Over the last couple of weeks I wrote about larger ways to think about your business. Although I love this type of thought exercise, and how it can force me to confront issues in different ways, we cannot always only consider grand ideas. To make those ideas happen, action steps need to be taken.

So let this be a spot for a little public service announcement that may require action: If any of you are currently running QuickBooks 2013, know that this version will ‘sunset’ on May 31. Although that term makes it feel beautiful, peaceful and natural, this means that technical support and some features of the software will no longer work. If you need some help moving on from your older version, and want to do it before June 1, when things could start to feel much more difficult, let us know.

If you are in that spot, an easy solution could be to upgrade to the latest version of your software. There will be a slight learning curve as you incorporate some of QB’s quirks into you workflow, but it wouldn’t be too long until it feels like business as usual.

But is business as usual the best thing for your operation?

Much of traditional accounting occurred pretty much “as needed.” Depending upon the business and/or task, this could mean being done weekly, monthly, quarterly, or even annually. Pushing all that work into a small timeframe obviously isn’t the most efficient way to operate, but when the work involved pencil and paper, compiling spreadsheets and shoeboxes full or receipts, it was a necessary format.

As technology has continued to advance, though, this no longer has to be the case. Even those of you using a QuickBooks version that is about to lose the aforementioned support are enjoying some of the ways the software integrates with bank feeds, payroll, etc., (which are some of the services you could be losing).

Then maybe it is time to think of an online solution. If you feel too avid a fan of Intuit and its QuickBooks products and can’t imagine leaving, there is a QuickBooks online platform that gives small businesses much of the same bookkeeping power, with a continually updated software that ensures these sunset moments will not occur. This also means that you (and those who help you with your accounting work) have constant access to your books. Those old timeframes melt away.

Another benefit of the online format is the ability to have apps that work along with the program. Want to have employee’s timesheets inputted directly into your books? That can happen. Want expense reports sent there as well? That can happen. And who wouldn’t like a little extra power to send out invoices to customers and get paid faster.

There are also options to reduce (and eliminate) that storied shoebox full of receipts. There are multiple programs out there that make it as easy as taking a picture of a receipt with your phone to then having it saved forever.

Business as usual can be inviting, because it is the way that things have been working and succeeding. But if there are ways out there that can let you do the same business in less time – thus opening you up to be able to do more business – aren’t those good things?

Just what technology answers can help a business will very on a case-by-case basis, but chances are there are some changes everyone can implement to make things easier. If you want to explore some, please contact us and we will be happy to help. Next week I’ll be back in your space to give a little more detail on how some of these innovations could work in practice. 

Last post I wrote a little about Zappos, not so much as a company that we can hold up as a mirror to our small businesses, but as a larger company that still has things to teach small businesses.  Hopefully you agree that that is that case, for I want to continue looking at CEO Tony Hsieh’s book Delivering Happiness and look at a couple things the company did that are good lessons.

 

1. “Never outsource your core competency”
    

This is an idea that Hsieh returns to a few times throughout the book. Zappos hit one of its biggest early snags when it signed up with a warehousing company that did not live up to its promises. For a company whose service was shipping products to customers, this was an obvious huge issue.

No matter what your company does, you should be committed to doing something better than anyone else. Even if it isn’t a service for which you are the only provider, you can aim to be the best provider.

When you are the best, your company should grow to the point where you hire and/or contract help to take care of certain segments of your business. This is a good thing, but can quickly become a bad thing if the areas you loosen up on are the ones that are most important to your core services.

 

1. Open communication with employees
    

The warehouse issue wasn’t the only obstacle that Zappos overcame as a growing company. It went through many financial difficulties early as it needed a large amount of inventory to offer the services and goods it wanted; although the company was experiencing steady growth in its early years, it was not quite enough to lead to steady positive cash flow.

A line of credit alleviated those issues and got the company to where it wanted to be, but not before becoming a touch-and-go situation. It must have been a disconcerting time to work for Zappos, but the company was always open with its employees about what was going on. Hsieh includes multiple emails in his book that went out to Zappos’ workers, and they struck me as very open and gave those employees a level of knowledge that seems rare in big business.

