The Broke Accountant

[marchioness]

Hello everyone!

I'm Anca and I'm from Romania. I'm new to this forum and I want to introduce myself.
I'm 37 years old, with 2 kids (2 years old and 7 months) and a loving partner of over 10 years. I currently work as an accountant. My partner is a truck driver (owns his vehicle) and is mostly on the road (3 weeks out of 4).
I must admit that I appreciate my life as it is: I love my kids, my partner and my family. I count my blessings every day. We are healthy & happy together. We enjoy every single minute we have.
I am however deeply unhappy about our financial life. My job gives me minimum wage with little benefits (apart from the status, ha ha, what a joke!). My partner still struggles with making a decent wage, taking into consideration the fact that he still has to pay the loan for buying the vehicle. He was "hit" by the tense situation in Europe (Ukrainian war and such) with the crazy prices we are experiencing nowadays (especially in gas/petrol). Luckily, he found a steady contract that gives him work regularly at a decent price. It comes with the cost of being gone for extended periods of time.
That leaves me at home with 2 kids (one already goes to kindergarten, the other one is highly dependent on Mom), a job, shopping, cooking and the other responsibilities that come from being alive. My parents live in the same town, but they are still active in the workforce, so I cannot rely much on their help. Plus, I'd like them to relax and enjoy their spare time, not having to constantly help their daughter.
I've read all 3 @MJ DeMarco 's books. After reading each and every single one of them I realized that these books should be studied, not read. So although I finished reading the books, I plan on reading / studying them until the end on 2024. Study them thoroughly & start implementing. I wholeheartedly share many of the beliefs that MJ expresses in those books. Numbers don't lie.
I post this introduction because I plan on sticking around. I want to find my Fastlane, although at the moment it is a bit difficult to figure out where to start.
I do not wish to continue with the accounting profession. I don't like it. I'm sure the knowledge I already have will serve me in my entrepreneurial endeavors. And don't worry. I won't quit because at the moment I cannot make a living without this job.
On some level it's disheartening that I have to start all over again, but I know I have to achieve some new skills. I am passionate about the internet in general (esp. social media) and I find coding interesting (don't think I'm some hacker, I just started Harvard's CS50 Course and I like it). I've always been good with computers and I want a business that can break the borders and spread worldwide.
I don't know where to start, but I want to have a big impact. I want to succeed. Big time. For myself. For my kids. To be able to provide a luxurious lifestyle for my family. For my partner to be able to witness his kids grow. To be able to help my parents. To stop living paycheck to paycheck. To leave a legacy. To impact millions. I am hardworking and ambitious and although I have a full plate already, I don't mind spreading myself thin for a greater future.
Any kind of advice you have for me, I'll listen. I'm a dry sponge sucking on the amazing information I found here. Any guidance / references / topics I should read are welcome.
In the meantime I'll be here trying to figure things out.
One thing is certain: quitting is not an option. I'm almost 40 and I know better.
It's a pleasure!

Anca

 

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[Spenny]

I do not wish to continue with the accounting profession. I don't like it. I'm sure the knowledge I already have will serve me in my entrepreneurial endeavors

You mentioned that you would make ten ideas for a business by the end of the week; here is one: An accountant consultancy.

1. Create a bundle of services for a specific market - let's say small local shops as an example.
2. Do their taxes/returns/ for a monthly cost - pitch why It would save: A) Time & B) Effort
3. Initially, reach out to people that you know, then grow through getting leads in local Google ads. Andy has excellent stuff on Google AdWords.
4. Build up a sufficient run rate, hire an employee to do the regular stuff once you can pay that employee to do the work, and offer the employee a cushy job.
5. Keep building leads and hiring employees as seen fit

Just an idea, but this could be a Fastlane idea. People NEED taxes done. You can scale this throughout the whole of Romania (SCALABLE), most tax returns are the same for most businesses (REPLICABLE), most people need to be trained to be an accountant AND need knowledge of how to do the process (ENTRY), and you use other people's time as employees for leverage (time). On top of that, you own it (CONTROL). It is a fast lane business IF you can overcome the problems you've outlined.

The only downsides I see are:

1. Lots of competition - but most people are half-arsed at doing their job, don't deliver and don't drive customer delight
2. You may not enjoy the work.
3. All of the stuff you previously mentioned as being bad with laws.

BUT
I smell opportunity... You've outlined many problems with accounting in Romania, indeed other accountants have these problems too. Just entertain this - is there a way for you to solve one of these problems?

• Templates for new laws, become the producer & distributor for these templates for people to use
• Could you offer a way to educate people properly about accounting? Is there a way to bundle services together to make the cost affordable but worthwhile?

Just some thoughts.

-----

And as for not feeling your job is useful, it is.

1. You save people time so that they can focus on their products and services.
2. You let people identify where they need to improve efficiency in their financial machine.
3. You help people avoid bankruptcy from poor financial allocation.
4. You make sure people don't go to jail for evading taxes.
5. You help the economy push forward with taxes & public spending.

You're providing value. I won't underestimate how valuable you are.

Let me give you an example of myself. The product I sell is a silly bit of metal - at times, I spend hours trying to solve problems for no pay, and I don't enjoy it.

...but when I get a review like this



I want to dance around the house.

My point is that my joy derives from making people's lives better. The customer is the winner. I provide value. They get value. I get paid. They win, and I win.

I don't know where to start, but I want to have a big impact. I want to succeed. Big time. For myself. For my kids. To be able to provide a luxurious lifestyle for my family. For my partner to be able to witness his kids grow. To be able to help my parents. To stop living paycheck to paycheck. To leave a legacy. To impact millions. I am hardworking and ambitious and although I have a full plate already, I don't mind spreading myself thin for a greater future.
Any kind of advice you have for me, I'll listen. I'm a dry sponge sucking on the amazing information I found here. Any guidance / references / topics I should read are welcome.

