024 Appreciation
Today I’m reflecting and appreciating how far my business has come in its first 12 months. Wish me a happy biz-aversary as of May 1st!
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Other episodes you'll enjoy:
016 Why I Chose My Career & Business Name
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Hello everybody. We are almost in May and so the date that this podcast episode will be released will be a couple of days before my one year business anniversary. So I found it all easy. Accounting May 1st is the official start date. 2022. For my business, and I am so excited to talk with you today and reflect on the past year of running a small business, my first time doing that and not my first time in an understanding of what it is to run a small business because I have. Often been the person in the bleachers cheering on my clients being in the position to where I have the privilege to. Look at a lot of small businesses. Financial reports over the years, because I'm an accountant and because I'm an accountant for small business owners, I have had the pleasure and the privilege to see how other people run their business, see the kinds of results that they get when they implement different strategies, see exactly what goes on behind the scenes, witness their pain. And frustration and fears and anxieties. And joy and pleasure and success in all of that good stuff like I have been in the bleachers for many years, observing and witnessing and cheering on. But for the past year. I have been the one on the field playing in the game, running my own business. Trying things out, some of which didn't work, some of which did and. I'm still here. To talk about it, and I am so happy that I've made it this far, and I'm so proud of myself and I think the thing that I want to talk about today. Is appreciation. This is something that I'm going to focus on rather than trying to focus on whether or not I succeed or fail at something. But appreciating the steps that I took along the way to try to get where I want to be. So that's what we're going to talk about today is appreciation. And The funny thing about this word is that their. Are two different definitions of this right there are technically quite a few, but I think like let's talk about appreciation in the relationship kind of sense or what kind of relationship you have to the thing that you're appreciating and that can be another person that can be something tangible. Something in in the physical world that you appreciate, it can be an active service that someone else has done for you and you appreciate. That act, it can be. Appreciating the relationship that you have between you and another person, or you and another thing, and so it could be an intangible thing in that way. So that's one definition of appreciation. And then the second definition of appreciation in the accounting world is that when something appreciates, it actually increases in monetary value. So what does that mean when we have something in our life and our business that is? Something that appreciates in value that means that over time, the value of that thing, if you were to turn around at any moment and like, sell that thing to somebody else, the value would be higher, like the money that you would get for selling the thing would be more than the money you paid to get the thing in the past. For like your house. For instance. When you purchase a home, hopefully you're also purchasing the land underneath the house, right? And you have, like, mineral rights to that and all that good stuff. But the actual building the on the property hard, you know wood and like the foundation and all of the things inside of the building may depreciate. And value, meaning that the value of those things goes down over time because like, wear and tear on those materials whatever reason. But on the bookkeeping and on the taxes, like if you are claiming a building, if you're claiming property on your taxes, we separate out what the land value is like the ground that the property has contained within it, and then the building we separate those two things out because buildings depreciate that land. Does not. It retains its value right? So I mean, in general most of the time, so when something appreciates in value, that means that at the time. That you are the owner of something at the time that you hold something as an asset, you pay this much for it. And then at the time that you're looking at what the value is down the road, maybe a couple of years later, maybe you're going to sell it, the money that somebody else would pay for that thing for that asset. Has gone up so the value appreciates, so that is what appreciation means in accounting. Speak in the accounting world, so I want to talk today on this episode about connecting those two ideas. Those two definitions of appreciation or appreciate and how it relates to me running a business I have been working for some time with a business coach and. We've really been. Driving into this idea that I have a big problem with things being uncertain in my life and things being uncertain in my business and that causes a lot of anxiety for me. It is not fun. So we've been really drilling into that idea that. Running a small business is uncertain, but if you think about it, it's. Not anymore. Uncertain. And what's going to happen in the future in a small business than it is if you are an employee in somebody else's business, there is always the possibility that you could *** **** off that you could be part. Of a quote. UN quote reduction in the workforce and so it doesn't matter where you're working or what you're doing, nobody can. Accurately and with 100% certainty predict the future. None of us