Year #2 has been my favorite year of business! For one thing, it’s been a lot less eventful. (If you’ve been following along for awhile, you’ll remember that during my first year the pandemic hit five months into opening my business and halted any progress I had made up until that point. Unlike that first year where I was questioning if I should even continue with M. Root Bookkeeping, this year has been very enjoyable and I’ve learned so much. It was filled with growth and progress in many different areas and I am really proud of how far my business has come.

Celebrations From This Year

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Celebrating a new decade!

Personal

• Turned 30 - I was actually looking forward to entering a new decade and leaving my 20s behind and so far it’s been great. I’ve heard it said from a lot of people that their 30s is when they started to care less about what others thought of them and I can already feel myself starting to grow in this direction. My 20s were filled with big life changes: I graduated college, moved to a new state, got married, bought a house, and started a business. Now I feel like life is more settled; I can be more present and enjoy the moment instead of working towards the next thing. I feel much more at peace with who I am and with life in general, whereas I felt more anxious in my 20s because of all of the big life events.
• Stayed Healthy - A lot of people I knew got sick this year (some from COVID, some not). I am always grateful for the simple blessing of ending the year without any major illnesses.
• Travelled Again - This year I was able to travel much more. After not really being able to go anywhere in 2020, I feel like I made up for that this summer by going on various trips. 

Work

• Officially Incorporated - M. Root Bookkeeping officially incorporated and became an LLC this year! This means that my business is now formally recognized by my state and is legally a separate entity. It’s really not too much different from when I was a sole proprietor, but it does add a layer of protection in case I ever get sued. 
• New Clients - The number of clients I have is now in the double-digits! Unlike industries that are dependent on short-term relationships, such as sales, bookkeeping is all about long-term partnerships. Although it may look like slow growth (and often feels that way!), slow and steady will ultimately help me to grow my business further!
• New Billing Rate - I moved away from billing my clients hourly to a fixed price. It’s a sign of growth for my business in that this is a celebration of finding out what time system works for me and of figuring out how to give clients a better bang for their buck. It’s easier for me to provide better services if I have a system that works smoothly for me.
• Consistent Pay - I wasn’t able to pay myself for the first several months of running my business. Any profit that I made went directly back into my business account, instead of my personal account. Starting in May, I began paying myself consistently. Then starting in June, I was able to give myself a pay raise into the 4-digits!
• Increased Social Media Presence - With the help of my social media manager, I published much more content and expanded my reach further than I would have otherwise. This reach has allowed me to connect with other bookkeepers across the globe and has provided an outlet for me to share exciting business updates with my friends and family. 

Spiritual/Emotional

• Church Reopening - My church had gone virtual due to Covid restrictions, but was able to reopen in May 2021. It was so nice to be able to attend again in person. I didn’t realize how much I missed being in my spiritual community on Sunday mornings, but it brought me a lot of joy this year to worship with my church family. 
• Mental Health Checkup - I started seeing a counselor in the summer as I was struggling with anxiety related to the pandemic and owning a business. She has helped me so much by giving me explanations as to why my anxiety resurfaced and tools to help me cope. I’m thankful that I have the resources to be able to take care of my mental health.
• Vacation Time - I was very fortunate to have a great work/life balance this summer. Sometimes when I traveled I took a “true” vacation, where I unplugged entirely for a week and did not think about work once. Other trips were just a couple of days long and I allowed myself to check and respond to emails, but didn’t get into the weeds of a client’s books. It was great to be able to consciously leave work at work and have fun. To prepare for some of these trips, I worked extra for a few days, so that I wouldn’t be too far behind when I returned, but it was nice to have the freedom and flexibility to prepare for a vacation. I also have really wonderful clients that were understanding of my need to take a break and were even excited that I got to go on vacation, which made it easier to step away.
• Freedom and Flexibility - From a day-to-day perspective, most of my days look the same; I work from about 9 to 5 everyday and take leisurely breaks in between. However, this year I’ve really been celebrating the freedom that comes with having your own business such as an impromptu lunch with a friend or running some errands in the morning to avoid crowds. I’ve become a more firm believer that as long as the work gets done, I can work whenever I want.

Challenges from This Year

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You can’t see it in this picture, but this was taken while I was in the midst of a really anxious period..

Personal

• Professional Rejection - One of my clients ghosted me earlier this year and it rocked my confidence for months. For weeks, I questioned what I did wrong and struggled with thinking that I wasn’t good enough to succeed in this business. It took me a long time to come to the realization that the client was simply not a good fit for me and that I needed to let the experience go. 
• Mental Health Struggles - As I mentioned earlier, my anxiety really flared up in June. It was so bad that I could feel my heart racing multiple times a day and had an eye twitch for months. These annoying and slightly scary physical ailments made it difficult to enjoy life, muchless focus on work. Luckily, I’m doing much better. Most of my physical problems have gone away as I’ve gotten my anxiety under control and I’m feeling much more at peace.

