Brydon’s affinity with numbers started when he was very young. His mother was first to notice this when he used to work out how much her groceries would cost prior to getting to the checkout. If the checkout operator said something different, he would pester his mother to make the checkout operator do it again. Invariably he was right. So it’s not much of a surprise (to his mum at least) he’s now an accountant.
Brydon left high school in 1986 aged 17, and started his first full time job working as an office junior for a small Chartered Accountancy firm in Tauranga. Changing jobs to increase his learning opportunities over the next five years, he reached a point where he realised he needed to obtain a degree to go any further as an accountant, and so started a Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) at Waikato University in 1991.
Brydon continued to work while studying towards his degree in Hamilton, completing his BMS with honors in 1996, receiving various distinctions in Mathematics, Strategic Management, and Business Communication. Upon graduating, Brydon then started studying towards his professional Chartered Accounting certificate becoming a fully qualified Chartered Accountant in 1997.
Brydon continued to work in Hamilton until being offered an opportunity to work for Deloitte in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in 1999. Asking the simple question “Why Not?” and finding no real answers not to, he boarded a plane to a country he knew nothing about and stayed there for the next four and a half years. It was here that Brydon gained significant insights into running businesses in a developing, and at times, challenging environment, an appreciation of the many things we take for granted in our ‘developed’ country, and began to take a more active role in helping others to help themselves.
Returning to New Zealand in late 2003, Brydon found work with a large Accounting firm in Auckland, but after six months left them to later work for a property developer also in Auckland until early 2009 at which time Brydon started his new business, Infinite Possibilities.
In late 2003 Brydon was also diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondalitis (a form of arthritis) which initiated his journey of self-healing and it’s eventual remission in mid 2006. He attributes his illness’s remission to a holistic approach encompassing diet, exercise, pain management, philosophy, and counseling. His self-directed learning in these areas has taught him that anything is possible and he now fulfills that desire to learn and improve his own quality of life and that of others via his new business, Infinite Possibilities.
During Brydon’s years working for Chartered Accountants, he has provided management accounting, financial accounting and reporting, taxation, financial planning, information systems, and general business advice to hundreds of small to medium sized enterprises, as well as multi-national, and Government based organisations. Working for so many years with a large number, and variety of, businesses and their owners has given Brydon a broad base of experience from which to provide practical advice relating to most aspects of a business.
Brydon is now formalising his coaching skills by studying business and well-being coaching with the International Coach Academy. This will further expand his knowledge in achieving the fulfillment of life goals, enabling him to incorporate this approach into accounting and the solutions he provides to clients of Infinite Possibilities.
Life outside of business for Brydon is all about relaxing with his wife Anastasia, being with family and friends, travelling, playing games online (like Starcraft, Left 4 Dead or Battlefield 2142), studying philosophy (in particular those of indigenous cultures), exploring mountains (preferably snowboarding down them), reading, and watching movies (some of his favourites include The bucket list, Shawshank redemption, Tears of the sun, and Finding Nemo).