[1:15] There isn’t an easy solution if a shady client makes up a good portion of your business’s revenue, but working with an unscrupulous person can put your business in jeopardy.

[1:45] The first signs of a shady client will come up when you’re marketing. When you connect with a potential client, you should try and get a sense of how they feel about taxes.

[2:10] Everybody should avoid taxes as much as possible, but there’s a big difference between avoidance and evasion. If the person insinuates an interest in evading taxes, walk away.

[3:10] If your potential client is hiding something, that means they are lying, and if they are lying to the IRS, do you think they are going to have a problem lying to you?

[3:30] When you’re consulting with these clients, look for things that are off. But if they are already a client and things start to feel wrong, there are some steps you can take.

[4:00] If you start to see warning signs, the first thing to do is to document it and bring it to their attention. First, assume they don’t know and get them on the phone. It may be an innocent mistake, but if it’s not, you’re going to want to call out your client immediately.

[6:15] Ben’s general rule of thumb is one mistake can slide, but if they make a second “mistake”, that’s a pattern and that’s the end of the relationship. Even if the shady things seem small, if you’re seeing them more than once, you should end your relationship with that client.

[7:00] It’s okay to get rid of shady clients. You don’t need to serve them. Most people are fine, but for people that want to pull something over, it’s okay to turn them down. Handle them with care when severing the relationship, and consult an attorney if you need to.

[8:20] You want to work with quality clients that respect you, that respect the laws, and obey everything that they are supposed to.

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[1:35] Where are you already? We want to make sure you’re being reviewed where your clients can see them easily. Your Facebook page is one avenue, the Better Business Bureau is another. The BBB is a very commonplace that potential clients go to find reviews. Claiming your Google Business page is another important channel. Trust Pilot is another option that’s becoming more popular.

[4:15] When you ask for a review is key. Being consistent and asking for reviews every month from your clients is the best practice. The best time to ask someone for a review is when they are already excited to be working with you. The key way to phrase the question is “would you mind sharing your opinion with everyone else about my service?”

[6:10] Five stars is great, anything else is not good. Ask them beforehand is there any reason that they wouldn’t rate you with a five star. A one-star review will definitely hurt your business.

[6:55] Avoid giving the client a script, just focus on the five-star rating and let them phrase the review how they feel.

[7:10] Reviews are one of the biggest trust elements that will allow you to serve clients online. Ask for reviews from all your clients and make it part of your monthly service.

[8:15] When someone does leave a review, make sure to always reply. This lets other people know that you are involved and care about your clients.

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[1:10] Your message needs to be going out into the marketplace all the time. It takes time for the marketing engine to warm up, so you want it running once things start to slow down.

[1:45] We don’t want one way to get ten clients, we want ten ways to get one client. If you’re relying entirely on one channel to get clients, you are vulnerable when something changes. You should add additional channels to whatever is already working.

[2:30] Most bookkeepers are transitioning over to a virtual business model since that allows them to get clients anywhere and serve them no matter where they are.

[2:50] The first thing you have to do is have a niche and be able to define your market. Marketing has three important elements: your market, your message, and your medium. Your market will dictate where you go to find your clients.

[3:50] Define your market’s jobs, pains, and gains. You need to have a deep understanding of your market and what they are trying to avoid, what they want, and what they do. Find out where the industry is hanging out. Facebook groups and pages on that subject with a lot of activity is a good sign. Join those groups and start contributing value to them.

[6:30] Marketing is how you put out your message into the market. Sales is where you’re one-on-one with someone to sell to them directly. Don’t confuse the two.

[7:00] Figure out who the associations are that deal with your chosen industry. Determine who has a presence online with a large membership. Another thing that very few bookkeepers take advantage of is trade shows. They are a great place to network and build your business.

[8:55] Is there a local association of the big industry, one that you can join and get in front of? Being able to present information to these groups is a powerful way to add value and attract people to your business.

[10:15] Don’t spend a lot of money on advertising initially until you clearly define your market. You have to come up with a true value proposition of how you help them to achieve gains, how you can help them avoid the pains, and how you take away those jobs that they really don’t like doing. Then refine your message by speaking with your clients one on one.

[11:50] When you have your market clearly defined, and know your message and your value proposition, that’s when you can go to the medium and start running ads. Until you’ve nailed those things down, don’t spend money on advertising.

[12:45] Your website should be focused on one thing: getting the visitor to contact you. As you are creating your site, think about what actions you want the visitor to take and give them an easy to follow path towards connecting with you.

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[1:00] Marketing is about three important elements: your market, your message, and your medium. Most people start with the least important which is the medium. The very first thing you have to do in all of your marketing is to clearly define your market, and that’s what your niche is.

[1:50] If you already have clients, list them from favorite to least favorite. Take the top 3 clients that you love working with and look for commonalities between them. What attracts you to those clients? Picking a niche doesn’t necessarily mean an industry, it can also mean choosing the type of person you want to serve.

[4:00] Bookkeeping is first and foremost a relationship business, there is a good chance your relationship with those clients is what puts them at the top of the list.

[4:25] Once you find the commonalities and the character attributes that you love, list out the industry your clients are in. Which industry do you have the most clients in? Consider the top industry you serve and see if there is any overlap between that and your top three clients. Ask yourself a few questions: Do you like serving that industry? Do you know a lot about it? Are you passionate about the industry?

[7:25] You may also find that the industry that most of your clients are in is something you don’t enjoy working with. You need to be passionate about serving an industry for you to make it your niche. 80% of bookkeeping and accounting is the same for every single business. But when it comes to the last 20%, it’s all about the niche.

[8:20] Most people think they have to find a niche but sometimes the niche finds them. We don’t usually find something we are passionate about, we typically find something that we are good at and become a talented craftsperson at it.

[9:30] Your medium term goal should be to focus on a niche. If you have clients in other industries already, you can continue to serve them as you bring on new clients from your chosen niche and just let them go gradually until you are only serving your niche clients.

[10:25] The more you can systematize your business, the easier your life is going to be. Imagine having one chart of accounts for your clients or being able to get a profitability study that gives you insights into your industry. You’ll be able to take the best practices from your niche industry and apply them to your client’s businesses.

[11:40] If you pick the wrong niche, you can always change it. Hopefully you put in the effort now to figure out the right one, so you can avoid doing that. Revisit this exercise frequently until you find the niche that fits your business best.

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[3:05] Heather currently has four of her own clients plus several others that she subcontracts for. The freedom of being able to choose her own schedule is very important to her as well as genuinely being able to help her clients in their businesses.

[3:55] Heather’s daughter will be going off to Kindergarten soon which will increase the amount of time she can dedicate to working on her business instead of just in her business.

[4:30] The biggest challenge, in the beginning, is just getting clients, and that’s what Heather experienced and pushed through but that often leads to getting multiple types of clients and stretching your ability to become an authority. Heather wants to be able to drill down into the specific niche of real estate investors and narrow down the kinds of clients she works for.

[6:45] Heather has had other real estate clients that’s she’s enjoyed working with, plus she also has a desire to learn more about real estate investing with the goal of doing it herself in the future.

[8:45] Heather’s main challenge is learning where real estate investors congregate, what language they use to describe their work, and how to price her services correctly for their industry. Before getting into a niche it’s important to find out more about it, one of the best resources to use is the Bookkeeper Business Launch community and connect with people who already know.

