5 things we apply to our business, that we learned from our marriage.

We (Andrew & I, Elyse Haynes) have been married for 15 years this year. Each year we joke about doing a “performance review” for our marriage, and while it’s not a formal thing, this year we did discuss the parallels between marriage and business and how the things we’ve learned in our relationship make us better business owners.

Disclaimer: We are absolutely NOT marriage experts, we are an accounting business… These are just our musings. If you want expert marriage stuff from marriage professionals, check out “The Happy Marriage”.

Here’s what we’ve learned that you can apply to your business.

Good, clear communication fixes most things.

Being clear and honest in our communication covers a lot of things. Talking about things early is key here - if there’s something on our mind, or we’ve made a mistake, talking about it before it becomes a bigger issue is crucial to keeping things running smoothly.

Having grace and patience to truly hear the other person is key.

REALLY listening to hear the other person helps us extend the grace that we often need. Listening to simply respond won’t cut it.

Allowing each other the space to feel heard and understood shows that we’re placing value on the other person, and opens the door to even better communication, and deeper, more meaningful relationship.

We cover each others short falls.

Inevitably, one of us is having a better day than the other, or has more energy etc. Gauging what we have to give is helpful. Some days you just don’t have much to offer, and more often than not, when one is of us is having a bad day, the other is able to step in and fill that gap.

In business, we know where our skills lie and, in a service based business, we know we exist to make your life easier. We make complicated tax stuff simple, but we’re not going to build your house, we’d really wreck that. So knowing how to stay in our lane is important, and we can outsource the things that are outside of our strengths.

We prioritise praise.

Tomorrow is never guaranteed. Recently we’ve been to a wedding and a funeral and the take home for us was that people have so much love for each other - but we don’t want to wait for a special occasion to show that.

Often we’re quick to criticise others, and leaving a bad review probably comes to mind before leaving a positive one - but let’s rush to compliment rather than criticise.

If someone is doing an awesome job, tell them! No one is ever offended by positive feedback (cough cough - working with us already? You can leave us a google review here).

Small gestures are important.

Every morning Andrew brings me a coffee to bed and that small gesture doesn’t mean much to him, but it sure does to me! Man do I feel loved.

Little things add up, and those little things totally end up being the big things. We think of it like making a good first impression, but repeatedly.

When you work with Kindred Accounting, we want you to feel like you’re getting a good first impression, at every impression.

We can be confident with each other.

We have 4 children, and I think this lesson came from parenting more than marriage, but go with me here.

We don’t apologise for our children’s existence. They are allowed to take up space and we don’t apologise for that. Now, if they’re rude or do the wrong thing, we absolutely expect them to apologise, we refuse to raise jerks, but our kids are small humans, not inconveniences. Our children know they can be confident to talk to us and we hope they approach the world in that same way.

Approaching our business, we don’t need to do this with an air of apology.

We can talk about our business knowing we offer a valuable solution to our ideal clients problem.

We make your life easier by removing the stress of bookkeeping, financial statements and succession planning.

Being a business owner, you didn’t necessarily go into business to sweat over your company structure or tax planning - so we do that with you.

Run your business with confidence.

Being a business owner comes with risks, and knowing where your strengths lie is so important.

If you’re struggling to navigate the financial aspect of your business, you’re not alone. Outsourcing your accounting tasks to a tax professional who understands your business is a game-changer.

An expert in tax planning can transform your approach to finances and empower you to take control of your business’s financial health.

We’re passionate about empowering business owners to make confident & informed money decisions.

Ditch the chaos & start navigating your numbers with us now.