Faces of CoWork Me: Shane Ryan – SAR Practitioners
Dedicated Desk in shared office.
Shane is the brains behind SAR Practitioners, an accounting service that looks after small businesses. Shane has been at CoWork me since November after moving out of his home office and we are so excited to see this business grow.
Read the full interview below to find out more about Shane and SAR Practitioners.
A short summary of SAR Practitioners and why you started it?
I’m a tax and business services accountant, looking after around 20 small businesses. I’ve been doing accounting for around 10 years and started the business as a side project. I spent a good two years developing the business so that I could eventually start working for myself and now I’m roughly four or five months into the growth phase.
At the moment it’s just yourself running the business, would you like to grow your team?
As the business grows I would definitely look into taking on staff. It’s really great because there used to be barriers working in accounting, but now that everything’s online the work is more accessible through cloud systems so people can log in and work from home.
How do you advertise your business?
At the moment I’ve done absolutely nothing other than word of mouth. I do have a website and a Facebook page but I have not been pushing any content on either of those. They do exist because you need to exist online.
Why CoWork Me?
The location is convenient as I live in Caulfield. I wasn’t really looking to join a coworking space as the business is fairly new but I saw this as an opportunity to network with like-minded people. I do have a home office set up, but it’s good to be around other people and I enjoy the events going on. I also find that when I’m here there isn’t a fluctuation with productivity, it’s a consistent workflow.
What is the hardest part about being a business owner?
It’s interesting because I probably haven’t been going long enough to have an answer… maybe in a year’s time my answer will be different.
While it’s just me, the hardest part is maintaining motivation. I’ve come from an environment where you are able to bounce ideas off of each other, to going into a scenario where you are completely solo. This is the most difficult step at the moment.
It’s interesting because I probably haven’t been going long enough to have an answer… maybe in a year’s time my answer will be different. While it’s just me, the hardest part is maintaining motivation. I’ve come from an environment where you are able to bounce ideas off of each other, to going into a scenario where you are completely solo. This is the most difficult step at the moment.
Because you can choose the hours you are working, do you find that the flexibility helps when you are lacking motivation?
Yes, sometimes. A lot of people ask me what I do with my hours and I really try to maintain the idea that I have a job. I start my day around 7.30am and work through till 4.30, that tends to be my work day.
What do you do to unwind?
This time of the year (summer) I’m heavily involved with Surf Life Saving and I race Surf Skis and Kayaks. The beauty of being on the water is that you have no phone, have no contact and you’ve got six or eight of your mates with you. It means you can shut off for a good hour or so.
Do you have a favourite book?
Yes. It’s boring though…. Game of Thrones. I started reading it after the first season came out and I was going away for 6 months so I thought it would be a good choice.
When additional work is presented to you, what is your initial reaction? Do you find it hard to say no?
A lot of it comes back to priorities. I’ve had a couple of jobs that I’ve said no to because I know that I won’t enjoy it. So far, I haven’t had an issue.
If you had one piece of advice to give to someone starting out what it would be?
Be confident about what you’re doing.