Episode 200: Reflections and Lessons of the Wize Way with Jamie Johns and Bren Ward

200 episodes. 21,950 downloads, over 40 countries. And it all started with a simple idea to help accounting firm owners build better businesses and better lives.

To mark this milestone, Bren Ward sits down with Jamie Johns for a candid reflection on the lessons that have shaped the Wize Way, the ones that matter most right now, and the mindset that separates firm owners who break free from those who stay stuck.

✅ What a 40km hike through the Grampians has to do with building a better business 

✅ The one lesson that keeps showing up after 10 years and thousands of coaching calls 

✅ Why the loudest voices in business right now might be leading you the wrong way 

✅ The talent conversation most firm owners are still getting wrong 

✅ The simplest thing you can do today to start getting your time back 

✅ Where freedom actually comes from, and it is not where most people think

If you have been waiting for the right moment to stop, take a breath, and look at where you are standing, this is that episode. Tune in to hear Jamie and Bren reflect on what has changed, what has stayed the same, and why the next summit you climb might be closer than you think.

________________  

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

Transcript

200 Episodes And The Mission

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to The Wise Way, 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 Bren 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. Jamie, welcome back to the wise way. How are you? Yeah, g'day, Brian. How are you today? Good? Fantastic, thank you. I'm very excited. Very excited for this episode because it is number 200 of the wise way.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Who would have thought? Well, I didn't even know her at 200, but um good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Do you think do you think eight years ago when we had this little brainwave to start an online course for accounting firm owners, not even around the world at that stage, in just in little old Australia, do you think eight years on we'd have a top 100 top 1% podcast in the world reaching over 40 countries with 200 episodes?

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Uh would never have dreamed it actually. I just didn't know where this wise journey was gonna go, but uh it just keeps getting better every year.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Agree. Now, enough patting ourselves on the back. Let's get into the episode. Uh, and to mark the 200th uh episode occasion, I wanted to do a bit of a check-in uh with you, and I think it's really good time uh for everyone you can share a little glimpse into your last couple of days because you've been on quite the adventure over the last three days. Uh, we're coming to you, I think this episode's gonna be um in May 2026. So, for context, but the last few days you've been um on an adventure, and I I want to use a lot of analogies off the back of your adventure. So maybe tell us about your last few days and then I'm gonna peel the layers back on it.

The Hike That Sparked It

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Yeah, well, the last three days did uh a 40 kilometer hike uh over three days over a massive mountain range called the Grampians, which is uh in Victoria, central Victoria, Australia. It's actually part of the Great Dividing Range. So as we're as we're walking along, I said to, you know, I said to my mates and the and the crew that uh hiking, I said, Oh, do you realise this is part of the Great Dividing Range? And it's literally one of the biggest mountain ranges in the world. It literally starts at Tasmania and it goes all the way to Cairns. That's huge. Yeah, it's it's it's you it's on the on the uh Australian Eastern uh side, of course, on the east. And uh we just uh trekked over a little part of it, and uh it's one of the hardest things I think I've ever done. And man, it but it was awesome. It was actually awesome. The the scenery, uh the mateship, you know, it and I I was thinking, Bren, that you know, the word mateship, it doesn't get thrown around too much these days, and I think it's I think it's missing from our culture uh this word mateship. And uh, you know, not to be a male a male masculine type thing. I think the word mateship in this day and age is um you know equated with friendship. It doesn't matter what sex it is, if you like, but uh there's a lot to be said for mateship and how you how you derive it and how you get mateship. Yeah. Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Well, I might peel that one back a little bit as well throughout the chat, but um yeah in the con and in the context, and we love a good analogy here at Wiseo, you know, we we talk a lot about having a map of the territory and you know, understand understanding what that map looks like, not just for our business, but for our life. Uh we talk about you know climbing mountains and getting to one summit and and looking for the next to to climb. So there's some a lot of good stuff um packed in the last couple of days. So I want to for for everyone listening to this, no matter what stage they are, they are on their journey. Uh I just want to use this episode as a a stock take, a chance to just stop and have them, whatever summit they're currently on, have them look out and just take a breath and think about where they're at. Um, through the lens of your experience over the last couple of years, coaching thousands of business owners, um, being on the journey yourself, having built a business that you know now runs without you, multiple businesses that can run without you now. Just want you to check in and and give everyone a taste of that experience and some of the the highlight lessons for you. Like what are the what are some of the lessons that you've learned that shape the way you live now? And I know that's a massive question, so I don't even know where you want to start with it, but wherever you start is the right place. So take us there.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Yeah, I think you know, the we've thrown this concept of human potential around a lot lately. And you got to think about well, how do you maximize human potential? Like how do you actually improve yourself? How do you improve your business? And um, you know, it's it's it's got to come down to setting some challenges for yourself. And you've got to realize too that like a bit like the last three days, Trek and Hike, right? You've got to be realistic and say that, yeah, you'll get some blisters. Like I think everything's too soft this day and age. We, you know, we want everything that's just easy, it's quick, it's instant, it's quick, and and we're gonna avoid, you know, all the pain and the suffering. Like it's just it's just so unrealistic, you know. Um it's it just reminds me of the last three days. Like, yeah, I didn't want to get blisters, but I got blisters, and did it hurt? Yeah, it hurt. But the the you know, the goals or the achievement, the destination at the end was like unbelievably good. Um just in terms of what the outcomes of of getting through the difficulties are. And um, you know, you you end up, it doesn't matter whether you're in business or doing a hike, you end up stronger, you end up fitter, you end up a clearer thinker, you've got the experience, and next time you do it, you do that again, you're gonna, you know, take X, Y, and Z. And there's just so many analogies. Um, you know, even on

