The Wize Way

Episode 176: The Hire That Changed Everything

• Wize Mentoring for Accountants and Bookkeepers • Season 2 • Episode 176

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Most firm owners try to “fix the business” by working harder, staying later, and holding everything together with sheer willpower.

But if you’re the bottleneck… no amount of effort will set you free.

In this episode of The Wize Way Podcast, we are joined by Megan Sexton, owner of MJO Bookkeeping, and she shares a raw and powerful journey from burnout to freedom through hiring and building a trusted offshore team.

✅ The wake-up call that made her rethink everything
✅ The messy middle of failed hires, doubt, and holding on too tight
✅ How one great hire became the cornerstone of her transformation
✅ The life-changing impact of getting out of the bottleneck and reclaiming time with her family

If your business currently depends on you to function, this conversation is a must-listen.

🎧 Listen to Megan’s story and see what’s possible when you finally let go.

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PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm:

1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Strategy Map for FREE - Find out the 96 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here

2. Need to Hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here

3. Book a 1:1 Wize Discovery Session – Spend 30mins with our Wize CEO, Jamie Johns, a $7M firm owner who is ready to give you his entire business plan to build a firm that can run without you – Find out more here

4. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to The Wise Wave, the show for accounting and bookkeeping firm owners who want more time, profit, and freedom, and a business that can run without them. I'm Brennan Ward, your host, and each week we deep dive into the real stories, proven strategies, and battle-tested tools from successful firm owners just like you. Our wise mentors want to share their journey of how they've scaled and systemized their way to freedom so you can too. If you're stuck in the grind or you're ready to scale smarter, this is your blueprint. Let's get into the episode.

SPEAKER_01:

Hi everyone, we are here uh this morning with Megan. Megan Sexton is the owner of MJO Bookkeeping. They're based in Brisbane in the beautiful Queensland. So we wanted to talk to her because she's basically one of our members that's a bookkeeping business owner. That I feel like they also have a very good insight because we work not only with accountants, also with bookkeeping business owners. So I'm so glad to have you this morning with me, Megan. Thank you for being here. So I have a couple of questions from our wise factor chat, as I was telling you before. We consider that you have the wise factor because you have completed so many steps of the program that you probably feel like you have a lot to go through, but we consider you as one of our top members. And that's why I wanted to sit down with you and ask and find that wise factor. So let's go from the beginning. I want to know when did MJO start and how did it start? Like what did it come together as an idea?

SPEAKER_02:

So MJO started in 2009 just by myself. It actually started because I was working as an accounts manager for a company. Um, and their main accountant was actually a um a remote, and he would always come around every so often and and would do like obviously all the accounting side, but he would help me and guide me from that perspective on different things. He actually offered me a role in his business. He tried to poach me from that company and offered me a role. I did work for him for a period of time, but I sort of went, hmm, I think I really want to do this on my own. So I started doing the or like went into doing bookkeeping courses and things like that. My mum is actually in accounting as well, so I had that side as well. And then I just sort of grew the business on my own for a period of time. Um, then in 2016, so I was always on my own for quite a while, just doing things by myself. Um, and then in 2016 was the real turning point for me because I was actually getting wheeled down to have my son in a via C section. And I was actually still had my laptop on me as I was getting wheeled down into theatre. And my obsteatrician actually had said to me, I think you need to re-evaluate what's going on in your life. And I said to her, I said, just give me five more minutes. I just need to finish this payroll because people need to get paid. So yeah, it was literally, it was literally that that I kind of went, okay, I think I really do need to think about getting some staff members in. So I did. I took on some staff members, we moved into a premises. Um, I did, I had a lot of issues with having staff because I didn't have the right processes in place. I didn't have those things that would make life a lot easier from a business perspective. It was my first time having staff. So it was very, it was a massive learning curve for myself. It cost me a lot of money to have staff, and that is my own fault because I didn't have those procedures in place from that perspective. So it really took a real turning point. So in 2019, 20, when COVID happened, we moved out of the premises. I took a real hit when I had to set everybody up with working from home, changing everything from that perspective. And then it was okay, so how do we change this business to make a much better profit, to guide me out of it because I was having more children, I was still working ridiculous hours, and I just didn't feel like having the staff and having the business was benefiting me in any way. If anything, I felt that I was so stressed out that I just wanted to cave in. So I really went down this path of what do I do? How do I make this work? Everything from that perspective. And I actually got in touch with WISE and I went, do I do this? It is it is a it is quite a sum of money to invest. And I had a very good conversation with my husband, and I actually said, Well, I can either put this sum of money into it and I can go down a path of possible freedom, or I put the money in and I fail. It's gonna go one way or the other, but at least I know I gave it a shot. So I did. I took the leap and it has been an astronomical journey. So we had so I had all Australian staff members, and I was very much against going offshore because I wanted to keep the money in Australia for Australians. And having Christy with me, she was saying to me, Yes, I understand that, but you know, you've we've got to get you out of this phase. So I started looking into recruiting overseas. I did that. Um, we had we had three that actually failed. Okay. So we actually we had hired and then one just miraculously didn't turn up for work. We had an we had another one that she had to leave because of her parents. It was nothing bad. She had some medical issues, and then I think the third one was we worked out that she was working but not working. So she was allocating time to particular jobs and projects that that was not actually true and correct. So we had a very bad trot to start off with. Yeah. Then so I I have almost caved in and gone, I've had enough of this quite a few times. And there's there's there's been there's been quite a few phone calls to Christy where I've just sat there and cried, and then you've just said, no, what am I doing? I don't want to do this anymore, I can't do this anymore. And we had a really good chat about different things, and she said, Come on, we'll just one more go, just one more go. And so I did. I went one more go, one more higher, one more higher, and I did the best possible hire I could possibly do. And I found the most amazing person, and she helped me and guided me through everything to do with the Philippines stuff, so and now we have so I'm the only person in Australia now. Look at that. I love my handings. I have four of four staff in the Philippines. Amazing, so which is which is really good. We've changed processes, we've changed procedures, I'm slowly working my way through all the wise vault. It is huge, but there has been so much that has changed in the last 18 months for myself. Yes, I still work almost full-time hours, but what I'm working on is it's still billable work, but it's billable work that I want to work on. Okay. Right. So it's things that I I want to do, and I feel like I want to take that on. I'm no longer working late nights. I'm still working sort of the normal nine to five. But if, like, say, for instance, my son had he had a broken arm, he still has a broken arm, he's with me at the moment. But it's given me the flexibility to go, okay, you know, I'm going to go and do this, and I can send off some things to the girls and say, okay, this is what we need to do. I need you girls to take care of this today. And we've spent a lot of time focusing on procedures and what previously was in my head and why I was the one that was that bottleneck and what was actually happening with that, and putting that in place so that I'm not the bottleneck anymore, and the girls aren't waiting on me to get jobs done. So there's been a lot happened behind the scenes from that perspective to get that done. So, yeah, so it it has been an absolutely massive journey, and we've still got a huge journey ahead.

SPEAKER_01:

But I love to hear that so far. It's it's been like I was just going to ask you, but it it answered itself that I was going to ask you like which part of the whole wise way and the wise journey was the one that resonated with you the most. But I can tell now it's staffing. It's staffing because there's there's a lot of other components. You know, there's leadership, there's uh staffing, there's SOPs. But I feel like, and you'd be surprised at how many members that I've interviewed before have said this. They were, I feel like hiring is the one that allows you to scale on top of everything. That's why you are now taking care of your son. And that's great because I know that anyone who's an accountant that's listening to this, they're going to say, like, I cannot do that for the life of me. Like, I that's not something I get to do. Just being absent for a day, like, no free weekends. So this is very valuable. That even that last push that Christy gave you, that shout out to Christy. She's an amazing mentor. Yes, she's a delight that it gave you that last push in order to get to this part. Because as you were saying, the journey is long. We're not going to lie to people and say that you don't have to do the work, you have to do the work because, but after that's transformed and you put in the time that you need to do at least one hour, two hours per week to focus on that, that's going to be so massively valuable in time. And I'm so glad that you're getting to see that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, yeah, yeah. It's it's a huge journey. It's absolutely a huge journey. I love having that one-on-one with Christy every month. And one of the biggest issues that I always had was that from my perspective, being a business owner, I had no one to hold me accountable. So for me, it was oh, well, if I don't do this, it's my it's my problem. Yeah. Now having that with Christy and having the extra journey of Christy saying to me, okay, well, did you meet your task? Why didn't you meet that task? I'm actually being held accountable in my own self. Um, not that she's getting cranky with me already, but it's more about I feel like I have this target and I have to reach that target. And for myself, having those targets is key because if I don't have the target, I've got nothing to strive for. I've got nothing to make that work. And each month we're slowly nipping away at something else. And there's been times where I've emailed Christy and said to Christy, okay, I'm a I'm at my wit's end. I don't know what I've done wrong here from a manager's perspective. How do what do I need to do? And just having those conversations where you can have that and having those super aid accountability meetings and being able to speak to other accountants and bookkeepers about what are their issues and why did they do that and how did they fix that? That's that's been huge for me as well, because you're open and honest with everybody. No one's hiding anything, and you're all there to support one another. It's not about, you know, oh, I don't want them to steal any of my clients or anything like that. It's it's just this complete relaxed feel, and each one of us is going the environment is totally different and we're all going, but we're we're facing the same issues, and we're coming together as a team in that super eight accountability meetings to go, okay, well, how did you fix that? I might try that. I'll give that a go. Thanks for that. I'll have that one. So having that extra accountability for yourself has just been an absolute godsend.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I love that. And that that you were saying something very important about the accountability factor that you are showing up also for yourself. If you have nothing to strive for, then why do you have a business? And otherwise it's it's if you're not improving anything, if you're not growing, you're basically flatlining. So you are you are not you're not improving and you are living in a in a business. Imagine having a whole life, and this happens to many accountants, which is sad and bookkeepers as well, that they run a business during a lifetime that they hate. So I actually wanted to ask you now that you were saying uh something loosely related to this, but I asked this to all the business owners I talk to, and it's that no, we repeat this phrase that is build a business that runs without you, and there are no right answers on this one. But I want to know how that makes you feel. Like, does that excite you? Do you see that happening soon, later? Do you not want to do that?