Print this out: this is your north star and what your "Lamborgini" is. We all need a why on why we do this. Otherwise, we're crazy. This is also your cookie jar. When you're feeling down and need a boost, you go into here, and you pull out courage.

Looking forward to seeing your progress, Anca, you've put yourself out there more than all the lurkers. Remember to keep turning up and consistency is key.

 

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[Andy Black]

Hello everyone!

I'm Anca and I'm from Romania. I'm new to this forum and I want to introduce myself.
I'm 37 years old, with 2 kids (2 years old and 7 months) and a loving partner of over 10 years. I currently work as an accountant. My partner is a truck driver (owns his vehicle) and is mostly on the road (3 weeks out of 4).
I must admit that I appreciate my life as it is: I love my kids, my partner and my family. I count my blessings every day. We are healthy & happy together. We enjoy every single minute we have.
I am however deeply unhappy about our financial life. My job gives me minimum wage with little benefits (apart from the status, ha ha, what a joke!). My partner still struggles with making a decent wage, taking into consideration the fact that he still has to pay the loan for buying the vehicle. He was "hit" by the tense situation in Europe (Ukrainian war and such) with the crazy prices we are experiencing nowadays (especially in gas/petrol). Luckily, he found a steady contract that gives him work regularly at a decent price. It comes with the cost of being gone for extended periods of time.
That leaves me at home with 2 kids (one already goes to kindergarten, the other one is highly dependent on Mom), a job, shopping, cooking and the other responsibilities that come from being alive. My parents live in the same town, but they are still active in the workforce, so I cannot rely much on their help. Plus, I'd like them to relax and enjoy their spare time, not having to constantly help their daughter.
I've read all 3 @MJ DeMarco 's books. After reading each and every single one of them I realized that these books should be studied, not read. So although I finished reading the books, I plan on reading / studying them until the end on 2024. Study them thoroughly & start implementing. I wholeheartedly share many of the beliefs that MJ expresses in those books. Numbers don't lie.
I post this introduction because I plan on sticking around. I want to find my Fastlane, although at the moment it is a bit difficult to figure out where to start.
I do not wish to continue with the accounting profession. I don't like it. I'm sure the knowledge I already have will serve me in my entrepreneurial endeavors. And don't worry. I won't quit because at the moment I cannot make a living without this job.
On some level it's disheartening that I have to start all over again, but I know I have to achieve some new skills. I am passionate about the internet in general (esp. social media) and I find coding interesting (don't think I'm some hacker, I just started Harvard's CS50 Course and I like it). I've always been good with computers and I want a business that can break the borders and spread worldwide.
I don't know where to start, but I want to have a big impact. I want to succeed. Big time. For myself. For my kids. To be able to provide a luxurious lifestyle for my family. For my partner to be able to witness his kids grow. To be able to help my parents. To stop living paycheck to paycheck. To leave a legacy. To impact millions. I am hardworking and ambitious and although I have a full plate already, I don't mind spreading myself thin for a greater future.
Any kind of advice you have for me, I'll listen. I'm a dry sponge sucking on the amazing information I found here. Any guidance / references / topics I should read are welcome.
In the meantime I'll be here trying to figure things out.
One thing is certain: quitting is not an option. I'm almost 40 and I know better.
It's a pleasure!

Anca

Welcome.

First off.. is it accounting you don't like or the way it's setup for you? What if you were working for yourself with clients you enjoy working with and maybe even delegating the work you don't like to a team? And could see progression where you're building a brand and assets you own?

Maybe you can build on top of what you already know instead of starting completely afresh?

Maybe check out the two radio interviews in my signature. I think I discuss this in the second one.

 

[StrikingViper69]

It’s always easiest to start with what you know. Why start from scratch when you can start a few steps ahead?

To go back to MJ’s books, he was a limo driver and didn’t like it. So he made a website where people could hire a limo.

Just because you don’t like working in the field doesn’t mean you can’t do something within the field.

What are problems in the field you can solve?

Are there things that annoy you that also annoy other accountants?

What would make your life easier?

Are there things that companies/individuals would benefit from that they don’t know about?

 

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[Bekit]

Just have to know exactly what I want and get out there, right? <sighs in fear>
Thank you.

Don't be afraid.

You've got this.

At the same time - the fear is real. The challenges are real. If it was easy, everyone would be on the fastlane. But you can do it.

Don't feel like you have to have everything sorted out ahead of time. Just get really good at asking, "What problem am I solving right now?" And then take action on that. Your path will unfold little by little.

 

[marchioness]

Today was awesome. I got to attend 30 minutes from the Accountability Call for Young Entrepreneurs. Thank you @matteblack @Spenny @Subsonic @piano for your input.
I already set up an account on Trello (for better productivity), in order to implement the GSD System that @LightHouse talks about.
I wrote down the questions that @StrikingViper69 addressed earlier in this post. I want to take proper time to answer those.
@Andy Black , during the call the guys talked about something I found interesting and if I remember well they attributed this to you: finding a need / problem to solve first and then figuring out what are the skills / the things you need to do / learn / outsource. Do you happen to have a thread for me to read on this topic? I started listening to your radio interviews.
Thank you everyone for all the help you directly / indirectly given me.