[11:30] There is no substitute for experience and getting face to face with people that you want to serve. Networking events are a great place to start, especially in the real estate space. Be clear with your intentions and be honest with them, but don’t think you’re going to get clients at the event. The focus should be on research and relationships first.

[14:25] Industry associations are another good resource to explore. Find their websites and see what they are talking about. Read their content and social media. If the niche has conventions, look at the topics they discuss. If the topic is something that they talk about every year and it’s something you can add value to, it may be a good area to explore. Look for authority figures in the space and see what they are putting into the market.

[17:30] Investing in a risk management association study for the industry will give you a good idea on financials for the niche as a whole and could be a good starting place to think about pricing.

[19:00] What are the books and thought leaders that people in that niche are reading and listening to? Who already has the attention of the people you want to serve? Getting to know them will give you different perspectives on the industry but will also help you plant the seeds for referral marketing.

[24:05] The most effective thing you can do is to get in front of potential clients and ask them the right questions. What are the challenges they face? What would they change about their business? What you want to get from the answers is a value proposition, also known as your offer.

[25:15] Nobody wants our bookkeeping, they want the result. They don’t care what you do or what tools you use, they want a solution to their problem. Everything we do in life is based upon feeling better about ourselves or feeling important. Everything you do for your clients should come back to those basic desires.

[27:50] It’s a journey, expertise in a niche takes time. When you get your first client, don’t worry about the fee. Use them to learn everything you can about that industry. When you’re in the books of a client you learn much faster than from the outside.

Mentioned in this episode: Triangle Business Solutions

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[1:20] It wasn’t what I expected, but I persevered, followed the system, did what I was told and pushed through it. When I graduated I was very proud. It was a similar story to passing the CPA exam.

[2:15] It doesn’t matter where you are in the evolution of your bookkeeping business, there are difficult things that you do not want to do. Usually, on the other side of the struggle that we have to go through is the very thing that we want.

[2:45] List out the difficult things in your life as they relate to your business right now. What are the things that you are putting off and avoiding? Then ask yourself what would happen if you did those things. What are the best-case scenarios and worst-case scenarios?

[4:20] Sometimes we have to trick our minds into looking at the benefit that is going to get us there. We’ve got to get over our initial reluctance and just go do that thing.

[5:05] Some difficult things are things that can’t be avoided, but we’re talking about the difficult things that we know will move us closer to our goals, if only we could get over our fears.

[5:30] Busy work is often stuff we do in order to avoid doing the things that we know we need to do to turn the dial in our business. Two of the most common difficult things that bookkeeping professionals avoid are networking and marketing.

[6:35] Feel the fear and do it anyway. Verbalize what you’re afraid of and then go do it. Whenever we are trying to do something new, our subconscious is going to try to dissuade us and convince us of the easier and more comfortable path.

[7:30] Once you identify the difficult things you are avoiding and list them out, figure out the things that you should be doing. Set yourself up for success by putting them into your schedule and giving someone the responsibility to keep you accountable.

[9:00] Take your list of difficult things and start taking action on them. That may mean getting rid of bad clients or letting go of a team member, but you have to keep in mind the benefit on the other side.

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[3:30] The real estate side of things were happening before the bookkeeping business came into the picture. Kelly and her husband were both working full time and had a couple of rental properties but having kids really changed things. They made some big moves, sold their properties and that was initially how Kelly found bookkeeping as a viable option.

[7:15] Kelly now works from home as a bookkeeper. Her former career was in financial services helping clients invest their money. She enjoyed the numbers aspects of the job and helping people with their money. She stumbled on the idea of bookkeeping after having a chance conversation with her godfather.

[8:40] She started out doing everything wrong (in her words) but she figured it out day by day. Kelly thought that there must be other businesses out there that need bookkeeping services, and that’s when she found Ben’s videos online and joined the course.

[9:40] The best part of the bookkeeping business is the flexibility to make her own schedule. Kelly also enjoys working with people and hearing how they built their business, it also helps that she genuinely enjoys doing their books.

[11:00] There were challenges at every turn but right now Kelly’s biggest challenge is in bringing people into her business and leveraging them to create more time for herself.

[12:10] Always start with the vision of where you want to go. Your vision gives you context to make better decisions. It needs to be specific and well defined in order to be useful.

[13:00] Kelly has a three-year vision where she wants to grow slowly and bring in some contractors to help her. She has a pretty aggressive income goal of quadrupling her current income, and one of her goals is for her bookkeeping business to help fund her real estate activities.

[15:20] One of the things that Kelly always puts off is the manual data entry tasks. This is one task that she be added to Kelly’s not-to-do list right away and is a good candidate for a virtual assistant to take on. Make your to-do list every single day and mark the tasks that you just don’t want to do, those are your first targets for delegation.

[18:15] As you scale your business, the benefit you get is exponential but the downside is also exponential if you don’t get it right at the beginning.

[19:30] Always ask yourself this question, ‘What are my clients paying me for?’ Are they paying you to do manual entries? No, that’s part of what you do to get what they are paying you for but they aren’t paying you for that. They are paying for your smile, for your information, for your reports, and for your interpretation.

[20:10] Only do what you can do. Find someone who can follow instructions, document your task, and then give it to them to take care of.

[21:00] Start with the smallest and least technical tasks and then increase the workload a bit at a time. Starting small keeps the costs down and reduces the learning curve. When someone does make a mistake, make sure you show them what the error was instead of just fixing it yourself.

[24:00] Bookkeeper Elite is a great place to find someone you can add to your team.

[25:45] Temper the expectations at the beginning of the relationship. With VA’s the time commitment is very flexible, unlike a traditional employee.

[27:00] Kelly currently spends around 80 to 100 hours a month working on her business, not counting the random nightly phone calls from clients.

[28:45] Work expands to fill the time allotted. Look at your schedule, chances are you can drop 20% of your time just by giving yourself a cap on the time you allow yourself to spend on it. When you are on you are your off time, be careful about letting your work intrude on your personal life.

[32:40] Once you’ve been more efficient with your time, that will lead you to start thinking about who can help you make your time more useful.

Mentioned in this episode: Precision Bookkeeping

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[1:55] Before starting with advisory services, you need to be able to produce financial statements in a consistent, timely, and accurate manner. If your client isn’t getting you the info you need, that’s going to be a problem. A good rule of thumb is to not work with people who drag their feet.

[2:50] Financial statements include a balance sheet, an income statement, and a statement of cash flows.

[3:30] The second thing you need to have before you start with financial services is an eager client, someone who is interested in improving their business, making more money, and who is willing to pay for the advice.

[4:05] If you’re making your client money that is true value building, which is something you should be paid for. Getting paid $1200 a month to prepare financial statements is not value-building, that’s a fixed price. Make sure you know what you’re providing your client.

[4:45] You need to have a receptive client that is willing to pay and can provide you the financial statements on time, but you also need to work with businesses that have the ability to pay you. That means 7-figure-plus businesses. Your marketing should be targeting those clients because they are the ones that need your help the most.

[5:50] You can price these services in many ways but whatever way you choose, you should not think in terms of how much money you can make. We want to think in terms of how much help or value can we provide to the client.

[6:40] You have to separate the preparation of the financial statements from the provision of advisory services. We have our minds in one mode when we are preparing statements and another when we are advising. Don’t go straight from preparing the statements into the analysis, do them at separate times.

