Calc

18/07/2026

"But what if everyone leaves?"

It is the number one fear we hear when we suggest a client puts their prices up. So here is a true story from our patch.

A local business owner, brilliant reviews, badly undercharging, finally took the leap. New prices from 1 August, with anyone already booked kept at the old rate until 1 September so nobody got a nasty surprise.

The result? One grumble. Six thank-you emails. Zero clients lost. And their premium add-on service is now so busy they are opening another day.

The trick is knowing your numbers first. We built a calculator that shows exactly how many customers you could afford to lose on a price rise, and how many extra you would need to survive a discount. Spoiler: discounting is the scary one.

Read the story and try it yourself:

Scared of putting your prices up? One local business did it, lost nobody and gained more. Here is the plain-English maths, plus a calculator to test yours.

18/07/2026

15/07/2026

Calc is on the hunt for an intermediate or senior accountant. Mostly accounting and advisory work with some reviewing (around 30% of what we do is advisory and consultancy), and AI must be your second language (we'll test it at the interview, so come ready to show off ).

Whakatāne-based would be perfect, but work-from-home could work for the right person further afield. Flexible hours, competitive pay, and you'll often be working directly with Jason. Plus the best tea and coffee in the region.

Experience counts more than letters after your name. Personality is essential (we already have enough calculators).

Think you're quirky enough to be one of us? Flick your CV and a quick note to [email protected]. Bonus points if you amaze us. Check out www.calc.co.nz/story to see what we're about.

Tag someone who'd be perfect for this!

Calc came to life to shake things up. Spotting a gap in the market, we set out to be the accounting firm that speaks your language.

08/07/2026

Calc is proud to support Kura Kai, a Whakatāne charity built on a simple kaupapa: whānau cooking for whānau. They raise funds for chest freezers, donated to local high schools, then build volunteer networks to keep those freezers stocked with nutritious meals for rangatahi and their whānau.

Kura Kai have just released their Year in Review Report, and it is well worth a read. It captures the impact they have made this past year and the people behind it.

Have a look here: https://kurakai.co.nz/about-us/

Grateful to be one small part of what they do. Ngā mihi nui to Marie Tahana and the whole Kura Kai team.

OUR KAUPAPA At Kura Kai we live by the value of manaakitanga with a simple kaupapa of “whānau cooking for whānau”. We do this by raising funds to purchase chest freezers, which we donate to the High Schools we support. We then build a local community of volunteers who give their time, money an...

07/07/2026

About a million New Zealanders leave free KiwiSaver money on the table every year. Feijoa co-founder Mark White-Robinson explains how spare change round-ups fix that, especially for the self-employed.

Around a million Kiwis miss out on free KiwiSaver money each year. See how Feijoa invests your everyday spare change to claim the 25% government top-up.

07/07/2026

06/07/2026

This Matariki, my son William came home from school with a piece of art that stopped me in my tracks.

He had drawn himself wrapped in a korowai, standing under the stars of Matariki, holding a photo of his late nana. In his own words: "I want to cherish her memory and keep her in my thoughts to reflect on the wonderful times we shared."

I spend my days in spreadsheets and deadlines, and here was my boy quietly understanding the heart of Matariki better than most of us manage.

Matariki is the time we remember the people we have lost, give thanks for the ones still beside us, and look to the year ahead. It is easy in business to spend the whole year head-down, chasing the next thing.

This year I am taking William's lead and lifting my eyes to the people who got me here.

Wishing you a peaceful Matariki.

If you are ready to look at the year ahead, I have made a free one-page planning worksheet to help you map it out. Download it here.

https://calc.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Calc-Year-Ahead-Planning-Worksheet.pdf

23/06/2026

What happens when a business owner is forced to disappear for six months?

After a stroke and two brain surgeries, Joel Dickson had to stop working completely. His e-commerce business kept running without him. That was the moment he learned something most owners never get to see: he had built himself a job, not a business.

So he rebuilt it. He learned the numbers, put every system into one dashboard, and created a team of AI business advisors to help him make better decisions. None of them are real people, but they challenge him, argue with each other, and stop him making expensive mistakes.

It is one of the most interesting things I have seen a small business owner do with technology, and the takeaway has nothing to do with AI.

How one owner built a team of AI business advisors after a stroke forced him to step back, and the lesson every business owner can learn.

21/06/2026

David Morrison from COUNT said something worth writing about.

"You can delegate the task, but you can't delegate the accountability."

AI can handle the task, but AI accountability in business still lands on you. What COUNT's David Morrison taught me about responsibility in the age of automation.