Five things lately

So let’s start with this: in exactly one month it will be Christmas. ONE. MONTH. I’m not really sure how that even happened. It’s been one hell of a year, in so many ways. And not just because we now have a fancy system that basically does all our invoicing for us.

Because Liz gave you a very informative, business-y post last week about that very same invoicing system (if you missed it, please feel free to absorb the wisdom here. Also – there are cat pictures.), I thought I’d share five random things that I’ve learnt/experienced lately.

1. Owning your own business sometimes means late nights and stressing about finances. And sometimes it means bikini shopping on a Wednesday afternoon.

2. When your client sees her new website for the first time and is so completely chuffed that she struggles to make words – that right there is the stuff. The reason we do what we do. Sure, paying rent is awesome. But moments like that – they are my affirmation.

3. Tax. Oh ALL-THE-EXPLETIVES-ALL-OF-THEM. Liz reckons that this is how we feel about tax:

cat 2

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For me, it’s more like this I think:

panic

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I can now tell you that I know the difference between PAYE and provisional tax. The provisional tax deadline is in January 2015. The PAYE deadline is NOT. Failing to understand this means a FULL-on panic when you realise that your actual deadline is tomorrow. It also means paying the wonderful people who come to your rescue in snapdragons (boys – those are flowers) and beer.

4. Being able to advise friends on how to start or grow their own businesses – because you’ve been there and you’re still working it out – is pretty great. It’s a wonderful thing seeing so much potential in people you admire, and being able to see ways in which you can help them take off. Even if it’s just telling them how amazing they are over a beer.

5. The more I see of the business world, the more I really think that we are all just faking it ‘til we make it. Especially when you start your own thing. The amazing thing is to get to a point when you see how well your projects are doing and how far you’ve come – when you hear the words that you are making as you sit in a meeting and you think: “Holy s@#%, we really do know what we are doing. That was some great advice I just gave. I would hire us.”