can do that, and humans have a hard time with that concept. We really struggle with that because what does that mean if we don't know what's going to happen in the future? About us now. What does that mean about us? Now that we're like, I mean, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. You know the. Concept of uncertainty is really an uncomfortable thing for humans to sit with most of the time. Unless you practice like being OK with that, and that is what I have been digging into in my coaching and in reflecting on my business. For the past year, so when I started my business last May, I knew. That I would. Have a couple of clients to start with, and I knew that I was going to do whatever it took. Look to make sure that I grew my business to where it can provide me with an income to where I could sustain my life the way I live it now. And I have been able to do that for the most part. It's been uncomfortable most of the time, but in the beginning I was like, you know what, like, I don't know where this thing is going to go. But I know that I am smart that I'm capable, that I can figure it out. I know that I'm willing to do what it takes to be successful and to achieve this thing that I want and so, like, no matter what I was like willing to try all sorts of different. Keep trying them really put in. The effort over and over. And over again, maybe whittle away the things that aren't working. Maybe try some new things that could possibly work and to just keep going right to just keep putting that one foot in front of the other. Keep taking those steps until I get to where I want to be, like I'm willing to do that, but. Since we can't tell what the future holds, and oftentimes we're just speaking into the ether and we're. You know, putting out content and I have an e-mail list and I send out emails and I, you know, try to engage my network and let people know like what I'm doing so that when somebody says I need a bookkeeper, I need help with QuickBooks, etc. They know to like throw my name in the ring. Right. And I know that. Like clients will come. I know that I will make more money. I know that I am going to grow my business because I am right now. Like it is growing, but the uncertainty sometimes is a little too much to bear and that's OK. So instead of trying to focus so much on like when is my next client coming? When am I going to reach? My money goals. When am I going to? Have the kind of platform and audience that I want to have to like be able to do the things that I want to do in my business. Like all of those things, all of those questions. Or just. Rattling around in my brain all the time and it was causing me a lot of anxiety and then I'm taking those questions and I'm looking back on all the work that I've done in my business and my marketing and my selling and making offers to people and the work that I do with my current clients, the work that I've done with previous clients, I took all those questions about when is the next thing. And I was like using that against all of the actions that I've already taken in my business and I was beating myself up and saying like, see, because we don't know when the next client is coming. This stuff that I did in the past is bad. It's not good enough. It wasn't enough work. Like I didn't take enough action. I didn't leverage things the right way. I didn't run enough ads. I didn't do. This blah blah blah. Saws, making the uncertainty of the future mean that I had done something wrong in the past, or I hadn't done enough, or my work that I had done wasn't good enough, and so it was. Just like this. Cycle that like I was using against my. And that's if you if you know anything about like, mindset work, you'll know that like that sort of thinking and asking those types of questions, that is the way that we like beat ourselves up about not doing enough or not being good enough. That's like a circular thing that we wind up with the same result we wind up in the same place. Of like I don't know, I'm just doing stuff and it's not working. I don't know. I'm just doing stuff and it's not working, you know, month after month. So I knew that I needed to stop. That like, just stop. And so that's what. I've been working on is. Maybe being OK with the idea that things have always been uncertain about the future. It's like that's just how it is and that there is a level of uncertainty. There is a level of not knowing that you kind of have to be OK with. And still do the things that you need to do anyways still work towards those goals? Still try to make something out of nothing in order to get where you need to be. This is something that I this is kind of how I turned it around really recently. I want to share that. So the idea that. I have in my head that like. I'm going to reach the certain number of like monthly clients that I have worked with on a regular basis, or I'm going to reach a certain amount of revenue in my business by a certain date. And so I have these. Like goals that I want to meet, the way that I imagine. Myself, like how? I experience that moment when I like, meet the revenue goal when I meet the number of clients that I want to have every month. They meet those. Targets, I imagine myself being like wow. Like I'm so proud of myself that I ******* did that right? Because I know ahead of time that I'm, like, going towards these goals so that I can tell myself like, I'm so proud of myself. I did an amazing job. Look how awesome I am to like build my business to where I wanted it to be and like I did. All the hard work and you know, shifted all the mindset that I needed to shift. But the end goal is not even about the money or the number of clients. It's so that I can feel proud of myself.
