Tag: business coach

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Continuing professional development

This week I’ve been busy with my QAD inspection. As a chartered accountant I have these inspections regularly. Although I like to think that we do everything ‘by the book’ at Minerva Accountants I always worry that I’ve missed something. While these inspections can be quite nerve wracking they can also be reassuring when everything passes with no queries or comments. It’s also reassuring for my clients to know that our regulators are checking up on us to ensure that we reach their required standard.

As a member of ICAEW Council and speaking, writing and coaching accountants to run a better business, it is important that I set a good example myself in my own accountancy business.

One of the things they check up on is my CPD, aka continuing professional development. Complying with this is no problem for me as I write books and articles to help accountants as well as business owners so I’m always researching.

Here are just some of the areas that I read up on, attend webinars and talks, and research in depth.
• Latest tax and accounting developments to support our clients at Minerva Accountants. No mean feat with 4 ‘budgets’ already this year and MTD (Making Tax Digital) on the horizon
• Latest research into growing businesses or making them run more efficiently for my coaching clients. Also useful for running my own businesses better
• Latest coaching developments as I’m a qualified coach and mentor as well as an accountant
• Ways to improve my speaking as a member of the Professional Speaking Association
• Anything interesting as I love to expand my mind

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Education is the wing on which dreams fly

I’m not sure of the original source of this quote but it strikes me as very true.

As a chartered accountant I get hung, drawn, and quartered (or something similar) by ICAEW if I don’t keep my knowledge up to date through CPD (continuing professional development) ever year. But, as a business owner, I need to develop so many skills beyond just my accountancy ones.

I’m a member of the PSA (Professional Speaking Association) to improve my speaking skills, I used a writing coach for my first book, I have a formal coaching and mentoring qualification to help both my coaching clients and because it is a great way to help advise business owners.

And that’s without going into all the books and articles I read, some of which I recommend here.

It’s why I like to speak, write and run courses for business owners of all sorts. Yes, you’ll pay a premium for the most valuable courses (which all come with a guarantee) but I hope you’ll get a lot of benefit from the free webinars too. We run the Minerva Money Matters series for general business owners and the Better Business series for accountants and bookkeepers.

What other means do you use to educate yourself on how to run a good business that will not just survive, but thrive, through these tough times?

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What business owners can learn from cats

Bryony Thomas (author and founder of Watertight Marketing*) may liken customers to cats in the way we tempt them in but never own them. But I think business owners can learn by watching cats themselves.

Cats generally spend vast portions of their day sleeping. Many business owners don’t get enough sleep. Learn how to take better care of yourself in this, and other ways.

Cats do as little as possible and we should all learn to work more efficiently so that we can work fewer hours. The recent trial of the 4 day week has left 90% of the participants intent on adopting this as a permanent measure as they became much more productive.

Cats can become quite loud and insistent when they want food. Do you need to ask for what you want more clearly? Perhaps a little more politely though.

Cats are very good at expressing their thanks. Do we need to say thank you more? Although I wouldn’t suggest rubbing yourself all over your customers.

Cats are all about cupboard love. Whilst this isn’t a good way to develop real relationships being nice to people will definitely smooth the wheels of industry.

Many people are allergic to cats and we should accept that not everybody will like us. That’s why we tailor out marketing to the type of client where we can help most.

What qualities do you think dogs have that business owners can learn from?

*If you haven’t yet read Watertight Marketing I’m happy to recommend it. You can buy a copy here and don’t forget to register for Bryony’s free workbook.

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Good causes vs charities

Not all good causes are charities and not all charities are UK charities. Why does this matter? Only donations to UK charities are tax deductible.

Please don’t let this stop you donating to good causes around the world but I just wanted you to be aware that your donations can go further if they’re to UK charities.

I also meet a lot of people wanting to set up charities for very good causes. The regulations around running a charity are enormous so, if you’re just running a few events, it may be easier to treat it as a fundraising event for an existing charity. Why saddle yourself with all the additional accounting, admin, and audit of setting up a charity when you could use that energy to raise money for the good cause itself?

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My life isn’t as perfect as my timeline

Nobody’s is!

I’m all in favour of authenticity but I also hate oversharing. You’re my wonderful clients and business contacts, not my best friends, and there need to be boundaries in every relationship.

We all draw that line in a slightly different place. Although I will never deny that I have dirty laundry I certainly won’t be airing it in public. In spite of my very public social media profile, I’m actually an introvert and a naturally private person. I’m also a positive person who prefers not to dwell on any negatives in my life.

I love social media, especially Twitter, but there is a strange phenomenon where we all think we know each other perhaps better than we really do. The downside of this is that it is surprisingly easy to be the victim of ‘catfishing’ and all sorts of fraud.

There is also a tendency to believe that what we see is the whole story. Whilst some people overshare, others overedit causing real FOMO and other envy or depression in others who feel that they haven’t achieved as much. I love celebrating your successes, but I also assume that you’ve worked as hard as I have and there is blood, sweat and tears behind the picture of you with your latest award.

