Episode 10

full
Published on:

9th Jun 2026

Croissants & Coffee is back

In this episode of Advisory Conversations, we share the story behind Croissants and Coffee — a simple idea that grew into something much bigger than we ever expected.

What started as an informal online breakfast meeting for small business owners quickly became a thriving community built around support, accountability, and real conversations. Rather than another networking event where people exchanged business cards and moved on, Croissants and Coffee evolved into a space where business owners could openly discuss challenges, share ideas, and learn from one another's experiences.

As the sessions continued, something interesting happened. People kept coming back. Relationships formed. Trust developed. Members began helping each other solve problems, celebrate wins, and stay accountable to the goals they had set themselves. What emerged was less of a networking group and more of a mastermind community.

Throughout the episode, we reflect on the lessons we learned from facilitating these conversations and why community is often the missing piece for many business owners and professionals. We discuss the importance of creating environments where people feel safe enough to ask questions, share experiences, and learn without fear of judgement.

We also explore how these principles apply directly to the world of advisory. Great advisory isn't about having all the answers. It's about creating better conversations, helping people think differently, and building systems that don't rely on one person being the expert in the room.

As APX continues to grow, we're excited to announce the return of Croissants and Coffee — this time designed specifically for accountants, bookkeepers, financial professionals, and advisory practitioners. With multiple sessions planned each week to support a wider audience, our goal remains the same: to create a welcoming space where professionals can learn, collaborate, share ideas, and build confidence together.

If you've ever felt isolated in your business, unsure of your next step, or simply wanted to learn alongside like-minded professionals, this conversation is for you.

Key Takeaways

  • Community often creates breakthroughs that courses and content alone cannot.
  • Advisory is built through conversations, collaboration, and shared learning.
  • Accountability becomes easier when you're surrounded by people on a similar journey.
  • The most valuable communities create a safe environment where questions are encouraged.
  • Advisory professionals don't need to have all the answers; they need to facilitate better conversations.
  • Croissants and Coffee has evolved from a small business networking idea into a collaborative learning community for advisory professionals.
  • Learning alongside peers can accelerate confidence, growth, and implementation.

Join the Community

Join the Advisory Teams Community:

facebook.com/groups/advisoryteams

Transcript
Speaker A:

Welcome to Advisory Conversations with Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday.

Speaker A:

This podcast is for accounting professionals and financial coaches who are ready to step beyond compliance and into advisory.

Speaker A:

Because real advisory isn't about doing more yourself.

Speaker A:

It's about building something that works without you being the bottleneck.

Speaker A:

Hello, Deb, welcome again.

Speaker B:

Hiya, Tim.

Speaker B:

How are you?

Speaker A:

I'm pretty good.

Speaker A:

I'm pretty good.

Speaker A:

So, Deb, tell me, what are we going to talk about today?

Speaker B:

Today we are talking about croissants and coffee.

Speaker A:

Croissants and coffee.

Speaker A:

One of my favourite topics.

Speaker A:

Yeah, croissants and coffee.

Speaker A:

So, yeah, what do you want to know about croissants and coffee?

Speaker B:

What is it?

Speaker B:

Why is it called croissants and coffee?

Speaker B:

And what can we expect?

Speaker B:

Why are we talking about it?

Speaker A:

Okay, so, okay, let's go back to the beginning then.

Speaker A:

So I set up, I wanted to run a breakfast meeting, kind of an online breakfast meeting, and this was back in January 22nd.

Speaker A:

Sort of had the idea a few months before it and never quite, you know, wasn't quite sure how to start it off, how to, how to make it take off.

Speaker A:

And I.

Speaker A:

And so I just started advertising on LinkedIn that I was going to be running croissants and Coffee for small business owners, as I called it originally.

Speaker A:

And it was just a Friday morning chat just to get some people that run their businesses on a call.

Speaker A:

Because the thought process behind it was that it can be a very lonely place, especially for small business owners, and perhaps they don't get the opportunity to talk to their peers and other people that are in similar situation as them might actually need a bit of support and actually might benefit from just being able to have a conversation with someone who gets it, who understands what they're talking about, who has similar problems, and then together they could perhaps start to solve their problems.

