We needed a plumber this week and I called on our reliable plumber we have used for the past 33 years who lives around the corner. After he did the job we chatted as we have done before, catching up on families and business. He started complaining about the plumbing industry and how people don’t seem to care about integrity, doing a good job and being reliable anymore and mentioned a number of projects he’s had to work on to fix the dodgy job that a previous plumber did. Some of them huge commercial projects costing tens of thousands to fix. Jobs that are supposed to be signed off by the plumbing authority but they condone self-assessment so each plumber signs a consent to say the work was done to the required standard. The problem is, he ...

I've made more mistakes growing my bookkeeping business than anyone. Well that's what it feels like anyway! And there were many times I seriously questioned whether it was possible to grow a profitable bookkeeping business. It took me six, long years to create the right model, develop the systems (which are still updated every year) and gather the right team. It was a rollercoaster and there were times I wanted to jump off the ride! But I persevered. And little by little I turned my business around. Along the journey I constantly battled what I call "brain farts"! Unhelpful thoughts that swam through my head as if they were the truth, but they weren't. "What makes you think you deserve success? You're no better than any other bookkeeper! You've ...

I held a webinar this week and interviewed Veronica Trethewey from Book Senz whose bookkeeping business has grown phenomenally since she started in 2010. Since about May 2011 when we first met she has kept me up to date with the growth. She hugely exceeded her goals for the first 12 months and is going to do the same in the second year exceeding k per month and now has a team of 5. I think she’s right on track to reach her goal of a m turnover in 5 years. While juggling the responsibilities of being a wife and mum to three teenage boys and picking grapes during the harvest on the family property! Her success is a result of her determination to achieve her goals and the right tools to help her get there. I think her story is worth telling ...

I wrote in a recent blog about my fear of having conversations which may result in someone getting angry. Because of that fear in the early days of growing my business, I would avoid conversations with clients about getting paid or treating me with respect until I couldn’t take it anymore and I would quit. However running away didn’t solve the problem. It was only when I faced that fear that things began to change. Wikipedia says that fear is an emotion induced by a perceived threat which causes you to quickly pull away from it and usually hide. It is a basic survival mechanism. In short, fear is the ability to recognise danger leading to an urge to confront it or flee from it (also known as the fight-or-flight response). I worked ...

I was mentoring a bookkeeper this week who had set aside time to work ON her business and realised in the process how much there was to do. She was working on her Vision and Mission, establishing her point of difference, creating a website she’s proud of, implementing systems in her business and desperately needed to recruit because she was flat out with client work. She wanted to get everything perfect before she put on a bookkeeper, but the reality is that she will spend her time frustratingly chasing that illusion. Wikipedia says that “perfection is, broadly, a state of completeness and flawlessness”. I don’t know about you, but I’m not perfect! As a great bookkeeper you have built your reputation on perfect bookkeeping which ...