Episode #095 Personal & Professional Development Never Ends

• Episode #004 – 5 Things business women can stop feeling guilty about TODAY

Personal and Professional development for bookkeeping small business owners

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Personal development, professional development, business owner, business growth, personal development plan, professional development plan, small business owners

Angie Martin  0:02

Hello, good morning, everyone. Hope you're having a fabulous Friday morning. I am Angie, and I'm part of the Savvy team. And today I have a very exciting person who's joining us. But first off, we are joined by Maia.

Maia Coghlan  0:20

Who is not exciting.

Angie Martin  0:24

You are very exciting. You've just been on with me. This person hasn't been on the podcast for barely a couple months. And we're very excited to welcome her back. Hello, Amy Hooke.

Amy Hooke  0:37

Hello, everybody. Hello. Angie and Maia. Good to be here.

Angie Martin  0:45

I'm super excited to actually be able to have your voice on the podcast. I'm starting to get worried that people are sick of my voice. So it's great to have you join us.

Amy Hooke  0:59

It's great to be here as a guest.

Angie Martin  1:02

Yes! So, what I thought would be great to do today is kind of just do a welcome back podcast with Amy. Just because you've been gone for a while. A lot has happened.

Amy Hooke  1:14

Yeah. Where has 2020 gone?

Angie Martin  1:18

I know, it's a bit crazy. And I know everyone has some really like big questions for you. So I thought we kind of address a few of the smaller ones today. And then the bigger ones next time. The biggest thing that everyone's been kind of wondering, and everyone's been asking me is what have you been up to? What have you been doing?

Amy Hooke  1:42

Yeah. Right. Well, um, yes. So obviously, a lot has happened in the last 12 months or 11 months. We've had quite a year and I think I haven't posted a podcast for at least six months now. I think I think so. Yeah. Maybe a little bit more even. So. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. So I'm in Victoria. So I've been part of the stage 4 lockdown, which has been a big challenge in itself. But it's I think this whole year has been a bit of a roller coaster. Which I'm sure it's not just me. You guys have also been going through various things, whether you're, you know, in Victoria, and you've been through the stage four, or whether you've had some stressful things going on in your business. Yeah, it's just been kind of a lot happening behind the scenes. And yeah, but it's been very good to also see what Angie and Maia have been up to, with the podcast and doing a fantastic job. So it's fun to come back and get interviewed by them and kind of go into everything that we've been doing.

Bookkeeping for small business owners

Angie Martin  2:56

First, let's kind of talk about Savvy and Off The Hook. Because there has been some exciting developments since we last spoke. That they have changed and kind of become their own.

Amy Hooke  3:12

I was about to say that they've come into their own kind of think. That's the phrase I was going to use. I guess, yeah, you know, obviously, we all had that time at the start of COVID where, you know, we thought what is going to happen with the businesses, as you know, as bookkeepers, you know, those they became a massive demand on our services. So Off The Hook actually grew during that period. And then you know, bookkeepers were very you know, you guys were so busy with your clients trying to help everybody get on to Job Keeper and do lodgements early and that kind of thing. That's, you know, having you had a quiet period. So we use that quiet season to, put together our membership, which has been actually, yeah, a huge success. And we launched our online store. So I feel like that kind of mini six week, kind of six to eight week break that we had from yeah, all you guys, you know, you're kind of wanting all these different services from us. We were able to build something that has kind of taken on a life of its own. And yeah, it's been very exciting.

Angie Martin  4:25

It's pretty amazing. If anyone doesn't know what the Savvy shop is go into our website, just the savvybookkeeper.com.au and there's a button where it says shop and then you can go in and it's like an amazing shop for bookkeepers. It's like a candy store for bookkeeping templates basically. Someone said that to me last week, and I was like, ah, that's such a good analogy. And the membership is just makes it so much easier to get all of the products and all of the extra support. Yeah, financially. And it just makes it easier to get in touch with us as well.

