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Starting a small business is a big decision because its success or failure is dependent on you \u2013 and that can be scary.<\/p>\n
Self-doubt is a natural part of enterprise, but it\u2019s important to develop good strategies to prevent it from sabotaging your potential.<\/p>\n
So, we caught up with Joy Liu \u2014 a\u00a0successful bookkeeping business owner\u00a0\u2014 to see how she overcame her fears to start a thriving venture that delivers on her work-life balance goals.<\/p>\n
Joy:<\/strong> After my studies, I held executive level accounting and financial analyst roles at three multinational companies.<\/p>\n In 2014 I became a full-time parent and resigned from my job at the time because it became (sadly) obvious that corporate life wasn\u2019t very family friendly.<\/p>\n After taking a short career break, I realised I wanted to continue working but I needed something that allowed me to use my skills and experiences, and would fit around my children.<\/p>\n So I decided to start my own bookkeeping franchise with First Class Accounts because they had a great culture and offered me the support I needed to build a successful business.<\/p>\n Joy:<\/strong> When I was scoping out the business, many of the existing franchisees said that good communication and rapport building with clients was essential in the bookkeeping world.<\/p>\n This made me feel nervous because I felt my English language skills and cultural heritage would put me at a disadvantage when it came to winning clients.<\/p>\n My previous accounting and finance roles revolved around management reporting and analysis for big corporations, and none of them were client-facing roles.<\/p>\n I worried that my skill set might not fit into the small business world, or that I might not be able to understand the many facets of my client\u2019s businesses and the sectors they operated in.<\/p>\n Joy:<\/strong> They were exciting and terrifying all at once!<\/p>\n The first year was a very steep learning curve and I was working 24\/7 trying to figure out how to run my business and service my clients\u2019 needs<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was unbelievably stressful at times and there were days when I was pulling my hair out and wondering whether I could do everything.<\/p>\nThe Pulse:<\/strong> It wasn\u2019t an easy decision, right? Tell us about that.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
The Pulse:<\/strong> So, what were the early days of running your business like?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
The Pulse: It sounds hectic! How did you come out the other end smiling?<\/strong><\/h5>\n