about

Born in the early Eighties *, conceptualized in 2021 and established in 2022? That’s Crazy, the timeline is illogical, carry on reading. A name with meaning and room to grow was required.

Root4Plant was established, the “Plant” was easy, taken from my surname (* that is why the Early Eighties predates the 2022 establishment of the business), perhaps a bit self serving, however what a fantastic surname, it ties in so well with “Root” and the “4” (for) ….. if you’re not going supporting (“Rooting”) for your own business, don’t expect anyone else to.

“Root” highlights the importance of establishing a firm foundation, which will hopefully sustain and enable the business to grow going forward, branching out into different areas as it takes root and grows, in search of what works and what doesn’t.
“4” being a play on the word “For” as it Rooting for Plant. 4 is also strong number that implies balance, if you’re going to be providing Accounting Services, you really need a balanced outcome, for every debit there has to be a credit so to speak.
Plant, when choosing a name, legacy is too grandiose a reason and pales into insignificance of what really matters in life. However it doesn’t hurt when starting out to use a company name that has personal meaning and purpose. This is perhaps a contrarian method of selecting a Logo or Business name, however if it doesn’t work for those in the business, why should it for anyone else. We think Root4Plant made sense so we went with it. That will one day ….. let’s see where things “grow”.

Who is “The Crazy Accountant” and why “The Crazy Accountant”, that would be me Michael Plant, a Qualified Chartered Accountant by profession and vocation. “The Crazy Accountant” for a number of reasons, here are just a few:

Chartered Accountant and Crazy Accountant have the same “CA” abbreviation.
To call oneself “The Crazy Accountant” is a risk ….. it is crazy on a Professional Services, Business and a few optional extras website ….. however that is only if one doesn’t have the full context, which we will explore in future blogs / articles.
An important “Root” cause of Root4Plant (Pty) Ltd will be the importance of “Mental Wealth”. There are not many better names than “The Crazy Accountant” to spark that debate.
Maybe we just see things ….. differently.
“The Crazy Accountant” gives one the opportunity to refer to “We” instead of “I”. One of the goals of the enterprise is to expand, additionally in the interests of efficiency, I will not have to rewrite the “About page” in totality if that does take place. We can always fall back onto referring to the “royal we” from time to time.
I’d only be crazy if I did not take the opportunity to try out this entrepreneurial journey or to delay it to an underdetermined time in the future ….. once I’d retired from Full time employment.
I’d only be crazy if I did not take this chance. I asked myself for a second opinion on this one and for once I was in agreement, with myself.
If there is sometimes “method to this madness”, perhaps a bit of positive craziness is not a bad thing.
Finally if one is not crazy enough to take a chance on themselves ….. why should anyone else.

That’s a younger me, but why use an older picture?

More hair -> Definitely, Smiling -> Yes.

Not fond of being in a photograph -> True …. lower resolution due to scanning in an older photo, that vintage look -> Bonus.

I am holding the Currie Cup, a famous trophy in South African Sports. I was fortunate enough to be photographed with a piece of history, after the Team that I support won.

The mighty “Tree Aloe”

The Company Logo ….. Why a tree and why an aloe tree?

Well, the tree fits in with the enterprise’s name. The theme of establishing “Roots” and a growing business, that’s branching out over time, is given a visual form.

The use of an ALOE ties in with the well known accounting concept A – L = OE (Assets – Liabilities = Owner’s Equity).

A tree lends itself to a number of metaphors, tools and themes which will be explored and built on going forward.

Most importantly, quite frankly, we liked the idea.

We will explore the Logo in more depth, in a separate Blog.

To boldy ….. no that is not it. Perhaps something completely out of character, perhaps quote a bit poetry, nope that is not it either. (That said, whilst watching a modern day classic movie, a few lines of poetry were quoted in the one scene, they resonated, we will note them for further consideration later).

One could borrow, from one of the gold standards of Mission Statements ….. J&J’s Credo, however no, we’ll keep thinking about it. In the interim we will lay out a few ideas to build on going forward:

To create something of lasting value.
To provide a story, that has an impact, a positive impact, either personally or professionally, no matter how small, on those that follow the journey.
To partner (not Consult) with various entities and individuals, making a positive contribution towards their goals.
To encourage Educational Empowerment.
To provide a different perspective on any number of topics.

These are the lines that resonated:

“We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven;

that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate,

but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

The final lines of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem ‘Ulysses’