 

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[marchioness]

A new week has started and I am here for it.
On Sunday I started reading Atomic Habits. I made a big list of all the habits (=, -, +) I have (like James recommends) and the conclusion was unexpected. I found big chunks of time that could potentially be used for study / work on my Fastlane idea - approx. 1.5 hours, during the day, when the kids are sleeping / not home. The evening also offers an extra 2 hours (after their bedtime, without me being extremely tired) that I can use for the same purpose.
My realization is that I lost these chunks of time doing housework or menial tasks. Not having clear tasks to perform affected my productivity. I would never write tasks down because I have a very good memory. However, that made me perform chaotically, choosing tasks randomly, according to what I could remember and seemed important at that particular time.
I set up Trello and I have to admit it's a bit hard to use. Not because it's complicated, but because I'm used to relying solely on my memory for doing tasks. I want to create this habit of writing very specific tasks at night (on Trello) that I must perform the next day. This will allow me to develop the habit of using the app in the first place and becoming more productive due to having a better picture of where I am and what needs to be done.
It's not a big deal but realizing that I have + 3.5 hours to use for my Fastlane idea is something. That's + 24.5 hours / week towards my goal!
Have a great week everyone.

 

[shubham___3011]

Hello everyone!

I'm Anca and I'm from Romania. I'm new to this forum and I want to introduce myself.
I'm 37 years old, with 2 kids (2 years old and 7 months) and a loving partner of over 10 years. I currently work as an accountant. My partner is a truck driver (owns his vehicle) and is mostly on the road (3 weeks out of 4).
I must admit that I appreciate my life as it is: I love my kids, my partner and my family. I count my blessings every day. We are healthy & happy together. We enjoy every single minute we have.
I am however deeply unhappy about our financial life. My job gives me minimum wage with little benefits (apart from the status, ha ha, what a joke!). My partner still struggles with making a decent wage, taking into consideration the fact that he still has to pay the loan for buying the vehicle. He was "hit" by the tense situation in Europe (Ukrainian war and such) with the crazy prices we are experiencing nowadays (especially in gas/petrol). Luckily, he found a steady contract that gives him work regularly at a decent price. It comes with the cost of being gone for extended periods of time.
That leaves me at home with 2 kids (one already goes to kindergarten, the other one is highly dependent on Mom), a job, shopping, cooking and the other responsibilities that come from being alive. My parents live in the same town, but they are still active in the workforce, so I cannot rely much on their help. Plus, I'd like them to relax and enjoy their spare time, not having to constantly help their daughter.
I've read all 3 @MJ DeMarco 's books. After reading each and every single one of them I realized that these books should be studied, not read. So although I finished reading the books, I plan on reading / studying them until the end on 2024. Study them thoroughly & start implementing. I wholeheartedly share many of the beliefs that MJ expresses in those books. Numbers don't lie.
I post this introduction because I plan on sticking around. I want to find my Fastlane, although at the moment it is a bit difficult to figure out where to start.
I do not wish to continue with the accounting profession. I don't like it. I'm sure the knowledge I already have will serve me in my entrepreneurial endeavors. And don't worry. I won't quit because at the moment I cannot make a living without this job.
On some level it's disheartening that I have to start all over again, but I know I have to achieve some new skills. I am passionate about the internet in general (esp. social media) and I find coding interesting (don't think I'm some hacker, I just started Harvard's CS50 Course and I like it). I've always been good with computers and I want a business that can break the borders and spread worldwide.
I don't know where to start, but I want to have a big impact. I want to succeed. Big time. For myself. For my kids. To be able to provide a luxurious lifestyle for my family. For my partner to be able to witness his kids grow. To be able to help my parents. To stop living paycheck to paycheck. To leave a legacy. To impact millions. I am hardworking and ambitious and although I have a full plate already, I don't mind spreading myself thin for a greater future.
Any kind of advice you have for me, I'll listen. I'm a dry sponge sucking on the amazing information I found here. Any guidance / references / topics I should read are welcome.
In the meantime I'll be here trying to figure things out.
One thing is certain: quitting is not an option. I'm almost 40 and I know better.
It's a pleasure!

Anca

Hey Anca, Welcome to the forum, i loved the ending part of your introduction and that shows how ambitious you are.
You are good with computers you can pick various booming skills like ads, video editing, digital marketing, website development, new ai (many more these are just example) tho you will have to start from zero but the process would definitely worth everything, also there are many idea and execution threads on the forum which you can go through to find you fastlane!

All the best! You are in the right place

 

[shubham___3011]

Hey Anca, Welcome to the forum, i loved the ending part of your introduction and that shows how ambitious you are.
You are good with computers you can pick various booming skills like ads, video editing, digital marketing, website development, new ai (many more these are just example) tho you will have to start from zero but the process would definitely worth everything, also there are many idea and execution threads on the forum which you can go through to find you fastlane!

All the best! You are in the right place

Also there is a Linkedin thread where you can share your linkedin and connect with fellow fastlaners

CHAT - LinkedIn: Connect, Mastermind, Progress

(This isn't MY thread. It's for all of us to chat and mastermind about what's working and not on LinkedIn.) LinkedIn is a great platform and I encourage you all to put some effort into your profile and network. I've been on there for over a decade and I've had countless DMs with interesting...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[Panos Daras]

I worked as an Accountant for 3 years. I would wish my worst enemy to do it for the rest of their lives. If I hate them even more I wish them to retire as a Financial Controller. And if my enemies fancy random strokes at the age of 50, wives that leave them for the plumber, a partner at a Big 4 is a magnificent career to pursue.

That being said, I made a career automating Accounting and Data Entry. I also know so many people that made a shit ton of money doing RPA, Accounting, and Financial Control (#Vomit) projects. So if you can help develop these kinds of software, you can become really rich. It can be a killer combination really.

Do you know these guys About UiPath - Accelerate Human Achievement | UiPath Also Romanian!

 

[Bekit]

Welcome to the forum, Anca! I loved reading your intro.

In my opinion, this is not Fastlane. No matter how many clients you have

Ok, so let's look at some of the tangential problems in your industry. You have a better chance of solving these problems than the average person who has no accounting skills.

