julie-russell

The Mums are back from School Holidays

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 06:41:21 GMT

I always know when the school holida ys are over...

– my inbox starts pinging on Monday morning with emails from clients that all start the same: “the kids are back at school so can we….” and you can almost hear the audible sighs of relief, mixed with ‘got to catch up’ stress.

I sooooo know that feeling! Luckily for me my youngest is now holed up in a grungy student flat in Wellington, pulling all-nighters so she can go out partying at the weekends while holding down a part-time job. So I don’t have that big ‘put your business on hold for 2 weeks’ interruption to my work flow any more, but I've been there and have a well-worn T-Shirt to prove it.

My first bookkeeping business in the UK was born purely out of wanting to work when my daughter didn’t need me to be there – in the evenings after bedtime, at the weekends when she was at a friend’s, in the holidays while she was at a holiday programme - so I could be there when she did need me. For the school trips, the dentist appointments – even just being there when she came home from school became really important to me (although she might not have agreed!)

And all that time there was the constant feeling of being pulled in two different directions, needing to be the best mum and also the best business owner, and not doing a good job of either and compromising at both.

When I first started my bookkeeping practice in New Zealand, Xero was very new too, and they ran a marketing campaign using the theme of ‘earn brownie points with the misses and start using Xero’. It was aimed at the tradies whose wives were doing the invoicing and paying the bills in the evenings after the kids had gone to bed. Xero got it, and so did I. So my bookkeeping business was born to help those wives who simply couldn’t do it all any more.

Then after burnout a few years ago when I simply couldn’t work any more hours AND do the school run AND cook and clean the house AND host friends staying over Christmas, I finally chose to make changes too. To not work harder, but smarter. To streamline processes, to choose more carefully who I worked with, to learn to say ‘no’, and to get help.

I got myself a coach, and I took a long hard look at the numbers – what was making me money and how can I do more of it; and what wasn’t making me money and to get rid of it, quick. To outsource stuff that I didn’t need to do and took me way too long if I tried. To focus my marketing spend on areas where my ideal clients hung out. To show clients what value I could bring to their business, so that they could do the exact same thing – stop working all the hours god gave them and start being the best of both worlds - being a great mum and a fantastic business owner.

Because as soon as we start believing it can happen, it will. We just have to believe it first.

Do you need some help believing it? Or some help deciding what’s working and what’s not? I can help you take a good hard look at your numbers, and maybe even be that coach you need.

Earning more so we can give it away

Thu, 14 Jul 2022 09:49:38 GMT

This week I’ve been reminded twice about earning more so we can give more away.

Firstly, 4 of my dearest friends and I spent a magical weekend at a Retreat on the stunning West Coast, where we finally reconnected after a long absence due to Covid. We were all women running our own businesses and needing to reset after a very stressful 2 years looking after our clients and maybe not looking after ourselves as well as we should. The weekend was spent laughing, walking on the beach, crying, and being away from the day-to-day stuff that life throws at us. The Retreat is run by a group of dedicated passionate women who provide a safe and nurturing space for any woman who simply needs a break orwants to spend time resetting her spirit with the magnificent west coast as a backdrop. It is funded by women like us who can afford to pay, and donations from like-minded donors who know the support a place like this provides. It was a privilege to be able to stay, and also know that a small portion of our fees were helping to pay for someone who couldn’t afford it but needed to stay way more than we did.

Then at my weekly networking meeting, we were treated to a visit by Hospice staff, reminding us of the wonderful work they do, and that 1 in 3 people who pass away in New Zealand make use of Hospice and their support network. Hospice has 3 facilities north of Auckland, one very close to me, and I have seen first-hand how their support and compassion supports families at such a stressful time. While Hospice is partly government funded, half of the $14million annual costs are met, again, by Donations from people who see and know the support they provide.

So when I left the meeting today, I came away even more fired up with the idea that the women I coach to run better businesses simply have to earn more money – not just so they can buy a bigger car or take more holidays, but because we need to give back more. Either indirectly by earning more so paying more tax, or directly by donating our hard-earned cash to causes that speak to us and need our financial as well as our spiritual support. As a very dear friend who is no longer with us and went through Hospice herself used to say, “If we want better schools and hospitals, we need to run better businesses”. More profit so we can look after ourselves better and not have to depend on the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, and more disposable income so we can help those ‘ambulances’ if we do need them.

So….let’s get those businesses working better, more efficiently, more targeted at the products that make the most money; paying more staff so they in turn can look after their own families better; and more profit so we can make that donation and help to change someone else’s life for the better.

Sticking to your genius

Tue, 12 Jul 2022 03:54:41 GMT

To do it or not to do it... that is the question!

Yesterday I spent four hours on a PowerPoint presentation for my networking group. Four hours of playing with new software, digging through files for old photos and matching background colours to my branding. To say it was frustrating and a bad use of my time would be an understatement, but it was my creative side bursting to get out and have a play, because I’m a numbers gal.

Of course what I should have done is given the job to a graphic designer who would have had it done in a quarter of the time and produced a much more polished and professional presentation, and I should have gone to a Yoga class. But instead I struggled on with something that I’m not an expert at and came up with a half arse result.

And then it hit me – why do we all do this? As small business owners why do we feel the need to do everything, to wear all 10 hats – we’re being really good in our ‘zones of Genius’ and then muddling through the other bits when it would be so much better to just give that part to somebody else who is an expert!

How many times have I stood in front of that same networking group and said For Goodness Sake if you’re not comfortable or good at numbers please outsource your bookkeeping?! Because as bookkeepers we do know the software well, we’ve had oodles of practice and we work way more efficiently, so we can do the job in a quarter of the time. And it wouldn’t be half arsed!

When the world of remote working, online software and outsourced contractors should be a way of life for all small business owners I wonder why we still struggle with this?

Maybe its because our core business gets a bit mundane and boring and having something different to do is actually refreshing? Because the truth was after I spent four hours on Canva I then did some cash flow forecasting and reports for a client who wasn’t expecting them but thought they were amazing.

I don’t actually have the answer – otherwise I wouldn’t have spent that time on my presentation. What I do know is there are some awesome bookkeepers out there and if numbers aren’t your Zone of Genius, please talk to a bookkeeper and see how they could help you.

And although I am a staunch believer that if there is a part of your business you struggle with and you know you’re not good at you really should outsource it, sometimes a little bit of play can help you focus on what you’re actually good at.

And me? Well, my client got some kick-ass reports and my networking group will have some old photos to laugh about at our meeting on Thursday. And you never know, I still might get to that Yoga class…

If you want to know more about help with your numbers, get in touch. Hit the button, like the post, drop me an email. Just do the thing!