I've got an announcement, actually two! I'm handing the Blackline reins over to my co-founder Tom, and taking on a fractional CFO role I've never done before. Neither decision happened overnight. One is about knowing when to step back. The other is about knowing when to say "yes" to something that scares you a little. But this week I'm chatting about how I got to both. I'll be sharing more on: Why I believe Tom is ready to run Blackline without me, after everything he's grown into over the last year. What a fractional CFO role actually means, and why I said yes despite never having done the job formally. How I weighed up my family, my apprentice and my existing business before committing to anything new. Why I'll be under an NDA, and exactly what that does and doesn't mean for what I can share here. These are the moments that shape a founder's story just as much as the wins do! (Even when they take weeks of quiet thinking to get right.)   Let's Connect: Website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok   Be sure to check out: Ways to work with me Right Click Accounting Blackline Academy   Useful Links: Check Out Tom Phillips MTD for Limited Companies MTD for Self Employed GOV - Making Tax Digital  

Nobody warns you that growing your business also means growing yourself. After speaking to thousands of founders over the years, I've noticed the same thing holds almost every business back at some point: confidence. Not skill, not the market, not the support around them. Confidence. I'm sharing: Why founders don't have the structure employees do and what that does to your self-belief The moment I realised my mum, my very first employee, taught me more about letting go than anyone since My "rubber band" way of picturing why delegation feels so hard when it's genuinely your baby Why founders who've been burnt by a bad hire hesitate to try again and why that's worth naming Why I believe you can't separate the growth of your business from the growth of you as a person Because the business only grows as far as you're willing to grow with it.   Let's Connect: Website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok   Be sure to check out: Ways to work with me Right Click Accounting Blackline Academy

Three days before my biggest talk yet, I turned to my husband and said I couldn't do it. I'd said yes to speaking at the ICC in Newport, my biggest stage yet, and by the Wednesday before, I was ready to back out. This week's a bit different: a personal, unedited reflection on the anxiety, the doubt, and the prep that got me through it. I'm sharing: How I ended up speaking there in the first place and why I hadn't even applied The moment I found out I was filling a slot meant for someone I deeply admire and what that did to my head What anxiety actually feels like in my body and why I think that's worth talking about The conversation with my husband three days before, when I genuinely considered pulling out The unglamorous prep that got me on stage: from charging my clicker twice to sorting my outfit down to the underwear Because confidence isn't the absence of fear. It's doing the thing anyway, toes curling and all.   Let's Connect: Website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok   Be sure to check out: Ways to work with me Right Click Accounting Blackline Academy   Useful Links: Lucy Cohen Substack The CLEAR Way to AI-Ready Finance (Talk)

I recently spoke on the biggest stage I've ever stood on. ICC Newport, a session on AI in finance, and I was terrified. This week's episode is a bit different. Instead of talking to you directly, I'm sharing some of what I said on that stage: the pain points I see in businesses every day, the framework I've built to fix them and why AI isn't going to save you if your finances are a mess first. I'm sharing: Why you need to be AI ready before you can be AI led, and what the "messy middle" actually looks like My CLEAR framework: Clean, Live, Enhanced, Accountable and Relevant data A real story about a business that hit £3.5 million in turnover, on paper, before its Frankensteined systems caught up with it What Shadow AI is and why your team might already be using it without telling you Why I don't think AI replaces the human in the loop, and what that means for accountants Because whether you're excited about AI or dreading it, the businesses that win won't be the ones with the flashiest tools. They'll be the ones who got their data right first.   Let's Connect: Website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok   Be sure to check out: Ways to work with me Right Click Accounting Blackline Academy

A friend of mine, who's self-employed and runs a few different businesses, text me last week and said, "Lex, I know you'll understand this stuff, but what the heck is MTD and where do I even start?" So that's exactly what we're talking about today! Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD for IT) is the biggest tax reform in 40 years, and if you're self-employed or a landlord, it's about to change how you report your finances to HMRC. The tax itself isn't changing. How and when you tell HMRC about it is. I'm sharing: What Making Tax Digital actually is, and why the name makes it sound way scarier than it is Who it affects (spoiler: if you run a limited company, this one's not for you) and the income thresholds that decide when you get pulled in The key deadlines coming up, including the first quarterly submission on 7th August, and why HMRC won't be issuing penalties in year one Why I'm calling this a "guinea pig year" and telling my own friend to treat it as practice, not pressure The practical homework to do right now, from sorting your Government Gateway login to figuring out how you actually like to learn Because whether you're dreading it or you've never heard of it until this episode, the more you understand now, the less overwhelming it'll be when it lands on your desk.   Let's Connect: Website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok   Be sure to check out: Ways to work with me Right Click Accounting Blackline Academy   Useful Links: GOV Making Tax Digital NatWest Accelerator Hub Cardiff Event Making Tax Digital for Self-Employed Individuals (Blog)