What if your clients could be the accountants themselves?

How much would each accountant in the country pay to solve their most painful problems?

What are problems in the field you can solve?

Let's look at a few that you have already highlighted...

1. Could you provide a software solution that would make it effortless for accountants to keep up to date with the changing laws?

1. Fiscal regulations in Romania tend to change often and abruptly. - Keeping up with all the changes is hard work and often impossible if you work with companies that activate in different areas.

There is special national legislation for each area (commerce, agriculture, etc.), plus the European directives that need to be taken into consideration.

Because of the legislation changing often, they have to redo work they already finished.

Based on this, what if you could offer a subscription service that every accountant pays to access. You keep abreast of all the new laws, the interpretation, and what that means for accounting implementation for your clients. You provide the forms, the step-by-step instructions, and maybe even a way to automatically redo work that was already finished if it was previously submitted according to certain parameters.

I'm guessing that each office has a one-off approach to keeping abreast of these legislative changes. What if you could be the secret weapon that helps them stay ahead of the game?

- Control (you would own this)
- Entry (this would be hard - it probably hasn't been done because no one has the guts to do it)
- Need (sounds like every acccounting firm needs this)
- Time (building the software would take time, and keeping abreast of the research would take time, but adding each additional client would not take additional time from your day.)
- Scale (your target market could be every accountant in Romania. Calculate how much this would be worth to a single accountant, and then multiply that number by how many accountants you'd need to attract as customers in order to be profitable)

2. What if you could provide marketing services for accountants that helps them educate their clients on what services they do and do not provide?

2. Customers are not educated when it comes to the work of an accountant- they have the impression that the accountant has to deal with all their fiscal situations - at no additional cost, of course.

Let's say you write SEO-optimized blog posts for accountants in Romanian and English. They rank higher in Google listings because you've written about relevant topics, and their customers are more educated on what to expect, and they didn't even have to do it themselves! That's one way to bring value in this area.

Another idea would be to provide business coaching services to accountants to teach them how to establish boundaries with clients who are asking for the moon and the stars and the whole universe every time something happens.

3. What if you could make automation software for tasks that currently have to be entered manually?

They have to manually handle papers and enter the data in the accounting software because of the lack of automation.

Ideas for how you could pull this off...

• Hire VAs from the Philippines to take scanned documents and do the data entry
• Decide on one task that is currently being done manually and create and sell an automation tool for it. Then, eventually create a suite of automation tools to cover additional tasks that need to be automated and sell these to create additional revenue streams to the same customer base
  • Simple example - is there something you could create a spreadsheet for? You don't have to have coding skills to build a spreadsheet template that has the built-in calculations for something where the user plugs in the raw numbers and then the spreadsheet does the rest of the work.
• Leverage AI to learn how to pick the relevant numbers off of specific forms that are scanned in and import them automatically to the right places in spreadsheets or other software

 

[marchioness]

In the last couple of days I have been working on my website. I know I'm ignorant when it comes to web development, so I decided to purchase a plan with Wordpress. I got the cheapest one they got, since I figured it would allow me to get a good looking template & it should be easy enough to customize (drag and drop model). At this time I was thinking about writing articles about a particular tax form that most people here have to do annually. It would have a user friendly language (so most people can understand how things work even if they don't know much about finances). All was sweet until I wanted to install a plugin. That's when I realized that my plan allows me to do nothing. I could do some basic changes to the template, add more blocks, but that is pretty much it. Popup for newsletters? Forget about it! You have to purchase the "x" plan for that. Made me sad.
The last couple of days found me disappointed, because I realized that I have so many things to learn. Just scrolling through the forum got me aware of the fact that I know nothing about sales, funnels, MVPs, web dev, AI, marketing, etc. And you know what? I also realized that this is the direction I want to go to with my business. I want my products to be dedicated to the accountants / general people that have to deal with taxes and forms, but I want to be on the other side of the spectrum: not teaching them / offering them consultation about how to do it, but actually providing products that satisfy their needs.
Speaking of needs, I found a website that "translates" some aspects of this tax form in a friendlier language. You basically make an account and they have an easier form that puts all the numbers you declare in the actual official document. I looked at their numbers. 40 000 euros / profit in 2022. The form changes once a year, so basically once you set up the website, you just have to make these changes once a year. They seem to have extremely high expenses in their annual financial statement and only 1 employee. My guess is that whether he hired himself and he does all the work for an astronomic salary, whether he hired someone to do it and they pay a lot for it.
So... more clarity is achieved. I love the accountability calls because people are so blunt and they tell you exactly how they feel about it. Thanks @Spenny for sparing me the ordeal of writing articles that no one would read & I'd probably dislike writing. And as you can imagine, copywriting is not my strength either.
What's next then? Learn HTML, CSS, JS. Work weekly on the website. Get inspiration from my competitors. Hire people to help with / solve the difficult parts. Make August 2024 the absolute deadline for having a MVP. Execute as much as possible. Figure things out. Participate in the weekly calls. Write SMART tasks. Do the best I can.
I will update shortly.

 

[vladikcm]

Don't stress!

Here is some advice from my part that can help you solve the problems you have.
When you want to create a website, you need two things: one place where you save your website online and one way of editing this website. The one related to saving your website is called hosting and it can have two formats: locally in your computer, this means it is not on the internet, and on the internet (there are dedicated services to help you with that like hostinger, linode, ionos, etc.).

First, for you not to spend too much money, I recommend you start by doing it locally, because it is free (I think you are already doing it). But this cannot be shown on the internet. My recommendation to post your website on the internet (and this will save you a lot of money in the future) is to buy a raspberry pi as a server (maybe I will make a thread about it).

