Dear accountant,
Hi. You are one of the most amazing people to exist in the business world.
You’re aware of your skills, but you also think it might be a little dramatic to rave about you to this level. After all you know you’re good at your work, but you also are so impressed with your clients or other accountants or business owners in general, and you wouldn’t want to boast.
Let me take a minute to remind you of the life changing, business supporting, even world changing work you do. And the person you are.
You’re supportive. Understanding. Patient. You listen, and actually care about the business your clients run. You’re curious, and ask questions, and listen some more.
You sit with them – over the phone or on zoom or in person – as they cry, or rant, or sit in silence sometimes.
You’re measured. Wise. You consider your words, and are not carried away with emotion: not because you’re not capable of that, but because you know they need you to be their rock. Strong, patient, calm, considered.
When the time is right, you direct them back to those beautiful little scratches which can change their lives: the numbers.
You bring up those numbers and point out the most important ones for them. You create sheets the business owner doesn’t always understand, but you help them understand the parts they need to pay attention to, and assure them you’ll take care of the rest.
When the budget isn’t quite there, you figure out what to move around (in an honest way) so it’s right, and hopeful.
When the cash isn’t there, you help them find where it’s been hiding, and give it back to them. So they can pay their bills and pay their mortgages and buy the house and move to the country and pay for the children’s university and buy the horse. Or whatever matters to them.
When the profits aren’t there, you dig into those numbers, endlessly, sometimes for hours, and help them discover where they can be found. So they can hire the employees or rent the premises or buy the machinery which lets them help the customers they love.
Along with all of this, as if it’s not enough, you’re also a curious human being. You think of new ideas, all the time. You love your team members: you praise them and direct them and help them find their sweet spot of using their skills in the way they truly enjoy. You care about the world you inhabit, and do everything you can to make it a little better.
You’re generous. You’re collaborative. If another accountant is struggling, you’re the first to speak up or offer your time. You help those who need help because it’s the right thing to do. You give to charities, the ones which are dear to your heart, or the ones dear to your clients’ hearts.
You care about your clients as humans. You laugh with them or weep with them or pour a beer with them or just sit with them when things are hard.
Sometimes, while you’re doing all of these amazing things, at the same time you’re wrestling with imposter syndrome. You look at other accountants, other business owners and you say, “Who am I to help all these clients? I’m not as good as they are.”
You deal with the challenges of mental health, and you ask for help. Sometimes, you don’t ask for help, and you keep powering through until you get a little advice from people who you’ve helped before.
You look after your family, whatever that looks like for you. You have children or step children or dogs or cats or hamsters or horses or all of the above. You have a partner…or you don’t anymore and you deal with that. Or you live your best independent life and show the world that their preconceived ideas about what success is, can be reconsidered.
You change lives. Because of you, people live their dreams and help the people they care about and get the sleep or money or fulfilment or whatever they need.
Without you, thousands of people (maybe hundreds of thousands or even millions) would be worse off. They’d be sadder or more discouraged or less able to help people they’re uniquely placed to help. They’d be slogging away at a job they hate, or not working at all. Just going through the motions because they didn’t get good advice. Because they weren’t sure how to fix the parts they didn’t understand. And because they didn’t have you at their side all the way through it.
You are one of the most amazing people to exist in the business world.
And you are who we love to help when it comes to understanding and enjoying marketing.
We’re daily impressed by who you are.
We will always believe you capable of great things.
Because you do great things every day.
Love from,
Karen
(and the team at PF!)
P.S. One of the best ways to understand your own ideal client is to write a love letter to them. Go on, try it!
