Fire your Accountant & Hire a Partner

Are you ready for the Paperless Age?

Posted on 22 December 2011 | No responses

So you want to go paperless? Good luck…

OK I guess some help would be appreciated.  Going paperless or green is not a simple and easy task for businesses. This is due to the rigorous requirement by government to maintain records, usually given in paper form, so they can tax your success. 

Please don’t take me wrong about taxing success, I do have a few socialistic ideologies kicking around in my head.  For example I believe that if I want to live in a safe country, it costs money. If I want to live in a country with paved roads, taxes and government are necessary elements.  But this article is not about taxation or social ideology. It’s about going paperless!

My number one tip for going paperless, “Stop using paper”!  Seriously, stop it. If your business can use computing power use it, if not use paper.  Unless you are manufacturing a product that uses paper, you probably don’t need to use so much of it.

Perhaps we should talk about the barriers you may face to going paperless first. 

1. I don’t know how.
2. It’s to expensive.
3. All other reasons are just different expressions of  number 1 or 1, no matter how you phrase it.

If we compile a list of all the uses we currently have for paper, we can better discuss the potential for stopping.  The problem with a list of uses of paper is that it is unique to your business. Every business is different and the way they function is a product of the processes and people that are part of that business.

Perhaps if we compiled a list of reasons why we use paper.

1. Easy to transport and store.
2. Versatile, it can be shared or transmitted via fax/mail/scan and email.
3. Easy to mark up or add to with a pen/pencil etc.
4. Habit, I have always used paper.
5. What if my computer crashes?
6. What if I get audited?
7. Isn’t it a requirement of the law?
8. It’s cheaper than computers.
9. I need to be a computer expert to get rid of paper.

Let’s look at each issue separately and see if they are real concerns or just “because that’s the way we do it”. Wait that might require more than a short article. OK, check back and see how this story evolves. You might just gain some freedom.  Let’s go paperless!!!!

On your team,

Mark

Compasion for Accountants

Posted on 11 October 2011 | No responses

A service business is born! This is a true story about a close friend and partner in a couple of businesses.

He is an accountant. I was concerned for him personally and selfishly because he disappeared every year at tax time and issues for which I needed his input and expertise for our businesses just went missing along with him.

His stress level had to begin creating severe health and emotional difficulties for him – his plaintive remarks, “this business is going to kill me” was enough evidence for me to know something had to be done. What accountant hasn’t gone through it, right?

Most people have no idea of what an accountant and her/his family goes through, particularly at tax time. Since I started this business and have been helping other accountants, I’ve been amazed at how many could just not wait until the time they could quit altogether.

Since starting my-eScribe, it has been rewarding to see how joy and excitement have returned to the lives of so many who had lost both from the rigors of accounting …plus my own joy at helping them become far more profitable, grow their business while actually having more time to do the things in their practice they wanted to do.

my-eScribe is a bookkeeping service (we don’t do payroll, tax, or any other things we believe should be left to a competent accountant). We work only with and through accounting firms whose principals tell me how solutions we have provided, in the way we approach bookkeeping, have brought about positive changes in their lives, including more time to invest in their marriages.

I am passionate about working with accountants. Such a vital and important field; the survival of many businesses is wholly dependent upon an accountant who really cares. The challenges accountants face can be horrendous, as they were with my friend. I’m thankful I was able to help him and all the others …because I have become compassionate for accountants.

I care about accountants; in fact, all business owners should!

Mark Kennedy,

http://my-eScribe.com

The journey of discover begins with “Self Reflection”.

Posted on 26 June 2011 | No responses

In the pursuit of your passion that you call “my business”, you will find it much easier if you have done some self reflection.  Here is a list from a Professor who has a knack for discovering the heart of a person.

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the most bitter.”
Confucius

You can spend a lifetime answering these questions:

1. What are you proudest of, or what has given you the most satisfaction?
2. What aspect of your thought do people continue to misunderstand?
3. What are the greatest problems facing those in your discipline or field of passion?
4. What advice do you have for those outside your religious affiliation or belief system?
5. What books and authors have had the greatest influence upon you?
6. What are the beauties and utilities of your thinking, and what are its weaknesses and shortcomings?
7. How would you like to be remembered?
8. What holiday or celebration do you enjoy the most? Why?
9. After a busy day, how do you like to unwind?
10. What do you do well?
11. What do you like about yourself?
12. What would you like to change about yourself?
13. What’s one thing you really like about your life right now?
14. What is your favorite time of day? Day of the week? Time of the year? Why are these favorites?

This list was lifted without permission from an inspiring man who is loved by many, thank you Dennis Plies Professor of Music at Warner Pacific College.

Try to answer 1 per month, spend at least 30 minutes on each question. Maybe take a walk and ponder. You will find anwering just one of these questions a rewarding experience. And remember:

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
Peter F. Drucker

Why Almost Everyone Will be an Entreprenuer.

Posted on 13 March 2011 | 1 response

First the bad news…the life and expectations your parents had will not be available for you.  Unless you are a baby boomer and have the life already..  This message is for those born after 1962.

Why? because the socioeconomic conditions that created the world they grew up in don’t exist.  We are back to the way things have been for thousands of years.

Wait… is that bad news?

To arrive at the conclusion that things like, pensions, lifelong jobs, a white picket fence, dog and two cars in the garage are what makes a good life is somewhat judgmental on my part. In fact most of the worlds population don’t have those things.  So how did your parents get them?

Let’s just call it an economic bubble and leave it at that, no point going down into an opinionated review of how we got here…or is there.

• Before 1950 over 50% of homes were rented. Over the next 50 years most homes were owned, up to 69%.
• Social security, while enacted in 1935 was never paid until 1940, now everyone can expect it, or can they?
• When they enacted social security they also enacted “payroll tax”, this means an employer has to pay tax to have you work for them.
• The current produce life cycle is 13 years and falling.
• Most of your parents worked for the same firm for their entire life.
• The average person under 40 can expect to have a new employer on average every 5 years.

So why are these numbers important? The suggest a bubble, something out of the ordinary?  The bubble has burst.  So what is next or what do we go back to, is maybe a better question?

Value…plain and simple…Value.

Every entrepreneur provides some unique value that enhances someones life.  If you are not providing Value that improves someones life you probably won’t be in business long.  As an entrepreneur, you must be clear on what the value is you are providing, very clear.  You must be able to communicate in simple terms why anyone needs your product or service.

Your business exists purely to provide an unique Value for someone.  If you are an employee working for someone, you had better be clear on what your value is to that business and you had better be able to communicate it often. Because if you can’t you won’t have a job for long.

The fat, easy times are gone, long live the age of the entrepreneur!

On your team,

Mark Kennedy

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