I don't know how you installed the wordpress plugin, but I am sure that if you make a quick search on youtube on something like: "wordpress pro free download crack [Mac or Windows or Linux]" you will have someone explaining how to get the pro version for free.

For editing your wordpress, I recommend you use the plugin called Elementor. There is a ton of videos of 3-5h long explaining how to use this plugin to go from begginer to professional. It is really a drag and drop form of creating websites, and yes, you can get the pro version quite easily searching on youtube.

Either way, when doubts arise, I always like to ask the AI on how to solve my problems. You have two ways of doing that:
1) chat.openai.com - you create an account there and you have access for free to the GPT3.5 version, which is not the best version, but it can help you to understand complex topics. Just talk to him like this: "explain [topic, question, doubt] like I have no idea about the topic and I am a total begginer" and if this does not solve your doubts, ask it again: "I still don't understand, explain it simpler and using analogies". It can also help you with things like: "what steps do I have to configure Wordpress on my computer?" "How can I put my website on the internet" "Whatis Elementor" "Show me how to putsome CSS code to improve the blog entry on my website using Wordpress". You will really be amazed. Ask him anything like he hold the keys to any solution you have. The more concise you are about your problem, the better the answer you will get.
2) You have to install Microsoft Edge on your computer. You then go to the bing.com website and on top you will find a bar called "chat" . There you can talk with the GPT4 model. This model is the better version of chatgpt, normally for paid users, but bing gives it for free. If you sign up on yourMicrosoft account, you havea almost unlimited usage. I personally like this option less because it does not give you very long explanations about your problems, but rather goes to the point.

If you want to spend money, I recommend you pay the 20$ for the GPT Plus, it is really worth it for the price it cost. How much would you pay for a personal tutor, brainstomer, helper that is active 24/7? Probably more than 20$/hour.


If you want some help, on anything, you can DM me and I will love to help you. Keep posting!

 

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[solyom]

In the last couple of days I have been working on my website. I know I'm ignorant when it comes to web development, so I decided to purchase a plan with Wordpress. I got the cheapest one they got, since I figured it would allow me to get a good looking template & it should be easy enough to customize (drag and drop model). At this time I was thinking about writing articles about a particular tax form that most people here have to do annually. It would have a user friendly language (so most people can understand how things work even if they don't know much about finances). All was sweet until I wanted to install a plugin. That's when I realized that my plan allows me to do nothing. I could do some basic changes to the template, add more blocks, but that is pretty much it. Popup for newsletters? Forget about it! You have to purchase the "x" plan for that. Made me sad.
The last couple of days found me disappointed, because I realized that I have so many things to learn. Just scrolling through the forum got me aware of the fact that I know nothing about sales, funnels, MVPs, web dev, AI, marketing, etc. And you know what? I also realized that this is the direction I want to go to with my business. I want my products to be dedicated to the accountants / general people that have to deal with taxes and forms, but I want to be on the other side of the spectrum: not teaching them / offering them consultation about how to do it, but actually providing products that satisfy their needs.
Speaking of needs, I found a website that "translates" some aspects of this tax form in a friendlier language. You basically make an account and they have an easier form that puts all the numbers you declare in the actual official document. I looked at their numbers. 40 000 euros / profit in 2022. The form changes once a year, so basically once you set up the website, you just have to make these changes once a year. They seem to have extremely high expenses in their annual financial statement and only 1 employee. My guess is that whether he hired himself and he does all the work for an astronomic salary, whether he hired someone to do it and they pay a lot for it.
So... more clarity is achieved. I love the accountability calls because people are so blunt and they tell you exactly how they feel about it. Thanks @Spenny for sparing me the ordeal of writing articles that no one would read & I'd probably dislike writing. And as you can imagine, copywriting is not my strength either.
What's next then? Learn HTML, CSS, JS. Work weekly on the website. Get inspiration from my competitors. Hire people to help with / solve the difficult parts. Make August 2024 the absolute deadline for having a MVP. Execute as much as possible. Figure things out. Participate in the weekly calls. Write SMART tasks. Do the best I can.
I will update shortly.

Hi @marchioness ,

I assume you are on wordpress.com, aren't you? (assuming after you said you were on the cheapest plan)

While it's a good start to play around with and publish content, after a while you'll bump into constraints that can only be resolved using plugins.

I agree with vladikcm that the cheapest option is building the site locally. But it's also a question of what your strategy is / when you want it to go live.

A) E.g. wordpress.com's personal plan is a good starting point if you want to go online very quickly, share content, grow audience, etc. It can be a strategy to collect audience and build SEO this way while building the next version locally.

B) Another option is to build something locally and go live once it's good enough. It will mean that you won't be online for a couple of weeks/months while you build it.

Both ways need learning lot of things about how websites are built up, about the basic infrastructure behind them, etc.

C) Option is to pay a professional to do it for you. But this is a risky way as it quite expensive and as a beginner you won't know in advance how good the specialist is that you've found.

The good side is that there are tons of materials on the net that can help you (and nowadays you can ask ChatrGPT about nearly anything - which speeds the research up). The bad side is that it needs lot of work to put it together.

A tip: before actually creating the website it's a good idea to:
- Write a doc with the content of the pages (content-first approach). Think about how these will convince the user to buy from you.
- Also, outline the topics you want to write about, etc.
- Plan the outline of the pages ("wireframing" is the keyword here - there are lots of usefult stuff out there)
- Plan the user journeys (step-by-step lists of all the scenarios the users can do on the site: what they will do after what, what happens after they click here/there, etc).

Once you got these, creating the pages will be lot straightforward as you'll have clear guidelines on what to put where on the site.