Team Roles And Real Strengths

SPEAKER_00 7:00

even on the the walk with the crew that I went with, you know, one guy, he literally had the the compass, you know. So we're going along, and Matt, he had the compass, he actually had around his neck the map. Right. So he had he had around his neck the map. So it's it's the same in business. Like I and I started calling him the navigator. You know, I said, Oh, what's the navigator say? So Matt uh was a navigator, um, and then we had uh crackers as we call the nickname, and you know, he led the team, he led the pace, and he led like where we're going. So it's just the same with business, is that um, you know, you can't I think the biggest thing you're gonna ask me about, like what is the biggest takeaway over the last three years, um, is teamwork. You know, I I mean, as you know, Brent, I'm involved in, you know, six or seven different businesses, and not one of those businesses am I like a sole trader. Like, you know, it's all about the relationships um and the teamwork and the and utilizing the strength of each other. And and that was what happened on the hike. You know, one one person at, you know, may have carried the other person's pack for a bit. Uh, someone stronger in other areas, you know, one of the guys that went with us, uh Paul, he organized all the food, he did all the cooking.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

So everyone's playing to their strengths, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Yeah, and his brother Matt, he was the navigator, Tim or Crackers, he was like the leader. He actually gave a little motivational speech at a particular time on the Saturday when it was getting really tough and we couldn't move our legs. And uh, you know, and the other Tim Um, he just kept cracking jokes all the time, you know, and took it, you know, he took our mind off the pain. And myself, um, you know, I being one of the oldest guys there and I love music. So I so in my pack, I had the battery charger with the music with the Jamie DJ. You're the DJ. And I'm playing the music, and like the music kept everyone off lifting the vibe, kept them off, you know, the pain and the suffering of uh of um you know 15, 16ks a day. So you know, it's all about teamwork. If if anyone's listening to this, you know, surround yourself with people with complimentary skills. And you know, I think I think when I was younger, I was much more like idealistic that um and much more judgmental, you know. I was much more idealistic and much more judgmental. Um, but you know, life life is not like that. You know, there's we all have good bits and bad bits in us, but the most important thing I think in leadership is is um putting the bad bits to a side and just focusing on our strengths and using the strengths in a team environment, you know, and and being non-judgmental um is a fantastic thing. Most people, I find most people judge because it's easy to judge, yeah, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 10:05

