Build a business while traveling the world with Alex Falcon Huerta

Once upon a time, Alex Falcon Huerta was your run-of-the-mill accounting employee. She spent her days working in an office, manually and tediously inputting documents, and wondering if her career was worth the years of study and hard work.

Then she decided to make a change. The catalyst? Cloud technology and a desire to live life to the fullest. Now, Alex is living her dream.

While traveling the world, she built two successful accounting businesses: Soaring Falcon and Smart Offshore. 

Tune in (or read below) to hear her story and learn how to use technology to scale your business, tips for becoming a digital nomad, and why you have to put yourself first.

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Listen to episode 18

In the episode “How to build a business while traveling the world,” we discuss

• Alex’s advice for how to become a digital nomad: planning your work & joining social media groups
• How cloud technology allowed Alex to transform her career and her life
• Alex’s journey to founding Soaring Falcon and co-founding Smart Offshore 
• How Alex manages a remote team while traveling the globe

• The unstated role technology has played in scaling her businesses
• Why it’s important to build and document strong internal processes 
• What people often misunderstand about accountants
• Alex’s top productivity tips: putting together an amazing team, delegation, and taking care of yourself before taking care of others
• What’s next for Alex: exciting travel plans, growing Smart Offshore and The Startup Practice accounting group, and fulfilling her bucket list 

Favorite quotes

“I learned about cloud technology. And at the time, people were so against it and they didn't really understand cloud technology. People were scared. They thought about security issues. They thought about everything negative, why not to use it. Whereas on my side, I was like, ‘This is the future. This is going to change my career. This is going to change everything about what I do. If I can learn more about this cloud stuff,’ which at the time I wasn't aware of what it was, ‘then this could be a game-changer for me.’” - Alex Falcon Huerta

“A lot of people when they have a business, it's really easy to just keep everything to yourself and to try and manage everything and to think you can do it better than if you outsourced it or you gave it to somebody else. Not necessarily offshoring, but you think that you're going to do it quicker and faster. But actually, if you want to grow a business and you want to expand, you have to start to delegate and you have to let go of some of those tasks and have a really good process.” - Alex Falcon Huerta

“I have the best life, really, because I get to see how other businesses grow. I get to see their systems, their processes, what works, what doesn't work. I get to see their personal lives, their ups, their downs, their highs, their lows. I think when it comes to the most trusted person that people have, most people call their accountant. It's not necessarily about work stuff, but they just want your opinion about something. But it's not just about tax and about compliance. There's more to it, and it's about growth and development.” - Alex Falcon Huerta

“It's definitely the support that I have in the background, and again, learning that delegation and booking in time for myself. I never used to do that, but now I book stuff in, and of course, I prioritize the clients, but it is so important to have time out because we're not robots. We are human, and we're on this planet for a limited time, and yes, there are the fundamentals of running a business and taking care of people. But ultimately, if you don't take care of yourself, then there's not going to be anything after that.” - Alex Falcon Huerta

Meet today’s guest, Alex Falcon Huerta

Alex Falcon Huerta is an ACCA International Assembly Member and Most Outstanding Professional 2018, Xero's Most Valued Professional (MVP) 2017, Multi award winner, All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Advisor for Tech in 2018. 

According to Alex: “Being at the front end of change is exciting, exhilarating and creates enormous potential to bring together the essential ingredients for success.

With a background as an accountant working with some of the most agile and progressive small businesses in the UK, what has been amazing to see is how technology and entrepreneurship have accelerated what is possible. Not just for my clients, but also for my profession.

Supporting businesses and accountancy firms globally to make this change is my passion.”

Productivity resources to explore

• Xero
• Dext
• GoCardless
• Soaring Falcon
• Alex’s LinkedIn & Instagram
• Zapier
• Slack
• Practice Ignition
• Hubstaff
• Smart Offshore, LinkedIn, & Instagram
• Confluence
• Making Tax Digital
• Get More Done podcast
• YouCanBook.me 

“How to build a business while traveling the world” full transcript

This transcript has been slightly edited for clarity and readability.

Ben (00:00):

This is Get More Done, a YouCanBook.me podcast. My name is Ben Dlugiewicz. Each episode, I have the privilege to talk with folks from a variety of different industries to learn how they structure their days, leverage automation, and essentially do more with less. My hope is that you will learn something that I have on how to do a bit better each day to get more done.

Ben (00:20):

On this episode, I pin down the globe-trotting accountant, Alex Falcon Huerta. Alex started a digital-first accounting company in 2015 with the mission of being fully remote and able to work from anywhere. Her firm, Soaring Falcon, has grown by leaps and bounds since then. And most recently, she co-founded Smart Offshore, a company based in Sri Lanka that helps other firms outsource their accounting to a team of ACCA qualified professionals. During our conversation, she shares how technology has helped her scale her business and how she manages her remote team. Enjoy.

Ben (01:04):

Welcome back to the Get More Done podcast where we talk about all things productivity and crushing of goals. On today's episode, I'm sitting down with Alex Falcon Huerta, the CEO and founder of the Soaring Falcon accountancy and the co-founder of Smart Offshore. So Alex, welcome to the podcast.

Alex (01:21):

Hey, welcome. How are you? Thank you for having me on here.

Ben (01:25):

Yeah, I'm doing great. I'm excited to talk with you and learn everything about the accounting world in these 30 minutes and everything that you've been crushing. So when we first start these conversations, we start with an icebreaker. And the question for you is if you could put anything on a billboard that others would see, what would it be?

Alex (01:45):

For me, it would probably be me cruising the world with my laptop and the beach and the sunsets, and everyone seeing what an amazing lifestyle I have remote working, living in this digital world, and living my best life.

Ben (02:03):

And where would that billboard be at, if you had to pick a place?

Alex (02:07):

Bali.

Ben (02:10):

Bali. So the billboard is in Bali or the picture is in Bali?

Alex (02:13):

The billboard would be in Bali because then everybody would have to see it there.

Ben (02:19):

Yeah. Be like, "This is our backdrop every day. We understand." So yeah, speaking of that, looking at your Instagram feed, you are an award-winning, jet-setting accountant. So how has remote working opened the world up for you?

Alex (02:33):

I think when I set the business up back in 2015, my ultimate goal was to essentially travel the world and just to see as much as possible, and I didn't want to have a job where I was going to be stuck and tied to a desk. So I pretty much put everything in place to be digital and to work remotely. So it's taken me all this time to achieve that goal. And even though we've had a negative impact from COVID, it's actually strengthened my processing systems and it's allowed me to do that even more. And so I'm obviously making the most of it. Before COVID, I did travel, but after COVID, I'd say we're post-COVID now, I'm able to put my other travel plans into play. So I think, for me, it's quite exciting to be able to work extremely hard to deliver to my clients, but also have the best of both worlds and live my best life by traveling to countries that I've always wanted to visit.

Ben (03:28):

Yeah. And when you are traveling and working, are you seeing any issues with getting an internet connection or being able to stay focused with all of the new, exciting things that you're experiencing?

Alex (03:40):

I mean, of course there's been interruptions, and of course I'm not going to paint this amazing picture. I mean, you have issues when you're overseas, but you equally have issues when you're here. I'm in the UK at the moment, but yeah, there were times where my WiFi wasn't so great, but I'd always try my hardest to build my work around it. If I knew I had a meeting, for example, I'd try to be in a place where you have really excellent internet speed, like in a co-working space, in a meeting room. But if I knew, for example, I was going to travel away for the weekend and go somewhere where I haven't been for a while and it's going to be completely remote, then I'd know, "Okay, don't book any meetings for that weekend, and just make everyone aware that I'm going to be away."

Alex (04:29):

So yeah, there are times where, essentially, it's not going to be 100% great, but if you can put things in place in the first place to eliminate issues, you can only do your best. But the funny thing was, when I came back from Bali and I came home, back into the UK, I had meetings booked in, and I planned to have quite important meetings, and my internet went down at home. So it was just like, well, there was nothing I could have done about it. But you're going to have those issues wherever you are. There's a perception that if you're abroad that you're going to have those issues anyway. So yeah, it is a juggling act. But I think once you've traveled around, you can see that the country is geared up for remote workers, and there are so many digital nomads around all doing the same thing.

Ben (05:21):

Yeah. And have you gotten into some inner circle of digital nomads where you have a club started or something?

