A Business Built to Last

By:   John Hewison
Imprint:   Hewison Private Wealth
Dimensions:   Height: 229mm,  Width: 152mm,  Spine: 13mm
Weight:   345g
ISBN:   9781763788879
ISBN 10:   1763788873
Pages:   188
Publication Date:   06 March 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

I am a baby boomer, born in 1947 to a middle-class Melbourne family. I left school at the age of 16 after completing Year 11 and achieving the entry standard for the Australian Society of Accountants (now CPA Australia) study program. I got a clerical job as an accounting trainee with a shipping company and studied accountancy part-time.At 19 years of age, I was bored and wanted to do something more creative and exciting. Also, my employer had provided me with a road map of my future career path, which was less than inspiring, so I left and moved to a role in an advertising agency, which was an exciting change of pace. From there I moved into the world of sales and marketing. I enjoyed success in several roles in varying industries, which all resulted from clients poaching me to work for them. In 1974, I was offered a position with a division of the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)-listed company Brash Holdings Ltd (Brash), initially to set up a Queensland branch for their wholesale division Australian Musical Industries (AMI), which imported and marketed home entertainment products including audio systems and TVs. I created an extraordinarily successful distribution branch and was then transferred back to Melbourne head office.It was around this time that I read Robert Townsend's celebrated book Up the Organisation, which was radical for its time and formulated my core beliefs around flat management structures and empowerment of the individual. I successfully put these theories into practice during my corporate experience, and this was a key part of my set of core management beliefs, which I will discuss in greater detail later.I resigned from corporate management in 1983 at the age of 36, having tired of corporate politics and constant travelling, which kept me away from my wife and young children for extended periods of time. I had applied for a less demanding corporate position but was shocked to learn from a management consultant that I had been previously paid in the top 1% of salary earners. I knew I was well paid but was by no means living the dream and still had a healthy mortgage. It was then that I decided there had to be a better way; I had to build my own business.I discussed the prospect of going it alone with my wife, Helen, who, to my surprise and her absolute credit, supported the idea of setting up a business and using my superannuation and Brash shares, which I had accumulated via an employee share scheme, to fund the venture. I established a marketing and business consulting company through which, initially, my former employers contracted my services, as did a New Zealand-based counterpart. I also consulted for a family business, which led to a sideline in landscape design for which I completed a diploma and established a swimming pool solar heating business. In 1985, I became interested in the emerging profession of financial planning through an acquaintance by the name of Michael Wilson, who was one of the principals of financial advice firm Beyson Investment Services (Beyson).Following the reform and deregulation of the Australian financial system in the early 1980s, there was huge growth in the public need for financial advice. My background in accountancy, marketing and broad business management roles in various industries all combined to prepare me well for this opportunity. I liked the idea of developing a professional career in an area of creativity and excitement and caring for people's financial wellbeing. I obtained a securities dealer representative licence and established a financial planning business, Hewison & Associates Pty Ltd, firstly as an authorised representative of Beyson. Later, I obtained a securities dealer licence and operated independently under the name Hewison Private Wealth, which still endures today.