I began my career at the start of the 1990s, fairly aimlessly, in a sales role. By applying the same ambition and attitude I’ve written about in recent weeks, that role became the launchpad for my first breakthrough: signing the Walt Disney Company to a distribution agreement with the tiny software business I worked for.
From there, I wandered through into computer hardware, again, with no real sense of purpose until I found myself asking: “How can I both help people and make money for myself at the same time?” The answer I discovered was consultancy.
Did I know anything about consultancy? Nothing at all, but with nothing to lose, one phone call and a touch of serendipity landed me in a consulting firm serving accountants who were just being freed by their institutes to market themselves properly for the first time. So began my association with the accounting profession.
A Start is Born
Working with accountants showed me how desperately business owners needed better guidance. I saw first-hand how my own father, who excelled then struggled in business, could have thrived with the right support.
From that moment, the crusade was clear:
- Encourage accountants to really get to know their clients
- Help them understand client goals and become indispensable
- Show them how to profit fairly from the value they created
Some firms embraced this. Most didn’t. The consolidators of the early 2000s (Tenon, Numerica, Vantis) rose and fell. The 2008 economic collapse reshaped the profession from a hiring perspective. Private equity has since risen. Through it all, the mission has stayed the same.
Still Fighting the Same Fight
Over the years, I’ve tried to shift accountants toward proactivity through:
- Software
- Consulting
- Online education
- Mastermind groups
- Face to face support
- Communities
Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t.
And yet, here I am, still championing the same mission while sitting on the board of a U.S. AI startup.
Ironically, their software had to learn the same lesson I’ve urged accountants to grasp: ask the right questions.
Because as my friend John Thompson rightly says: “Accountants think they must have all the answers. In reality, great advisers must have all the questions.”
Meanwhile, Sage, Xero and Intuit are racing to use Agentic AI to ask clients the questions accountants too often won’t.
The Results Speak
Has this mission been in vain? Demonstrably not.
- The firms I’ve worked with have impacted thousands of clients
- Extrapolated out for the firms who’ve taken the advisory approach with or without my involvement, the number rises into the millions
- And in terms of financial outcomes, hundreds of millions in fees have been demonstrably created BEFORE factoring in price increases, upsells and referral business
- So even if I never meet the individuals helped, the impact is real
This Week’s Bullet
So why not just cash in? Why not act in pure self-interest?
Because not all of us are wired that way. I’ve chosen the slightly more selfless, win-win route. I remain reputationally at the forefront of what I do with a mid-seven figure net worth. That standing allows me to command my fees and, more importantly, to stay true to the mission.
So, here’s this week’s Bissett Bullet, building on ambition and attitude:
Become the master of what you do
Because mastery gives you access
Mastery gives you authority
Mastery gives you achievement
Those qualities elevate you to the very top of your game.
And there’s nowhere else you or I should want to be.
To your success
Martin