[7:55] Advisory services can take a little bit of brain power to get right. Think about when you are at your best during the day, that’s the time you should be setting aside to do those advisory services. This also applies to everything else in your business.

[9:35] Advisory services are the key to our future. We are 21st-century bookkeeping professionals and advisory services are going to be crucial to our long term success. This is one of the critical things you can do to differentiate yourself from artificial intelligence and automation.

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[3:00] Erin was formerly a school teacher, so she never had any experience with bookkeeping before getting into the business. After getting into Ben’s program, she had an aha moment where it all came together. Bookkeeping is like learning a language; it takes some time and has a bit of a learning curve, but it can be done.

[5:45] Erin is currently serving seven clients, with word-of-mouth being the main way she landed each of them. One of the major things she did early on was to get in touch with a local Vermont bookkeeper to vet the course, and that relationship has yielded three clients so far.

[6:50] There is a lot of job security for bookkeepers who know what they’re doing.

[7:15] Erin would love to build a team. She wants to grow her business and build her empire, but she isn’t 100% positive on what that ultimate vision looks like yet. Her main question today is knowing how much work to take on at any given time.

[9:40] Erin has almost been burned by taking on too much, especially as a single mom. You can only stretch yourself so thin before it becomes a problem.

[10:40] Never ever stop marketing. That doesn’t have to mean spending money or that you have to take on the clients though. Be selective with the clients you choose continually marketing will take you off the roller coaster.

[12:05] Taking on a new client will always involve a learning curve, but that can be minimized by implementing processes and systems.

[13:45] Another option to reduce your potential workload is to raise your fees. For Ben, he has a rule of thumb where approximately 25% of prospective clients don’t want to work with him because of his fees. If everybody is accepting your price, you can probably raise your fees.

[15:45] Erin doesn’t even have a website yet. If you are landing clients already, don’t worry too much about not having a website until a prospective client turns you down because of it. There are a number of simple options that will get your business online in the course of an afternoon.

[17:55] If you’re not having people complain about the lifestyle you’re leading, you’re not growing too fast. If you can’t meet deadlines, that means you’re probably growing too fast. Unless you have those problems, keep growing.

[19:25] Stagger your potential clients and start them at different times. Temper their expectations right at the beginning so that you aren’t wasting their time or yours. You can make clients wait if you have to. It lets them know that you are in demand and are upfront with everything.

[22:30] Client compliance is a common issue that Erin is facing, especially with onboarding. Start with a specific checklist for the client verifying what you need. You can also schedule a future one-hour call with the client where you can get everything you need all at once. If you don’t have everything, you can’t start the work. If you make that clear, you will put a fire under them to get what you asked for.

[27:00] One of the biggest things that people don’t like is the pain involved in switching bookkeepers. If you can make that painless by helping them through the process, you’ll have much more success.

[27:30] When Ben’s doing the marketing, he likes to put them in situations that he’s going to be experiencing with them when they are his clients. It’s like dating and marriage; the client is probably going to be a bit better during the courting phase so it’s good to know what you’re getting yourself into.

[28:50] You can have the best processes and efficiencies, but if your client is the bottleneck, everything suffers.

[29:30] Don’t shy from charging a setup fee. Make that part of your engagement letter. If people continue to drag their feet, you can call the whole thing off. This is something about which they have to be serious.

[31:15] Don’t think in terms of people; think in terms of tasks. Do the task audit and hire a VA who can take those tasks off your plate. Don’t go out and hire a bookkeeper right off the bat.

[33:10] In many ways, the business is like a puzzle where you are putting the money-making pieces together to make everything easier.

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[0:45] If you’re working with exceptional clients, this shouldn’t happen that often, but when it does it’s actually a compliment. The client trusts you because you are their trusted advisor.

[1:20] Once it gets to the point where they are asking you consistently to do extra work, you have to bring awareness to the out-of-scope nature of the work. We want to let them know because 90% of the time, as long as you are working with quality people, they just don’t realize the issue.

[2:05] At a certain point you will get frustrated with the extra requests so before that happens, make the client aware that you are happy to include the work but you need to revisit your agreement.

[3:05] You should also send them an invoice for the task that you completed with the price for what it would have cost, but you should also give them a courtesy discount. You’re putting the fact into context that the requested work is outside the scope of the original engagement.

[4:00] It’s about open communication between you and your client, and so you’re not a doormat that’s being taken advantage of. If they are trying to pull one over on you and don’t want to pay for the work, then that’s a clown, not a client.

[4:25] Scope creep comes full circle with marketing in that the right marketing will filter out the clowns that you don’t want to work with.

[4:40] These are awkward conversations to have with a client but when you don’t communicate, that’s when you start to struggle. Not getting it out in the open will only lead to resentment.

[5:15] Don’t work with people that do not respect you. Bookkeeping is first and foremost a relationship business and in a healthy relationship there is respect. You need to be excited to serve them and they need to be excited about having you work with them.

[6:00] We want to help our clients, but we also want to make sure we’re being paid for our work.

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[3:45] He realized there was a gap in the market because if you’re a firm owner with a number of clients to manage, the average project management tool is not client centric at all. Sales tools are built for handling a pipeline, not for dealing with tasks. A conversation with one of his first customers lead to the genesis of Jet Pack.

[5:40] Creating a solution and then searching for a problem is a recipe for bankruptcy. David is trying to instill that idea culturally into his business and is always trying to identify the pain that they are working to solve first.

[6:25] By interviewing people in a specific niche and trying to solve their problems, you begin to learn the language of the industry and really understand the challenges they face. If you’re in the world of business, do more interviews and listen to them.

[8:45] The bad news is that there are many challenges, the good news is they are common challenges to the business. The big shift happens when you go from an owner that does everything to being able to articulate the right process for your team to follow. The most successful firm owners begin to think of their business as a product and understand that the quality of their product is determined by their workflow.

[12:10] When something goes wrong, always go back to the workflow that lead to that result. The SAT framework (Standardize, Automate, Track) comes into play when you’re hiring and scaling clients. If you don’t know where to start, begin with the tasks that have the biggest revenue impact or take up the most time. If you can’t get the process out of your head, have an assistant interview you.

[14:50] None of us want to be micromanagers. If you can’t step away from your business without having a panic attack, it probably means you don’t have the right set of tools to give you the visibility to feel comfortable about the progress of the firm.

[16:50] Every business has three systems: the deliverable, the marketing, and operations. Within each system there are processes that instrumental to the successful function. Simplicity is key in your checklists.

[19:20] Whatever muscles you build today are going to be the muscles that you’re using when you hire somebody. If you start building up the discipline of documenting your processes today, you will have those muscles in place when you need them. Anything you ignore in your business accrues, at some point you will have to deal with it. When you start learning you will discover patterns that will make it easier.

[25:00] If you are already using a task management tool and it’s working well, keep using it until the cracks start to show.

[26:30] The more you can systematize your business, the more valuable it is. Nobody wants to buy a business that is basically buying a job. The more days of vacation the owner can take the higher the potential value of the firm, it indicates that there are processes and systems in place, and those are key to living a lifestyle you enjoy.