Alex (05:28):

Oh, man. Yeah. I've gotten involved in so many. One of the first things I did was I researched Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups. Usually, when I go into the countries, I'm already part of a nomad group, and just start chatting on those and get to know people. So when I do go into a country, you've got people that you can meet up with straight away, and actually it's one of the most important things that you should do is to network and have those people around you because they've been there. They've done it. They're going to give you the information straight away. It also enables me to help other people when they want to come over. I joined B.I.G Tribe Bali as soon as I entered Bali, which was an entrepreneurial circle, and with digital nomads. And yeah, you just learn so much about things that you need to do, things that you need to put into place. So building the network around you when you go to another country is one of the key things.

Ben (06:24):

Yeah. That makes total sense of having that support system baked into your travels to ease some of that transition and help you acclimate to all of that. So Alex, walk us through life before this. I mean, what were you doing before you started your accounting business?

Alex (06:41):

Before I started my accounting firm, cloud technology came out maybe around 2009, '10, so I was working in a small firm in the practice. I remember it being wintertime and driving to work, and it was pitch black going into the office. I had an office with no windows. I had all this paperwork next to me, piles and piles of paperwork, and I remember processing all this stuff manually onto desktop computer software, and then get into, say, four or five o'clock and then leaving the office and it being pitch black. And I just felt like, "Wow. Is this what my life is about? I spent all these years to be a qualified accountant and sit 14 horrendous exams, and I feel like I'm in a warehouse situation, where I've got information on the left of me, I process it, and then I put it to the right of me, and then it moves on to the next phase and it gets sent out to the client or the next person."

Alex (07:50):

And I just thought, "Wow, what am I doing? Is this what all these exams, this pain, blood, sweat, and tears, is this where it's taken me?" And so it took me to a situation where I needed to reevaluate where I wanted to be in my future. Where is the future of accounting, what does that look like? Do I escape it completely or do I find out more about what is out there for me to actually make those changes? And firstly, it was about my work that I was doing. And secondly, it was about my lifestyle and coming home, and it was quite a dark moment because I didn't want to continue that lifestyle, what was important to me, what was important to my future.

Alex (08:30):

And so I looked into it and I found out and I learned about cloud technology. And at the time, people were so against it and they didn't really understand cloud technology. People were scared. They thought about security issues. They thought about everything negative, why not to use it. Whereas on my side, I was like, "This is the future. This is going to change my career. This is going to change everything about what I do. If I can learn more about this cloud stuff," which at the time I wasn't aware of what it was, "then this could be a game-changer for me."

Alex (09:05):

So essentially, I would look at all the different projects and all of the different things that I would do for clients, and what products and what software that I can start to implement to make a change from a manual process into automation, into an automated process. So I'll start off with the process, and then what would be the delivery? So if it was, for example, signed paperwork, in the past, it would be sent out by post or even emailed. A client would be expected to either print it, sign it, scan it back in, or print it, sign it, and post it.

Alex (09:43):

Either way, it sounds horrendous. Well, to me. If that was me. Really long-winded process, and essentially you might not even get that paperwork back. And then you end up chasing, time and time again, until when something is really urgent or desperate where the client will go, "Right. I need to get the information to the accountant." So there were a number of these issues in different areas of a business or for a client where I thought, "There must be a better way. There must be a quicker way." Researched everything and thought, "Wow. If I implemented this product, this product, this product. If I make sure that I can work from a laptop, then essentially I can build a company that was going to make a massive improvement, not just for my clients, but for myself as well." And so that's when I thought, "Right. I'm going to launch Soaring Falcon."

Alex (10:33):

So Soaring Falcon was launched back in 2015, but it took me maybe a year of research because back then we didn't have all of the technology available for all of the areas, and over the years, since 2015, I've implemented products gradually as they've been developed. So people have seen a gap in the market for accountants and thought, "Wow. I'm going to develop it," which has been great. So over time, it's gotten better and better and stronger and stronger. So eventually I then launched Soaring Falcon and looked back at my life and think, "Wow. Thank God I'm not in that company now, where I'm just seeing dark skies and feel like I'm working in a factory." That's exactly why I didn't become a qualified accountant.

Ben (11:21):

Yeah, absolutely. And I can picture that image of just this black and white or gray overtones, and then once you break free, the color comes back to the image and you're just a bit happy. Was it all sunshine and rainbows when you started?