Personal development plan as a bookkeeper

Amy Hooke  5:03

Yeah, that's right. So I mean, like from a, from a personal perspective of what's happening with Savvy and Off The Hook, you know, because the team really stepped in during the season, I kind of decided it was time to give everybody a bit more freedom and kind of step back from being involved in a lot of the day to day operations. And then, you know, obviously, being Victorian, we hit a point with COVID, where, you know, all of a sudden, both my kids were home and that kind of thing. So it's sort of, yeah, it just really kind of gave that. I don't know, like in a way, it's not that I would have thought that it would be a difficult separation to make. But there was kind of like a, there's a little bit of a forced separation, that kind of happened, which, you know, obviously was a challenge. I guess I'll share a little bit more about that after. But I think going through that being able to take a step back and see what's happening in the business, like when I'm not kind of like so heavily involved in in it. Yeah, has been. Yeah, I guess it's been. Yeah, it's been like insightful. It's helped me to be able to sort of step back and make some kind of bigger picture decisions. You know, like, for example, I've wanted to launch the I wanted to relaunch the business as propriety limited companies. So I have now done that. So it was so exciting. Like, if you can see behind me, I've got my two company registrations online, like, little, you know, my little table over there, because I felt like, I don't know, I haven't really said this, but it was just a proud moment. I mean, I've said it to my bookkeeper of course. So Sharon, Sharon knows, but I felt like having, you know, I ordered the certificates in frames, because I feel like it felt like a new season.

Angie Martin  6:55

It was a massive accomplishment. Yeah, for anyone who has done this to a business. Doing it to one is amazing. But you have done it to both your businesses at the same time.

Amy Hooke  7:07

Both at the same time, that's right. So you know, we operated out of a family trust structure for a long time, like ever since I've been in business. And, you know, it felt like I kind of felt like I was starting over. But you know, it was all kind of like, it was something that I was starting myself from scratch. So like, even though it wasn't really connected to the, to the family and the day to day stuff, it just felt like oh, this is my own new thing starting from scratch. So yeah, just that was a very exciting moment to, to be able to. Yeah, to set that up.

Angie Martin  7:42

So it was a lot of work, wasn't it?

Amy Hooke  7:45

Yeah, yeah. there is a fair bit of stuff that has to go on in the background. You know, obviously, yeah. You know, Xero – we've got a lot of stuff connected to and that sort of thing, just having to strategically plan the move out and what order to do things in and kind of working with Sharon on that. So yeah, that was a lot of fun. Like, it sounds like a bit of a geeky sort of thing. But it's actually like, yeah, like even talking about it now. Like, I'll just yeah, I feel very proud of that move.

Angie Martin  8:15

And also, one thing you miss Sharon. Sharon happens while you haven't been on the podcast.

Personal development and business growth during COVID

Amy Hooke  8:23

Yeah, I mean, Sharon, I can't remember when the last podcast was, but I just, I recruited it just I think the timing worked out quite well. But the COVID lockdown just started for the first time in March. And so I thought, yeah, it's time for me to hire a bookkeeper. I wanted someone who was like, had a high level of experience someone that, you know, wouldn't have to do a lot of training and things like that. And yet, there's just it's just one of those things where I'm, you know, when you surprise yourself, how much better something actually goes. So I put together, I developed a hiring process through, you know, sort of, I guess, learning from mistakes, and you know, all these different things, I put all of my knowledge into kind of developing this hiring process, and I wanted to test it out. And so I recruited a bookkeeper, and I really raised my standards of, you know, who I'd hire, you know, in a bookkeeping team member, so I did look for that kind of senior level person. But from the first week that she stepped in, I was amazed, like, I didn't think what I wasn't expecting was that. Yeah, I guess deep down, this is what I was hoping for, but I didn't know or didn't want to kind of think that that might be possible. So anyway, she's you know, she's a very good bookkeeper in some areas, probably better than me like so. She's good, very technical. She's a very good technical bookkeeper. I think I'm a very good bookkeeper when it comes to practical bookkeeping, like the you know, getting the apps together and managing the actual processes and getting all of that happening. But she's great on the technical side and just, you know, completely confident. So I wasn't expecting her to take 99% of the work off my plate, but that's what she did, you know, very short amount of time, like, yeah, you know, within a week, she was, you know, managing all the clients, we just do kind of like a 15 minute handover for each of the clients, and she just kind of, yeah, ran with it. And so all of a sudden, I'm like, Wow, I've been able to step back so much from that business. You know, from from Off The Hook, like much quicker than I thought that I would be able to. So on one hand, I had, you know, the team, Angie and Maia managing everything that's kind of going on in the day to day with Savvy, and then went Off The Hook. And so then obviously, that put me in a position where I was like, oh, okay, well, this was my dream. So now what, what do I do. And yes, so although that was like, great that that had happened, and when it dawned on me, but I kind of went through an identity crisis as well along the way. Which is, which has been quite funny, you know, going through isn't the time, but it wasn't No, it was not funny at the time. It was like what is happening, like feeling a bit disoriented, but at the same time, yeah, like, this is good. But like, Where do I kind of fit in now? And what do I want to do next? And how do I best spend my time and all that sort of stuff? So yeah, that's sort of what was happening during the good part of the pandemic – I'll call it!  And, yeah, obviously, from there, you know, Victoria, we went into a stage 4 lockdown, and then things kind of got a bit crazy. And so you know, having the kids home, I had to pull, like, yeah, I guess I pulled back to a greater degree.