[30:30] Planning your month in advance is one of the most freeing things you can do because you can see where you are each week and if you’re reaching your goals. We’re always a work in progress, you always have to reevaluate the structure of your workflow and integrate what you’ve learned. If you’re not seeing the information in front of you it’s impossible to improve it.

[34:15] You don’t have to bring all the business improvements to the table, you should rely on your team to bring ideas on how to make things better. Don’t be afraid to ask your clients how you can serve them better. There are innovations in the minds of your clients as much as there are in your team.

[37:50] More often than not, the insights are sitting outside of you in the connections and people you know and work with.

[38:40] The Net Promoter Score is a simple system for pulling insights out of your clients. You will get a lot of feedback from your clients using that tool that you may never hear otherwise. It’s amazing when you listen to your people and what they will tell you. Insights from the Net Promoter Score will uncover the client experience so you can deliver a great workflow.

[43:20] Create a guarantee that will hold you to being able to deliver on the goods. The industry is moving incredibly fast so if you don’t stand out from the pack you will fade into obscurity. A guarantee will highlight your marketing and force you to sharpen your workflow.

Mentioned in this episode: Growing Your Firm podcastDouble Your Accounting Firm by David CristelloJetpack Workflow

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[3:25] Freedom means being able to go out for lunch with her son completely unplanned, without having to run it by a boss first.

[4:25] Randy is currently working with attorneys and has between 15 and 20 clients, depending on how you count. Trust accounts are the number one reason that attorneys are disbarred so Randy feels like she is doing the most good she could do.

[6:10] Randy is a big fan of Bookkeeper Business Launch. It gave her the security to know she wasn’t alone and didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. Being an entrepreneur is a rollercoaster and this really helps limit the lows.

[7:50] Overwhelm is a very prevalent feeling in Randy’s life with her business. She feels like she has so much to do and never enough time to do it. Her vision for the business has changed from what it started out as, but now she has client work that takes up the majority of her time.

[10:30] Productivity is not about doing more in less time, it’s about doing less in less time.

[11:10] Randy’s unique abilities have to do with client relationships which gives her business a lot of security.

[12:30] If you’re feeling overwhelmed, the first thing to do is to find one hour a week that will allow you to start taking back your time. Overcoming overwhelm is about intentionally setting aside time for the important things. The first thing to do is create your “do not do list” and keep it in front of you all the time. What of those tasks are the easiest that you can hand off?

[15:30] To hand off a task to a VA, have the person watch you do it via screen share so they can see the work as it happens. Record the video and then use it as a reference for later on.

[18:30] Work expands to fill the allotted time. You have to be aware of how much time you allot to certain tasks and ask yourself what your 80/20 activities are. You want to eventually give yourself fewer activities and less time to do them in so you maximize efficiency.

[22:25] The longer you are on your entrepreneurial journey, the more you realize that there are only a couple of things that you are really good at.

[23:35] Randy’s business has been life changing for her. She realized that she would have to go out and meet people, and every day she is doing something outside of her comfort zone. The small amount of discomfort is outweighed by all the benefits that come with it.

[26:15] Quick recap on the lessons learned today. Do less in less time, take the time to celebrate how far you’ve come, and take things one hour at a time.

[28:05] A common objection is that we can’t afford the time to offboard a task to someone new, but the truth is you can’t afford not to.

[29:20] The difference between being excellent and your Unique Ability is that your Unique Ability is something that charges you up and could do all day. Everything else is something that you should give to somebody else.

[30:30] There is always another challenge to overcome, and there will always be people who want to take your time, but you have to keep pushing and refining. It’s about being effective and not just efficient. Before you do things well, you need to know what things you need to be doing in the first place.

Mentioned in this episode: Ballen Bookkeeping

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[0:55] One of the biggest traps that people fall into is documenting their processes while trying to improve them at the same time, which is a recipe for disaster. You have to clearly distinguish between documenting your processes and working to make them better.

[2:00] Just like advisory services, you need to set aside time when you have the highest level of energy and bandwidth to work on your processes. Go back to your video recording and watch yourself do the task and start looking for the cracks.

[3:05] You can’t do this right after you record the process because you need to have as fresh a set of eyes as you can manage. Ask yourself if there is a piece of technology that you can use to make the task more efficient.

[3:50] It’s important to remember it’s not all about technology and apps, it’s about the process. Apps and technology will come and go but the process will still remain essentially the same.

[4:25] The second place to look at is where the bottlenecks within your process are. If you’re working with other people, this is easy to identify. If you have to continually give review notes to the person you’re working with, you probably have a process problem, not a people problem.

[5:20] The main questions you should be asking yourself when improving processes are “how can I do this better?”, “how can I do this quicker?”, and “how can I be more efficient?”.

[5:40] The most powerful way to improve is to ask someone who is five steps ahead of you outside of your organization to review your process.

[6:50] You need to have a process control document in place because improvement is not a one and done activity. You should look at the critical processes that really turn the dial in your business every 90 days.

[7:50] Give your team the responsibility to question how they do things and give them permission to suggest improvements on how things get done.

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[0:35] The first thing to do is to distinguish between process documentation and process improvement. Whether or not you have your processes written down, you will have processes in place on how you do things.

[1:00] The reason you want to document your processes is to do more with less time and improve the quality of the services that you offer your clients. It also opens up the opportunity to offer additional services because of the increased efficiency.

[1:35] Even if it’s just you in your business, it’s still important to document your processes, but once you bring on other people, it becomes crucial.

[2:10] The first step to documentation is to list out all your processes in your business. For every deliverable in your business, there is a process. Once you’ve listed out the meta-processes, you can break them down further into tasks.

[3:05] The next step is to take one of those tasks and actually do it. Go through the physical steps of the task while using a screen capture software to record exactly what you’re doing.

[4:30] While working through the task and recording it, you should be narrating what you’re doing at the same time, preferably in a way that a sixteen year old could come into your business and do the task the same way that you are.

[5:20] Once you complete the recording, you get a video file that you can use to create your process. Take the audio and get it transcribed by a service like Rev.com and then edit the transcription down to the key elements.

[6:30] Once you’ve done that, you have a video that shows you how to do the process as well as a Word document that allows you to read how to do it. Once you have those, you can turn the document into a checklist.

[7:05] The checklist has to pass the Cessna 172 test and fit entirely on one side of a folded piece of paper. The checklist should only address the big things involved in a task, the stuff that absolutely has to be done in a process. There should be no more than 5 items on any given checklist.

[8:10] Improving your processes is a different process altogether. Start with the simpler tasks on your list and then work your way up. Just by working your way through the documentation process, you will reap tremendous benefits in your business.

[9:10] List your processes and start documenting one. Don’t worry about the quality of the recording or how you sound. The point is to get started.

Mentioned in this episode: Rev.comSnagit

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[5:25] Before jumping into bookkeeping, Jessie was considering other jobs including different teaching positions. Once she learned what bookkeeping really is, it checked all her boxes. Going through the modules in the course was challenging initially but she benefited a lot by discussing the contents in the modules with her husband.

[8:00] Jessie’s first client was a startup that just needed some help with their setup. She was close enough to actually meet in person so she drove to her place to do some training with her before landing her as a client. She now has 15 monthly clients with a few others who require different services.

[10:00] The first client and the majority of the subsequent clients were mainly found through LinkedIn. Building relationships with a couple local CPAs has also been helpful by referring clients and offering help. You never really know where the most valuable relationships will come from.

