Business

What Female Accountants Can Learn From 5 year olds! Part I

If you’ve been following me on the Social Networks, you should know that I have a 5 year old, who I believe will be 25 next birthday.

Aren’t they the most precious people on this earth?

The questions, the Ego, the inquisitiveness amaze me every day!

For accounting women in business, I’ve discovered 7 things we can learn from toddlers. By the way if you’re not a parent, I’m sure you can find a toddler in your neighborhood, who you can observe for the day.

I’ll share with you 4 insights today and next week, we’ll look at the other 3:

  • Questions

You know these little people, don’t you? Always asking questions ‘till either you or they are blue in the face! In the end, though, there is total clarity on their end.

 So in marketing your business, you have to ask the prospect as many questions as you need to to understand their business and what they expect from you.

 You don’t want there to be times in your accounting business, during the workflow, the client says, “But, aren’t you going to do…”

 Ask as many questions as you like, but don’t let THEM get BLUE in the face!

 There is definitely a fine line between seeking clarity and them asking themselves “Does she know what she’s doing?”

  • Experiments!

My 5 year old is constantly experimenting and plays with everything, except his toys. Always trying new and different things to see if they work.

What we accountants need to understand, is that the way business is done has changed and is still changing. Unless we change with it, we will find our clients leaving in droves.

Right now, clients want serious help in their business. They do not want simply a number-cruncher.

I cannot stress this enough.

YOU are needed to steer them through these turbulent times.

By expanding your knowledge and ability in business (and not only learning about the new standards coming out!), you can help your clients, save their businesses and help the world get on the right track.

  • Begging!

Have you ever denied a toddler anything that they really really wanted at that very moment? “Please, please, please may I have, please…”

Never, never, ever beg when dealing with your prospects or your clients. It’s unprofessional and just downright silly and immature.

Even if you don’t say those exact words, when you’re desperate for a client, it will show.

You start to display all sorts of repulsive behavior, unbecoming of who you say you are!

Stuff like….“You know I really need your business”

Ugh!

  • I’m not playing with you!”

Ah, yes! The Classic!

I’m sure you’ve heard this one before…after we sulk when we can’t have our own way.

You know, as women accountants in business, it’s so easy to get mad when we didn’t sign the new prospect or when the deadlines were yesterday and we’re still crunching the numbers or completing the projects or even when a former client says something ‘bad’ to or about us.

Yes, sometimes, we don’t want to ‘play’ with anyone. We just want to be left alone rather than contemplate our next course of action.

Here’s the thing though… not staying in the game is going ensure one thing… That WE are kicked out of the game!

Running a business is different from working at someone else’s company.

Here, YOU are the company and everything you do reflects on you, the profession, and your business.

Your ability to persevere under crises is what’s going to save you and show you as the true, gracious professional, that I know you are.

…next weekI’ll share 3 more insights!

Share your comments below!

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What kind of business could you start for under $500 and why should you start this business now?

 

Here’s a great little tip I posted on the Derrick Hayes Blog [I'm# 47] in response to his question>>> “What kind business could you start for under $500 and why should you start this business now?”

I believe the best businesses to start right now are service professional businesses, for example: coaching, consulting, web design, training, human resources consulting, financial strategist.

You can use your existing skills to get your business off the ground in a few days or less.

I would use the $500 to get a domain name and a hosting account (preferably on a month-by-month basis for now) and get a Word press template.

Simply posting valuable content every day and using free tools like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn will drive traffic to your site.

Getting out and networking, free speaking opportunities and joint ventures should be enough to get you started until you start making money.

Getting some business cards from Vistaprint is a great networking resource for those managing their budget.

This is the right type of business now because:

  • the costs are fairly low,
  • the speed to market is immediate,
  •  I can learn whatever (web-based) skills I don’t have as I go,
  • people right now need the help both in their lives and in their businesses

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To become a true entrepreneurial accountant, you must do 2 things (1) transform your time-sucking practice into a profitable business and (2) generate other sources of revenue so you can finally start to enjoy your life free of so much stress.

I hope this post and the others on the blog will get you thinking in the right direction.

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Are You Really An Accountant? You Are Not An Accountant To Your Clients!

Yesterday, I went to see a prospective client who was on the verge of a major meltdown.

Here’s my Twitter post:

 

When I arrived, we immediately got to work on her issues.

