Tag: business coach

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Building a business that doesn’t depend on you

Whether you want to make your business more profitable, scale up, have a better work-life balance, or to make your business more saleable than you need a business that is less dependent on you.

If you can’t go on holiday for a week without having to keep an eye on your emails, then your business is too dependent on you.

This isn’t about abdicating your responsibilities and letting your business go haywire, it is about delegating your day-to-day involvement in the business. When I sold my first accountancy practice, I achieved 32% above average because the business wasn’t dependent on me. It might not grow without me at the helm, but it definitely wouldn’t collapse. Everything was delegated to a competent team, reliable software and repeatable processes.

Yes, this takes work.

  • Designing and refining repeatable processes that will produce the best results again, and again, and again.
  • Investing in software and setting it up so that your business is less dependent on humans as experts, including yourself.
  • Hiring or outsourcing strategically where you need the human touch.

I love helping business owners to design all this for themselves. To date every business owner (accountant or otherwise) who has come to me for help in preparing their business for sale has ended up liking it so much that they’ve kept the business for a few more years as they’ve been able to work part time hours.

So don’t wait until you’re ready to sell to create a desirable business! Get a coach and get your life back.

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Why every small business needs business advice 

Times are tough at the moment and small business owners don’t know where to turn. Those who are fortunate to have an accountant who already provides business advice have a headstart on their competitors. The real value of a good accountant goes far beyond ticking boxes, filling in forms, and meeting deadlines. This is the basic service that we offer our ‘Essentials’ clients in return for a ‘no frills’ fee.

Business is advice is more than just tax advice! Business advice is about improving profitability, growth, and work-life balance. More and more of our clients are asking us for additional advice sessions throughout the year.

It’s not just about preparing management accounts that nobody bothers to look at but about sharing ways that will improve the business. An accountant can explain what the numbers mean, highlight trends, and identify issues early. I’m not just an accountant and an entrepreneur myself but am also a qualified Coach and Mentor so at Minerva Accountants, we are able to provide so much more than just financial advice.

Business advisers can play a vital role in strategic planning and decisions such as pricing, hiring staff, investing in equipment, raising finance, expanding into new markets or just growing your share of your current market. And they have an open book of contacts when it’s time to call in experts.

Why wouldn’t any small business take advantage of business advice from their accountant when times are tough? And why aren’t more accountants able to offer this advice?

In short, business advice from accountants is not a luxury for small businesses, it’s a strategic asset. By working with an accountant who focuses on understanding the bigger picture, small business owners gain clarity, control and confidence. Compliance keeps a business legal, but advice helps it to grow, even through tough times.

If you’re looking for support in this area, we have a few options for you:

👉 Business Advice & Part-time FD Services 

👉 Coaching and Mentoring for Business Owners 

👉 Minerva Clarity Review and Business Advice

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A double workload ahead? 

I’ve been speaking on the topic of MTD for 10 years now. Initially to our own clients, then to other accountants and bookkeepers, and now to business owners. One of the reasons I’ve been trying to encourage people to pull their finger out is because there will be a period of double work. 

In case you haven’t already realised, and it seems that many haven’t, you will have to submit a normal tax return for 2025/26 AND three quarterly returns for 2026/27 during the 10 month period April 2026 – Jan 2027. 

Do, if you aren’t ready for MTD yet … pull your finger out! (And give me a shout if you need a hand) 

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What’s your UX like? 

User experience (UX) can make or break your business.  

I woke up at silly o’clock this morning dreaming about the poor UX in a particular bit of our accounting software. Every time I use it I get annoyed. There’s a similar irritant in our practice management software. Things that were poorly designed. 

We try our best to ensure that dealing with Minerva Accountants is smooth and seamless. We work with tech-savvy clients so we use a lot of automated chasing BUT we also ensure that any client who replies to the emails is met with a human response. 

We prefer to communicate by email for traceability and so that the whole team can see what is happening with clients BUT, if something is not straightforward, we leap onto a telephone or Zoom call. 

AI and technology can make things run smoothly behind the scenes but it takes a human to think through a human friendly UX. Take some time this week to review the customer journey in your business and make it as smooth and friendly as possible. 

1.How do the first contact you? 

2.What is your onboarding process? 

3.What is the process for delivering your goods or services? 

4.What happens when something goes wrong? 

5.How easy is it for customers to speak to a human being of they need to? 

What one thing can you do to improve each of these touchpoints? 

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Would you give up your business and go back to employment? 

Every business owner has probably considered this at some point, and you may even think about it on a regular basis. 

Comfortable, regular income, regular hours (even if you do end up working more than your contract), the ultimate responsibility lies with somebody else, and you can hand in your notice and walk away if things become too much. 

But compare that to the freedom of running your own business. I set up my own small accountancy business after I was unable to find flexible work that would allow me to prioritise my young children. I was only going to do a few sets of accounts from the kitchen table but my corporate background running businesses meant that it grew far beyond that. I started, built, and eventually sold, Hudson Business Accountants and Advisers while working an average of just 25 hours per week. (If you want to know how then read my first book, The Numbers Business: how to build a successful cloud accountancy practice) 

Now that my kids have grown and flown, I work a full week, but I run three businesses. Okay, two businesses and a side hustle. Whilst I still enjoy flexible hours, all my businesses are remote as I like to work as I travel. And our whole team have the same freedom. 