[12:45] The business of bookkeeping can become a monster if you let it, so Jessie books time every day to make sure that she has time to herself. Even with that challenge, Jessie considers herself completely unemployable at this point.

[14:20] There were three major struggles that could have ended Jessie’s business. One of her lowest points involved getting fired by her second client. There are many reasons to quit a business but you have to remember why you started it in the first place.

[16:25] In terms of vision, Jessie would like to move into more of a manager role. She would like to be able to work more with the clients and help them grow.

[19:00] Jessie loves working with startups but it can be difficult because they have so much on their plate. It’s a challenge to know what to charge and get their attention because they tend to be overwhelmed. It’s a lot easier to help a business grow in the beginning than it is to jump into a big business that has never done their books at all.

[20:50] It’s very important to work with the right kind of startups. The ones with no money and no direction can be a major headache. The best kind of startup with whom to work are the ones with funding. If they don’t have money because they’re bootstrapping, it's probably going to be an issue. Vet and qualify your potential clients on the front end based on their capital structure and business model.

[25:25] Most of Jessie’s clients reach out to her within their first two years of business and the majority of them don’t really do much beyond a box of receipts in terms of bookkeeping. The optimal time is probably around the one-year point. That’s when it will be obvious if the business model is sustainable.

[28:00] Jessie’s niche is health and fitness but it really comes down to the personality of the entrepreneur that she’s looking. It’s important to write down the specific attributes of your ideal client and what motivates them. Start with your favorite clients and what they have in common.

[31:20] Based on your avatar of your ideal client, think about who already has their attention. For Jessie that means CPAs and people in the banking industry. That can also mean attorneys, podcasters and authors as well. Those are the people with whom you want to establish relationships. It doesn’t take too many of those to start getting clients. Keep in mind that the best way to get a referral is to give a referral.

[35:30] You should try to get in the frame of mind of the referral partner and what they need from the relationship.

[36:40] Jessie could also get a list of recently established business owners and create a piece of content to serve their needs then put that in front of them.

[38:10] Jessie should strive to be known as the Startup Bookkeeper. It won’t be a rapid process. but by creating content that actually helps her avatar achieve what they are trying to accomplish, she can become a trusted authority. Most of the people with whom you get connected will never pan out, but the ones that do work with you will pay off.

[40:20] Startups have a particular set of challenges. By creating a lot of content and doing the work upfront, Jessie can create a tribe that will be much more inclined to become her clients when the time comes.

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[4:10] Brooke’s business is now one year in and she serves a number of clients, some of them are other Bookkeeper Business Launch members.

[5:50] Brooke really enjoys bookkeeping so she’d be happy to just do it all for a while, but she knows that eventually if the business keeps growing, she’ll hit a wall. Training a team to take some of the work off her hands is probably going to be in her future.

[7:00] In terms of income, Brooke is still trying to boost revenue but she’s specifically focused on increasing her average client billings first.

[8:10] Higher-end, service-based businesses are the niche in which Brooke focuses. Working with motivated business owners is one of the best parts of working with her clients.

[10:00] Freedom is definitely Brooke’s favorite thing about the bookkeeping business and being able to shape her work around her lifestyle. At this point, she can’t imagine working for someone else, which is a very different perspective from what she had when she was younger.

[11:55] Not knowing what you don’t know has been one of Brooke’s biggest challenges with growing the business. Being able to reach out to the Bookkeeper Business Launch group has been extremely helpful in understanding what to do next.

[14:00] Brooke really likes cleanups while at the same time kind of hates them because of how crazy they can be, but once the books are reconciled and everything balances, it’s very satisfying.

[15:30] In terms of activities that Brooke avoids, it’s more the business-owner stuff that gets pushed off, partly due to uncertainty and partly due to a general dislike.

[17:10] By this time next year, Brooke is hoping to double her clients and hire two other bookkeepers and outsource the work to them. She wants to have the right pieces in the right places before she starts to scale.

[20:15] Brooke’s struggle is whether or not to hire someone to run her business for her or should she hire bookkeepers so that she can step into the business owner’s shoes. In every business, there are only three parts: marketing, administration and operations. Whenever you bring someone on, they should complement your weaknesses.

[21:50] One of the things that distinguishes business owners is our ability to market and get clients. When you’re getting started, you shouldn’t outsource your marketing because no one will have the same vested interest in your business as you do.

[23:10] Finding the time to work on her business has always been difficult due to Brooke’s workload. Ben recommends booking four, one-hour sessions into your calendar next week where all you do is plan your business; preferably at a time when you are at your sharpest.

[27:30] You may have to retrain your brain into being able to work on the high-level activities that move the needle. Sometimes the easy things we love to do are the ones that get in our way.

[28:25] Do a task audit and list every single activity you do in your business and then assign a dollar amount to each one. The point is to not get bogged down doing the low-dollar work and focus on the activities at the top of the list. Once you’ve got your list, look through all the tasks and try to identify your unique abilities; the things that you love to do and could do all day. Everything else are tasks that you should be looking to eventually get off your plate.

[30:55] Acknowledge what you have done to get to where you are. This helps build your confidence and to be grateful for what you have.

[34:40] Make your business building work environment a special place that is physically separate from where you do your usual work. Take your vision for your business and then figure out how to connect where you are to where you want to go.

[37:00] Brooke is the one running the show in her business. If she wants to do the bookkeeping, then that’s what she can do. She gets to decide what her business looks like.

[38:15] The lowest-level activity on your task audit is a prime candidate for outsourcing to a VA. The best time to document your procedures is right before you hand it off to someone else.

[40:30] One of the biggest mistakes that new business owners make is to hire someone and then throw some clients in their lap. Always start with a task and then once they have that down, you can start giving them more work.

[41:20] Brooke’s action items include booking the business building hours into her calendar and to complete her task audit. One of Ben’s tips with regards to to-do lists is to put an “I” or an “O” next to each item: “I” for “in the business” and “O” for “on the business.” This will give you some perspective on where you are actually spending your time.

Mentioned in this episode: Clarity Bookkeeping

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[4:30] Dave knew what his niche was going to be even before signing up for Bookkeeper Business Launch. As real estate investors themselves, they understand their needs and pain points, and currently work with 22 real estate investing clients.

[6:15] There was no secret to Dave’s success. They found their first client on LinkedIn and after working with them for a few months, that client referred another one. Since then, they have referred at least seven other clients as well.

[7:20] Dave eventually migrated away from LinkedIn to Facebook and is a member of a number of real estate investing groups where they post semi-regularly. Dave also managed to get onto his real estate mentor’s podcast and that has resulted in a number of other investors reaching out to them.

[9:40] Dave doesn’t pay for any marketing or advertising. They simply make themselves available on Facebook groups and respond to inbound inquiries. Dave has a one page website that is focused on one thing, to get someone to book a call.

[13:15] In terms of work hours between Dave and his wife, they probably work an average of 50 hours a week. Their goal is to maximize their income over the next 8 or 10 years, and they want to keep most of the business in-house.

[15:50] It’s important to manage your clients’ expectations. Rarely is anything in the business truly urgent, so it’s not necessary to be taking phone calls at 9 pm.

[17:10] As Dave and his wife started figuring things out and writing their processes down, they realized that they did things differently depending on the client. They have started documenting everything, and are in the process of turning processes into concrete procedures.