Angie Martin  12:01

Just for a reminder for everyone who listens to the podcast, because there's a lot of new listeners, how old are your two lovely boys?

Amy Hooke  12:10

Oh yes, so Evan is 5 and Ferdie is 2. So two preschoolers.

Angie Martin  12:18

So that's just to give you an idea how busy you know, having two businesses, two young boys, and well at home, it would have been pretty crazy.

Amy Hooke  12:30

That's right. And so I think, I think we may be going to be talking on the on next week's podcast a little bit more in detail about me and the step back from the business and all that kind of thing. But I think like, yeah, it was just this crazy time. And you know, for me, one of my dreams, when I started the business was that I'd be able to have the kids home more, but the reality of having a business, the business took over, like right from the start. And so the kids were in childcare full time, pretty much from the start, and, you know, kind of like having to deal with that, like mom guilt that you get where you're like, should I be a business person or a mom? Or do I have to choose and, like, you know, this isn't really where I want things to go, and how do I fix it? And everything. And so, yeah. So the kids were suddenly home full time, which was good for about three weeks, they kind of their behaviour actually improved, a bit more chilled out, they were more relaxed, like Ferdie grew, like, unbelievably like, I think, because he wasn't getting, you know, once he time, he's having a good like, three, four hour nap every afternoon. So he had this massive growth spurt. And so, like, yeah, so it was pretty cool in a way because I feel like, you know, the business has, in a way, like kind of, you know, for season, it really took over our life. And, you know, I wasn't getting to have that quality time with the kids. So that was really cool, you know, spending some more, you know, time together. And then the kids kind of hit the wall after about the three to four week mark. And it was just like, they were missing their friends, they were missing, you know, the freedom, you know, missing their grandparents and things like that. So kind of when, you know, bit more chaotic and I kind of snowballed into a, you know, into a bit of a stressful kind of existence, I think and yeah, so, you know, but then to come back out of the other side, you know, we this morning, we had, we had a COVID debrief we've been given as a team name, which I highly, highly suggest, yeah, it's just, you know, I felt like, you know, I kind of disappeared for a little while and, you know, it just really not that I wanted to disappear, but the kids were, you know, as soon as I got on a call with one of the team, you know, they'd start like jumping up and down and making it really noisy. It was just, it's a bit you know, it was stressful, obviously I was in a totally different headspace. You know, you go from like, I don't know dealing with a tantrum because you cut the sandwich the wrong way, or like something that seems ridiculous to like having an adult conversation with somebody who needs your help. It's just like, oh my god. So yes, that was. Yeah, that was a very interesting time. Um, I think I did share earlier in the year that I had taken up running. So I did the couch to five K, I was so proud of myself, I was running five kilometres quite easily, you know, even got up to some 10 kilometre runs, I was like very excited. And when the stage four happened, you know, that all kind of was not possible anymore. Because every time I went out the kids were with me. And so I kind of switched my healthy exercise routine for watching the news. And that was my stress relief and that did not work. Let's just say Note to self next time, don't do that. Yeah, so yeah, I don't know, I kind of, you know, sort of a bit disconnected from the team and I either. Yeah, kind of, I think, now that now that we've come out of the bubble, I've had time to kind of think about, you know, kind of what went well, and what didn't go well. And you know, what we could improve for next time. So I sort of said, to Angie and Maia, why don't we do a debrief? Because, you know, we all went through our own tough time in different ways, like, each one of us had something going on, you know, just in the way that all of you guys, you know, all of you would have gone through some type of stress. Whether, you know, so for example, I was, I was making a joke this morning, but it wasn't funny at the time. That, you know, when the COVID situation first happened, I spent a weekend applying for jobs, I applied for 300 jobs.

