A CA started a cafe retail & coffee roasting, sold it - now a CEO of an accounting & finance firm that helps business owners drive growth through outsourcing, working with 1000 clients of different industries & has 20 FTE. (Lachlan Grant)

Apr 21, 2021

In this episode, I interview Lachlan Grant, the CEO of Sydney-based Vital Addition, an accounting, and finance firm which specializes in working with small to medium-size businesses. They helped their clients reach their business and financial goals through modern and innovative approaches including outsourcing.

Before Vital Addition, Lachlan Grant founded a cafe retail and coffee roasting business in 2011. He developed the business from scratch, grew it into a multi-site café, and was sold. A few years ago, together with his business partner, they’ve grown Vital Addition which aims to help drive growth through effective financial management. Working with no more than 1000 clients of different industries and has 20 FTEs in the team.

Lachlan Grant believes there’s an inherent trust that an external advisor can provide, that is common in the finance and accounting world. He also emphasized that by outsourcing the business owner has more time to focus on generating income.

This Cast Covers:

• The importance of proper management of core commercial & financial issues when growing a business.
• Making more revenue for the business growth.
• The importance of knowing the business what it is like.
• The importance of streamline systems and processes.
• Recommending potential clients to get access to higher skill sets.
• The importance of having a well-documented finance function in running a business.
• The role of an accountant or financial person in the growth journey of a business.
• Common assumptions about outsourced business consultants.

Additional Resources:

• Vital Addition
• Selling Outsourcing Services By Grant Lange
• Selling Outsourcing Services in the Digital Age By Grant Lange 

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Quotes:

“When you start a small business, you always have to learn that you can’t really outsource commercial thinking, you gotta have that yourself.” – Lachlan Grant

“Make sure you have the right people around you.” – Lachlan Grant

“You need to be very clear of what you can and can’t do.” – Lachlan Grant

“I think small business owners do poorly in financial management because they tend to focus on the cost rather than value for the proper finance function.” – Lachlan Grant

“Sometimes you need to give yourself some inspiration to go off and do something and build something because it's a long journey.” – Lachlan Grant

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Music from https://filmmusic.io “Cold Funk” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0