Unwrapping the Festive Season: The Christmas Episode

Join us for a festive episode of our podcast, where we celebrate the year that was! This special edition gathers the whole gang - Andrew, Aly, AJack, and Amy for a heartfelt and engaging chat.

Together, we stroll down memory lane, reflecting on the experiences that shaped our year. We share the lessons we've learned and express our excitement for what's on the horizon. It's a blend of nostalgia, learning, and anticipation as we look forward to the coming year.

So, whether you're busy with holiday preparations, enjoying a festive meal, or simply soaking up the summer sunshine, tune in for a relaxed and joyful conversation.  

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from our podcast family to yours!

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MUSIC
ENTENTE (@ententemusic) | Instagram

PRODUCTION
David Easton (@davidjeasty) | Instagram

Transcript

Christmas Cheer and New Beginnings

Speaker 1 0:00

Hey.

Speaker 2 0:00

Ellie, yes, andrew.

Speaker 1 0:04

I really like music. Do you like music?

Speaker 2 0:06

I do like music.

Speaker 1 0:09

I feel like you'd like Britney Spears or something. Are you a Britney Spears fan?

Speaker 2 0:13

No, actually I'm not.

Speaker 1 0:15

I'm trying to think of who you might like.

Speaker 2 0:17

I'm an Ed Sheeran fan.

Speaker 1 0:19

Ed Sheeran yeah, I could picture you liking Ed Sheeran.

Speaker 2 0:21

Bit of Tay Tay, bit of Beyonce.

Speaker 1 0:26

Do you know what kind of music elves like to listen to? Like Santa's elves, christmas carols, nah mate rap music. Lay up all about it.

Speaker 2 0:38

Like heavy rap.

Speaker 1 0:40

Heavy rap, deep rap.

Speaker 3 0:42

Whatever?

Speaker 1 0:43

rap. To be honest, I don't even listen to rap, so I couldn't even tell you what type of rap they listen to, but I believe they're across all of the genres of rap.

Speaker 2 0:51

Well, the only rapper I really know is Eminem, and that's showing my age, isn't?

Speaker 1 0:54

it. Yes, you are exceptionally old. Thank you for starting.

Speaker 2 0:59

No, no, I didn't say exceptionally old, like in the prime. Anyway, enough of that.

Speaker 1 1:05

Do you know?

Speaker 2 1:05

Andrew, we've got some special guests with us today.

Speaker 1 1:07

We have some very good friends of ours and they're not elves. No, no, we have our good friends Jack and Amy from the Tech Edition podcast. We're joining us because today it's almost Christmas. We're like I think it's like right now it's five days before Christmas we're recording and we wanted to gather together and share a bit of Christmas cheer. So, jack, amy, welcome to the Mum and Dad podcast, as you guys have called. So good to be back.

Speaker 3 1:31

Thanks for having us Yay.

Speaker 2 1:35

I need to correct you, andrew, it's Ajak.

Speaker 1 1:37

Remember the A's.

Speaker 2 1:39

We've got to get the A's in there. It's Ajak Yep, yep, yep gotcha.

Speaker 1 1:43

Well, on that note, we're going to go to the theme tune music. Dave is going to play that. I wonder if he's going to put some weird like Christmas jingle in there.

Speaker 2 1:49

I'm not sure I can.

Speaker 1 1:51

I'm not preparing him for it, but I'm just going to say Seafy listens and we get some weird Christmas jingle with the music. So we'll go to that and we'll come back in just a moment, rad. Thank you, david, for how amazing you are at what you do. I'm a big fan of sharing what I'm grateful for around this time of the year, and I'm grateful for you, dave, because you're a bloody good bloke and you look after us.

Speaker 2 2:20

Well, he sure is, he really does.

Speaker 1 2:23

He makes it sound good.

Speaker 2 2:25

I know right, it might just be our dulcet tones.

Speaker 4 2:28

No, it's not that was incredible the way he brought that Christmas spirit into it.

Speaker 2 2:34

And yet he's not being gracious to me, did you notice? That's okay, it's all good.

Speaker 1 2:42

Well, hey, ajak thank you for hanging out with us today, excited to have you and all of our listeners and all of our mates who are tuning in. For however you do that, I appreciate it. What a good time of year to sit back and hope. How are you guys feeling about finishing up? Are you done or you got time? Where are we at, guys?

Speaker 2 3:01

I'm so done.

Speaker 4 3:03

Yeah yeah, jack, I'm feeling okay, but it's just me. Honestly, I think that's it.

Speaker 1 3:11

You can count on one hand, I'd like to think I'm a pretty positive person and I'm actually feeling relatively good leading into Christmas, but I'm also knowing that I'm gonna jump on a plane in two days and go have Christmas with my sister and Tassie, with the whole family, for the first time I've ever done it with all of our Tassie.

