Lielette Calleja

Lielette Calleja was born and bred in the north-western Sydney suburb of Thornleigh to migrant parents who had emigrated from Lebanon and lived there until she married.

“Even then I didn’t move far; we settled in the Hills district and have stayed there ever since.

“I used to be jealous of people who moved around.”

Her parents made the big move, coming to Australia to give their family a better life. They had five children, Lielette being the youngest and arriving soon after the family settled in Thornleigh.

“Dad was a carpenter: they called him Charlie the Machine because he could build anything you wanted. Mum worked in a plastics factory for many years, doing the night shift so she could be at home for the kids.

“My Dad was self-employed and his driving force was his family. He had a saying that when you’re in small business you put your family on the line, and that drove him to make sure his family was provided for.

“We didn’t live extravagantly; in fact, we went without a lot of things that other kids had, but we were healthy and happy.”

Sadly, though, her father’s dedication to his job literally drove him to an early grave.

“He suffered a heart attack then had a stroke when he was fifty-four and died three years later.”

Lielette was in her early twenties when her father passed away and still trying to decide what she wanted to do with her life. Running a small business wasn’t on the radar at that stage, especially seeing firsthand how it affected her father.

“It was the stress of running his own business that brought on the heart attack. There were tough times in his business, times when there wasn’t regular work, and that affected his pride and ego and eventually his health.”

There wasn’t a conscious decision to start a business that would help self-employed people, but the more she immersed herself in her accounting career the more Lielette realised she had a unique set of skills to help small business owners.

That skill set was developing as she grew up in a family that ran a small business, although she never realised how much it influenced her until after her company, All That Counts, was named Firm of the Future.

“That global competition was run by Intuit, the company that owns QuickBooks Online. The competition was based on three pillars: a firm embracing cloud technology, value-based pricing methods, as opposed to billing by the hour, and also embracing digital marketing.

“We had been doing all that for a number of years prior to the competition in 2017, so I think it positioned us to be winners of the Australian section.

“Anyway, as part of the recognition of winning that competition, I had to deliver my story, and as I started writing it down I realised that everything I am today is because of the ethics that my parents instilled in me.

“I found myself thinking a lot about my parents and even about my own role as a parent and realising that we may not think we’re having an impact on our children, but we definitely are.”

Lielette began to reflect on her father’s business, especially the struggles he had in running the business.

“Back then you didn’t have the technology to help you or to understand how your business was going, so as soon as I was in a position to help other business owners I jumped at it.

“I didn’t want to see mums and dads suffer like my father did.”

So in the mid-2000s Lielette started All That Counts and she’s first to admit that at an initial glance it looks like just another bookkeeping practice, but from the beginning she wanted to be different.

Lielette’s goal, driven by seeing how her father struggled to manage his business, was to provide a service that was all-encompassing. She attached her wagon to the digital age.

“Look, change isn’t coming, change is here!

“The evolution of the cloud; the move towards digital transformation; the adaptation of tech support; it’s a new world for everyone, and especially for us in the accounting world.

“Our goal is to make sure business owners are utilising the tools that are now available to help them work smarter, faster, better. There’s a new generation of business owners; they’re younger and don’t want to do business in the same way their parents did.

“These business owners want to have a life, they don’t want to work long hours, so they want the tools that enable them to run their businesses more efficiently.”

Over a period of time Lielette’s business transformed from providing a basic bookkeeping service to what it is today, a business that trains self-employed people to have the skills to embrace the technology age.

“I have a duty of care to make sure businesses are making use of the technology that exists today, but also training the people within their organisations so they can get things done better and faster.”

As her business grew and became successful Lielette was forced to take a closer look at the way she was doing business. She was championing the advantages of the brave new world to her clients, but was she practicing what she was preaching?

“I began to see a major shift in my business, and not being able to retain good quality staff was becoming an issue.

“The cost of labour continued to grow but we couldn’t charge our clients any more because they weren’t able to increase their prices, so I began to look outside the local talent pool.”

Lielette realised a lot of what she needed could be gained by tapping into resources in other countries, so she took a deep breath and ventured into the world of global outsourcing.

“It’s been the best decision. I have more control over my business because now I have the right people doing the right thing, and I still have local staff to ensure we have personal and valued interaction with our clients.”

The global move opened up another opportunity for Lielette: the chance to spend more quality time with her family.

“It was about the time my son was to start high school, and I was spending a lot of time away from home, so I decided to move the office to my home. We had just built a new home with a purpose-built office attached, with its own separate entrance, which was really aimed at the re-sale value of the house.”

Lielette looked at how successful the global approach was working for All That Counts and realised she could be just as effective working from home and it would enable her to combine the roles of business woman and mum.

“I preach on using tools to run your business: it’s what my business is based on, so if I don’t do it myself I lack a certain credibility. So now I’m there when my son gets home from school, when he walks in and can smell something in the oven – or if he can’t, I get this sad look of ‘what? You didn’t make me a snack today?’”

Lielette believes the secret to successfully combining your business life with your home life comes down to communication.

