Mind your own business

A few weeks ago there was a programme on Channel 4 about global warming.  Although I only saw about 10 minutes of this programme it was obvious what the main message was - global warming was one big con!!! 

The people presenting seemed impressive and had a myriad of letters and qualifications – although I have to admit that my knowledge of scientific credentials leaves a lot to be desired.  However since the programme was aired there have been a number of radio and newspaper articles which have refuted the arguments in no uncertain terms.  As far as they are concerned, global warming is real and imminent.

Now whilst I consider myself to be relatively green (we use energy-efficient light bulbs, always switch off equipment at the plug, compost all our food waste etc) I am fast coming to the conclusion that I am not sure that it matters whether global warming is fact or fiction.

The reality is that the resources we are using up are scarce and expensive.  Given that fact, how can it possibly make sense not to conserve those resources wherever possible? 

Why would someone want to drive an impossibly big 4*4, use up twice as much petrol as the rest of us and pay twice as much insurance to drive something which looks completely out of place around town, is difficult to park and has been proven to be no safer than any number of other cars (in fact, less safe than a lot of cars)? 

What is the point of paying expensive fees to join a gym if you can’t actually be bothered to get up and turn the television off standby?  What is so difficult about switching off a light as you leave a room or switching your printer and PC off at the plug when you leave the office at night?

And why have your heating turned up so high that you need to open your windows (shops, please take note – if your assistants are slowly baking in the shop then your customers in their outdoor clothes are positively suffocating!).  This seems to be rather perverse!!

But not only are you helping to conserve the planet by changing your behaviour, you can also save money.  Rumour would have it that a printer left on overnight uses enough energy to print 1,600 pages – why would you want to pay for electricity which has served no purpose?  Even a mobile phone charger left plugged in is using electricity even if there is no phone attached!!

I’m not an environmentalist by any means, and I am not perfect by a long shot (how many times do I drive to the shop when it is only a 15 minute walk away!).  However there are so many little things we can do to help save precious resources and which will also save us money.  How about having a go at changing one “environmentally bad” habit a week and see how much difference it can make?

When I first set up my practice six months ago, I was very much like Mel Gibson in the film of a very similar name (in fact some people think I look spookily like Mel Gibson – which is a real shame as I’m female with two children!!).  I thought I knew what clients wanted - a set of accounts and a tax return.  It didn’t take me long to realise that was actually the last thing a client wanted.  It’s what they needed and had to pay for but it certainly wasn’t what they wanted!! 

This was actually great news for me – I had never been overly fond of compliance work (accountant speak for preparing accounts and tax computations).  I’d also found that nowadays software will do a lot of the donkey work (in my day, it was all done by hand with a calculator – yes, I really am that old!!).  But that got me to thinking.  If clients didn’t put much value on the compliance work, what could I do to justify my fees?

It takes time to build a reputation as an accountant and for people to be able to trust you.  Whilst building this reputation I had the luxury to spend quite a lot of time looking around for “added value” tools with which to enhance my practice.  Whilst I had tons of practical experience of improving business profit from my time in industry, I felt having a tangible product to support my experience would be very beneficial.  I found to my surprise that there’s a myriad of profit improvement software in the market place – I was spoilt for choice!  Kid in a candy store springs to mind!

In the last few months people have got to know and trust me and I have been steadily receiving client recommendations and referrals.  Imagine my surprise, however, when none of the clients I have taken on have been overly interested in the “profit improvement” software which I have bought!!

Instead, it seems that what clients want from their accountant is much simpler than anything that I could have imagined.  They want an accountant they can talk to, someone they can phone about any problem and someone they know will be interested in their business.  Alongside that they need the confidence that their accountant has the technical knowledge to give them the best accounting and tax advice possible.

This is music to my ears.  Life as an accountant is so much more interesting when you are actually involved in your clients business and they include you in their decision making.  In order to encourage my clients to communicate with me, I offer unlimited free phone calls within a fixed fee package.  I also offer free bookkeeping software but there is a catch – the client has to send me their electronic books every month.  Again, I feel by having this monthly interaction between myself and the client, it encourages active communication.

As anyone who knows me will confirm, I love talking and sharing ideas – and who better to do that with than my clients!!!

However, I’m far from believing I have the answers to everything my clients want, and if anyone can give me some different ideas I’d love to hear from them.

Nearly nine months ago, I made the monumental decision to set up my own business.  Having just had my second child (he was 8 months old at the time) I decided that working in a stressful, full-time job and being at someone else’s beck and call was all too much.  How much simpler life would be working for myself – or so I thought!! 

Being a qualified chartered accountant gave me the option to set up my own practice.  I thought I’d dabble with a few clients for a couple of years before taking things seriously.  My life would be stress free, I’d have far more time to spend with my family and I’d be a “yummy mummy” for the first time in my life.  However it didn’t take long for my best laid plans to take a very different turn.

Whilst having children without doubt changes your life beyond recognition (you can get away with minimal change with one child, but two is an entirely different ballgame), it doesn’t change your expectations and desires to succeed.  I soon realised that being a lady who lunches was not for me (quite apart from the fact that I no longer had the money to pay for lunch!!).

I now work just as hard as I ever did in my full-time employment but do not receive the very comforting, guaranteed pay cheque at the end of the month (in fact the outgoings of your average accountant are quite shocking – and I’m not looking for sympathy!).  I also get just as frustrated and bogged down in red-tape as any other small business owner.

But what about the upsides?  They are many and varied.  There is without doubt nothing like being in charge of your own destiny.  I enjoy making the decisions (although I’ve made some corkers in the first six months!!) and I love all the new things I’m learning.  The sense of achievement when seeing something through to its conclusion is enormous.  And the flexibility to your working hours gives great benefits – OK, I’m working later in the evenings than I have before but I also get to spend more time with my kids.

I don’t think there is anything special about my particular journey to being self-employed or my experiences in my business’s early days.  However my own set of circumstances does mean that I can readily understand the problems and issues facing others embarking on the same course of action.  This has helped when dealing with start up clients and has enabled me to give advice well outside the remit of accountancy (I’m never backward about sharing my cock-ups with people!).

Working for yourself – there’s nothing like it.  But go into it open-eyed rather than wide-eyed and innocent!!!