She’s frustrated about a lot of things, her rent, her payroll, her staff, her (well-overdue) financials from another ‘accountant’…

We sat for about two (2) hours as I gave her strategies she needs to use, actions she needs to take RIGHT NOW and a summarized 6-12 month plan she can adopt to save her businesses, herself and her sanity!

Every time I go to visit a prospect who calls me for accounting services, I transform into a coach, a consultant, a strategist, a psychologist, a master teacher.

My friends, You are not an accountant!

Accountants are employees… you know those persons working in large corporations [ like we used to do! :) ]or smaller ones working behind the scenes doing the number-crunching.

If you’re running your own business you are EVERYTHING to your client and You are also the Expert.

If you remember this, you will attract a boatload of clients, Why?

Because you are genuinely interested in THEIR business and most importantly the effect the business has on the quality of their lives.

My client (Yes! I have assumed we will be contracted as I have a 97% success rate in getting clients! I share with you why in another post.) told me yesterday that she was broke and she’s been juggling money between the 4 bank accounts she has set up – all for different purposes, none of which have been reconciled in years; she has never taken inventory in the 6 years of being open….

I gave her 2 immediate tasks to do before today, 2 that will save her about $16,500 per month. She was extremely pleased!

You can see how important your role is as a coach, a consultant, a strategist, a psychologist, a master teacher to your clients, no?

What are your thoughts? Share them below.

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Accountants: It’s Time To Step Up!

It pains me to write this but feel I must share this story for myself and for my fellow accountants out there.

One of my accounting clients called me yesterday with a heart-breaking story.

He believes that his Office Manager, whom he has complete trust in, has been over-paying herself.

He’s actually done his own detective work for a few weeks, so I listened to him explaining how he suspected and what he has done. He wants us to do a forensic audit on the payroll.

So let me tell you WHY I’m so pained.

This lady actually worked for me when I first started my business and there were some issues between us. So, long story short, in effect, my client employed her when I let her go.

I however did let him know (read: I warned him) about these ‘money-issues’ that she finds herself in. Now, of course, everyone has money issues, but it’s how you handle them and most importantly LEARN from your past issues.

I feel partly guilty that this has happened, only because I warned him when he wanted to hire her, but like the softie I am, I didn’t want anyone out of a job.

On one hand, I felt that I should have been more firm. On the other hand I did what I could, but it was his company and his decision to hire her.

Yes, we as accountants must step up and ensure that we do everything we can to save our client grief, stress or loss.

How can we step up?

Here’s what stepping up means to an Accountant or CPA in business:

  • Stepping up as the accountant means standing your ground and standing up for what you believe and following your instinct.

 

  • It means that you can provide the figures, the analysis, the forecasting, the statistics and even the strategy, but you can’t make the client (the business owner) ‘drink’ it. They see what they want to see.

 

  • Stepping up means being fully involved in the client’s business as if it were your own. If they make a sale, make a profit or get a new contract, you rejoice with them and congratulate them. If they are in pain because their business is suffering, you suffer too.

 

  • Stepping up means losing the client if that’s the best thing for the client. (I can’t tell you how many times, I’ve turned clients away because their business wasn’t my niche or any other reason!)

 

  • Stepping up means allowing the client to run their business the way they want to run it. As a professional on contract, your interest is in the client’s business, but also in your own. Keep your credibility and allow them to fail forward fast.

Yes, we as accountants must step up but we must also stay grounded as the expert, the advisor, the professional.

It’s a fine line, isn’t it?

Does that make sense?

What do you think?

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How can the average accountant and CPA avoid burnout and live a comfortable life with less strain, less anxiety and less hassle.

I’ve had it!

 Enough!

 I can’t take it anymore!”

Yes, we accountants say this sometimes, especially when our focus is always on getting more clients or finishing that project so we can get paid.

Here’s what I know to be true, though. If you find yourself feeling this way or saying these words too often, it’s time to get help!

When life becomes too stressful and you feel emotionally drained, you have achieved that state called: BURNOUT!

One dictionary definition of burnout is an extreme emotional state characterized by emotional exhaustion, a diminished sense of personal accomplishment, and cynicism”. 

Some typical signs of burnout may include

  1. Being angry at those making demands and angry at yourself for putting up with it
  2. Constantly complaining, being negative and irritable for no-apparent reason
  3. Exploding easily at seemingly insignificant things
  4. Chronic fatigue – exhaustion, tiredness,
  5. Frequent headaches
  6. Weight loss or gain
  7. Sleeplessness and depression

 

Here are a few ideas to get rid of this exhaustion:

  • Take time out to savor the fresh scent of nature, especially flowers. The sight and the fragrance that flowers bring can be great relief to a tired, irritated, or dragged feeling

 

  • Examine if your burnout is a result of doing something you don’t like to do, yet you have to face it just the same. In such case, picture in your mind an image that you like to do and substitute this image to the thing you don’t like to do.

