January 9, 2025 • 31 mins
Discover how to confidently manage your business finances as we kick off the year with Kam Grewal, a seasoned accountant with 24 years of expertise. Kam opens up about the journey of running KD Accounting Solutions and the crucial role trust plays in the accountant-client relationship. Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned entrepreneur, this episode will reinforce the importance of feeling comfortable with your financial queries and regularly reviewing your accounting practices to maintain a solid foundation for your business.
Our discussion unfolds with practical financial strategies tailored for self-employed individuals and small business owners. Dive into the transformative 30-30-30 rule, designed to streamline your financial management by allocating 33% each for taxes, business costs, and personal income. Highlighting common pitfalls, we stress the importance of maintaining separate business bank accounts and staying on top of bookkeeping. We also clarify the distinction between bookkeeping and accounting, encouraging you to embrace modern software to simplify these processes and keep your finances in check.
As we round off the episode, we tackle mindset challenges like imposter syndrome and technophobia, offering guidance on how to overcome them. Gain insights into recognizing your skills and rationalizing achievements while utilizing resources like Blinkist for ongoing learning. Kam shares his expertise on harnessing the power of technology like Xero to conquer bookkeeping fears, empowering you to manage your business finances with confidence. Join us to gain actionable insights and transform your approach to financial management.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Donna Eade (00:00):
You're listening to the Mindset in Action podcast,
the place to be to grow andstreamline your business.
I'm your host, donna Eade.
Let's jump into the show.
Welcome back to the podcast,everybody, and happy new year.
(00:23):
And so this is really reallydifferent for me, because
normally my first podcast of thenew year is a solo episode
where I welcome everybody to thenew year and we maybe talk
about goals, et cetera, etcetera.
But I thought you know what?
This year we're going to bedifferent.
We're going to be different andwe're going to have a guest on
the show and I have thewonderful Cam Grawl in the house
.
Welcome, cam, so happy to haveyou here.
(00:45):
Thank you for having me.
I am so excited to talk aboutthis because if you listen to
the podcast before Christmas,you will have heard that I had
Diane Watson on the show and shewas talking about personal
finances and it's really, reallyimportant that we know our
numbers and Cam is an accountant.
So, before we jump into talkingabout money again, because it's
(01:05):
a really important topic andespecially at the beginning of
the year, to set you up for therest of the year, cam, introduce
yourself, tell us a little bitabout who you are and what it is
you do.
Kam Grewal (01:14):
So I'm Cam.
I run a company called KDAccounting Solutions based in St
Albans.
I set my practice up just overfour years ago now, but my
background is predominantly inindustry, so I've always been
the in-house accountant workingwithin a company's finance
function.
I've been doing accounting forabout 24 years now, and I'm
(01:36):
really passionate aboutdelivering the best service to
my clients.
Donna Eade (01:39):
I love that.
Kam Grewal (01:40):
I never would have thought I'd be an accountant
when I grew up.
Donna Eade (01:44):
It's not one of those things that kids aspire to
be not really, but I tell youwhat a funny little story is
that when we had one of thecareers days and it must have
been when I was in like I don'tknow, year 10 or 11 or something
there was a careers day andthere was a chartered accounting
um company there that weretalking about chartered
(02:04):
accountancy and they were givingout posters.
And I had a charteredaccounting company there that
were talking about charteredaccountancy and they were giving
out posters.
And I had a charteredaccounting poster on my wall for
years because it was a reallycool looking poster.
It was really like reallybright colours, vibrant,
geographic sort of design and itwas just said and then,
whatever it was I can't rememberwhat the company was called,
but chartered accounting and Ialways just had that and I
always thought, oh yeah, oh yeah, accounting working with
(02:27):
numbers, I'd like that.
I think I would like that.
Yeah.
So there was always somethingin the back of my head and I did
do a bookkeeping course, um, inmy 20s.
So, oh, that's hilarious.
You might not have aspired toit, but they did try and get me
in that way.
But, um, so what do you do inyour business now?
So what does it look like.
What's your client base looklike?
Kam Grewal (02:47):
so I've got a couple of bigger clients, so the
limited companies, and I've gotquite a few sole traders who are
running their own businesses,even under their own name, and
then I've got some small limitedcompanies as well.
So it's quite a range, and Idon't work with a particular
industry or anything either.
I think for me it's the people.
(03:07):
So if we can work together andwe we get on, then we can have a
great relationship, I thinkthat's so important, isn't it?
Donna Eade (03:15):
the relationships, and I think that is something
that people often overlook.
They're just looking for thecheapest price or you know all
of those kind of things that arekind of your tick box items,
but when it comes to lookingafter your money, I would say
that you know trust has got tobe the number one priority, and
being able to kind of get toknow somebody and feel like you
know this person is somebodythat I can trust to do what's
(03:38):
right for me and my businesswhen it comes to my money
because we hear a lot of horrorstories out there about
accountants, don't we?
Kam Grewal (03:46):
It can be scary we do.
And do you know?
The thing that I hear the mostactually about accountants is
people can't talk to them andthey come and ask me questions,
like my friends who are inbusiness.
I'm like guys, you're payingfor a service, you should be
able to ask the questions, andif you can't, you need to be
looking at why you should beable to ask the questions, and
(04:06):
if you can't, you need to belooking at why.
Why?
Donna Eade (04:09):
there's this block in place and is it time for a
change?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I just yeah, that's, that's.
I hope you're charging Like,excuse me, you're not one of my
clients, so if you want thoseanswers In wine, in wine, in
wine, I love it, brilliant,brilliant, okay, so today I
wanted to talk about sort ofsome of the basics around
(04:30):
setting up.
So, thinking of listeners outthere who might be pretty new to
business, I do have a lot ofpeople who are fairly new to
business, like under a couple ofyears old.
But then I also have somepeople who are, you know, quite
established in their businessesfive years, 10 years or more.
But I think accountancy issomething that people forget to
(04:54):
review.
You know, you set up with anaccountant, you set it, forget
it, and then maybe you're like,oh, I'm hands off, I don't want
to deal with that, I don't wantto know about my numbers, just
tell me how much I get to takeout each one.
So I think it's reallyimportant that we kind of review
it, even if we are older inbusiness.
So what are some of the basicswe need to know to set ourselves
(05:14):
up system-wise?
For me, I like to keep it simple.
You know there are people outthere that use like spreadsheets
, excel and things like that fortheir accounts.
But what you say is you know away to keep it simple in
business.
What should we be looking atwith our accounts?
Kam Grewal (05:31):
um, I think if you're completely new to
business and you've got a planand you've already kind of
looked at where your money'sgoing to be coming from, your
costs look like.
I don't want to say the wordforecast, but that's actually
what you're doing.
You're creating a forecast.
Yeah, it's as simple as that.
Really, just what's my income,what my cost going to be, and
(05:52):
you'll be able to map out quiteeasily what your take home will
be.