Speaker A:

So the idea originally was that I would just set it up, facilitate and see where the conversation went.

Speaker A:

Perhaps I'd be ready with a question to ask everyone around the room.

Speaker A:

But in general, it was kind of, let's just talk, let's just see where it takes us.

Speaker A:

And I couldn't believe how well it went there.

Speaker A:

It just kind of.

Speaker A:

People just kept coming back just through advertising it through LinkedIn, you know, a handful of people turned up and then they turned up the following week.

Speaker A:

I think there was one week where we only had two people, but that was like the third, the third week.

Speaker A:

And then, and then I had all these messages from everyone saying they were really sorry, they couldn't make it that way.

Speaker A:

But they were really looking forward to the next week because first of all, I was on the call thinking, oh, no, you know, maybe this isn't quite working.

Speaker A:

But what I found was by turning up at 9 o' clock every Friday, consistently for a period of time, people just kept coming.

Speaker A:

And then it became a thing that it was the highlight of their week and they just found that it was.

Speaker A:

I had comments on Elaine Springs to my Elaine was.

Speaker A:

Was a character, as you know, Deb, because you got to know Elaine as well.

Speaker A:

But she referred to it after a few weeks of it's not a networking event, it's more like a mini mastermind.

Speaker A:

And that was great.

Speaker A:

That was great feedback because that kind of was what I wanted without.

Speaker A:

I didn't really want to create a networking event.

Speaker A:

I didn't really want that kind of environment.

Speaker A:

I wanted everyone to just be in a space where they could come with a problem and everyone in the room would help them solve it, which is what it became.

Speaker A:

And that's where the mastermind kind of came from really was, here's a problem, how can we solve it?

Speaker A:

Let's everyone try and give some support to the person with the problem and see where the conversation takes us.

Speaker A:

And people just used to come off the call saying, this is great.

Speaker A:

Thank you so much for all that help.

Speaker A:

And other people would be perhaps a little bit quieter in the background listening, but they would message me separately and say how much support and how much information they'd gained just from sitting in the room listening to everyone talking.

Speaker A:

So, yeah, there were some strong characters, weren't there, that would be quite dominant in the conversation.

Speaker A:

But actually part of my job was to slightly rein them in when necessary.

Speaker A:

Slightly say, thank you for your input.

Speaker A:

It's great.

Speaker A:

We want to hear now from everyone.

Speaker A:

And going around the room and encouraging everyone to have the opportunity to speak and give their opinion was really beneficial and part of.

Speaker A:

I actually enjoyed that side of it in a way.

Speaker A:

But yeah, and then keeping to an hour was difficult sometimes as well.

Speaker A:

But yeah.

Speaker A:

And Deb, you came along a few months after it started, after you.

Speaker A:

Because as we know, you joined the previous membership.

Speaker A:

You were the first member that I took on.

Speaker A:

So what was your experience as someone that came along initially?

Speaker B:

Yeah, I mean, it had been going a little while.

Speaker B:

I joined as soon as I knew about it.

Speaker B:

Really.

Speaker B:

As soon as you mentioned it.

Speaker B:

That was a group that you ran for business owners and everybody was really welcoming.

Speaker B:

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Speaker B:

It quickly became the highlight of my week.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Really look forward.

Speaker B:

I don't think I missed one after that on a Friday morning.

Speaker B:

But yeah, everybody was from all walks of life.

Speaker B:

They had all different types of businesses, they had all different types of experiences.

Speaker B:

But yeah, it was a really fun, fun group.

Speaker B:

We all learned from each other.

Speaker B:

People were at various different stages and brought just different viewpoints and it was, it was like a mini mastermind.

Speaker B:

Somebody would have a problem and everybody else would, would rally round and try and help them solve it and give them encouragement, you know, and then hold them accountable the next week, couldn't they?

Speaker B:

You know, it was like a check in each week to check on each other's progress and helping each other along.

Speaker B:

Some were more proactive in tackling their problems than others, I would say.

Speaker B:

But yeah, it was a great group.

Speaker B:

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Speaker B:

Yeah, loved it.

