I was mentoring a bookkeeper last week who has a good sized bookkeeping business with about 6 staff. The problem is that she isn’t making ANY PROFIT and only taking small wages for herself. As the year comes to a close she has to face the harsh reality that she would be making more money working on her own.
One of the problems she’s identified is the unbillable hours. She has nurtured a great team of loyal bookkeepers who love working for her. Precious time is whittled away when they have their bonding weekly meetings and helping each other out when there are issues. As you would realise, there is very little margin in the hourly rate charged to the client and I nearly lost my business in four-short-months when I was growing my business to Black Belt while nurturing my team.
During our session she said “I’m too nice to the staff!” The problem with that statement though is the underlying meaning which stops her from making other choices – if she doesn’t nurture her staff she is a nasty boss. It’s how we often think. Black and white. Good and bad. Nice or nasty. The reality is that life is full of many shades. Not absolutes.
The Centre for Clinical Interventions calls it “unhelpful thinking styles”. When I was being coached by Peter Cook I often blurted out absolute statements like that. It was only when he started to question why I thought a certain way that it came into my consciousness and I was able to deal with it.
The solution is to replace absolutes with something else. For example, instead of saying “I’m too nice to the staff,” change that to “I’m fair to my staff, my clients AND MYSELF”. Being fair has a completely different connotation and gives you something to work with while still nurturing your team. You could even add it in your Core Values so everyone is on the same page.
Love to hear your thoughts, please leave them below.
Hi Deb, Yes, this article strikes a chord with me. It is a challenge to get the right mix of being supportive , and being available to your staff and minimise non productive time. I note your comment being FAIR to your staff and yourselfl. I am wondering what you did to overcome this to achieve a win-win situation.
Keep smiling
Fiona
Deb, couldn’t agree more. A lot of people feel they need to put everyone before themselves, unfortunately the time comes when you aren’t there and then can’t serve or help anyone. I remember being taught a line for handling any of those tough situations- it was to put forward your position and ask “is that fair enough with you” and have found it of immeasurable help in keeping balance in relationships. Most of us have an inate desire to be fair- works well.
Hi Deb
I am not a bookkeeper or am I involved in that industry, but I loved reading your post.
And I especiaslly liked the way you wrapped it up with…
…instead of saying “I’m too nice to the staff,” change that to “I’m fair to my staff, my clients AND MYSELF”
Cheers…..Brent Crowley
Service Professionals Australia
Good advice for a better approach to her problem. I would much rather be called a fair boss instead of a nice or good boss.
In any type of service business its critical to monitor your hours (billable vs non-billable). There are a lot of tracking websites, apps, etc. out there that might be able to help this bookkeeper. It sounds like she has a great business that just needs some tweaking. Don’t give up yet!