Obviously, we're talking aboutnewbie, so you've.
Also, if you're going to earnover a threshold, so the 12,750
you're going to be paying tax.
So then you need to startthinking about right, I can't
(06:12):
actually take all that money andspend it.
I need to be putting away 20plus some.
So let's go with 30 for tax andan eye.
If you're self-employed, one ofthe easiest ways and I recommend
everybody does this when theyset up in business to keep track
of your numbers is a little bitof software, just a little bit
(06:36):
of software.
Um, you can now.
It's so intuitive.
You can now put your bank feedthrough and if you have an
accountant, they will haveaccess to cheaper subscriptions.
So for less than 10 pounds amonth, you can have a snapshot
of how your books look, becauseyour bank feed will come through
.
Hopefully, you would have beenshown just how to reconcile
(06:57):
those items, which and all thatmeans is you're putting it
against sales or costs and youget your profit number at the
bottom.
It's very, very simple, buthaving that kind of data will
help you while you're growing.
Understand.
Am I doing enough right now?
If I've only got one packageout there and actually I'm not
(07:19):
performing, I'm not getting thatprofit number that I thought
I'd be getting.
You can see that very, veryquickly.
You don't have to wait untilthe end of the year to be told
by your accountant well, it'snot been that good a year for
you, has it?
You know nobody wants to hearthat.
This is how we should belooking at our businesses on a
monthly basis.
Donna Eade (07:38):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I love that.
You said that, because I amsomebody who loves a bit of
software and there are lots ofdifferent accounting softwares
out there.
Are there any that you thinkare interesting?
I wouldn't.
I'm not going to say better.
I don't want you to have tosort of say, no, this one's
rubbish, but ones that youprefer, and if you can tell us
(08:00):
why you prefer to use them so Ionly work with Xero.
Kam Grewal (08:04):
They have quite a range of um subscriptions, so
they've they've got two or threethat I can offer to my smaller
clients, which you can't buy offthe shelf as a user, as a
business owner.
So I get that from my practice.
And then they have, you know,higher level ones which cater to
(08:24):
the companies that are biggerand need the bells and whistles.
The thing I like most aboutXero is their interface.
It's so simple and clean thatit just it takes away some of
the fear that people have whenthey think about having to do
the bookkeeping.
It's very intuitive.
So it starts, for example, on abank record, it'll start
(08:47):
matching or suggesting thingsbased on what you've done before
, which obviously is going tomake it more time efficient, and
they've just developed thequickest.
They've been on the ball and,from a from a practice
perspective, I also can fileaccounts through it.
So my clout's on zero.
There's no getting bits ofpaper and putting it into a
(09:07):
spreadsheet, uploading it intoanywhere.
It's all linked and it'sfantastic.
Donna Eade (09:12):
Other softwares are available, guys, but, um,
particularly with zero and theones that you know of, they have
the function to be able to likescan your receipts into it, so
you don't have to be likekeeping bags of receipts to take
to your accountant and throw ontheir desk once a quarter.
Kam Grewal (09:30):
None of my clients do that, absolutely.
No one is allowed to bringpaper to me.
I have trained them all.
So, um, yeah, I.
For the ones that have thehigher level subscription, they
automatically get a productcalled Hubdog.
Now, hubdog is fantastic.
You can have it as an app onyour phone and you open the app,
(09:52):
take a picture of a receipt andit goes into the system.
Um, you just need to code itand it's there, it's done.
You don't need to go to ascanner, you don't need to.
You know, get.
You can even email in.
Actually.
So, um, there's severaldifferent ways.
If you're on a desktop andyou've got, you've got a picture
of something you can just dragand drop.
(10:13):
They've just helped streamlinethat process so much, yeah, that
business owners can do itwithout needing their
accountants to yeah, I always is.
Donna Eade (10:21):
It is zero the one.
Oh, I'm gonna like it's anotherone.
I always see this ad on YouTubeof a guy on a skateboard
scanning um receipts as he goesdown the line, and it's for one
of the apps, I can't rememberwhich one.
I'm not sure, no, it's a blue.
It's definitely blue is theircompany color.
(10:42):
But yeah, hilarious, makes melaugh every time I watch it.
But he's like but yeah, makesmakes scanning your business
receipts a breeze or something.
It's like so funny.
But yeah, so that's reallyuseful for that streamlining and
that's something that we loveto do on this show is to
streamline our businesses in anyway possible.
(11:03):
So making.
To come back to the bankaccount thing that you said you
can put your bank account intoit.
What are your thoughts or yourpreferences around people using
(11:28):
a personal bank account versus abusiness bank account?
Because I think a lot of peoplewhen they start up, they just
open another current account andthey're like, oh, I'll just use
that for my business.
What are your thoughts from anaccountant?
Kam Grewal (11:41):
you should see.
This is this is one of myreally like please, if you're
setting off in business, please,please, please, sell off
another bank account becauseit's so important to have it
separated.
You will save yourself timedown the line it it will be less
of a headache trying to figureout if that coffee was when you
met a client or a new businessand you can put it through the
(12:04):
business or not.
So a little bit of confusioncomes up when it comes to bank
accounts.
If you are self-employed andyou are just trading as you, you
can just set up anotherpersonal account because it is
it is you with a limited company.
It's a separate entity, so youdo need to set up a separate
bank account.
Okay, that makes sense you don'talways have to pay massive fees
(12:27):
.
You know, I use stylingpersonally and I don't pay any
bank fees.
They're fantastic.
Do what I need them to do, yeah.
So yeah, there's um, there are.
There are banks out there thatare maybe less traditional, so
you don't have the branches, butthen you also don't incur costs
for having that account.
Donna Eade (12:44):
Yeah, yeah that's useful to know, because I think
a lot of times people gettripped up with the, the
legalities of things that likethat.
So, um, that was a reallyuseful tip.
And then earlier on you weretalking about like putting a
percentage away for tax andthings.
So I wanted to sort of circleback to that and talk about how
we actually break down our money, because I think a lot of
(13:04):
people think they should.
You know they're buying stufffor their business, so they can.
You know that that moneyobviously comes out of the
business money, and then theywant money for themselves and
and that's it, and that's all wedo is like, once of the
business money and then theywant money for themselves, and
that's it, and that's all we do,is like, once all the business
expenses are done, the rest ofit is mine to take and I can
spend it how I want, and I thinka lot of people get in trouble
(13:26):
doing that way.
So are there any rules of thumbfor you on how you kind of talk
to your clients about splittingtheir money or just in general
how you feel people should lookat?
You know, you've got this 100pot of money that's coming into
your business.
What do we do with it?
Kam Grewal (13:42):
I definitely say you need to put money aside for tax
and I if, especially if you'reself-employed, the the profit
number they were staying under,we're staying within the first
threshold.
