Habits.
We all have good and bad ones, but are there a few which are hurting your bookkeeping business?
Sometimes you may not even realise they are because you’ve been doing them so long, but little by little, they add up.
Our co-founder, Peter Cook, wrote a book, The New Rules of Management, which discusses working on projects that matter and explains, “everything we do is either a response, a habit, a system or a project.” He says some habits are conscious and others are unconscious.
Knowing this, when you become aware of your bad habits, it’s harder to keep doing them. Your conscious, reasoning mind will step in then put up the STOP sign and make things uncomfortable.
Our co-founder, Debbie Roberts, tells a story of a bookkeeper whose habits weren’t serving her and what she did to change them:
I spoke to a bookkeeper who intended to put on staff, but for some reason, kept putting it off. I asked her to close her eyes and think about her clients and to imagine another bookkeeper doing the work instead of her.
She suddenly realised the reason she put off hiring was because she was embarrassed about the thought of another person putting up with what she allowed her clients to get away with. She had been with them for so long that bad habits had developed.
She allowed them to pay her when they wanted, not everything was ready for her at the agreed time and directed her to process transactions that could risk her business. They didn’t respect her. I simply asked her why she tolerated that when she wouldn’t allow her team to be subjected to that behaviour. That was it!
She knew she couldn’t allow that to happen anymore. She spent the next few months having tough conversations, sacking some clients, putting systems in place, retraining other clients and has now hired her first bookkeeper.
Does the above example sound familiar?
You’re not the only one.
The great thing is, after you take a moment to reflect on your habits, you’ll be more aware of the ones which aren’t working.
With that knowledge, you can now create better habits which will help catapult you to success.
There’s no need to let bad habits hold you back.
You’re worth the effort.
Start changing your situation now. You’ll be thankful you did.