Speaker 1 3:28

So that'll be. I'm looking forward to that. So I think I'm positive because I know the good that's coming as well, and we just had our bad Santa with illuminate and I've had a couple of beers and coffee.

Speaker 2 3:38

I'm like I'm. Maybe I should have had a few sparkling waters before I came on the podcast to feel that way. But do you know what? Every year and I feel it every year I feel like I'm dragging my kids to the finish line. I feel like I'm dragging my team to the finish line. I think the mental load for me is enormous because you're trying to finish off everything for these fake bed dimes, for clients, you're trying to get your team across the line, you're trying to be Santa, you're trying to just do everything, knowing what's kind of coming. So I'm kind of dragging my feet. I've got one more day and then we have our little Christmas too, so I'm looking forward to that.

Speaker 3 4:11

Yeah, that's where I'm at too. Exactly the same. I'm happy and I'm fine. I'm just a little bit work weary. I feel like I just need a bit of a break over Christmas and New Year's, and then I'll be. You know, perky is all hell again, but a couple of days, a couple of days. Christmas party on Friday with the team. We've got a couple of team members flying in as well from interstate, so we're all gathering together over Christmas, going out for a nice swanky dinner on Friday night. So it'd be good. But yeah, I'm also a little bit. I'm done, though, like I'm ready for this year to be kind of over from a work perspective but not in a Navy way.

Speaker 3 4:46

Just you know, I'm just kind of done.

Speaker 1 4:49

And, jack, you've finished the year with a change as well so obviously it's publicly announced You're finishing up at early adopters hub, so that's huge, and obviously you're finishing, moving into this Christmas period with like ending, I guess, that era, which is pretty cool. Have you publicly telling people what you're up to yet, or is this still like hush silent?

Speaker 4 5:07

Oh, I mean, I don't know. I mean, are we going to tell them you're going to come and work for an Illuminati? Is it worthy of an inside scoop?

Speaker 1 5:12

Or is it like you know? Oh, we can do that If you want to inside, scoop it like here here. Oh, that is good, I mean.

Speaker 4 5:18

I mean, let's do it. But, between us and the listeners like.

Speaker 1 5:23

Hold on drumroll, dude drumroll.

Speaker 4 5:26

Yeah, I'm really excited, obviously moving on from early adopters hub, but joining a very cool up and coming startup, uk based startup that is doing really well in Australia and New Zealand and the broader APAC region. So they thought, hey, we need someone on the ground there. So, yeah, I'm joining Mayday.

Speaker 2 5:46

Yay, that's amazing. We've all moved back Mayday.

Speaker 4 5:49

Mayday.

Speaker 1 5:49

Jack's coming in. Woo, yeah, I know it's very exciting.

Speaker 4 5:52

But yeah, hush, hush for now, just between us and the listeners.

Speaker 3 5:57

And all the listeners, yeah.

Speaker 4 5:59

Yeah, then we can make a proper announcement.

Speaker 1 6:02

You know that, like this, is going to go live like tomorrow and then more than likely we'll. Are we allowed to share and say and Jack announces he's working with mate, can I do that?

Speaker 2 6:13

There's a level of reacting in the episode.

Speaker 4 6:15

Audience and us together. We're in this and I think they'll keep it a secret. I reckon.

Speaker 1 6:19

I won't promote it on the socials. Jack is not going to fast-forward it. Well, hey, congrats, mate. That's awesome, stoke, that you're moving into that. I'm keen Christmas party-wise, ellie. You said you've got a Christmas party, amy, what are you doing? What's the Christmas party plans? What are you up to?

Speaker 2 6:35

We're going to Fino's Sepelt's Field, which is the client of ours which is up in the Barossa. Yes, it's a destination restaurant, and so we'll basically wine and dine ourselves all afternoon with my gorgeous team, and so, yeah, it's going to be a super nice afternoon, but nothing, you know, over the top. We just like to do a bit of fine dining, yeah.

Speaker 1 6:56

Nice Amy. What are you up to?

Speaker 3 6:58

mate. So tomorrow the team are flying in, we are doing acts throwing in the afternoon and then a nice chip and cheerful dinner in the evening, and then on Friday we've got a strategy day in the morning, Just to come.

Speaker 1 7:09

Hold on, hold on, hold on Well parts. You're doing a strategy day after your Christmas party. Are you fucking mental?

Speaker 3 7:15

Because that's not the official Christmas party tomorrow, like the acts throwing, and that's just like team building Fun. And if we're all still alive after the acts throwing on Friday, then we are doing a bit of a strategy thing just a couple of hours in the morning and then going to Grill Americano, actually One of the nice, finer dining restaurants in Melbourne CBD. So like you, allie, I love a bit of fine dining.