Alex (11:36):

I mean, I went to New Zealand. I was like, "I'm going to New Zealand," like my first trip as soon as I launched the company. And I was, "Wow. I'm living my dream. I'm literally working remotely in another country and I'm still able to deliver the services to my clients," at the time, back in the UK. But I built an amazing, amazing network in the early, early stages, and international network when I did my first trip. So it was 100% rainbows everywhere.

Ben (12:08):

Nice. So you talked a lot about technology as the backbone of your operation. And you touched on briefly just how technology has changed. What are you able to do now that you weren't able to do when you first started back in 2015?

Alex (12:23):

Oh, so in 2015, I mean, I use a product called Xero, which is a global product now. And so it was really the accounting software, like the bookkeeping software that was mainly available for accountants. And then slowly, I added Dext, which is an invoice product where you take pictures or you scan it in. And then they had GoCardless, which was a direct debit payment system where it automates the payments that come directly into my bank per month, because I've got a monthly subscription model. So I've got a SaaS model business rather than a traditional accounting business model. So there were only a handful of products. There were probably about five that linked into Xero. Xero has the open API, which helped me implement as many software tools as possible. But over the years, the amount of systems that I'm able to implement now has just made my life easier and helped onboard clients.

Alex (13:24):

For example, in 2015, I used to have to manually do my quotes, email out the quotes, then they'll sign up the direct debit process, which at the time was amazing because, before, they'd have to manually sign a direct debit form and post it to you with a wet signature. So the process at the time was great. But now I have a proposal system where the letter of engagement, which also was done manually, is posted out to my clients. They sign it digitally, but they also accept the direct debit form, which then also creates the invoice into the software, which then also automates statements and letters if there are any issues with them defaulting or whatever. So it's gone from something that might have taken me 15 minutes, to something that takes me two minutes.

Alex (14:16):

So I'm always looking for ways to find improvements. And it goes beyond that because I now implement Zapier and Slack. So Zapier then takes the information from the software, from the quoting software, so Practice Ignition, and it zaps it into Slack. So my team then gets a notification of the proposal and all the services that we provide and the next steps that they need to do. I do get a bit trigger-happy with some of the automation, but I don't know, it excites me. So I'm going to keep doing it.

Ben (14:50):

Right. I think you and I are in that group together because I love connecting the dots and making things work faster and better and more informative for everybody. That's really cool. So you talked about your team there, and I assume your team is all fully remote. So how do you manage that? How has that been going?

Alex (15:08):

Yeah. So I mean, at the beginning, it was really challenging for me because I was this innovative firm and I was trying to find accountants who knew about digital. It was really challenging. So we've had some staffing issues to eventually now to a point where I created a company in Sri Lanka, well, co-founded a company, and we've now hired fully qualified ACCA accountants. And how it works for me is because I have the co-founders in the other company, they help me manage the team, but we then also implemented Slack for communication. We have a WhatsApp group where we can chat and have banter as well outside of work. But equally, we have a product called Hubstaff, and Hubstaff, it manages when the team might log in, and it captures, it does screenshots. You can see the efficiencies in productivity and what people are working on.

Alex (16:12):

And actually, not just for Soaring Falcon, but it's actually really good to report back to the customers on the productivity of the staff to let them know, "Hey, guys, these are working at 80%. Is this acceptable for you, or is it 50%? Has there been any changes or anything strange happening in that week that we need to be aware of?" or vice versa. It can be used as any type of tool, either for the client or for internal purposes. So there are obviously things that you need to be careful of because we're not there to check up on every single thing or to micromanage, but you do sometimes need to understand that people are paying for a service and they expect a delivery. So there are certain things that you have to put into place, like Hubstaff.

Alex (16:55):

I don't really believe in timesheets. I think they're quite challenging because people make timesheets up, and I've come from a background of traditional firms where they used to make us do timesheets, and I used to hate it. I'm not saying I used to be dishonest on the timesheet, but it was really hard to track when you're flipping between 100 projects. And people who work like me, I don't necessarily just work on one thing at a time. I'll get something done, but then I'm quickly onto the next task, and I wouldn't necessarily record it on the timesheet. So I try and think about all the things that I used to do when I used to work, and I try and implement that in the best possible way, but in an efficient way with people who then work for us.

Ben (17:40):

Yeah, totally. The Hubstaff, I mean, it sounds a little big-brothery, but if it's not as intrusive and it's not keeping people from stopping working with you, then keep it up. So you don't have like a keylogger on there and be like, "Well, you didn't answer that message fast enough, so you're getting demoted," no?

