6 The Cost of Doing Business
Error is only the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.
Henry Ford
Mateo was having a beer at his favorite microbrewery when his friend Josh pulled up a stool. “Man, what happened to you? You look like you were rode hard and put away wet!” said Josh. “You look like you lost your best friend. What’s happenin’?”
“I feel like it. I just left my accountant and she is not happy with me.”
“What did you do? Embezzle from your own company?”
“Very funny,” Mateo replied. “Well, you know how those accounting bean- counter types can be. I guess I missed a few details and she is uber upset. She just went on and on! But, man, I’ve been so busy getting clients and then delivering on the proposals. I barely have time to think. Thanks for asking.”
“What are friends for? Let me grab a brew and you can tell me all about it.” Josh left and returned with a couple of beers for both of them and a platter of loaded chips to munch on and said, “Okay, so how did you irritate your bookkeeper?”
“I don’t even know where to start,” said Mateo. “I guess it all began when I walked in with a greasy McDonald’s bag in which I had been keeping my parking receipts, airline tickets, and other stuff she told me to save. I started saving stuff about six months ago. You know, stuff that would be deductible. I guess she wanted me to put them into some kind of a filing system and she wasn’t very happy when I couldn’t tell her what each receipt was for that made it a business ...
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