So so the 20% you're nothitting above 36,000, for
example then you want to bepulling away 20 to 30% because
(14:04):
you are paying income tax andyou are going to have to pay
national insurance as well.
So 30% is a really safe placeto be.
And that is on the profitnumber number.
So once you've taken yourincome, you've taken off your
costs from that profit number,the number you want to spend.
You need to take away your 30percent.
(14:25):
Yeah, if you're a limitedcompany, then you need to be
looking at about 19 percent forthe corporation tax, and that is
if you're not taking anythingelse out of the business like
dividends and okay things likethat yeah, dividends might go a
little bit over a lot of ourpeople's heads so we won't even
dive into that, if you want toknow
Donna Eade (14:44):
about dividends separately, then please do
message Kat, she will go throughthat with you.
But yeah, I think that'simportant because the rule of
thumb that I've always followedis 30, 30, 30 and30.
And I know that that leaves 10over, but it's beside the point
of 33-33-33,.
Whatever that, 33% is tax andnational insurance, 33% is
(15:07):
business costs and 33% is what Iget to take.
And then hopefully my businesscosts are lower than that and I
think a lot of us areself-employed, solo
entrepreneurs working from home.
We can often keep those costsquite low.
So you're not necessarilyhitting the 30%.
But the reason that I do thatis because what if my laptop
(15:29):
breaks down, or what if I needto access a piece of software or
a?
I need to buy something that isout of the ordinary, an annual
expense that's a big one, or aone-off bigger expense.
I'm going to have a littlesavings pot there in the
(15:50):
business that I can pull fromwithout having to go.
Oh my God.
And I think a lot of peopleforget to sort of do exactly
what you were saying earlier andforecast what's my next 12
months look like?
What am I?
Am I going to want to buy a newcomputer?
Do I need a new x?
Do I need a new y?
How much is that going to cost?
And actually putting that,taking that into consideration,
(16:11):
I think we do as bad enough inour personal finances that we
don't think oh yeah, I paid thecar insurance in full last year.
I really should be putting £10away a month to pay it next year
in full as well.
Everybody just brings out thecredit card or just put it on
the credit card or whatever.
So I think it's reallyimportant to kind of think about
(16:32):
those things when you'rethinking about where your money
goes.
So I really appreciate that.
Looking at our accounts, whatare the biggest mistakes that
you see people making with theiraccounts?
I would love to know, from anaccountant's point of view, what
are some of your pet peeves,like absolutely can't believe
that this person did that.
You know you don't have to nameand shame any clients.
(16:53):
Obviously clients obviously.
Kam Grewal (16:55):
Well, I'm very happy to say that my thoughts are
very well trained from the start, but I think, um, in general I
can see that having the businessbank account is one of the big
things that people don't getright at the beginning.
And then you're kind of betweentwo bank accounts, trying to,
you know, move direct debitsacross or subscriptions across,
(17:20):
and that's.
You know it's a pain trying toget all that done.
It's more admin, so it takeslonger.
So definitely the business bankaccount, that is really
important and then actually justdoing your books, because
people set up a business,they've got a fantastic idea and
they want to go and that's allgood and well and delivering
(17:41):
everything's fantastic.
But you need to be on top ofwhat's happening.
If you're not on top, you don'tknow if you've invoiced people,
have I actually been paid forthis, and then you don't know
when the money's coming in or ifthe money's coming.
Donna Eade (17:56):
You just need to be on it and something like
software will help you with thatwhat I would like you to do for
me is just clarify thedifference between bookkeeping
and accounting, because I thinka lot of people put that in the
same boat and they don't realizethat they're two different
things.
Kam Grewal (18:16):
So when we're talking about bookkeeping, we
are literally talking aboutdoing your day-to-day
reconciling of your in and outof your bank account.
That's the core of yourbusiness.
So I'd say that's basicallybookkeeping and your accounting
would be.
Donna Eade (18:33):
when you're then going on to look at your full
year and perhaps you're doingreporting obviously the
compliance piece as well, um, sothat would be maybe calling it
compliance and your day-to-dayis a bit more simple yeah, yeah
that makes sense to me thatmakes sense and I think because
(18:54):
I do think people get a day or Ineed an account, I need an
accountant, and actually theyneed a bookkeeper because they
want to give all the receipts tosomebody or whatever.
It's almost like it's so mucheasier to be your own bookkeeper
these days with the softwarethat's available, so I think
it's a really useful thing, yeah, especially as a small business
(19:14):
owner.
When you're like trying to keepthose costs down, a person is
just going to say the same.
That might be an issue goingforward, but it's really.
It's really one of those thingsas a solopreneur that you
(19:39):
should be able to do yourselfand with the software is is
quite a simple thing to do.
So, to wrap up our little talkabout um, accounting and looking
after our money, what are threethings that you would want a
listener to take away fromtoday's conversation and either
implement or take to heart andgo and do some research on?
Kam Grewal (20:00):
definitely the business plan.
So, look, make sure yourbusiness plan is solid.
Um, that doesn't have to bepages and pages, it can be.
This is my product, this is myprice and the forecast of it.
So so I want to get to let's gowith the 36,000 a year, because
(20:20):
that's an easy number to workwith.
I want to get to that point.
How am I going to do it?
Work backwards and make surethat you understand right, what
does that look like?
Per month it's 3k.
How am I going to do that?
What do I need to sell?
How am I going to get myselfout there to sell that?
And it's just taking itbackwards, I feel can really
take the overwhelm out,especially new business owners,
(20:42):
take the overwhelm out of it.
So that level of planning wouldbe so beneficial to take them
through the year.
The business bank account and Ikeep saying it clearly I feel
very strongly, very passionateabout this one yeah.
So the business bank account.
It will just make your lifeeasy.
It's a no-brainer from thestart.
(21:03):
Get it set up.
It doesn't need to be, you know, a really big bank that you go
with.
It can be some of these onlineoptions.
And then, yeah, just puttingthe money away for tax, making
sure that you understand whatyou actually can spend, so
you're not hit with a tax billat the end of the year because
nobody wants that.
Donna Eade (21:22):
No, absolutely Love that.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it and Ithink it's a really good
conversation for my listeners tolisten into as well.
Now, as I have said previously,in my episode before Christmas,
I said that changing things upa little bit this year.
So no mini Mindset Mondayscoming this year, but we're
(21:44):
going to embed them into thisepisode.
So mindset is a big one forbusiness owners and, knowing you
, cam, as I do, I know that thiswas a a big big block for you
to come on and have thisconversation with me and I'm so
bloody proud of you for doing it.
But I'm probably thinking thisis just just just a little thing
(22:07):
, one of those little things inamongst the rest of it.
So what is kind of the biggestmindset block that you have had,
that you've had to shift overyour business lifetime?
Kam Grewal (22:19):
I think it's definitely the dreaded imposter
syndrome.
