Last month, System Six founder, Jeremy Allen, was featured as the inaugural guest for Accounting Leaders Podcast. Hosted by Karbon Founder & Director Stuart McLeod, the Accounting Leaders Podcast curates the best resources in the industry through conversations with accounting’s most significant innovators.
Jeremy and Stuart talk about small-town living, from the culinary limits of the midwest to the blessing of living near family in a slower, tighter-knit community. Jeremy’s recent move from Seattle, WA to Holland, MI, opts for colder, snowier winters but relatively easy access to big cities like Chicago and idyllic towns like Traverse City. While COVID may have changed the work-home balance for many individuals, nothing radically shifted in the operations of System Six. System Six has always been a remote firm with team members across more than a dozen states. While other industries struggled with the forced pivot to cloud-based systems, virtual meetings, and communications logs, System Six carried on with business as usual.
“For the first seven years, we had to convince people why the Cloud was good.”
“For the first seven years, we had to convince people why the Cloud was good, but COVID accelerated that,” says Jeremy. Remote, streamlined technologies are not just a slick option; they are essential to day-to-day business. Offering a work-from-home option for employees used to make System Six stand out among the crowd. High-class talent sought out the rare opportunity to provide quality CAS from the comfort of their homes. But the shift to at-home work for the entire industry means that System Six no longer offers something exclusive. Stuart points out that this shift, paired with the scarcity and challenge of finding and retaining talent, could pose problems for System Six’s growth in the future. Jeremy acknowledges that, in this case, company culture will probably emerge as their unique differentiator.
Growth and innovation have always been in the DNA of System Six. Jeremy founded the business with neither experience as a bookkeeper or training in accounting. What he was keenly aware of, however, was the day-to-day frustrations of navigating finances as a small business owner. Having launched several businesses before System Six, Jeremy found processes for payroll to be antiquated and lacking in technology advances of parallel industries. While accountants were helpful during tax season, they weren’t always supportive throughout the year and lacked the patience and expertise to provide holistic advisory services. Without someone “in the books” from week to week, financial records would become muddy, late, or disorganized, and only the business owner was left to clean up the mess. Amid his own frustrations birthed his most successful business.
His experience not only resonated with other small business owners but non-profits, churches, financial firms, and high-net-worth individuals. He quickly realized that managing the minutia of receipts and payroll brought immense relief. Their services were both systematic and highly “sticky.” While System Six loves innovation and technology, “slow and steady wins the race” for Jeremy Allen. Stuart asks about the future of System Six, and Jeremy shares exciting opportunities for acquisition or acquiring another business. “It’s always nice to get asked to prom,” jokes Jeremy. Entertaining invitations for mergers is flattering, but the fit has to be more than financial. For Jeremy, the highest priority will always be if a suitor is right for the employees, families, vision, and mission of System Six.
Listen to the full episode of the Accounting Leaders Podcast here: https://accountingleaderspodcast.com/