By Linda A. Hunt

Last week I received an email, from a potential client who needed to meet with me the very next day on some important business. He left me his contact information, so I followed up with a phone call. I did not reach this person so I left a message. I immediately received an email back at his displeasure that I could not meet with him the next day. He then proceeded to seek free advice via email.

This inquiry had red flags flying from the moment I read it. Even though I knew that this was not someone I wanted to work with, as a professional courtesy I followed up.

This is where having strong boundaries in place comes in. How did I know I did not want to work with this person? I have created criteria (aka boundaries) that must be met during the first interactions with a potential client. This potential client did not even register on my scale.

Sometimes you cannot miss the red flags and other times they are not so easy to see. Like a couple of summers ago we had a client who knew that we do not handle cash, nor prepare/make deposits on behalf of our clients. This was an onsite assignment and the client assumed that they could literally bully my new staff person into preparing the deposits. Because I educated my staff person on the internal policies of the firm, my new staff person was able to bring this to their supervisor’s attention and the matter was handled.

Setting boundaries can be as simple as setting your office hours or be a bit more complex, such as what you will and will not spend money on and why. Once those boundaries are set, the next step is to clearly communicate them to all involved so that everyone is on the same playing field.

You can tell where you need to create and implement a boundary by what annoys or exasperates you and/or your staff the most. For example, you are in your office trying to finish your marketing letter and you are interrupted for “little” things that your staff has questions about. Creation and implementation of a boundary in this situation is easy, simply close your door and tell you staff you are not to be interrupted for an hour.

Sometimes creating a boundary is not always that easy. Here is an exercise I learned that has helped me tremendously in setting and communicating boundaries. It is called “My Spokesperson” and the exercise goes like this.

1. Sitting in front of you right now, is your “spokesperson.” It is their job to convey the “what” and “how” message of your business and get that information across crystal clear, without hesitation. Let the sense of relief that they will be the perceived “bad guy” wash over you. (This step was huge for me I didn’t want to be known as the bad guy.)

2. Now tell them or write down the information they need in order to communicate the “what” and “how” message that is to be done in this situation. The spokesperson has no ties to the baggage around fear, rejection, or confrontation. They are here to do a job: get your message across.

The first time you write or say what you need to have communicated, don’t be surprised by the emotion that may come out. That is okay, you are working it out so that the message can be conveyed simply and effectively. Simply try it again until the emotion, blame or justification has been removed.

3. Assume the role of your spokesperson and communicate your message.

Remember boundaries do not have to be mean, harsh, or sterile in how you convey your message. You can be firm and kind, clear and concise while being easy to deal with and all the while not violating your boundaries. Here are a few things I have learned about boundaries and why they are so important both professionally and personally.

□ Boundaries are the cornerstone of your business (and person) – it tells people where you stand and WHY.

□ Boundaries make the difference between being taken seriously or not seriously.

□ Boundaries are critical to your business and personal growth. They must be in place and adhered to.

□ Boundaries require applying the idea of tough love to yourself. If you yourself have established boundaries and stick to them, so will everyone else.

□ When learning boundaries, start with yourself and then move on to teaching others.

By Laurie L. O’Neil

Taking the time out of your busy day to sit back and evaluate your practice is not always on the top of the agenda. Our days seem to get caught up with the details of our business and racing against the clock. You know what I am talking about, we have all been there. It is too easy to get caught up in the day to day and lose focus on our goals. For me, it wasn’t until I started tracking every second of my day that I realized I was getting in the way of making my business successful. I was doing all the marketing, the administrative work, the bookkeeping, the consulting etc. How was I supposed to get ahead when I was spending every moment of my day trying to just get caught up?

Can you say burnt out?

I was so busy trying to do everything myself and I was working an incredible amount of hours trying to get it all done. I think I was up to 70 to 80 hours a week. It took me a while to realize that by stretching myself so thin, I was limiting the potential amount of revenue that I could make in my company.

Here’s what I learned I had to do to in order to get ahead:

1. Learn to give up some of the control and delegate. You can not do it all. Put controls in place so you can trust someone else enough to take over some of the burden for you.

2. Take risks. Don’t be afraid to take chances, learn to trust your gut instincts.

3. Don’t dwell on your mistakes. Learn to accept them for what they are, valuable life lessons learned the hard way. You can not move forward until you put the past behind you.

4. Hire reliable staff. Finding the right employees is not easy, learn to recognize the traits you are looking for.

5. Figure out where you need the most improvement. Is it your marketing or pricing model? Do you have the right service levels in place?

Once you figure out what is getting in the way of your success. You can focus on improving those areas. In my case, getting out of the way of myself took some time, but all my goals were achievable; keep that in mind.

