The advisor is in for Business Day

Author, radio and TV financial personality steps up as Commerce Ballarat event speaker with plans to bust the pandemic challenges.

WHILE the way we do things might be different right now, the underlying message of Jason Cunningham’s Commerce Ballarat Business Day In presentation is that the fundamentals of success remain the same.

The small and medium sized business adviser says the sun will come up tomorrow.

“We need to remember where we’re at is a point in time,” he said. “Now it’s very pivotal point in time, please don’t get me wrong. But I promise you, if you’re going to be in business for 10, 20, 30 years, this six or 12-month period might only be five per cent of your whole business’ life.

“There’s two thing we need to focus on. One, what the plan looks like – what am I going to do for the next six months and then the following 12 to 18 months after that.

“The other point is what are the three things we can do at times like this? What can I do for me, what can the government do for me, and what can I do for the community?”

If there wasn’t currently a pandemic, with all that entails, Mr Cunningham would be drilling down on the central message of his book Have Your Cake And Sell It Too – the 7 Key Ingredients of Business Success.

There he says the ultimate goal of every business owner should be to get their operation into a place where other people see value and want to buy it.

“The overarching premise is for business owners to begin with the end in mind,” Mr Cunningham said.

“I’m not necessary saying sell it, but my experience tells me the best business to build is one that’s ready for sale. Even if you don’t want to sell it, if it’s ready for sale. So what does it look like, sound like and feel like.

“Success is an acronym for seven key ingredients to the formula that I believe can build a successful business: strategy, understand yourself, your customers, your cash, execution, sacking yourself and then the eventual sale.

“So that’s all well and good when we don’t have this thing called COVID-19 running around. Now I take those basic theories and apply them to what we need to do right now.”

However, if there also wasn’t a pandemic, Mr Cunningham wouldn’t be involved with Business Day In at all.

He was added to the business development occasion following restrictions on movement and social distancing caused Commerce Ballarat to postpone the highly popular Business Day Out and create a new event, Business Day In.

His inclusion on the BDI roster was described by Commerce CEO Jodie Gillett as being perfect for the times we currently find ourselves in.

“He’s a really engaging and motivated speaker,” she said. “When I think about the kind of people that can have an impact right now, he comes straight to mind.”

And it’s easy to tell why she’s made that call.

On a crackling phone call from his home in Melbourne, in the depths of preventive isolation lockdown, Mr Cunningham is still full of life, passionate about what he does and helping others to do it.

The journey of many business advisors, especially those found in the Big Four firms or even second tier operations is pretty standard.

Fresh off an economics or accountancy degree they start as graduates, or may have been test driven on vacation placements.

The junior bean counters then move up through the ranks all with the aim of hopefully, one day, making partner. They never actually own their own business until they reach that highly desired corner office, and even then they are just still another number.

By contrast after working for Ford for a few years post-graduation, Mr Cunningham struck out on his own at 25 to build his version of a business advisory and accountancy firm.

“My business partner said we should run our own business. I said ‘what the f$%k do we know about doing tax returns’, I’d never done a tax return in my life,” he said. “So we had a crack.

“We started December ’97, and our first year we turned over $60,000 and we’re earning $100 each a month. I’d left a job on $54,000!

“I’ll often tell my clients I’m a business owner first and an accountant second and I guess I’ve had that ingrained in me. My father ran his own business, his dad ran his own business and being in business is something I was probably always destined to do.”

Business Day In will not be the first time Mr Cunningham has been involved with Commerce Ballarat.

He’s been part of the organisation’s events before and has nothing but praise for the peek business support organisation.

“Commerce Ballarat do an outstanding job,” he said. “They’re just very much focused on helping the business community thrive.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. I live and work in Melbourne and also do a lot of work in Sydney and a bit in Geelong and there’s no chamber of commerce like that.”

Commerce Ballarat’s free Business Day In is set for Wednesday, 27 May with a range of online events running throughout the day.

Along with Mr Cunningham the online business development event includes communicator and business fixer Lucy Bloom and a Q and A panel focusing on human resources with Dr Soma Pillay and Professor Philip Taylor from Federation Business School as well as Ange Connor ­– founder and director of Inspire HQ.

At the end of the event and using Zoom’s breakout room function an online networking and drinks session will be held to round out the day.

For more information and to register for any of the events visit commerceballarat.com.au.