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Australian Bookkeepers Network hears from member and author Debra Anderson. This is the final installment in the four part series as Debra shares her journey in the industry.
Today I am very different person to the one you’ve been reading about. Different, but the same. Older and wiser. My journey has taken quite a few twists and turns – some business, some personal. Some good, some bad, some just horrible. But all have made me into the person and the business that I have today.
My path started with being a secretary, accounts assistant, corporate accountant and meandered to bookkeeper, then MYOB Certified Consultant, pivoted to tax agent and now I am also an author, blogger and industry advisor. These days when I’m asked to describe myself I struggle to articulate what I am or what I do because ‘it’s complicated’.
Late last year I realised that I had outgrown Legally BAS. I had evolved personally and my company needed to catch up. In November 2015 I changed my company name to Anderson Tax & Consulting so as to better reflect who I am now, what I am doing and where I am headed…. wherever that might end up being – because as I sit here writing this I am pondering my future as I have realised my passion, my addiction, is small business. So where to now?
Over the past few years I have tried a few things which I’d like to share and hopefully you can get some gold nuggets out of it.
Some of the things I tried that perhaps didn’t go so well –
But there are some things I’ve tried that have been really cool –
If I had my time again would I do things differently? I’m not sure. Probably not – except I would have stayed out of trouble at school and not married husband number 1. However, had I not had that experience I wouldn’t have looked up the TAFE handbook and thought ACCOUNTANT looked smart – but the rest of it has been a journey whereby each layer has built upon itself to give me a solid foundation. I am grateful that I ‘fell into bookkeeping’, I am grateful that I went to that MYOB seminar back in 2006, I am grateful that Sue encouraged me to do tax, I am grateful that the very spiritedness that caused me (and my parents) so much grief as a teenager has been a driving force in me continuously trying new things – often jumping without actually thinking first!
I am grateful that it all just seems to work itself out.