Definitely, even when I workedin industry, the first company I
went into was in London is myfirst job in the big smoke.
People swore in the office.
I was like, oh my goodness,what is this place?
And uh, I was the youngestperson in the business.
Yeah, I fitted right in.
(22:42):
I um, I just remember being theyoungest person in the business
and I had to implement amassive change um to all the
processes and I genuinely didn'tthink I could do it.
(23:03):
And then the MD and the FD satme down and I said, right, we're
not saying anything, but we aregoing to make you do this.
So we're not going to getinvolved, but we want you to do
this because we know you canyeah and so that spurred me on.
I got, I got through it.
I have amazing relationshipsstill and we're talking about 24
(23:24):
years ago, 23 years ago withquite a few of those people from
that business.
So that that, and also when Iwas going to set up the company
four years ago, obviously Ialways worked in business, not
my own, and it was one of thosewhere I wasn't I don't really
fit in the box like your typicalaccounting box, if you like and
(23:47):
so I got quite frustrated andjust threw my toys out of a can
and went well, I'm gonna do thisnow.
I've had enough.
I'm not interviewing anymorefor any of these companies if
they don't like me as I am.
Well, I'll just do it myself,do it myself.
So I did, I did and I I took theapproach that I've kind of
shared.
You know, I kind of went well,where do I want to be?
(24:08):
What does that look like?
How am I going to get there andworked it back?
And obviously, with my industry, there's a lot of red tape, so
there was that to get through aswell, which felt quite daunting
at the time.
Once that was done, I think Istarted networking and that
might have been where we firstmet.
Yeah, within a couple of monthsyeah, yeah.
Donna Eade (24:30):
So one thing that I want to kind of pull on there is
is how you overcame your block,and it seemed like you kind of
just got to a point where you'rejust like, well, no, I'm just
going to do it, and it was justkind of a switch.
So are there any other thingsthat you do when that creeps up,
that you're sort of mentallysaying to yourself to help you
(24:50):
cope with when it rears its uglyhead?
Kam Grewal (24:54):
Absolutely, and I actually do this with other
people as well.
So I rationalise a lot, lot.
So I will get, if I'm in fromin a really bad place and I feel
really stuck, I will write downwhat have I accomplished with
the skill set that I think Idon't have, and actually I'll
(25:14):
read it back and then I'll go,wow, well, if I read this on
somebody else's CV, they coulddefinitely do the job.
You know, and I think it's justqualifying your skills by
recognizing what you've actuallyalready done.
Yeah, and I think when, whenyou do anything new, sometimes
it does feel a bit overwhelming,but sometimes writing those
(25:36):
things down, you can completelyqualify your skill set by just
looking at what I've done so far, yeah, and and just talk to
people as well and they'll tellyou that you're awesome.
Usually, yeah, yeah, usuallythey do.
Donna Eade (25:50):
Talk to the right people.
Talk to the right people.
I love that.
That's such a good tip.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
And, as always, guys, whenanybody brings up imposter
syndrome, I always link thatfabulous talk by Reshma in my
comments, because it's just anamazing talk.
So if you haven't listened toher talk about imposter syndrome
(26:12):
and bicycle face, then go tothe comments below into the show
notes and listen to it, becauseit's bloody amazing.
So listen to that.
Okay, so thank you for that.
We're going to go on to myquick fire round now.
So we're going to, and it isgoing to be quick because I
don't want us to run over.
So first question what is apodcast you're listening to and
loving right now?
Kam Grewal (26:33):
um, I'm not actually listening to any podcasts at
the moment, but I am a bit of aBlinkist addict, okay tell us
what Blinkist is um.
So Blinkist is an app that I've, I've got and it and it gives
you snippets of books, so itgives you the top takeaways and
you can just listen on the go,and I find it really useful
because you get a summary almostof a book in 20 minutes, which
(26:58):
probably doesn't do it justice,but it's the key takeaway.
Donna Eade (27:02):
How's listening to one of those Blinkist ever made
you go?
I need to buy this book andactually read the whole thing.
Kam Grewal (27:07):
I have some saved, but it's a time thing for me
yeah, it's a time thing I've gotbooks that if I had, you know,
a few weeks off, I woulddefinitely get um, but yeah, I
won't be able to name them offoff my top my head now.
But um, yeah, one of them Ithink I was reading recently was
called the power of habit byCharles Duhigg, and this is a
(27:32):
good one for those people whodon't like to do their
bookkeeping.
If you did a little bit eachweek, just plugging that in yeah
, yeah, absolutely, it wouldmake it a lot easier it would,
um, yeah, love that, love that.
Donna Eade (27:44):
So what's the book that has made the biggest impact
on your life so far?
So, maybe not one of yourblinkest books, maybe back when
you had a bit more time and youactually did do some full length
book reading.
Kam Grewal (27:54):
Yeah, or maybe it is a blinkest book I don't know.
Donna Eade (27:56):
Go for it.
Kam Grewal (27:57):
No, it's not.
This is again tying into into.
When I went into my first bigjob, um, I was quite introverted
and shy and I came across DaleCarnegie and he his book how to
Win Friends and Influence People.
Um, I had friends just sayingthat, um, but it actually helped
(28:19):
me understand a bit morepsychology because, bearing in
mind, I would have been in myvery early 20s at that point and
I was working with people whowere a lot older than me, so it
gave me quite a good insight andinfluencing people was 100% my
job in that place yeah,brilliant, love that.
Donna Eade (28:36):
I've got that one on my bookshelf.
Um, what's your favorite go-tosnack when you're in a hurry?
definitely stoats, oat bars okayvery specific, like an oat bar,
and I do yeah, I'm quite, I'mquite picky about my oat bars as
well, so I get that.
And then, finally, what is yourultimate me time thing to do?
Because I know you're a mum,you've got some children that
(28:58):
run around the house, you've gota dog.
That's a quite a young dog.
So what do you do when youactually get some time to
yourself quite a young dog.
So what do you do when?
Kam Grewal (29:05):
you actually get some time to yourself.
I actually took myself off onMonday for a spa day amazing, I
had an amazing time and it wasdefinitely very, very rewarding
just being offline and, yeah,just the quiet, the quiet.
I actually I did take anotebook.
I did take a notebook, to befair, and I was doing some
(29:25):
planning as well, because I likedoing that when I'm away from
the office yeah, I'm a planneras well.
Donna Eade (29:30):
I like to do planning, so, yeah, I love that
well.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show today, cam.
It's been an absolute joy and Ihope that now you've done it,
you're just like what was I evenworried about?
This has been brilliant.
Kam Grewal (29:42):
Tell people where they can find you online and how
you can help them yeah, at themoment my website is being
redone so you'll find me onlinkedin cam gruel.
So g-r-e-w-a-l and um, you canget in touch for a consultation,
and I also train people onsoftware.
So training people in zero sothey can, can do the round-foot
(30:05):
keeping.
