Are Your Financial

I spent some time this weekend looking back over some photo memories on my phone of recent years.

It got me to thinking about motivation and what actually spurs us on to try and achieve something new. While we’re busy bustling through the day to day, it’s so easy to get lost in the ‘doing’ and clearing the to-do list. Sometimes it take a metaphorical smack in the face to make you sit up and take a different course of action.

During the pandemic, we created worked as a family to build routine for everyone at home. We needed it to juggle our work; I ran my own accountancy practice and my husband is employed as a software engineer. We also needed it to give some sort of stability to our two girls.

Whilst both my husband and I felt uncertain about what was going on, we aimed to give them some level of reassurance with positive action at home.

It was quite regimented to start with; a colour coded timetable, alarms set on the phones and Echo devices around the house. Nothing was left for someone to make a decision in the moment while there was work to be done!

It didn’t matter that I was scared. At the time, I was suffering with vertigo and something called PPPD so being brutally honest the pandemic came at the best time for me. From January 2020, I was only able to work at around 20% capacity of what I’d been doing previously.

Changes to the way I worked with a lot of my clients, thanks to the business world being turned upside down, meant that I was able to keep up with the work that needed to be done without letting anyone down; some clients needed me more because of opportunities that had surfaced, some clients needed me less as their businesses contracted. It was a chance for me to slow down and recover, whilst spending more time with the girls too.

We decided that a clear structure was what we all needed and we took action. It didn’t all work at first, but we figured things out as we went along.

Within that changing environment, our eldest daughter managed to navigate studying for and completing her GCSEs in a surreal environment. With a routine, and support from the school, her friends and us, she thrived and achieved fantastic results.

She could have got engulfed in the worry and fear of what things might look like, but she didn’t. She navigated the uncertain and came out of the experience a stronger person, with that support network around her and a clear vision of where she was going.

The same happened with our youngest daughter. Amy was only 7 when she was told she’d need to stay at home for the foreseeable future. Now, as a home bird, she was delighted at never leaving the house and only slightly miffed when we told her she couldn’t stay in her pyjamas the entire time!

We gave her structure, a routine, and more choices within that structure that she could start to make more decisions for herself. As a result, she’s come out of the pandemic more confident and self-assured than before. Not an outcome we could possibly have predicted.

We chose to keep moving forward and trying to make the best out of what we had in front of us.

The same can be said for you and working on your business. Yes, things are uncertain out there right now. Will there ever be a return to ‘normality’ that everyone is happy with? That’s debatable, but what is definite is that we can choose how we approach any level of uncertainty that’s thrown at us.

We can choose to stick with the hand we feel we’ve been dealt, or we can take steps to work towards the version of ourselves and our business that we truly desire.

It all starts with knowing the direction that you’re heading in, and having a handle on your numbers.

• Want to step up and build a business ready to sell in 5 years? You need to work on making it as attractive as possible for a buyer, as well as making it as easy of possible for yourself to exit.
• Want to be able to take your foot off the gas and enjoy more time with your family while your business ticks along? You need to know exactly what the processes are in your business, and whether you can afford to outsource and delegate some of those processes.
• Want to take more cash out of the business for more holidays and time building memories? You need to know how much cash is yours once you’ve paid the tax man, and how much you’ll need to support that vision.
• Want to just build a more stable cash buffer to insure against future set backs? How much would make you feel comfortable, and what plan can you make to start building that up?

All of these things are achievable with the right financial foundations in place. If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that there is nothing more certain than uncertainty.

So get your ducks in a row now. Look at where you are right now, aim for that North Star. Prepare for the worst, but plan for your dreams.

I walk my clients through this process when we work together. If you’re interested to learn more, you an book a discovery call with me – just send me a message through the contact form on this website, or you can email me on tanya@financialwingwoman.com

You can also work through my trademarked system yourself – I write about it in my Amazon bestselling book – grab your copy here and let me know what you think!