 

[matteblack]

NOTABLE! - MEETUPS - [TFLF Call Replay] - For teens & students getting started

Hi all. @Lawtiti (who changed his forum name to @Chet Shen) created a Meetup Thread a few days ago and had a Zoom call with @ZCP who gave advice on getting started etc. I offered to do a Zoom where I'll go through some of the main things I think holds people back when getting started, and how...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

This might be that thread
@Andy Black

 

[marchioness]

You mentioned that you would make ten ideas for a business by the end of the week; here is one: An accountant consultancy.

1. Create a bundle of services for a specific market - let's say small local shops as an example.
2. Do their taxes/returns/ for a monthly cost - pitch why It would save: A) Time & B) Effort
3. Initially, reach out to people that you know, then grow through getting leads in local Google ads. Andy has excellent stuff on Google AdWords.
4. Build up a sufficient run rate, hire an employee to do the regular stuff once you can pay that employee to do the work, and offer the employee a cushy job.
5. Keep building leads and hiring employees as seen fit

Just an idea, but this could be a Fastlane idea. People NEED taxes done. You can scale this throughout the whole of Romania (SCALABLE), most tax returns are the same for most businesses (REPLICABLE), most people need to be trained to be an accountant AND need knowledge of how to do the process (ENTRY), and you use other people's time as employees for leverage (time). On top of that, you own it (CONTROL). It is a fast lane business IF you can overcome the problems you've outlined.

The only downsides I see are:

1. Lots of competition - but most people are half-arsed at doing their job, don't deliver and don't drive customer delight
2. You may not enjoy the work.
3. All of the stuff you previously mentioned as being bad with laws.

BUT
I smell opportunity... You've outlined many problems with accounting in Romania, indeed other accountants have these problems too. Just entertain this - is there a way for you to solve one of these problems?

• Templates for new laws, become the producer & distributor for these templates for people to use
• Could you offer a way to educate people properly about accounting? Is there a way to bundle services together to make the cost affordable but worthwhile?

Just some thoughts.

-----

And as for not feeling your job is useful, it is.

1. You save people time so that they can focus on their products and services.
2. You let people identify where they need to improve efficiency in their financial machine.
3. You help people avoid bankruptcy from poor financial allocation.
4. You make sure people don't go to jail for evading taxes.
5. You help the economy push forward with taxes & public spending.

You're providing value. I won't underestimate how valuable you are.

Let me give you an example of myself. The product I sell is a silly bit of metal - at times, I spend hours trying to solve problems for no pay, and I don't enjoy it.

...but when I get a review like this

View attachment 52119

I want to dance around the house.

My point is that my joy derives from making people's lives better. The customer is the winner. I provide value. They get value. I get paid. They win, and I win.


Print this out: this is your north star and what your "Lamborgini" is. We all need a why on why we do this. Otherwise, we're crazy. This is also your cookie jar. When you're feeling down and need a boost, you go into here, and you pull out courage.

Looking forward to seeing your progress, Anca, you've put yourself out there more than all the lurkers. Remember to keep turning up and consistency is key.

I appreciate all the effort that you put into your post, @Spenny . If there is one thing I will print out tomorrow, it's this post. Your reply. It makes me see things differently. It reminded me of the times when I helped people with fiscal / accounting advice and the way it made me feel.
Your whole perspective is fresh and gives me ideas that I'd like to tackle. I have a lot of things to reconsider. And I completely agree: there actually is a lot of opportunity on the market. I just have to keep my eyes open for it.
I know you are young and you probably have no kids, but I promise that what I am about to say is a big compliment coming from a parent: I have a boy and I hope that when he grows up, he ends up adding value to people's lives just like you do.
Thank you.

 

[marchioness]

Yesterday was my daughter's birthday. Two years! When did these two years fly? She is intelligent, curious and enthusiastic about life. Everything is a game and she never gets discouraged. She reminds me daily of my goals. I want my kids to experience wonderful things. I want them to be proud of their mom.
This is fresh fuel that makes me alert. Strong. Focused. Engaged. So much so that I decided to start. Got myself a domain. Today I got the website. I have 0 web dev skills, but I know how to drag and drop. I paid for templates for a year. I do plan on learning some basic skills by myself, in order to get more control. But this needs to be executed now.
The plan is to start educating people with the help of my website. I picked a particular fiscal topic (not rare, that people find complex and troublesome) and I will start posting articles about it. Subscribing to the newsletter will be a possibility.
My main goal is to keep going. Post articles. Educate. Gather email addresses. Become more visible. Spread important information that helps people. Engage in comments.
At some point, I might be able to offer fiscal consultancy / organize webinars / offer software that makes this particular issue easier to handle.
Honestly, at the moment I have no idea about the finality, but I know it can be monetized. I'll just see how it goes, based on the feedback that I get from the market.
For now I just want to start working on it. More clarity will come.

 

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[marchioness]

Welcome.

First off.. is it accounting you don't like or the way it's setup for you? What if you were working for yourself with clients you enjoy working with and maybe even delegating the work you don't like to a team? And could see progression where you're building a brand and assets you own?

Maybe you can build on top of what you already know instead of starting completely afresh?

Maybe check out the two radio interviews in my signature. I think I discuss this in the second one.

Hi Andy,

Thank you for the conversation starter. I think Accounting is not be my cup of tea. I have been in the field for several years now and my issues are the following:
1. Fiscal regulations in Romania tend to change often and abruptly. - Keeping up with all the changes is hard work and often impossible if you work with companies that activate in different areas.
2. Customers are not educated when it comes to the work of an accountant- they have the impression that the accountant has to deal with all their fiscal situations - at no additional cost, of course.
3. This might be subjective - but I feel accountants are disregarded and not respected enough.
4. I personally don't feel that my work is valuable.
5. I chose this job because of family pressure: "There will always be work in this field".
These are some of the reasons why staying in this field would be a "No" for me. I do appreciate the experience & the knowledge, I know it will serve me in my entrepreneurial activities, but that would be it.
I'd like to orient my efforts towards something else.

