INTHEBLACK April 2022 - Magazine - Page 42
MEMBER PROFILE
// M Y C PA B U S I N E S S
AS TOLD TO CHRISTOPHER NIESCHE
PHOTOGRAPHY LUKE MARSDEN
RATIO FOR
SUCCESS
START-UP SUCCESS CAN BE A DAUNTING PROSPECT, AND SHEREE CUSACK CPA
HAS SET OUT TO HELP AS MANY ENTREPRENEURS AS SHE CAN.
S
heree Cusack CPA has set herself an
ambitious goal.
By the end of next year, she wants to
help 10,000 small business owners double
their profit and decrease the time they spend
working in their business.
Enter sixty:forty, a business platform
connecting entrepreneurs, small business
owners, service providers and professionals
to help them start, build, manage and grow
businesses together.
“We want to be people’s first port of call
when they’re thinking of starting a business,”
says Cusack.
Cusack’s business takes its name from the
ratio of start-up failure to success in the first
five years, which is 60:40.
“This ratio actually represents the hopes and
dreams of hundreds of thousands of people…
and has a direct flow-on effect in communities,
which is a big part of the reason that we want
to support the change and flip the script, so
to speak, and reduce the overall number of
business exits,” Cusack says.
IN-PERSON EVENTS
The platform is part networking opportunity
and part coaching and mentoring hub, and
offers a blend of digital and in-person business
solutions across technology, professional
development, collaborative partnerships and
industry events. The site platform operates
on a subscription model. It offers a free basic
42 ITB April 2022
product and tiered pricing thereafter to access
different features.
When users first join the platform, they are
asked to do sixty:forty’s four-week Business
Bootcamp, which provides them with the basics
needed to build a business, start attracting
more clients and generating more revenue.
GROUP COACHING
The program also provides them with the
foundational knowledge to take part in the
group coaching sessions, based on a “3CS”
coaching framework, which stands for “clients”,
“capacity”, “cash” and “strategy”, with three
months of each year focused on each module.
Cusack does the mentoring, supported by her
business partners, leadership and risk consultant
Mark Lawson and marketing and branding
consultant Spencer Toogood.
“This ratio actually represents
the hopes and dreams of
hundreds of thousands of
people...and has a direct flowon effect in communities,
which is a big part of the
reason that we want to support
the change and flip the script,
so to speak.”
Cusack teaches the cash module. She takes
businesses through their books to help them
understand their cash drivers and costs. She
also shows them how to break down the costs
of each product or service, to determine if they
are pricing them correctly.
She also helps business owners work with
their debtors and ensure their cash collection
processes are rigorous. The business owners
need to make sure their policies are clear and
their client paperwork is effective, in case they
need to take legal action to recover a debt.
SEEKING HELP
Sixty:forty tells business owners they don’t have
to learn how to do everything for themselves,
and encourages them to seek services from
other business professionals. “We know how to
build their team to put them in touch with the
right people at the right time,” Cusack says.
In addition to coaching, the business also
heavily emphasises the value of networking.
“We’re a platform that’s designed to bring
together mostly service professionals and small
business owners in a way that makes it easy to
do business and to transact, but without all of
the high costs a lead generation platform would
normally charge,” Cusack says.
The platform aims to help business owners
to think outside the box and consider how they
can go beyond “straight” cash transactions
to explore other opportunities, such as
partnerships or joint ventures.