Meet Lachlan Hughson | Finance Entrepreneur and Horse Healer

We had the good fortune of connecting with entrepreneur, horse healer and author Lachlan Hughson, and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lachlan, what makes you happy? Why?
What makes me really happy is my philanthropic focus – helping to heal rescued and abused horses as a hoof trimmer, equine massage therapist, energy worker and nutritionist. And to helping protect their home; the natural world. Working with horses has always been very important to me but the chance to learn how to help them heal from their traumas, to help them live better lives than they otherwise would have, gives me an enormous amount of satisfaction. Rescued animals of all types – horses, cats, dogs, cows, birds and many others – deserve to have a better life than they are so often born or pushed into.

I think we will only really learn how to care for humanity when we learn how to care for the natural world and all its species. To that end, in a similar vein to my horse healing focus, I recently wrote and published a book – Walkabout to Wisdom: Awakening to Nature’s Teaching in the Australian Outback – an Amazon Best Seller across several categories. It seeks to help its readers connect with the sense of awe and happiness a stronger connection to the natural world will provide. It is a heartfelt insight into the underlying natural source of happiness, a connection to the natural world, that working with horses provides me.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
My business, which is based on helping executives, Boards and investors build better energy and mining companies, the bedrock of our economy and society, reflected my own experiences in the investment banking and corporate worlds – that we often make sub-optimal business decisions. And the reason for that is our financial models, using Excel, are too simple for the complexities of today’s world. We need financial models that better reflect the dynamic, probabilistic nature of business, not the simple, linear models typically used. Fortunately, there are several software packages available (@RISK by Lumivero is the one I use) that allow us to enhance the finance function through converting simple Excel models into more powerful, useful probabilistic models, quite easily, to generate greater insights and make far better decisions. I believe this is a tool whose time has come; one that will fundamentally enhance our business decisions and ultimately be for the betterment of all parts of society – not just the business world.

Like most entrepreneurs who believe in their product or service, the path has not been easy. Building this business has been very difficult at times but those challenges have helped me to refine where the opportunity really lies. And the right people to work with across a range of different companies. It has also provided the opportunity to work with other entrepreneurial teams that I really enjoy. As an example, I recently worked with a Denver-based private energy company to help them raise capital using this approach, which they found very helpful, and also advised several portfolio companies in a global infrastructure fund to enhance their M&A and Board risk analysis models – it was the first time they had used a probabilistic approach in their finance function. It is projects like these, which are helping the finance function evolve, that encourage me to believe it is just a matter of time before more finance professionals embrace this approach.

Following this entrepreneurial path has taught me many things – primarily that being intellectually curious and seeing a problem that needs to be solved is a great base on which to build a business. It has also taught me that being committed to helping other professionals in your field of expertise expand their capabilities is an amazing privilege. And, though there will be hard days and disappointing days, that where you have integrity, commitment and a new idea, it will be recognized at the right time for those who will most benefit from it even though it may take longer than you think… the fundamental reality for most of us on an entrepreneurial path.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
It would be a great balance of Denver and also the mountains given how important they are to the full Denver experience.

I would pick my friend up from DIA in the early evening, with the sun setting behind the Rockies, to give them a sense for the scale and beauty of the mountains. Then dinner at The Kitchen, downtown Denver, for a delicious meal after which we would enjoy a walk up to Larimer Street and a wander through this most wonderful part of old Denver. We would finish with a few drinks at The Cruise Room, at The Oxford Hotel, assuming jet lag had not kicked in!

The following few days we would enjoy a number of delicious meals in different sections of the city – Sol Mexican Cocina at Cherry Creek, Root Down in LoHi, and Barcelona Wine Bar in RiNo for a tapas treat – along with a wander around both Cheesman and City Parks to enjoy the skylines.

After several days, we would leave for Silverthorne to enjoy the mountains. Driving up and out of Denver on I-70 would be a perfect way to show off the mountains and the extraordinary geology on view. We would stay in a friend’s house in Silverthorne and enjoy several of the hikes around the town into the mountains. We would also visit Breckenridge for a delicious meal at Hearthstone, with a wander around Frisco the next day after an early breakfast at Butterhorn Bakery and Café – not sure how far we will walk after all that food so we may just wander Tenmile Creek to walk it off.

Given how close Vail is, we would also spend a day there just wandering through the town and enjoying the reflective bubbling of Gore Creek – and maybe just a small snack at a place that took our fancy.

With our stomachs full and wallets empty, it would be time to return to Denver for a last dinner at the Brown Palace – the Palace Arms – to reflect on the majesty of a great Denver Hotel. And, to enjoy one last unique aspect of the city, I would drop my friend off at Union Station to get the Light Rail back to DIA ,and their plane trip home.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Who deserves a little credit – that is easy. My parents, Robert and Carol. They encouraged me to live the life that called and supported me as I came to understand what my life path entailed. They supported me through my university years – as well as they could – and provided a home life that made me reflect on what was important to a life well lived. They also connected me to the difficulties and challenges my ancestors had faced and why making the most of this life is the best way to show our respect for those who went before us. And they allowed me to follow my fascination with the natural world and its wisdom even though my spiritual beliefs evolved differently to theirs. I could not have asked for better parents.

Website: 4-dresourcesadvisory.com

Instagram: lachlan_hughson

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lachlanhughson/

Other: lachlanhughson.com sleipnirswisdom.com