€¢ Who are you?

We are Simon Murrison and Bruce Wilson, owners of Murrison & Wilson Limited

€¢ What does your business do? We're forward thinking accountants specialising in tax and business advice for SMEs

€¢ Where are you based? In our offices at Charing Cross. We chose this central location as it's accessible to clients without having the city centre office costs

€¢ How did you get started? We relied on existing business contacts to provide help and referral sources when we started up. It was vital for helping us get started in the beginning.

€¢ What is your background? Both of us were partners in other city centre firms - Simon Murrison Chartered Accountant, Bruce Wilson Fellow of the Association of Tax Technicians and a former Inspector of Taxes.

€¢ What is your top tip?

€¢ It's really important to focus on what you are good at and don't spend time doing what you are not good at. The best advice is to get good people around you to do those things so you can spend more time and energy on where your strengths are.

€¢ How long has your business been running? We started trading in March 2013.

€¢ Has anyone helped you get started and how? The bank helped us initially with funding, and our referral network and contacts helped us greatly. We are also really thankful to our loyal client base who we couldn't have done it without.

€¢ What was your biggest mistake/or what would you do differently?

When we started the business we thought we would be able to do the majority of the work and be out and about growing the firm. I guess this feeling came from being nervous about immediately employing staff until things settled down and we had a regular fee pattern. We had ambitious ideas to grow the firm quickly and it was not long before we realised that we can't be in two places at once. If you are out trying to project the good name of the firm then you need to be able to focus on this entirely and not worry about what was happening back in the office. Therefore getting the right support staff quickly was a priority for us to ensure that our exception standard of work didn't slip. We now have great confidence in the office team that gives us the security we need to focus on growing the business.

€¢ Where do you plan your business to be in five years time? We want to grow on our existing and exciting client base we have currently and we want to make sure clients turn to us as the first port of call for all their business issues.

€¢ Useful contacts

I have spent a lot of time networking since the business started ensuring the name of the firm was in front of as many people as possible. I have attended many events but I am a big fan of Business Banter (www.businessbanter.co.uk) which meets every Thursday in Martha's on St Vincent Street.

Out of the Business Banter a quarterly meeting called The Business Journey (http://www.thinkdifferentevents.co.uk/current-events/the-business-journey.html) was born which is held in 29. The event is hosted by a selection of business partners who take it in turn to present and educate the audience. There is a huge emphasis on learning something new and each time i have attended i have come away feeling I know a bit more about the work others do and made new connections.

€¢ Contact Details:

simon@muwca.co.uk

www.muwca.co.uk

Twitter @simonmurrison or @brucewilsontax