When dealing with stressful business hardship, there are many different areas of our lives that are affected. It is very easy for the professionals to become absorbed in the technical black and white side of things however we know that you may have questions of a more personal nature. Are these the questions you really want to ask?

• I am drowning now, I need someone who can save my life and my family, my wife is about to leave me. I have massive tax debts and I haven’t done my returns for many years, ATO is chasing me every day….. will you help?
• I want to have a fresh Start of my business life; I want to get rid of all my mess before I propose to my girlfriend so we can move on. I don’t like her to be worried…will you help?
• I am looking for an accountant who has wisdom can give me the right advice, my last accountant only send me bills but never give me advice, I don’t know where I am…will you help?
• I am looking for a real angel who can help me to get my life back, I am stuck in the middle of nowhere with my business and don’t know where to go… will you help?
• Looks like we are going to lose our house….will you help?
• I’m so far behind, everything is a mess and I have no idea where to start….will you help?
• I have a debt with the ATO, but they won’t come to an agreement that I can afford to pay…will you help?

Recently a client told us what it was like to visit our business for the first time. She said she had so many questions running through her mind, along with all the stress and worry that caused her to contact us. Before we answer technical questions we would like to take the liberty of addressing her questions first. We have not edited these questions as we think it fair to answer them as they stand, as honestly as they were given to us and in a way that we would have liked to answer them on that day, had we been asked them.

“I think every potential client that walks through your doors would feel most of these feelings that I felt and ask themselves the same questions” – our client and friend who was so kind as to pass these on to us.

No we don’t think anything like this of you or make any judgement. All we know is that you went into business which in Australia is a very brave thing to do. You have probably been busy delivering good and services to clients under competitive rates, you may have been dealing with the usual family issues, you have probably been busy being successful at so many important things that the paperwork, accounts and compliance got behind. We will probably find during our conversations you have achieved so much in the past and will do in the future.

No. In fact after solving the problems you have we are looking for a long term relationship with you through our other businesses that will support you and work with you in the future.

Don’t panic. We will usually catch up with the bookkeeping and accounting and find where the money has gone. In this way we will be able to help with improving the business, setting budgets for the business (and you will know what you will have for your income through the business for your home budget) and we will use this information to help plan what we can do to help you.

No. Often the money has gone into business development, or it has been used for some other important project in your life. As we have said, once the accounts are completed budgets are much easier to plan forward.

Hey, no one ever brought us something we couldn’t at least advise on. Life, that’s our personal life and business life has always a great future, along with the opportunities and potential we can always see over the horizon. We have built a great business out of solving problems and having long term relationships with people and their businesses, so no, for us there is always a strategy to move you forward.

No one is a waste of time. Look at our other business products, and you will see we embrace micro-and small businesses and will always be keen to see how we can help you and move your business forward. We are never surprised by the fact we still learn so much from our clients, and are amazed at the energy and enthusiasm that our clients have when they see a path ahead.

Whatever you tell us, I bet we have heard worse. After 16 years in this business we have seen a lot. Most potential clients don’t realise how with some hard work and some planning, how much a difference to their situation we can make.

No. Actually the CEO of the company has written a book about businesses survival and everyone who reads it says “yeah, I can really understand that”. All the staff you first meet speaks “your language”. When you work forward with us, we will want to teach you more about accounts so there will be new words that you will soon understand, but that will be at your pace.

Feel free to be you and yes if this is an emotional time you won’t be the first person to cry (usually with relief) at the first meeting. We won’t judge you, we will slow down and let you work through your story, and we will listen and then indicate the direction we can take together.

Your Business Angels group is an independent company contracted by our clients to work for them, no-one else. When we contact the ATO or any other organisation it will be with your expressed permission and to negotiate or discuss your position with them. Please appreciate that we will never intentionally mislead the ATO or any other group. You will be amazed at how far in the past we have gotten with the truth.

All we can say is please don’t feel that way.

We hope the above answers have indicated to you how much we respect you. Not everyone has the guts or passion to go into business in Australia, where you are lumbered with massive red tape, bullied by large corporations and risked all you have to finance the business.