ProfitSURGE exists to help business owners
buildabetterbusiness
ProfitSURGE was created by Chartered Accountant Philip Arnfield who operated an Adelaide based firm for 27 years prior to selling it to a national group (Accru). Selling the practice allowed him to concentrate on the creation of training programs for accounting firms and small business owners.
These programs have been delivered via online Learning Management Systems as well as live in Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. In addition to his formal accounting qualification, Philip holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics, a Certificate 1V in Training & Assessment and has undertaken numerous courses in Instructional Design for online learning environments.
Alice Wept for Opportunity Lost
My father was a small business owner, he worked from six-thirty in the morning through to eight at night. He did this until the day he was diagnosed with cancer at the age of seventy-two. He had big dreams and strove for success every day. His business provided him with the income to support our family, but there was no retirement nest egg or opportunity to experience many of the things he longed to do.
He never complained because he loved working for himself. But it could have been so much better.
Soon after my Father’s death, I met with the owners of a Locksmith and Shoe Repair business operating in regional South Australia. Gregory and Alice had been referred to me by a government agency for assistance to improve the profitability of their enterprise. They were gentle people, active in their community and both worked long hours for a reward far less than they deserved. In that regard, they were the epitome of business owners.
Alice hardly spoke during our forty-five minutes together, but at the conclusion of the meeting, she wept.
I was taken aback and muttered an apology, for what, I was not quite sure. Leaning across from his chair Gregory embraced his wife, gently kissed the side of her head and motioned for her to stand.
“Come on darling we should be going, thank you Philip that was very interesting.” Alice looked at me and smiled.
“There is nothing to apologise for Philip, it’s just that I knew, I knew, there had to be a better way, if we had found out sooner it could have all been so different.”
I never saw Alice or Gregory again, but I have never forgotten them.
It is not unusual for people to show emotion in my office, I have cried with a client at the loss of a family member; consoled couples forced to sell their family home; witnessed the despair that comes with utter frustration, and the grief of separation and divorce.
But Alice’s tears shed for the opportunity lost, impacted me the most. They represent to me the feelings of so many who have toiled in business, including my father. Those tears drive me in my attempt to make a difference.
I know better outcomes are achievable because I see them enjoyed by business owners taking the care to implement the fundamentals of enterprise management. I am committed to these better outcomes becoming reality for more business owners.