anyone off put off by us, but we were very, very subconsciously like we were so caught up on it, I guess, that we probably went a little bit extreme one way. Yeah, we did. Um it wasn't aligned to us, it wasn't authentic to us at all. No, um, but it I guess it served its first purpose, and that's fine, and it helped us grow, but we were very cautious around it and what we were going to be portrayed like into the market. Yeah. Um and we probably overthought it a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

I think we 100% overthought it because when and I think as we grew the business and it grew so quickly, quicker than we could have ever imagined, we were like, oh hang on.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Because we really like us. Well, and I guess we were like, Oh, we don't want to just attract yeah females, like we want we want to be for everybody. Yeah. And it turns out we are for everybody. Yeah, they just have to be the right everybody. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

And and we mentioned it in our earlier episode around we just have to have that value alignment, the why alignment.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

And that's that's it's not a gender thing, it's actually a personality thing.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

No, and a few years into all in when we were super confident in who we are, and we kind of knew what we were doing and why we were doing it, although we were very clear in the beginning why we were doing it. We knew our target client, but it allowed us to rebrand and we had a massive rebrand. If you look at our website now, allinadvisory.com.au, you can see it's just full of personality and flavour and really who we are.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

I think we'll get into marketing in another episode. But wow, that was a time rebranding.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Oh, it is painful from an admin perspective. If you can get it right from the start, do try. Do you uh do you still see stuff come up now? Like every for years after we had stuff pop up under the old branding, and I was like, man, I can't believe that that is there.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

So I was cleaning out my wardrobe recently and all the old um merch. My all my old merch and a t-shirt and a jumper, and I thought, I can't, I think this is like gonna go into museums. Yeah, I can't get rid of it.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

No, like it was just um, it feels like a different world, it feels like a different business. Yeah, and so I was like, oh that that's right, that's what that was. Yeah, and so I think that you know the words that I would describe in relation to the feelings that I had and was telling myself repeatedly was be brave, be courageous, be bold.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

You've got this. Well, um the for context, I'm all into word of the year at the moment. Um it's just hit February and I'm still on my word of the year. But back when we started, I had been to a conference and the words shout out to BGL, I've been at their RegTe, and the words on the sign were um bold, brave, and agile. That's right, that's right. And I was like, Oh my god, this is just meant for me. Yes, these hit me. He came back and told me, yeah. I took photos of it. I was like, this just hit me so hard, like bold, brave, and agile. This is it, this is our this is our thing, like that's what we are, that's what we're gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Um, and so that really resonated, and that's how we took on the business, I guess. Was we're gonna be bold, we're gonna be brave, and we're gonna be agile.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

And when we so we purchased the office and we did a refit, and I remember we got on Pinterest and got all these ideas. But one we got in our large boardroom, we have this big um framed piece of art, which is a lion, and it's very colourful, and it reminds me every time I look at it of bold and brave, and I still love that feeling, and I do. I think about it often when I look at that um artwork that that is how we felt and how we needed to feel when we started. Yeah, but we also had each other.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

We did, but and and sometimes I think like you know, we're eight years in now, but I think when things have gone a bit haywire along your way, which they have, yeah, um we've gone away from the bold, brave, agile. Yeah, and then you go back to that core core belief, um I think the shit starts to go back right again.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Yeah, and it does, and it's that auto-correction and it happens, right? Yeah, life happens.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

But if you find your why and your you know your what is the purpose of the build the business and and you keep coming back to it. And again, that's where a business plan helps. Yeah, absolutely. Because if it's written down, you can dig it out of the bottom drawer every now and again, and you can be like, oh, that's right. Because sometimes you need a a real refresher of enthusiasm and a real like, that's right. That's how I felt when I wrote this. Yeah. Going back to that original real excitement feeling.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

And that's the other thing as well, because we've both led this business, we've both had moments where we're leading and the other is stepping back, depending upon what's happening in our lives. Yeah, and there's always a lot happening. There's always a lot happening. Uh, I just attract drama. But I'm trying to I'm trying to get better about that. But um, and and that also helps. So having somebody there as a mentor or somebody that you know you really trust.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Yeah, and that doesn't have to be in business. Like, obviously, we've stumbled across each other and been in the business together. But like I said, we have worked in the past with other accounting firms as well. Or even your husband, your hubby, Mark? Like he was a huge part of that. He is my husband has a small business background, so he was a real um guiding source for us at different times, still is. Um, his opinion I hold really highly. Same, same. He's extremely honest, which is confirmed, but it's true. You would go, Oh yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Like in the early days, he would we he would say, because he came in and he's not an accountant, he's an engineer by trade. Yeah, he'd come in and say, Why the hell are you doing that? And we'd be like, uh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Yeah, okay, good point. And you're no, that doesn't work, and you're like, Oh yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