By Linda A. Hunt

My answer none! That’s not entirely true. I enjoy the work that I do and the fact that the majority of the time I get to work and play when I want to. Life/work balance is what they call it and being entrepreneurs we actually have more control over this factor than our counterparts who work for others.

Back in 2003, I was in the process of re-tooling my business and began thinking how nice it would be to work 4-days a week and enjoy a three day weekend, every weekend, without decreasing my current level of revenue! At first I cast the thought off as a “pipe dream” – there is no way I could do that and I came up with all kinds of reasons as to why I could not:

• How will I sustain my current level of revenue?
• What happens if my clients need me that day?
• How will I sustain my current level of revenue?
• What if there is an emergency that my staff just cannot handle?
• How will I sustain my current level of revenue?

 I was letting the repetitive thought “How will I sustain my current level of revenue” dominate my thoughts. Obsessing over this thought kept me thinking inside of the box, making me unable to get out of the way of myself. One afternoon, I was so sick of thinking about this I stood up in my office and started doing the “Hokey Pokey”. That’s right, the song and dance we learned as children – “put your right hand in, take your right hand out…” It was such a silly thing to do that it helped me to break the obsessive thoughts about why I could not work a 4-day week and relax.

For the rest of that afternoon, I enjoyed peace and quiet within my mind. I worked on other things and then the next morning it hit me like a ton of bricks! In order to move to a 4-day work week I had to change my pricing model!

This time I started thinking about pricing from a completely different perspective – how much revenue I wanted to earn that was directly related to my billable hours. At that time I was still performing client work and billing out about 50% of my time. If I wanted to work 4-days a week, I had to evaluate the tasks that I could delegate and those that I could not within my new work week and apply that to my current level of revenue.

Here are the steps that I followed:

1) Determine the number of hours you want to work. You can do this on a weekly, monthly or annual basis.
2) Determine the percentage of those hours that are billable.
3) Determine the percentage of those hours that are not billable.
4) Calculate that number by your current billing rate.
5) Determine the shortfall and make the necessary adjustments. For example, delegate client work to staff, adjust your billing rate, etc.
6) Work your reduced work week!

PS - I bet you will be humming the Hokey Pokey all day long!

This week it’s me, Linda. I hope that everyone has been enjoying their summer and was able to squeeze in a vacation or at least a couple of days off to recharge your batteries.

Once September rolls around you can expect to start hearing from those businesses who have just realized that their books are not up to date and the end of the year is just around the corner. Spend some time this month putting together your marketing letters targeted towards those businesses and be sure to read this week’s article on how to spot potentially difficult clients.

To your financial serenity,

Linda & Laurie

The 6-Figure Bookkeeping Coaches

By Linda A. Hunt

This month, I have been really frustrated – there just does not seem to be enough time in the day to get everything that I need to done. I was becoming irritable and burnt. Then it hit me! I was not maximizing my most precious resource - managing my time and I was allowing those “Time Vampires” back in.

A “Time Vampire” is anything or anyone that steals your time – a new employee, a talkative client, the telephone, your mother-in-law, broken office equipment, etc. Time is an irreplaceable resource and effective use of your time, more than any other habit, increases your productivity. While it is important to understand how much time you spend on activities that produce a result, it is equally important to identify ways in which your time is stolen from you.

Here are the 6 secrets I use to eliminate “Time Vampires” and maximize my productivity:

1. Create a Daily Routine. I actually do this by the week. I have an excel spreadsheet that lays out what I will work on during the week and when. It includes everything from answering email to the time I will have lunch each day. I do this on broad terms. For example, Monday 10 AM to Noon bookkeeping.

I also schedule in two hours of unscheduled time just to handle those unexpected things that come up.
 
2. Plan Your Phone Calls. Plan your phone calls. Make a brief note of what you want to say and what you want to find out. It saves time for everybody and makes for better communication.

3. Set “Do Not Disturb” Periods. Plan a definite time each day when you conduct a meeting with yourself!

4. Don’t Over-Commit. Beware of over-commitment. Remember you are the only one who can protect your time. Learn how to politely say “no.”

5. Set Deadlines. Set reasonable deadlines for all jobs and stick to them. Available time always gets filled with something!

6. Think, Then Act. Avoid the “Shoot First, Ask Questions Later” phenomenon. Think first, then act. Nothing is so urgent that there is no time to consider the decision-making process.

Hi – it’s Laurie this week. Unlike Linda, my office this week has slowed down due to clients’ on vacations. I love this time of year because it gives me an opportunity to review current procedures and make any necessary changes to improve work flow. Also Linda and I have been so busy working on our upcoming Pricing and Packaging Boot Camp that will be coming out in late September, so keep your eyes open for it.

In this week’s article Linda covers one of my favorite topics, Maximizing Your Precious Resource that is time. Here are some great tips!

