Episode 47: How to Use Efficiency Habits in End of Year Processes
In Episode 47, Sam explains how to use efficiency habits in the End of Year processes. This episode follows on from Episodes 41 - 46 about the practical and powerful belief and habit changes we need to make to become more effective and efficient, so if you haven’t listened to the previous episodes go and do that first.
Firstly, Sam explains why these efficiency habits are so powerful for EOY jobs, plus the planning mindset needed and how to set up the job for success. Sam covers the stages of the job and recaps knowing your efficiency magic.
Sam covers one big reason you should be looking at EOY and BAS jobs as products, and the biggest impact you can have on any kind of job efficiency, as well as why it’s worth thinking about time budgets ad well as dollar budgets.
Sam then shares the decision making framework (from E45) and how it applies in the EOY jobs, as well as the firm0wide deacons you need to have in place to avoid common efficiency traps.
Finally, Sam explores what you need to have in place with EOY work before you can move to the next steps of advisory work, and how to build a plan of action to work more in your area of magic during EOY work.
What we cover in this episode
Why we should use efficiency habits in our End of Year processes
Planning mindset for our EOY jobs and setting up the job for success
The stages of the job and knowing our efficiency magic
One reason you should be looking at EOY and BAS jobs as products
The biggest impact you can have on any kind of job efficiency
Thinking about time budgets as well as dollar budgets for jobs
How the decision making framework and skill (from episode 45) applies in the EOY jobs
The firm-wide decisions you need to have in place to avoid common efficiency traps
What you need to have in place with EOY before you can move to the next steps of advisory work
The next steps once you have finished the EOY job
Building a plan of action to work more in your area of magic during EOY jobs
Quotes
“If we can make what we do most of the time more efficient and effective, it creates in a lot more time. Plus, it then lets us build the muscles [in familiar ways].”
“What are we looking at when we look at our everyday workflow? We want to start really flexing those muscles of the setup, and some of the planning mindset and the positiveness that we learned early on, when we were looking at actually planning out where we want to be in life in four or five years time. We should do the same with our jobs.”
“We should actually say, ‘Okay, I started this job last year, what happened this year? What would be a great result for it? Where do I want to be sitting at the end of the job?’ So, a really proactive planning culture [and] really flexing those skills.”
“This becomes crucially important as you go into the next stage of developing different styles of products. We've never really looked at that EOY process or EOY job—getting the income tax returns ready for the end of year financial statements or getting a BAS ready—as products [because] we never actually built them. But then we want to implement new products into our business, assist with different forms of advisories, even cash flows, etc. And we haven't ever had that muscle before. What we do every day we've never [had to] develop because it's been developed a long time ago. So it's important to start breaking down those because the same steps in our interview is the same steps in any job, or any product, we set it up for success we actually get, then get the job done. And then we assess the job opportunities, both for ourselves, how can we make it more efficient, and then for our clients, how can we actually have a conversation and go forward.
“Start with first stage of setting our job up with success. And I think that this is the biggest impact that you can have on any kind of job efficiency…We want to start shifting that and setting our own jobs up for success, and our own businesses up for success. And we start with everyday jobs.”
“The setup of success, I think, is the biggest rock you can roll in any kind of efficiency piece going forward, even if you're an individual, or even, you know, doesn't matter what your role within our businesses, if you can get your jobs set up for success, given that timing, and then roll it off, you'll find the jobs are a lot more successful going forward.
“Another thing that is really important as an overall firm thing is if people are working for different styles of people, you have to actually have a firm-wide decision. Nothing is harder and less efficient than people having to make different decisions for different styles of people.”
“I don't think there's anyone I've really ever spoken to who said, ‘I don't want to go to the next level, I don't want to go to the advisory stuff.’ But what we've got to do is make sure our factory, which is our end of year, is very consistent in the decision-making processes. If you're in a large firm, a small firm or by yourself, every decision should be made on a policy, on the decision-making framework that you've already set up.“
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