Jeff Wingham started CIK Accounting Solutions in 2019 as a side hustle before going it alone in 2020. Since taking the risk and committing himself fully, Jeff has increased his recurring fees by 600% despite the global pandemic. The pandemic also meant that he’s fully cloud based with a remote working team and his location in Dundee is not a barrier to growth.
Jeff tried managing his business using spreadsheets but found it too stressful and worried about missing emails as his business scaled. He embraced Onkho after getting a recommendation from Mark Telford and today, he’s stress free and scaling safely.
What were you struggling with?
My main problem was keeping track of what needed to be done and by when, as the business grew so quickly.
I also knew I would have to employ someone and one of the issues I remember from being in practice in a prior life was that everyone had their own email address. So, if a client emailed a member of staff and that person had forgotten to put on their “Out of Office”, 2 or 3 days could go by and then the client would pick up the phone and ask, “why hasn’t my email been answered?”.
I was struggling with a combination of these two things.
How do you use ONKHO?
It’s the Bible! It’s the first thing that gets switched on. You know, some people might switch on Xero, and email and check all of that but for us, ONKHO comes first!
The planning is so important and there’s a bit of competition in the office, you know, to turn things green. That creates an element of competition and that’s good, that can only improve productivity.
How has ONKHO helped you?
I have the confidence that everything’s getting done on time, when it needs to be done, and not missing deadlines. Not that I missed a deadline before, but I come back to that stress thing – there was always that doubt in the back of my mind pre-ONKHO. You know, have you done everything?
It’s that Friday evening feeling when you locked the office door for the last time. Have you locked the office door? You try the door 20 times! And then it’s followed closely by have I done everything I should have done this week?
I still check the office door 20 times before I leave, but I don’t have that second thought about have I done everything I should done this week.
That’s a great stress relief. That’s the major thing for me.
Why should accountants get ONKHO?
I took a recommendation from Mark Telford – I’m sure many accountants out their will recognise the name. He uses it in his own practice. So, I’ve not looked at every other possible competitor, but had I not been satisfied, I would have continued to search.
I ticked all the boxes that were initially needed. So, removed the stress of trying to remember everything in my head, and removed the email issue with Inbox.
I also think the support I got from day one, in terms of the process of how, what and when it would happen. The dates that were promised were delivered, and the journey was very smooth. I knew exactly what was happening and what was expected of me and that was key. I think that personal touch, for me, was the most important thing of the whole journey.
