Owner of Jetboards NZ at Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand
A chartered accountant for me is a business influencer, someone that makes key decisions and has timely information that can be trusted. I first decided to become a CA leaving college because I really didn’t know what I wanted to be doing and I knew that pursuing a career in accounting and having that solid foundation no matter what it was that there was always going to be a business aspect where finance is involved.
I found out through my CA journey is that you don’t have to follow the traditional CA route, there really — when people say that there’s endless opportunities for Chartered Accountants, there actually is.
I’m passionate about travel, sport, watersports and governance and I’m fortunate enough, with a CA background, to be able to tie all of that into my career. So with that the watersports stuff I was able to set up the business with my CA background, knowledge and skills.
I have two typical days, if it’s nice and light winds, we’ll be out on the lake which could be from 9am to 7pm. And time flies when you’re having fun and I can’t consider it work. The other typical day, if the conditions aren’t right, I’ll follow up with bookings, sort out some of the apps that we’re getting developed. Also following up on the health and safety side of things and a bit of website development and a lot of film photography.
Setting up my business, the CA skills and experience I had played a huge part in incorporating that - from getting finance, franchising agreements, distribution agreements and the biggest part of it was the compliance.
Find something that you are passionate about and you are enthused about waking up on a Monday morning; and whatever that is, work hard for that, put yourself out there. It’s never easy and you may not be an expert in that area but everyone starts somewhere so you’ve just go find what it is that you love and work hard for that.