I wrote about a bookkeeper being stuck between a rock and a hard place . I spoke to another bookkeeper recently who had made the important decision to grow her bookkeeping business, rather than working on her own. The problem was that there were obstacles everywhere stopping her and she also felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.
She “knew” that working ON her business was the ONE THING that was going to make the difference, but she was too busy with important client work. She “knew” to grow her business she needed to put on staff, but she was terrified of the prospect of her reputation being damaged. She “knew” what would solve that problem was to get stuck into developing systems in her business to recruit great bookkeepers and guarantee the quality of their work. She “knew” she wasn’t charging what she was worth and needed to put her prices up on July 1st, but was scared that she would lose clients.
She “knew” she was not spending enough time with her family and felt guilty about that, but her clients had deadlines and she couldn’t let them down. And I know, if you’re books are full, you know exactly what she’s going through.
I empathised with her, having been in the same excruciating position as her about 10 years ago. But I stressed that, for her well-being, she simply cannot stay in this place for very long. It’s one thing to “know” what you need to do but it’s much scarier taking the necessary action.
But it’s in the actions that the magic really happens! She realised at the end of our conversation that her job now was to find a way through, over or around those obstacles and out to the other side where the view is amazing!