Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Daryl Ching, Founder of Vistance Capital Advisory, located in Toronto. ON, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Vistance Capital Advisory is a full-service financial advisory firm that levels the playing field for small businesses. The service received by small businesses from the accounting industry begins and ends with financial statements and tax filings. For those companies that cannot afford a full-time CFO, we fill the gaps with capital raising, monthly financials with KPIs, real-time advice for constant improvement, cash flow budgeting, and strategy. We work collaboratively with our clients and take care of all the finance, so they focus on what they do best - sales, marketing, and managing operations.
Tell us about yourself
My background is in investment banking at RBC Capital Markets. I started my own consulting firm to help companies raise capital and do a proper investor presentation, business plan, and financial projections. My business strategy pivoted when my clients asked if I could be their CFO. I came to the realization that most small businesses were operating with no financial expertise and were making major business decisions with huge cash flow implications based on gut. This snowballed into a major extension of my service offering to include CFO strategic advice, monthly financial statements, gross margin analysis, and helping business owners execute their business plans after they raise capital.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I am most proud of a few milestones in my business:
- Taking the risk to hire my first employee and invest a large amount of capital into branding my business when I did not have enough revenue to support it.
- Pivoting my business strategy from capital raising projects to CFO services to generate consistent recurring revenue.
- Pivoting my business strategy during COVID to provide consulting on government relief programs, cash flow reduction strategies, ROEs, and other services for employee termination in order to stay alive when all our clients were cutting our services.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
The transition from thinking for yourself to a focus on developing your people. In order for my business to grow, I need to hire the best people and make sure they are constantly learning and improving. I need to train my managers, who in turn need to train associates as we offer a very different level of service far beyond what is acceptable in the accounting industry. We hire accountants and need to change the way they think completely.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Your business is only as good as your people. Hire the best people and invest in them.
- It is very common for business owners to make assumptions about what their customers want based on market research or just general biases. Get feedback from your clients/customers constantly and learn what the ever-changing marketplace wants. You will likely pivot your business several times before you hit your stride, no matter how good your initial market research is.
- Understand as an owner where your time is best spent. Hire resources to perform other tasks to focus your time on where you can add the most value to your business.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://vistancecapital.com/
Facebook: https://bit.ly/3SeNn3g
LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3vOTFgP
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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