I have been wondering what I could “give away” to give you an idea of the kind of support I give to businesses.
The first thing that occurred to me was a simple excel spreadsheet that shows how the P&L links to the Balance Sheet, which links to the Cashflow, which links to the P&L. You get the idea – its a neat pro-forma.
Then there is my list of the various kinds of accountants that businesses use – there are more than you might immediately think. This is helpful because you need someone to look after all aspects of your business’s accounts and it’s easy to overlook something…
Then I have a list of accounting software packages I know, either through using them, or reviewing them, or simply on recommendation – handy when discussing potential changes.
I have a great contacts database, but that’s worth a little too much to just give away…
I keep wondering about a FAQ page for my website. Is there an accounts question you always wanted to know the answer to?
So at the moment I haven’t got anything to give away. Should I have something? Is what I do too intangible? Does a freebie make a website more attractive? What would you like?
Tags: away, Business, give, leadership, start up
Tags: away, Business, give, leadership, start up
January 26th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Probably the best thing you gave away to me was an hour in the cafe. Helped me out a lot and in return I’ve been passing your name around, not because I feel obliged but because I want others to benefit too. The trick is widening that out while making it sustainable.
Howabout an “Ask Ed” feature. Folks can submit questions and you can answer them on the blog. Keep it simple so you don’t give away your business but detailed enough to make it useful. This’ll then propogate through the social web and work in your favour.
Think of it as a version of Moneybox Live which you take ownership of.
January 28th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
I agree with Pete – an ‘Ask Ed’ feature would be invaluable.
It would give prospective and current clients the opportunity to get a flavour of what you have to offer as consultant to their problems and a fast easy forum to get answers to those smaller niggling type questions.
However, i would reiterate Petes statement, ‘dont give away your business’, this is what you do for a living and your expertise and knowledge is second to none.