Alex (17:58):

No. That's what Slack does. I'm joking.

Ben (17:58):

Yeah, totally.

Alex (18:03):

Yeah. We have a few bots set up in Slack, and emails and tracking on emails and things like that. So I think, again, it's really about the delivery and just making sure that people understand the cultures and how we work and the expectation of what we're delivering. We're a service provider. We want to try and be responsive as much as possible. So you do have to implement some things in any business. It would be naive to say, "Oh, no. We don't need anything," because any large corporate organization would clearly understand that when you have a service organization and you're charging for the hour or for a service, you need to have some KPIs in place so you can keep track.

Ben (18:50):

Right. That ledger of work completed and all of that makes total sense. So with having a remote team, doing some outsourcing, is that what led you to co-found that Smart Offshore, that you couldn't find accountants that knew the web, that were accessible throughout the world?

Alex (19:10):

Yeah, going back to the early days, it was quite challenging to find somebody that was really high-end that would really understand the technology. And at the time, as a startup, it wasn't something that was in my reach to pay for a really high-end person but also having graduates, I thought, "Well, okay. Fine. If I teach them the process," then it's like, "Oh, they're going to love the technology. It's going to be amazing." But then there was no business experience, business acumen. And so it was really challenging because all of a sudden I was gaining all these really cool clients, but then I didn't really have the infrastructure in place to be able to build my company, and it was built with just me in the background just trying to do everything. I was paddling like a duck underwater, paddling really fast to try and keep on top. And it was really, really hard.

Alex (20:01):

So I was just trying to find this balancing situation where it's like I need somebody who's going to be really good at accounting, and I also need somebody who's going to understand the technology that we use today so that we can deliver to the clients because the clients that we were taking on were tech companies. They were SaaS models. So they didn't want to go to a traditional firm, and I'd been promoting Soaring Falcon as we're this efficient, this accounting, cloud accountants. "We use all the same technology you do." So I couldn't then say to one of the team, "Oh, you can't really post stuff out to the clients because that's not really how we work. So we need to actually meet the vision of what I'm promoting." So it was quite challenging.

Alex (20:44):

And so eventually, I think about a year ago, I spoke to Naja and Hasan, who were based in Sri Lanka, and they actually got in touch with me through Instagram, and the conversation at the beginning was like, "Oh, do you want to trial us?" I was like, "Yeah, sure. Why not?" Because I, at the same time, needed some sort of business continuity because I was already trialing a company in the Philippines, and they would have storm issues. They would have weather issues. And it was actually more than what I thought. You expect downtime, but it shouldn't have been that much downtime. And so I needed to find another solution. I still needed to have business continuity and not have the business put at risk when the whole team would then be down one time.

Alex (21:33):

So when I reached out to Hasan and Naja in Sri Lanka, they were like, "Look, we'll trial a couple of people and see how we get on." But one of the most important things was that ACCA has a head office in Sri Lanka, and the team that we have are ACCA qualified. Because I'm an international ACCA advocate and I sit on the international assembly board, it was actually really important for me to keep that brand going and to make sure that we have high-end people who can deliver the same level as what I can without having to give them all the training. So they might need basic training on something, but essentially we should be able to give them the work and they'll be able to deliver even high-end strategic work as well. So most of the people in Sri Lanka have worked for high-end top 20 companies.

Alex (22:23):

So it's a refreshing change for them to come into a fun Smart Offshore company because they then are working with the English culture. For them, it's really exciting and it's a change. So it was a really good fit for us. It worked both ways. Hasan and Naja are amazing. They run the team in Sri Lanka. We've grown from a team of, I think, one or two in August to now a team of 35. So it's growing quite rapidly, and that's not for Soaring Falcon. We deliver to other accountants as well. So other accountants really enjoy the experience. Then they add on a new team member. So it seems to be a really cool model. So I'm really, really enjoying this whole journey.

Ben (23:10):

That growth over that short period of time is amazing. So, I mean, how does a business that might be interested in doing some of this delegation get started working with Smart Offshore? How does that look?