Like many companies, there was also a time when Zappos had to let go of some employees. More open emails followed, as Hsieh believed that “rather than trying to spin the story as a ‘strategic restructuring’ as many other corporations were doing, we stuck by our core values and remained open and honest, not only with our employees, but with the press as well.”

This continued through to when Zappos was sold in an all-stock deal to Amazon. SEC rules required that the company couldn’t be completely open through the whole process, but it was as soon as it could. If you are open with your employees, it is easier for them to believe that you have their best interests in mind.

  

Most out there are probably aware of Zappos as a website that sells shoes and clothing. Many are probably also aware of the company’s commitment to customer service. Some may even be aware that it makes frequent appearances on lists of the best places to work and is often lauded for its charitable work.

Granted, this is a company that was purchased by Amazon in an all-stock deal worth about $1.2 billion. I understand that if you are reading this, Zappos is a company operating on a different level. As I often like to stress, however, we can learn from those who are in different situations than our own.

After all, if we only ever listened to those in similar positions, we would never break beyond that spot.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has written a book entitled Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose, that is a story of how his company grew and came to encapsulate some qualities that have not always been associated with successful businesses.

First, though, let it be noted that in the title of the book Hsieh notes that one cannot completely drop old business models. Profits are the first of the three Ps mentioned there, and a business needs a plan, and the discipline to follow it, that will result in profits even if it has other goals of branching into more unorthodox areas.

Zappos may be seen as a company that does things differently, but I think it largely meets the same goals that most business owners have when they begin a venture. Zappos’ differences seem to come more from the fact that it held onto those ideals as it grew to a giant.

Embracing a culture that gives us a comfortable (and dare I say sometimes fun) place to work? Being surrounding by co-workers who also thrive in that environment and love what they do, too?

I think we all want that. Many of us have also experienced the misery that can result from working in a place that does not embrace it.

To succeed so much that we can afford to give customers an unexpectedly high level of service? Being a part of a company that makes a commitment through charity to being a positive influe in our community?

Just how much one wants to stretch out in these areas can vary, and maybe I am too endlessly optimistic, but I think that even the greediest among us want to get to places where their finances allow them to give to others (and I bet even feel good while doing it).

Profits, Passion, Purpose … when broken down it seems a pretty simple and obvious way to go about running a company.

In the book, Hsieh says it adds up to “We have the opportunity to be one of those companies while having the time of our lives.”

And again, maybe this is more of that optimism (or I am still a little loopy coming off the end of tax season), but don’t those of us in business want to love being in business?

So consider that a simple takeaway, but a very important one, for this week. If you are reading this, you are much more likely a small-business owner than some higher-up at a massive company, but doesn’t that give you more power to effect change? Think about the power you have to make your workplace somewhere enjoyably thrilling and next week I’ll look a couple ways that Zappos has held onto that ideal that can be beneficial for everyone.

I have spent the last couple of weeks primarily writing about how problems may occur in the workplace. Granted, my goal there was to provide some insight on how to respect others and learn to productively work together, but it is never that great a feeling to concentrate on potential strife.

So this week, I want to continue in the vein of working toward a comfortable, happy workplace, but hopefully from a more positive direction. Because, after all, shouldn’t everyone be able to embrace having confidence in your company’s direction?

Over those last couple of blogs, I discussed how some work issues could arise because of different general philosophies - whether someone is promotion- or prevention-focused when it comes to general belief and strategy. Those are concepts that cannot often be proven right or wrong because they are more ephemeral. This can lead to endless debates with no hope of resolution, but a business should always have some concrete pieces that are indisputable.

This is one of the reasons that it is key to keep accurate, up-to-date (and honest) books.

Not having books in that state is causing a lot of large companies trouble lately (read this recent article from USA Today to find out more about that). I can’t imagine people who work in those places read such things and feel that confidence I mentioned. It is difficult enough for employees in such companies to feel they have any hand in the direction of a company, so it can be damaging for them to then feel those in power are incompetent and possibly nefarious.

