The Death of Proximity

This article will explain how Google slowly replaced “close” with the “best” and why the internet is gradually closing the gap between you, your customers, and even your employees. The death of proximity seems grim but a fitting name for this article, we like our space, but slowly we’re trading our privacy and proximity for connections.

When I was growing up, social media wasn’t as available, and privacy was valued. Our complaints, problems, and excuses for a chosen few. Today, everyone from the youth to businesses is fighting for attention, the most views, and engagements. Privacy is slowly traded for security and status. What choice do we have?

Everyone around you has a social media account, our cell phones are replacing small talk, and our more in-depth conversations are revolving around this technologically changing world. Technology has allowed us to create more connections than ever before in history, for instance, my best friend as a kid moved away, but now I can talk to him on Facebook.

America was a farming country, the car allowed farmers to make trips they never dreamed of, and the industrial age expanded America beyond farming. We gained an enterprise of businesses, our choice of careers exploded, and slowly it became easier to connect. Technology drew us closer and closer inch by inch, the railroad, the airplane, the automobile, and the cellphone.

At Anguiano, we have clients in almost every state, we’re a consulting company, but our location is no longer a barrier, we no longer have to rely on anything “near me.” We can go above and beyond for clients on the other side of the country. Your business is in the connection economy and the connection economy. There are no gatekeepers.

We don’t just have the opportunity to serve local businesses in Victorville. The opportunity extends to every business we reach.

What did Google change?

The value that Google gave each of us, is Google itself, we can search world knowledge for free, the free flow of information breaks down education barriers, and gives us all the ability to master our craft. Google, for the driven and ambitious business owner, has opened the door to an unlimited number of possibilities.

While there are other available options for a search engine, Google leads the pack, generating $165 billion of economic activity through ads and searches for leads. Before the internet, if you are interested in services, you can check the newspaper for listings. Today, we can not only search for what we want but who does it the best.

Google also created Autocomplete, which is a search predictor. Old searches are saved to improve predictability. Google can finish your sentence based on the most popular or likely searches. This aspect makes Google with the internet something treasured. If the internet had no filter for us to search through, would we ever find what we’re looking for?

What has the internet allowed?

The internet has allowed us to connect, contribute, and control more of our business without as much effort. The internet removed entry to the resources only a few had access too, now everyone can build on these resources, the internet allowed permission.

Financial education that was limited to a select few is now available for many, and the services or exchange of goods increased, culture will change your life.

Education is the most powerful weapon
used to change the world. Nelson Mandela

The internet changed us from an industrial economy to a connection economy; it changed the way we incorporate businesses, and track our financial wealth. Investing, compliance, and taxes are all easily completed thanks to the internet. The internet allowed the same thing the car did, and it allowed us to explore beyond our home and promptly.

I believe the internet killed our privacy, but as we lose one thing we gain another, privacy is outdated. Our future belongs to connections. With the door open to an infinite number of possibilities, the focus becomes ever more critical in our lives, if we want to build a successful business.

Employees connected throughout the week rather than only at work, social media has garnered our attention, and social platforms give us emotional relief.

In 2012 we spent an average of an hour and a half on social media, with 60% of those users admitting they are always connected, in 2019 we spent an average of two hours and twenty-three minutes on Social Media.

How much time we spend on social media, equates to how much time we’re losing, two hours a day seems like little but in a year it equates to seven hundred and thirty hours or 30 days. If you spend two hours of your time on social media, that means you spent one whole month on Social Media and the number continues to increase.

This word can change your business forever, the power of No, can save you time. 

Accounting impact

Technology made a considerable accounting impact. It has improved the speed at which we can create and draft up reports, as well as record large quantities of information. We now have software that can track and update your financial records live, with power comes great responsibility. Data is only useful if it is translated into a narrative. We complete this process naturally, but if we don’t understand the information, it shows in our story.

Taxes are a big indicator, many of us hope for a refund but don’t understand the cause. Your business can benefit from the right tax strategy.

A lack of understanding doesn’t mean we throw the narrative away altogether, the result is a much more complex narrative with a stretching relation to the data at hand. Explanations from the past show a lack of understanding. We often try to explain events from our history; however, they have more connection to the present than anything behind us.

The problem with old data is the behavior, what were we doing when the data was collected, and are we doing anything different? Current data gives the best information to adjust from, how you use the data to support your current operations is what matters.

When making strategic options, there are three things your project or idea should fit before implementing. Suitability, acceptability, and feasibility  (SAF) is an analytical and planning framework. To impact your operations, you must understand how your numbers fit into SAF.

The accountability accountant

You can measure the level of your accountant, not by the money they save you, but by how they keep you accountable. Just as a personal trainer can guide you in fitness and form, the best help keep you accountable. Professionals already know, you’re going to get in your way, we can help you before you dig a hole you can’t get out.

It’s more important to select your habits today than at any other time in history if you don’t choose your habits will choose you. We are building habits when we repeat a decision. The only way to stop is to stop the decision and replace it.

Your accountant is your first line of defense for the financial habits that hurt your business, you’re responsible for your habits, but often the two interlapses. Discipline teaches you the little things, affects everything; no discipline doesn’t change another discipline. If you have a habit of getting a morning snack, how you obtain that meal becomes another habit. Healthy fruit at home is an investment and helps your business, the gas station trip, become an inconvenience.

