Excerpt from our July 2011 Newseltter

by Connie Vanderzanden, Owner: The Accounting Department & Founder: The Bookkeepers Network

Things I Did on My Summer Vacation

I've been out of school for a few years now, but I do remember and yearn to have several weeks to do nothing but focus on fun in the sun.  That's a goal I'll still be yearning for - perhaps next year.  This year my vacation time was also a business planning session.  It has now been three years since I opened the doors of my commercial space and hired the first of our team members.  During that time I have been unsuccessful in creating written processes or what I refer to as the foundation required to properly support my business.  The foundation includes: an employee handbook, written processes, team roles/descriptions, automation tools and a business plan. All these tools are necessary to support a business so the owner can leverage their time to do marketing or education rather than trading dollars for hours, which limits their income potential.

I personally have found it difficult to schedule time to work on my foundation and know that many other business owners have similar issues as well.  Key things to consider:

• If you know that you are the type that has problems moving projects forward, hire a business coach.  They will keep you on track, make continual forward process AND you can use their help on a project by project basis if you choose.  Business coaches already have resources to guide you.  You give them the problem, dedicate time to work on the problem with their guidance, then you make a plan to celebrate when you have accomplished the goal before prepping to move to the next.  I have been quite successful in achieving some goals by using a coach and am willing to share my experiences.  If you would like resources on business coaches, shoot us an email and we can provide you with some connections.

• If you know of other business owners in the same boat, create or join a mastermind group.  It is helpful to have peers in the group that are different levels in their own business and in different fields.  Some Mastermind groups are lead by business coaches, some are created from networking groups or you can start your own.  Mastermind groups can meet weekly, monthly or quarterly.  If you want to see movement, though, you must also connect with group members outside of the regularly scheduled meetings and DEDICATE time to work on your business.  We created a mastermind group for the Bookkeepers Network using some guidelines from the following: The Success Alliance and Lifehack.

• If you are a DIY kinda of person there are a few different books/programs that you can use - one step at a time.  I am currently reading "Unveiling the Heart of Your Business" by Mark Silver.  This is a wonderful DIY book for the heart-centered, spiritually-minded business owner inspired to make a difference and a profit at the same time.  Heart of Business happens to be a business coaching firm that does regular coaching, in-depth session work (next one started 7/1) and have resources that you can do on your own.  What's key here is DEDICATED time to work on your business.  Exchanging personal time to make these plans is not an option: you are going to leverage your time to spend productive work hours actually working on your business.  Crazy, I know!

All of these choices though require that you value the growth of your business.  More work on your foundation the easier it will be to add team members, add an intern program or outsource the work to a subcontractor which in turn will leverage your time to create more abundance in time and money.

So my summer vacation I used a right-brain business planning tool that I received from my business coach along with some goal planning tools.  I also focused on getting back to some of the basics - our mission and purpose and team job descriptions.  Next on the list is writing processes, a team handbook; better known as "getting the stuff out of my head onto paper" so my next hire has the support they need to succeed.  If you find that these summer months are your "busy" times of the year then choose to make this priority in your slower months.  Whatever you do CHOOSE!  CHOOSE to make it a priority.  CHOOSE to spend an hour a day.  Better yet CHOOSE to take a full weekend and create your own business retreat.  Heck, take some business friends along or invite them down for the day and have your own mastermind retreat!  Please note, fun may break out but that's all part of the process! 

If you have some great ideas on how you are accomplishing your business planning and creating your foundation to share with us and other business owners, leave us a comment!

Have you been feeling overwhelmed with all of the Social Media inundation? We have been! We were just feeling like we have hit our ceiling in the Social Media Learning Curve. Then, almost by accident, we were lucky enough to listen to a little lecture from Jay Baer, from last year’s Social Media Success Summit (2010); boy have we found a new way to improve and sustain our Social Media Plan! That is why this year we are thinking about attending the Summit in full. If you want to join us, check out the website here: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/socialmedia11/

Welcome to The Accounting Department’s New Blog!

One of our goals this year (like many of you out there!) is to increase our blogging, work out our Social Media Plan and use these to “pay it forward” to our friends, clients, Strategic Partners and networking groups.

Keep posted with us to find out more!