So we'd have to rethink it, but that has was so beneficial.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Yeah, and and I guess the outside point of view, because sometimes you're in your own little bubble, and you're like, or we only know accounting, so we just do it the accounting way. Yeah. That's that's how all the firms we've worked in have been run. So that's how my least favourite thing. We do it because that's the way we've always done it.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Like, that's not my least favourite thing.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

But some um my mother-in-law says, You don't know what you don't know, yeah. So true. Um, so true. So you're blinded, yeah. So getting an outsider's perspective, I think, is really important. Yeah, and that's just got to be someone you trust. Could be anybody, uh, and I think um an in an interesting thing you've gotten into recently is through um some council work. Yeah, and it's for so it's a free service, isn't it? Yeah, it is for like startup businesses and people thinking about the idea, and they get access to Ali and other professionals as well. And they get to run their ideas past these professionals to get their import, which is so valuable. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

The insights they get, honestly, they get free, they get a couple of grand worth of information an hour.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

And so stealing all your knowledge. For someone in startup phase, that's also a really important thing is going out and finding what you can get for free.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Yeah, 100%. And there are a lot of councils these days because they want to build business in their areas that have those small business advisory programs. So definitely reach out to that.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Um, and again, if you're women-led, there's also some funding um funding for women in business that you can look at and some little grants and act uh yeah, especially access to advisors and professionals, I think is really important really early on. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. We get um some people book in of like I've spoken to a lot of sole traders or people just starting out as sort of sole traders, contractors, mainly in the health profession for us. And they're just starting out and they're coming in for an initial chat, which generally if it's half an hour, we just do it for free. Yeah. And they just want to check that they've covered all their bases. Yeah, it's the I don't know stuff. Yeah, and I always say to them, You're my favorite client. And they're like, why? And I'm like, because you're here early. Yeah, that's right, rather than late. And you're like, I just want to make sure I put enough tax away. And I'm like, I love you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Nothing worse than somebody who's three years in and haven't hasn't paid tax yet and you were in trouble, my friend.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

And I'm like, You're my favorite. Because they're like, Well, I've been putting away like 20%. And I'm like, that's great, good, you're gonna be fine.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Yeah, exactly. And sometimes it is just that encouragement and and like getting somebody else to validate that you've covered everything, right? So that's where that talking to somebody is super important.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

And like I said, it it's an easy kind of chat for us. It's a bit like this chat now. Yeah, we don't even think about it. Um, and I don't I like hearing what you're doing and what you're up to, and and generally you'll turn into a client. So giving that 30 minutes straight up of just a little chit-chat, we're quite happy. And most people are um just to check that you're on the right track. And like I said, if you are sitting in front of an accountant early, you probably are on the right track. Yeah, absolutely. You absolutely are. You've probably already done your research and you're probably already aware of most of the things. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but we can give you that validation and just be like, oh, how about like maybe you've forgotten this? Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Now we need to throw to a sponsor, so we're gonna throw to our sponsor ignition and then we can come right on back. Who we use to get all our new clients.

unknown 17:48

So good.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Listen to how good they are. This episode is sponsored by Ignition, the software built for accountants by an accountant. Simplify proposals, automate billing and collections, and streamline your workflows. Save time, make money, get Ignition. Alright, we're back. I do want to get onto something because it's um one of your things that you just love. Um, tools to start.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Yeah, I guess for us, and I talk to people a lot about this, is start how you want to continue.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Don't half-ass it.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Don't go for the free product and then and like, oh now I've got to change my whole thing because I've got to go into a paid product. Like, do not do that.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Do it how you want to continue it. Yeah, I'm make it a scalable base. I'm an accountant, but I come from a little bit of a woo-woo background. So I like to say, like, manifest that you're an actual business, that you're professional. Don't be like, oh, it's just a little heart side hustle, and I'm not really sure, and I'll just do a little bit of this and a little bit of that. No, you're a business, yeah. You're gonna pretty successful, act like it.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Um, so you start out how you're going to continue and make sure everything you're using actually works together. Don't ad hoc, go, oh, I might use this one and then such and such said they use this one and then such and such said they use this, and none of it connects. Yeah. And it has to be scalable as well. Yeah, and like yeah, that's right. Like it's free now. But what's it gonna cost down the track?