If you’re not well trained in your mental faculties, you are more susceptible to advertisements and should probably shop with a list. Every single item in a store is placed precisely to catch your field of vision and prompt you to buy, and it’s easy to walk out of the store with more than a few things if you entered unsurely. Think of it like setting up a budget, you need direction, and if you’re not going to ask for help, it’s up to you.

No one is going to keep you accountable unless you’re ready for change, but your business isn’t a part-time adventure, it’s your life that you’re building. An accountant is who you need on your team for this journey.

To work with one of our accountants, contact us today and let us help your business succeed.

The trained consultant

It is the most natural thing in the world today to give advice, thanks to our ego, much of this advice is useless, and we believe we can consult. This statement is both true and false. You can consult but to a small and particular audience based on what you’re teaching. Advice isn’t the same as consulting; help is usually given out of sympathy or another emotion while consulting has a creative focus.

Consulting is the job of the future.

The trained consultant has either experience or mental faculties to solve a complex problem. Most problems aren’t a straight solution, they create problems, and those are what hurt us the most. Ideally, no more questions will pop up, but in reality, you want to create a solution that doesn’t merely solve the problem; it improves the situation as a whole.

Your experience helps you lead and consult anyone with lesser experience and a desire to follow in the actions you’ve taken because the experience is so unique, it’s helpful when building a relationship. Trust is the foundation for all coaches, and you’re helping someone get through some of the most uncomfortable situations, without trust, they won’t take action.

The ability to master your mental faculties allows you to tackle unique and even challenging problems that you haven’t experienced, studying your mind masters your reality. My point is that advice is a dime a dozen, but original ideas that can evolve who you are or your life might come at a cost.

Your business transformation team

Change is constant, and to adapt with change requires a considerable amount of effort, the best way to grow your business is with a team. Your business transformation team should have conflicting elements to help you succeed. The best teams are the ones that are most diverse and can work together with these differences. The transformation will take years in conventional ways.

It takes considerable focus on your part combined with effort, and we can always ignite our change if we want to. Your change will come from a deeper understanding of your accounting numbers and how they impact your business transactions.

Your business transformation starts with the core values or mission, when we encounter an idea of our being embraces, it allows us to transcend our current environment. The power of “I can” will cause a mental shift in how you perceive your abilities. Even a slight variation is a shift.

Pat Summitt won more college basketball games than anyone in history. The first coach to one thousand wins, and like many other great coaches, was big on teamwork. Pat Summitt created a philosophy and a set of core values that are called, “The Definitive Dozen.”

They are; Handle success like you handle failure. Respect yourself and others. Take full responsibility. Develop and demonstrate loyalty. Learn to be a great communicator. Discipline yourself, so no one has to. Make hard work your passion, don’t just work hard, work smart. Put the team before yourself, make winning an attitude, be a competitor, and change is a must.

These core values transcended college and basketball itself, and she knew how to refocus energy efficiently to avoid distractions, which stop a team’s momentum.

Your business transformation team will help you navigate the complexities in life, and you’ll face challenges, obstacles, and things you’ll feel unsure. What you fall back on is your core values; these are things that you’ll have with you when it feels like you’ve lost everything else.

Coaches are adept at change, but a team can facilitate a transformation. Your business transform starts with you, all transformation starts from within, this is twelve ways to optimize your business to build wealth.

My books are a mess

The best way to set yourself up for failure is to leave your books as a mess if your accounting suffers so does your business. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve arrived at a duty station in the military to find inventory done incorrectly, and the records are old, the procedure was created ten years ago. We, as humans are afflicted with indecision, there were several solutions, but no one acted until it was a problem.

We can create a new procedure to overwrite the old one, with new systems that allow anyone to follow the procedures established. Every time I arrived at a mess, I wanted to burn the whole system down and start over, but it wouldn’t help anything. Clean up is a necessary function to find and resolve any problems that are currently arising. Otherwise, we create a new system that is susceptible to old issues, things that can easily be avoided.

If you find yourself with a system that doesn’t have upkeep, it’s time to make a change, or eventually, the system will collapse on itself. Methods exist for us to use them, but they cannot exist by themselves, like a thought that’s not focused on, they’ll disappear.

Accounting is a necessity not a luxury for your business.

Functions of accounting

The functions of accounting are meant to bridge a gap in understanding between numbers (information) and business transactions (world). The purpose is to help improve the connection between you and your metrics. This relationship is as meaningful as the one between you and your customers.

If education provides freedom, then the functions of accounting provide business flexibility, professional oversight, and fluid operations. If there’s a problem in your business, you can find it hiding somewhere in your numbers, if you understand them.

A hands-off approach is not beneficial for your business. You can’t just say, “My accountant’s got it.” If you’ve never reviewed the numbers with them, it’s like going to the barbershop and saying, “Give me a cut, you’ve got this.” You will surely get a haircut, but you can’t explain the outcome, and any input you do have was relinquished with your responsibility.

Here are healthy financial tips to keep your business ahead.

The functions of accounting evolve your business into a money-making machine, instead of a money-burning machine, know which one your business is and have the resolve to change it.

Bottom line

There is a conventional narrative telling us that technology is terrible. Still, in reality, we can’t know the impacts of the future; we can only use the technology to impact today. If your numbers aren’t making an impact, it’s because you’ve kept them at an arms distance, it’s time to embrace them.

It’s time to embrace your numbers, if not for you, for your business.

The Death of Proximity

This article will explain how Google slowly replaced “close” with the “best” and why the internet is gradually closing the gap between you, your customers,

Read More »
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