Speaker A:

We added an element of accountability in as well, where if someone said they were going to do something, we would ask them the following week if they had followed through.

Speaker A:

And yeah, of course there were some people that perhaps didn't always follow through what they said they were going to do, but on the whole most people did because they were coming back and they're in a group with their peers.

Speaker A:

It kind of forces you to actually take the action you said you're going to do because otherwise you're going to feel a little bit embarrassed that you haven't or, you know, you're all, you're, you're aware, you're making excuses of why you haven't done these things.

Speaker A:

So as time went by in the longer we had the group and we kept turning up to the calls each week, people started to take action a little bit more.

Speaker A:

And yeah, we even had some people turn up with croissants live on the call as well, which was really nice.

Speaker A:

Obviously most people had a coffee or a tea or a water, but yeah, the croissants and coffee aspect literally was just because it sounds nice, it's breakfasty.

Speaker A:

The idea was it was an early morning call and everyone could start their Friday with a really nice, in a nice way.

Speaker A:

And then some people would be off for the rest of the Friday.

Speaker A:

They wouldn't be working after that.

Speaker A:

Other people would be, do you know what?

Speaker A:

I've got now?

Speaker A:

I've got some great ideas.

Speaker A:

I'm going to start to think about how I can bring them in to the business next week.

Speaker A:

So it would end the week on a real positive note.

Speaker A:

And that was kind of like the point, really.

Speaker A:

And then as time went on, I think we ran that for For a year.

Speaker A:

Over a year.

Speaker A:

And then it might have been a little bit longer.

Speaker A:

I'm not, I'm not honestly sure, Deb.

Speaker A:

I haven't checked the dates exactly.

Speaker A:

Exactly.

Speaker A:

But then I, I kind of, I decided that perhaps my time would be better spent actually in a.

Speaker A:

With the group being practice owners of accountancy and bookkeeping practices.

Speaker A:

Mainly because that's my niche, you know, that's where.

Speaker A:

That's where I work.

Speaker A:

And also because of my experience of running accountancy practices for 17 years, of running the membership for accountants and bookkeepers for four years, you know, it was quite a natural thing to, you know, this group perhaps would be better served if it was people that ran the candidacy and bookkeeping practices.

Speaker A:

And you'd come along when it was small business owners and you contributed massively to that.

Speaker A:

And then you came in, you came along, you know, as soon as it became accountants and bookkeepers, you joined into that one as well, you know.

Speaker A:

Did you notice a big difference when that happened?

Speaker B:

I kind of.

Speaker B:

I knew that there was another bookkeeper in the original group, in the, in the business owners group, the, the mix.

Speaker B:

And she came along, didn't she, to the accountants and bookkeepers?

Speaker B:

Adaption, if you like.

Speaker B:

Adaptation.

Speaker B:

She actually became my first subcontractor of my team.

Speaker B:

So she doesn't.

Speaker B:

It sort of like how you can make connections and collaborations in, in groups like this.

Speaker B:

But there was a difference because we were more focused on the same problems.

Speaker B:

So we all had the.

Speaker B:

We were all offering the same services and running the same type of business.

Speaker B:

So we were all coming.

Speaker B:

We all experienced the same issues like having to chase for receipts or documentation from our clients all the time, making sure we hit the deadlines.

Speaker B:

So we did things like making sure that we were attracting the right type of client, weren't we?

Speaker B:

And you know, how could we train our time?

Speaker B:

How could we package our services?

Speaker B:

So it worked well that you'd niche down, if you like, into your niche, the group down into accountants and bookkeepers.

Speaker B:

It works really well because we were at.

Speaker B:

Able to give each other more specific help and from gained experience in that area rather than trying to look at our.

Speaker B:

How we solved our problems in our business and adapt it to somebody else's business.

Speaker B:

I mean both are valuable.

Speaker B:

But yeah, for, for us working on our own business, it was, it was valuable in the bookkeepers and accountants really say there was a bit of advisory actually in the previous group, wasn't it?

Speaker B:

Because you're an account, you, you're an accountant.

Speaker B:

I was a bookkeeper.

Speaker B:

We had another bookkeeper in there and I do remember having conversations with them about how to optimize their, their finances and their, and their bookkeeping etc so that they could actually make their numbers work for them.

