We did It!!!!!

On 17th of May, we hit a big milestone at TOA: we employed our 2000th team member globally across 5 countries. It took us 5 years to get to 1000 team members, and then another 2.5 years to double that to 2000. So why does this really matter?

If you know us well, you will know that we are private about what we do and are not the greatest company to share our highlight reels. I often watch others in the industry promote something that is minor compared to what we do, but they promote it like it is the best thing since sliced bread. Anyway, I digress.

The reason it is important is because this business was built out of demand, it was not initially built out of design. Over the years, this has certainly changed and everything we do now is for a strategic reason to better serve our team and our clients. But if you Dream Big, then great things can happen.

I recently read Jeff Bezos’s final CEO letter to his shareholders, and it really struck a nerve with me. The part that hit home was the impact they make and what he has been able to build over a long period of time.

It made me think about the impact we make. I do not often get to slow down and think about what we have done, that is not in my nature, but when I looked back over a few things, it is truly amazing. Some of these are:

• We have paid over $90,000,000 (AUD) in wages to our global workforce over 7.5 years. In 2021 we will pay over $36,000,000 (AUD) in wages. This money has been spent in the local economies where our teams work and live (across 4 countries).
• We have saved our clients over $210,000,000 (AUD) in wage cost, which has allowed them to invest this back into their businesses and the local economies they serve. Most of our clients have grown their local teams and fast tracked many local jobs to higher paying roles due to the business’s building an offshore team.
• We have built computer rooms for schools, donated time and money to many charities and towns in the Philippines. We are in the process of building a more impactful side to our business to truly make a difference in all the countries we operate (stay tuned).
• We have had a positive impact to over 300,000 small business globally, via our clients. This was never more evident than through 2020.

We have also learned a lot over the years. We have made many mistakes, had to pivot 1000+ times. It is often said that working in TOA for a year is like 5 years in a normal company. Some of the biggest learnings I have made over the years are as follows:

You need to build a world class team

You cannot always afford them but, if you have a clear plan and vision, you will attract them, and they will join you. People are the most important part of your business. Build an industry leading employee value proposition, and always review it.

Invest in the business

We are in a growth business, so we invest in it. You cannot make big profits and grow fast. Choose which one you want. For us, it is an investment into the business and our future. We have invested significantly to have world leading facilities, industry leading technology, and a training business to provide world class learning to our team. All of these differentiate us from our competitors.

Serve one Industry

We have truly benefited by serving one industry and one niche. We know them deeply and we build everything we do for them. Our service is built exclusively for them—from the way we build our facilities, the technology we build to make it easier to work with us, to the courses we build from what we have learnt from other clients over the journey.

Everything is done to make it simpler for our clients. As we are 100% focused on our customer. This has also allowed us to be extremely active in the accounting and bookkeeping community and the local events within the industry.

Build a thriving community

We do this via our local client events, TOAcon conference and online community. This is so important, and you can never do too much of this.

Through adversity you become a better business

We have had many challenging times over the years. An earthquake in 2019 made 2 of our 5 offices completely non-operational in the Philippines. Within 72 hours, we had these operational again (it took several months to completely restore them). There has been numerous floods and typhoons over the years and let us not forget the most recent Covid-19 pandemic and having to move all 1500+ team members at the time to work from home (within 24 hours).

At the time these events happened, you tend to question why you do what you do, if you will ever recover, or even shed some tears. But with each bit of adversity, you become better prepared for the next event and you become better for it. Craig, our CEO, often talks about altitude training and how you are better for it when you come back down the mountain, and this could not be truer.

So, to wrap this message up, I want to thank all our team members, both past and present for making TOA what it is today. Without you, your dedication and work ethic, our clients would not have grown, and we would not be what we are today. You are the ones that make our business successful, and you have built the culture that we all know and love.

To our clients, thank you. We have not always been perfect, we have had many growing pains, but you have stuck by us and helped us to grow an industry leading business. We look forward to growing with you even more.

To the industry and all our partners in it, thank you for embracing us and partnering with us to serve our mutual clients. We love working with you all.

Lastly, to Craig, the global leadership team and to all 300+ of our support teams, thank you for making TOA what it is today. You are the people that spend enormous hours, often unseen and unknown, to serve our team and clients so they can be better off. Thank you for all that you continue to do.

As I said to the team, I can’t wait to hit the next milestone in the next 18 months (or less) and continuing making a bigger impact.