How accounting has changed my life!

What a week and what a day it's been thus far. Time sure flies when you're busy at work learning new things.

I work as an office manager at an accounting firm. Not just any accounting firm. My dad's accounting firm.

To be honest with you, I never thought I would be working in the accounting field, and neither did anyone else who knew me.

I'm not the kind of person who is content sitting behind a desk, crunching numbers, day in and day out.

But once in a while a great opportunity comes along, and you just have to take it. That's what this job was.

At the time I was fresh out of high school with no idea what direction I wanted to go in life. My dreams when I was a child were constantly changing. First I wanted to be a lawyer, then I wanted to write for Rolling Stone Magazine, for a while there I thought about Marine Biology, hell when I was 7 I wanted to be Storm from the X-Men. But once I took my first sewing class, I settled on fashion design. And that's something I carried with me through out high school. I even applied to first rate design schools. But somewhere in my senior year, I realized that while I had fun making clothes for my friends, it wasn't something I wanted to do for a living.

I was pretty much lost when my father and his business partner decided to split and go their separate ways. All of a sudden, I had a job offered to me. Needless to say, I took it.

At first it was terribly boring and confusing. Then I got to know the clients, and truth be told, they are what make this job amazing to me. From the ones I see on a weekly basis whom I take a few minutes of my day to chat up, to the ones I see once a year who bring in all kinds of homemade treats for us. Their just amazing and I feel honored whenever any of them say something nice or bring in something nice. It feels good to be doing something that people appreciate and while I might not be saving lives like a doctor would, or saving manatees like a marine biologist would, I am helping people in my own way.

I've also learned a lot over the years, and that too is exciting. Right now I'm learning to do a closing. And while numbers are boring, changing it up and doing something I don't do on a regular basis provides a nice breath of fresh air.

Thinking about where I was when I started this job to where I am now is something I've been doing a lot lately. When I first started out, I had absolutely no people skills. I've always been kind of a hermit, I never liked interacting with "strangers", it's the social anxiety, but working here forced me to deal with people. It was my job to call clients, to talk to them when they came in, at first I was so nervous, I would mumble, stutter, ramble. But now, well I'm a professional.

I've also learned quite a bit about being a boss. The business is primarily a family business. Mostly family has worked here, all though on occasion, we've hired people not related to us. But it wasn't until recently that I've been the head hancho, the top dog, the person in charge of overseeing said employees. And while I still might not be the perfect boss, I'm finding my way. I've learned how to balance work and friendship better than I ever thought I would and suddenly I find myself truly concerned with the business. I don't like it when employees slack off constantly, I find myself thinking about the future of the business a lot more, suddenly I care about this.

I've also learned a lot about how the real world works. I had no clue about payroll taxes, sales tax, tax returns, it was amazing to me that I went through life so clueless. Now, while I might not be an expert on certain things, I have a good understanding of how to run a business, what actually happens when I receive a paycheck, why I get a tax refund, or owe the state every year.

I think while this isn't something I want to do forever, it's been a great opportunity for me. I've learned so much, it's helped me to grow as a person, and when my father retires, I have all the tools I need to go in pretty much any direction my life wants to take me. Maybe I'll use what I've learned about business to open a yarn store....