Do you ever feel like the bigger your business gets, the more complicated things become? (You know, that whole thing you specifically set out to NOT let happen?)
With each stage of growth comes another wave of rules, need-to-knows and layers of complexity that make you cast your mind to the one-man-show days and wonder if it’s too late to go back.
But need I remind you, we don’t create bigger and more fulfilling lives by playing small.
So, how do you simplify and clarify as you grow, so you can lean into each exciting leap forward? Let me introduce you to my 7 Laws of Financial Joy.
Whilst I offer you these rules as a way to find greater clarity in your finances, they can easily become a lens through which all other aspects of your business become clear. And if you’re in the midst of another season of uncomfortable expansion, what better time than now to simplify, clarify, and move forward with greater ease.
What does it mean to truly believe in yourself, in your capacity to achieve what you set out to do? So often I see clients who have accepted the identity of being ‘bad at numbers’. This limiting belief can come from anywhere - a previous mistake, a poor influence as a child, or even from within ourselves.
Pause for a moment to consider what feelings rise to the surface as you think about diving into your numbers to better understand your business. Do you feel fear, anxiety, perhaps even anger holding you back? Take a moment to consider why those particular feelings have attached themselves to your finances. Trace your way back through your past experiences. You may find that your complete lack of faith in your abilities doesn’t actually have anything to do with you in the first place.
This can be challenging and confronting work. But on the other side of this lies your potential to be brilliant, if you only give yourself the chance. Work towards developing your self belief.
How darn good does it feel when you finally ‘nail’ that thing you’ve been working at? We find this kind of joy in all aspects of life - learning an instrument, training for a physical challenge like a marathon or competition, or even taking our professional skills to the next level.
When we set ourselves to learning something new, and then mastering it, we feel 10ft tall.
So what if I told you that similar success could be found in becoming the master of your numbers? Before you go dismissing that as beyond your ability (go back and read Law #1 again) you must remember that you are the foremost expert in your business. No one will ever know what those numbers mean within the context of your enterprise better than you.
If you struggle to engage with your financial data, consider reasons why this might be besides you just ‘not getting it’:
Commit to learning how to engage more smoothly with your numbers to begin the road to mastery - this is very much one of those woo-woo ‘the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’ kinda deals.
I see it all the time in my business advisory work - when the penny drops.
Confusion arises in many areas of business finances (so don’t feel bad if you feel like you don’t ‘get’ the seemingly obvious - I can almost guarantee you won’t be the first or the last!). GST can be obscure, moving from contractors to paid staff feels like a quantum leap, and preemptive tax planning sounds like the sort of pain no one goes through on purpose.
But all these elements, when tended to with patience instead of panic, can have an enormous positive impact on the short to long term planning inside every business. Knowledge is indeed power, and in the words of the great Maya Angelou, “when you know better, do better."
Time and time again I've seen business owners' eyes go wide, they light up and you can see in their face that it’s all just clicked into place. The sheer volume of times this has happened means that you too could be one critical conversation away from your very own breakthrough.
Marie Kondo and I seem to share a love of ‘sparking joy’ through thoughtful organisation. We both also seem to notice in our work how our clients hang onto that which may no longer serve them.
For my clients, that often looks like impractical systems and limiting beliefs. (Just when you thought we were done with the woo-woo stuff!)
I often describe how out-of-the-box solutions like MYOB, Xero and Quickbooks can be a double edged sword. These come with a preprogrammed chart of accounts that’s meant to be reflective of the average business as a starting point.
But really - what in the heck is an ‘average’ business?!
Simply changing the name of your accounts - and adding in some more specifics - can be a fantastic start to better organising your data. It’s the difference between ‘stuff I get paid for’ or ‘stuff I pay for’ to accounts labelled as ‘online revenue’, ‘sales through referrals’, ‘Facebook Ad Spend’, ‘Software Subscriptions’... you get the picture.
The second step is ensuring your bookkeeper is accurately organising everything on your behalf. It could be a valuable exercise to meet with your bookkeeper and accountant together to have a 101 level chat for everyone’s benefit. This might seem mundane, but making sure you’re all on the same page gives you the confidence to check their work and minimises the chance of any nasty surprises down the road.
This process also lends itself to developing that self belief and mastery we talked about in Laws #1 and #2.
This law is one of my favourites, because if you follow all of the other Laws this one happens all on its own.
When we have our finances in order, we can understand them with relative ease and we know we can put that knowledge to profitable use - that my friend is the very definition of financial confidence, in my books.
This is the end game for my clients and I, as it marks the beginning of a whole new chapter in the story of their business. One that sees them standing at the helm of their enterprise guided by their innate wisdom and self belief. They work with financial systems and support staff, whilst still feeling in complete control (rather at their mercy).
The business owners I work with often start their enterprise with the intention of leaving their mark on the world in a profound way. Whether this is through service to the community, revolutionising their industry or leaving their legacy in their work - helping them do so without fear of their finances is truly the greatest joy for me.
Prevention is better than a cure - this is no less true when it comes to the maintenance of your financial data.
If you’re establishing these laws in order, by this stage you will have the belief you can wrap your head around all this, the determination to learn and the systems structured with clarity.
The next step is regular check-ins to maintain order and keep topping up your knowledge. The idea of an end-of-month routine used to be a necessity before the tech boom hit the accounting space. But it was also inadvertently a healthy 30-day habit that kept the owner's finger on the pulse.
Make an appointment with yourself - or even your bookkeeper - to conduct a regular review of business activities and make this process a profitable routine.
You’ll note that your bookkeeper and accountant get mentioned fairly regularly in these laws. This is for the obvious fact that sustainable business growth means collaborating with the right people who have complimentary skills to yours.
These laws allow you to maximise the potential of those collaborations.
Getting your financial data well organised and relevant makes onboarding a bookkeeper a smoother process. It also makes it simpler to check their work and support them if they happen to miss something. Remember: they don’t have the top-down view that you do.
And as a Chartered Accountant myself, I can’t tell you what a joy it is to work with business owners who can speak confidently about their numbers. The energy they have invested in mastering their financial information elevates the conversations we can have, and together we can spend more of our time looking forward to their business’ future. Do you need help laying down these financial ‘laws’ in your business? To get started, Book a FREE 30 minute chat with me: https://betterbusinessdecisions.com.au/
| Disclaimer: These are yuck and boring but unfortunately a legal requirement for professionals in my industry. So just a reminder, the information contained here is general in nature and you should seek financial and business advice tailored to your own personal circumstances. Which, by no small coincidence, I can help you out with. Head over to my website and book a free 30 minute chat with me: https://betterbusinessdecisions.com.au/ |