There is still a warning here for small-business owners, though, that the more concrete, definite and timely you can be with your financials, the better off you are.

The concrete and definite part leads to the confidence that is necessary for that happy workplace. For even when people have those previously mentioned differing philosophies, one can still instill some faith if big ideas are backed up with hard evidence.

The timely piece is probably affecting many this time of year as companies scrambled to get their financial information together for tax season. If you are conscientious about your bookkeeping, that isn’t such a trying endeavor. For many, though, that is not the case.

(Sidenote for those of you hit with a tax bill you were not expecting: Better bookkeeping can help with that, too. A quarterly review of financial statements, after all, helps estimate taxes that should be paid. )

This isn’t necessarily an awful thing. You didn’t enter your business because you were excited about keeping its financials in order and being ready to pay your taxes every year. Most of your efforts should be focused on the areas of your business that excite you, those reasons you started the business in the first place.

Some of us, though, started businesses because we do love those parts of business. We like the peace, confidence and power that can be given by making sure that bookkeeping and tax information is kept up-to-date and accurate.

So if this time of year is showing that some increased bookkeeping power would be a positive thing for your business, we would love to hear from you.

Before I get into the meat of this writing, I want to give a public service announcement. Earlier this week, the IRS released a new alert about scammers pretending to be from their agency to get personal information from unsuspecting victims. The largest takeaway from the announcement is IRS Commissioner John Koskinen saying, “Don’t be fooled. The IRS won’t be calling you out of the blue asking you to verify your personal tax information or aggressively threatening you to make an immediate payment.”

And sure this is a bit self-serving, but add this to the list of reasons why it is better to go into tax season with qualified professionals on your side who can help you navigate the increasingly muddied waters. But even apart from that, if you ever end up in a situation that feels wrong, chances are it is wrong. If someone asks you over the phone or through email for information that you don’t feel you should give them, don’t give it to them. 

Even if real situations with the IRS arise (and wouldn’t you really want to not be doing it by yourself then?), you shouldn’t feel bullied, but it is going to feel disconcerting. You have an almost mythical government organization coming down upon you. Their power seems great, your power seems small and any chance of your voice being heard – never mind actually winning – seems impossible.

In such situations, what we are seeking is justice.  We do not want to just feel like a cog in a large machine that is expected to do its part without being seen as an individual piece. This is something that is easy to understand on this large scale, with such a remove beyond us as single people and government agencies, but it also must be understood on smaller scales.

Last week, I wrote about how the difference between being a promotion- or prevention-focused person affects how you think about business and the work you do. If someone in your company (especially those higher up) works from a different focus than you, it is easy to feel that things are moving in directions of which you disapprove and are impossible to control.

Of course, it is possible for people who use different viewpoints to work together. It is even a positive, for the more views that are heard, the more potential problems are ready to be combatted. This works best, however, when everyone feels that they are being heard, especially if the choices they would have made aren’t the ones being implemented.  This is called “procedural justice.”

That term is often applied to larger concepts of law enforcement and jurisprudence, but the concept of fairness in dispute resolution and resource allocation trickles down to the smallest areas of our lives. Those spots are even more important, for they are the ones where we feel we should be able to exert some power.

So remember that in the workplace. Pay attention to how we can make jobs easier for those around us. If you are able to implement changes, don’t do so in a way that only addresses your problems. Everyone around you has the same positive goals, the more we listen to each other and try to address their problems when making changes, the better chance we have of making those changes happen.

Assuming total power only serves the will on one individual. Make concerted efforts so that a group can work together and where that group ends up will be further than you could get alone.

First off, if you’re reading this blog with any level of interest this news likely doesn’t apply to you, but let it be known that it has recently become more expensive to not file taxes due to new penalties that take effect this year. So if you happen to be browsing around for advice on just whether or not you should file, you should.

In the business and financial worlds, there is lots of room for debate on many different issues, but that is not one of them. I do, however, want to write a little here on how to look at some of those inevitable debates. Whether you are a business owner or an employee, I want to give a possible framework for how to look at your work, how you go about doing it, and why you do it the way you do.

