What Playing the Long Game Really Looks Like in Business
What does playing the long game in business actually look like when growth isn’t the only thing you’re trying to accomplish?
BookSmarts founder and CEO Jenny Groberg joined the Sweet Takes – Big Leap Podcast for a conversation about growing BookSmarts, creating opportunities for accounting professionals around the world, making better financial decisions, and some of the experiences that have changed the way she approaches both business and life.
A recurring idea throughout the conversation was simple: play the long game.
Growth Starts With Thinking Bigger
BookSmarts is at a point where Jenny sees significant opportunity for growth. But taking on more work means making sure the team has enough depth to support that growth without exhausting the people already there.
That has pushed her to think differently about hiring and training.
During the episode, Jenny talks about BookSmarts’ work with BYU Pathway, which began with a 10-week accounting course taught with the help of members of the BookSmarts team. As the program grew, so did the opportunity to identify talented people who had completed the training and were looking for meaningful work.
BookSmarts has since hired six people through the program.
Getting there wasn’t necessarily the easiest or least expensive option. Jenny shares that establishing the cybersecurity infrastructure alone required a significant investment, and some people questioned whether the initiative made financial sense.
Jenny saw it differently.
The immediate cost was only one part of the equation.
Sometimes the Best Investment Doesn’t Pay Off Immediately
One of the most interesting parts of the conversation is Jenny’s explanation of why she was willing to make that investment.
Giving back is one of the pillars of BookSmarts. Helping people develop accounting skills and improve their employment opportunities had value to Jenny regardless of whether every participant eventually worked for BookSmarts.
But there was a business lesson in it, too.
Hiring and training are expensive. Turnover creates more training. And when people working on client accounts change frequently, clients feel that disruption.
Jenny’s longer-term goal is to develop people who are well trained, supported, and hopefully interested in staying for years.
That is where the long game comes in.
An investment that looks expensive today can make sense when you consider the stability, capacity, and opportunities it could create several years from now.
Your Numbers Should Tell You When Something Needs to Change
The conversation eventually comes back to accounting and why Jenny believes financial information matters so much to business owners.
Her advice is practical: don’t run a business based only on whatever problem feels most urgent that day.
Look at the numbers.
Jenny encourages business owners to regularly review reports such as their balance sheet, profit and loss statement, cash flow, and sales by customer. She also recommends comparing multiple periods so changes and outliers are easier to spot.
If payroll suddenly increases while revenue stays flat, for example, that’s information you can act on. Maybe pricing needs to change. Maybe overtime is signaling that it’s time to hire. Whatever the answer is, the financials help identify the problem before the business owner is forced to simply react to it.
Good accounting isn’t only about documenting what already happened.
It’s about having enough information to make a better decision about what happens next.
Small Progress Still Counts
Jenny also shares a much more personal side of her story during the episode.
After a brain injury significantly affected abilities she had previously relied on, recovery forced her to rethink what progress looked like. Pushing harder didn’t necessarily make things better. In some cases, it made recovery worse.
That experience changed the way she thinks about growth.
Instead of expecting everything to happen through one massive effort, Jenny has learned to recognize the value of small gains repeated over time.
That lesson now shows up in the way she talks about business, leadership, and even the advice she gives her children: you don’t have to be perfect. You have to keep showing up.
Progress over perfection.
What Does Playing the Long Game in Business Look Like?
There isn’t one answer.
It can mean investing in people before you desperately need them.
It can mean making a decision that doesn’t produce an immediate financial return because you understand the broader value it can create.
Or it might mean looking at three months or three years of financial results instead of reacting to one difficult week.
And sometimes, it simply means continuing to show up and allowing small improvements to compound.
Jenny’s conversation on Sweet Takes goes well beyond accounting. It’s a candid discussion about growth, resilience, giving back, leadership, and what can happen when you stop measuring every decision by its immediate payoff.
Watch or listen to the full conversation:
