• Xero CEO Rod Drury announced that Xero is working to apply “artificial intelligence” to small businesses books, so that they can effectively keep themselves. (You don’t see this type of innovation from the folks at Quickbooks, and it’s why Forbes has named Xero the #1 innovative global growth company for the last two years.)

• The ecosystem of cloud-based apps built around Xero that are truly making small business lives better. Examples of ones that we use and love are: Hubdoc for capturing receipts, automatically retrieving account statements, and auto-magically recording in Xero; Bill.com for approving and sending electronic payments to any vendor big or small, plus auto-magically recording in Xero; and Gusto, for simplifying payroll with auto-magically recorded entries and awesome employee self-service logins.

• Inspiration from speakers like Dadapani who talked to us about how to build our concentration and willpower to impact what truly matters to us in business and life. And Mel Robbins, who shared the “5-second rule” she created at a time of struggle in her life, that helps her take action on positive instincts she has before self-doubt gets in the way. (What small business owner hasn’t experienced that?)

• Not to mention spending time in person with my accounting friends both new and old, sharing in camaraderie and learning together. (I even got interviewed with one of them pictured here).

I agree with the folks at Xero, that now is an exciting time to be in the small business economy, because we have so many great resources available to us to help bring the vision we have to reality, and make a positive impact on the communities in which we serve. Thank you Xero for hosting such a great conference, and can’t wait for the next one! (And if you’d like to put these tools to use for your business, just give us a call.)