On Friday I ran a workshop for a Mastermind group of entrepreneurs. They are all successful which is why they  gave up 2 days away to become even more so.

It’s really quite simple. If you want to earn more then learn more. The L before earn is there for a reason.

I was facilitating a discussion about how knowing your Business Numbers leads to increased sales, profit and cash flow. We went quite deep with lots of worked examples.

At one point we got into a discussion about accountants. Are they an investment or a cost, how much they charge and so on. It always come up. One member said “I pay my accountant £250”.  Now these are successful entrepreneurs, and so I said “I think £250 per month sounds like good value if you’re getting regular information and advice for that”.

“No, £250 per year, and I get no advice at all”, came the reply.

Needless to say by the end of the meeting she’d resolved to get a new accountant. But not before we’d worked through what a really good accountant can do for your business. We mindmapped a list. To start with it was hard work. Some of the members had very little idea what ‘good’ looked like and even fewer had experienced “great”.

Most business owners put up with a very poor, and often non-existent, service from their accountants, I concluded. Maybe I should have known.

The mind map has become my new lead magnet: “47 things really good accountants will do for your business” (Well we did have to stop for lunch). It’ll be available soon and you’ll be the first to receive a copy.

Don’t put up with a poor service. Your business’ life may depend on it.

To your success,

Noel Guilford.

Noel Guilford is the principal of Guilford Accounting a small business accountancy practice specialising in advising owner-managed businesses on current accounting, finance, and tax matters. You can reach him via email at noel@guilfordaccounting.co.uk or by phone at 01244 660866. He is the author of the ‘Figure it out – an entrepreneurs guide to understanding your business numbers’ which you can obtain by visiting https://guilfordaccounting.co.uk.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ His latest book, How to Build a Successful Business’ will be published in 2017