General

Oscar Wilde said, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness."

Whenever you do something different from others, people will start to take notice of you.  It's inevitable.  They may think that they can do what you do.  They may even try their hand at it.

Should you be worried?

As bookkeepers, we are in a profession that, whether we like it or not, has a really low barrier to entry.  There's not a huge amount of investment involved in setting up a practice…

Four in a Bed is probably one of my favourite programmes right now.  Anything with Alex Polizzi and Mary Portas are really great too.  I love shows that show the human side of business, and that anyone can do it.

One thing that really frustrates me, though, is when something simple is suggested and met with the response "No one's ever complained about that before!"  I could scream at the TV.  

Most of us don't really like confrontation.  We generally don't complain when we get poor service.  W…

Making a resolution is one thing, keeping it another completely. 

In this article, I want to share four tips to help you reach your goals and to reward yourself for a job well done.

Recently, we've all hung up the new calendar and it's a great excuse to make personal and business resolutions for the coming year. 

It is also a way to bring about certain frustration if the goals that you set for yourself are unreachable, unattainable or just something you have no interest in doing. 

Making res…

Let's just get that header out of the way first.  We can try as hard as possible to minimise them, but mistakes can and do happen.  We're human.  It's inevitable.  

So, what should you do if a mistake happens in your business?  The first thing is not to panic.  Most people will forgive a mistake if you handle the follow-up properly.  In the main, it's not the mistake that is the big headache, it's the lack of proper communication.

When you're growing a business you're taking risks.  Mistakes w…

For the longest time, I’ve recommended IAB as the professional body of choice for any new bookkeeper starting out.  When people were left in limbo during the new member freeze, I was the first to fight their corner, but now I fear they’ve lost their way.

We are only looking for a few things from our professional bodies, but we want them done well.

Certification.  To know that new entrants to the profession and old hands alike are at the pinnacle of their game.  We want the confidence when we s…

Sometimes we can only truly understand the progress we've made and how far we've come when we are able to take a glimpse at the past.

Today's post is a bit personal for me.  It's a bit of a walk down memory lane and it's sparked a few emotions.  

Tonight, I was doing just that courtesy of the WayBack machine, an archive of web pages.  I was looking at the site for my very first business I started when I was 20, 17 years ago.  It was a web design business and it really started memories flooding…

This last week has been hell.  Leaving my office and setting up my desk at home seemed to flick a switch for me.

I was full of positivity and plans, and then depression set in.

I've been short-tempered, and falling out with everyone, including my mum.  

The future looked bleak.  I've been imagining the worst possible outcomes of everything and generally feeling that my work over the last ten years has been for nothing. 

Imposter syndrome has taken over and I feel like a fraud.  Two weeks ago…

Much of my business has been shaped by previous experiences in my working life.

My first role after leaving school taught me the absurdity of measuring time rather than results. I was an office junior at a local sawmill. I tended to arrive early, and as I was never a big tea or coffee drinker I often had no breaks other than my lunch, which I often cut short. I can still remember comments from the team about how quickly and accurately I worked.

I recall one day as I finished all my work, stand…

With the launch of the new dashboard, it looks like it'll be easier than ever to collect payments from clients.  Not just the monthly payments for your menu pricing plan, but one off payments for additional work too.

Here's a look at the video from GoCardless.