So here are a few things that you need to know about me that I don’t explicitly mention:

  • Like you, I often think about jacking in my business and taking a normal job for an easier life. Running a business is never as glamorous as it seems on the outside. I think it is this experience that makes me a good coach, even more than my Coaching/Mentoring qualification.
  • Although I’ve generally worked with wonderful teams, I’ve also had to dismiss people. I try to do this legally and as kindly as I can.
  • My kids have grown up into fabulous people that I enjoy spending time with but some days they’ve exhausted my patience. If you have a small business and you’re short on sleep, I completely understand.
  • I’m in the process of getting divorced. Fortunately, it’s all amicable but sometimes I really have to bite my tongue and remember to act like a grown up (and he’s probably doing the same)
  • Some days I find it hard to get started. Without motivation it’s just hard slog dependent on discipline.

I don’t think it helps anybody to have the details of my rough times but that doesn’t mean that everything is 100% rosy.

Do you think you have the right balance between being genuine and oversharing?

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Process thinking

As you know I really believe in the power of systems for running a an efficient and rewarding business. But what does that mean?

I’m visiting clients at the moment so I had a hotel breakfast buffet. For some reason they had decided to put the plates in the middle of the two hotplates of food. This meant that

  1. They weren’t where everybody expected them at the end
  2. People had to join the queue in the middle
  3. People had to cross over to get from the food on one side of the central queue to the food on the other side
  4. It was all slightly chaotic and much slower than it needed to be

Another common example is the chaos at the tea/coffee table at events. The first thing somebody needs is a cup so these should be at the end. Tea drinkers need somewhere to put their teabag before they add milk (for the non-tea drinkers, tea is a chemical reaction and adding milk too soon cools the drink and quenches the reaction ? ) so they need a spare bowl/bin for the teabag packet near the milk. Getting everything laid out in the right order helps to avoid bottle necks. Moving the table away from the wall can allow people to get their drinks from both sides of the table.

When we first started using Receipt Bank (now Dext) software for processing invoices back in 2013 there was a delay between scanning invoices and the OCR process of around an hour. Our bookkeepers were used to working on one client at a time and complained that they had to wait for the software. So we changed the process to scanning all the invoices for all the clients first to allow time for the first client’s invoices to be ready.

This is the sort of thing that a business coach can often see straight away when observing your business from the outside. Quite often there are quick fixes that can make a huge difference for little effort. Generally the big wins require longer projects and a little more planning

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Managing your interruptions

Interruptions can be a real problem as, in addition to the time they take, they also disturb your train of thought. Here are a few tips for managing some of your interruptions.

Consider whether you need to answer your phone straight away. It may be possible to use your voicemail or even better, an answering service, for a few hours per day. This will allow you to focus on work for a while and then to block all your calls together to get back to people later in the day. As long as you return the calls and don’t forget about them!

If you work alone then you may not wish everybody to have your mobile number. Consider getting a virtual landline that is answered by an answering service. I have used Answer It for this purpose but also for answering calls when all our business lines were in use.

Emails can all be batched together and answered once or twice a day. Batching similar tasks is much more efficient. Many accountants have a shared inbox linked to a practice management system which allows them to delegate emails/tasks. Technology can be your friend.

Remember that people usually send emails when it is convenient for them, they may be working flexibly or they may be in a different timezone. Big corporations often use an autoresponder to say that your query will be answered in say, 5 or even 15 days.

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Like wildlife on a safari

I love what I do but I also like to spend quiet time away from my business. This is the life part of my work-life balance. Now that my kids are older it provides time for enjoyment and also for rest so that I am refreshed when I get back into work.

We can all benefit from some quiet time in our lives.

I was fortunate to spend my honeymoon on safari in Kenya. As we waited quietly by a waterhole the wildlife drifted into view and we were lucky to see all of the ‘big five’ animals: lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceroses, and African buffalo as well as some gentler giraffes and zebra.

At home, when I take time to wait quietly or, more normally for me, to walk or run gently, I am rewarded by ideas.

How often do you get away from your desk to get fresh ideas?

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One does not simply walk into Mordor

This is Gandalf’s response in Tolkien’s ring trilogy when he is asked the way to the evil land of Mordor.

As with any challenge Gandalf has three things

  1. A map
  2. A plan
  3. A fellowship/support team

Do you know where your business is going? How will you get there? What and who will you need to overcome obstacles along the way?

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One touch is enough

No, I’m not talking about sexual harassment but about your admin processes. How often do you open an email or look at a task more than once? How many of those would take less than 2 minutes to complete?

Wherever possible I try to handle small tasks just once.

When I receive an invoice or receipt I scan/forward/upload it to Xero immediately so that my bookkeeping is taken care of with no bother. As we have reasonable cashflow I also make payment immediately so that I don’t need to look at the invoice again, this also ties in with my value of looking after small businesses and their owners by paying promptly.

The same goes for emails. Anything that will take less than 2 minutes is done immediately eg a quick answer or forwarding to the right person to complete the task or creating a task to complete later

How do you minimise your admin?

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