It was 8 o’clock on Tuesday night. I was in the kitchen starting a late supper after a long day for both me and my husband. When the kitchen phone rang, I was surprised. When I picked up to hear my accountant on the other end, my surprise became tinged with anxiety. It was clear to me that Greg was still at work.
“Well, I’m calling to go over some of the items on your personal taxes, and I just have a few questions,” he said. This is never really the kind of question or comment you want to hear from your CPA, especially when you think you’ve been meticulous and thorough. Smiling nervously, I said, “Okay. Shoot.” He responded by telling me he JUST had a few questions about some of my income and expenses. “Oh, is that all,” I thought to myself as I whip up some salad dressing!
Our conversation went a little like this:
Greg: “First, why are you getting royalty payments?”
Me: “Oh, well, I wrote a book.” He didn’t know that. Last time I’d seen him was 11 months ago.
Greg: “You wrote a book. Okay. So you’re getting royalty payments for that but I see two different … ”
Me: “No, I wrote two books. I published two books last year.”
Satisfied, he moved on to discuss some of my expenses. We went through the normal accounting questions to clarify my expenditures. He listed names of people that I’d contracted with for design and typesetting, editing and proofing, and assistance setting up a new business.
By this point, my initial anxiety was dissipating. Greg is a great guy and makes me laugh. So, the conversation was not stressful. In fact, listening to him list the past 11 months in terms of financial activities, was slightly amazing.
For me, the real revelation came towards the end of our conversation when Greg asked, “How is it that you had time to publish two books, formally launch your coaching business which you’d been doing more informally, setup a new LLC, and continue to be a partner in Social Entrepreneurs, Inc. working directly in the nonprofit community with a variety of clients?” I just paused for a minute before I answered him. On the one hand, I realized it sounded like a lot. And, yet, I would say last year was probably one of my better years in terms of not feeling overextended. As I thought back over the year, I could honestly say it was one where I was pretty fired up and excited every day.
As I mulled over those thoughts, I wondered what was different about this year? I discovered that the answer could be traced back to three years ago. I had set some very concrete goals and objectives that brought me to this point. Now, you must know that I’ve been setting goals all my life. Over the years, I’ve just gotten better and better as I’ve learned and applied different techniques. I’ve figured out what works for me and what works with different types of people in different types of situations.
I’ve also learned that big goals require some groundwork. There are some very basic things that help in the beginning – before you even start to go after something big that matters to you. There are some very basic questions that need to be asked.
It was in that place that Sarah Boxx Coaching and Consulting was born! Three years ago, when I was thinking about my own goals, I realized that I wanted to help other individuals process the questions behind their goals. I wanted to share my journey with other driven, high-achieving women who know there’s something else they want to be doing – whether it’s in place of what they’re currently doing, in addition to what they’re doing, or a future direction they want to take.
To that end, I’ve designed a brand-new master course that I’ll be offering for free online at the end of the month. If you feel tugs in other directions and want to maximize your impact, we would love to have you join us and to find out more. Maybe you have a goal or dream that has come to a standstill or feels like it’s evaporating. Or maybe you have run out of inspiration or motivation. I’m thrilled to invite you to join my Free Webinar on getting un-stuck! Register here before it’s too late, space is limited and the webinar is next week!
