Australia's Most Trusted Advisor to the Elite - Anthony Bell #121

Anthony Bell got into no university at all on his first attempt and had to repeat the HSC. In 2003 he bought an office with 90 desks while he had 15 staff, on 100 percent finance, and filled the empty desks by renting them to mates until the firm grew into them.

Anthony Bell founded the accounting firm Bell Partners in 1997 and it now runs seven offices. He also built the Ghost charter boat business and has advised John McGrath for about 30 years.

What you will learn:

- His rule for buying premises: work out what your rent buys in interest, and buy that much building

- Why he treats owner profit as an expense of the business, alongside wages, when he tests a plan

- The single reason he says most businesses are being sent to liquidation right now, from a liquidator he asked directly

- Why he thinks buyers advocacy is the most interesting shift in real estate, and what it does that listing does not

- The 52 weekly management meetings, and why he refuses to run a monthly one

Chapters

00:00 The moment he realised he was wired differently

02:51 The bus ride to his father's office

05:39 Wanting to change the face of accounting

07:05 Wagga Wagga, and being surrounded by people who had to pass

11:16 Show me a great company, and a CEO whose work is their recreation

14:06 Why accountants lose the room

16:57 Leaving, and refusing to take a single client

19:48 John McGrath, and permission to take a competitor

22:36 Why an accounting relationship only lasts four years

25:20 Ninety desks and fifteen staff

29:32 Treating profit as an expense

33:44 Why a rent roll at 12 percent is not worth borrowing for

36:32 Seven offices on the same model

41:06 Why he would send his daughter into buyers advocacy

45:34 Being comfortable with other people's problems

54:58 Where he thinks businesses are actually going wrong

58:55 The boat nobody thought would work at 4,000 an hour

1:07:16 Finding the gap, then stress testing it three times

1:12:49 The month he thought he could not make payroll

1:18:29 Nick the time, then give it back

Anthony Bell bought 90 desks with 15 staff and made the building pay for itself. Property should work the same way.

Most properties only make money if the market does. The ones that pay for themselves from the day you settle are bought differently, and it comes down to four points.

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General information only. Not financial, tax, legal or credit advice. Bothsides is not a mortgage broker or credit provider.