 

  • Increase your physical energy. Start a simple exercise program that will allow you to get more involved in feeling good about your body and consequentially your mind.

 

  • Take time out to regain your serenity. A burnout can be equated to an individual who could use a time out from the hustles of life. Take advantage of this time out to meditate and relax those frazzled nerves.      

 

  • Change your business model to one that supports the vision of your lifestyle. Create multiple income streams… that way your business is not dependent on you working 100% with one-on-one clients, 7 days a week.

 

  • Take time out to empty your mind. Discard those damaging emotions and negative thoughts. Purchase a Journal and start detailing your thoughts, your ideas, your daily wins. You’ll soon wonder where the stress has gone!

 

  • Indulge. Soak in a tub or visit the spa. Listen to relaxing music. It lifts us emotionally. You may want to choose specific sounds that can relieve a person from burnout like soft Classical melodies.

 

Avoiding burnout at all costs should be your goal if you ever want to have a successful business and live a happy life.

I recommend belonging to a community of high-achieving entrepreneurs who can support you in building your business, like the International Association of Women Accountants in Business, where we create entrepreneurial accountants.

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Accountants and CPA’s Are You Afraid Of Changing The Way You Do Business?

FEAR=False Evidence Appearing Real. This one 4-letter word prevents us from going forward to achieve all that we desire.  

Fear can truly paralyze us and make us physically sick.

What ARE we afraid of?

Success or failure?

Do we think that once we become prosperous, our family and friends may be jealous of us, despise us or still like us?

The only way to change something that’s not working in your business is for YOU to change!

If you don’t think differently nothing will change

Do you know that a very high percentage of persons fear success because of how it will affect them and their relationship with others?

It is important to spend some time and figure out what is it that we are so afraid of. Only then can we conquer the fear and move forward to everything that is our birthright. Our happiness, our prosperity!

Face the fear head on.

Decide that you want your business to be differently. Better. Smaller. Larger….

Enlist the support of a mentor or a coach to help you through these times.  

Get encouraging family and friends around you and get rid of those who know only to criticize.

It’s Your Business. It’s Your Life. Live Fabulously!

What are you waiting for?


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CPA’s and Accounting Women: Do You Know Where Your Hidden Assets Are?

Your Assets are Gold! They are the key to making you more money…


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Accountants and CPA’s: Help! I just realized I don’t have a business!

Accountants and CPA’s in business are known to work with clients one-on-one until their work is completed…then, on to the next client.
Not only is this way of doing business painstakingly slow and tedious, but it’s an incredibly long and drawn-out way of building a business.

This way of doing business seems more like a job where you answer to many bosses (read: clients) and where you are not able to make as much money as you truly desire.

Here are 3 ways that You should recognize that you have a practice and not a business:

(1) You can’t go on vacation when you want
(2) Even if you get to go on vacation, your income slows down or, even worse, stops completely!
(3) You only have 1 source of income…working with your clients.

We, wholeheartedly, endorse accountants creating businesses that are set up to bring in multiple streams of income.
With revenue coming in in a variety of ways, you become less stressed, even if you have no one-on-one clients to work with.

You are able to manage your business as a true CEO and most importantly, you can start to create more leverage and more equity AND start to actually have more fun!

At the International Association of Women Accountants in Business, we support and educate female accountants to build sustainable and profitable businesses.

See our many benefits that amount to over $9000 per year!

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Are Accountants Being Threatened In Their Own Profession?

This may be a little controversial for some, but then if you are offended, examine your reasons why.

I am a professional woman in a so-called ‘male’ profession and after over 14 years in accounting and audit, ventured out into my own business. So when I speak of accountants, my focus is the entrepreneur or professional running their own business.

When I started my own business, I had no intention of following the flock and I still don’t.

But, I truly believe that we as accountants are being threatened in their own profession.

Why, you ask?

Accountants have been indoctrinated into a culture and like a cult, they fear change.

They look around, see what everyone else is doing to create and manage their businesses and do something similar, fearing to step out of their comfort zone.

Then again, perhaps they just don’t know what to do differently.

Accountants believe that clients need them.

