mrbooksadvisory

"Numbers are scary!"

Thu, 29 Dec 2022 14:00:02 GMT

“Numbers are scary!,” he said. I was talking to a local business owner who has been through some scary stuff in the last couple of years. Almost losing his business during the pandemic, a tornado that destroyed his home, rebuilding everything from scratch. And yet, the numbers are what’s scary to him?...

What I heard didn’t surprise me. Numbers often get a pretty bad rap. They’re often either scary or mysterious or boring or….

Here was my answer to him in that moment.

“It’s actually not the numbers that scare you,” I said. You feel “scared” because you don’t like the uncertainty of what they may tell you. They may tell you that you have a gap between where you want to be and the reality of where you are. Or, maybe they’ll say that you have more than enough, but that you haven’t begun to use your resources to get there.

Here’s the key - regardless of what they tell you, good or bad, the clarity of actually knowing infuses you with a tangible feeling of power. The “knowing” is always empowering; it is the last thing you should allow yourself to be afraid of.

The clients I work with get to know more than just their numbers. They get to know the story the numbers are telling them. They get to take control of where they’re headed and actually end up somewhere they want to be.

That’s how my clients and I work together. We write stories. We use the numbers, of course, but knowing the stories is how we move the needle and actually arrive at our happy ending.

If you can make this small shift in paradigm, not only will you no longer feel scared or uncertain, you will be a powerful leader for your business.

Knowing is power. The stories are important. Clarity is NEVER bad. Clarity is your path to success.

What are you afraid of?

Please hear this, THERE IS NO PIE!

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 19:42:56 GMT

Is there or isn’t there a pie?

Before action steps related to money can even be discussed or executed, we need to recognize and choose between two distinct ways of viewing everything we care about…philosophically speaking.

Don’t worry, I’m not talking about the dessert. There’s still plenty of that to be had, and I can’t imagine what could cause any shortage in the near future.

I’m talking about the “pie” that everyone talks about wanting a piece of… sometimes it’s related to power, sometimes fame, but a lot of the time people are referring to money.

I will readily admit that money is not the most important thing in life. It is, however, a subject that occupies a lot of my time.

I’m an accountant and a Profit First Professional, so I help people organize, administrate, sort, and reconcile money day in and day out. I teach about money too- how to manage it, how to view it, and how to find clarity in our dealings with it as business owners.

But…before action steps related to money can even be discussed or executed, we need to recognize and choose between two distinct ways of viewing everything we care about…philosophically speaking.

Is there or isn’t there a pie?

Do you approach life from a mindset of scarcity or abundance? I wish I could claim credit for the naming of these two concepts, but they were first coined in a fantastic piece of literature entitled The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey. Approaching life from one of these two perspectives is nothing new to human beings, but we now have common terms to better enable the discussion.

A scarcity mentality sees life and its resources as finite, as a pie, if you will. And every time someone uses some resource (i.e. money, power, promotions, knowledge, customers), it results in there being “less” of that resource to go around. It also means that the resource can eventually “run out.” There are many places in our society where this perspective is not only the norm but is deliberately promoted…such as some sport competition scenarios, employees hoarding information in response to a limited number of available promotions or raises, hoarding toilet paper (you know who you are)….

An abundance mindset sees life and its resources as something to be created. And if we are capable of creating, then there is always enough for everyone. That means that me acquiring 10,000 followers does not equate to you losing 10,000 followers- there’s enough influence out there to be shared by all. You being poorer does not make anyone else richer, and me being sad does not cause anyone else to be happy. There is always enough, and it is up to each individual to incorporate as much as they’d like…of happiness, money, love, influence, knowledge, etc. into their own life.

We could get into the studies, research, and writings that exist in support of Abundance, but I’ll leave that up to you to investigate if you find it of interest. From a business perspective, I cannot imagine approaching growth in sales, profit, or compensation in any other way! There is an incredible amount of freedom in realizing that just as no one is capable of taking from you, your decisions don’t negatively impact others… in realizing that you can create as much, or as little as you choose.

“We don’t create abundance. Abundance is always present. We create limitations.”

~Arnold Patent

So, let me say again and hope that it sounds a little clearer this time - There is no pie!

Now, let’s go create something together!

Be your own boss? OR.... Be THE Boss

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 19:50:19 GMT

Be your own boss??

I started with the idea of “being my own boss,” and have watched that evolve into something better, “being THE boss.”

Business owners are often inspired by the ability to create their own lifestyle, but 83% of them end up with a business that survives paycheck to paycheck, becoming a slave to the business that began as their path to freedom.

Five years ago, I was a stay-at-home mom with 2 boys under the age of 4 when my husband of 10 years made the decision to leave. “Staying at home” was definitely not going to be possible anymore if getting a job was my only option.

These were a couple of things I knew:

I knew I didn’t like asking permission to go places or do things,
I knew I wanted to take my boys to school and pick them up without putting them in excessive amounts of childcare,
I knew I had a mortgage & bills to cover…
and I knew that I was going to create something for myself.

I didn’t want to just create an income; I knew what I wanted that income to feel like. I wanted it to feel like freedom & clarity, to feel like fun, to feel like “more than enough,” and to feel empowering. I did not set out just to start a business, but to create something that provided for my family and felt

Just.Like.That.

One of the main obstacles standing between entrepreneurs and that feeling is one’s understanding of 2 very foundational and simple business principles.

Know your numbers!

And

Make a profit!

That’s what we do for our clients, we give them access to both of those principles. We come alongside to provide:

Not only impeccable organization of income and expenses (financial reporting),

BUT ALSO

Another set of eyes to help tell the story of those numbers,

And simple cash flow strategies to ensure the cash is there to back up that story.

Partner with us and Set yourself up to win by making profit-driving decisions!

The lifestyle that feels like freedom, clarity and empowerment is absolutely within your grasp and my team & I cannot wait to witness it become your reality.