What If I Have an Accounting Emergency?

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Transcript

Hey everybody! This is Eddie over at Ignite Spot Outsourced Accounting. Today we are talking about what happens when you have an emergency in your business. If you have an accounting emergency of any kind then you have a moment of panic, and we need to help you through that.

We get asked this question all the time because we're outsourced accountants. Hiring us versus somebody in-house feels different for entrepreneurs, and this is why. If you have an in-house accountant, then that person is there eight hours a day, five days a week. You can just walk down the hall or have a Zoom call with them whenever you want. They're on staff and going to handle whatever problem you have. With an outsourced accountant, it's a little different.

Outsourced Accountant Versus In-House Accountant

An outsource accountant is far more affordable than a full-time employee, but the challenge is that person isn't always available. They might have other clients they're working with and can't respond to your emergency as quickly. So what do you do when you have an emergency? When people contact us to get a quote to see if we're going to be a good fit for them, this is the number one question. This is our response, and I think this is really important. First and foremost, understand that most things in accounting are actually not emergencies. They’re things that we want done right now, but quite honestly it can happen at a scheduled specific time.

Accounting Is A Process

Accounting is a process. It's something that has to happen like a machine in order for your business to be wealthy and to do well financially. You want to be in control of that process at all times. You want to own it. You want to manage it. You do not want it managing you. This is what I see a lot in the business world. People feel pushed and pulled by their finances versus actually being in control of them. So we're gonna start before answering this question with your mindset.

Start With Your Mindset

Most businesses fail, simply because of the mindset of the business owner.

If you are the kind of entrepreneur that has the mindset of, “Oh man, we just don't have enough time. We don't have enough money. We don't have enough resources. We're not getting enough leads. We're not in enough cities. Our business isn't big enough. We don't have enough customers." Then you're in a mindset of limitation. No matter how much you get as a business owner, you're going to never have enough.

The other 10 to 20 percent of the entrepreneurs that I get to talk with have a very different mindset. It is, “What opportunities are out there? What can we do today? Who are we going to talk to? What can we do to increase our leads? What can we do to get more exposure for our product?” They're asking better questions and those entrepreneurs are going to grow. Even in recessions, pandemics, or when the world comes crashing down. So number one, work on your mindset.

If you approach your business every day in the state of chaos and panic, then you're gonna have a lot of “emergencies”. You're going to always feel like your finances are just a little too tight and everything feels painful.

Paying bills feels painful. When a vendor calls you get anxious about it. You have this kind of mentality that the house is burning down and I need my accountant to fix this right now. I get that. But consider what that does to the psychology of your business.

If you're the kind of entrepreneur that just jumps in and makes other people jump because money has to move, that teaches your vendors that if they scream loud enough, you're gonna pay them. So what's going to happen consistently is they're going to always be knocking on your door. Always barking at you to get more money and you're always going to feel like you are under attack. But if you become the kind of entrepreneur that realizes accounting the process and you say, “We pay our bills every Friday at 1’ clock. So go ahead and submit your bill to this email. We’ll process it on Wednesday, we approve it on Thursday, and on Friday those payments go out.” Over time, your vendors are going to say, “This is a great customer of ours. They always pay on time. We're just going to follow their accounting process, and we know that that's gonna get paid.” That's what we try to accomplish in outsourced accounting. We take as much of the chaos and turn it into a process so that you're in control of it.

There are still emergencies. Sometimes the house is burning. At Ignite Spot, our policy is that if something is absolutely critically wrong and it has to be dealt with then call us or email us. We're going to pick up the phone. We're going to help you. We're not going to say wait until Wednesday. We are here for you. We want you to do well but we also want to help you understand that most things really aren't emergencies. They can wait until we cut the checks on Friday because it's good for you. It's good for your business.

Create Accounting Rhythms in Your Business

Think of your business as the human body. The human body has a heart that keeps beating in a rhythmic pattern. Your business has a heartbeat. It is a consistent heartbeat that keeps it alive, and you need to respect that heartbeat. Respect the processes: the schedules, the timing, the calendars. If you are always running into the door screaming, “We gotta fix this right now!” You create patterns in the heartbeat that make vendors and customers anxious. Find a heartbeat, create a system, and create a rhythm.

So that's what we tell our customers when they look at hiring us. What do I do if I have an emergency? The answer is most things aren't an emergency. If they are, we will absolutely help you. If you learn to build the accounting process then your business is going to be much healthier in the end. There isn't a need to have a full-time person all the time. Instead, you have a professional who's building a process that you can rely on. That's a great way to build wealth in your company.

Remember mentality is the secret to building a really strong business. It's up to you and your mindset. If you're going to grow, you have to have a growth mindset. If you're going to limit your business, it's because you're asking limiting questions. Thanks, guys take care.

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