Okay, I’m a day early. So sue me. (On second thought, don’t. I’m not worth the effort.)
Now that the last of the tax sh** is off to the CPA, I’m starting my celebrating today. You see, I realized my lifelong dream of working for myself from home and started my accounting/bookkeeping business on April 1, twenty years ago. My former boss didn’t think I’d last a year. What he didn’t (and still doesn’t) know is that I had an ace in the hole – magic!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – magic is only a tool. You have to do all the mundane things first to accomplish any aim. And I did. I already had two clients that I was working on in the evenings and I asked them to spread the word. I had a lot of CPA-type contacts that I bugged incessantly for business in the early days. I donned a suit & smile and passed out business cards at innumerable, boring, business meet-and-greet cocktail functions. I did everything every ‘start-your-own-business’ book tells you to do.
Once that was underway, I retreated to my lair. A bunch of grapes (did you read last week’s post?), a little basil and a green candle took center stage. I don’t remember exactly what I did (I don’t keep a magical journal), but I do remember rubbing a basil leaf on a photocopy of my first check & putting it in the file folder with all my business documentation. (I was too poor to afford essential oil but fresh basil was available at the grocery store.)
I wish I were still in contact with Mr. M. I’d love to chuckle in his face & say “fooled you”! I continue to count those first two people as clients among the rest. Although I’ve busted my rear end over the years, I have to think part of my success was due to a little thing called magic.