Speaker B:

So, yeah, it was, it's kind of never really thought about it like that before, but we, we did do that in the, in the business owners group.

Speaker B:

But yeah, it was more specialized and it was more valuable to us as practice owners.

Speaker B:

When you changed it to accountants and bookkeepers.

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah, I agree.

Speaker A:

I think it was easier to be more specific on our conversations, I think is probably what happened because we're all coming from the same position.

Speaker A:

We're all either accountants or bookkeepers, we're all running the practice.

Speaker A:

So we've all got the same issues, the same problems and we might all be at different levels in our journey.

Speaker A:

You know, we might be.

Speaker A:

Some people might be starting up, some people might have been running their business for 25 years, you know, and some people will be in the middle.

Speaker A:

Some people might be offering advisory, some people might be compliance only.

Speaker A:

Some people might have a team, some people might be solo.

Speaker A:

But it didn't matter because the same problems will repeat themselves over and over again until they have an appropriate solution.

Speaker A:

So it was.

Speaker A:

So it was great because we could bring up topics like the classic pricing issue and talk about what value pricing is, talk about the different types of pricing there is available to think about using.

Speaker A:

Like you said, we could talk about clients they're serving.

Speaker A:

Are they the right clients?

Speaker A:

We'd help people do a whole client analysis.

Speaker A:

I remember doing that in the session and everyone got a lot out of that at that particular time and were able to come back and think about whether they were serving the right people or not the following week.

Speaker A:

I mean, there's just so many, there's too many to talk about probably.

Speaker A:

But all of the different things to do with running your accountancy or bookkeeping practice, we talked about.

Speaker A:

And I think being specific in that way and narrowing it down helped the people that came regularly to push their businesses forward.

Speaker A:

And also it was, again, it was always enjoyable.

Speaker A:

We've always managed to make it fun, haven't we?

Speaker B:

Yeah, it was enjoyable and collaborative, wasn't it?

Speaker B:

Because everybody openly shares what's working for them.

Speaker B:

So they, they give insights that maybe, or viewpoints that maybe you hadn't thought about.

Speaker B:

Suggestions for different way of packaging your services or, you know, different way of doing things.

Speaker B:

It always came away with insights, action points, things that you can implement, things that you might change.

Speaker B:

Yeah, it was, yeah, it was great because it wasn't a.

Speaker B:

Nothing was guarded, everything was out in the open and it, it just made for a really good, fun, relaxed, enjoyable session, you know.

Speaker B:

You really did.

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A:

And we're bringing it back, you know, we're bringing it back because, you know, we've got a group in Facebook called Advisory Teams and we just felt we were lacking something, didn't we?

Speaker A:

We just felt like we wanted to give people more and we've got a little bit more time on our hands again now.

Speaker A:

So we were able to commit to delivering weekly sessions.

Speaker A:

In fact, we've actually gone upper level and we're going to be delivering this twice weekly.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

That doesn't mean we're expecting people to attend both sessions, but we're going to be running these on Tuesdays at 9 o' clock and Thursday evenings at 7 o'.

Speaker A:

Clock.

Speaker A:

And the reason we're doing that is to give people around the world the opportunity to join us because we have got some global members within our free Facebook community and we want to be able to give them the opportunity to come and join us on these sessions as well.

Speaker A:

Whereas before it tended to be mainly UK and Ireland based Canada, bookkeeping practice owners that joined us, now we've got the opportunity to, to have worldwide members join us and we would love, we would love some American, Australian, for example, maybe South African businesses come and join us on these calls.

Speaker A:

Other countries, any country, obviously we're not excluding anyone, all countries are welcome.

Speaker A:

But I'm thinking of the natural English speaking languages initially because obviously that makes life easier for everybody.

Speaker A:

But anyone who, you know, who wants to join us, hopefully with the time zones, us doing a 7 o' clock in the evening and a 9 o' clock in the morning call will allow people to join.

Speaker A:

And so we're going to be running these twice a week and we're going to make them fun.

