Written by Tara Morgan Schinkel, CPA – Accounting Systems Lead & CFO, Stewart Technologies
When I began this automating, optimizing and delegating journey a few years back, I didn’t realize just how much time I would be getting back. Recently I had to renew my CPA license and, as part of this process, I was required to report how many Continuing Professional Education credits (CPEs) I had. In prior years, I struggled to make the minimum 80 required credits every two years. And some years I relied on carryover hours to help me get across the finish line.
This time, I had a staggering 173.5 hours in credits – and this was only for the classes/education I could count. Overall, I had more than 250 hours! In just two years! The crazy part was that I was not working extra hours to do this. In fact, I have actually taken more time off in the last two years than sometimes multiple years combined.
All of this was possible because I had 100% committed myself to the journey of optimizing, automating, and delegating wherever I could in my professional life. To date, I have delegated more than 40 plus hours a month of my work to either my virtual assistant or my team at Stewart Tech. We have optimized workflow wherever we can and automated what we could as well. It has been a team effort to appropriately identify the areas of our business that needed these interventions, but it has all been very much worth it. And we’re not done! There are still additional areas in our business (and in my own personal life) that continue to be delegated, automated, and optimized. Thanks to books like 10x is Easier than 2x by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy I have great tools to help me figure out what else needs to come off of my plate.
I do want to take a moment to give a shout out to EarMark CPE for having CPE opportunities for people like me who are on the go and juggling both professional and personal responsibilities. I have listened to classes on treadmills, in the car driving, while out running errands – the list goes on. Having the ability to do CPE on the go has been a huge game changer for me and has enabled me to be a busy mom and entrepreneur while keeping current with my education at the same time. For those of you looking for Ethics credits, this is an amazing way to knock them out.
As always, a huge thank you to Ari Meisel for writing the books that inspired me to get my life back. I would not be where I am today in my entrepreneurial journey without them. And of course to Valerie Trapunsky and the team at Chatterboss for giving me a trusted assistant to delegate so much of my sensitive CFO work to. My virtual assistant Leigha is a huge support for me and I am truly thankful for her everyday. And of course, to my awesome team at Stewart Tech. Thank you for continuously encouraging and aiding me on this cool journey we are on as a company and for trusting the vision to get us there.
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Stewart Tech CFO and Accounting Systems Lead Tara Schinkel shares her journey of “Less Doing, More Living,” and how optimization, automation, and delegation continue to transform her business and her life. In this eighth and final installment of the Less Doing, More Living blog series, Tara quantifies the results of her journey. You can read prior installments here.
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If you’re looking to automate, optimize, or streamline your accounting and ERP processes, visit the Demos and Overviews section of our website to see how Sage can better serve your accounting needs. Looking for more information? Consider scheduling a Sage consultation call with one of Stewart Tech’s Sage certified consultants.
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