If you are a small business owner, an entrepreneur, a solopreneur, a mumpreneuer, the next Zuckerberg or a combination of all of these – you need to constantly upskill or fear getting left behind. Or worse – get a knock on the door from the tax office because you have failed in some kind of business obligation that you had no idea about. And I am not just talking about… Read more
I am writing this on behalf of every entrepreneur, every small business owner, every hustling parent – pretty much everyone busting their gut for the own business. I know deep down, you have also had days where you want out of your business. You want less stress, less hours, less hectic-ness, less fights with your partner, more happy times with your family, less constant struggles with balance and you want… Read more
The rise of the global workforce and the choice to offshore: the debate will not go away, so it is time to be educated and assess if you should hire/outsource parts of your business offshore. If you’re wondering whether it’s worthwhile to hire overseas workers and offshore part of your business for virtual admin support or other business services, cost considerations alone can make the prospect quite attractive. Before you… Read more
It seems everywhere I turn at the moment, there is someone who has an opinion on how a bookkeeping and accounting business should run. It also appears that these “so called experts” are quite willing to judge me and my business without knowing a single thing about me, how I operate, how I attract and retain clients, how my staff operate – and they certainly have no freaking clue about… Read more
As we wake up to another Fashion Brand going into administration, the question needs to be asked: What is the Future of the Retail store? Is it possible that a physical retail store will exist in 20 years time? Or is a profitable shop front a thing of the past? Smart Company have just released today news of David Lawrence going into voluntary administration, and in the past twelve months it… Read more
My business is 4 years old (nearly – but I am an accountant so I round up!). I am about to release into the world my third website in 4 years. Am I crazy, or have the updates been necessary? Is a website still relevant in this digital age? Well let me give you my perspective on whether an accounting or bookkeeping business NEEDS a website. Last year, I attended… Read more
Running a business, no matter how busy you are, does not give you the right to “mis-place” your manners. Common courtesy and respect seem to be not so common these days with the busy entrepreneur expecting, or perhaps it could even be classed as demanding, answers at the drop of a hat (and usually for free). So lets rewind a little bit and get old school for a minute. Do… Read more
Customer Service is not something you set up when you start your business and then you forget about it. It is not programs and processes that you implement and you kick back and relax, simply because you assume your process is working. Recently we had a potential client contact us before Christmas and sadly the contact form on our website was not working. Cue customer service fail. So their first… Read more
There is so much choice when it comes to accounting software. So how do you choose the right one? How do you choose the accounting system for your business – the one you really need. So not the one everyone tells you that you need – but the accounting system which is the right fit for YOUR business? We face this question with every new client we see. Not to… Read more
I know when you start a business finances are tight and every cent is watched like a hawk but if I had a dollar for every time I heard a startup say “I couldn’t afford an accountant so I just googled the answer…but I think I have stuffed it up…can you fix it” – well let’s just say I wouldn’t be sitting here at 9:05pm writing this blog post from… Read more
Well the festive season is in full swing – this means parties, gifts, eggnog, mistletoe, Santa and normally family feuds. But the thing causing the most stress at Christmas, is the level of credit card debt people put themselves in, which hangs over their heads for many months to come. Australians spent over $47 billion in the Christmas spending period between November 15th and December 24 (2015 statistics) according to Inside… Read more
As most of us in the startup phase of our entrepreneurship journey would know, getting cash to fund our dream is not an easy (or quick) task. There are many “No’s” before you hear the magical “Yes”. Or will you even hear the “Yes” at all? Your dream idea is only loved by a third party finance option, if it can see that the idea has the ability to generate… Read more
Now this may sound contradictory because surely if you provide great customer service you must be kicking goals in business right? Well I don’t think so. I don’t think you should be focusing on customer service, I think you should be focusing on having happy customers. “Yes, there is a difference. You can provide great customer service but still have unhappy customers.” So how does this possibly make sense, as… Read more
Why do I ask? Is my business in trouble? Hell no. But today I went to a Business Chicks breakfast where I heard from America’s original #girlboss Sofia Amoruso. She started the Nasty Gal empire along with a bit of a Girl Boss revolution in America. She has a podcast, fashion empire, books, soon to be released series on Net Flix – amongst other things. Well that was until a… Read more
Calling all business owners, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, mumpreneurs, dadpreneurs – or any other fancy titles that are out there at the moment – the sooner you realise that profit is not the same as cash – the sooner you will start to plan for a fabulous financial future. You see here is the thing – I speak to business owners all the time who simply get frustrated (*insert swear words here… Read more
Cash Flow is the major cause 56% of small businesses don’t survive past their 5th birthday. It is time to turn the tables on that horrific statistic and be in charge of your cash flow (with confidence) and remove the stigma and fear around asking for your invoices to be paid. The first thing to consider is that cash flow is not just chasing debtors. Cash flow is understanding – when… Read more
Yesterday I met an inspirational man. Michael Crossland. Someone I had never heard of until I googled him the night before attending MYOB Partner Connect Conference. Accountants are not supposed to have emotions – but let me tell you why I spent time on the beach crying after listening to his key note speech. During the day – I was learning, networking, seeking advice, making connections, seeing developments in the… Read more
Your level of exhaustion should not be used to measure your level of success. So many business owners I speak to – whether that be on social media or in person, tell me that they are just so exhausted. Their business is consuming every waking minute, and even those minutes where you should be sleeping you are instead running all your business scenarios through your head. It never ends. I… Read more
Isn’t it funny how we automatically assume a successful woman in business who is also a mum MUST have “mothers guilt” for working hard and assume they are missing out on quality time with their children. Recently I attended an event run by BSchool in Melbourne where the speaker was Carolyn Creswell from Carmen’s Muesli fame. I have always wanted to hear Carolyn speak – but our diaries never seemed to align… Read more
You don’t want a rogue accountant on your team…you want someone you can trust – with knowledge, experience and a lot of credible advice and care. Here is something I wrote which was published on Smart Company earlier this month…no Rogue Accountants at Healthy Business Finances. For original article, click here. Many small business owners and entrepreneurs understand the benefits of leveraging outsourcing to scale their business. Smart business owners… Read more