You know, it's absolutely and you know what I uh we often talk about this, you know, in terms of judging others, um and just analyzing our our own experience with it. And there's a great, I think it's a biblical quote, um, you can correct me if I'm wrong, around you know, taking the plank out of your own eye before um can you I you're really good at reciting me, so explain.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Oh no, that's right. It's you know, the the passage just refers to you know, before you remove um before you remove the plank of wood in your friend's eye, uh sorry, you know, sorry, before you remove the um the dust, if you like, in your friend's eye, remove the plank from your own eye. So, you know, in other words, the greatest leadership is self-awareness, you know. Um, I mean, even Carl Jung, you know, the great psychologist, he says that um whatever whatever frustrates you about other people, it's often a bigger reflection of yourself. You know, so it's uh it's it's the same token. It's the same it's the same.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

That's the interesting point. I think uh and we cubby and we talk a lot about putting space between our the response, our reaction to to a situation, and you know that means also stepping back from the judgment and just having a look at well, what's what's in the situation that I don't like about myself that I'm projecting on this person or this situation, this thing.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

That's right. Often we project things onto other people because if someone is

Judgement, Empathy, Self-Awareness

SPEAKER_00 11:45

slow, for example, and you get impatient, well, maybe that's a maybe that's a indication that you need to have more patience, you know, and not just saying, oh, well, they're too slow, you know. So yeah, it's just that teamwork environment. I think uh I'm a different person I was 10, 15 years ago. Um, I I judge a lot less, I seek facts, um, have a lot more empathy, you know. Um there's there's always those stories like Dr. Stephen Covey talks about um the guy on the train and he's got four kids and the and the kids on the train are just wreaking havoc and all the other passengers are getting upset, and you know, and uh what happens is a lady approaches him and says, Look, can you can you keep your kids under control? You know, like they're they're they're um they're upsetting them and they're too noisy, and they made me spill me drink and so forth. And this guy says, Yeah, look, I'm really sorry. Um, I just found out my wife passed away. You know, and then the the person's like, oh, you know, yeah, you know, they pull back. So it's you know, it's just that analogy. Seek the facts first and uh diagnose before before you prescribe, you know, because it it's so easy to judge other people when uh you know you just don't know what's going on in their life, and uh, you know, it's so true.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

I even apply that to uh driving these days, right? And it's really easy to to see somebody who flies past your cutscene, yeah. Yeah, and then you go you have two response options. The first is to think ill things of them and call them a few names, which we'll leave out of the podcast. But the second is what's happening in their world right now. Are they racing to the hospital because their child's just been in an accident, or we just don't know? So we get to choose, I think is what you're uh alluding to there.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Exactly, exactly. But uh yeah, but I think in the last three years that I think the biggest number one factor takeaway is utilizing people's uh strengths, recognize the strengths, utilizing their strengths in in the spirit of teamwork. Because like like what Brent, you can you can achieve so much more, can't you? Like one plus one equals three, you know, one so that's synergy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

But this is the thing, Jamie, because I I think you're I think this thinking, it's not new thinking, but it's almost becoming contrarian in the current phase of where we're at, when there's so much noise, especially in the business space, there's so much noise about two two things that are contradictory to what you're saying. There's all this movement around solopreneurship, you know, be a solopreneur, don't hire people, do it all on your own, uh, go it alone. And then the other thing backing that up is this whole AI movement, which is sack all of your staff, you don't need staff anymore, replace them with AI agents, life will be good. And I'm not it's not a rant, it's just an observation because I just feel that noise, the volume of that noise is increasing. So, what you're saying is totally contradictory to that, but it it makes sense, right? Like, as long as we're human and we got humans uh waking up and showing up beside us, teamwork is the winner.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Um teamwork's the winner, and for for someone listening in, yeah, I was just gonna say, like, on on top of what you said, like if you look at the statistics, even though we've never had so much social media, right, and so much technology, mate, we've we've got like a mental health pandemic, you know. So we've got a mental health pandemic. Uh, I think prescription drugs have probably never been higher around mental health. Um, we've got people who are totally isolated, you know, they feel alone if you look at the surveys. Um, you've got people 75, 70 percent research shows people are uh disengaged from their work. So to sort of factor on what you've said, you've got all these factors, right? And yet where you know the society at large portrays that technology is going to save us. The technology isn't gonna save us, it's a tool and a means to an end, and it should actually be connecting us more in more meaningful ways. Um