Donna Eade (30:06):
Brilliant, brilliant .
So there you go if you need ahand with getting your head
around the software, because weknow that there are some
technophobes out there thatthink everything is well beyond
them and when they have a littlebit of training they realize
actually they can do it.
You know that imposter syndromecomes in, doesn't it?
Oh tech, no, I can't.
So go and connect with Cam.
All of her links will be in theshow notes, so do go over and
(30:27):
connect with her.
Thank you so much for listening.
Thank you for coming on theshow, cam.
Kam Grewal (30:31):
Thank you for having me.
Donna Eade (30:33):
We'll see you in the next one.
Bye for now.
You're listening to the Mindset in Action podcast,
the place to be to grow andstreamline your business.
I'm your host, donna Eade.
Let's jump into the show.
Welcome back to the podcast,everybody, and happy new year.
(00:23):
And so this is really reallydifferent for me, because
normally my first podcast of thenew year is a solo episode
where I welcome everybody to thenew year and we maybe talk
about goals, et cetera, etcetera.
But I thought you know what?
This year we're going to bedifferent.
We're going to be different andwe're going to have a guest on
the show and I have thewonderful Cam Grawl in the house
.
Welcome, cam, so happy to haveyou here.
(00:45):
Thank you for having me.
I am so excited to talk aboutthis because if you listen to
the podcast before Christmas,you will have heard that I had
Diane Watson on the show and shewas talking about personal
finances and it's really, reallyimportant that we know our
numbers and Cam is an accountant.
So, before we jump into talkingabout money again, because it's
(01:05):
a really important topic andespecially at the beginning of
the year, to set you up for therest of the year, cam, introduce
yourself, tell us a little bitabout who you are and what it is
you do.
Kam Grewal (01:14):
So I'm Cam.
I run a company called KDAccounting Solutions based in St
Albans.
I set my practice up just overfour years ago now, but my
background is predominantly inindustry, so I've always been
the in-house accountant workingwithin a company's finance
function.
I've been doing accounting forabout 24 years now, and I'm
(01:36):
really passionate aboutdelivering the best service to
my clients.
Donna Eade (01:39):
I love that.
Kam Grewal (01:40):
I never would have thought I'd be an accountant
when I grew up.
Donna Eade (01:44):
It's not one of those things that kids aspire to
be not really, but I tell youwhat a funny little story is
that when we had one of thecareers days and it must have
been when I was in like I don'tknow, year 10 or 11 or something
there was a careers day andthere was a chartered accounting
um company there that weretalking about chartered
(02:04):
accountancy and they were givingout posters.
And I had a charteredaccounting company there that
were talking about charteredaccountancy and they were giving
out posters.
And I had a charteredaccounting poster on my wall for
years because it was a reallycool looking poster.
It was really like reallybright colours, vibrant,
geographic sort of design and itwas just said and then,
whatever it was I can't rememberwhat the company was called,
but chartered accounting and Ialways just had that and I
always thought, oh yeah, oh yeah, accounting working with
(02:27):
numbers, I'd like that.
I think I would like that.
Yeah.
So there was always somethingin the back of my head and I did
do a bookkeeping course, um, inmy 20s.
So, oh, that's hilarious.
You might not have aspired toit, but they did try and get me
in that way.
But, um, so what do you do inyour business now?
So what does it look like.
What's your client base looklike?
Kam Grewal (02:47):
so I've got a couple of bigger clients, so the
limited companies, and I've gotquite a few sole traders who are
running their own businesses,even under their own name, and
then I've got some small limitedcompanies as well.
So it's quite a range, and Idon't work with a particular
industry or anything either.
I think for me it's the people.
(03:07):
So if we can work together andwe we get on, then we can have a
great relationship, I thinkthat's so important, isn't it?
Donna Eade (03:15):
the relationships, and I think that is something
that people often overlook.
They're just looking for thecheapest price or you know all
of those kind of things that arekind of your tick box items,
but when it comes to lookingafter your money, I would say
that you know trust has got tobe the number one priority, and
being able to kind of get toknow somebody and feel like you
know this person is somebodythat I can trust to do what's
(03:38):
right for me and my businesswhen it comes to my money
because we hear a lot of horrorstories out there about
accountants, don't we?
Kam Grewal (03:46):
It can be scary we do.
And do you know?
The thing that I hear the mostactually about accountants is
people can't talk to them andthey come and ask me questions,
like my friends who are inbusiness.
I'm like guys, you're payingfor a service, you should be
able to ask the questions, andif you can't, you need to be
looking at why you should beable to ask the questions, and
(04:06):
if you can't, you need to belooking at why.
Why?
Donna Eade (04:09):
there's this block in place and is it time for a
change?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I just yeah, that's, that's.
I hope you're charging Like,excuse me, you're not one of my
clients, so if you want thoseanswers In wine, in wine, in
wine, I love it, brilliant,brilliant, okay, so today I
wanted to talk about sort ofsome of the basics around
(04:30):
setting up.
So, thinking of listeners outthere who might be pretty new to
business, I do have a lot ofpeople who are fairly new to
business, like under a couple ofyears old.
But then I also have somepeople who are, you know, quite
established in their businessesfive years, 10 years or more.
But I think accountancy issomething that people forget to
(04:54):
review.
You know, you set up with anaccountant, you set it, forget
it, and then maybe you're like,oh, I'm hands off, I don't want
to deal with that, I don't wantto know about my numbers, just
tell me how much I get to takeout each one.
So I think it's reallyimportant that we kind of review
it, even if we are older inbusiness.
So what are some of the basicswe need to know to set ourselves
(05:14):
up system-wise?
For me, I like to keep it simple.
You know there are people outthere that use like spreadsheets
, excel and things like that fortheir accounts.
But what you say is you know away to keep it simple in
business.
What should we be looking atwith our accounts?
Kam Grewal (05:31):
um, I think if you're completely new to
business and you've got a planand you've already kind of
looked at where your money'sgoing to be coming from, your
costs look like.
I don't want to say the wordforecast, but that's actually
what you're doing.
You're creating a forecast.
Yeah, it's as simple as that.
Really, just what's my income,what my cost going to be, and
(05:52):
you'll be able to map out quiteeasily what your take home will
be.
Obviously, we're talking aboutnewbie, so you've.
Also, if you're going to earnover a threshold, so the 12,750
you're going to be paying tax.
So then you need to startthinking about right, I can't
(06:12):
actually take all that money andspend it.
I need to be putting away 20plus some.
So let's go with 30 for tax andan eye.
If you're self-employed, one ofthe easiest ways and I recommend
everybody does this when theyset up in business to keep track
of your numbers is a little bitof software, just a little bit
(06:36):
of software.
Um, you can now.
It's so intuitive.
You can now put your bank feedthrough and if you have an
accountant, they will haveaccess to cheaper subscriptions.
