Interview with Rob Nixon, the Accountant’s Coach

On this week’s episode, I chat with Rob Nixon. Rob runs a highly successful coaching business that helps accountants reach $1 million in annual revenue per partner. Beyond this he’s a serial entrepreneur and has launched and exited multiple businesses. We chat about the systems he uses to reward himself as a business owner, the five questions he asks himself before setting on a new business venture and what his major goals are every year with his own coaching business.

Connect with Rob:
Website: https://robnixon.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/growaccountingfirm/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therobnixon/

Q: How did money show up for you in the home when growing up?

• Born in New Zealand. Grew up on a farm, his dad was an entrepreneur (albeit a poor one) and they had very little money
• Left home when he was 19 and had started a couple of businesses by then
• Made money since he was 11
• To Rob, money was about working hard and then realised it wasn’t about that

Q: Your brothers are also successful entrepreneurs. How did all three of you manage to be successful in the entrepreneurial space?

• At 17, Rob started his education in marketing, sales and business as well as personal development
• He’s a voracious reader, attended seminars and conferences
• It was a constant quest for knowledge around the world
• He was on the Australian archery team too

Q: Has making money always felt easy?

• Making top-line revenue has always been easy but keeping it is a different matter
• He’s had an interesting career on chasing shiny objectives and has difficulty staying on track
• After investing $6 million of his own capital on a business venture, he became frustrated and realised it was an issue around business lifestyle rather than business wealth
• Rob has five questions he asks himself:

1. What do I want my business life to look like?
2. What do I want my numbers to be?
3. What products and/or services do I want to sell and/or deliver?
4. What do I want my culture to look like?
5. Who do I want my clients to be?

• The answers are the rules of business which has immensely helped him
• His entire methodology has been on profit-first

Q: You’re very clear about your rules. When it comes to your personal wealth and finances, what is financial success for you?

• It’s doing what I want, when I want, with whom I want in a manner that I want
• Had a taste of a first-class lifestyle when he worked for an employer in his 20s
• Business should be fuel for the life(style)
• For Rob, it’s all about ticking off goals on the bucket list items – mainly experiential
• Spends money on himself

Q: How does investing fall into place with your wealth management?

• Business used to be his cash cow and he expected to sell out and that would be his cash-out
• He realised it was delusional. He asks two things:

1. Can you get to that number?
2. Is there a buyer?

•  He has four major goals every year:

1.  Increase income
2.  Increase lifestyle
3.  Decrease debt
4. Increase wealth

• He invests in three asset classes – the business, share market and property
• As a sole business owner, he needs to develop wealth outside of the business
• The more prudent approach is to have a more steady longer-term growth outside the business

Q: One of the challenges that people have in business is rewarding themselves as financial success climbs. You don’t have this problem. Tell me more about it.

• For every 8 clients he’d reward himself
• One of the things he rewarded himself was a chicken coop
• Another one was a BBQ and a shed
• It should be part of the thrill of the chase and journey

Q: Tell me about your sense of balance. Your rewards are becoming increasingly extravagant. How are you balancing it out?

• The rewards must be paid for in cash
• It needs to be significant enough to push you
• Rather than celebrating at the end, why not celebrate all the way through

Q: People would look at you and say that “he’s got it easy”. How would you respond to that?

• Over the years, he’s worked his butt off. Not always smart but very much so on learning
• Did a lot of travelling and keeps a flight diary
• In 2016, he spent 5% of the year in the air
• The biggest challenge regarding the five questions he asks himself about business design: most people have a bunch of things to unravel to get a ‘blank sheet of paper’
• Most people don’t have the courage to back themselves to walk away from their business and situation

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