What I'm doing, and I talked about this in the hating your money goal episode of money. Three is you can scroll back in the podcast feed and listen to that episode hating your money goal. And what I know is that pride is first of all, I don't believe that like in the whole moralistic thing about about pride like we it's OK to feel proud of yourself. I want you to know that that it's not like egotistical to be proud of the. Work that you've already done. So I have no problem wanting to feel proud of myself and I need to remember that like, that's a feeling, that's something that I can tell. Now I can tell myself I'm, like, really proud of the work that I've done. Now, once I remind myself of that, that I have the availability, like I'm not withhold, I don't have to withhold pride for myself right now until I meet a goal I can be proud of. The work that I've already done. Once I remember. That then I can look back on. The past year of running my business and. Hey, damn. Like, I'm so proud of the work that I've done. And in the past year, the scariest thing that I did was start the business to begin with, and that was the first step. That was me quitting my job of seven years and. Choosing to come out and say, hey, I'm starting my own business and choosing to ask my clients to come with me in that journey. And I had a few people come with me and I'm so great. To them. But the word that we're going to come back to is appreciation, because the way that I give myself that credit right now is to appreciate all the steps that I've taken so far and to be proud of all of that work. I look back and I am so grateful that I did the scary thing I did the hard thing. And I quit my job and I started a business. And for a while like probably. For about a. So the entire month of May last year it was like me playing video games for. Like 12 hours. A day because I was like dealing with so much anxiety and uncertainty and just fear that I was, like, trying to escape that constantly. So like. After the first month, it's like, OK, we're gonna get serious now, and we're gonna, like, actively try to market it. And then throughout the year throughout 2022, like it just increased from there, I just kept taking the steps that I needed to take and I slowly stopped doing all the things to distract myself from that fear and anxiety. I did the hard thing. I quit my job. I started a business. I let other people know that I started a business because. I see this happen with a lot of people and I do. I did the same. Thing as it. Like for a while. You like hide yourself even though you're like, I want people to hire me. Or maybe you sell products and you're like ohh man, I really. Need people to. Like buy my stuff. But you're. Not even aware of how much like it takes to get out and tell the people what you're doing and to overcome that, whatever that is that's holding you back from doing that, that takes a lot of work to constantly talk about yourself, to constantly talk about what you're doing and how you want people to hire you, how you want people to buy your. Stuff how you want. To grow your business, it takes a while to get good at talking about that consistently, and to keep showing up even when you think nobody. Watching even when nobody is responding to you, even when people are telling you no, the gumption that it takes to keep going in spite of all that, you have to build up to that most of us are not wired or trained or educated on how to do that and to keep showing up even when nobody. It looks like nobody's watching. It looks like nobody's responding. What they are, so it's OK so. It took me a while to get. To that point, like pretty much all of last year. And I have, I mean, I didn't even start the podcast until November, and that was something that I had wanted to do since day -, 1, like I have wanted to do a podcast for a couple of years. And it took six months into my business to finally release my introduction episode where I'm like, hey, this is me and what I'm. Doing it's just. So much space in between that you have to be intentional about what you're doing, but you have to, like, practice that over and over until it becomes. Second nature and. I appreciate so much the person that I was a. Year ago that. Was still kind of hiding. Even though she was like, I need people to hire me. Here's what I'm doing. Please someone for the love of God, hire me and at the same time trying to hide because she was afraid of what other people would think about her. So I have a lot of appreciation for that person and I am not the same person. That I was a. Year ago, I hope to God that. Like every year. When I revisit my work my business anniversary that I am a completely different person because the goals that I want to get to the stuff that I want to do in my business and in my life, it's going to take me becoming a different person. So I hope May 1st 2024 that I am a different person so. Hello, Reagan from the future, if you're listening to this. Nice to meet you. So yeah, I want to focus on that word. Appreciate, because I appreciate who I was in that moment and how scared I was and that I chose to do it anyways. And that I chose to commit. To myself, I chose to commit to a business. I chose to commit to my clients, and then I kept doing that. I just kept committing over and over and over again, and I appreciate that person who was willing to do that so that I could get to where I need to be now, and I appreciate every single person that has worked with me over the past year. I truly do appreciate all I love you. Like it means so much that you trusted me with very precious material. Very precious stuff that is inducing a lot of emotions for people when we talk about finances, when we talk about money, a lot of people have different emotions about that and I appreciate that the people that decided to work with me trusted me. And we're like, yeah, I'm going to give it a shot with you because I think you can help me and. I think I did help them. So I appreciate my clients. I appreciate my husband who has been so patient with me and so patient with my business because I'm not at the point that I want to be at in terms of income, but it's OK and honestly. He should appreciate. Because he got laid off in 2020 at the height of COVID, and for the longest time I was the one supporting our household for the most part he works full time now and he's making more money than either of us have ever made. I'm glad that he's here being patient with me while I go. Through this transition period and to get where I want to be, and I did the same thing for him and I would do it again. Like, that's the kind of partnership we have. So I appreciate my husband. I appreciate my family, who has listened to me, who has been there every step of the way to support me and to I mean, honestly, sometimes you just need people to witness the ship. We are going through and that is enough, and that has been enough for my family so. Thank you for that. But I want. To also talk about appreciation in the. Financial sense because I have made money the past year, I didn't set a goal for my first like 12 months in business. But I did make a good amount of. Money and I. Appreciate all the money that I've made, but here's the thing. Not only am I turning around and saying, like, yeah, I appreciate the money that I made, but that money that I made is going to appreciate because. It has support. It has been reinvested in my business. I have invested money into systems, processes, software, coaching like professional services, continuing education, the money that I've made is going to appreciate financially because it has supported my growth and will continue to investing in yourself and your mind. Into your business, into the systems that you do the money that I made in the past 12 months is going to appreciate in that way as well all.
