What's your origin story - and why should you share it?

What’s your story?

We communicate PASSION through?Origin, Mission, Vision.?When we align these 3 things, people feel your sense of passion & you feel it too.?The I'm doing what I'm meant to be doing feeling.

If we met for coffee and I didn’t know a thing about your business, and I asked the question, “what’s your backstory?” this is what I’m wanting to hear about…

Let’s backtrack for a moment.?If I’m a potential client, I’ve already got a pretty good idea that you can solve my problem before we even get to the stage of a conversation or a meeting.?Google reviews and warm referrals get me to that point.?What I’m interested in is, why should I choose to invest my time, resource, and energy into working with you above others on my shortlist?

Why should you share it?

Your origin story helps me the client, understand quicker, and at a deeper relational level, whether we will be a good fit for each other.?It’s the story of how a company was started, including the ideas, experiences, and events that led to its creation.

You’ll share details about your original motivations, the challenges you faced, and how you overcame them to create a successful business.??If your story is authentic, it will sing into the company’s mission, vision and values and can be told with passion.?I love to invite clients to share or retell their origin story with me as it’s always a powerful conversation.?The business owner lights up with the positive energy that comes from revisiting the space where their original motivations were born.

Mission, Vision & Values

Your origin story is the golden thread that weaves seamlessly through these key pillars of?mission,?vision, and?values?for your business.?It also unpacks your?WHY?and illuminates for yourself and others WHY your passionate about what you do.

Beyond this, your origin story is a key tool for communicating the identity of your business, connecting relationally with clients, and creating a sense of purpose and direction for your company and its employees.

Essentially, it is a powerful tool for clarifying identity, connecting with customers, and differentiating your business in a crowded market.

So I encourage you, if you hadn’t realised the power of your origin story before, or haven’t revisited it in a while, reflect on it, capture it and share it.

Looking for some initial inspiration, here’s my origin story…

My Origin Story...

When I was young, I was always the kid who always wanted to play monopoly, and even when I did, I had to be the banker.?I just loved it.?The feeling of the money, playing the strategy game, and seeing from a young age that the only way to win was if you acquired assets (remember those hotels?!)

It seem daft now, but when most of my friends didn’t have a clue what subjects to choose at school, or how to answer the question, “what do you want to be?”.?I was always really clear that I wanted to be an accountant.?Even before I knew what one really was.

That’s a powerful, positive early memory for me.

In parallel to this, I also recall how often money could be a real cause of distress at home.?Don’t get me wrong, we had a nice car and good holidays, but I remember too many occasions when adults would be arguing and a lot of the time it revolved around money.

There was one particular moment, probably aged 13-14 when I was feeling pretty down.?I was wondering why it was like this for us??Especially, when we had so many family friends running their own businesses, seeming to be winning at life.?That’s when it happened, that’s when I had my...

Breakthrough moment.

It’s as vivid to recall now as it was then.?I was sitting in the garden at home, away from the yelling telling myself, “Joan, you’re going to be alright.?This might be happening now but you’re not going to let it happen to you.?You’re going to focus, work hard to be an accountant and never have to rely on anyone else financially again.”?That was it.?From that point, the penny dropped, decision made.?I had to ride the tide between then and reaching my goal, but I was sure it was my pathway to no more stress, no more arguments.?This was how I get to feel I’m in control.

It sounds crazy doesn’t it, to having those thoughts at such a young age, but it happened.?It was an actual moment.?From then on, I chose the subjects at school that made sense.

Focussing on my goal

At one point, I really surpassed myself studying law and nearly jumped ship to the legal side, but the pull of finance stayed in me.?And when deciding on where to study for my Accountancy degree, I chose the course that had the most exemptions from the Chartered exams to come later.?I was focussed on my goal, and I wanted to achieve it fast.

Even when it came to deciding what type of accountant I wanted to be (who knew there was a choice), I was clear that I wanted to work as part of a team, to be close to a product or service and make a difference.?To use the language of business to help people make better decisions.

There was only one route for me, I had to work in industry.?The thought of working in audit made me wince (sorry to my beautiful audit friends).?My LinkedIn profile shows you how blessed I was to work in two of the greatest companies on the planet (I’ll be forever grateful).

To this day I love working with numbers to be a force for good.?Growing our family was the point at which I stepped out of industry and set up my own accountancy practice.

Building my SME

On this journey through practice after industry, I’ve learned how being a business owner can facilitate work life balance when you have a young family.?Building an SME has allowed me to be financially strong and independent.?I also saw the difference between the resources FMCG’s have access to, versus the support available to our beautiful SME economy.

If only I could build a business that didn’t just tick the compliance boxes for a business owner, but actually partner with them and use financial insights to help them grow, thrive, be successful and love their business too.?So I set out to do exactly that.

For me, it’s a magical thing to see business owners achieve sustainable, profitable businesses.?Where they can feel happy, empowered, and rewarded by their business for the time, effort, and talent they put into it.?That’s why I do what I do, every day is another opportunity to unlock business potential.

Asa practice, we do this by saving people tax, time and reap the lifestyle rewards of business ownership.?And the way we work is underpinned by these values.

TRUST

CLARITY

RELATIONSHIP

ACCOUNTABILITY

INNOVATION

Our ultimate vision

...is to be the go-to partner for business owners who want to unlock their full potential, achieve their desired lifestyle, and create lasting impact in the world.?We are committed to deliver excellence, embracing innovation, and empowering our clients to succeed on their own terms.

Reflecting on my own origin story reignites the passion for my business and encourages me to see how far we've come.?

There are some things that will never change though,... like?asking me to split the bill between friends on a girls night out…. they know not to ask me to do this anymore!

What’s your origin story and why should you share it?

1. Create Emotional Connections with customers: It helps you connect with your audience on a deeper level by showing the human side of your business. It helps to create a personal connection and relate with customers on an emotional level.
2. Demonstrate Your Expertise: An origin story can demonstrate your expertise and experience in your field. It can show the knowledge and skills that led to the creation of your business.
3. Differentiates you from your competitors: Your origin story can help you showcase your unique selling proposition by highlighting what sets you apart from your competitors. Your story can demonstrate your unique experience, knowledge, and perspective that led to your business's creation.
4. Build Trust and Credibility: Sharing your origin story can help build trust and credibility with your audience. It can show that you are passionate about what you do, and it can help demonstrate the values and mission of your business, helping you to attract investors and inspire employees with a shared sense of purpose and direction.
5. Inspire Others: Your origin story can be an inspiration to others who are considering starting a business. It can show them that with hard work, dedication, and perseverance, it is possible to turn their ideas into successful businesses.