[19:20] Processes allow them to get the most amount of work done in the least amount of time. It also allows their service to be uniform across their clients. Another big tip is realizing that niching down allows you to become much more efficient.

[23:30] The struggle is mainly taking time out of the day to actually create the document itself while doing the tasks. At the same time, how they do things is still evolving and you can’t document a procedure until you’ve figured out what the procedure is. Dave has started recording some smaller tasks to begin the process.

[26:30] Start with the low hanging fruit, and document the simplest and easiest processes that can be outsourced to a virtual assistant. Each task may only take you a couple of minutes to do, but they add up to hours over the course of the month.

[28:45] Dave has a checklist for his onboarding that he follows every single time. Since Dave only onboards a couple of clients a month, he still uses the checklist even though that’s one of his main focuses in the business.

[30:20] Mundane and repetitive tasks are the first ones you should hand over to a virtual assistant. Just by documenting your procedures and systematizing your business, you will reduce the amount of time you need to complete tasks by 20%.

[31:30] Document your processes as they are, not as they should be. Once you’ve done that, then you can start to improve them. It’s important to have a separate space to work from when you are working on your business.

[34:10] Once a client gets into maintenance mode, the amount of time it takes each month to service them gets really low. The majority of the time spent in the business is on cleaning up new client’s books and getting things in line. Getting the documentation from a new client is one of the best examples of a task that can be turned into a process and outsourced. Break down each major activity into smaller, more discrete tasks.

[39:50] Don’t let perfection be the enemy of getting started and getting things done. Document collection is the area of Dave’s business that he’s going to focus on first.

[41:10] Sometimes it only takes a single nugget of wisdom from something to change everything about your business. Always take notes and write down action items when learning new things, and then actually execute on them as soon as you have the chance.

[43:30] The business model of bookkeeping is spectacular. Dave’s first rule of business is to get paid before you do any work, and once that’s done, overdeliver on the results.

Mentioned in this episode: REI Bookkeepers

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[6:00] Math had always been a favorite subject for Kevin, and he worked with his father in an accounting role during high school and college, but eventually wanted to do something different. He decided on teaching as a profession and did that for a few years while growing his side businesses at the same time. Bookkeeping was a natural fit as an additional source of revenue, so Kevin started looking for clients and now it’s his full-time gig.

[10:40] Kevin discovered Bookkeeper Business Launch through a simple Google search and enrolled while still working full time. In the interim time since starting the course, Kevin has picked up 26 clients, some of which have multiple entities.

[15:30] Kevin attributes his success to his hustler mentality, but he also believes that anyone that is looking for an additional source of income or a new career could be a good fit for Bookkeeper Business Launch.

[17:05] Kevin’s goal is to find someone to work for him that can take some of the tasks off his hands so that he can focus on growing the business. The trouble is that each client seems to do things a little bit differently which can make it difficult to establish a process that someone else can take care of.

[20:15] Kevin currently does not have a niche, which is one of the reasons he’s experiencing challenges. Niching down streamlines things when trying to establish processes since the clients are somewhat the same, but Kevin doesn’t plan on niching down at this time.

[22:25] We always think people are our answer to feeling overwhelmed with work, but it really starts with processes. Start with the tasks that are pretty much always the same no matter the client and begin documenting those. They are the low hanging fruit for creating processes.

[25:20] There will always be unique aspects to every client, but ideally that should only comprise a maximum of 20% of the total work. You have to identify the processes that are common among all clients and start with the easiest. They may only take a few minutes to do but over the course of a month and multiple clients it can add up to hours.

[27:20] Once you complete the task audit, rank them in order of easiest to most difficult. Once you identify the activity that’s common to all clients ask yourself whether you can stop doing it, whether it can be improved, whether it can be automated, or if it can be outsourced.

[29:30] Virtual assistants are the next step. Take one of those tasks and send them to your VA first, then once they’ve mastered that, go down the list and keep giving them more tasks to do.

[31:20] To document your tasks, get a screen recording software and record and narrate yourself doing the task. Send the video file to Rev.com to get it transcribed. Now, you have multiple formats for someone to understand exactly what they need to do for a given task.

[34:50] Don’t record your tasks as you want them to be, record them as they are. As you become more familiar with the tasks and get in the groove of someone else doing them, you can start to look at ways of improving those processes.

[36:30] For unique clients, just refer to a client-specific process in the task. Unless those clients are large, the extra processes should be very small. The bulk of the training should be in the common processes among all clients.

[40:00] Kevin’s first goal is to go through his clients’ common tasks and start making the recordings for them after figuring out the tasks that are the easiest to outsource. He’s also going to go through Outstanding Processes and Procedures to get a head start.

Mentioned in this episode: Books by Schmidt

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[8:20] In addition to bookkeeping, Kevin’s business offers clients office set up and business analysis, and process development services. Bookkeeping can be a great entry point to offer additional services.

[9:25] Even if a business owner has someone doing their books they are often a mess, even CPA’s can drop the ball when it comes to bookkeeping.

[11:20] Kevin’s favorite part of the business is the freedom and autonomy involved. He can basically work from anywhere as long as he has a wifi connection. The most frustrating part about having a business is that there are so many things to do, and it feels like there is not enough time to do it all.

[13:40] Kevin tries to focus on things that yield an instant result, and things that will grow the business instead of just getting tasks checked off the list.

[15:15] Kevin currently has 21 official clients, with two more onboarding in the near future, plus nine of his own with his other business.

[16:10] If you’re considering bookkeeping as a lifestyle for you, you have to ask yourself if you are self sufficient enough to put in the hours to make it work.

[17:40] In terms of vision, Kevin wants to have a sellable business in the next five to seven years. When you build a business to be sold, you create a lot of sanity for yourself by necessity and conscious design. The desired outcome is essentially a profitability goal, which Kevin can then work back from to figure out what the business needs to be to reach that goal.

[21:50] When thinking about your vision, imagine what you want your day to day life to look like. You want your business to support the lifestyle you want to lead, and the reason you should start with your vision is that cold numbers are not going to motivate you and get you through the tough times. It’s also important to make sure your spouse understands your vision for your business, and is on board with what it will take to get there.

[28:45] Start with your why, write it down, and keep it in front of you. It will keep everything in focus and reinforce why you are working towards your goals. Coming up with a vivid vision gives you and your team guidelines and helps them to buy in. It also helps you figure out if something or someone is a fit for your business. Share it with everyone you work with.

[32:15] Get granular with your vision in a way that resonates with your life directly. Our brain has a hard time latching onto abstract concepts, but it can latch onto the desire to take a trip across the country.

[33:10] Kevin has nailed his niche, but he’s got a second one in his back pocket, in case he needs to find some new clients. He’s also refocused the business into primarily a bookkeeping and accounting style company that offers a few additional services.

[34:25] Everybody needs help with bookkeeping, they just have to get to the point in their business where they realize it. Our challenge as bookkeepers is to change that mindset and help people move closer to that realization.

[34:55] Ben encourages people to acknowledge what they have achieved, and recognize their accomplishments.

[36:05] Your vision has to be as specific as it needs to be for it to get you there. Keep describing until it hooks you.

[37:05] The biggest win for Kevin in finding the group is joining a network of bookkeepers. Having the ability to chat with like minded individuals has been a game changer.