As the business owner I also get to choose the work that I do and the clients that I work with. We only have the nicest clients which make work more enjoyable AND we are more motivated to do more for them. And I love it when we can help others, whether business owner clients of Minerva Accountants or accountant clients of Hudson Business Advice, to have that same business that they dream of. 

If I could find an employer who shared my values and provided enjoyable work and the same flexibility, I would jump at the stability of employment but, until then, I love what I have built. And I want to help others to fall back in love with their business too. 

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Slowing down to move faster 

December is our busiest month of the year. We have lots of limited company deadlines* for companies with March year ends as well as personal tax return deadlines* in January. AND we close the office for 2 weeks so that the team can spend time with their families. 

This December has been busier that usual with trying to prepare sole trader and landlord clients for MTD in April at the same time as talking limited company directors through verifying their ID for Companies House* 

The only thing for it was to escape for a day with other UK based members of GWAI (Global Women Accountant Influencer group) discussing future plans and sharing ideas while also relaxing at a spa. We’re all back at work revitalised and ready to power through to Friday when Christmas holidays begin and we can switch off completely. (For those with families they just switch their accountant/business leader role for their mum role) 

Sometimes you can move faster if you just take time to rest. 

*None of these would be at all stressful if clients responded to our first, or even our second reminder earlier this year 

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10 reasons to use a mentor 

  1. Experience – unlike a coach they can offer real world advice as they’ve been where you are before and survived 
  2. Some mentors, like me, are also qualified coaches so they can help you do what’s right for your business rather than just share their own stories. This gives you the best of both worlds. 
  3. They speak the same language 
  4. They will always be in your corner to support you 
  5. They can offer friendly critique of your ideas 
  6. They may have a black book of useful connections for you 
  7. They can act like a NED for an individual business owner 
  8. You can bounce ideas off them before you implement 
  9. You are allowed to disagree as your business is not the same as their business 
  10. As somebody on the outside of the business looking in, they may have a better view from the bridge while you may be busy in the engine room of your business
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Create without restraint 

I saw this on a social media post yesterday and it got me really excited. (Okay, accountants clearly have a different tolerance for excitement compared to the rest of the world 😉) I love coming up with ideas to improve my own businesses and also clients’ businesses.  

We even have quarterly meetings to discuss my ideas. Strictly they’re our 90-day planning meetings where the team get together, in person, if possible, to plan the next quarter. 

Fortunately, I have a very pragmatic business manager (Kate) who restrains me and keeps me on track! Apparently, we don’t have time to do EVERYTHING I want to improve the businesses in the next 90-days, so we discuss everything and then prioritise.  

Kate then creates an action plan and sends these out to each of us. And then she NAGS me to get these done. This accountability means that my ideas become reality instead of drifting away like dandelion seeds on a summer day. 

We even package this as for our clients: 

  • Business coaching from me (I’m a qualified coach as well as an accountant) to help unblock your business  
  • 90-day planning sessions with Kate who also runs a VA business to get things done 
  • Clarity financial reviews to grow your business by numbers (and I’ll even throw in a copy of my Growing by Numbers book) 

So, feel free to indulge me and my creativity by booking a group or individual coaching session this month. 

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Be a Joy Seeker 

Marie Condo goes through homes clearing out anything that isn’t essential unless the client can honestly answer the question ‘Does this bring me joy?’ 

My suggestion is that we should do the same with our businesses. Weighing up profit and passion. 

Some work we do because it is highly profitable but, if you’re like most business owners, there’s probably some work that barely breaks even. You can either stop doing it or find a way to do it more profitably, perhaps by automating it? This may be the nature of the work or the particular clients, so it is worth reviewing both each year. 

Some work we do because we love it. Coaching is my passion, and I love seeing the result of my advice in clients reclaiming their work-life balance or taking holidays after making their businesses more profitable. 

Ideally you would only do things that fall into both categories but sometimes they only manage one. Once you’re making enough money to cover your essentials I’d focus on your passion. If we do this, we will generally do a better job and be able to increase our fees.  

If something is neither profitable nor enjoyable then you should stop providing that service or pass on that client. And you should carry out this review each year until you have a profitable business that you love.

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Building a business can be as painful as walking on Lego 

I read this somewhere last week and it is so true. Whilst there are great highs on the roller coaster of business there are also some real lows. 

So what can you do?

When you identify a problem that is likely to recur in some form then it is worth spending time to make changes to prevent it. But sometimes the solution is not really obvious. 

It may help to work through this with a coach, a colleague, or on your own by asking some simple questions 

  1. What exactly is happening? 
  1. When did this issue start? 
  1. What is the impact? 
  1. What changed recently that might have triggered this? 
  1. Have we had a similar problem before? How did we resolve it? 
  1. What outcome do I want to achieve? 
  1. Is this realistic given any current constraints? 

Here’s to using your Lego creatively instead of as an instrument of torture. 

Business confidence monitor 

The Q3 ICAEW Business Confidence Monitor is here and shows the increased tax burden are holding back business and economic growth 

ICAEW Business Confidence Monitor | ICAEW