Taking it to the cloud....

It’s Sunday, the sun is shining and I am in the office ...don’t feel sorry for me – I’m celebrating.

You see today is the end of an era.

Today I converted the very last of my clients using desktop accounting software to the CLOUD.

Now I know for many of you this is not sexy talk. But for me and my journey this is a wonderful feeling of satisfaction and relief.

In recent months I had a personal tragedy occur in my personal life.

Some people knew about it – others just thought I went on an overseas trip to celebrate my long service leave.

In truth the trip served as a time to compartmentalise my life and reflect that life is 

1. Too short to work with things and people that do not inspire me

2. Too short to break promises to myself

3. Too short not to celebrate every moment.

2 months later I am still trying to pick up the emotional pieces that have affected my work, to ensure I don’t disappoint anyone. The list of people that are annoyed with me is down to under 10 – most of whom I haven’t shared my past few months journey – so I apologise in advance.

But I digress....

I started my bookkeeping business with a Business Degree, a dash of enthusiasm and a whole lot of passion. I evolved it and made EVERY conceivable mistake a young business does.

1. I took on clients who were not the right fit with my personality and values

2. I undercharged

3. I gave away services for free

4. I undervalued my worth

5. I undervalued my product

But most of all I let people make me feel guilty about it.

In the meantime I grew a business based on desktop software – I was constantly in my car – running from place to place – trying to be everything to everybody and please everyone.

Then came the change I needed.

In 2011 I remember sitting in my car, I pulled over, rang my 2IC (she’s never 2nd in my eyes – she’s number one !) and said “We are doing this. We are moving all the clients to the cloud!” I had found a product that inspired me - that made me smile again!

What followed was a roller coaster ride of ups, downs, 360 degree loops and derailments.

And I’m not the sort of person who likes roller coasters! I need to coax myself into being strapped down into that seat with sweaty palms and a beating heart.

Yet for once I loved the thrill of the ride – I loved transforming clients’ old archaic ways and showing them the ‘cool’ stuff. I loved seeing their business thrive. I loved seeing the accountants I care about get dragged along the journey and the change it made to their practices.

Yet the guilt remained.

What if I failed? What if cloud based software was not the next big thing?

What if I was just a fraud? Full of puff and wind and marketing spiel.

I am sure some clients thought that I was making these changes to make life easier for myself and truth was – yes - partially. It was ultimately a business decision.

However if you know me you also know that apart from passion – I am incredibly loyal. I can keep your secrets, share your secrets and keep you to myself when I have to and share you when it's required.

I had built a business on 1 brand of software and had been their loyal servant for years! Now I was spruiking a different sort of tool for businesses. Their competitor.

What happened over the next 5 years has taught me that sometimes you need to place your passion in places you never thought possible and balance your sense of loyalty with what inspires you and makes you smile.

Often this is not the people you think it should be nor the products you think you should sell.

So as I upload this last file to the magical cloud and delete the desktop files that tie me down – I think as always of the client - they are blissfully enjoying their Sunday afternoon – unaware of the ride we are about to take. I feel relief, excitement and pure joy that this part of my life is over – this dependency on obsolete data that provides no worth to the business beyond compliance – and I look forward to being able to finally provide this client my true worth.

And to the company I am leaving behind:

I’m sorry

1. That you couldn’t align to my purpose

2. That you couldn’t see my vision

3. That you let my clients down in your narrow minded thoughts

But just like I can’t change what happened to me and those I care about 25/12/16 – I can look upwards and guess what....

It’s all Clouds BABY!

.....If you still don't have your 'head in the clouds' - drop me a line - I'd love to hear about your business and share my passion.