And then buckle down to make it happen.

I am going through big changes in my business right now. And as I preach “Change is hard. Not changing will be harder.”

I have really nailed down what lifestyle I want. I think many of you may be navel-gazing right now as well. The last few years have got a lot of folks re-evaluating their lives and their work.

I should have replaced my computer a few months ago.

It was freezing, and took a looooong time to start up (I had it set to shut-down & start-up automagically every morning, but it stopped starting up without me)

I was frustrated, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to part with it.

It worked just well enough to get through my day until one day it didn’t.

In the days of old, as in less than a decade ago, the technology was far different than today. And the mundane task load was heavy. Opening mail, entering transactions, cutting cheques, printing invoices, mailing stuff…and then filing, filing, filing!

Not anymore more. Cloud technology has changed all that.

I was still enjoying virtual workshops, open mic, and panel discussions - any session that was meeting format rather than webbie format.

I didn’t love them though, and I am so happy to be back in the live event world.

But a thing happened last week at a virtual conference that I’m not sure could be replicated IRL.

QBO Tech Tip - Dealing with bank feed orphans

It will be harder to step in it, if you have a clear idea of who you are dealing with.

My Dad* is a bit of a rough & tumble guy. He wears Carhartt coveralls, a green polka-dot welder’s cap and is generally a little scruffy. Clean but definitely scruffy. He looks like your average working Joe and talks like one too. He loves a good convo about backhoes and tractors while sitting at a bar with buddies.

If you can swing it at all, go to a live event.

I think my biggest takeaway from the AWLS conference was that I need to think about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion much more.

You didn’t see that coming as the most important thing that I got out of an accounting conference, did ya?

Actually, I’ve made too many to count but last week I made a mitake that I want to share.

I got out ahead of myself on my free online scheduler event, in terms of sponsorship.

I did not think it through and put an automated process (or really any process) in place. I just sent out a note to my app partners to see if they wanted to join in, on a bit of a whim.

A blog about dogs and loyalty. We can learn a lot about it from our canine friends.

Take a few minutes to assess if you are creating sustainable client loyalty.

Work through what you are doing well and craft up ways to improve where you are falling down.

My corporate and personal tax experience is a calm and, dare I say, enjoyable (almost) one.

My tax dude, Mike, sends a Typeform , I fill in only new/changed info.

Then he sends a Karbon checklist, which auto-nags me to get my shit into him - including warnings of the consequences of missing his deadlines.

Next up is an Ignition engagement with the option to pay for and schedule a tax planning meeting - right, this is extra and I have to commit to it with my wallet.

He uses RightSignature for me to sign off on my tax returns.

All of it is automagical!

Yesterday I celebrated my 60th year of being 5 feet above.

I am off making poor life choices in Key West as this blog is posting. Not all my friends have had the same privilege. So I never lose sight of how precious life is, and how fun it can be.

A lot of the fun comes from embracing change and adapting.

I considered whether I should be blogging at all right now.

It seemed a little frivolous.

I am so saddened by the geopolitical events in Eastern Europe right now.

As of course, are many of us.

I have zero - as in absolutely zero - understanding of what is going on with Russia and Ukraine right now. There will be no armchair political rhetoric from me.

What I do know, however, is that many people who until recently led lives just like ours have had their world up-ended. And I wanted to throw out a little context to who these people are.

Especially in the workplace.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

- Arthur C Clark 1962 - Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination

And magic is undeniably fun.

This week’s note is short and sweet.

It’s to the point on how to find team members.

Actually, it’s two the point - it features two hiring options you should check out.

I “don’t do hiring consulting” and personally only have 1 team member (she’s kickin’ - I’m a lucky duck). But I see so many people struggling with this, and since I am a fan of these programs mentioned here, I wanted to share.

I don’t do payroll.

Well, actually the true story is I didn’t do payroll. I do now.

My clients have either been big enough to look after it start-to-finish or they used a service. But I now have 2 clients whose payroll I manage and I’ve learned a few things along this journey.

The most enlightening being you can never be too clear.

I am doing the T4 (you Americans would call this the W-2) reconciliations for my clients right now. This involves sharing a copy with each of their team members and having them double-check them for names, Social Insurance Numbers (Social Security Numbers), addresses, anticipated earnings and the like.

I am astounded at the changes that I am needing to make to these!

Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.

• Ryunosuke Satoro

Who are you hanging out with these days?

But the better question is “why are you hanging out with them?”

Are they positively influencing you? Reinforcing the best of you? Do they represent your values and drive your best you forward? Do they make you feel good about your best self and lift your not-feeling-good-about-you-self up? Are they a collective force for good?

Or are they reinforcing the worst of you? Pushing your self-worth down? Are they self-aggrandizing? Creating chaos and disharmony for you and for others? The collective good is of no interest to them.

It’s the bluest time of the year.

I’m sure many of you may be feeling the effects of shorter days, colder weather and an impending tax season.

Plus, you may be feeling like the only one who doesn’t have their act together on everything (anything…). You are comparing your reality with your picture of your peers’ “success”.

Worse, maybe you aren’t even considering yourself a peer of people with a big social footprint (BSF’rs).

Well here’s a reality check for you. No one - and I mean no one - has it all together, all the time. And for some, it’s a challenge to get it together even some of the time…

It’s interesting times for clear directions.

I’m going to preface this discussion with I wouldn’t want to be making Covid decisions for the masses & imparting them. I have the utmost empathy and admiration for anyone trying to keep us safe from our silly selves. And I am more than happy to follow whatever directives I can figure out - I’ll do my part willingly.

I recently realized that not everyone knows about app-generated, copy/paste 2FA back up codes.

I was posting about sharing 2FA codes with team members in my FBGroup and an inquiry came up asking what these wee bits of magical security are (the inquirer didn’t call them “wee bits of magical security”, that’s all me). I couldn’t find a good article to reply with about them that wasn’t app-specific.

So I decided a quick overview - right here, right now - was in order.

Unsubscribing.

So make your one thing for this week relentless unsubscribing!

Except for this newsletter of course!