Have you ever felt like you were in a business that refused to try anything new? Have you ever felt like you were part of a company that overlooked poor indicators and thought the next great thing was always right around the corner?

These are both easily understood scenarios, but how we react to them varies. In fact, whether or not we have one of those thoughts or the other may come down to the type of person we are. A lot of the difference between those ideas is based on whether you are a promotion-focused or prevention-focused person.

Those who are promotion-focused tend to come off as more optimistic for they are always oriented toward positive outcomes; these people are always looking for their next victory and are convinced it is coming. Those who are prevention-focused seem more pessimistic for they spend time worrying about negative outcomes; they may not be aimed toward the next victory, but they ensure that they are not pointed toward the next loss.

We all tend to fall to one side of the other of this divide, and if you want to delve deeper into what it means and how it can affect one’s life, read this piece from Psychology Today. If there is one thing to take away from the concept, however, I believe it is that we need to realize that everyone, even those who come at problems from an opposite focus as ours, are oriented toward achieving positive outcomes.

There is good in both cases, whether you win or don’t lose. It is just a matter of framing and how much risk one is willing to take.

If you’re an employee where those in charge are making choices that make you feel leery or unsafe, that can be difficult because you feel far away from the large decisions. If you are a business owner, it could do you well to take this into account when hiring people. You may want employees who carry out your same aims in the same way, or you could prefer those with different viewpoints to keep you from moving too far in one direction.

Again, it is one of those issues where there is lots of room for discussion and no real correct answer. Wherever you fall, however, assume positive intent for those working with you. They don’t want the company to fail either.

I will close there for this week, but over the next couple of blog posts I will be returning to the places where these two viewpoints overlap and speak of some things businesses can do to rally everyone and continue moving in positive directions.

For those of us in the tax and financial world, the beginning of the year can come with dread. When the calendar turns, we know our sleeping hours will decrease until we pass April 15^th.

(Though really it’s the 18^th and 19^th this year due to local holidays, but more on that to come in the future.)

Although this is the difficult time for our industry, we are not the only industry that ever faces difficult times. Whether they occur due to the calendar, deadlines, orders, etc., we all have moments when work feels overwhelming and we wish it would go away (if only temporarily). It is during those times, however, when it is most important to remember why you are doing what you are doing.

When we are kids (and as adults we pass this along with inquiries to the next generation), we are often asked what we want to be when we grow up. The answers come with passion, looking toward a future filled with fulfilling work. So remember during those trying work times that are times when you believe that work can, and should, be exciting.

Granted, some workplaces make this easier than others. If you have ever been a fan of DVD special features, you may have realized that Pixar is near the apex of those places. And even if we don’t all have the skills to be master animators, the company can teach us some lessons in this area.

Authors Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson take a peek at the company in their book Innovate the Pixar Way: Business Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Corporate Playground. Much of what they discuss in the book is the childlike wonder that the company encourages; employees there are not required to only work by following aged, staid workflows.

The book speaks of a study that asked two groups of people if they were good singers, good dancers and good artists. Only about two percent of businesspeople answered yes to all three questions. Nearly 100 percent of first-graders, however, say yes to all of them. We could do well by reaching back and embracing that youthful creativity that crossed through all areas.

Capodagli and Jackson conclude that “collective creativity within a corporate culture never happens by accident, it begins with creative leadership that is trustworthy and in turn trusts others to accomplish big dreams.” So if you are stuck in one of those malaise moments when work feels like too much, think of things you could do to use your work as a path to something that expresses more creativity and excites your passion.

Those of you who run businesses should also keep this in mind. The more freedom employees have to accomplish their work through different means, the happier they will be with their work. This will only help overall morale. “If you have low morale,” Pixar director Brad Bird has said, “for every one dollar you spend, you get about twenty-five cents of value. If you have high morale, for every dollar you spend you get about three dollars of value.”

So even if this isn’t a trying time for you and your work, keep these things in mind. It is never bad to remember that there were times in our life when work sounded fun, and that recapturing that ideal could be very fruitful.