Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Change - the only thing you can really count on

Change happens all around us whether we want it to or not. It strikes me that often people except the change they can not control, because they have no choice, but will not make positive changes that can make their life easier. I am a perfect example of this I will milk an old computer until it dies only changing when I have to. Even though I know that a new one will improve my work and therefore my life. I let the computer decide when I change instead of taking control of the situation and making the change at a time more suitable to me. Well this time I took control and the new computer should arrive today and the old one still works. This gave me the option to shop around and get the features I wanted at a good price.
This is a good time of year for accountants to get new clients because they are starting to face the ugly fact of year-end, year-end reporting, tax time.... the list goes on. I hope the clients we are meeting and talking too about using our services embrace change now and make their lives easier.
We spent all 2009 embracing change at e-bookkeeping, we made significant investments in staff, education and technology to improve our service offerings and we are hoping the potential clients we are meeting with decide to embrace change and take control making some changes to make their business run better while making their lives easier.
We are looking forward to a great 2010 and making some new clients happy.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Is there a silver lining

This recession has been a difficult one. Many companies large and small alike have not been able to make it, closing their doors, people loosing their companies, jobs or homes. The news is bad and often sad; leaving me thinking there must be something positive about this recession. Well I think I may have found some silver. We have been talking a lot to our existing clients learning from them how to continue to improve our service and we have been talking a lot to prospects finding ways to provide extraordinary service and value during these difficult times. The silver I think is that the businesses that come out of this recession are going to be better, stronger, smarter. The people we are talking to want information, wanting to know more about both their business finances and personal as well. This is great for us, as this is EXACTLY what we provide - information. Information through great bookkeeping and the analysis that helps to understand that information. Information about what costs what, what sells, who pays and when they pay, information about how long it takes to provide this service or create that product. When times were good people were not asking these questions they were asking “how much money did I make” a great question but not a question that we learn much from. How much we made teaches us nothing about why and what can we do to be better, stronger, smarter. Well answering these types of questions is exactly why I became an accountant and exactly why I have spent my career working to provide information to run businesses better. So for me there is definitely silver in these cloudy economic times, and I hope we can help our clients find their silver lining.