"I did it the hard way”: Q&A with Gregory Bartels

Credit: Anton Rehri

Gregory Bartels is one of five siblings, who have all left corporate careers to pursue their own businesses.

Unsurprisingly, their upbringing had a lot to do with this shared experience.

“I grew up in an environment where it was assumed that we would pursue a career that was distinct from getting a job. It was this idea of striving to be the best version of yourself. Perhaps quite incorrectly, that presumes that to achieve this so-called best version of yourself, you need to have a career,” says Bartels.

“I look at one of my best mates who took a different approach in life. He opted for simplicity with a relatively stress-free job. I've often envied his choice. But as much as I envy that, it wouldn’t have been an option for me given my upbringing. That’s because of the mindset I’d built up over those formative years of life. It’s a blessing and a curse.”

A blessing because Bartels finds his work incredibly rewarding. His career has enabled him to fulfill two life goals.

“One is to earn a comfortable living to support my family, and the second is to do something that contributes to society. Those were the two boxes I wanted to tick in my career and I’m very satisfied that I’ve achieved both.”

But, although Bartels loves his work, he carries a very heavy workload.

“My accounting business has been relentless. I don’t like the workload but I love the work. It’s not a chore because I find it really satisfying to do this every day.”

Q You've had a diverse career spanning retail, marketing and sales. What insights from your experience in product management with a large global organisation, Iomega Corporation Ltd, and as a franchisee of Howards Storage World, have you been able to bring into your accounting practice?

Working in the corporate sector here and overseas gave me great exposure to the benefits of having strong systems and procedures in place, and the importance of having a good team around you. I consider being accountable to my clients and staff as the real key to my success.

The experiences I’ve gained from different roles over the course of my career have been invaluable in my current business. Sales teaches you the importance of customer service. I am constantly astounded at the reputation that accountants have for being inaccessible to their clients. It’s often said that accountants are hard to get a hold of and poor at returning phone calls. A salesperson who does not respond to emails and phone calls won’t be a salesperson for long. Accountants are in the service business. It’s our job to be available to clients when they need us.

My background in product management has made me appreciate the importance of brand consistency and reputation. To stand out in a crowded space a company must be consistent in what it does and in the image it projects. For example, we chose the name HALO Tax + Accounting to convey the concept of watching over our clients’ financial lives throughout their working life.

It’s about trying to do more than just the job at hand. I find it really satisfying to make a difference in our clients’ financial lives.

Q Looking back on your career so far, is there anything you would’ve done differently?

I started a finance brokerage company in 2002 and I did it the hard way. The business was successful and lucrative, but it was tough because I went out on my own way too early. I never had a mentor. I went straight into being a sole operator and that was a mistake. Things turned out fine but I could have really benefited from others who had gone down a similar path. I should have approached them for advice or support. It would’ve eased the workload and made the path a lot easier.

Q Has that experience shaped how you approach your business today?

I now have a fabulous mentor who has been a fantastic sounding board. He’s the principal of a larger accounting firm and has been invaluable in my business by talking with me about technology stack, business planning, setting goals and expectations, deciding on pricing structures, and technical matters.

Having a mentor makes life so much easier. It gives you confidence in your decisions because you have someone to help you work through your decisions. I’m much better at learning from others around me than I was in my younger years.

My wife is also a huge influence on how I approach my business. She’s helped me with building soft and hard skills such as on the marketing side. I find her incredibly valuable as a guide.

Q You’ve mentioned the high workload as the major challenge you face in business today. What do you anticipate will be the biggest challenge in years to come?

If I look to the future, the challenge will be how the industry will evolve, embrace and adapt to artificial intelligence. We’re constantly hearing that AI will be able to automate many repetitive tasks.

The thing that is unanswered for me at the moment is how this will happen and when, and what new skills and resource allocation will be required. Those aspects are much less clear.

But you can panic or remain optimistic and I choose to remain optimistic. If implemented correctly, AI will allow us the space to better service our clients and focus on the more important and strategic issues rather than the repetitive and process-oriented work.

Q As the accounting profession prepares for that change and challenge, what advice would you share?

Accounting is about guiding people and businesses through their financial decisions. A lot of people who enter accounting think that it requires you to know your numbers and spreadsheets. That’s true, but AI can also help with that and you need a lot more to be a good accountant.

You need to think about ways to improve your clients’ financial situations. To do accounting well, you need to engage in continuous learning, and have an ability to cope with and interpret a rapidly changing environment. You also have to be empathetic and able to put yourself in the shoes of clients and understand their challenges.

Those soft skills are really important in our industry. Our clients are entrusting us with a lot. You want to make sure that you live up to their expectations.