Taking Your Own Best Advice
I meet a friend from university for a couple of beer a few times a year. We catch up on kids, business, spouses and then we always wind up discussing ailments. We sound like our grandparents, for crying out loud! We are both regular runners and, over the years, have battled various orthopedic challenges. He more than me since he was a CFLer in his former life, so I get to harp away at him about way more stuff. Anyhow, we took Phys Ed Science, Sports Therapy stream, so we hand out advice to each other on how to best solve the preventative need or injury of the moment. He tells me to do more weights, and I nag him to ice and wrap… But do we take the advice we dish out? No. Definitely not.
I rarely get out the dumbells, even though I would roll my eyes at someone who is getting on in age and needs weight-bearing activity and doesn't pump some iron. My hand would go up, and I would end any discussion if someone wouldn’t solve a problem with a simple fix. He has yet to get out the frozen peas and ice that silly ankle, so we are done with that conversation.
It’s the same in business. I spend my days advising my clients on best practices for workflow, document management, A/R collection, payable cycles – all the stuff of organization and cash flow. How to make your business run efficiently, how to delegate everyday office tasks, punt off compliance monsters like payroll to Wagepoint and time-hogs like cheque writing to Plooto. I cajole, I nag, I follow up – some advice is acted upon while other bits I’ve been pecking away at for what feels like forever.
But do I take my own advice? Hmmm, I practice what I preach in some instances. I swear by Dext for document management. There isn’t a shred of financial information I can’t access in less than a minute. My QBO is completely automated for bank feeds, app integrations, and recurring transactions. All the great stuff it can do for you, I’m on it.
I am the Queen of my #FabFour.
But I can’t quite get my act together on blogging. It’s the Queen of SEO but am I on it? No. Definitely not.
I’m annoyingly organized, and 17hats has only made automation, client communication and project management more efficient. So I could set up some sort of recurring “calendar todo” to pop up and remind me once a month to post a blog. That’s what I advise my clients. Have a schedule, stick to it, don’t deviate, calendarize it… It’s simple, right?! But have I done it? No. Definitely not.
So why, oh why, can’t we take our own best advice sometimes? It’s a puzzler. I’ll figure it out someday, right after I do some arm weights and blog monthly.
Simply yours, Kellie :-}
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