Speaker A:

First and foremost, the one thing that is really important to me, Deb, is what I think we managed to achieve in the previous Cross, Ox and Coffee communities that we built and we ran the sessions was that everyone felt it was a safe, supportive environment and that they were able to ask what they might think is a silly question.

Speaker A:

But as we know, no questions are silly.

Speaker A:

But they were able to ask the question without any judgments being made and we would never allow anyone to feel like they were being judged by someone else in that community.

Speaker A:

It has to be full of people that are willing to support each other, are willing to help people along and remember that they were once at the beginning stage.

Speaker A:

And you only know what you know.

Speaker A:

You know.

Speaker A:

And if you don't know something, the only way to find out is to ask.

Speaker A:

And so we wanted to create that environment, didn't we?

Speaker A:

And it's really important to us to replicate that as we move forward.

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah, but it's vital.

Speaker B:

Yeah, it's.

Speaker B:

It's the only way you get help, isn't it?

Speaker B:

If you.

Speaker B:

You can only get help if you're in a safe space.

Speaker A:

Yes.

Speaker B:

So, yeah, yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker B:

Can't wait.

Speaker A:

Yeah, I can't wait.

Speaker A:

I'm really excited.

Speaker A:

I'm really excited now.

Speaker A:

We did that.

Speaker A:

We did our.

Speaker A:

Our funny little advert, didn't we, as well.

Speaker A:

We've got a croissant and the coffee mug dancing on the.

Speaker A:

In the coffee shop and just to make an element of fun around it and also hopefully to catch people's eyes because we want people to come and attend.

Speaker A:

The great thing about this as well is that, you know, it's like I say, it's not a networking event.

Speaker A:

It's.

Speaker A:

Yes, we want to get to.

Speaker A:

Initially, we want to get to know you.

Speaker A:

We want to get to know you all.

Speaker A:

We're going to ask you to introduce yourselves around the room.

Speaker A:

Of course we are, because that's part of us getting to know each other and understanding where we're all at in our journey.

Speaker A:

But as we move forward, we want people to come.

Speaker A:

If they've got a problem, we want them to come along with the problem and ask the question.

Speaker A:

Now, they can do that by turning up on the call and asking it, or they can message us outside, drop us an email, drop us a message and just say, I'd like to know the answer to this, but everyone didn't know I was asking that question.

Speaker A:

We'll make that the topic for the week.

Speaker A:

That is not a problem.

Speaker A:

If people don't have problems to bring, then we know the problems everybody has and we will come along with questions and mainly a main topic where we can ask a question of you and you, you can come along and see what everybody's answers are to the question, as well as give your opinion and your thoughts on this.

Speaker A:

So, yeah, that's.

Speaker A:

That's kind of the object of it.

Speaker A:

You know, we may have some.

Speaker A:

Some sessions where it's simple Q and A.

Speaker A:

We may incorporate some of our training sessions in crosses and coffee.

Speaker A:

Deb, I think that's a good idea.

Speaker B:

Yeah, Yeah, I think so.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

We've got lots of things, lots of subjects, lots of Topics.

Speaker B:

We may well have some guests as well.

Speaker A:

We may, we may, yes, we may.

Speaker A:

But initially they might have to put up with us to start with and then we'll bring some guests in.

Speaker A:

But yeah, definitely.

Speaker A:

They're definitely going to have some guests.

Speaker A:

It's just going to be exciting.

Speaker A:

I'm.

Speaker A:

I'm excited to bring it back.

Speaker A:

You know, it's.

Speaker A:

Where are we now?

Speaker A:

We're.

Speaker A:

We're 20, 26.

Speaker A:

And so if I think that I actually introduced this back in January 22nd and like I say originally to small business owners and, and then, then we moved into accountants and bookkeepers, to be able to bring it back again is really exciting for me.

Speaker A:

It's kind of, you know, helped me build up my name on LinkedIn, I would say, actually doing courses and coffee, setting the events up.

Speaker A:

You know, people commenting on how much they enjoyed the sessions attracted other people to come along and.

Speaker A:

Yeah, so.

Speaker A:

So I'm really looking forward to bring it back.

Speaker A:

It feels like it's kind of like one of my little babies.