Alex (23:22):

I mean, yeah, again, we didn't expect this growth so quickly. So we needed to prepare ourselves. But yeah, so we do have a hello@smartoffshore.lk email address. We have a LinkedIn page and a website and Instagram for people to get in touch. And obviously, you can check out the stories as well on Instagram, which are quite cool. But yeah, so just to get in touch with me directly, I'm happy to put people in touch. So it's Alex@soaringhyperfalcon.co.uk. I'm sure you'll be putting the contact details on here anyway.

Ben (23:58):

Yeah, absolutely.

Alex (23:59):

I'm always happy to help any accountant who needs an amazing team behind them.

Ben (24:05):

Yeah. I guess since you have worked in the outsourcing space and your second company is doing that, what are some tips for people that are considering working with outside partners or outside vendors?

Alex (24:17):

I guess a lot of people when they have a business, it's really easy to just keep everything to yourself and to try and manage everything and to think you can do it better than if you outsourced it or you gave it to somebody else. Not necessarily offshoring, but you think that you're going to do it quicker and faster. But actually, if you want to grow a business and you want to expand, you have to start to delegate and you have to let go of some of those tasks and have a really good process. So we use a product called Confluence, and we have our Wiki, our "How To" per client and per process and per everything. So if you build on your processes, when you go offshore and to use an offshore company and they have your processes exactly how you want it, then they're going to follow that process.

Alex (25:08):

So that process step coming away from you to somebody else is going to be that much easier. So if you want to grow and you want to expand, you can't keep everything. You have to start building your team around you. And obviously, the cost side of it is relatively cheaper than the UK. And so that was a big thing for me because I could have more team members at a high level as opposed to a couple of people in the UK or even juniors. So there's a massive, massive difference.

Ben (25:39):

Right. Having that detailed process ironed out so someone can take it on because otherwise, it's going to be a waste of money because they're not going to do it how you envisioned it because it's not clearly defined. So I had a question for you that's a little off base, but what's something that many people get wrong about accountants?

Alex (25:58):

Oh man, there's so many. They think they're boring. When people used to say to me, or even still now, they say, "What do you do?" And I'm like, "I'm an accountant," their face instantly is like, "Oh, okay. They're going to be really boring," or they think, "Oh, you don't look like a traditional accountant." I'm like, "What does that mean, exactly?" Yeah. And then they have conversations about tax and, "Oh, can I claim this, can I claim that?" I think, essentially, when you speak to an accountant it's like…

Alex (26:32):

I mean, I have the best life, really, because I get to see how other businesses grow. I get to see their systems, their processes, what works, what doesn't work. I get to see their personal lives, their ups, their downs, their highs, their lows. I think when it comes to the most trusted person that people have, most people call their accountant. It's not necessarily about work stuff, but they just want your opinion about something. But it's not just about tax and about compliance. There's more to it, and it's about growth and development. And so I think accountants, they just essentially have been tarnished with this brush of, "Oh, they're terrible people or they're really boring." But I think if you dig deeper into what an accountant can essentially provide, it goes above and beyond that. And if you need tips and things on business or systems and processes and you want to grow a business, they're the questions that you should be asking rather than tax questions.

Ben (27:41):

Yeah, exactly. You are definitely breaking the mold of accountants, for sure, with bebopping around the world and doing the great remote stuff. So speaking of processes themselves, what's a process that saves you a ton of time?

Alex (27:57):

I mean, every product that I've implemented. There are over 50. So I'd say a ton of time. I'd say our Practice Ignition is probably one of the best products I've implemented because that really did change a lot of the stuff for me, personally, in terms of onboarding a client where I mentioned before. It was my proposal software and engagement software, and it takes the payments and I can use Slack and Zapier and everything like that to just make it as efficient as possible. But it was definitely a game-changer, especially when they never had the payment side at the beginning and then they changed it to have a payment process later on. So they're constantly developing and making our lives easier. So it's definitely a game-changer.

Ben (28:44):

Awesome. And what about your own personal productivity? How do you manage to do everything you do every day?

Alex (28:52):

I have an amazing team. So yeah, it's definitely the support that I have in the background, and again, learning that delegation and booking in time for myself. I never used to do that, but now I book stuff in, and of course, I prioritize the clients, but it is so important to have time out because we're not robots. We are human, and we're on this planet for a limited time, and yes, there are the fundamentals of running a business and taking care of people. But ultimately, if you don't take care of yourself, then there's not going to be anything after that.

