Why Did You Get Up This Morning? - Digital Business Coach

What makes you get up each and every morning? I guess some of us don't need to but most do. Not everyone has to face a commute with an increasing number working from home and/or at a preferred coffee lounge. Regardless of the "where" this note focuses on the "why".

Most business owners I meet are weighed down by issues which have little to do with their real passion. The business itself. The service or product. Researching new ideas and possibilities. Being creative.

I am referring to compliance. Complying with an ever growing raft of red tape, keeping those who regulate our activities in work and in profit.

Whether you are self employed, a Partner in an LLP or partnership, or a Director of a company, compliance is now a core part of your existence. That tried and tested laxative – the brown envelope – appears regularly and contains demands and threats in equal proportion. Our accountants provide us with critical support in this area, unfortunately at a growing cost. However the cost of non-compliance is far higher. I don’t see things getting any easier.

My question again, worded slightly differently – “why did you get up this morning?“

I am sure your answer is not to focus on compliance. I am also sure that it must have something to do with making some money.

Many don’t like to admit to this – I have heard it all over the years – answers like “want to create a platform for my team” “need to keep the tax authorities solvent” and so on! But, without money we can do very little.

So the answer to the question must be “to make some money“

I hope you are making money, and this leads me on to my next [and final] question:

“Would you like to keep more?“

More of what you make? Some believe that this aspiration is no longer noble. That we should pay everything asked of us and not seek the rule book to see how we can reduce the burden. Not investigate the reliefs created to help us.

Despite media attention and seemingly endless threats via the brown envelope there are many opportunities to keep more. You should definitely avoid anything that includes the words “tax scheme” and promoters who offer us “counsel opinion” suggesting that this offers a guarantee. IT DOES NOT.

Reviewing how you draw money from the business and reward yourself will reveal opportunities that provide the desired outcome to the question about wanting to keep more.

It will cost nothing – save a little time – to find out.

Written by Chris Haley (Digital Business Coach)

Back to Newsroom

Why Did You Get Up This Morning? – Digital Business Coach