The Limits Of Going Alone

SPEAKER_00 16:20

so you know, I think it it's the people and the relationships and the experiences and the memories that'll build the loyalty um and looking in the strengths and others, that's that's where the winners will be. Um, and it and it might be contrary to popular.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

So just a discussion Yeah, which I think is where where a lot of the truth, actual truth, normally lies. Um it from a tactical point of view, um many listening in are firm owners uh or business owners. We are also in a world currently where talent markets are you know incredibly challenging. So trying to find good talent uh is really supposedly supposedly quite difficult, um, contrary to the rest of the world telling us that so yeah, this has always been a challenge as well, but it's it's exacerbated and seems quite um real at the moment in the last couple of years. Talk to me when when some when a firm owner says to you in your coaching calls, I can't find staff, there you know, there's no there's no good staff, uh, and the good ones don't stay. The the usual commentary, you know, rhetoric that you hear, what what is your reaction now to that?

SPEAKER_00 17:42

They want a quick fix, Brent. Everyone wants a quick fix, and it's including staff, you know. So what I what we what I like to say was we'll build them, you know, but no one wants to build this staff anymore. No one wants to invest them. Everyone just wants to hire and fix their quick fix problem because they don't, you know, because in first principles they don't have time to build up people. You know, I I like even at Sky Accounts, I've got people there, uh Aruni's been there like 15 years, uh Danita's uh been there 11 years, the CEO Shah's been there seven years, like we're talking big numbers, you know. So like the answer is just like what Bill, you know what Bill Gates said? He said, we always overestimate what we can do in one year, and we underestimate what we can do in 10 years. I mean, if you're listening now and you haven't got a 10-year plan, um, you know, you're in the 95% boat. You should have a 10, 5, 10-year plan. And you should have a career path and a lifetime career goals for your staff. Have you got that? You know, and then yet, and then when you arrive in uh in your, you know, in your 50s and life isn't, your business isn't what it wants to be, um, well, that's gonna be for a reason because you didn't plan ahead. And not only that, you probably didn't plan ahead for yourself, Brent, but you probably didn't plan ahead for the stuff for your for your staff, for your team. So, you know, I I just think that I think society and business is all about like just a quick fix. I'm gonna hire this person, you know. I'm gonna and the other challenge is too, Warty, is uh, you know, when you're hire these days, you you're hire with someone and you want you want them to sit next to you in the chair in the office next door. Like seriously, those days are gone.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Like those days are gone.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

And and the reason that's a point I wanted to touch on, right? Because we've had an experience, well, many experiences, but uh one just comes to mind where someone who I would have thought is quite open-minded and you know, to the world of accounting, uh, would be they'd portray themselves as being very progressive. And um, but but when it came down to it, it's very closed-minded on recruitment, um, which resulted in not being able to find people. So trying to apply traditional ways to a current world. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

See, the point there is if you think like that and you and you want someone uh in essence that has to come into the office right and sit next to you, then that's sort of what I call top-down management, you know, or in other words, they used to call it like management by wandering around. Um, like even Sky or or Wise Memory, for example, we have what we call distributed teams. So, you know, they can be in nine or ten countries, right? How do we manage them? Well, you manage them by bottom-up, and in essence, that means you just keep an eye on their KPIs, their results at a high level. So it doesn't matter where