Speaker A:

And Deb is someone who was there from almost the beginning and probably have been the most regular attendee outside of myself.

Speaker A:

Have probably been you, the most regular person there and someone that used to always offer advice and offer support to our members and sometimes you would offer them the opportunity to talk to you outside of the sessions as well.

Speaker A:

You know, I think it's, it's fantastic that you're joining me with this.

Speaker A:

Obviously you would, you know, with us, you know, with what we're doing with APX training.

Speaker A:

But it's fantastic that we're both now jointly hosting this and we're both going to be sharing as much as we can with the community as well as asking them to share.

Speaker A:

Yeah, it's fabulous.

Speaker A:

I can't wait.

Speaker A:

I'm going to do, you know, what I might do?

Speaker A:

I've got something in front of me of all the comments that we've had over the years of coffee.

Speaker A:

Now, if we go right back almost to the beginning, there's some comments.

Speaker A:

I'm just going to pick out a few, if that's all right.

Speaker A:

And there was a chap called Arpit that joined us and after his first session he said, what a warm welcome.

Speaker A:

Thanks for having me.

Speaker A:

Looking forward to the next meeting.

Speaker A:

Alice.

Speaker A:

Alice said, always a pleasure learning new things every day.

Speaker A:

Robin, lovely to see everyone this morning.

Speaker A:

Thank you for hosting this group.

Speaker A:

Slav.

Speaker A:

Amazing start to the day, Valuable advice, makes you think and possibly change a bit of what you do in a much better way.

Speaker A:

Elaine, A Great way to finish the week.

Speaker A:

Super company and solid advice.

Speaker A:

No croissants but plenty of chat.

Speaker A:

I love my Friday mornings.

Speaker A:

Elaine didn't have croissants and you don't have to have croissants when you're on the call.

Speaker A:

Xavier said, Always a pleasure to interact with these great minds.

Speaker A:

Rachel thank you so much.

Speaker A:

I got an amazing amount out of this morning and just wow.

Speaker A:

Thank you.

Speaker A:

So there so there was another one.

Speaker A:

Tony this was my first cross as a coffee event and very enjoyable.

Speaker A:

It was too great to the point info, really good.

Speaker A:

Julian Said, I loved it.

Speaker A:

Thank you and thank you to all who attended.

Speaker A:

So those were some of the comments from the early crossips and coffee when it was aimed at small business owners.

Speaker A:

But then when we moved into the accountants and bookkeepers, you know, there was, there was a lot of great comments again.

Speaker A:

So Keandi said, thank you so much for today.

Speaker A:

I fully channeled the coffee and pastry.

Speaker A:

I really enjoyed meeting everyone.

Speaker A:

It is fantastic to hear so many ideas and opinions.

Speaker A:

Amy Said, thanks for having me.

Speaker A:

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Speaker A:

Nicola really enjoyed it.

Speaker A:

Thank you Heather.

Speaker A:

It certainly was a great courting.

Speaker A:

Thank you for your time.

Speaker A:

Helen said Bringing the counters of bookkeepers together over croissants and coffee.

Speaker A:

Looking forward to joining you.

Speaker A:

I can't wait for the next session.

Speaker A:

There's just so many more.

Speaker A:

Linda Said, great meeting, learning lots.

Speaker A:

Victoria A great session to start the year.

Speaker A:

Where else?

Speaker A:

A couple more.

Speaker A:

Nick Said, thanks for your time this morning.

Speaker A:

Tim was very insightful and always valuable to hear from other accountants.

Speaker A:

I look forward to participating more in QSOM and coffee so I could, I could go on.

Speaker A:

Deb there's so many there and I've just picked out a dozen maybe from, from the the list of comments I've got that is endless.

Speaker A:

They were all posted on my LinkedIn so you know, anyone can scroll through my LinkedIn, go back a few years and find my Crossings and Coffee posts and you'll see all these comments underne.

Speaker A:

I might repost a couple to make it easier for everyone to see but I just want to say that because it's authentic and it's genuine, these are all real comments that were made and the reason I share that is not for not to boost my ego or our ego.