So for less than 10 pounds amonth, you can have a snapshot
of how your books look, becauseyour bank feed will come through
.
Hopefully, you would have beenshown just how to reconcile
(06:57):
those items, which and all thatmeans is you're putting it
against sales or costs and youget your profit number at the
bottom.
It's very, very simple, buthaving that kind of data will
help you while you're growing.
Understand.
Am I doing enough right now?
If I've only got one packageout there and actually I'm not
(07:19):
performing, I'm not getting thatprofit number that I thought
I'd be getting.
You can see that very, veryquickly.
You don't have to wait untilthe end of the year to be told
by your accountant well, it'snot been that good a year for
you, has it?
You know nobody wants to hearthat.
This is how we should belooking at our businesses on a
monthly basis.
Donna Eade (07:38):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I love that.
You said that, because I amsomebody who loves a bit of
software and there are lots ofdifferent accounting softwares
out there.
Are there any that you thinkare interesting?
I wouldn't.
I'm not going to say better.
I don't want you to have tosort of say, no, this one's
rubbish, but ones that youprefer, and if you can tell us
(08:00):
why you prefer to use them so Ionly work with Xero.
Kam Grewal (08:04):
They have quite a range of um subscriptions, so
they've they've got two or threethat I can offer to my smaller
clients, which you can't buy offthe shelf as a user, as a
business owner.
So I get that from my practice.
And then they have, you know,higher level ones which cater to
(08:24):
the companies that are biggerand need the bells and whistles.
The thing I like most aboutXero is their interface.
It's so simple and clean thatit just it takes away some of
the fear that people have whenthey think about having to do
the bookkeeping.
It's very intuitive.
So it starts, for example, on abank record, it'll start
(08:47):
matching or suggesting thingsbased on what you've done before
, which obviously is going tomake it more time efficient, and
they've just developed thequickest.
They've been on the ball and,from a from a practice
perspective, I also can fileaccounts through it.
So my clout's on zero.
There's no getting bits ofpaper and putting it into a
(09:07):
spreadsheet, uploading it intoanywhere.
It's all linked and it'sfantastic.
Donna Eade (09:12):
Other softwares are available, guys, but, um,
particularly with zero and theones that you know of, they have
the function to be able to likescan your receipts into it, so
you don't have to be likekeeping bags of receipts to take
to your accountant and throw ontheir desk once a quarter.
Kam Grewal (09:30):
None of my clients do that, absolutely.
No one is allowed to bringpaper to me.
I have trained them all.
So, um, yeah, I.
For the ones that have thehigher level subscription, they
automatically get a productcalled Hubdog.
Now, hubdog is fantastic.
You can have it as an app onyour phone and you open the app,
(09:52):
take a picture of a receipt andit goes into the system.
Um, you just need to code itand it's there, it's done.
You don't need to go to ascanner, you don't need to.
You know, get.
You can even email in.
Actually.
So, um, there's severaldifferent ways.
If you're on a desktop andyou've got, you've got a picture
of something you can just dragand drop.
(10:13):
They've just helped streamlinethat process so much, yeah, that
business owners can do itwithout needing their
accountants to yeah, I always is.
Donna Eade (10:21):
It is zero the one.
Oh, I'm gonna like it's anotherone.
I always see this ad on YouTubeof a guy on a skateboard
scanning um receipts as he goesdown the line, and it's for one
of the apps, I can't rememberwhich one.
I'm not sure, no, it's a blue.
It's definitely blue is theircompany color.
(10:42):
But yeah, hilarious, makes melaugh every time I watch it.
But he's like but yeah, makesmakes scanning your business
receipts a breeze or something.
It's like so funny.
But yeah, so that's reallyuseful for that streamlining and
that's something that we loveto do on this show is to
streamline our businesses in anyway possible.
(11:03):
So making.
To come back to the bankaccount thing that you said you
can put your bank account intoit.
What are your thoughts or yourpreferences around people using
(11:28):
a personal bank account versus abusiness bank account?
Because I think a lot of peoplewhen they start up, they just
open another current account andthey're like, oh, I'll just use
that for my business.
What are your thoughts from anaccountant?
Kam Grewal (11:41):
you should see.
This is this is one of myreally like please, if you're
setting off in business, please,please, please, sell off
another bank account becauseit's so important to have it
separated.
You will save yourself timedown the line it it will be less
of a headache trying to figureout if that coffee was when you
met a client or a new businessand you can put it through the
(12:04):
business or not.
So a little bit of confusioncomes up when it comes to bank
accounts.
If you are self-employed andyou are just trading as you, you
can just set up anotherpersonal account because it is
it is you with a limited company.
It's a separate entity, so youdo need to set up a separate
bank account.
Okay, that makes sense you don'talways have to pay massive fees
(12:27):
.
You know, I use stylingpersonally and I don't pay any
bank fees.
They're fantastic.
Do what I need them to do, yeah.
So yeah, there's um, there are.
There are banks out there thatare maybe less traditional, so
you don't have the branches, butthen you also don't incur costs
for having that account.
Donna Eade (12:44):
Yeah, yeah that's useful to know, because I think
a lot of times people gettripped up with the, the
legalities of things that likethat.
So, um, that was a reallyuseful tip.
And then earlier on you weretalking about like putting a
percentage away for tax andthings.
So I wanted to sort of circleback to that and talk about how
we actually break down our money, because I think a lot of
(13:04):
people think they should.
You know they're buying stufffor their business, so they can.
You know that that moneyobviously comes out of the
business money, and then theywant money for themselves and
and that's it, and that's all wedo is like, once of the
business money and then theywant money for themselves, and
that's it, and that's all we do,is like, once all the business
expenses are done, the rest ofit is mine to take and I can
spend it how I want, and I thinka lot of people get in trouble
(13:26):
doing that way.
So are there any rules of thumbfor you on how you kind of talk
to your clients about splittingtheir money or just in general
how you feel people should lookat?
You know, you've got this 100pot of money that's coming into
your business.
What do we do with it?
Kam Grewal (13:42):
I definitely say you need to put money aside for tax
and I if, especially if you'reself-employed, the the profit
number they were staying under,we're staying within the first
threshold.
So so the 20% you're nothitting above 36,000, for
example then you want to bepulling away 20 to 30% because
(14:04):
you are paying income tax andyou are going to have to pay
national insurance as well.
So 30% is a really safe placeto be.
And that is on the profitnumber number.
So once you've taken yourincome, you've taken off your
costs from that profit number,the number you want to spend.
You need to take away your 30percent.
(14:25):
Yeah, if you're a limitedcompany, then you need to be
looking at about 19 percent forthe corporation tax, and that is
if you're not taking anythingelse out of the business like
dividends and okay things likethat yeah, dividends might go a
little bit over a lot of ourpeople's heads so we won't even
dive into that, if you want toknow
Donna Eade (14:44):
about dividends separately, then please do
message Kat, she will go throughthat with you.
