10 Lessons from 10 Years – Pt. 1

10 years! An entire decade and counting. That’s how long we’ve been doing business at Joy Accounting Services. Back in 2015, Terra (the woman in charge) took the leap after cutting her teeth on a decade’s worth of construction accounting, climbing all the way from accounting assistant to performing CFO duties for a medium-sized construction company.

But the drawbacks of the corporate structure outweighed the consistent paycheck, and Terra decided it was time to move on. And wow – what an incredible decision that turned out to be. From day 1, we’ve experienced the joy (pun intended) that comes with owning a small business – and particularly one that directly works with and helps other small businesses.

We’ve learned a thing or two in that time, and we’d like to share some of these lessons with you. Keep reading for five top lessons we’ve learned from 10 amazing years of small business ownership. I realize that we promised you ten lessons in the title, so don’t worry, another five will be coming in Part 2.

Each of these lessons start with “The small business world is for you if…”

…you need to remember how much you enjoy people.

Somewhere in the last 10 years, life got complicated. In 2015, AI was faint concept; now the things you can do with artificial intelligence seem to be growing by the week. Just today I heard that you can create a podcast of two people talking about something that you are writing – like a blog or a book – using Google Notebook LM. Incredible – and also why would you want to do that? Oh, and besides that – there was that pandemic that we all lived through. How crazy was that!?!

Innovations, disruptions, political upheaval – you name it, we’ve experienced it. And if you’re like me, that can make you at the very least approach your neighbor a bit cautiously. I’d rather an interaction at the recycling center not turn into a someone’s treatise about why the polio vaccine is a government conspiracy.

Entering the small business world feels so different than all of this. People are doing what they love. They are open to feedback and want to help other small businesses succeed. They are really seeking to make their communities better.

Our clients are what I’d consider ‘salt of the Earth’ people. Honest, trustworthy, motivated, dynamic, intelligent. They each keep many plates spinning while giving their customers an amazing experience. And our partners – other accountants, CPAs, lawyers, etc., are also fantastic.

Working with these small businesses is tremendously gratifying whether we’re working on a difficult problem, making small talk about summer plans, or planning out the next few months of cash flow. We are often so in tune with our clients that it feels as though we are living life together. And beyond just enjoying the specific interactions, working with such phenomenal people makes us have more faith in humanity in general. In short, it makes us like people again.

…you want freedom from the corporate zero-sum game.

Terra and I have both spent a lot of time in the corporate world. I was a business consultant for many years before joining Joy Accounting full time in 2024. And that’s after I was laid off in the corporate world, an example which illustrates the point – corporate America operates as a zero-sum game.  Typically, there is a winner, and there is a loser (or many losers). You don’t really have to look much further than stories of mass layoffs amidst record-setting profits to understand what I mean.

On the other hand, when small businesses are hitting their stride, everyone wins. With Terra’s construction background, we work with a fair number of contractors. When we partner with them and get their world humming along, we are in the flow, their lives are less frantic, their subcontractors know what to expect and want to work for them more often, and ultimately, their customers are pleased as punch with the end result. I call that a win-win-win-win. That is not uncommon at all in the small business world.

…you are able to understand and lean into your value.

There is a moment when starting a business when anyone should pause and ask “why” they think their venture will be successful. You may love rare stamps and want to become a rare stamp collector who travels around selling to second-hand stores. But do these stores already have these stamps? Do their customers want these stamps? Do these stores even have customers? Will the money you make offset your travel expenses?

An important question is ‘what do you have to offer related to your business idea that is special or unique to you’? When starting our business, that was pretty obvious as Terra had developed wide and deep experience in the construction industry. As a result, we focused our efforts exclusively on the construction industry, which has needs that are unique and different from any other industry.

We also focused on dialing in our internal processes and technology so that we are able to be responsive to the needs of our clients and help them proactively peek around corners. This increased our value to all potential clients and helped us expand our capabilities, allowing us to gain expertise with non-profits and physical therapists, to name a couple.

…you know your limits, and hire experts for what you can’t (or shouldn’t) do.

Many of us go into our small business adventure thinking we must juggle all the balls. This can occur because we desire to control every little detail or because we want to run the tightest ship possible by limiting expenses.

While both of those could seem noble, either could wreck your business. Those brave enough to start a small business are usually good at the core function of the business. Plumbers are good at plumbing. Architects are good at creating drawings. And so forth. But it’s unusual for a plumber to be good at accounting, for example. Nor should that plumber be drawing up HR policies for their company.

But even if they are one of those rare people who are good at everything, all of us are limited by the time we can spend on our business. Instead of focusing solely on limiting expenses, a small business owner should think about how much increased revenue could result in focusing on growing the business. And plus, if you start a small business because you love the core function of that business, don’t you want to be doing more of that instead of things you don’t enjoy and/or are not good at?

Note that this doesn’t necessarily mean that a small business owner who starts a plumbing business should always just do more plumbing to fill in time gaps. That owner should also be thinking about how to grow the structure of the business so they can continue to deliver services at a high value, no matter what.   

…you value quality over quantity.

Many people assume that all growth is good. What can be wrong with signing up as many clients and making as much money as possible? In the small business world, it turns out a lot can go wrong. The margin for error is much smaller than in the corporate world and the repercussions of growing too much, or too fast, or with the wrong types of clients, can be devastating.

At Joy Accounting, we only take on new clients if the quality of our product doesn’t suffer. And we only add team members if they match the bar of quality we’ve set for ourselves. And even if we find a combination of amazing clients and/or employees to add to our team, we ask ourselves if it makes sense to grow. Sometimes small businesses don’t recognize their sweet spot, the place where quality of life of everyone on the team is high, profitability is solid, and clients are satisfied because the quality of work is so consistent and good. We strive to keep all of these dialed in, because the moment a small business owner decides to grow at all costs could be the moment that it all starts to come apart at the seams.

Stay tuned for the next set of lessons that we’ve learned in our first ten years!