I spend a large part of my week talking to bookkeepers who contact me because they need help. Sometimes I help them create systems in their business to have it run more efficiently. Sometimes they need help with marketing strategies and sometimes their issues are about staff – how to find, test and train them. I know how important it was for me to have my business coach Peter Cook there for me as my business was growing like a rebelling adolescent! For many years his coaching sessions were invaluable as we worked through the same sort of issues that bookkeepers talk to me about today.
But I know that there are bookkeepers out there who haven’t asked for help even though they need it. Why not? I think there are a few reasons:
- Pride – they are great bookkeepers and think they should be able to figure out the solution themselves
- Guilt – after a while of trying to figure out their issues themselves without any resolution, they feel guilty because they realise that asking for help earlier probably would have resolved the issue quickly
- Shame – they haven’t achieved their goals or implemented systems and don’t want to admit that
In my world, there is no room for pride, guilt or shame. Those thoughts will hold your business back. I’ve probably made more mistakes than any other bookkeeper IN AUSTRALIA, and if that had stopped me asking for help I never would have been able to grow a successful bookkeeping business (eventually!).
What I really love about my job is being able to pass on the experience I’ve gained over the past 13 years to other great bookkeepers to help them avoid or resolve issues as they are grow their business.
Article by Debbie Roberts