Speaker 2 7:38

So oh, I love it, and I recently just about a week ago did a bit of acts throwing myself and it's actually really really hot, oh get good to know it's all technique, it's all technique, right, yeah, really good to know, illuminate Crew is heading to a place called Occhi, which is in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Speaker 1 7:57

We're going to the Melbourne one, not the Brisbane one, that'd be weird. They also climb to ours too. So it's like a darts kind of venue with, like bar, bistro, shuffleboard. It's a real cool vibe, so, but it's like a dart bar If you've been in, like Europe. There's a few other ones out there. I don't need to mention their name because they'd be competitors. They might claim we don't do that. But yeah, so it's really cool. So it's like. So it's real darts, but with digital reading, so it tells you what you're doing and you got games and scores.

Speaker 4 8:25

It's really cool. I need a Christmas game. I got.

Speaker 2 8:28

I know Jack.

Speaker 4 8:29

I mean.

Speaker 1 8:29

I was gonna say are you even in a Christmas party Because you finished? One and you start, do you get the invite or you just? Well, I was in charge of setting the invite up.

Speaker 4 8:36

So I set it up.

Speaker 2 8:37

Yeah, you and your heart. It's just two, Me and your heart are catching up.

Speaker 4 8:40

We'll have a little bit of a, as we do. We'll do a bit of a post-mortem of the year and a pre-mortem for next year, which sounds exciting, and then we'll go grab a beer together. I think Pretty casual, nice, nice.

Speaker 2 8:53

And it's so nice this time of the year to kind of see everyone having their Christmas shows and letting off a bit of steam and just kind of reflecting on the year. It's always nice. Yeah absolutely, and talking about reflecting on the year, yeah, actually.

Speaker 1 9:07

I mean, I feel like if when you do a Christmas podcast or year-end podcast, you have to do like this reflection moment, right, yeah, right, all right guys, we're gonna get real deep. Okay, tell me. No, I was gonna try and think of the most inappropriate question I could ask, but then I was like, no, I wouldn't do that. What are your canal, ali? What do we wanna talk about today? Winner. I mean, share some stuff.

Speaker 2 9:26

Well, yeah, I think we should basically reflect on the year, like what were the highlights? Maybe highlights or lowlights, or a bit of both, like what were the things that you'll remember. 23 for.

Speaker 1 9:36

Yeah, what? All right, what did you love, what did you learn and what are you looking forward to? So we're three L's, I know it's not A's L L L.

Speaker 1 9:44

What did you love, what did you learn and what are you looking forward to? So learn could be like oh, fuck that up, or I learned something about myself, or something like this. So, because Mum and Dad are boss, jack and Amy, you get to go first. Great, so I'm gonna sign, jack. You're up first, mate. What did you? Let's just start with love. What did you?

Speaker 4 10:04

love. I bloody loved that Zero Con party. That was the best, the post-Zero Con one. And it's just made me cause. I was thinking what are the questions you're gonna ask us? And I was like what are we thankful for and what are we gonna miss next year? Or I was like I'm gonna be devastated. There's not gonna be another one of those, so absolutely loved that what did you love the most about it, Jack?

Speaker 2 10:25

What was that? What did you love the most about it?

Speaker 4 10:28

Oh, that feeling of just like it was like a three story, just thousands of people that you just walkin' around and you just like bumpin' into everyone and you're like, oh my God, it's you and you're having a great time.

Speaker 1 10:40

And you were a bit of a demon on the dance floor.

Speaker 4 10:43

Oh, I mean there was dance floor involved.

Speaker 1 10:45

I'm sure my sister was there.

Speaker 4 10:46

It was her first Zero Con. That was a good time.

Speaker 2 10:48

Loved her Shit.

Speaker 1 10:52

I've heard. I gotta keep her away from the sound. I've had a couple of after accounting events with our old mate and it's a good time. It's a good time. No, she's awesome. She's awesome, so that's my love.

Speaker 4 11:01

I love that. Also loves kicking this off right. This started in January, so have to mention that. Yeah. I learned learned or learned learned.

Speaker 1 11:14

What you learned Well, it's actually technically can be spelled. By the way, I learned this one day.

Speaker 4 11:17

You learned this way.

Speaker 1 11:19

I learned it this one day.

Speaker 4 11:21

I mean, I don't wanna say I learned to read because I didn't learn to read this year, but I learned to love it a little bit. I think, like I as Johann positive influence on me and if there's any readers out there, the book that I loved the most this year was Thinking in Bets really, really interesting, thought provoking book around. Like when you make a decision, you're making it based on what you know at that point in time. You can make it bet. You don't have all the information, but you're making a bet and so if you lose you can still lose. If your hand says you 80% chance of winning, you can still lose. That doesn't mean it was a bad decision you made. You made a good decision, love it With the evidence you had in front of you. So think about that next time something doesn't go to plan.