But yeah, I think that'simportant because the rule of
thumb that I've always followedis 30, 30, 30 and30.
And I know that that leaves 10over, but it's beside the point
of 33-33-33,.
Whatever that, 33% is tax andnational insurance, 33% is
(15:07):
business costs and 33% is what Iget to take.
And then hopefully my businesscosts are lower than that and I
think a lot of us areself-employed, solo
entrepreneurs working from home.
We can often keep those costsquite low.
So you're not necessarilyhitting the 30%.
But the reason that I do thatis because what if my laptop
(15:29):
breaks down, or what if I needto access a piece of software or
a?
I need to buy something that isout of the ordinary, an annual
expense that's a big one, or aone-off bigger expense.
I'm going to have a littlesavings pot there in the
(15:50):
business that I can pull fromwithout having to go.
Oh my God.
And I think a lot of peopleforget to sort of do exactly
what you were saying earlier andforecast what's my next 12
months look like?
What am I?
Am I going to want to buy a newcomputer?
Do I need a new x?
Do I need a new y?
How much is that going to cost?
And actually putting that,taking that into consideration,
(16:11):
I think we do as bad enough inour personal finances that we
don't think oh yeah, I paid thecar insurance in full last year.
I really should be putting £10away a month to pay it next year
in full as well.
Everybody just brings out thecredit card or just put it on
the credit card or whatever.
So I think it's reallyimportant to kind of think about
(16:32):
those things when you'rethinking about where your money
goes.
So I really appreciate that.
Looking at our accounts, whatare the biggest mistakes that
you see people making with theiraccounts?
I would love to know, from anaccountant's point of view, what
are some of your pet peeves,like absolutely can't believe
that this person did that.
You know you don't have to nameand shame any clients.
(16:53):
Obviously clients obviously.
Kam Grewal (16:55):
Well, I'm very happy to say that my thoughts are
very well trained from the start, but I think, um, in general I
can see that having the businessbank account is one of the big
things that people don't getright at the beginning.
And then you're kind of betweentwo bank accounts, trying to,
you know, move direct debitsacross or subscriptions across,
(17:20):
and that's.
You know it's a pain trying toget all that done.
It's more admin, so it takeslonger.
So definitely the business bankaccount, that is really
important and then actually justdoing your books, because
people set up a business,they've got a fantastic idea and
they want to go and that's allgood and well and delivering
(17:41):
everything's fantastic.
But you need to be on top ofwhat's happening.
If you're not on top, you don'tknow if you've invoiced people,
have I actually been paid forthis, and then you don't know
when the money's coming in or ifthe money's coming.
Donna Eade (17:56):
You just need to be on it and something like
software will help you with thatwhat I would like you to do for
me is just clarify thedifference between bookkeeping
and accounting, because I thinka lot of people put that in the
same boat and they don't realizethat they're two different
things.
Kam Grewal (18:16):
So when we're talking about bookkeeping, we
are literally talking aboutdoing your day-to-day
reconciling of your in and outof your bank account.
That's the core of yourbusiness.
So I'd say that's basicallybookkeeping and your accounting
would be.
Donna Eade (18:33):
when you're then going on to look at your full
year and perhaps you're doingreporting obviously the
compliance piece as well, um, sothat would be maybe calling it
compliance and your day-to-dayis a bit more simple yeah, yeah
that makes sense to me thatmakes sense and I think because
(18:54):
I do think people get a day or Ineed an account, I need an
accountant, and actually theyneed a bookkeeper because they
want to give all the receipts tosomebody or whatever.
It's almost like it's so mucheasier to be your own bookkeeper
these days with the softwarethat's available, so I think
it's a really useful thing, yeah, especially as a small business
(19:14):
owner.
When you're like trying to keepthose costs down, a person is
just going to say the same.
That might be an issue goingforward, but it's really.
It's really one of those thingsas a solopreneur that you
(19:39):
should be able to do yourselfand with the software is is
quite a simple thing to do.
So, to wrap up our little talkabout um, accounting and looking
after our money, what are threethings that you would want a
listener to take away fromtoday's conversation and either
implement or take to heart andgo and do some research on?
Kam Grewal (20:00):
definitely the business plan.
So, look, make sure yourbusiness plan is solid.
Um, that doesn't have to bepages and pages, it can be.
This is my product, this is myprice and the forecast of it.
So so I want to get to let's gowith the 36,000 a year, because
(20:20):
that's an easy number to workwith.
I want to get to that point.
How am I going to do it?
Work backwards and make surethat you understand right, what
does that look like?
Per month it's 3k.
How am I going to do that?
What do I need to sell?
How am I going to get myselfout there to sell that?
And it's just taking itbackwards, I feel can really
take the overwhelm out,especially new business owners,
(20:42):
take the overwhelm out of it.
So that level of planning wouldbe so beneficial to take them
through the year.
The business bank account and Ikeep saying it clearly I feel
very strongly, very passionateabout this one yeah.
So the business bank account.
It will just make your lifeeasy.
It's a no-brainer from thestart.
(21:03):
Get it set up.
It doesn't need to be, you know, a really big bank that you go
with.
It can be some of these onlineoptions.
And then, yeah, just puttingthe money away for tax, making
sure that you understand whatyou actually can spend, so
you're not hit with a tax billat the end of the year because
nobody wants that.
Donna Eade (21:22):
No, absolutely Love that.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it and Ithink it's a really good
conversation for my listeners tolisten into as well.
Now, as I have said previously,in my episode before Christmas,
I said that changing things upa little bit this year.
So no mini Mindset Mondayscoming this year, but we're
(21:44):
going to embed them into thisepisode.
So mindset is a big one forbusiness owners and, knowing you
, cam, as I do, I know that thiswas a a big big block for you
to come on and have thisconversation with me and I'm so
bloody proud of you for doing it.
But I'm probably thinking thisis just just just a little thing
(22:07):
, one of those little things inamongst the rest of it.
So what is kind of the biggestmindset block that you have had,
that you've had to shift overyour business lifetime?
Kam Grewal (22:19):
I think it's definitely the dreaded imposter
syndrome.
Definitely, even when I workedin industry, the first company I
went into was in London is myfirst job in the big smoke.
People swore in the office.
I was like, oh my goodness,what is this place?
And uh, I was the youngestperson in the business.
Yeah, I fitted right in.
(22:42):
I um, I just remember being theyoungest person in the business
and I had to implement amassive change um to all the
processes and I genuinely didn'tthink I could do it.
(23:03):
And then the MD and the FD satme down and I said, right, we're
not saying anything, but we aregoing to make you do this.
So we're not going to getinvolved, but we want you to do
this because we know you canyeah and so that spurred me on.
I got, I got through it.
I have amazing relationshipsstill and we're talking about 24
(23:24):
years ago, 23 years ago withquite a few of those people from
that business.
