The 30 Hours I'm Losing This School Year

I almost always write this newsletter on Wednesday mornings, just before I send it out. But I’m writing a day early (and bit shorter) this week to to take this particular Wednesday fully to myself.

Happening Behind The Scenes @ My Firm:

Today (as you read this), the kids head back to school. It’s mixed emotions, as I’m sure you feel in your lives too. Our oldest is driving herself to her first day of school this year, which is a hard pill to swallow for me.

When I run the numbers (because don’t we all?), I realize that I’ll lose 15 minutes a day with her. It doesn’t sound like much, but 4 days a week, over 30-ish weeks of the year means that I’ll lose 30 hours with her in the next 9 months.

That’s not nothing.

I’m ever-aware of the time dwindling with our kids home, which makes me more grateful for the firm I’ve built and boundaries I’ve put in place to spend as much time as I can with them. I’ll happily schedule work around Cross Country meets and middle school events to not miss a thing.

I’m grateful for a lifestyle accounting firm.

In other firm news…

I had a big potential client decline my clean-up offer this week. We had a great discovery call, we clicked, and I priced him high for the complexity / industry / scope needed. He’s going to work towards hiring full-time internally (which is something I suggested during our discovery). I don’t feel bad at all about the outcome. We both agreed that the door would be open for higher-level CFO work in the future.

I’m currently onboarding and doing a clean-up on a few smaller businesses. One is a returning client from last year (yay!), one is a referral (get this) from my high school years, and one is a local friend from church. No big whale clients, but I like who I’m working with and how I’m working right now, so I don’t have any reason to complain.

…Except for missing my kiddos while simultaneously reveling in the parental freedom that is the first day of school. Don’t mind me while I go wallow in mixed emotions, sip a latte, and bake cookies while I wait for their return.

Cheers,

Erica


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10 Year Anniversary of Quitting Corporate

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Hitting Capacity as a Solo Firm Owner