Speaker 2 12:07

Ooh, I love it Really good.

Speaker 1 12:10

I reckon I make many a bet in my life in what I'm gonna do. I don't know it's fellows are right. I thought it'd work. Amy, Ali, sorry, I reckon there's minimal betting in your life. I reckon it's practically guaranteed when you do something. Though.

Speaker 2 12:25

There's lots of strategies, plan A to Z yes. And I think my team are learning that about me as well. Like everything is incredibly well thought through.

Speaker 1 12:35

Do you reckon we need to give Ali the book? Jack, you're an Adelaide. I just drop it over. Hey Mary, good, it's good. Let's evolve your thinking process. It was good for me to understand risk.

Speaker 4 12:45

I'm real risk adverse, so it was kind of good to understand how you can accept risk, knowing that, hey, if you take enough risks in your life, as long as there are risks that have a higher payoff than potential downside, if you keep taking those risks over your life, ultimately, over the course of all of them, you'll win. You'll be out. Yeah, I'm not talking sports betting, I'm talking betting on yourself. Over the course of a life, it'll pay off big. So that was a good one.

Speaker 3 13:11

And looking forward to oh sorry, no, you're always gonna like, you're always gonna win with that, because if you do bet on yourself, for example, you're always gonna learn something. If you see it from a positive perspective, even if it doesn't go the way that you thought it was going to go, it's always going to have something that you're gonna learn which is gonna lead you to the next decision that you make, which is yeah, that's how I feel.

Speaker 1 13:31

Don't be bitter, be better, Ooh.

Speaker 3 13:32

I like that one.

Speaker 4 13:33

I mean, even just learning that that other route wasn't the route for you is a huge difference.

Speaker 2 13:37

Exactly, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 13:40

What are you looking forward to next to you, mate? My new gig and it can't be working. It can't be working, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 13:45

It's too late. I guess it's not gonna be. You can't use the obvious. No, you can't use the obvious.

Speaker 4 13:49

No, no, what do you think it's gonna be the London trip that I get to go?

Speaker 1 13:54

on. Ooh, that's so okay. Your bloody show on off now, mate, I know right.

Speaker 4 13:58

Well, I'm leaving the beautiful Aussie summer for extremely cold winter, so maybe I don't have too much to brag about. But yeah, look forward to that.

Speaker 2 14:07

That's if we get a summer Jack at late. We're not really seeing much of it lately. Lovely.

Speaker 1 14:12

Well, jack, hey, amazing. Looking forward to that, I'm gonna pivot, I'm gonna surprise Ally and I'm gonna, I'd say Ally, I know I was gonna go, amy, but I was like you know what I just like to. I like to throw a couple of bets in and I feel like this bet's gonna be a big Nice and surprisingly, I am actually a risk taker.

Speaker 2 14:28

I risk, I just take on myself, because I back myself in.

Speaker 1 14:32

So what were the hills, what did you love, what did you learn and what are you looking forward to, mate?

Speaker 2 14:37

What did I love? I loved my team this year, like my team, are fairly fresh and new and we unbordered a few new people and it's just been the most perfect blend and the most beautiful mosaic. And I look back at the year and I reflect on what a beautiful year we've spent together and how much fun we've had and how much we've learned from each other and how much we've supported each other and grown. So that's what I've loved. It's been a really beautiful time in the office and with our outsourced team.

Speaker 4 15:09

That's so awesome.

Speaker 2 15:11

Yeah, but it's so true, Like honestly, I was writing them some Christmas cards and I was you know just kind of you know bleeding heart stuff, like just from the heart, and I actually started to tear up and I thought, wow, I truly really adore my team and they've just excelled and I've just seen them all of them grow into themselves and be really powerful women. I'm so super happy for them. I'm actually getting a bit emotional.

Speaker 2 15:36

So, yes, that was lovely. What have I learned? Ai, ai, ai. I am on the AI choo-choo train choo-choo, like I have learned so much. I've actually gained a lot of efficiencies from that. I'm training my team on it. I'm looking at how I can implement it with clients. Definitely on the AI train. That's been a really big one and I do see that kind of progressing into the new year, so that's definitely a big one.

Speaker 4 16:06

There's a special episode out for anyone who hasn't listened with Oat. Alley, just to plug the old tech edition of the podcast.

Speaker 2 16:14

Good cross promo, Jack, so proud of you. Get on the old tech train.

Speaker 1 16:18

No there is, and that's where Alley just got to go on a crazy rant himself about.

