Today we celebrate 5 wonderful years in business. Here is a snap shot of some of the wonderful people who have helped along the way as well as some of the fun things we get up to :) It just seems like yesterday Kristy and I were enjoying lamb shanks and red wine with a whiteboard....yes it was over dinner that the business name Growthwise was decided. We started with no clients, no office, no systems, just an idea and a passion to help people in small business.

Since then we have moved out of my house and into an office, grown from a team of 3 to a team of 11, won numerous awards, scored 100% in tests, made a bucket load of mistakes and had a tonne of fun.

But it hasn't always been easy or without a huge amount of effort. You see starting a business as most of you would know is scary, exciting, daunting, exhilarating, scary again and fun.

Thanks to some inspirational people, great mentors, the Newcastle Community and awesome friends in the accounting community Growthwise is kicking goals.

First big thanks goes to Michael MC Carter. We started working with MC 12 months after starting our business and it was by far the best decision we have ever made. We had a bucket load of ideas on what we wanted to do and how we wanted to help people. MC helped us focus our attention, kept us accountable and challenged our targets and our progress.

MC also introduced us to a great network of similar minded accountants who share the same passions we do and want to push the envelope. We thanked him by organising a flashmob! (and you thought accountants were boring)

Boring accountants stage a flash mob dance off to "U Can't Touch This"

We have had a lot of fun working and socialising in the Newcastle Community. #newcastlecoffee mornings each Friday at Coffee on Crown always produce some laughs. We are proud to be the Foundation Sponsors of The Lunaticks Society and most of all extremely excited and proud of being part of the team to bring DiG Festivalto Australia.Next thanks goes to our Designer Daniel Borg who has created a wonderful brand and captured the persona of our business perfectly.

Newcastle is full of brilliant businesses and business owners so thumbs up and thanks for allowing Growthwise to be part of that community. Special thanks to Craig Wilson for always setting the bar high and showing us the way around Digital Media.

Thanks to Rod Drury and Hamish Edwards for having the vision to start Xero. Xero has allowed us to really change the way we work with clients. Then goes thanks to all the Add-on partners! We are now in a position to help small businesses concentrate on what they do best by removing most of the admin hassles and revealing the data you really need to make the right decisions.

To Richard and Julie Francis. Thanks for wanting to push the envelope and get rid of the admin hassles in accounting businesses. You are super stars to the team at Growthwise.

There are hundreds of other people that have been fantastic advocates for Growthwise and for that we say thankyou.

Thanks always to our clients. We have so much fun working with you on so many different projects.

But the biggest thanks of all has to go to the growthwise team. A business is only as good as the team behind it. It's like any sports team really. The hard work, dedication, passion and drive of everyone is awesome. It really is a fantastic place to work.

And on that note we must have a special mention to Coffee on Crown who help keep the creative juices going every day! Thanks Beau, Justin and James.

We have many more plans for the next 5 years and can't wait to share these with you. Here's to the next 5 :)