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.

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’m still pausing (aka hanging out on Estero Island, Florida) to try to figure out what I want to do when I grow up. But I did go to Scaling New Heights last week and that definitely gave me some insight into one thing.

I am going again!

It’s back to its usual time slot in June. If you can swing this one or any of the upcoming #InRealLifeConferences I suggest you do.

Using tech to create 5 Star Client Experiences

We have had many renovations done over the years. Some went better than others.

The one thing that was consistent with the great experiences were great processes that were clearly communicated.

We have another one coming up in January and we are using a contractor that we used previously. We loved our experience with them and are happy to be having them do the work again.

What is the definition of an accountant?

Someone who solves a problem you did not know you had in a way you don’t understand.

Now back to the real purpose of this note…

Next week I am leading a session on branding and marketing for accounting professionals with the Dext Academy.

Last week I suggested some homework for it - visualizing your best you and what you want your business to look like.

Start to visualize - really, really visualize - the 5 Star Business, the 5 Star Client and the 5 Star You that you desire.

Make some quiet time just for you, create stillness in your mind. Close your eyes, picture what kind of business you want to run, what kind of accounting professional you want to be and what your rewarding life-work would look like.

I’ve changed that to “I could so I did”.

This blog is super personal about what I am up to in the next little while and why.

But it’s also about you.

• Why are you doing what you do?

• Why are you doing it how you do it?

• Are you on a path that’s good for you and those around you or do you need to find another trail?

Can you take a breath and re-think what isn’t giving you joy, what you can give up and what you can re-align?

If you’re involved with SEO, content marketing or any kind of web marketing, you’ve probably heard the phrase “evergreen content” and been told that your site needs to have it. So what is evergreen marketing, and why are evergreen articles good for SEO?

WHAT IS EVERGREEN CONTENT? A DEFINITION

Evergreen content is SEO content that is continually relevant and stays “fresh” for readers.

I run for no particular reason. Of course, it’s to stay in shape but mostly it's for the time alone, enjoying nature and the rhythm of my feet. Same with skiing.

You can imagine that I’m thrilled.

Ryan’s podcast from today is all about Accounting Communities and our fabulous collaboration.

“Accounting communities are a great place to share best practices, learn from others and collaborate with like-minded professionals. Below I share my favourite 6 accounting communities for modern accountants that I regularly frequent.”

And he put our Facebook Group on the list of communities to join.

I consider it our - the members and myself - group.

Often a simple solution can solve a big problem.

I’ve attended a number of Intuit’s Connect conferences and they are “da bomb”. I would be going again this year even if I wasn’t hosting a session.

I have been to a few Connect Conferences in Toronto, but last November I took the plunge and ventured southwest for Connect San Jose. And I am so glad I did.

I run at least 5 days a week. I am very disciplined about my morning runs. Nothing gets in the way – not when I feel horrible, not the weather, not a to-do list and not being on vacation.

I can work from everywhere, on my schedule and meet my clients’ expectations. I can run my business efficiently from anywhere there is an internet connection or cellular data.

I want to state upfront, unequivocally, that this post is not to brag or gloat. It’s to suggest that the “freedom” we’ve heard that comes with “working in the cloud” can actually happen.

I also want to be very clear that it’s been a process, and it didn’t happen overnight.