Are you afraid of looking at your numbers?

I want to talk to you about why people don't look at their numbers, and how you can overcome that. I know so many people who are terrified of looking at their numbers, a lot of them are women, unfortunately. I think there are so many things that can cause fear of looking at numbers, and I want you to look at what causes that for you.

“I don't want to look at my bank account”

“I haven't earned enough this month”

Or maybe you've earned way more than you expected, and you don't quite know what to do with this money. You might be thinking that’s not a thing, but, it really is. I would encourage you to dig into your mindset and think about what you are going to do with extra money.

I also hear quite a lot of, “I feel stupid, I don't understand it”. You might be coming up towards the VAT threshold for example and be thinking that you don't understand VAT, that you will be losing money, you don’t want to become VAT registered so you keep yourself under the £85,000 threshold on the last day before you need to become registered.

I think some people also worry that if they grow their businesses, they may need to get an accountant, but are worried that they won’t understand what the accountant is telling them, won’t understand the jargon and will feel slightly stupid. Maybe there is a fear about speaking up when something isn’t clear, which could lead to things becoming unravelled later down the line. Although your accountant does a lot of the work for you it is still your responsibility as a business owner to know what's going on in your business.

I want you to really think about digging into why you're not happy to look at your numbers, this is the best way to start overcoming your fears.

Today, I want you to open your banking app and look at what's happening in your bank. Understand where your business is really at. Are you constantly putting money from your personal bank into your business and propping your business up? Are you sitting on lots of cash because you're too terrified to pay yourself anything? 

Start thinking about getting yourself an accountant to do your tax returns so that its done and you don't need to worry about it. Find someone that you can easily talk to and that will understand what you're talking about. Your year-end accountant (your tax accountant) does not do anything about your business and understanding your business. What they understand is the ins and outs of tax and how to make sure that you submit the right things at the right time.

If you hate doing bookkeeping, get yourself a bookkeeper. Don't hang about for ages waiting for it to happen. And get people to help you. Talk to other business owners about how they manage stuff and how you might be able to manage things better. Don't be afraid to ask loads of people, particularly creative people, but loads of people. Almost all women I know who are not accountants are terrified of their numbers and are therefore playing small in their business world. And I want you to start realizing the potential of your business.