I will listen to the radio interview! Thank you for the recommendation

 

[marchioness]

It’s always easiest to start with what you know. Why start from scratch when you can start a few steps ahead?

To go back to MJ’s books, he was a limo driver and didn’t like it. So he made a website where people could hire a limo.

Just because you don’t like working in the field doesn’t mean you can’t do something within the field.

What are problems in the field you can solve?

Are there things that annoy you that also annoy other accountants?

What would make your life easier?

Are there things that companies/individuals would benefit from that they don’t know about?

Thank you for this. Although I'd normally just dismiss what you said (because I'm so tired of this field & I cry at the thought of doing what I do for longer), you are the second person today to propose seeing it from another perspective. I will do my best to sincerely answer the questions you've mentioned in your post.
I'll be back soon with some answers.

 

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[Ing]

A woman I know, makes accountant for about 6 businesses and she does quite well with it.
A friend makes export/import. In other countries, in Romania, too. Wood from Ru to western countries, othes, I don’t want to share, back to Ru. Ha makes a fortune with that.

Hope you will succeed!

 

[Beerbread]

How are you my friend? I'm also a bookkeeper in the US and after working in public, I don't want to be an accountant just because of the lack of work-life balance and the garbage pay unless you're on the partner path or a controller in industry.

However, you definitely have a lot to offer. If you're learning how to code, you do some equivalent of helping automate simple tax returns. It probably exists, but it's all marketing.

 

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[marchioness]

How are you my friend? I'm also a bookkeeper in the US and after working in public, I don't want to be an accountant just because of the lack of work-life balance and the garbage pay unless you're on the partner path or a controller in industry.

However, you definitely have a lot to offer. If you're learning how to code, you do some equivalent of helping automate simple tax returns. It probably exists, but it's all marketing.

Thank you for your input, Beerbread. Some sort of software is what I have in mind too. Things are generally good, but there's always room for improvement.
What about your job? Do you plan on leaving? Perhaps find a Fastlane?

 

[Beerbread]

Thank you for your input, Beerbread. Some sort of software is what I have in mind too. Things are generally good, but there's always room for improvement.
What about your job? Do you plan on leaving? Perhaps find a Fastlane?

Yeah it's always in the front of my mind. I took a break for a while to get my finances in order and now I'm back in the swing of things. I went from poverty wages to making middle class wages in less than 2 years and debt free. Granted it's slowlane, but I learned a lot and it's just a means to an end, especially since I use my day job to fund my projects and contractors.

 

[marchioness]

Yeah it's always in the front of my mind. I took a break for a while to get my finances in order and now I'm back in the swing of things. I went from poverty wages to making middle class wages in less than 2 years and debt free. Granted it's slowlane, but I learned a lot and it's just a means to an end, especially since I use my day job to fund my projects and contractors.

I know exactly what you are talking about. Good luck with everything. I wish you well!

 

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[Mr. Tycoon]

Hello everyone!

I'm Anca and I'm from Romania. I'm new to this forum and I want to introduce myself.
I'm 37 years old, with 2 kids (2 years old and 7 months) and a loving partner of over 10 years. I currently work as an accountant. My partner is a truck driver (owns his vehicle) and is mostly on the road (3 weeks out of 4).
I must admit that I appreciate my life as it is: I love my kids, my partner and my family. I count my blessings every day. We are healthy & happy together. We enjoy every single minute we have.
I am however deeply unhappy about our financial life. My job gives me minimum wage with little benefits (apart from the status, ha ha, what a joke!). My partner still struggles with making a decent wage, taking into consideration the fact that he still has to pay the loan for buying the vehicle. He was "hit" by the tense situation in Europe (Ukrainian war and such) with the crazy prices we are experiencing nowadays (especially in gas/petrol). Luckily, he found a steady contract that gives him work regularly at a decent price. It comes with the cost of being gone for extended periods of time.
That leaves me at home with 2 kids (one already goes to kindergarten, the other one is highly dependent on Mom), a job, shopping, cooking and the other responsibilities that come from being alive. My parents live in the same town, but they are still active in the workforce, so I cannot rely much on their help. Plus, I'd like them to relax and enjoy their spare time, not having to constantly help their daughter.
I've read all 3 @MJ DeMarco 's books. After reading each and every single one of them I realized that these books should be studied, not read. So although I finished reading the books, I plan on reading / studying them until the end on 2024. Study them thoroughly & start implementing. I wholeheartedly share many of the beliefs that MJ expresses in those books. Numbers don't lie.
I post this introduction because I plan on sticking around. I want to find my Fastlane, although at the moment it is a bit difficult to figure out where to start.
I do not wish to continue with the accounting profession. I don't like it. I'm sure the knowledge I already have will serve me in my entrepreneurial endeavors. And don't worry. I won't quit because at the moment I cannot make a living without this job.
On some level it's disheartening that I have to start all over again, but I know I have to achieve some new skills. I am passionate about the internet in general (esp. social media) and I find coding interesting (don't think I'm some hacker, I just started Harvard's CS50 Course and I like it). I've always been good with computers and I want a business that can break the borders and spread worldwide.
I don't know where to start, but I want to have a big impact. I want to succeed. Big time. For myself. For my kids. To be able to provide a luxurious lifestyle for my family. For my partner to be able to witness his kids grow. To be able to help my parents. To stop living paycheck to paycheck. To leave a legacy. To impact millions. I am hardworking and ambitious and although I have a full plate already, I don't mind spreading myself thin for a greater future.
Any kind of advice you have for me, I'll listen. I'm a dry sponge sucking on the amazing information I found here. Any guidance / references / topics I should read are welcome.
In the meantime I'll be here trying to figure things out.
One thing is certain: quitting is not an option. I'm almost 40 and I know better.
It's a pleasure!