Angie Martin  16:59

That's an effort also.

Maia Coghlan  17:01

That's a lot of jobs.

Amy Hooke  17:03

Yeah, it's crazy. And then when I told my on the Monday morning, I'm like, I'm quitting. But Maia said, did you really apply for jobs? And I said, Yes, because, but it was to cope with stress. Like it wasn't a serious thing. And yeah, it was just kind of a bit of a roller coaster. But during that little, that kind of first 12 week period, it was to go, Okay, I'm stressed, overwhelmed, but it's not just me, you know, you guys are stressed too. You're all dealing with very stressed business owners, you know, trying to get their, you know, lodgements done and things like that. And so that's when we launched the navigating Coronavirus. And that was really good to kind of go, alright, I'm not gonna focus on myself, I'm just gonna, you know, reach out and support the community. And, you know, that was a good strategy for the first kind of three month thing.

Angie Martin  17:57

It was great for the clients, because you know we were really trying to focus on you know, you know, you guys, our listeners, our actual clients and support you as much as possible, but at the same time, we weren't really looking inwardly.

Navigating COVID and professional development for business owners

Amy Hooke  18:12

That's right. Yeah. So there's like, the first season of like, just trying to focus on everyone else. And, you know, then kind of me being forced into this situation, where I had a lot of time to think about myself, and what I was going through and things like that, and it just, yeah, you know, we talked this morning, like, once I reconnected with the team, we realise, you know, we all have different ways of coping with stress. So I don't know what yours is. But I know for me, I withdraw. So if I disappear, like if I'm completely overwhelmed, like, obviously, having the kids in the lockdown was like, sort of like an impulse thing, but I kind of, it's more like a disconnection, where I kind of go into my little bubble, and I'm trying to process everything that's going on. So you know, I think for me, if I could use a single phrase to describe it, it was like an identity crisis. It's like, you know, what, you know, what, what value do I now offer to the community, like where does Savvy fit, like, just all of these different things going through my mind and, and then kind of emerging from that and starting to reconnect with the team and then realising like, yeah, you know, like I said, on our first COVID debrief session, that I basically, um, you know, I had, I said, You know, I don't think that I'm a failure or anything like that, but I had failed to kind of see where everyone else was at because we each have these different ways of coping. So and this is why it's a great idea to debrief with your team, because I fought, you know, look at Angie and why they're so motivated and organised You know, how come they do so well in such a stressful situation? Whereas I'm like, ah, I don't even know what day it is like, you know what I mean? So, but when we started to reconnect, we realised that each of us kind of deals with it in a in our different ways. And so, yeah, so the COVID debrief has been good, because I thought, all right, like that last period, some amazing things came out of it, but I feel like we didn't fully get to celebrate that because of the hard things that were happening at the same time. So it's like, Alright, let's just kind of take that, and, you know, share with each other what each person went through, and give us a chance to be able to put, you know, put that behind us, and then to be able to go cool, like, this is all crappy stuff that happened. And yeah, like, you know, this is what we actually accomplished, which was amazing. Yeah. And, you know, and look to the future, like, what can we put in place, that, you know, that next time that each person on the team feels supported? And that we kind of stay connected to one another? And, you know, kind of make it work? So, yeah, I think overall, like, it's been hard, but good stuff. Now studying to come from that school.

Angie Martin  21:13

Now. And that's like, I think everyone's at that point now, where everyone has kind of come through, you know, Job Keeper is still a thing that we have to do, but everyone knows the process now.

Amy Hooke  21:25

Yeah, it's not has hard round two.

Angie Martin  21:28

Yeah, everyone knows what's happening. And now it's kind of like, Okay, so this is going to be life like this until March, I think, is the new time where they're going to reassess things. Yeah. But you know, everyone's gone through that hectic really stressful things that, you know, really stressful season. And now it's becoming a bit more back to a way of normal, a way of a new normal, and yeah, you've been like, right away, you were like, okay, let's focus on the clients. Yeah, let's focus on that. And then it was like, Okay, let's focus on ourselves. And now the debrief has been amazing. You know, it's helps you understand your employees so much better, it helps your employees understand you.

