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I hate going to the dentist. I always have. Even when I was a child, I would cry and beg Mum not to make me go. But recently, I had no choice. I broke a tooth and had to do the mature thing and get it fixed. So, I was very brave and had my first dental visit in a decade. I know, that sounds really terrible, even to my ears. But please do not judge me. I was sticking my head in the sand purely because of fear and fear makes smart people do silly things, even when they know better. I have sure paid for it, both from my wallet and in the time, I spent in the chair getting caught up. But all those white-knuckled visits did give me time to reflect and think about the similarities to bookkeeping. Let’s face it, I am a nerd so everything in my life makes me think of bookkeeping. But it made me think about business owners who ignore their finances because they think the news will be scary. And just like going to the dentist, a visit to your bookkeeper or accountant does not have to be frightening.
A person much smarter than me once said “there was never one single problem in the world that has been solved by ignoring it.” Whether it is dentistry or bookkeeping, staying up to date rather than putting things off means you have time to adjust before things get too out of shape. Here at Appy Books, we are often delivered bags of receipts from new clients. The clients are always apologetic and slightly embarrassed, but we enjoy this work. Making sense of these piles of paper means we are really helping someone get their life in order. Once the paper is sorted, we can then display our real value, which is interpreting the hidden messages in the data and sharing our findings to make improvements to their businesses. That is the gold!
Those rescue jobs also give us the chance to make gentle suggestions for changes in process and technology. But we always suggest baby steps to start with. If we try to change too much at once, even the most enthusiastic business owner can become frustrated with the modern technology. Just like my visit to the dentist. It was pointed out that flossing with string is old school. I am glad as I hated that stuff. Innovative technology dentist style is using a water jet blasted through your teeth to floss. I was keen to try it but, let me tell you, it sure took some adjustment. The first time I tried it, I squirted it in my eye, blasted the walls of the bathroom and then ran out of water before I had even cleaned my teeth. That is possibly the same level of frustration our new clients feel when we train them to use an app to photograph all their invoices instead of doing manual data entry. But I persevered and have now conquered the art of water flossing, for which our bathroom walls are almost certainly grateful. It just took a little time and practice. And a shout out to my exceedingly kind dentist, Dr Chris, at Absolute Dental Care.
https://www.absolutedentalcare.com.au/
My point of this exceptionally long tale is we should dump procrastination and embrace change. We know it is good for us. Our lives, our finances, and our teeth with be much cleaner and smoother for it.