Of the work that.
I've done. It's not just about the money, it's about my mindset growth. It's about me becoming a new person, like I've talked about that work that I've done on myself as a person, on my mindset. All of that is going to appreciate as well, because it all builds on top of itself, right? If you think about the way we learn math in school, you learn, first of all, what the ******* number is. You learn how to count and how numbers represent like a number. Oh my gosh, I don't know how to say this. A number represents like counting, right? So that's like the basic thing that you learn. I have one apple, I add another apple. I have two apples like you learn how to count and how numbers represent things in our world. And then on top of that, you learn simple addition subtraction. If I put more apples into a basket, I'm add. It's an addition thing and we can use that representation with numbers. If I take apples out of the basket, I'm subtracting from the total amount of apples. So like you have to have the basis understanding of like numbers and counting in order to do addition and subtraction you have to have the basis of addition to do multiplication and then division and. Then on top of that. All the way up. To like calculus, but it's like. Always building on top of those foundations, and so I'm looking at this the same way in my business and my mindset about how. The mindset work that I've done, the growth that I've had personally over the last year is the foundation that I've laid for my business to be successful and that is learning how to be kind to myself, to have compassion, to have appreciation for the work that I've already done, and then that foundation, the work that I do in the future. Is going to build on top of that, so the foundational work that I've done in the 1st 12 months of my business is going to appreciate in value to me. Because I'm building on top of that, it is going to increase value. It's going to grow because I'm going to be growing. But like that, foundation had to be set first, so that is the mood. The word that I'm focusing on and that I'm bringing into my next 12 months of business is appreciation. And both in the way that I can actively appreciate. All the work. That I've done the progress that I've made. Appreciation is an action that I can take when I look back and justice appreciate how far I've come and to give myself that credit and that recognition and have pride in the work that I've done already and then appreciation also in that the investments that I've made into my business and myself, the money that I've made that allowed me. To make those investments and then the mindset work, the foundation, the 1st 12 months of my business, the work that I did personally to become a new person is going to appreciate all of that is going to appreciate and value it's going to grow in value over time. And so that is what I am reflecting on for my first 12 months running a small business for the first time. And if you are here with me on this journey, if you're new. Welcome. I'm so glad to have you. And if you have been here since I dropped the first episode, that's amazing. And thank you. I appreciate all of you who listen and support me. So I just, I appreciate. Everybody and everything. There's that moment, I think. It's in step Brothers, Will Will Ferrell is like. Everybody love everybody and I'm just like everybody, appreciate everything right now. That's how I feel. If you are enjoying this podcast and if you've been here for any amount of time, please like Subs. Not like, please subscribe to this podcast on your preferred platform where you listen. Please leave me a rating or review if you're listening on like Apple or Google Podcasts and then come follow me on social media and get on my e-mail list because we're just getting started. We were just revving up the past 12 months. We are hitting. We are also still accelerating and we're going to do some great **** in the world. We're going to do some awesome things and I think the past couple of episodes I've really been reflecting on like where I've come from. And so now we're just going to tie it all up with a nice bow. In the past few episodes have been like about my story about my values, the kind of. Company culture. I want to have in my business because of things that have happened in my past and so we are wrapping all that. By saying I appreciate all of the things that happen that made me who I am today. I appreciate all of the challenges that I have been faced with. I appreciate all the work that I've done and all of that will continue to appreciate and value as we move forward. So thanks so much for listening and I hope you have an awesome weekend. If you're listening to this. On Friday, April 28. May 1st is my business one year anniversary so please come wish me a happy anniversary on social media or something. That would be amazing to know that you're listening. I love you all. I appreciate you all. And I'll talk to you later.