Self-reflection is a powerful thing, my friend.
Being able to learn from our past selves is the key to growing as individuals, as bookkeepers, and as successful business owners. So as I reflect on the things I would have done differently as a budding business owner, here’s where I’d start:
I’d pursue radical self-inquiry in an effort to be proactive, rather than reactive, to potential problems in my business.
What Do I Mean By Radical Self-Inquiry?
It’s only through ruthless and radical self-inquiry that we can become better business owners, better bookkeepers, better friends, better spouses—you name it.
It’s not easy, but you owe it to yourself (not to mention your team and your clients) to have a good grasp on what’s going right within your business and, even more importantly, what’s going wrong.
Sure, it can be helpful to look back over the last few years and reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly… But what I’m really talking about here is taking an active approach to improving yourself right here, right now.
Being honest with yourself about how your performance as a bookkeeper and business owner has gone so is tough, there’s no getting around it. It’s going to take some thick skin. But I believe in you, and you have an entire support system (ahem, plugging our Facebook community here) to help you through it.
The Power of Live Feedback
So, Justine, how exactly do I do this?
You are getting live feedback all the time about how you’re doing as a business owner—even if you haven’t realized it yet!
Here’s what I mean:
🤔 Are you getting as many leads as you like?
👉 No? Then you need to evaluate your marketing.
🤔 Are you happy with how many clients you close after your initial sales call?
👉 No? Then your sales pitch and process probably need a tune-up.
🤔 Are you losing clients as fast as you’re getting them?
👉 Yes? Then you need to take a hard, long look at your performance.
🤔 Are you asking for referrals, but not getting any?
👉 Yes? Then reevaluate your client experience and referral incentives (if you have any).
How I Grew As a Bookkeeper By Owning My Mistakes
I once had a client who experienced a meteoric rise in her business while working together.
For one reason or another, we had a rocky 3-4 month period where things just kept going south on my end. In the name of radical self-inquiry and reflection, I’ll say it: I dropped the ball. I dropped the ball HARD. She knew it, I knew it.
But remember, she was in the midst of major growth, so despite my epic eff-ups, she couldn’t afford to fire me and start with someone new. But I knew I was in the wrong, so I scheduled a call with her, apologized for the recent hiccups, waived her bill, and promised to do better moving forward.
I could literally hear the relief in her voice after this, she said she was grateful that I had the integrity to own my mistakes without her having to call me out on them.
Conclusion
It’s hard to face the music, especially if you know deep down there’s room for improvement. But just as with anything else in life, it’s better to face your issues head on then ignore them and hope they’ll go away (spoiler alert: they won’t. But your clients might 😬).
Being able to self-reflect has made me a better bookkeeper overall, and it certainly helped me improve my client experience.
To lifting each other up,
Justine
P.S. Every training I offer you comes directly from my own moments of radical self-inquiry. They’re what I’ve developed over the years to improve the client experience and better run my business. If you haven’t had a chance to check them out yet, I highly recommend starting with one of my most popular trainings, the Onboarding Call Training.
