Let’s play this out.
If your hairdresser gave you chunky 2003 Ginger Spice foils, you’d never go back. You’d walk out, tears in your eyes toss the receipt in the bin, and immediately text your girlfriends a public service announcement: “Do not, under any circumstances, let Sarah near your head with bleach.”
One strike and she’s out. You and your friends will never give her a second chance and you’ll never stop telling everyone to steer clear.
But when our accountants mess up, miss BAS statements, let things pile up until there’s a $30k tax bill, or treat us like we’re the “small fry client” not worth their time? We… stay.
Make it make sense?
Not only do we stay, we pay them, apologise for “not being good with numbers,” and tell ourselves “Well, that’s just business.”
Wild, isn’t it?
Why do we show so much loyalty in an area that’s literally instrumental to our success? We wouldn’t let someone wreck our hair twice. But we’ll let someone wreck our finances over and over, because deep down we’ve been taught:
💭 “Money is complicated. I should be grateful someone is handling it.”
💭 “I don’t know enough to push back.”
💭 “Switching accountants sounds harder than just suffering through this one.”
Your accountant is not your boss, not your teacher, and definitely not your parent.
Your accountant is a service provider. Same league as your hairdresser, your physio, or that overpriced dog groomer who shaved your cavoodle into a nervous breakdown. If they’re not delivering? You get to break up. Politely. Firmly. No long-winded explanations needed.
You should feel beyond comfortable to pose questions or look for guidance around goals and growth.
So here’s my question for you
(yes, I want you to hit reply and tell me):
👉 Do you meet proactively with your accountant, the way a true partner in your business should, do they know the goals? Are they helping you with them, or do you only hear from them when there’s bad news, a bill, or a crisis?
Reactive finance keeps you small. Proactive finance is what allows you to step into that CEO seat with confidence.
The same goes for how you run the rest of your business. There’s freelancer energy (scrambling to fix things when they break, staying busy, waiting for the phone to ring). And there’s CEO energy (making decisions, thinning big picture, setting standards, expecting service providers to keep up with you).
You don’t owe loyalty to someone who isn’t helping you build the business you want.
So tell me honestly, are you in a proactive or reactive relationship with your accountant? Because I’m genuinely curious, and I promise you’re not the only one navigating this.
Your foils will grow out. Your accountant’s mistakes? Those compound.
This is your Friday reminder: if you wouldn’t put up with bad foils, stop putting up with bad service, broken systems, or the habits that keep you small.
You’re not here to play office.
You’re not here to run errands for your own business.
You’re here to run the whole damn show