Work

• Imposter Syndrome - I still feel like I don’t always know what I’m doing and that I’m missing some key element to doing my job correctly. Jake always reminds me that many people feel this way which makes me feel slightly better, but when you’re self-employed, it feels like more is at stake. 
• Lack of Systems in Place - While I did put some systems in place this year to help with certain aspects of my job, I feel like I could have done more to better set me up for the future. In researching my options, I felt overwhelmed by all of the different programs and apps that are out there and, and as result, didn’t have the time or the energy to test them all and find out which would work best for my business.
• Data Transfer Mishap - One of my new clients used to use QBDT but switched over to the online version after I came on board. After converting their file from desktop to online, I quickly discovered that the desktop version was not up-to-date and that the data was inaccurate. This resulted in a months-long clean up process! With the help of an accountant I know, I was mostly able to get the files back in order, but this event definitely slowed me down.

Goals for Next Year

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Did you know that writing down your goals enhances your motivation and increases the likelihood that you will succeed?!

Work Goals

• One New Client Every Other Month - I lucked into this growth speed for the majority of 2021 (aside from May when I signed two new clients in one week!) and I liked the pace of it. It was the perfect rate to steadily grow and onboard new clients without feeling overwhelmed.
• New (and Better!) Systems and Processes - I want to streamline my business and automate as much as possible so that nothing falls through the cracks. For example, I’d like to find a more efficient process of onboarding a client that ensures that we both have all the information we need in order to proceed and move forward together in our new engagement.
• More Social Media Content - I’m really proud of the progress I’ve made this year, but I’d like to increase my social media presence and overall visibility. I’d like to have at least 3 posts per week and 12 blog posts published by the end of the year.
• Take on More Clean-up jobs - Clean-up jobs (where the client is behind in reconciling their bank accounts for the financial period) were actually one of the things I liked most this year. While they were a little intimidating at first, once I got into them, I found it was like solving a puzzle that requires organization and a little bit of detective work. Because I enjoyed them so much, I’m hoping to take on more this year so that I’m less anxious when they come across my path. Practice makes perfect!
• More Efficient Planning and Goal Setting - I want to get better at planning out my days/weeks and what I want to accomplish. This year, I made a list of the things I wanted to get done in the week, but I feel like that was too much “large-scale” planning. This year, I want to be more specific in my goal setting. For example, let’s say I want to double my income. I should consider what specific actions I need to take and thus the goals I need to set to make that happen. How many clients do I need to make that happen and how much do I need to charge them? I need to be better about creating the building blocks of my goal. 
• More Thorough Record Keeping -This goal goes hand-in-hand with the prior goal. If I don’t have business metrics recorded (number of new clients a month, number of clean-up jobs, etc), then it will be harder for me to see if I’m making any progress towards my goals. Some of my fellow bookkeepers talk about how they will be at client capacity in two months or that they have reached 75% of their targeted net income that they set for the year. It’ll be interesting to track those changes over the year and see how (or if!) I improve.

Personal Goals

• Read More Books - Last year, I only read six books, so I’m shooting for ten this upcoming year. They can be a mix of fun reads and business books, but I need to be better about setting aside time every day to read them.I truly enjoy reading and I know it’s a better way to spend my time as opposed to playing on my phone.
• Continue Trying New Recipes - I tried a fair amount of new recipes in 2021, but towards the end of the year I found myself repeating the same 10 or so. Even if I just try one new recipe a month this year that I can add to my rotation, I would be happy to learn new cooking skills and change up my eating habits. 
• Tropical Trip for Five Year Anniversary - When Jake and I first got married, we enjoyed our honeymoon in Aruba so much that we promised each other we would go on big trips for milestone anniversaries. While it’s hard to believe that we will have been married for five years in October 2022, I’m very much looking forward to going somewhere tropical again!
• Get a Dog - Around June of 2020, I really wanted a dog. I don’t know if it was because I heard stories of everyone adopting dogs or I was just bored and wanted something to take care of, but the desire was there. However, Jake was not totally on board at the time and told me that if I still wanted one in a year, then we could look into getting one. Fast forward a year (right around my 30th birthday) and Jake finally agreed to get one after listening to me talk about it for months. We haven’t managed to get one yet (due to supply issues and the specific breed we’re looking for - it’s a much longer process than I thought it would be), I’m hoping for the spring of this year to add a new addition to the Root-Zeitz house!

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Jake's rendering of our future pup!

Here’s to 2022!

Last year felt very balanced. I feel like I split my time well between work and personal life and for every low moment I experienced, there was one or two highs to offset it. I hope I can say the same thing this time next year! I’m looking forward to 2022 and all the adventures this new year will bring. Here’s to 2022 and new beginnings!

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My favorite person :)

-Maia and the M. Root Bookkeeping Team