Work Life Balance

Preventing Burnout in Business: Supporting Both Your Team and Yourself

The working environment of the past few years has pushed the topic of burnout into the spotlight. Remote work, blurred boundaries, mental fatigue, and the constant pressure to “do more” have left both employees and business owners feeling stretched thin. At Blackwood Bookkeeping Solutions, we work closely with business owners and teams who give everything […]

Give Yourself the Gift of Rest This Christmas

Why Recharging is Crucial for Business Owners As Christmas approaches, the hustle and bustle of the season mirrors the pace many business owners maintain year-round. We all know someone – or maybe we’ve been that someone – who seems to have endless energy, constantly juggling tasks, pushing forward, and chasing goals. But at what cost? […]

New beginnings

Reflecting on 22 Years of Growth, Challenges, and Exciting New Beginnings After 22 years of running Miss Efficiency, we’re excited to announce a new beginning – Miss Efficiency has been acquired by Blackwood Advisory and has become Blackwood Bookkeeping. It’s been a remarkable and challenging ride, filled with ups and downs, milestones, and countless lessons […]

Balancing Business and Joy

As small business owners, we pour our hearts and souls into our business, often spending countless hours dedicated to our passion, and it can be difficult balancing business and joy. Business can become all-consuming, leading to tunnel vision and burnout, where we forget about other things that once brought us joy and balance. While being […]

Balancing Your Books and Family Time This Easter

Growing your business often means long hours and what seem like endless responsibilities. When family holidays like Easter roll around, stepping away to create memories with loved ones may seem like a luxury you can’t afford. But what if I told you that good financial management and systems might just be the hidden egg you […]

Celebrating Father’s Day: Building a Business Around Family, Not Through It

Happy Father’s Day to all the amazing dads out there! Today we celebrate the dads who have left a lasting impact on our lives and the ones who continue to shape the future. It’s a day to reflect on the significance of family and the precious moments we share with our loved ones. For busy […]

Managing Stress and Burnout

In July 2021 I had a heart attack. It wasn’t due to the usual causes of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, excess weight, etc. It was caused by stress. Yes, stress literally can kill you! I was your typical over thinker, over stresser, with a little anxiety thrown in for good measure. But after seeing […]

How a heart attack improved my business

In July 2021 I had a heart attack that nearly killed me! It’s not the first “near death” experienced our family has endured but it was definitely a wake up call for me. The worst part of the 10 days in ICU wasn’t all the invasive testing, nor the uncertainty of what was happening, nor […]

5 signs you need to start outsourcing business tasks

When you start a small business, it’s usually only you behind the whole operation and you haven’t even thought about outsourcing business tasks. You wear many hats, from CEO to clean-up crew. As you pour your heart and soul into your business and it begins to grow, the amount of work involved grows with it. […]

3 Tips for Working Smarter and Gaining Personal Time

You’ve probably heard the maxim that it’s better to work smarter than harder. Working smarter means allocating your time, energy and money so vital tasks get done more efficiently, freeing up your personal time. Don’t miss the change to learn the 3 tips for working smarter now. Too many business owners think they must keep […]

Minimising at home and work

Minimising at home and work feels great – I recently culls my kids room … it’s surprising how much stuff can two little people accumulate! Things can accumulate without you being aware After 7 years of fertility treatments, we had two babies fairly quickly. During my pregnancy I was so excited I just started accumulating […]

What a heart attack at 35 taught me about work life balance

An elite level sportsman, peak physical condition, no family history of heart attack, no substance abuse, 35 years old. That doesn’t sound like a candidate for a heart attack, does it? I was eight months into my last pregnancy and Jason had an injury on the cricket pitch which caused a very bad bone break […]

The key to achieving work life balance

We hear it often – work life balance. It seems to be the solution to reaching optimal mental health and something easy to attain, doesn’t it? Balance and Bookkeeping When looking at a set of accounts in a business, it is simply what hits one side must hit the other. Can’t balancing life be the […]

Time to take a holiday from your business?

When was the last time you took a holiday? Do you wait until the December shut down to take a holiday? When December hits it is as though something occurs to the way that timeframes, deadlines and priorities, which usually are taken in your stride, somehow seem to impact harder. The annual shut-down of a business equally […]

What happens in your business when your life is in crisis?

My husband has had two near death experiences. What was supposed to be fairly straight forward hernia surgery and an overnight stay, turned into major complications with internal bleeding, bottoming out blood pressure, gas bubbles in the chest and a fear of lung collapse, and 4 nights in ICU. All of this happened right at […]

4 Things Commando Steve Taught Me About Business

I’m very fortunate to have attended Commando Steve’s Fit Camps a couple of times. Now you may not automatically associate that with business, but there are some important lessons that I’ve taken away and here are my top four. It’s all in the mindset I’ve been on my own fitness / get healthy journey for […]

How to survive being a working parent

It’s the last day of school holidays – a joyous day for many a working parent! You’ve been racing around buying, covering and labeling school books and supplies (not 1, not 2, but 3, yes 3, trips to Officeworks!), buying new school shoes and hats, and making sure the uniforms still fit and are clean. […]

What competing in obstacle races has taught me about business

Business can be just like an obstacle course There’s something strangely satisfying about running 10-20km through mud, under barbed wire, through creeks that are so cold they take your breath away, over shear walls and through fire. Getting to the end and knowing that you’ve pushed yourself both physically and mentally comes with an enormous […]