Alex (29:32):

You have to take care of yourself before you take care of others. And that's a life lesson that I learned over COVID because I think every accountant had, I don't know, they just got to the end of it because we were working 10, 15 hours a day at one point. And it's really, really important that you know what the priority is for you, personally, and what essentially you need to put ahead and prioritize. So it's definitely taking care of yourself.

Ben (30:02):

Yeah. That foundation, because if you are not 100%, then everything else will crumble on top of that. So any other big learnings from the COVID pandemic so far?

Alex (30:12):

From the COVID pandemic, I mean, there's been so many. And for me, I guess the only thing would be just to implement technology because if, say for example, I didn't have all the technology in place, I was fortunate that everybody was on cloud accounting software. We were able to plug in a cash flow forecasting tool that did future forecasting for the next 12 to 24 months. We were able to run management reporting, do year-end accounts really efficiently, but had I not been cloud or technology, using technology, and if I had to grab loads of paperwork and put everything together and get Excel spreadsheets like a traditional firm, I wouldn't have been able to deliver as efficiently as most of the accountants would've been able to do because if you're digital, you were able to then deliver.

Alex (31:03):

So we were then able to claim bounce-back loans and all these things for our clients and do all their wages and their furlough claims. So I think having the technology in place and to do things as efficiently as possible is, again, something that is so critical with today's world. And if we came across and if we had another pandemic, I would say that we're already pandemic ready. But if we had another pandemic, then it's not going to be difficult for us to go through that process again and to deliver what we need to deliver to our clients.

Ben (31:35):

Yeah, absolutely. And what would you say to maybe a company or an organization that might be reluctant to shift their accounting to the cloud and adopt new technologies?

Alex (31:46):

I think if anybody doesn't want to shift, then they're going to be constantly filled with headache and drama because the world is digitalized already. For example, we've got Making Tax Digital, which has already kicked in. So with accountants out there, they're either going to quit or retire, or they're going to sell their business, but it's not going to change. It's actually increasing. The technology is increasing. I was even standing in the bank queue today with people in front of me who were saying, "Oh, did you know it's all going online? I don't know what I'm going to do." And I felt really terrible because my godmother, who was 74, I had to do everything for her.

Alex (32:33):

I feel for those people who are being forced to go online, but at the same time, this is how we're working today. And so it's really just having that change of mindset and just making sure that you feel comfortable enough or speak to the right people or get the support around you to make those changes. Because if you don't make those changes, you're just going to fall behind, and it's then a worse situation than even failure, which you don't want to do.

Ben (33:02):

Right. Yeah. You need to embrace it or you're going to get left behind and your business may shrivel up, for sure. So what's next for you? What are you excited about?

Alex (33:14):

I'm excited about my traveling plans as ever and the growth of Smart Offshore. And I also founded a membership for accountants called The Startup Practice. So I'm really excited to grow that and to speak to other accountants and to provide them the support and help them. I enjoy the advocacy side of things and to spend more time doing that to make sure everything is good for them. Again, Soaring Falcon seems to be soaring all the time. So I'm happy with that. And yeah, I think just to try and get in as much of my bucket list as possible in the time that I'm spending on this world, basically.

Ben (33:54):

Yeah. And what's the next thing you're hoping to tackle off of that list?

Alex (34:00):

So my trip to Peru, going to Machu Picchu, and to Rainbow Mountain. That's next on my list. So that's in a couple of weeks' time, so I'm actually really looking forward to doing that.

Ben (34:11):

Yeah. And we'll be sure to throw up your Instagram so everyone can live vicariously through your travels and everything. Super awesome that you're starting that group just to give some of your expertise because you have the blueprint of how to make it happen. So helping some other accountants find that way and build a group of surfers that just travel around and just have some fun, it sounds like.

Alex (34:33):

Exactly, yeah.

Ben (34:35):

Awesome. Well, Alex, it was great to talk with you. Thank you so much for taking the time to be on Get More Done and just to fill us in on how you are able to do everything that you're able to do. And I hope that you have a good rest of your day and you have a good rest of your week as well.

Alex (34:51):

Thank you, Ben. And thank you very much for having me on this. It's been amazing to share everything with you guys.

Ben (34:57):

Yeah. It's been great, and safe travels and take care.

Alex (35:03):

Okay. Thank you.

Ben (35:03):

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