SPEAKER_02:

If you hadn't asked me that question 12 months ago, I would have been terrified going, it is not possible. Just not possible. Now, the goal is actually for me to be out within the next 12 months. Oh, I love that goal. So, like, I I'm not out completely. The goal for me is to be able to ring the clients and say hi because I want to ring the clients and say hi, you know, and have that let's go out for coffee because I want to take them out for coffee and just have a casual chat with them about how they're feeling and what's going on, and from all of those perspectives, and just doing that nice interaction and not having the burden of I can't have that half an hour conversation with them because I really have that deadline to meet. Right. So being able to transition to that period is what I'm now working for for the next 12 months. Right. So that that's our key, is we're making all of our procedures now are designed without me. They were designed to sort of go, okay, if this has been missed, why has this been missed? What happened? How do we make that not happen again? Yeah. So that is that is the goal now for us is for me in the next 12 months, I'm to be on no billable work. Amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

That that makes you like the actual owner of the business and not doing the grinding work and all of those things that keep you tied to the business on a daily basis. I actually wanted to ask you another question that relates kind of to this freedom and that I I like to ask because this gives me a good perspective of who you are and what you like to do when you're not inside the business. And this is like, are there any hobbies or activities that you are able to give more time to now that you are looking to withdraw from the business?

SPEAKER_02:

A lot of the reason why I have wanted to withdraw was growing up, I never had my parents around. They were always at they were always at work or you know, they were doing something and things like that. You know, I could never see my my parents at a swimming carnival for school or something, or they never came with me to an excursion. So for me, my key has always been I never wanted that for my kids. I want to be able to be there for my kids to go on those excursions, to experience those things with them so that they don't feel what I felt growing up. And that was that massive, that massive feeling of why are all these other parents here and my parents aren't. I don't want them to feel like that. So that was always my key. And being able to do that now, like there's certain ones I haven't been able to go on excursions yet, but um I've been able to do swimming carnivals, I've been able to pick them up from school instead of them catching the bus or something like that. Just those little things has been really, really, really handy for myself. And I feel that it has actually grown, like my kids and I have grown further for that. And I'm really grateful for that. Yeah, I feel like that's what it's been about.

SPEAKER_01:

That's very powerful because it's in those little details and those little moments where for your kids there will be corrected developments, like they they will grow within this basis of time that you don't take them to school or that you don't pick them up from school, or that they will be happy to see you at that carnival or that excursion. So that's very powerful. And I hope you get to go to that next next excursion next time that happens. Well, very excited. Now you're like, uh, please send an invite for that excursion. I'm going. Yeah, very much so. I'm already packed. Yeah, I'm very, very excited for you to see that happen. And yeah, I'm very excited to see your journey. Hopefully, we can catch up in another 12 months to see where you're at. And I hope you your calendar is free by that time. And hoping so, too. Yes, that's very exciting for you. So thank you, Megan. Those are my questions for today. I I enjoyed our chat so much, and you've given me so many, so many important insights into your business and world. So I'm sure that lots of people who hear or see this are going to be able to, you know, it might resonate with someone who has a bookkeeping business or is wanting to start one or is wanting to do to take a leap like wise is, I'm sure it's going to put them in the right direction. So thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

Wonderful. Thank you. And thank you so much for the wise team. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Wise Way. If today's episode sparked an idea or helped you see things differently, please don't forget to leave us a review. And if you haven't subscribed to the podcast on your favourite platform yet, please go ahead and do that as well. Let's continue the conversation here through YouTube or any other social platforms that you can find us on. And just remember, if you're not a subscriber of our weekly Friday tip newsletter, you can get that to your inbox every week going forward. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, you don't have to do it alone. Let's build a business that works for you the wise way. We'll see you in the next episode.