Speaker 4 16:22

I love AI, it's so like it's.

Speaker 1 16:24

no, it wasn't that, it was actually quite good.

Speaker 2 16:26

No, it actually was that.

Speaker 1 16:29

It's good. What do you?

Speaker 3 16:30

like about it.

Speaker 1 16:30

I just like it. Why? Because shut up, use AI, it's good.

Speaker 4 16:34

I know, I know.

Speaker 2 16:35

Oh, it's super exciting and what I'm looking forward to next year. There's a lot of community connecting that has already been booked in, like I'm doing the zero summer series and him saying that, and there's a couple of other things kind of in the works that.

Speaker 2 16:48

I'm bubbles and about for. So I'm just super excited about connecting in with the community next year. Even though there's not going to be a zero con, there's lots of things happening, so keep an eye out, for, I think, a lot of road shows, so people are coming to you, so that's going to be super exciting.

Speaker 1 17:07

Very much, so that's good. I'm intrigued to see how the that all the road shows, all the time element is going to look like in terms of people's capacity to actually go to them, but we'll see. It should be right, other than running 17 road shows yourself next year or this year or whatever it is that you do, what?

Speaker 3 17:26

did you? What did you?

Reflections on the Year

Speaker 1 17:27

love about the year. What did you learn about the year? What are you looking?

Speaker 3 17:29

forward to. What did I love? I loved, I think, growing the business from my perspective, going from three team members where now double that, basically a bit more double and a half, which is pretty exciting.

Speaker 1 17:46

Business owner.

Speaker 3 17:47

I know, I know I feel like I've got my pull ups on now just a little bit, like I'm a bit so that's been really fun and, like you, ellie, from a team perspective, the first half of the year was definitely challenging in terms of team members. In the middle was kind of a little bit. You know, we had some team members that didn't quite work out and you know we've now in the last couple of months I love my team as well Like I get excited to actually dial a call Like there's. You know, when you get a call on teams in, like there are times in the past we're like what do you want? Now it's like, oh, my God, what do you want? Hi, hi, hi, it's exciting, basically. So I really love that. And I think the other thing that I really loved sorry, I'm having two apologies I love, I know I love the podcast.

Speaker 3 18:33

Kicked off Zero point. What I loved was bringing back the love to the industry, like and how we can do that and what we can do, and I just love that this is actually now a thing and we're we're more talking about it, like how can we actually fall in love with the industry or how can we get outsiders to fall in love with the industry so that we can make it great, because I love this industry. So that's what I've loved. What have I learned? I've learned to probably be less politically minded in the public forum of the accounting space and to hold my tongue with opinions.

Speaker 1 19:06

I think mum and dad have taught me well as in Actually that's funny because I feel like that was something we talked about early on. You're like I don't know if I can, I'm like no, no, no, it's okay. Like, if you feel it's valuable, that's okay.

Speaker 3 19:17

Yeah, no, but.

Speaker 3 19:19

I mean this in a positive way. I've been responsive rather than reactive, and I really love learning how to be more responsive and actually picking and choosing those battles, learning to not play chess with pigeons and you know, just like that. Like you don't need to get involved in every conversation, you don't need to have an opinion about everything, and if people do want to have an opinion about it and it doesn't reflect your values or your thoughts, then that's okay. That's okay. It's just not my jam, basically. So I've really tried to take that on board and it's made me a much happier human being as well.

Speaker 1 19:55

So it's how I put up with Ali to be honest, so much happier.

Speaker 3 19:59

What am I looking forward to Next year? I'm looking forward to actually stepping into a role that I've never stepped into, which is not being actively involved in the business from like a from an operational standpoint, as in. I've always done my sales and marketing and all of that kind of stuff. So I'll still have it, I'll still be part of it to a degree, but I'm not going to be actively doing all of the sales calls, so to speak, and I'm not going to be as active, you know, on a day to day basis. And it's I'm looking forward to it, but I'm actually kind of a bit like what do I do with myself? This is exciting. I'm like this is why I started a business, so I could have an amazing team. So it's like uncharted territory, but also exciting at the same time. So that's what I'm probably looking forward to the most and, obviously, continuing this wonderful podcast, because it's great fun, of course it's really great fun.

Speaker 2 20:45

And, do you know, the thing that will help you with that is just continually checking in on yourself and making sure that you've got your boundary, so that you're not stepping back into things that just because it's comfortable.

Speaker 3 20:55

Yeah, thank you for that. Appreciate it Having somebody.

Speaker 2 20:58

yeah, having somebody that you're accountable to, I think sometimes helps too. Yeah, and Andrew what about you?

Speaker 1 21:05

Ah, yeah, well, it's been a year.