Build Staff Instead Of Shopping

SPEAKER_00 20:40

they are, it doesn't matter where they sit, as long as that person has got high-level KPIs, uh, then you can be in control without being controlling, and you don't need to micro uh manage them. You know, you micro train them and set them high-level goals. So, but the but the reality is, Bren, that um, you know, all Western developed countries at the moment are swinging back towards uh the right, right, or the conservative. And what's happening there, like in the US, the US, for example, has got zero population growth, like the immigration's cut. Um doesn't matter, it doesn't matter what you think of Trump, right? He's he's literally stopped the uh immigration, like 99%. And you and you've seen the reform party happen in the UK, you've got one nation in Australia. So it's sort of heading that way. And what does that mean for us as small business people? That just means that there's a there's a smaller pool of people to go out there and get you know qualified uh staff to do the job. So what that what that means is you're not going to find someone who can come in and sit next to you at the office. What it means is you've got to be you've got to be flexible, you've got to be on your game with how to manage and build distributed teams, uh, whether that's you know outside your capital city or in uh Chile. In another country. In another country. So the game's just change and you know this is the thing uh bren if you don't change the world's gonna change but if you don't if you don't adapt with it uh you're you're not gonna be up the top um and remain competitive it's uh you know it's uh you've got to be competitive and uh that's that's common um the the level of competitiveness in Australia uh that will turn a it will turn a corner where Australia uh particularly Australia will need to be more competitive yeah so one thing that hasn't changed uh for a good amount of time is time itself and um this is one of the things that we as business owners and people seem to battle with and put a lot of blame on in terms of not having the freedom that we'd like um so it's a big part of the work that we do at WISE uh time freedom is one of the ultimate uh things that our clients come to us for massive looking at your last 10 years and the transformations you've been through um boil down this topic of time for us what's what's the what are we not seeing like when we're we're blurred by this I don't have time life what's the truth that we're not seeing and then in a nutshell what's the transformation you had to to experience to now be time free oh look there's so many different frameworks to this um but look uh in essence if you want to get back more time uh you need to change yourself right so let's be clear if you want to get back more time have more balance in your life a better life um a better standard of living however you'll look at it it's it's got to start with yourself like you know Dr. Covey says private victory public victory and uh one of the biggest indications I love Dan Martel Brenn's um analogy if you look at your take a snapshot of your calendar today right and then in in 12 months time take another snapshot of your calendar whether it's one day or a month now you know that if if that calendar today is the same as a calendar in 12 months you haven't changed an ounce you're still going to be on that hamster on that wheel all right so the the the thing is um if you want something uh that you never had you got to do something you've never done all right so the question is well what am I gonna do differently or another way you know we love that quote by uh uh Einstein someone that's debated but um you know the definition of insanity is doing the same thing every day and expecting a different result right I love that quote that was that was one of the biggest quotes ever motivated me in the last 10 years because I felt like I was insane so you know where does it all start? It's I love what Jim Rohn says it's it starts with your day starts on paper first or your day starts in your calendar first. So you know what you've got to look at is how am I going to plan today? Like live with intention live with awareness how am I going to plan my week how am I going to plan my month and how am I going to plan my year you know you and I we're starting to plan our years out now you know for us uh it you know it started with the day but now we're working okay what are we gonna do in 2027? I know you and I are already starting to work out all the major events that we want to do in 27 like that's like if you had said to me I was doing that 10 years ago

Managing Distributed Teams With KPIs

SPEAKER_00 25:30

like I would have said you're crazy. So it it really starts I believe with uh putting putting the things that you should be doing and you know you should be doing in your calendar what let's let's drill that out what is that well in essence it's like a very simple one is exercise right if if if exercise isn't a priority in your calendar guys you're doing it the wrong way right because like if you if you have a health problem you've only got one problem yeah right you like your health I love the saying Jim Rohn says I'll look after me for you if you look after you for me. Right? So put your health first like if you don't have your health you got nothing right so look after your health first your your physiology is your psychology your mental health comes next that is a building block for then your career your work your time you can actually you can maximize your potential to every person that you meet so put in your calendar you know what do we say the non-negotiables brand 30 minutes a day whatever it is that for you put it in your calendar and stick to it and no one steps over that that's called self-discipline and um you know other than to create the time is to build up other people like train them put it put put an hour a day in your calendar to dealt to learn how to delegate you know um and so many sayings here Bren like you know here's a classic one anytime you're doing a hundred percent of anything it's the wrong way yeah you know a lot anytime you're doing a hundred percent of anything it's the wrong way you know so you know even uh we know now like uh even in my own career and yours like you we're taking that next level where we're getting someone just to like manage all our emails like if you said to me I was doing that five years ago I said man you're crazy yeah so you want to keep pushing the limit what is the limits of what you can delegate because when you delegate you're actually recognizing that other people have potential they're only human beings and you can work so much better in a team so you know the problem is no one's got any time because they all want quick fixes and we're and we don't even look you know we don't even look we don't even plan past one day maybe a little in a week or a month.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

