This podcast is about how an accountant built a business to solve his own problem, and then uses that story to market the business. The customer is the next generation of person who needs to solve the same problem as the founder. This is an observation about how this can be done simply and to great effect.
'In 2007, entrepreneur Darren Fell had had enough of the many shortfalls of traditional accountancy firms. So he grabbed the bull by the horns and created a fairly priced, all-inclusive service for freelancers, contractors and small businesses, bringing together easy-to-use online accounting software with in-house support when you need it. '
In return, I will continue to bring massive value with two weekly shows, up to 3 hours per month of brilliant conversations and insights.
Monthly subscriptions start at $3 per month. At $1 per hour, that's much less than the minimum wage, but we'll take what we can at this stage of the business.
Of course, this is still free, but as an entrepreneur, the actual test of anything is if people are willing to pay for it.
If I'm adding value to you, please support me by clicking the link now.
Hello, and welcome to this episode of the unnoticed entrepreneur. My name's Jim James. He had his share tools and thoughts with you that might help you to build your brand. I wanted to share with you today, what I've learned from using crunch software. And all beds down into the whole idea of storage education. And how this accounting firm is a great example of how the founder can display their own story. But make that customer into the hero of their, so today just a short. Piece of insight on what I've discovered by using a new accounting software. And who'd have thought that using accounting software could actually teach you something over and above money. So crunch.co.uk is a service provider. And the reason I think it's interesting is that they have really been working to separate themselves from the software. Companies like zero and Sage. And the accounting firms. And we all know who they are. And as a small business owner myself, I've been looking to find alternatives to zero for many years. And. Having, you know, labored with having a zero. Accounting partners, forgive the pun there or accounting partners that use zero, I should say. And trying to get these third parties to use the zero software and then to do the accounts. I was about out to patients with that. So I saw actually an online ad for crunch it's crunch.co.uk. And here, if you go to their website, you'll see that. They've really. Got the narrative down. And so I'm sharing this because if you think about your own company, And you think about your own journey. How is it that maybe you solve problems for your. That you've now turned into a business. I know that in 1993, when I was looking to appoint a PR firm in Asia, I went out to Singapore, to Hong Kong. And I wasn't impressed by any of the agencies and their consultants to see me. And that was really the Genesis of east west public relations. I went to Asia to start the company that I needed. My. Uh, maybe you are doing the same thing. All companies, most companies have started at some stage or other because the founder was solving a problem. If we look at, for example, DBS San Dicello, which is a large engineering company. It originally started out because David Brown is one of the founders was trying to solve engineering problems affecting for example, the, the cooling for, uh, tanks. And it was using the same fins as they're developed for their tractors. Uh, HFS Morgan. Started building three wheelers to get to work. Uh, over the Morven Hills when he was working in a bus factory and, uh, people then asked him if they could build a them one of the three wheelers. And that started what is now caused Morgan motor company. Come back to crunch chap called Darren fell. Started this business in 2007, it says entrepreneur bernfeld had had enough of the many shortfalls of traditional accountancy firms. And so he grabbed the bull by the horns. And created a fairly priced all-inclusive service. For freelancers contractors and small business, it's bringing together easy to use online accounting software. With in-house support when you need it. Now today we're in the lucky position. To help tens of thousands of people to do the same, no appointments, no fuss accounting for the modern era. So there's the journey. Of the original founder through the problem that he was trying to solve. For himself and then articulating on the website. As being the business Genesis. And what it's gonna mean for the next generation of people like myself that have been, can become customers. And the tens of thousands of people who've become the same. So on the website. They address this issue that I talk about, which is the story effication of your business. How do you make the Genesis of your business into a story that demonstrates to your customers? That you understand their problem. And this is what really, what Darren fel is explaining on his crunch.co.uk website. And then they say we've never gotten our mission and we'll never stop innovating. So they say our services much more than just accountancy. We support. You with business insurance, financial planning, self-employed mortgages, and so much more. So. The idea is that they've started with one simple problem to solve. And then recognize that those problems. Are really all to do with money. You know, and that every entrepreneur, every business owner. Ultimately is dealing with money issues. So what crunch also does just below that. Is to use Trustpilot. Uh, social proof. Why business owners love us? So 4.5. Uh, as the average score. For over 910 reviews on the website. So that nearly up to a thousand and the latest ones aren't. You know, January of this year, 2022. And then they have the pricing. So it's free for a starting accountancy software for a sole trader is free forever. And then you can have the limited company pro 37 75, and then you could have a premium at 57. Pounds 75 now. Having paid 150 pounds a month to an accounting firm. Plus the zero. Fee of another 35 pounds a month. Nearly 200 pounds a month. I've opted for the limited company pro where I can also have my company. Registration of my home, but at the registered address, So what we're seeing here then. In crunch or one website on one page is the story of the founder. And then a recognition that the business is actually about. Solving money problems, not just about accounting problems. And then social proof. And then articles. About how you can solve problems. And it talks about having the crunch chorus 67,000 members. Who are it says, members just like you. So I think this is a really interesting website and I'm enjoying the service already. Of the responsiveness of the support. The chat online. But the real reason I wanted to raise crunch is because. I've mentioned are more than one occasion. The importance of the story. For your business and wrestled a little bit with, well, whose story is it? And what we've learned from people at park Howell is that the. The business owner. Me for example, you is really the mentor. It's our role to use our experience, to help our customers to solve their problems. And the most authentic. And the most appealing story that the customers are going to hear is that we as business owners have lived through that prelim, our cells have solved it. So, if you look at your own website and your own. Public relations and your own social media. I wonder if you can just ask yourself. Are you sharing your own story or has it become diluted? I see now how so many companies become more and more corporate. They become more and more distanced from the original founders. Maybe the founders are no longer involved. But they also move further and further away from what was the original vision of the company and less, maybe there's a S a statement somewhere. So as we reevaluate our own marketing materials, And as we grow the company, this. It's still a place. As we're seeing. From from crunch. There stood a place for the founder's story. And as long as that, then transitions into how that story. Has created a business that is. Dedicated to solving the customer's problem. And it's the customer who is now the hero. Of the business, not the founder. So working through this idea of storage education. How you make a story from how you started your business. But then the role that we have as business owners. Is to facilitate the success of our customers. Through the journey that we've been through ourselves. When we look at our marketing materials, the question is, are we doing that or not? So just a short piece today. Because if I'm on my own, I don't want to bore you with the sound of my voice only. And I've got some great interviews coming up. And the next week with some amazing guests from around the world to share with you more about content creation about social media. And all manner of, uh, great stuff. But as it's just me on my own, I'm going to keep it short, but I did. See what crunch have written about themselves. And I want to share because it really. Identifies a point that I have been talking about and talking about in my book, the, I. Most entrepreneur about the need to create a story. But the role of the business owner is to be the mentor. It's the role of the customer. Who is to be the hero. And our role is to help them to be that, to overcome their own challenges by the services that we can provide. I hope this may be I thought may give you some pause for thought for your own business. If you are enjoying the show, do please share this with other people. And if you can rate it. On the little click to link that we've got in the show notes. That'd be fantastic because it all really, really helps me. If we've got more people sharing the show. That's really the number one way. The show will grow. So thank you so much for all of your attention today, and I wish you a safe journey wherever you're going on to.