But how could this be when we now have ‘Accounting for Managers” courses, QuickBooks & other user friendly accounting programs.

A long time ago, I came to the realization that most small businesses and solo-entrepreneurs don’t want number-crunchers.

In this case, their solution would be to get a bookkeeper and have their books audited once per year. It certainly is cheaper.

You see, accountants are educated on technical issues, preparing the financial statements, analyzing the profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow statements…all good in preparation for getting a job in a company.

However this is not so good if you want to start your own business and make money running it. They need to know about business.

Even when you look at the articles and tips written by accountants to their clients, they talk about “accruals” and “software” and “concepts”

CLIENTS DON’T CARE!!

That’s YOUR job! They don’t want the details.

Clients only want 3 things:

  1. Make Money
  2. Save Money
  3. Save Time

Accountants are being threatened because they are not fulfilling this basic requirement to their clients.

They do not know how to market their business and become attractive to their clients. When I say ‘attractive’, I mean you attracting your clients, clients coming to you, rather than you going out to get them.

So what do accountants do instead?

They resist embracing change and establish ‘rules’ like “Accountants don’t advertise”.

Bah-humbug!

This makes us too reactive and subject to clients dictating our fees, because now they are in charge. We went out and worked to get that client. We didn’t attract them. Sadly, we really just sit and wait for clients to walk in!

Hey, businesses don’t want accountants anymore. They want those 3 things. (Know them by heart!)

So who are the main threats to the “Accountant”?

I have identified 2 main professions, namely:

  • Business coaches
  • Consultants

Now, this is NOT a bad thing. In fact accountants need to learn from these types of people or even better, BECOME these people.

If you don’t advise your client on making and saving money and saving time, then your business will be in trouble.

This recession that’s happening right now, is weeding out businesses and changing business culture and structures.

What can we do right now?

The major transformations that accountants need to undergo in their businesses are few and doable.

  • Accountants must change the way they do business NOW!
  • They must become a marketer and an adviser, coach or consultant to their clients.
  • Accountants must begin to market to a specific target audience and they have to become the expert in their niche.

These professionals must learn how to get clients, learn how to market their business, learn how to keep their clients and learn to give the clients what they want.

Instead of putting up barriers to prevent the threat (this is like using a typewriter instead of a PC or trying to ignore the internet for getting business), accept and embrace the threat.

Or should we call it an opportunity?

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How Accounting Professionals Can Create Better Productivity And More Profits-The Top 10 Fab Tips

As service professionals in the accounting industry, it is so very common for us to be working 60+ hours a week trying to sort out our clients business and personal finances.

Our clients need our help so badly and sometimes so quickly, that we are jumping from here to there, from project to project to try and finish their work.

This usually ends up with us working harder and longer and results in poor performance and a big loss on the job.

Here are our 10 favorite tips for creating better productivity and more profits in my business:

  1. Get a diary or a notebook. When anyone calls to hire you for that audit or financial project, write it down. If it’s a notebook, include the date, name and phone # of the person calling you.

 

  1. Set one or two days per week for meetings and interviews with clients. Any other day, you are not available!

 

  1. Do only high payoff activities. Look at what is generating you money. When I looked at my P&L statement for the previous year, I noticed that audits had moved up quite a notch in my revenue. Interesting… I decided I only wanted a few retainer clients. These are clients that we do accounting work for, reconciliations, financial statements, etc. Audits for small biz clients, on the other hand, are where the money is. The returns on this type of work are highly profitable.

 

  1. Take time off. When you’re working on figures, your brain gets tired. It’s important to take your week-ends off or take vacations more often to recharge.

 

  1. Have only 2 days per month focusing on your bills and out-goings. The rest of the month, your main focus is to generate revenue for your business.

 

  1. Become the CEO in your biz now! This may be hard as you spend your days pouring over clients books and records.

 

  1. Hire a part-time assistant or a virtual assistant to field your calls. Answering the phone takes up so much time in your day and keeps the distraction high!

 

  1. Start working with sub-contractors that know about accounting or finance so you don’t have to train them. Hire students to come in during the summer to handle the book-keeping and the arduous task of number-crunching then you review what they’ve done and finalize.

 

  1. Start focusing your time and energy on more affluent clientele and people who are willing and able to pay you what you want.

 

  1. Make a list of what you intend to accomplish each day and each week. I truly believe in the power of intention. What you intend most often happens. Your brain will find all sorts of ways to achieve your intention.

 

Try some of these tips and let us know how you get on!

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