Mentioned in this episode: Centrosome Inc.

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[5:35] Eventually, the chemicals in the office took their toll on Annette, and her doctor basically told her that she couldn’t work anymore. At that point, Annette was working with two bookkeeping clients. She decided to make it her full-time business and to dive right in. She now has 11 clients and serves dentists, exclusively.

[8:00] Don’t compare your daily life to someone’s highlight reel. Everyone on the podcast has their own problems to deal with.

[9:40] When you first start your bookkeeping journey, it’s like going into a foreign country without knowing the language. It takes some time to learn and be able to talk intelligently about what you do, but you can get there.

[11:50] Realize that the power is in your hands, once finances are not the main drive to grow your business. It will come through in your marketing and messaging, when you aren’t driven by fear and scarcity.

[13:20] Annette’s goal is to have 20 to 30 clients and, eventually, to get rid of the more tedious tasks involved in the business. Ben recommends flipping the thought process. She doesn’t want 30 clients. Annette wants what 30 clients will do for her and her business. Get crystal clear about the lifestyle you want, and then figure out what your business has to look like to facilitate that vision.

[17:30] Going through programs is the easiest way to hack the learning process. You can spend a lot of time figuring things out on your own, or you can pay someone a comparatively small amount of money and learn it now.

[21:20] Annette’s main challenge, right now, is a lack of self-confidence. Conveying her value in her marketing is difficult because she feels like she’s still missing something. She spent a good amount of money trying things that you really shouldn’t do.

[24:30] Putting out blog posts on LinkedIn has been one way of generating leads, but the response has been erratic. Also, it really depends on the subject. She’s currently having four to six conversations a month with potential clients.

[27:15] There are two cardinal rules in business. You should never stop marketing, and you should always be looking for good people.

[28:15] Realizing that you don’t need to land a client will really minimize the desperation that can come across when talking with a lead. Starting out with questions about their business and how they do things is a good way to convey what you can do for a client. Lead with the reasons they started their business and what they are trying to achieve because no one has ever asked them these questions. Getting them to talk openly about the business will set you up as the authority.

[33:10] Don’t start with bookkeeping questions because if they don’t know the answer, they will just feel stupid, and that will derail the conversation. Lead them to the discovery of how they can achieve their vision by getting in charge of the finances.

[35:10] Your clients have to be able to make good decisions. How can they make good decisions about their finances, when their financial picture isn’t accurate and they are getting the numbers three months late? You want them to have the realization, on their own, about what they need, instead of you pushing something on them.

[37:20] The consultative close is where you prove what you can do by helping the client in advance. Show them what they need to do to achieve their vision, and then offer to help them, if they want. Don’t be afraid of revealing your “secrets.” They don’t have the time or inclination to do this themselves, and it shows that you can actually help them.

[42:20] Give your clients the plan in a variety of mediums. If the client is worth the effort, demonstrate your value, and leave them in a better place.

[43:35] Bonus tips: Record your consultation (after getting the client’s approval), and then listen to the recording afterwards. Listen to yourself, and assess how confident you were and what you can improve on. Name your plan that you’re providing them, and make it something proprietary. Also, talk about minimums, in terms of price, so you can at least eliminate the people that are doing price comparisons.

[45:45] For action items, Annette is going to rework her presentation and incorporate the ideas talked about in this podcast. She is also going to focus on building her confidence around what she can deliver to clients.

Mentioned in this episode: Bookkeeping Aesthetics

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[4:50] Jackie officially launched her business in January of 2017, and she landed her first client a few weeks into the new year. She invested in SEO and advertising and tried to do the marketing herself until she realized that she had to stop trying to do everything and going through the feast or famine cycle.

[6:40] Jackie now has 21 clients, most of which are being billed a set amount each month. A few of them have the habit of showing up in August needing all the accounts up to date for the previous year.

[8:10] The best part of the business is in analyzing the data, interpreting the numbers, and forecasting where the business is going. That’s where Jackie can make a real difference in her client’s businesses.

[10:40] Jackie isn’t going to settle for a mini empire; she’s going to build a mega empire. She wants her business to also be her retirement. She would like to grow a sustainable business that is either possible to sell or for someone else like her to take it over and run it without her having to be there.

[14:30] Building a business to be sold makes it worth much more than a job that is disguised as a business.

[15:20] The challenge that Jackie is facing today is two fold. She needs to be more strategic, and she also needs to get the right people in place, but she’s run into some trouble on that front and is now questioning her judgment.

[18:15] Jackie does not take time out to educate herself. She feels like she isn’t taking the time to absorb content that would help her develop personally. If she wants to change this, she needs to schedule in time for educating herself when she’s at her best. Start with a small amount of time in a place where you don’t usually work. A change of environment can change the way you think.

[26:15] Make it a date with yourself and make it sacred. It doesn’t matter where you go, but that you enjoy it and your brain is primed to focus on yourself. It’s also not necessarily about reading more books, you can find a lot of clarity simply by writing out your thoughts on a regular basis.

[28:40] Creating a vivid vision for your life is even more important than the vision for your business. If you reverse the order, your life will contort around your business instead of your business being shaped around your life.

[30:05] In order to create a business empire, it has to be able to run without you. Eventually, you want to only be involved with things that are your unique abilities.

[32:15] Jackie wants to have someone sitting alongside her, but she has had some big difficulties with it, either with wasting time correcting mistakes or trying to train someone who is unable to learn. Someone who is willing to challenge Jackie is what she is looking for, so maybe what she actually needs is an accountability partner or coach instead of just an employee. The people you ultimately hire should complement your weaknesses.

[38:45] Jackie’s existing team is servicing the clients really well, and sometimes the person you need to hire already works for you. Being able to leverage your team more can be the solution you’re looking for.

[42:15] Start with the task audit and offloading the low hanging fruit to them, then start mining your existing team as a source for more people if you still need to.

[43:35] Jackie’s first action will be to book an hour and a half for herself to read, write, and develop. Then, she’s going to reach out to her former employee and see if she would be interested in working with her as an accountability partner.

Mentioned in this episode: AllCents Bookkeeping

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[2:50] When Jessica was in college she had an opportunity to work for a cannabis tax firm, and got a feel for the industry as well as learned bookkeeping directly. After a while, she wanted to try something new. She felt like she would be able to do it on her own and she discovered Bookkeeper Business Launch.

[6:20] The mindset aspect of the business has been a big part of Jessica’s journey. By applying what she learned in the course, her business has started to really take off.

[8:00] Working for yourself is a rollercoaster ride with really high good days and some pretty terrible bad days, but it all evens out after a while if you can push through.

[8:35] Jessica currently serves 17 clients mainly found through referrals. When she first started, she didn’t really picture much more than just herself and the books, but having found success, she believes that she could do more.

[10:20] Jessica needs to get granular about what her business is going to do for her. Putting together a vivid vision is a way for her to make decisions about her business, based on whether it will move her closer to her vision or further away. The vision can give you a rulebook for your business.

[12:30] Making her own schedule is probably the best part of her business. She’s been careful to make sure the business doesn’t take over her life, but that’s the struggle that most entrepreneurs have when building their business from scratch.

[15:45] You have to be intentional about building a business that works around your life. You have to state what you are going to do, and then you figure out the how.

