Tamryn Dicks

What does your company do?

Pharsyde Accounting is a management accounting firm that specialises in improving business operations for professional service businesses. We offer a range of services, from bookkeeping, payroll, and taxes; to profitability analysis, cashflow management, and strategic planning. Our goal is to help you to optimize your business performance, increase your income, and reduce your workload. We understand the challenges and pressures that business owners face, because we have been there ourselves – we’re a small business too! Our own experience makes us committed to preventing burnout in business owners, by providing them with the tools, support, and guidance they need to run their businesses with ease and joy. Whether you are just starting out, or you are ready to scale up, we can help you achieve your business goals and your personal goals, without sacrificing your health, happiness, or relationships.

What is your biggest success?

I burnt out extremely badly building this business. I didn't recognise what I was going through and I pushed myself way beyond the point I should have. I collapsed mentally, emotionally and physically and I very nearly took the business with me. But I am very proud of the fact that (once I had stopped crying), I picked myself off the floor and I learned what I needed to learn to fix it. I learned to heal myself and I learned how to be a better business owner. I have helped many, many small businesses over the years. We give them peace of mind with regards to their compliance, we help them with their strategy, we help them improve their profits and cashflow. I have had clients double income in a year and I have had clients transform their businesses from life-sucking jobs to real businesses that they can live off - but I still consider coming back from burnout to be my biggest success, because it made me into a better person, a better boss and a better business owner - and that helped me to give even better service and support to my clients. That, and the launch of our non-profit, Pharsyde Foundations - I am very proud of that!!

What has been your biggest hurdle?

I overcame burnout and had to re-build from scratch and I steered my company and my clients safely through covid - both of which I am extremely proud of! But I think my biggest hurdle has been the cashflow challenges of the last two years. The covid pandemic hard a very hard knock-on effect on the SA economy. Coupled with rising inflation, loadshedding and rocketing fuel prices, small businesses are finding it hard to survive - because of this, many of our clients have been battling to pay us on time. Some have even moved to cheaper accounting firms. I have run this business for 18 years. These past two have been the ONLY two I have suffered from cashflow challenges and they were hard. But I still managed to our income by 42% last year and I managed to halve our losses. So we are definitely on the up again!