Speaker 4 21:07

Sorry, we're out of time.

Speaker 1 21:10

Yeah, it's been just about a year and we're wrapping up no. Crazy. So I was. I was just reflecting with the illuminate team earlier when we had our little bad Santa Christmas hang out early before we do our party tomorrow. But it was like, oh man, I've got a 10 month old like I have a 10 month old son.

Speaker 2 21:28

And he's gorgeous, by the way.

Speaker 1 21:32

Until he's hungry, and then he just goes. Ah, it's hilarious. We go to like a pub and he just screams for an hour and everyone just laughs because it's hilarious. But jeepers.

Speaker 1 21:43

Anyway what did I love about this year? I there was just so much that I think I experienced over the last 12 months. It's really difficult to kind of sum up and what's the one thing that I love, but I think I'd say what I loved was the ability to create space to see what happens. I loved being having that from my team allowing me to do that, and, even more recently, with some other things that have kind of happened within business where I've kind of had hey, I need to go over here to do stuff.

Speaker 1 22:11

I've loved I'd love the flexibility that I've been given and the support that I've I've been given because my team have seen hey, that's important, not just for you, but also if you do that, that's important and value back for us. So I've loved that. I really, really loved that. What did I learn? I learned I think there's a lot of things about myself I've learned over the last 12 months, I think taking over the family business and being around my dad a fair bit more and and watching how he behaves and how he, how he does things. I've really it's been a bit of a mirror to the face of like.

Speaker 1 22:44

Oh there's some good things, but oh, there's some other things that I just wasn't aware that I might behave or communicate, and so it's. It's really helped to enlighten that for me. So I think I've learned a lot about myself and how I behave obviously a bit of a mental health journey and kind of ADHD and like all that kind of thing. I've learned a lot about that too, and as well as how my team have behaved and responded and work with me in a much more limited role. So finally, like Amy, like to some extent, what you said you're looking forward to is kind of what I experienced a bit here, in that I've moved more into, like the growth marketing role and away from everything else which which is has been fun and what am I looking?

Speaker 2 23:20

Sorry, I'm just going to step in. I'm going to do a cross promo. If you actually want to get more details on Andrew's journey, check out the farewell Andrew, and there's a couple of other episodes the check in one and then the back when you return, about to get the full detail, because there was so much jam packed stuff going on in your year.

Speaker 1 23:41

It's. It's kind of nuts to see. I don't know if you actually, Ali, I probably never told you this. They do a Spotify rap for podcasting and I have the connection for the podcast that comes through for Spotify and it tells us about the podcast, the episodes that we do, and it was ridiculously overwhelming the most listened to, the most rated and the most thing was like farewell. Andrew was me saying I'm out and crying for about half an hour about it and that was beautiful.

Speaker 2 24:09

I love that so yeah, have a listen, it was beautiful. Honestly, it's one of the most impactful episodes. I think everybody that has listened to it and has spoken to me about has just said how impactful it was on them and it made them reflect Because we actually touched on some pretty touchy topics, things that hit home as a leader and a business owner and as a manager, you know. So, yeah, definitely highly recommend a listen on that one.

Speaker 1 24:33

And what am I looking forward to? I have this great sense that something big is going to happen next year, and I don't know exactly what that is. Like this, like. And when I say something big, I think in the world that I live, which is kind of weird because, like dude, you just, you had a kid, you step back from business. You're like, isn't that big?

Speaker 1 24:51

I'm like, yeah, but I feel like that is preparing me for something that's going to happen next year and and there's some things that I'm aware of that might be happening but might not be happening. So it's like, cool, I don't know if these things will happen or not, but I feel like there's a, there's some kind of pace and some kind of things. That is going to eventually be something as like oh shit, that's a thing. And I think and I wonder if that's a bit of industry wide stuff as well or business owner wise as well you know, we've all had big years, good or bad, and it's like it's going to eventually mean that something happens at a point, something other has to give or something will be created, and I feel like next year is a year that I think a number of us are going to have big things that happen.

Speaker 2 25:35

I feel like we're on the precipice as an industry of change, on the.

Speaker 1 25:38

It feels like with all the AI tipping point. Well, sorry, I just totally just cut you down. Yeah, we are, we are like we honestly are like there's I think it's a brand how we perceive ourselves as an industry, how we market ourselves, how we talk about ourselves.

Speaker 2 25:53

You know the tech that we use. Yeah, I think we're on the precipice of change.

Speaker 3 25:57

Agreed Exciting.

