LIGHTBULB MOMENT

unLTD recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Joanne Wharam, Managing Director of SMART Support for Business, a Sheffield-based company that specialises in coaching accountants and helping to build effective teams for SMEs. Now celebrating a decade since starting SMART, Joanne sheds light on what inspired her to start her own business, the rewards of entrepreneurship, and what it takes to thrive in today’s competitive business landscape.

Hi Joanne, can you tell us about the ‘lightbulb moment’ which led to you setting up SMART?

After nine years of working as an employee offering coaching support, I began to feel that I wanted more. I had a passion and drive to help more accountants to get the results that they deserved by working more closely with them.

This time coincided with an accountant I knew through my paid role starting his own coaching and mentoring business at this time. This connection was invaluable, and he both coached me to identify my aspirations and supported me to work out what I wanted to do for my career. He then gave me confidence to start my own business by agreeing to be my first customer, meaning some guaranteed income.

What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced while building and growing your business, and how have you overcome them?

At the end of my first 18 months in business, and for extenuating reasons beyond my control, a big contract ended, so I lost over 45% of my turnover almost overnight. I regrouped and refocused on building up my client base and fee income. Whilst challenging at the time, ultimately, I believe this helped me develop resilience.

As part of my ongoing professional development, I undertook a masters in psychology to continue to expand my knowledge and expertise. This negatively impacted on my available time for marketing and sales activities to bring in new clients. Having graduated in November 2019, I had big plans for growth in the following year, but then COVID came along, so I had to regroup and refocus again.

I stabilised the business during this time by managing to secure a contract to do some work with my former employers as our working practices were more aligned and the work was all done online. At the start of 2022, I identified that the business was again overly dependent on one big contract.

To address this, I set a target to increase new client numbers, but having had a difficult two years previously due to family bereavements I only had a small pipeline at that point. But I engaged some help from a marketing coach and as a result increased my sales by over 30% in the year.

Can you describe your typical client and the types of businesses that benefit most from your services?

SMART was born from the realisation that too many accountants are working really hard, feeling overwhelmed and/or aren’t achieving the success they deserve. Our bespoke support packages combine our extensive knowledge and experience in DiSC with coaching and training in leadership and team development.

The result is a positive difference for clients: having the right balance for them, boosted business profits and enhanced connection and cooperation in their teams.

My primary target market is SME accountancy practices, but I also work with other business types from the solopreneur business to those with teams of no more than 10 employees predominantly based in England. Ultimately, my passion is to work with those that find running their business overwhelming and spend all or most of their time serving clients and so don’t have time to focus on their own business and team. For many they are not earning as much as they would like to, and they have little time to spend with friends and family or doing the things they love. All of my clients understand that their people are their biggest asset but when it comes to people management and leadership they find this a challenge.

My coaching programmes are bespoke and delivered one-to-one with the practice, working alongside partners and their teams where it is needed and/or wanted. I share my extensive knowledge and experience alongside coaching and training in leadership and team development. I also support with building effective teams through my team training programmes, DiSC profile analysis and training and recruitment support.

How do you ensure that your team stays up to date with the latest trends and developments in the industry to provide the best support to your clients? Looking ahead, what are your plans for the future of Smart Support for Business?

I am pleased to say that I seem to be ahead of the curve in terms of technology within my coaching work. For example, I personally was using zoom for online meetings from the outset of my business, which was a real asset when the pandemic hit as I was already familiar and comfortable with the software. Even post-pandemic over 50% of my work is done using online meetings technology such as zoom and MS Teams.

Through my ethos of building connections with people, this means that I will also speak with other coaches, even if they are operating in similar markets to myself, and this means I keep abreast of things that others may be doing. The technology is ever changing within the accountancy market and I stay current with these by keeping an eye on the ‘press’ and through talking with trusted colleagues in the industry and attending events specific to accountants.

For more information on SMART, head to www.smartsupportforbusiness. co.uk.