Yeah and then fall back into the trap of oh it's just easier if I do it myself just I'll do that again today.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Yeah yeah it's just yeah it's just easier I do it myself um you know and uh there's so many techniques to time management but the you know the core one would be put in your calendar uh your priorities like the big rocks do you love that video brand where Dr Stephen Covey gets the lady out of the crowd and he's got the big rocks he's uh the jar the big rocks the the the pebbles and then the sand and uh so he he actually tells her he says look can you start filling up the jar uh so she so what happens was she starts putting the sand in and the pebbles and then some of the big rocks have got like family uh um uh wealth career different things and then she finds she can't even put the big rocks in the jar because it's full of the sand you know it's full of the noise true though isn't it like sand is everyone else's priorities so that is if your day is dictated by everyone else's priorities then there is no room for the big rocks and you know we there's a bit of been a bit of a theme to our coaching meetings recently where the line keeps coming out that no no one's gonna come and save you in that regard.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Like you have to watch out for your own time. You know if you don't if you don't put the rocks in no no one's really going to come save you and put them in for you.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Nah that's a lot Jim Rohn says if you don't have a plan for yourself someone surely will have one there's no doubt about that. Absolutely yeah so uh yeah so they're so they're good the the good mindset or these these tips are great techniques to get started and you know I think another very powerful one uh I love Ray Dalio um the you know the famous fund manager and uh you know he he always talks about leverage and business and and that's all about teams

Time Freedom Through Calendar Discipline

SPEAKER_00 29:50

so having direct reports and not bypassing not have that you know not having that shallow and wide team and then every time you hire someone you know oh there's another direct report there's another direct report you know Ray was talking about you know how did he build this massive business and in essence he he had deep and narrow teams and he had managers yeah and um you know so but it it's always these classic questions oh no one can do my job you know I need a clone of myself I can't find myself and uh you know some of my best senior client managers they're they're just fantastic people and uh they they in essence they do their job as good as if not better than I used to do it. So yeah yeah you know it's just it's just training them and and you know harnessing what they want for their career and their life and if you can if you can harness a person's ambition and seek that alignment um you know you'll go a long you'll both go a long way yeah what's that saying if you want to go fast go alone but if you want to go a long way go together.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Couldn't agree more so we we do these podcasts in the hope that it the one person need who needs to hear this today hears it. So for that one person who is in the trenches running their firm no matter no matter where they are in the world right now they're feeling it they're you know the the pain of staying the same is is very quickly becoming greater than the pain of changing. So we're we're trying to make that breaking point.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

