Having an accountant with a passion for his industry has been a game changer for mechanic and heavy transport expert Mike Webster.
He and his wife Megan recruited the help of WK director Aaron Cassidy three to four years ago for some direction with their business Heavy Transport Specialists, which later became Transport Repair Holdings Limited.
Aaron challenged Mike with the role he was playing in the business, getting him out of working in the business, to a point where he was working on it, and eventually got them to a point which allowed Megan to reduce her hours working within the organisation; allowing her time to focus on her own passions.
Revolutionising back office systems and reporting at Heavy Transport Specialists, and assisting them with the sale of the business to Transport Repair Holdings Limited, Aaron coached and mentored Mike and his team to grow their business turnover by 200%.
Mike credit’s Aaron’s genuine passion for the transport industry as being a big part of his success.
“I believe he has got passion and skin in the game which people in the industry look for … I really rate the guy and I believe that he has got heaps of passion,” he says.
Prior to working with Aaron, Mike and Megan felt left behind by their accountant.
“Things progressed, we got bigger and what I found was the accountants themselves got bought out by bigger companies … Because I was small to them and they didn’t have skin in the game like Aaron has got, I kind of got pushed aside and things fell a bit,” Mike says.
“Since Aaron took over we’ve taken giant leaps forward.”
Mike has particularly enjoyed the face to face contact provided by Aaron.
“One thing he’s really good at is that he spends time with the customer. That was one thing that really changed from where we were to working with him. He was here every month and would have all sorts of suggestions.”
Aaron has been delighted to see the big steps Mike, Megan and their team have taken.
“Mike is a different person today than what he was three to four years ago; he was heading for a burnout and his journey has been a testament to what can be achieved by reassessing business and personal goals,” Aaron says.