So that that, and also when Iwas going to set up the company
four years ago, obviously Ialways worked in business, not
my own, and it was one of thosewhere I wasn't I don't really
fit in the box like your typicalaccounting box, if you like and
(23:47):
so I got quite frustrated andjust threw my toys out of a can
and went well, I'm gonna do thisnow.
I've had enough.
I'm not interviewing anymorefor any of these companies if
they don't like me as I am.
Well, I'll just do it myself,do it myself.
So I did, I did and I I took theapproach that I've kind of
shared.
You know, I kind of went well,where do I want to be?
(24:08):
What does that look like?
How am I going to get there andworked it back?
And obviously, with my industry, there's a lot of red tape, so
there was that to get through aswell, which felt quite daunting
at the time.
Once that was done, I think Istarted networking and that
might have been where we firstmet.
Yeah, within a couple of monthsyeah, yeah.
Donna Eade (24:30):
So one thing that I want to kind of pull on there is
is how you overcame your block,and it seemed like you kind of
just got to a point where you'rejust like, well, no, I'm just
going to do it, and it was justkind of a switch.
So are there any other thingsthat you do when that creeps up,
that you're sort of mentallysaying to yourself to help you
(24:50):
cope with when it rears its uglyhead?
Kam Grewal (24:54):
Absolutely, and I actually do this with other
people as well.
So I rationalise a lot, lot.
So I will get, if I'm in fromin a really bad place and I feel
really stuck, I will write downwhat have I accomplished with
the skill set that I think Idon't have, and actually I'll
(25:14):
read it back and then I'll go,wow, well, if I read this on
somebody else's CV, they coulddefinitely do the job.
You know, and I think it's justqualifying your skills by
recognizing what you've actuallyalready done.
Yeah, and I think when, whenyou do anything new, sometimes
it does feel a bit overwhelming,but sometimes writing those
(25:36):
things down, you can completelyqualify your skill set by just
looking at what I've done so far, yeah, and and just talk to
people as well and they'll tellyou that you're awesome.
Usually, yeah, yeah, usuallythey do.
Donna Eade (25:50):
Talk to the right people.
Talk to the right people.
I love that.
That's such a good tip.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
And, as always, guys, whenanybody brings up imposter
syndrome, I always link thatfabulous talk by Reshma in my
comments, because it's just anamazing talk.
So if you haven't listened toher talk about imposter syndrome
(26:12):
and bicycle face, then go tothe comments below into the show
notes and listen to it, becauseit's bloody amazing.
So listen to that.
Okay, so thank you for that.
We're going to go on to myquick fire round now.
So we're going to, and it isgoing to be quick because I
don't want us to run over.
So first question what is apodcast you're listening to and
loving right now?
Kam Grewal (26:33):
um, I'm not actually listening to any podcasts at
the moment, but I am a bit of aBlinkist addict, okay tell us
what Blinkist is um.
So Blinkist is an app that I've, I've got and it and it gives
you snippets of books, so itgives you the top takeaways and
you can just listen on the go,and I find it really useful
because you get a summary almostof a book in 20 minutes, which
(26:58):
probably doesn't do it justice,but it's the key takeaway.
Donna Eade (27:02):
How's listening to one of those Blinkist ever made
you go?
I need to buy this book andactually read the whole thing.
Kam Grewal (27:07):
I have some saved, but it's a time thing for me
yeah, it's a time thing I've gotbooks that if I had, you know,
a few weeks off, I woulddefinitely get um, but yeah, I
won't be able to name them offoff my top my head now.
But um, yeah, one of them Ithink I was reading recently was
called the power of habit byCharles Duhigg, and this is a
(27:32):
good one for those people whodon't like to do their
bookkeeping.
If you did a little bit eachweek, just plugging that in yeah
, yeah, absolutely, it wouldmake it a lot easier it would,
um, yeah, love that, love that.
Donna Eade (27:44):
So what's the book that has made the biggest impact
on your life so far?
So, maybe not one of yourblinkest books, maybe back when
you had a bit more time and youactually did do some full length
book reading.
Kam Grewal (27:54):
Yeah, or maybe it is a blinkest book I don't know.
Donna Eade (27:56):
Go for it.
Kam Grewal (27:57):
No, it's not.
This is again tying into into.
When I went into my first bigjob, um, I was quite introverted
and shy and I came across DaleCarnegie and he his book how to
Win Friends and Influence People.
Um, I had friends just sayingthat, um, but it actually helped
(28:19):
me understand a bit morepsychology because, bearing in
mind, I would have been in myvery early 20s at that point and
I was working with people whowere a lot older than me, so it
gave me quite a good insight andinfluencing people was 100% my
job in that place yeah,brilliant, love that.
Donna Eade (28:36):
I've got that one on my bookshelf.
Um, what's your favorite go-tosnack when you're in a hurry?
definitely stoats, oat bars okayvery specific, like an oat bar,
and I do yeah, I'm quite, I'mquite picky about my oat bars as
well, so I get that.
And then, finally, what is yourultimate me time thing to do?
Because I know you're a mum,you've got some children that
(28:58):
run around the house, you've gota dog.
That's a quite a young dog.
So what do you do when youactually get some time to
yourself quite a young dog.
So what do you do when?
Kam Grewal (29:05):
you actually get some time to yourself.
I actually took myself off onMonday for a spa day amazing, I
had an amazing time and it wasdefinitely very, very rewarding
just being offline and, yeah,just the quiet, the quiet.
I actually I did take anotebook.
I did take a notebook, to befair, and I was doing some
(29:25):
planning as well, because I likedoing that when I'm away from
the office yeah, I'm a planneras well.
Donna Eade (29:30):
I like to do planning, so, yeah, I love that
well.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show today, cam.
It's been an absolute joy and Ihope that now you've done it,
you're just like what was I evenworried about?
This has been brilliant.
Kam Grewal (29:42):
Tell people where they can find you online and how
you can help them yeah, at themoment my website is being
redone so you'll find me onlinkedin cam gruel.
So g-r-e-w-a-l and um, you canget in touch for a consultation,
and I also train people onsoftware.
So training people in zero sothey can, can do the round-foot
(30:05):
keeping.
Donna Eade (30:06):
Brilliant, brilliant .
So there you go if you need ahand with getting your head
around the software, because weknow that there are some
technophobes out there thatthink everything is well beyond
them and when they have a littlebit of training they realize
actually they can do it.
You know that imposter syndromecomes in, doesn't it?
Oh tech, no, I can't.
So go and connect with Cam.
All of her links will be in theshow notes, so do go over and
(30:27):
connect with her.
Thank you so much for listening.
Thank you for coming on theshow, cam.
Kam Grewal (30:31):
Thank you for having me.
Donna Eade (30:33):
We'll see you in the next one.
Bye for now.
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