A good business is one that’s good for you, your team members and your clients. It’s about more than simply choosing the proper legal structure. It’s about creating an environment that’s suitable for your needs and goals.

This begins with an overall vision that answers the big question of why you’re in business. From there, it narrows down into the nitty-gritty of building a flexible structure and measuring success.

I’m lucky enough to have built such a business in the accounting world. Let’s take a look at how I did it.

Redefining good business – here’s how I did it

In 2016, I set out to create my own business called Accounting Heart. Four years later, I was honoured to be named Accountant of the Year by Women in Finance. A big driver in that success was settling on the right business structure for my team and me.

Here were my three steps to success:

1. Setting my goal

My overall goal was to create a female-led institution centred on the heart and not bound to a brick and mortar presence.

In my time working for larger firms, I found that the male-dominated environment was unnecessarily rigid. Over time, this led to low team morale, which impacted productivity for the firm and job satisfaction for the individuals working within it.

For me personally, it led to health issues that caused me to rethink my role there. While it was a tough time, the hardship I saw and faced became the inspiration for a new way of doing business.

2. Building a flexible structure

With my overall goal in mind, I set out to create the structure that would support it. I knew from previous experience that I wanted (needed, really) something more flexible. A traditional nine-to-five was not tenable. I needed something that would allow me to take a mid-afternoon gym class if I was feeling sluggish, or stay home if I wasn’t feeling up to going to the office.

Also, if I was really committed to a woman-led organisation, then flexibility would need to be a core aspect. Women are often required to do double duty – family and career. For many, it’s impossible, so they sacrifice their career and focus on family.

In order to empower women to pursue career goals, I had to give my team members flexibility. Rather than focusing on hours worked, I switched to a task-based model. As long as you finish what’s required for that week or month, I’m not too concerned with when or where you do it. The priority is work output, not time input.

3. Measuring success

At Accounting Heart, our flexible work hours are centred around productivity rather than an arbitrary schedule, and we have seen amazing results.

Just last week, we had quite a lot of our team members working from home. I was out with a cold, another employee had kids on vacation, and another had to attend to a family member in the hospital. In the traditional environment, they would have either had to sacrifice family obligations or face consequences for missing out on work.

However, because we have created a business structure focused on milestones rather than hours worked, they were able to take care of family life while staying productive. At the end of the week, we ended up billing more than we have for any other week in the past six years!

To me, this proves that a heart-first approach truly works if you’re willing to trust yourself and your team.

Choosing the right business approach allows you to build a business you can be proud of and attract the kind of team members with whom you enjoy spending your workdays. That, in the end, is its true value.

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