“The best thing you can do is communicate with your children and your spouse; it’s so important. There are times when my work is so overwhelming my family won’t see me any night for a week, but that’s okay because they’re not surprised; they knew it was coming.

“I’d communicated with them well before, and as long as you do that you can make it work. Trouble happens when you shut yourself away from your family.”

If you get the communication right, Lielette believes having success at home and at work is no different for a man or a woman.

“Look, business person, business woman, business wife – it is an integrated mess. Personally I see no delineation between any of them: you just have to prioritise.

“Whether you’re a man or a woman, success is based on your own merits, and, like I’ve said: just get the communication right. You can make it work.”

Lielette can see the day when the workplace will be entirely different; she can see the working environment being more flexible, which would take away much of the stress associated with combining work and family life.

“I think the whole employee/employer relationship is changing, and working from a desk in what I call a ‘bricks-and-mortar type building’ will soon be a thing of the past. You can be just as effective working from home or even in a café.”

Working smarter not harder!

“So why are we working so hard? I think many of us seem to forget why. Yeah, you’re trying to please your clients, but are we pleasing ourselves?”

While employees are seeking a less stressful working environment, Lielette believes it’s even more important for small business owners. It’s an area she’s been focusing on in recent times as she tries to capitalise on the success of All That Counts.

“It was a strategic decision in the last twelve months to downsize.”

Lielette took a close look at her business, and realised it was time to be smarter about where she spent her time and which clients deserved her attention.

“I think we’re going to see more consultants and professional-type services picking and choosing who they work with, and that was certainly the place I had reached.

“I got to the point where I questioned if certain clients appreciated the value we were providing, so we made a conscious decision to cull some clients. I sincerely believe it goes back to my upbringing and the ethics I was raised with.

“Gone are the days when I need to be everything to everyone: I need to be more discerning about those I choose to work with and I think that improves my company and what we offer.”

It leads to another change Lielette is seeing in the business world, where culture is gaining importance over talent.

“People are now recruiting based on ethics rather than purely technical skills, because skills can be taught whereas culture and attitudes are ingrained.

“It’s like I tell my son: ‘I don’t care if you’re not the smartest person in the room, as long as when you go for that job interview you stand out because of the person you are and what you can bring to the table.’”

That same level of altruism guides Lielette when she works with clients, especially those businesses that are struggling.

“Sometimes I find myself needing to be cruel to be kind. I feel my role in those situations is to strip apart everything, especially the stuff around their financials, and a lot of the times it’s just helping them realise they need to concentrate on the stuff they’re good at and let us look after what we’re good at.

“Sometimes I have to be quite firm, and this is where I do say ‘if you don’t value our input I can’t help you’.

“I tell them ‘I’ll be laser-focused on the admin, the bookkeeping and the finances, so you can actually be laser-focused on your business’.

“Starting your own small business is a massive risk, but if you’re passionate about what you do, have a strong work ethic and are prepared to listen, then that’s a recipe for success.

“I think listening is where many self-employed people fall down. I see business owners who are stressed; they have loans and overdrafts and struggling to make ends meet.

“Sometimes you just need to play the devil’s advocate and tell them it’s time to close the business unless you’re prepared to change. And that’s where listening plays a big part.

“Listening is the only thing that differentiates us from our competitor. Your ear is your biggest tool and doesn’t cost you a thing, so use it: listen when advice is being offered – you might learn something; you might save your business.”

Work ethic can also be an issue, especially when you think it’s just about the physical effort required to get the job done. Lielette believes one of the key ingredients in having a strong work ethic is discipline.

“And consistency is the key with discipline.

“You have to be prepared to back up what you say you’re going to do and not only do it, but do it consistently. It applies not only in your business but in your home life as well.”

ADVICE

It should come as no surprise that the best piece of advice Lielette can give is: be prepared to seek the right professional advice.

“Too many self-employed people don’t even budget for advice when starting their business. They believe they can’t afford it.

“Well my advice is: you can’t afford not to budget for professional guidance.”

Lielette is quite abrupt with any prospective business owner who questions the cost of seeking professional advice: “don’t start a business if you’re not prepared to invest in yourself.”

But there’s advice and then there’s advice.

“Don’t take advice from your brother, and, when seeking out an accountant for financial advice, seek one who can actually help you strategise, put together a business plan, a budget and cash flow, because clearly you’re not going to have any sales when you start up.”

And if you’re starting a business with a partner Lielette strongly urges having an exit strategy.

“You have to be aware of all the costs and the rights of each partner and then budget for it. Honestly, you can’t afford not to have professional advice.”

Then, of course, Lielette believes she wouldn’t be giving you sound advice unless she also encouraged you to seriously look at the technological assistance that can help you succeed.

“Are you thinking about being a ‘Firm of the Future’? If your business is going to be successful you have to future-proof it, and that means utilising the right technology that brings it all together.

“I’ve seen businesses which have to enter information on three different systems and their accountant hasn’t picked that up. You need to look at digital transformation.”