Where We Actually Came From
The thing is, financial analysis shouldn't be mysterious. Back when I was working for a mid-sized manufacturing firm in Melbourne, we hired three different consultants to help us understand market positioning. Each one delivered hundreds of slides. None of them answered our basic question: should we expand into Queensland or focus on improving our Sydney operations?
That experience stuck with me. By 2023, we'd refined our methods through projects with 47 different Australian businesses ranging from retail chains to agricultural exporters. What we learned was straightforward – most companies don't need complex financial models. They need clear insights about specific decisions they're facing right now.
We moved to Tasmania in early 2024 because operating costs made sense here, and frankly, the lifestyle suited our small team better than the Sydney grind. Plus, being slightly removed from the major financial centers helped us stay focused on practical analysis rather than chasing trends.