The importance of having headspace to grow your

The importance of having headspace to grow your practice

In this article, Heather Townsend, author of “The Accountants Millionaires’ Club”, argues that the first step to successfully growing your practice is not about having a compelling Growth Vision or exciting Growth Plan. It’s about preserving and protecting time for regular headspace...

Too often accountancy

firm owners have grand ambitions to grow their practice which never get started. This isn’t for a lack of ambition or motivation to get started. It’s because they never quite get enough headspace to start the planning process. You wouldn’t find headspace as an essential ingredient in any book on business growth. Unsexy as it is, the first step to growing your accountancy firm, whether to be a one million pound practice or a top 100 UK firm, always starts with the owner getting high quality headspace on a regular basis.

What is headspace?

For the purposes of this article, it is not about meditating or being mindful. It’s not even about the brilliant Headspace app. It is about giving your mind the freedom to think, pause, reflect or go where it needs to go. This means getting the brain away from the dayto-day distractions of life as an accountancy firm owner (emails, xero queries, calls and discussions with clients or staff) and also your responsibilities outside of work (issues around family, home, shopping, cooking, housework, bills).

Giving yourself the permission to have headspace is like giving your brain a new office with a whiteboard, on which to design a new practice and plan for its implementation. When you down tools and go on holiday you normally give yourself precious headspace time. This is why you almost always come back from a holiday brimming full of ideas for your practice. It’s also why taking the time to have a long shower is a great way to generate ideas.

The more time you have for headspace, the more chance you do deep, quality thinking. But most accountants’ growth plans can’t wait until they go on holiday in order to be implemented on their return. That’s why it’s essential that you don’t just free up time to work on your business, but also to have the essential headspace time.

Headspace has more benefits than just giving you the time and space to identify how to grow your practice. It will reduce your stress levels and put you back in control of your practice.

What stops us from having daily headspace time?

The norm for society is to be busy. Life now happens at a million miles an hour and people are bombarded by 24/7 information which comes at them from the moment they open their eyes. Whether it is the real time access to clients’ data on xero, the ever updating newsfeed of their social media platforms, the rolling 24/7 news, or the email which is available to them on their smartphones, it is becoming harder and harder to switch off from the hustle and bustle of daily life. It’s not just the pace at which

@HeatherTowns

Heather Townsend

Heather Townsend is the author and founder of The Accountants Millionaires’ Club. In 2015 the ICAEW decided she was the number one online influencer to the accountancy profession.

people now live their lives. The most common mode for a small accountancy firm owner is firefighting. Firefighting is the enemy of high quality headspace. If business as usual for you in your practice means forever putting out fires, then you need to change how you are operating. Growing your practice will come after you have spent clear time planning for that growth.

What is the best way to find headspace?

Firstly, don’t kid yourself that you will find time tomorrow or next week. When you subscribe to the illusion of tomorrow, you never quite manage to take the first step and get started. So, the best thing you can do is start right now. Finish reading this article, switch off your phone and get out of the office and go for a walk. On your walk start playing around with your growth ideas and plans. What would need to stop, start or continue to make them a reality?

In conclusion

Most accountancy firm owners jump straight to their Growth Vision and Growth Plans when they want to grow your firm. If you want to successfully implement your plans for growth you will need to first allocate regular time for high quality headspace.