Lightening the Load 

I just left for a quick break pre end of financial year madness

I was duped - duped into packing carry-on luggage only.

It wasn’t about the cost - more about the freedom and flexibility of no luggage to cart about.

It’s a quick trip, why be weighed down with luggage? It may also have something to do with ALL my luggage going AWOL on my last trip ….anyway…..

If you know me well, you will know 2 things about me

1. I am a planner
2. I am a packer

I like STUFF. I like to have my things.

Forcing myself to pack into 7 kilos has been a major struggle - my laptop bag alone weighs 3kgs!

So here I am packed to 7kgs - ok so it was about 10 kgs - and if they stopped me, I was prepared to layer on my clothing to get it through!

Thankfully they didn’t force me to become the Michelin Man and I made it.

How did I feel ?

FREE

Did I need the extra STUFF ? No, not really….

I managed to feel great, read half a dozen e books loaded into my phone, wear clean clothes, and generally not let my ‘stuff’ get in the way.

So here it comes…..how does this relate to my business ?

In business, we have ‘stuff’. We stick to your ideas around our processes, our products and our ways.

The last 2 years in business has taught me to not be defined by the ‘stuff’ - to rethink the necessity.

Let me show you an example….

Each year at this time I used to make the inevitable stationery order. Lots of paper, ink, folders, tab dividers.

Every client had a new folder prepared for the coming financial year.

These days Officeworks does not have my number on speed dial. I spent way less $$$ and let’s just say there is more and more shelf space and less and less folders.

The methodology I used year-on-year with clients has changed. Technology has brought with it the ability to be paperless - NOT paperfree. i will always need my notes and files!

The freedom of less ‘stuff’ in my business is paperwork and procedures. - it opens doors for me to be able to do more for my clients.

I no longer need paperwork dropped into my office. It can be uploaded through an App - Receipt Bank.

Receipt Bank not only frees them from the ‘stuff’ - it means we BOTH can work anywhere, anytime.

They buy a new car - no longer do I need to wait for the invoice to claim back the GST - its at my fingertips as soon as they drive it out of the car yard.

I see an amazing opportunity for business owners to free themselves of their ‘stuff’ - both physical and mental. Processes that worked in business years ago are now clunky and outdated with the tools like Receipt Bank we have available to us.

I want to onboard clients with the latest Apps, add ons and best process behind them.

I want to talk to clients about

Xero - for online accounting software

Receipt Bank - to eliminate paper receipts and automate data entry.

Banking - working with their bank to create more automation around banking.

Together this will lighten the load.

Here is 1 small story I want to leave you with….

I spoke to a prospective client during the week. They set up Xero years ago.

Their bookkeeper stills comes in every week to process their data, piece by piece, manually into MYOB.

But they have Xero right ?

Their bookkeeper refuses to use Xero and duplicates every task manually into MYOB.

Thats just nuts !

This is double entry accounting taken to a whole new level.

So now - together - we are going to take this business owner on a journey. We are going to STOP all this double handling and harness the power of Xero - we are going to implement Receipt Bank and push this business into a new realm, leaving all the old ‘stuff’ behind.

When I first started a business in bookkeeping - I knew that connecting the business owner with the right tools was the key. Increasingly now I understand that change, albeit scary, is inevitable and even critical to business prosperity and pure survival.

So in 2017 - how are you going to lighten the load in your business ?

PS I did survive the trip without the 5 pairs of bikinis ! Load lightened!!