Laurie

By Linda A. Hunt

One of the things that has always been important to me, is creating long-term relationships with our clients. Whenever, I meet with a prospective client, that is exactly what I tell them. I make my intentions known upfront by saying, “My firm and I are looking to enter into a working relationship with you that benefits both of us for the long-term.” This simple statement really sets the tone for our forthcoming working relationship.

Here are the 6 secrets I use in my own firm to create great long-term client relationships.

1. Be a good listener. Taking the time to identify the needs of your client by asking them questions and concentrating on what they are really saying gives you knowledge. Knowledge is power.

Listen to their words, tone of voice, body language, and most importantly, how they feel. Be careful to not make assumptions. Thinking you intuitively know what your client wants can get you into trouble. Do you know the three outcomes/deliverables that are most important to your client?

2. Identify and anticipate needs. Your clients are not buying your services – they are buying solutions to a problem they are experiencing. When we begin working with a new client, we review all of the requirements/deadlines they may experience throughout the year. This enables us to be proactive and anticipate upcoming needs well in advance.

3. Make your clients feel important and appreciated. In my firm we have created a client appreciation system where we are in contact with our clients throughout the year, letting them know how much we appreciate their business and care about what is going on with them. So when one of our clients obtained their 20th client, which is a very big deal for them, we automatically sent them a celebration cookie bouquet to share in their triumph.

People value sincerity – it creates good will and feelings of trust. Clients are very intelligent and will know whether or not you really care about them.

4. Help your clients to understand your process. You may have the very best process for getting things done and if your clients don’t understand what that is, they will get confused, impatient and angry. Take the time to explain how your process works, not the nitty gritty details, a broad overview so that they can visualize the way the work is being completed.

5. Get regular feedback. Encourage and welcome suggestions about how you can improve your services. This does not mean that you have to incorporate into your process what they are saying but it does give you good insight into what they are thinking. Find a simple way in which your clients can give you feedback. My computer host company actually sends me a short survey to complete each time a work order is completed.

6. Treat your staff well. Employees and subcontractors are your internal clients and deserve to be treated well. Thank them and find ways to let them know that they are important. Remember without them, you would be doing all of the work yourself!

We got so many great responses to our question “What’s Keeping You from Having Freedom in Your Bookkeeping Business?” Here’s a breakdown of what you are saying keeps you from having freedom:

 
 • Not Having Standard Processes In Place - 34%
 • Not Having Enough Time - 25%
 • Not Having Enough Clients - 25%
 • Not Having Enough Money/Cash Flow – 17%

Here’s our answer to YOUR biggest freedom buster:

Not Having Standard Processes in Place

Creating and implementing standard processes in your business, whether you are a solo-preneur or have a staff people working for you, is a key ingredient to creating the freedom you desire!

By streamlining your operations you not only pave the way to more business but bigger profits and a business that virtually runs itself! Systems create consistency and consistency creates the reputation your business is built on!

To learn more about how to create systems for your business, check out our brand new coaching program, Success Secrets Master Mind.

“I have total freedom in my business.  The only thing I would change is the speed at which I gain new clients.  I LOVE my business!”
Dawn B

Hi Dawn,
WhooHooo!  Thanks for sharing how much you love your business. 

It is important to remember that even though running your own business can be challenging there are also those moments when all of the pieces of the puzzle fall into place and it’s smooth sailing.

If you are interested in learning more about creating freedom in your bookkeeping business, be sue to join us on July 29th for our free teleseminar, Creating Freedom In Your Bookkeeping Practice.

For more details and how to sign-up, go here.

By Laurie L. O’Neil

With today’s technological push, finding great ways to utilize some of the new technology out there can be time consuming and very painful. One thing you will learn about me is that I am a great proponent of pushing time to the end of its limits. Time is the very essence of our business. One of my biggest challenges was figuring out how to maximize my time.

Going on-site to clients in not always feasible so what are some other remote methods out there?

One of my favorites is a site called Log me In. www.LogMeIn.com. This allows me to remote into my client’s desktop. It has printing capabilities. It also acts in a real-time fashion and has easy set-up. You can use LogMeIn for any training capabilities you may have with your clients. You can even switch the control of the mouse back and forth between you and your client. You can use it on a Mac computer as well and you can download it free for 30 days.

Another similar software is webex. www.webex.com. Webex works in the same fashion as LogMeIn but setting up the printing can sometimes be cumbersome. I have also found that it can be sluggish as well. Webex is constantly making improvements to their product and sending out new releases.

Another software that has been around for quite some time is Go to My PC www.gotomypc.com. GoToMyPC is efficient and user friendly. It has some of the same features offered with LogMeIn and webex but it can be more costly.

No matter what your preference is, each package can help you to achieve great results in order to get the work done for the client remotely. Each package can support whatever your needs may be but can vary based on price. Research each and try them all out.