Anca

From a Romanian to another Romanian- I suggest you to study Bitcoin (and only BTC and not other cryptos as they're all scams).

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Welcome Anca! Appreciate the intro and happy to hear you found value in the books.

 

[Andy Black]

NOTABLE! - MEETUPS - [TFLF Call Replay] - For teens & students getting started

Hi all. @Lawtiti (who changed his forum name to @Chet Shen) created a Meetup Thread a few days ago and had a Zoom call with @ZCP who gave advice on getting started etc. I offered to do a Zoom where I'll go through some of the main things I think holds people back when getting started, and how...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

This might be that thread
@Andy Black

That's the one. Thanks @matteblack.

@marchioness ... start with the 8 min video extract. The long video might help too, as well as the replies in the thread.

 

[Panos Daras]

On Sunday I started reading Atomic Habits. I made a big list of all the habits (=, -, +) I have (like James recommends) and the conclusion was unexpected. I found big chunks of time that could potentially be used for study / work on my Fastlane idea - approx. 1.5 hours, during the day, when the kids are sleeping / not home. The evening also offers an extra 2 hours (after their bedtime, without me being extremely tired) that I can use for the same purpose

Awesome job on taking action! I also read "Atomic Habits," and it really transformed me. The best tip? Pick a TIME and a PLACE for what you want to do.

Also, use a calendar with tick boxes. Even if you do something for just 5 minutes, give yourself a tick. The only rule? Never miss twice. Only allow misses for "life happens" events.

This simple trick helped me make exercise a regular thing and do what I needed to do daily.
Both in my business and also at work.

Last but not least, ditch Trello! Write down the time and task/ habit on a calendar instead. Google Calendar is a good choice, but any calendar works really.

 

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[JordanK]

Have you ever considered moving within the EU? Your English language skills are really great. I live in Galway City on the west coast of Ireland. Hundreds of Romanians are moving to Ireland as our jobs market is crazy right now. It is so easy to find positions and the pay is very high by European standards. The only issue here is it is difficult to find a place to rent and it can be expensive but with an accountancy job you could probably work from home and still make 5k+ per month. Even part-time positions pay a lot if you wanted to move into a different field while transitioning to a business career.

 

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[marchioness]

Welcome to the forum, Anca! I loved reading your intro.


Ok, so let's look at some of the tangential problems in your industry. You have a better chance of solving these problems than the average person who has no accounting skills.

What if your clients could be the accountants themselves?

How much would each accountant in the country pay to solve their most painful problems?



Let's look at a few that you have already highlighted...

1. Could you provide a software solution that would make it effortless for accountants to keep up to date with the changing laws?





Based on this, what if you could offer a subscription service that every accountant pays to access. You keep abreast of all the new laws, the interpretation, and what that means for accounting implementation for your clients. You provide the forms, the step-by-step instructions, and maybe even a way to automatically redo work that was already finished if it was previously submitted according to certain parameters.

I'm guessing that each office has a one-off approach to keeping abreast of these legislative changes. What if you could be the secret weapon that helps them stay ahead of the game?

- Control (you would own this)
- Entry (this would be hard - it probably hasn't been done because no one has the guts to do it)
- Need (sounds like every acccounting firm needs this)
- Time (building the software would take time, and keeping abreast of the research would take time, but adding each additional client would not take additional time from your day.)
- Scale (your target market could be every accountant in Romania. Calculate how much this would be worth to a single accountant, and then multiply that number by how many accountants you'd need to attract as customers in order to be profitable)

2. What if you could provide marketing services for accountants that helps them educate their clients on what services they do and do not provide?

Let's say you write SEO-optimized blog posts for accountants in Romanian and English. They rank higher in Google listings because you've written about relevant topics, and their customers are more educated on what to expect, and they didn't even have to do it themselves! That's one way to bring value in this area.

Another idea would be to provide business coaching services to accountants to teach them how to establish boundaries with clients who are asking for the moon and the stars and the whole universe every time something happens.

3. What if you could make automation software for tasks that currently have to be entered manually?

Ideas for how you could pull this off...

• Hire VAs from the Philippines to take scanned documents and do the data entry
• Decide on one task that is currently being done manually and create and sell an automation tool for it. Then, eventually create a suite of automation tools to cover additional tasks that need to be automated and sell these to create additional revenue streams to the same customer base
  • Simple example - is there something you could create a spreadsheet for? You don't have to have coding skills to build a spreadsheet template that has the built-in calculations for something where the user plugs in the raw numbers and then the spreadsheet does the rest of the work.
• Leverage AI to learn how to pick the relevant numbers off of specific forms that are scanned in and import them automatically to the right places in spreadsheets or other software

Thank you for your input, @Bekit . Although in the introduction post I mentioned that Accounting was not my Fastlane, I started seeing this area with different lenses in the last couple of days. I got many new points of view and perspectives on it (including yours) and I am really starting to believe that this will work. How lucky of me to have posted my story here!
At the moment a software that solves specific problems in Accounting would be my go-to choice. Also, a website that provides valuable information for people who need help with their taxes. I am still trying to figure out problems that I could solve and ways to solve them.
My problem is that I have no idea of who could develop this software. Or how to build this website. I am good with computers but I have never built a website in my life. I have no knowledge in this area and that makes me feel that I cannot control things. I know there are companies offering these services, but how do I know if they are honest? If the price they offer is fair? I sometimes read threads from the forum related to IT and web development and I feel I'm reading a different language.
It's not a real problem and I have the capacity to overcome this, but I need to find a way of learning how.
Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.