I’m in the market for a new bookkeeper for my boyfriend’s company, Creative Carpet Repair. He’s taken it, in less than three years, from a single man (him) operation where he ran around in his truck up and down Southern California to a full-fledged company with six full-time employees, an office and close to 300 carpet repair contractors around the country.

But that’s not the point of this blog (but I am very proud of him!).

The point is that I can’t (or rather don’t want to) handle his accounting any more. There are too many account, there’s a lot of money flowing both ways and well, it’s time we passed it on to someone trained to do this. We need someone who can look at the numbers and tell us what’s up.

Many people tell me I’m the perfect one to do this since I’m the money lady but I’m NOT the money lady…I’m the financial literacy lady and that’s a completely different expertise :).

Who is Raving About Who?

So I’ve been asking around and one of our former employees, Ms. Karen Dwyer, who left to start her own franchise, Express Personnel, started RAVING about her accountant in the post office one day where I happily ran into her.

Karen told he how great he was, how much she trusted him, that he was reasonable and did what he said he would do in a timely manner and well, you can be darned tootin’ that I got his phone number and I’m going to give him a call this week.

We all know this as personal referrals but it’s more than this. We tend to call the people that others are excited about…the ones they RAVE about.

Like the movie your best friends says you “HAVE TO SEE.”

Or the new sushi bar that makes “THE BEST RAINBOW ROLL EVER!”

Or the new consignment shop that has “THE BEST JEAN SELECTION IN TOWN!”

You get the idea…Raving = Success

Not always, but most often, when people rave about something, you can bet it’s a success. And this is a concept you can teach your kids, and especially your teens as they get older and start wanting to figure out how to get ahold of money!

Phone Book (Google) Activity

This little activity is not only fun but enlightening for the whole family. It will show you how you have been influenced in the everyday consumer choices you make both locally and nationally.

1. Someone picks a topic (pizza, hair cuts, etc.). Stick with local products and services at first and then go national if you want.
2. Before looking in the phone book (if you still have one…I don’t think I actually do) or searching Google, write down the businesses that come to mind. Name as many as you can and list why you’re naming them. What have you heard about them.
3. If you want to add another twist, do a list of businesses you’d NOT go to as well and list why.
4. Then look those businesses up in the phone book or on Google (and remember when you search to add your town to the search, for example, “Santa Barbara pizza”).
5. Notice the ones that come up first or the ones that have big ads. Are they the ones you use, buy from, or visit the most often?
6. Have a conversation with your kids about this concept and ask them how it might influence how they do things as they enter the professional world of business.

How Can YOU Become the Raved About One

Being the one person people rave about requires consistent delivery of the following:

• 100% integrity: you always keep your word, you show up on time, you go above and beyond the call of duty, you add value to everything you touch, you change people’s lives in ways that are meaningful to them. Remember, this may mean, as in my example above, that you keep people’s businesses running impeccably and that they can count on you.
• Be honest: telling the truth is one of the most important values you can have in the business world. With so much marketing geared toward getting us to believe just about anything, it really is hard to know who to believe. BE the one who not only is believable but is telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
• Something unique: give something that no one else gives. When you’ve given 100% and delivered what people expect, what can you do that they didn’t expect that will cause them to stand up, take notice and rave about you? By the way, YOU can set up your customer’s expectations and then surpass them every time:-).
• Set an example: people love to rave about people they admire, look up to, and respect. Other professionals also tend to be influenced by the values, habits, behaviors and attitudes of the same. When you can set a great example for someone you work for, they will start to look out for you and send referrals, i.e., rave about you.
• Be positive and happy: let’s face it…it’s just not fun to work with someone who is miserable, unhappy, sad, depressed, exhausted, complaining, whiny or too serious. Ask yourself this simple question before going out each day…”What type of person would I want to work with?”… and then go be that person.

If you take some time to help your ‘adults in training’ understand these important points, and constantly have questions about these concepts as they get older, get their first (or second, etc.) jobs, have experiences in the professional world, you’ll watch your teens turn into adults who others rave about also!