Print VersionOur Vision is:
"To be the Best Internet Based SME Compliance Business in NZ by 2008 through
creating a great team and adding value to Business Owners by Making Business
Easy."
Our Mission is:
"MAKING BUSINESS EASY"
Our Values are:
1. Commitment …
I give myself and everything I commit to 100% until I succeed. I am committed to the Vision, Mission, Culture and success of SmartBusiness Live, its current and future team, and its clients at all times. I always recommend products and services of SmartBusiness Live prior to going outside the company.
2. Ownership …
I am truly responsible for my actions and outcomes and own everything that takes place in my work and my life. I am accountable for my results and I know that for things to change, first I must change.
3. Integrity …
I always speak the truth. What I promise is what I deliver. I only ever make agreements with myself and others that I am willing and intend to keep. I communicate potential broken agreements at the first opportunity and I clear up all broken agreements immediately.
4. Excellence …
Good enough isn't. I always deliver products and services of exceptional quality that add value to all involved for the long term. I look for ways to do more with less and stay on a path of constant and never ending improvement and innovation.
5. Communication …
I speak positively of my fellow team members, my clients and SmartBusiness Live in both public and private. I speak with good purpose using empowering and positive conversation. I never use or listen to sarcasm or gossip. I acknowledge what is being said as true for the speaker at that moment and I take responsibility for responses to my communication. I greet and farewell people using their name. I always apologise for any upsets first and then look for a solution. I only ever discuss concerns in private with the person involved.
6. Success …
I totally focus my thoughts, energy and attention on the successful outcome of whatever I am doing. I am willing to win and allow others to win: Win/Win. At all times, I display my inner pride, prosperity, competence and personal confidence. I am a successful person.
7. Education …
I learn from my mistakes. I consistently learn, grow and master so that I can help my fellow team members and clients learn, grow and master too. I am an educator and allow my clients to make their own intelligent decisions about their future remembering that it is their future. I impart practical and useable knowledge rather than just theory.
8. Team Work …
I am a team player and team leader. I do whatever it takes to stay together and achieve team goals. I focus on co-operation and always come to a resolution, not a compromise. I am flexible in my work and able to change if what I'm doing is not working. I ask for help when I need it and I am compassionate to others who ask me.
9. Balance …
I have a balanced approach to life, remembering that my spiritual, social, physical and family aspects are just as important as my financial and intellectual. I complete my work and my most important tasks first, so I can have quality time to myself, with my family and also to renew.
10. Fun …
I view my life as a journey to be enjoyed and appreciated and I create an atmosphere of fun and happiness so all around me enjoy it as well.
11. Systems …
I always look to the system for a solution. If a challenge arises I use a system correction before I look for a people correction. I use a system solution in my innovation rather than a people solution. I follow the system exactly until a new system is introduced. I suggest system improvements at my first opportunity.
12. Consistency …
I am consistent in my actions so my clients and team mates can feel comfortable in dealing with me at all times. I am disciplined in my work so my results, growth and success are consistent.
13. Gratitude …
I am a truly grateful person. I say thank-you and show appreciation often and in many ways, so that all around me know how much I appreciate everything and everyone I have in my life. I celebrate my wins and the wins of my clients, and team. I consistently catch myself and other people doing things right …
14. Abundance …
I am an abundant person, I deserve my abundance and I am easily able to both give and receive it. I allow abundance in all areas of my life by respecting my own self worth and that of all others. I am rewarded to the level that I create abundance for others and I accept that abundance only shows up in my life to the level at which I show up.
Meet the Owners
Phil Richards
Phil Richards and wife Michelle are classic entrepreneurs. They had the option many professional Kiwis take of going to the United Kingdom and earning pounds, but they took a chance and gave New Zealand a go. Phil mortgaged his father’s house and bought a business when he was 25-years-old. But he did not expect staff to quit enmasse, the rapid weight loss and utter despair that would follow. “After our first year in business we bought a second practice and a year of hardship began. Each day I would arrive at the back of the shop, take a deep breath of the stale air and slap the concrete pillar that held up the building and ask for the strength to get me through the day because it was very, very tough for me.
“I was in debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars secured on my father’s house. I worked so hard I couldn’t even have a toilet break or eat lunch.
“One of the saddest parts for me personally was that I felt very alone. It was my decision to do this and here I was getting beaten up really bad. I was embarrassed at my failure and incompetence and the hurt and pain was so strong I didn’t want to see any of my friends.”
But the ending is a happy one. Phil and Michelle then began working with an Action International Business coach and took their $300,000 turnover per annum business to more than $2 million in just over four years.
In 2005 Phil joined force with Peter and founded Smartbusiness Live, with the goal being to help small to medium sized businesses save a lot of time and worry and money with their book keeping and payroll. It is doing superbly well and many New Zealand businesses are benefiting as a result.
Peter Wijeyeratne
Peter migrated to New Zealand from his native Sri Lanka in 1988 and has a background of working for chartered accountancy firms and manufacturing companies. Along with Phil he helped found Smartbusiness Live, which incorporates Smartbooks Live and Smartpayroll Live. He helped found Smartbusiness which targets small to medium sized businesses as he believed there was a genuine need for easy-to-use and quick accountancy packages which the ‘big boys’ in the accounting world were not providing.
Meet the Team
Richard Tarrant
Richards’ goal in business is to give people Peace of Mind, Save them Time and Save them Money. His Motto is Consistence and Persistence and he fully believes that every step we make in life is a step forward.
You can sometimes find Richard at the beach with his family or on the roads driving his fully restored Kombi Van!
Augusta Amadio
Getting out there, personally meeting and talking to business owners, was something Augusta rarely had the opportunity to do back in her accounting/business analyst days. Now however, working for Smartbusiness Live the most rewarding part for her is connecting to people, feeling people’s passion for what they do and helping them out. At the end of the day, it’s all about people.
Ernest Gibbs
With more than thirty years of experience in sales and business in a wide range of industries from books, insurance, security, art, decorating, hospitality and health & fitness, Ernest's drive is to help business owners overcome the problems he knows of first hand, around compliance and the need to have your finger on the financial pulse of your business. With a heart for service, Ernest loves to feed people and entertain with song.
Ruth Genet
Ruth is no stranger to the day to day challenges of business ownership having a background in finance, fashion, photography and hospitality.
She is passionate about business and helping others and that passion and energy enables her to balance her business interests, community work, family and friends and everywhere she finds people that need help.
Ruth knows that it doesn't matter what business you are in, we all need simple, cost effective systems that enable us to have balance in our lives and the energy to drive our business's forward. For Ruth it is such a pleasure to be part of a company that provides these solutions.
Hazel Jones
With a strong, 15 year banking and financial background, Hazel is a firm believer in systems that save small business, time and money. When she is not mucking about with her 4 year old son, she loves chatting away to entrepreneurs about smart ways of doing business and particularly enjoys working with franchises and new ventures.
Tim Palling
Tim is a computer science graduate who began his I.T. career in medical software. Ready for a new challenge two years later, he was greatly impressed by both the products and the team at SmartBusiness Live. He jumped at the opportunity to get involved with a company that is both cutting-edge and customer-focussed.
Richard Phillips
With a marketing and international business degree under his belt, the first thing Richard wanted to do after university was learn to sell. Passionate about meeting business owners and helping make their lives easier, Richard is now a self-confessed sales professional. When the waves or the golf course aren't calling, chances are he'll be knocking on your door with persistence.