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Exactly. And the setup time and the systems and processes that you build around it, and then you're having to swap, like, do not do it. There's usually a trap, like nothing comes free in this world. No, and there's a reason it's free. And my point to that is in relation to the side hustle. We're called all in for a reason, all in or all out. There is no halfway. The most successful people I know have gone all in, and the the number one thing that they have above all else is they're consistent. At least that's my favorite word, right? But when I see people that have a really great idea that are incredibly consistent, they always deliver. It might not go as quick as what they thought, it might not be the journey of how they thought that they would get there, but they ultimately get there, and it's this bright light syndrome, right? People come along and have these all these bright ideas, and that's wonderful. Pick one, two, three, max, and deliver on those consistently.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Yeah, and I think things things we find, I think, is that people get f frustrated that they're not successful in six months. Yeah. And they're like, I'm gonna quit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Or they dabble in something and they pop back in.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

Six months in is like that's like think of it as a baby, it's just sort of just getting to be a little human. Like give it a bit more time, give it consistency, and just stick with it. Because if you flip and flip and flop and change what you're doing, and you're just not gonna achieve what you set out to achieve.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

One of the things here, which I find that people understand most is brand and social media isn't built overnight. Like, even though you're not getting the connections and you're not getting the people talking to you, people are watching you, they're basically just talking to you. So the consistent message constantly, and that's what I find sometimes I'll meet with somebody that I haven't seen in so long, and they know everything about Olin or me, because I've consistently posted, I've consistently told our story.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah, I think we've we stopped looking at the likes and the comments a long time ago. Doesn't matter, it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean anything, but our clients know what we're doing. Because yeah, the amount of people are like, oh, nice blue hair. And I was like, what? And they're like, oh, we saw that Photoshop photo that Ali put up of you with blue hair, and I'm like, oh they watch.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

I didn't realize because no one commented and no one liked it, but people saw it. People watch and they're opportunistic, and so if you're constantly front of mind, when they need an accountant, guess who they think about? Yeah. It's that and telling your story and being authentic, and those things are long term games. That's where consistency is key and is the real winner.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Yeah. And so, yeah, if you're going to like start out like you want to continue, be that consistent, you do need to set up properly. From the start. So we always say, you know, some of the real simple stuff. Get a business bank account. Don't just use your personal account. That's so frustrating. If you're gonna have a credit card, get a separate one, even if it's in your own name, but it's just a separate one that you use solely for the business. So much easier to track. Set up a zero file. Set up a zero file because then you get used to it and you can track your profit and loss and your back. Even if you're not registered for GST yet, that's fine. It's still a good practice for when you are going to be bigger and better. And if you can't find 50 bucks a month or 20 bucks a month for a subscription, not each of the VM business.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

Yeah, then you have to say to yourself it's a hobby. Right. Like, and remember what Lee said before, it's the long-term game. So, you know, think about the things that you can set up now for the long term for scalability.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

Like, yeah, if you're using Xero, then your you know your Shopify or your um Square account or your PayPal account or all of that then links in. And then if you if you're gonna use a point of sale, how is that gonna look? And if you're gonna use um, you know, if you need merchant settlements and how is all that gonna work together and do you know, you talk to the bank, how can they help do that right from the start? Because it's so much easier than having to go back and retrace it all and redo it all and and talk to the professional at the start as well, because if you set it up wrong, oh goodness. I know it's a pain in the bottle. Yeah, invest in a little bit of investment in the setup, it goes a long way down the track. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Now we are getting to the end of this. We could talk forever. We could, and that's why we've got more episodes coming. Any final thoughts, Lee?

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Um, like I said, I just think if you're going to do it, back yourself, yeah, be consistent, yeah, treat it like it's a real business, be professional right from the start. Yeah. And just collaborate. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Research, research, and you'll be fine. Because if you if you've thought about it a lot, that just goes such a long way.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Yeah. Couldn't have said it better myself. That's where we're landing. All right. Have a great day, everyone. We'll see you on the next episode. Thanks. And that's a wrap on today's episode, everyone. Thanks for hanging out with us. We're very aware you could have been scrolling, snacking, or ignoring emails instead. So we appreciate you choosing us. If this episode gave you a light bulb moment, a laugh, or a quiet, oh wow, same, do us a favour and hit follow, leave a review and rate the podcast. It helps other brilliant people find us and makes the algorithm gods very happy. So share it with a mate, a bizbesti, or that friend who's building something big and pretending they're not stressed. Until next time, use bold moves, chase the big winds and lead the way.