This year marks 20 years since SBS Accounting & Advisors began. Twenty years gives you plenty of time to see businesses grow, struggle, adapt and sometimes completely reinvent themselves. It also gives you plenty of opportunities to learn from your own successes and mistakes.
Looking back, some of the most important lessons I’ve learned aren’t really about accounting. They’re about leading a business, working with people and continuing to move forward when you don’t have all the answers.
Here are five that stand out.
- Change is part of the job. If there’s one thing you can count on in business, it’s change.
When SBS started 20 years ago, moving accounting systems to the cloud was a major issue. Today, that’s old news. Pricing models were changing too, with plenty of discussion about hourly versus flat-fee billing. And relationships that once were expected to happen face-to-face are now routinely handled virtually—especially since COVID.
Technology will keep changing. So will client expectations and the way businesses operate.
It’s easy to become comfortable with the way things are working today. But what worked five years ago may not be the best way to operate five years from now.
One question has helped keep us pointed in the right direction: How can we serve our clients better?
Sometimes the answer means improving a process, adopting a new technology or offering a service clients increasingly need. But the question keeps us from assuming that today’s way of doing things should automatically become tomorrow’s.
- Own your mistakes, then focus on the solution. Twenty years in business also means 20 years of opportunities to get things wrong. I’ve certainly made mistakes. The important lesson has been learning what to do after one happens.
Own it. Learn from it. Then put your energy into solving the problem.
There’s very little value in continually replaying a mistake or dwelling on what you wish you had done differently. You can’t change yesterday’s decision. You can change what you do next.
That doesn’t mean ignoring mistakes. Quite the opposite. You should understand what went wrong and make whatever changes are necessary to avoid repeating it.
But eventually, leadership requires looking forward.
- Prayer works. There are plenty of moments in business when the answer isn’t obvious.
You can gather information, talk with advisors, study the numbers and weigh the alternatives—and still not know exactly what to do.
Prayer has been an important part of leading SBS.
A few years ago, we were involved in a lawsuit that we believed had no merit. Our leadership team prayed for God’s favor even though our attorney told us the outcome we hoped for was highly unlikely. Ultimately, it worked out in our favor.
We’ve prayed through employee changes that worked out well for both the employees and the company. I’ve also prayed through significant financial challenges where I couldn’t see a good solution. In one case, the answer didn’t come in the way I expected—but it did resolve favorably, as an obligation I believed I was legally required to pay was released.
Those experiences have reinforced something I’ve learned repeatedly over 20 years: God is faithful.
That doesn’t mean business will always be easy or that prayer guarantees the outcome we want. It means I’ve learned that we don’t have to face those challenges relying solely on our own understanding or ability.
- Intentionality creates traction. Good intentions aren’t the same thing as progress.
It’s easy to say you want to improve customer service, develop your employees, grow a new part of the business or become more efficient. It’s much harder to consistently devote attention to those things while handling everything that demands your attention today.
That’s why intentionality matters.
At SBS, one tool that has helped us put this principle into practice is the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). We set annual and quarterly goals that tie into our three- and five-year goals. Every two weeks, we come back to those priorities and review our progress. That rhythm has helped us gain momentum and make real progress as a company.
The frequency matters because intentionality isn’t a one-time decision.
Businesses get busy. Priorities compete for attention. New problems appear. Even when you know where you want to go, it’s easy to drift.
Sometimes leadership simply means recognizing the drift and refocusing.
- It’s all about your people.
Businesses need good processes. We’ve spent a lot of time over the years improving ours.
But processes don’t build a company by themselves. It takes people.
The longer I’ve been in business, the more convinced I’ve become that the people you surround yourself with are one of the most important factors in what your organization becomes.
That’s why investing in them has to be intentional too.
At SBS, we hold a monthly staff development meeting where we train on a variety of topics. We discuss career goals individually with employees every six months.
We also provide ongoing professional training—right now, for example, our staff is developing their knowledge of controllership services. And we recognize employees when we see them demonstrating behaviors that reflect our core values.
As a company grows, an owner’s ability to personally control everything becomes smaller while the importance of having the right people becomes greater.
Processes matter. Technology matters. Strategy matters.
But ultimately, a business is made up of people.
Twenty Years—and Still Learning
I don’t share these five lessons because we’ve mastered all of them. Twenty years in business has taught me just the opposite: leadership requires continuing to learn, adjust and refocus.
SBS is a very different company today than it was when we started 20 years ago, and I’m thankful for the clients, employees and others who have been part of that journey.
As we look ahead, I expect plenty more change, some mistakes, difficult decisions and new opportunities.
And probably a few lessons we haven’t learned yet.