I wasn’t really thinking about business plateau at first, but I was on Pinterest, and I saw a graphic that really caught my attention. I’m not sure who created it, but it was posted by a guy named Adam. Here is the graphic:
This really made me think. We work so hard, and by me I mean I but maybe you feel the same way. Anyway, we work so hard to try to make our business or our life in general a success, and it’s easy to look at where you are and feel like you aren’t getting anywhere. But if you zoom out, the perspective completely changes.
A year ago, I was working as a high school math teacher. Summer break had just started. We were having to go to the mandated professional development sessions, which if you have never been a teacher before, imagine a meeting that could have been an email, but is presented to you like you were 4 years old (not 40 something with advanced degrees). And imagine if that meeting lasted all day long for 3 or 4 days. Also imagine that the meeting was being led by people who had never done your job and didn’t actually know how to do your job but were convinced that they were experts. Are you feeling annoyed yet? I could go on… but I don’t want to lose all of my subscribers for cruel and unusual punishment of the readers.
So… a year ago, I was doing that. I was fairly broke (teacher), I felt completely stuck professionally and kind of just in general. It was a relatively dependable job and the pay was predictable, but it was only just barely paying the bills, and there isn’t much of an opportunity to increase your pay unless you get a second job.
Fast forward to today. I have my own company. It isn’t a giant company yet, but it’s a company. I learned a new skill. My entire career has dealt with numbers. I went from Engineering (which is all numbers) to teaching math and financial literacy (numbers again) to bookkeeping. It wasn’t as wild a jump as it might sound like at first, since I’m still dealing with numbers. But the point is: I did all of that in a year. I am now a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, with additional certifications in QuickBooks (including Payroll).
In March, my oldest dog passed away (which I imagine as the downward trend in the picture), but last month, I added a new dog to my little pack (upward trend).
Sometimes we just need to zoom out and look at the bigger picture.
We all struggle, in life and in business. But seriously, sometimes, we just need to zoom out and look at the bigger picture. As business owners, we start out doing almost everything ourselves. Eventually, we reach a point where that’s not possible anymore. You reach the limits of what you can personally do – either because of skill limitations, or professional certifications, or because there just aren’t enough hours in a day. Eventually, we reach a business plateau (like a weight loss plateau but more expensive).
Maybe the little downward trend you find yourself at (if that’s where you are or where you have been), means that it’s time to bring in help.
Bookkeepers are numbers people. It’s what we do. But numbers aren’t just numbers. They tell a story if you know where to look. Having your books professionally done means more than just having all of your transactions properly categorized and having your accounts reconciled so that what’s in the books matches what’s in the bank. Having a bookkeeper means that you have access to data that is put into a format that is useful to you. Bookkeepers, as part of their monthly services, compile your data into reports that give you insight into what’s actually going on with your business. Having your books properly set up with the right accounts can let you see where your money is coming from, where it’s going, and gives you an idea of what might be causing any downward trends that come up.
If you find yourself in a downward slump, give us a call. We would love to see how we can help you take your business to the next level. Numbers are what we do.