Amy Hooke  22:20

Yeah, that's right.

Angie Martin  22:22

So like, that was an amazing idea. Um, then, you know, even just considering what happened with Savvy and Off The Hook, you know, I wrote down in my notes on how Off The Hook in the last few months, you've hired a senior bookkeeper, we started to do social media marketing, we've redone your sales process. So that's all streamlined and automated, and automated. And it makes it nice and easy to bring on new clients, because the business is growing so much. And then savvy, during that quiet time, you came up with the idea of doing the savvy shop? Yep. savvy membership, we actually built it out. You decided to have Maya and I become available to clients, which that also was Yeah.

Amy Hooke  23:15

Yeah, that's right. decision as well. So the courts Love you guys. Yeah. Well, we really good like, yeah, like having you at the podcast is one thing, I thought, I can't there's certain things I can't outsource to my team, like the podcast or my mentoring. And it's like, actually turns out I can and so that was really good. I guess, like, the takeaway for you guys for that is that like, regardless of like, how much of an expert you are, you can hit you can literally, like price, turn stuff into procedures and training and, you know, like, you can, yeah, like, I mean, you can't make anyone else for you. But you can still kind of facilitate that transition. You know, like, for example, with Angie and Maya being able to do the mentoring, like we have all of these business plan, templates and things that kind of, you know, like that the framework is kind of there. And then, you know, obviously, if you want someone to do your podcast, they've got to have an amazing personality, and, you know, like a, you know, a great speaker and knowledgeable as well. But um, yeah, just, I don't know, some of these things kind of took me by surprise, because you feel as a business owner, from the start, you're kind of doing everything and then you kind of try to figure out Alright, what is the stuff that I really like, the only I can do? And when you really start to chip away of all the things that other people could potentially do, you get to a point where you're like, oh, there's not really that much left. And it's kind of like what a no fly book that or you know, whatever, but then you reach a point where you're like, yeah, this is pretty cool, actually.

Angie Martin  24:53

I think that's where you're, you know, you were questioning yourself because we started to take up some small things. And it was going all really well. So you were kind of like, do I keep savvy and just have it like, you guys do it? And then I just get a bookkeeping job. And I remember that job or do I? Yeah, I was like, you cannot

Amy Hooke  25:16

Just be like a full time stay at home mom. Yeah. Which

Angie Martin  25:22

I think it's more realistic, being a full time mom, rather than employee because at least with a full time, Mom, you can still have that entrepreneurial mind.

Amy Hooke  25:32

I'll be honest here, I think I would lose my mind. And I know that I know that I can say that, because we actually did a community survey. And you'll be surprised how many people, you know, say that they actually find the home life challenging.

Angie Martin  25:49

You know, but so yeah, I wanted to finish this episode off with is just kind of chatting a bit more about, you know, what's next? What's kind of on your horizons? Because, you know, we're middle of November, which How did that happen?

Amy Hooke  26:16

We're ready for another whole weeks, and then we'll all having a Christmas.

Angie Martin  26:20

I know, it's, it's just crazy. And you know, now that things are really ramping up again, what are your plans? Are the businesses you know, going forward? Because I know, everyone right now are kind of wondering what they need to do. You know, it would be your what you're thinking of working on? Yeah, coming into the new year?