Speaker 1 25:58

Very much so. So let's take a couple of moments before we wrap up. What I'd love to look at is, and maybe throw out to you guys, if we always like to leave tips right, we always like to leave like what's a takeaway, what's something you can go and do, and we're looking at finishing the year well and starting the next year well, so you can pick one of the two how to finish well, how to finish well or how to start well, or, in between, what you do on the break to prepare yourself for that, if you can. And I'm literally throwing this question out with absolutely no preparation. And so, jack and Amy, hopefully you're prepared for that, because Ali and I do this all the time.

Speaker 2 26:32

I'm prepared.

Speaker 1 26:34

Pick one of those strings how you finish well, what you do in the break, break to prepare yourself, and how you start well. Pick one of them. What is your tip to excel at that? And then whoever says that the next person can't use that part off. So if Jack says how to start well, no one can say how to start well, it's taken Okay. Okay, it's a dim start, so Amy gets to go first, because Jack went first last time, suck it. So, amy, what are you going to pick? What are you going to start well, prepare or finish well. What are you picking?

Speaker 3 27:04

Prepare.

Speaker 1 27:06

Oh, okay, the middle ground. Middle ground so what's your tip on preparing over the break? Then what are you?

Speaker 3 27:10

preparing for the break. Prepare over the break. Look at your tech stack and pick one project in terms of a processes, procedure, a piece of tech that you're going to attack and it's something that's frustrating you, something's annoying you, something that you want to fix. Prepare yourself for the change that's actually going to take place next year. Think about how you're going to do it, think about what you're going to do, think about why you're doing it, think about how it's going to impact and prepare yourself for that, so that you can then start the year over to whoever next.

Speaker 1 27:43

So and that's not like I need to spend three weeks, like it's like you could literally sit on a beach with like your phone and go. I'm just going to think about this and create space for it, right, and I find it's like find the right space for that mindset. Sometimes it is on the beach or on the toilet or in the shower shower time. It could be washed. You're on the beach going to the toilet.

Speaker 2 28:03

Oh Lord, okay, don't go any further in the water, oh don't.

Speaker 3 28:09

I have children, children. I'm not talking about me, alright.

Starting and Ending Year Tips

Speaker 1 28:15

Jack, you can go next, because that means you get to do and or start. What are you going to choose? I'll take start. How? What is your tip on starting the year?

Speaker 4 28:24

well, so the tip here is because everyone loves a news resolution is to keep it to yourself, because I don't mean this in like I'm sick of seeing people's news resolutions posted online. That's not what it's about. It's it's about the. There's a lot of there's a lot of research that says that you get your hit from just telling people about what you want to do, but now it doesn't matter if you actually go and do it, because your body's like oh, that was a great feeling. I told everyone I'm going to run a marathon.

Speaker 4 28:54

I'm going to scale up my business 10 times and no one's going to check in with me. So it's great, I get to feel good, everyone thinks I'm amazing and I can just go and keep doing what I've been doing. So don't tell everyone about your news resolution.

Speaker 1 29:05

Keep it to yourself and then actually do it, yeah right, in a piece of paper, like bury in a box in the backyard and then, like this time next year, we're going to dig it up and be like what did you say you were going to do? Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 29:18

I did it. Do a calendar invite, do a calendar invite for 12 months, and the calendar invite is the thing that you're going to say, you're going to do and then it's future.

Speaker 1 29:24

You is checking in.

Speaker 3 29:27

So I like that.

Speaker 1 29:28

But I feel like you and I have talked about this off the line previously, but I like the idea of like saying it kind of almost ruins the ability to do it. So, yeah, it's funny because I like to say it out loud, because then it brings me more accountability, because people like oh, how are? You going with that thing. I'm like fuck.

Speaker 4 29:47

Shit, they remembered, they remembered.

Speaker 1 29:49

Damn it, at least three people.

Speaker 4 29:51

No, I mean, there's obviously the truth to having accountability as well. So if you I mean if you can find some people like you know, if you've got an accountant advisor, tell them and they'll hold you accountable to it. But you know, if it's a bit of a fluffy, I'm putting this out to the you know. Whatever, you can ignore me, I don't know what I'm talking about.

Speaker 2 30:07

I think I think there's a day like the 17th and 18th of January or somewhere around there, and it's called ditch your new year's resolution day, which is basically the day where people just go. It's done. A couple of weeks in, I can't even do it. I'm ditching it. But I think there's a particular type of person, right, like if I made a new resolution. I don't actually like to make them, but if I did I would actually do it.

Speaker 1 30:27

I'm that type of person, oh yeah, I can imagine if you set a goal and you didn't achieve that goal, it would be earth shattering.

Speaker 2 30:34

Oh, 100%. I'd be so upset at myself, can we?

Speaker 1 30:36

do a podcast one day if you don't achieve a goal, and I record the very next day and let's just unpack that.