I burst someone's bubble on a prospect call recently. And I felt terrible about it. They'd set up as a limited company specifically to protect their business name. It made complete sense to them. The only problem? Registering at Companies House doesn't actually protect your name at all. It's one of the most common misconceptions I come across, and it can leave your business completely exposed without you even realising it. In this episode I'm walking you through exactly what I told them, and what every business owner should know about actually protecting what they've built. I'll be talking more about: Why Companies House registration gives you far less protection than you think. What a trademark actually is, how to apply for one, and why it matters. Why shareholder agreements are so important, and why most people only find out when it's too late. Why grabbing your social media handles across every platform is one of the easiest things you can do right now. Why you should always hold the master login to your own software and systems. Because building a business takes everything you've got, and the last thing you want is to lose control of it over something that could have been sorted in an afternoon! Let's Connect: Website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok   Be sure to check out: Ways to work with me Right Click Accounting Blackline Academy

Growth in business is exciting. But nobody really prepares you for what happens to the relationships around you when you start to level up. In this episode I'm getting honest about something I'm seeing play out more and more...the way your network, friendships and professional circles naturally shift as your business evolves. It's not dramatic, there's no falling out. It just happens. And it can feel really unsettling if you don't understand why. I'm sharing: Why outgrowing certain relationships in business is completely normal and nothing to feel guilty about How to handle those shifts with honesty and kindness rather than just quietly drifting Why the right group of people around you becomes more important the higher you grow What "every new level has a new devil" actually means in practice Why I'm fiercely protective of my own inner circle and what makes it work Because the people you surround yourself with in business aren't just nice to have. At every new level, they become everything.   Let's Connect: Website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok   Be sure to check out: Ways to work with me Right Click Accounting Blackline Academy

Someone waved a £50 note at me at AccountEx. So naturally, I stopped. What followed was a conversation that didn't sit right with me...and the more I thought about it, the more I realised why. In this episode I'm talking about commission-based services, why they make me uncomfortable, and the very real, very public case that explains exactly why that instinct exists. If you're a business owner who trusts a finance professional to act in your best interests then this is worth understanding. I'm sharing: What commission-based accountancy services actually mean in practice The Apostle Accounting case what happened, who got hurt, and why it still matters Why the people who were affected aren't the ones who should feel embarrassed What I look for when deciding who to recommend, refer, or work alongside Why trust isn't just a nice to have in finance, it's everything! Because knowing what questions to ask, and what red flags to look out for, could save your business from a very costly mistake.   Let's Connect: Website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok   Be sure to check out: Ways to work with me Right Click Accounting Blackline Academy   Useful Links: BBC News - Apostle Accounting Case HMRC Enquiries, Investigations & Powers - Apostle Accounting Case

Once a year I make the trip to London for AccountEx, the largest finance expo in the world. And every year I come home buzzing.   This episode I'm taking you behind the scenes of what it's actually like to attend an event like this as a small practice owner; why I go, how I plan my time, and what I came away thinking about this year.   This isn't just an event recap. I'm sharing conversations that confirmed things I already suspected, moments that genuinely surprised me, and one particular seminar that sent me straight home to update my client agreements.   You can expect to hear: Why networking with other small accountancy firms is one of the most valuable things I do all year How I plan my time at expos to make sure I'm always looking ahead, not just keeping up What the seminars on AI actually revealed and why the US is already doing what's coming to the UK What the Anthropic and Xero partnership actually means for your financial data Why I came home and immediately started updating my client communications If you're the kind of business owner who likes to know what's happening behind the scenes before everyone else is talking about it...you'll enjoy this one!   Let's Connect: Website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok   Be sure to check out: Ways to work with me Right Click Accounting Blackline Academy   Useful Links: Accountex London Accountex - Seminar Programme Accountex - Exhibitor List Birmingham Business Show GenFinance AI Xero & Anthropic Collaboration

Something is happening in the accountancy world that nobody is really talking about, and I think it's time someone did. Accountants are leaving. Practices are being sold. People are retiring early. And if you work with an accountant or rely on one for your business, this episode is worth a listen. I'm pulling back the curtain on what's really going on inside the industry; from the shift to digitalisation and real-time reporting, to the weight of new regulation, rising costs, and the pressure that AI is adding on top of it all. I'm sharing: Why the move to digital has completely changed what clients expect from their accountant. Why explaining numbers is a completely different skill to crunching them. The regulation changes that are quietly making the industry harder to stay profitable in. What AI and software partnerships actually mean for the future of accountancy. What to look out for when it comes to your own accountant and the questions worth asking. Because the more you understand about the world your accountant is navigating, the better conversations you can have to benefit your own business. Let's Connect: Website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok Be sure to check out: Ways to work with me Right Click Accounting Blackline Academy