Professional development plan as a bookkeeper into the new year

Amy Hooke  26:46

Yeah, that's right. Well, yeah, I have given a lot of thought to this. And I feel like, I don't know if my answer is perfectly formulated yet. You know, I'm still kind of processing through some of these things, I think. But I think I'm just gonna have a sip of water. I just got a little. So yeah, so I think one of the things so when I first started the business, I wanted a profitable online business that could run without me. And so it's funny, like, when you get to the point where you have that, it's like, you know, obviously you do go through that assessment, but I thought to myself, even though the business can run without me, I don't want to leave. I think that's been a big thing for me, you know, it's like, oh, cool, like, I could actually step out of the business if I wanted to, but, you know, looking at the two businesses, I've realised, you know, I still do want to be involved. And I think my new role with savvy apart from, you know, you know, I think like, going through the business plan. So for example, those of you who have done the business plan as you work your way, all the way from start to finish, and you kind of figure out, what do I actually want? And what am I actually doing? From there, like, once you finish that business plan, it's actually not done yet. So even though I've reached a point where I could actually step out, it's like, I don't want to because it is actually so much more potential for business. So I kind of feel like when you're doing that initial business plan, and you're figuring out what you want, and your branding and your pricing packages, and that kind of thing, you sort of doing this, I call it, it's like a vertical business plan, right. And once you've done that, that's not over, once you've done that, you've then got this, like, you know, just to be really original, it's like a horizontal business plan, right? So you've got, once you go downwards, and you figure out all these different areas of your business of what you actually want, then from there, you've got this standard of, you know, what you're wanting your business to be. And for some of you, you're, you'll be happy with that, you know, this works really well, if you're someone that doesn't really want stuff, or, you know, you just want to do that solo kind of thing, or you're happy to just, you know, I guess I have to just make the distinction between like, you're either going to be a business owner, or you're going to have a team underneath you, or you're just setting the business up so that you've got a job for yourself, which is also fine. And, and so for me, it was always about having the business and having that leverage. And so, yeah, so looking at that, it's like, Whoa, you know, once you get that sort of vertical part done, you can then start to really get into like developing the team and, you know, have the business to be able to kind of carry forward beyond that point by going okay, like, these are the standards that we've set for the business. These are the areas where we still have a bit of work to do. And I think all of this came out of like, you know, in the start, like in the first couple of years of the business, I thought every time my husband asked me, What are you doing, I would always say, I'm setting up the business and that's what I was always busy setting up the business. And I realised one day what is setup look like you Like, what does it look like when it's done? You know? And is it ever done? Like, is that a real thing, and I discovered that it actually is like, it's a possible thing. Of course, there's the ongoing maintenance of that thing. But there is a point where the business is set up. And it's, you know, it's done. So that and that comes through, once you've kind of done that vertical, you kind of start to go horizontal. So I started doing this with some of our savvy clients who, you know, are more mature, or established businesses, you know, they're sort of, they're not necessarily big businesses, but they have already done and kind of all that groundwork. And so that's, that's one thing that's next for savvy kind of starting to work our way across like, the other direction and southern to also like doing that eternally, which would be doing but also doing that with our savvy clients and starting to invest more in some of those more established bookkeeping. businesses. Yeah, in that way that want to kind of go beyond that kind of initial business planning point. Yeah. And off the hook, like, Yeah, what's next? off the hook? That's so exciting. Like, you know, we've got Yeah, I think we'll talk about it more next week. But I've got some cool stuff to go. Yeah, I think let's leave off the hook for next week, because there's a couple of exciting things kind of going on yet there in terms of our offerings and things like that. So yeah, yeah, no, it's

Angie Martin  31:29

Awesome. It's so good to have you back on the podcast. We've actually really good. It's been really funny over the last couple of weeks, you've been, you know, obviously with us. But everyone's been starting to kind of ask me, you know, oh, what's Amy doing? Where's Amy? And I'm like, she's doing she's still here. She's just not on the podcast right now. So it's great to have you back. And I'm super excited. So just let everyone know, this will basically be our last series of 2020. I know it's so hard to believe. So I'm super excited to be able to do this with you guys. And yeah, stay tuned for next episode, because it will be a really great question and answer one. If you are aren't part of the ahart bookkeeping Facebook group that we have joined it this week, I have a post in there that I will pin to the top of the page. I have a section where I want you guys to ask any question that you have. For me. This is about business.

Amy Hooke  32:34

Hit me up.

Angie Martin  32:34

Personal, anything, anything you want. Yes. And we're going to go in and do some questions for time and just get to the nitty gritty of growing your business. Yeah. So very interested in doing that. Maia has been here. She just hasn't spoken much today.

Maia Coghlan  32:55

Yeah. You guys talk so much.

Angie Martin  33:03

She just you know. I wasn't sure how much she would talk but it's always nice just to see your pretty face when we're talking. But yeah, looking forward to the next episode, and it's gonna be fun.Who wants to find out today?

Amy Hooke  33:21

Oh, my goodness. Not me. I haven't done this. You know what, how awkward I am saying goodbye. All right, well, hang up first.

Maia Coghlan  33:30

Stay safe, stay sane and stay savvy.

Angie Martin  33:33

Bye, guys.

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