Yeah for for that person who just decided for whatever reason to listen into this episode today what's your message to them yep the number one message is go to your calendar and put in half an hour in your calendar every day to work on one thing you need to change. So again you're living with intention um you know you you've got to come back to self-awareness what are you actually going to change and the only way you're gonna change is by having the self-discipline to work on it on it. So you know a cup uh one thing if I could summarize it but it in two dot points is like mark out in your calendar um to work on one thing at a time that's it that that's all you can start you know uh it's a bit like um Jordan Peterson says you know what what's the one thing that you can improve your situation on like like you know don't matter how low how depressed how down and out you feel what's the one thing that you can improve right and you look around you you know you look around and you and you say well let's make my bed you know if you're if you're in business well just put half an hour aside um to you know um do a policy you know put half an hour aside to just do a policy tidy your office like stack the little small wins every day yeah yeah organize you know organize the books or file or whatever you know so do a policy and uh as soon as you've got one done then do the next one you know do the next one you know and and they're just you know it's just self-discipline and just probably what they would call life hacks in a way you know one hour a day one project at a time beautiful you know Gary Keller's book called the one thing it's it's all documented there and uh and calendar calendar management you know Dr. Stephen Covey talks about that heavily in um um I think it's Habit Three put first things first so uh that that's what I would say if if you're really struggling and you're down and out and you and you feel like you know your firm and your business isn't going anywhere uh start with putting uh half an hour aside a day just to work on one one project uh work on your business one policy at a time and if you don't if you don't know what that policy is just reach out to us I was gonna say we we have 101 little things that you can focus on we've got 101 on our map which uh which uh quick little plug there should be a link below in the show notes for that map if you want to get a hand your hands on it but Jamie back to the the hike and you've been at the top of a few peaks and summits over the last 10 years and literally and you know metaphorically where are you at in your life when you look at your life scorecard when you look at the summit that you're currently standing on looking out genuinely where are you at? Yeah no look I I think Brian I'm at uh you know one of the best stages of my life I've ever been at um you know I've uh got a couple of kids roosted out of the out of the out of home and uh you know they're both enjoying their career one in the uh defense force uh one uh one an engineer doing a PhD and um you know so on the personal front the home front it's it's just um so promising to see you know your your kids um developing into um you know human beings that uh hopefully make the world a better place um but in in business wise I think the biggest kick I get is helping other people you know I think that's the number one is is helping other people um seeing their own potential and uh wise is definitely the vehicle for that so uh so yeah personally and professionally um at just at the right you know at the right place at the right time um while you always have a lot of challenges I think I think the thing is um you know you know how to deal with those challenges that's uh that's probably the difference in 10 years ago when challenges came up you're often uh very anxious you didn't know how to tackle them uh but I think the the more that you do the more experience you get the more goals that you set um the more more more knowledge and dare say I say wisdom that you get uh because um you know there's nothing really new too much under the sun is that there comes a point in time when you've done it done it for that long and for long enough and and seen the experiences that um not everything but most of the things you you you have an answer for you know you have you have a solution to say oh yeah I've experienced that before and this is how to tackle it. You know last time I did that but I know this worked. Yeah and um so yeah I'm at a good place in time and it's it's uh it's a pleasure to help people and that's what really motivates me every day is to help is to help people overcome their problems and their challenges and um you know find solutions. There's always a solution and uh and most of the time it's it's really grounded in people you know and you and we use the tech to get to help us but I still say um that

Gratitude As The Root Of Freedom

SPEAKER_00 36:40

you know people are people are uh you know are the uh the the focal point that will save us the people side of it yeah well you have helped many people around the world so uh on behalf of all of them we we thank you uh including myself I'd like to finish this special episode with um the word freedom we we talk a lot about freedom you and I talk a lot about this ourselves but we talk a lot about freedom with our clients as well um it's one of the core uh core objectives of our mission at WISE and we had a conversation yesterday which which kind of was quite profound for me actually because it made me think slightly differently on how I've been thinking about what we how we create freedom for people.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

And uh I've been having I had it in my head that we freedom has to be built which which implies that it's on the other side of something. It's on the other side of work. Whereas you had an interesting thought and I want you to finish um I want you to finish this episode with the the thought you have on freedom and where it comes from and what it what it means to you because I think it's a great place to end.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

Yeah I think I think the freedom lives in your attitude that you have right now and probably sum it up is uh is gratitude you know gratitude for what you've got right now because if if you haven't got gratitude for now you're always like sort of thinking that life is insufficient you know or I don't I don't have enough I I need this I want more whether that's you know more wealth or or health or or whatever it is um but I think the biggest takeaway that I've learnt myself is just to have gratitude. There's you know there's there's always someone bring worse off than you it doesn't matter it doesn't matter how you look at it there's always someone you know worse off than you are in your current situation. And uh and what I've found is the more gratitude that I've had the more that I've attracted goodness and good things into my life and business um but where but the opposite has been as as well is true as well is like the more negativity I've had the more perhaps uh whether it's jealousy or envious or whatever um things leave to run a run away quicker and you get poorer as poorer. But uh you know Braun Tracy said that and a lot of life philosophy say that as well so I think you know I think gratitude actually to sum it up is the highest form of human mental health gratitude's the highest form of mental health so uh you know if you're if you're happy with what you got and you have gratitude and thankfulness for for it um you're just gonna get more of that and uh I don't know whether you call it the law of law of attraction or what but it seems to work.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

Amazing well let's leave it there. Thank you. Uh that's a great great place to land this plane so congratulations to us on 200 uh episodes and uh hope everyone listened in has enjoyed a couple of those along the way if you'd like to hear more on different topics please feel free to follow along and um reach out to us at any stage that you need help or want to talk more. Jamie thank you as always thanks Brain congrats on the 200 back at you 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