Speaker 2 30:43

Yeah, alright, you'll get tears, you'll get. You'll get tears and big emotions.

Speaker 1 30:48

Um, alright, so Ali, off to you then. So you we're talking about.

Speaker 2 30:51

How do you end the year, how?

Speaker 1 30:52

do you end the year well?

Speaker 2 30:53

Yeah, I think it's about um, having a line in the sand and saying I'm giving myself permission to relax, to wind down, to cut off, and I think I always like to use that time in just a reflection. It's not a deep reflection, but it's just what worked well in the year or didn't work well in the year for the things that didn't go well, for giving myself, for those, putting little plans in place so that I can start the new year fresh. But I think it's about permission to allow yourself to stop, um, and to not feel like you have to be productive every single second of every single day and to align yourself back to whatever it is that matters for you, whether that be your health and wellness, whether that be your family, your friends, and actually be conscious and present in the moment of being with them and doing that, so trying to take your mind off of work. I think that's the most important thing.

Speaker 1 31:47

I like that. I like that, thank you, and what are you?

Speaker 2 31:50

left with, because that was all three of us. So did you just decide that you weren't going to join this, this party, or?

Speaker 1 31:55

what I'm left with is a reminder that strategy is incredibly important, and if you plan and organize. Well, you don't actually have to do all that much once it's all said and done. Uh, because all of a sudden, the other three people. But what I was going to share was at the start of this year, I I always write like an uh, like a little blog article, thing of like what do I? Feel the year ahead's gonna be um, and all three of you remember what I wrote about this year, right?

Speaker 2 32:19

Of course yeah, 100%, let it go.

Speaker 3 32:24

Let it go.

Speaker 2 32:25

Now this is where David needs to cue the Let it Go frozen music.

Speaker 1 32:31

The Let it Go frozen music and the reason, it was like a bit of a silence. I had to lean in because I have a tattoo now on my arm that says Let it Go. So I wrote at the start of this this is the year of Letting Go. Um, and I think that was, for me, that was a really valuable thing, and I think, as we finish and as we start, the reflection and the, the anticipation, are really important things, and so, um, be mindful that finishing, preparing and starting are not separate things. They need to have some element of flow. You can still end something, but it can still flow through. Um, and so for me, as I started with a view of letting it go, and I'm ending with an understanding of what I've let go, and I'll then move into what might I pick up now, next year, because who knows what the next year's blog might be?

Speaker 2 33:10

Who knows what the thing might be. How poignant is that, though, because that was a year of Letting Go.

Speaker 1 33:15

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 33:17

And that's a whole nother. Uh, you're like a storyteller Whole nother uh accountability hack.

Speaker 4 33:21

Just get a tattoo and it's once it's on your arm, like you had to do that. Oh, like I'm gonna run a marathon.

Speaker 2 33:27

I'm a clean skip. No, I'm expecting.

Speaker 1 33:30

Jack to have a. I'm gonna run a marathon tattoo just like a round of the basically a big neck one, yeah, a big neck one.

Speaker 2 33:38

Tramp stamp it for sure.

Speaker 1 33:40

Well, friends, thank you for joining us. Um A Jack, but Amy and Jack um I honestly, I do appreciate that you guys give you a time and your knowledge and you share so much through the, the podcast you do, but as well as your friendship and everything else that you get engaged in, you, you're two of, uh, very exceptional humans and I'm I'm blessed to call mates, so thank you for that, yeah. And obviously Ali. Obviously Ali, you're alright, oh, you're alright too, andrew.

Speaker 1 34:06

Far more than alright. You're one of the greatest ones. Um, thank you for allowing me to do dumb shit. Thank you for allowing me to challenge you and call you old. I mean, really, you're allowed to do that.

Speaker 2 34:17

I'm just spitting facts and I just want to say Merry Christmas to everybody and what amazing year we've had, and we're looking forward to new episodes in the new year. Yes, we will be coming back, so, um, we hope that you've enjoyed this episode and have a great Christmas everyone.

Speaker 3 34:34

Merry Christmas, merry Christmas.

Speaker 2 34:35

Merry Christmas.

Speaker 1 34:46

Hooey, wasn't that a fun adventure. My friends, thank you so much, so incredibly much, for hanging out with us today. Ali, you've been amazing. Andrew, you've been alright. How good is it to be able to have adventures, to guess.

Speaker 2 34:59

It so is, and you know what. Keep following us. We are all over the socials at Accounting Adventures. Check us out on the website. Give us a bit of a like. You know how much we love that stuff.

Speaker 1 35:10

The best thing about the adventure is the people that we do it with. So thank you so much for listening, thank you so much for hanging out with us, and please bring all the ideas. Keep becoming, and we can't wait to share more cool adventures with you. We love you guys.