Speaker A:

It's actually to encourage you to come and join us because I think, you know, anyone running their own accountancy and bookkeeping practice is an opportunity to get a lot out of these sessions.

Speaker A:

And the great thing is, you know you can come along in a couple of weeks time and it's not going to cost you anything to come and join us.

Speaker A:

So come along and have a look and see what you think and see if you get as much out of it as all the previous attendees have got out of it over the years.

Speaker A:

Yeah, so that's what we're looking forward to.

Speaker A:

Adeb, is there anything I've missed?

Speaker B:

No, I don't think so.

Speaker B:

I'm looking forward to meeting, seeing a lot of old faces and meeting a lot of new, seeing where they are and their accounts.

Speaker B:

See bookkeeping practice journey.

Speaker B:

I'm really looking forward to it.

Speaker A:

Yeah, it's gonna be great.

Speaker A:

When's the first one, Deb?

Speaker A:

Is it the 16th?

Speaker B:

It is, yeah.

Speaker B:

At 9:00am on Zoom.

Speaker B:

And you'll be able to find our link anywhere on our adverts if you join our Facebook group, which is facebook.com groups advisoryteams.

Speaker B:

Come and join us there.

Speaker B:

And there's the events are posted regular with reminders in there with the links.

Speaker A:

Brilliant.

Speaker A:

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Speaker A:

Thanks, Deb.

Speaker A:

And we look forward to seeing you on Advisory Conversations for our future podcast episodes.

Speaker A:

These go out every week as well.

Speaker A:

And also on croissants and coffee.

Speaker A:

Like I say, the links to join the cause will be shared on social media.

Speaker A:

Come along and join us and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Speaker A:

Thanks for listening to Advisory Conversations with Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday.

Speaker A:

If you found this useful, make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss the next episode.

Speaker A:

We'll see you next time.

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About the Podcast

Advisory Conversations with Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday
Advisory Conversations with Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday is a podcast for accounting professionals and financial coaches who are stepping into advisory and building something beyond compliance. This isn’t theory, and it’s not surface-level advice. Each episode is a real conversation between Tim and Deb, sharing their experience of moving from technician work into advisory, and what it actually takes to make that shift stick. From leading better client conversations, to developing commercial thinking, to building a team that can deliver advisory without the business owner being the bottleneck. You’ll also hear from occasional guests, including industry specialists, suppliers, and fellow professionals, offering practical insights you can apply straight away. If you’re looking to strengthen your advisory skills, build confidence in client conversations, and create a more scalable, team-led practice, this podcast will give you the perspective and direction to do it. Simple, honest, and grounded in real experience.

About your hosts

Deb Halliday

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Deb Halliday Co-Host | Founder, Author & Advisory Practice Expert

Deb is the founder of The Accounts Ladies and The Accounts Office, and author of How to Build a Financially Healthy Business. With nearly two decades of experience working with business owners, she built and scaled an award-winning accounting practice — before successfully selling it to her own team in 2025.

That journey is exactly what makes her the real deal. Deb didn't just teach the pathway — she lived it.

Her expertise sits at the intersection of advisory delivery, team capability and scalable business design. She helps accountants and bookkeepers move beyond the numbers and into genuine advisory roles — by training their teams, not just the business owner.

Her core belief is simple: a financially healthy business should support your life, not the other way around.

Tim Seymour

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Tim Seymour Co-Host | Accountant, Business Advisor & Advisory Team Specialist

Tim brings 17 years of running his own accountancy practice, a journey that took him from compliance-focused technician to strategic business advisor and eventually to helping others make that same transition.

But it was what came next that shaped his real focus. After supporting accountants and bookkeepers in building their own advisory services, Tim kept seeing the same problem: advisory built around one person. A bottleneck that capped growth, limited scalability, and kept the business owner stuck at the centre of everything.

So he set about solving it.

Today, Tim specialises in building team-based advisory models, helping firms develop capability across their whole organisation, so advisory is delivered consistently, confidently, and without depending on one individual.

Alongside his accountancy work, Tim brings leadership, coaching and financial management experience across multiple industries — all of which shapes his approach to developing people and building high-performing teams.

His driving principle is straightforward: advisory shouldn't depend on one person. It should be built into the team.