Best-Ever Entrepreneurship Quotes, Week 81

Here's your motivational quote of the week, personally guaranteed to give your week an inspired start.

This week: a quote from "name-withheld." I just thought it did a great job summarizing the entrepreneurial condition.

Last week I was chatting with an entrepreneur who was glorying in his discovery of the value of financial statements. It turns out they're not a chore at all -- they're fabulous tools for planning, managing and reviewing your business! This was a revelation to my contact, who had been shunning budgets and P&Ls until his accountant finally sat him down and set him straight.

Why didn't he get on this sooner? Here's his quote:

"I’m one of those people that if I don’t understand how to do it, I just avoid it till it hurts."

I think he's speaking for thousands of Canadian entrepreneurs when he explains what held him back. And it shows just how important it is to educate your audience if you want them to get the most out of your products and services.

Memo to the accounting industry: there's a huge opportunity for you to help small business owners strengthen their businesses by entering the information economy - simply by helping them set up get the right forms and reports for their business.

Mandie Crawford, president of Roaring Women, was saying the other day on our Internet radio show that she encountered many entrepreneurs on her recent coaching tour who are totally clueless when it comes to bookkeeping and accounting. Some said they haven't even filled out a tax return in years.

Maybe we need an Accounting Amnesty Day: come out of the woods, talk to a professional, get your books back in order, get your business back on track. Stop hiding. End the pain. Because eventually it will really hurt.