[16:35] Jessica is able to pay for herself, and her day-to-day costs so she’s not financially strapped, but she would be happy to make more money. Not having her back against the wall puts her in a position of power where she doesn’t have to work with clients that aren’t aligned with her business.

[19:25] We can’t talk about people without talking about processes, and we can’t talk about processes without talking about people. Right now, Jessica doesn’t have many processes written out, but she does have some checklists put together that have been helpful. The first step to creating processes is to record yourself doing a particular task while narrating what is happening, transcribing the audio, and turning that into a checklist.

[25:15] Creating processes and checklists is the first step in hiring someone. A checklist should be able to fit on half a piece of paper and be less than 10 steps. If it’s any longer, it should be broken down further into separate processes.

[27:10] Most of us hire the wrong way. We find someone and just throw them into the job and that sets everyone up for failure. And if they are someone who can do everything, if you come to rely on them without having written processes and they leave, your business is in big trouble.

[29:00] One of the biggest misconceptions in the business is that we need to hire someone with bookkeeping experience. That’s not true, we should almost always hire a virtual assistant first. Bookkeeping experience is really just a bonus, not a prerequisite.

[31:45] Document your processes as they are, not as they should be. Once you’ve got that done, take that task and give it to a VA. Start small, you can begin with as little as an hour a week. There is no need to spend the money and make a commitment until you get your processes down.

[36:40] Once you start creating processes and giving them to a VA, you’re going to become addicted to the process. It could be over a year or more before you need to hire an established bookkeeping professional. It may even make more sense to graduate a trusted VA into the position by providing them with additional training, instead of finding someone who already has experience.

[38:55] Jessica is more comfortable with letting go because breaking things down into individual tasks is much less daunting than letting a whole client go. One big tip is to encourage your VA to be critical about your processes and suggest improvements.

[41:30] Hiring someone and bringing them into your business is an exponential gain in your business. Changing your CRM is an incremental gain. Start with platforms like Excel that everyone is already comfortable with, don’t try to do both at the same time. Once you got the ball rolling, that’s when you can explore different project management options. All the tools will work, it’s just a matter of finding one that works for you.

[44:45] Jessica’s first action will be to write down her three-year vision for her business and get specific with what she wants. In terms of practical actions, Jessica is going to create process videos for one of her easier clients, and get them transcribed. Ben recommends putting a date on each action item because that makes them real.

Mentioned in this episode: Sparkle Bookkeeping

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

[5:00] Jenna currently has 10 clients and is not looking to build an empire. She’s pretty happy right now just working with her clients and doing the work, but that may change as her children get older.

[6:40] When Jenna was starting her bookkeeping business, she was looking for someone to handle the tax work, and the person that she previously worked with told her that the bookkeeper for the firm that he worked for had given their notice and they needed to find a new bookkeeper for their clients. Many of the clients that Jenna now has have come through this referral relationship.

[8:20] She also has had some clients come through Facebook. It’s important to not have to rely on a single channel to attract clients into your business.

[9:40] Jenna’s biggest challenge was mindset and the belief that she could do this on her own. She realized that everyone is afraid, but they just do it. That’s the first step in overcoming your fear. A lot of things that we’re taught as children to protect us end up as limiting beliefs that you need to break down or reassess as an adult.

[11:35] Jenna wishes that she realized how much time it would take to get started. A lot of people start a business thinking that it will give them more time, but that’s not true right away. The reverse is the case, you’ll spend more time working in the beginning than you would if you just had a job.

[13:30] Setting limits with clients is one of Jenna’s biggest challenges. She doesn’t want to nickel and dime her clients, but she also doesn’t want to work for free. This is known in the industry as scope creep and is a real problem when you bill a flat fee.

[15:20] Jenna doesn’t have to take on clients to cover her expenses so that puts her in a better position and can really slow down the process of vetting a new client. She can be very methodical in determining what the client wants and what kind of outcomes they are looking for, as well as set expectations for the relationship.

[18:30] One of the great things about becoming a trusted advisor for your clients is that they will come to you when they need something. When they reach out to you, they are probably coming from a positive place, but you still have to be methodical about establishing the scope of the work.

[19:50] The most recent scope creep came in today from a client that wanted Jenna to call a vendor and learn more about a bill. There are a couple of ways to handle this kind of stuff. The first thing is to immediately set the expectation that the task is outside the scope of the work. Send them an invoice for your time and then zero out the amount as a courtesy discount to orient them.

[23:40] Next time a client asks you to do something that happens frequently, you are either going to have to start charging for that or reevaluate the scope of the work you are doing for that client.

[25:35] Be very clear about things that fall outside your engagement and be willing to have that awkward conversation and be honest. Most clients are not intentional about this.They just rely on you as a trusted advisor.

[28:20] Keeping the client informed is very important. Let the client know at the start before it becomes the norm. If you keep them involved, getting paid for additional services won’t be a big deal.

[30:40] A lot of misunderstandings come from not really knowing what the client wanted. This is why the vetting process is so important, so that you can understand your duties and they understand theirs, as well as expectations in general.

[31:45] Scope creep can actually inform services that you can offer to your clients. When it happens often, they are explicitly telling you they need that service and you can create packages around that to offer to other clients.

Mentioned in this episode:

ACE Accountable Bookkeeping

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

[5:05] You are always skeptical when you come across work-at-home opportunities online, but Ben’s course seemed to really stand out and offer a solution that Kerrie was looking for.

[6:30] Kerrie has two clients of her own, as well as three other clients she has done consulting work with. She started out with a few subcontracting jobs that she recently decided to drop as she figures out what she wants for her business.

[8:30] Bookkeeping is a great fit for anyone that has the ability to learn quickly and pays attention to details. Being a people person is an asset. If you want to have success as a bookkeeper, you need to be able to build relationships with your clients.

[10:35] When Kerrie first got started, she couldn’t decide on a niche, so now she finds herself constantly doing research to figure out a potential client’s industry. Finding her niche would really make her job less complicated and help her find clients. Right now, she’s focused on attorneys and becoming an expert in that industry.

[13:30] Vision is tough for Kerrie since she’s just getting started. Her ten-year vision is for her business to be running itself or she will sell it. For the next three years she wants to have a few subcontractors and staff in place so she doesn’t have to turn clients away. She would like to have more time to do the marketing and for meeting clients.

[16:25] The key question is, “How do I become known?” The first step is to pick a niche, but that doesn’t necessarily mean an industry. For Kerrie, she really enjoys working with a specific attorney.

[17:20] Kerrie’s favorite client has a lot of commonality with Kerrie herself. This may be an opportunity to drill down her niche even further beyond just attorneys. The next step is to serve the heck out of her client and figure out what really attracts her.

[22:10] Every niche and every industry has eyes that want to see something that brings them value. A good example is the podcast. How can you get in front of the audience that you want to serve and establish yourself as an authority? Is there an event you can speak at or a resource you can create?

[26:15] Don’t be worried about giving away too much free information in these forums. There will always be more value in accountability and hands on work. Everything you give away is a way to establish your identity in your target niche.

[28:10] Does Kerrie’s client have a software rep that she can talk to? They could give her a lot of insight into what attorneys need as well as be a possible source of referrals. Who are the people that already have a relationship with the clients that you want to establish an authority with?

[29:50] Given the stage of life Kerrie is in she may want to stay in BNI so that she can find more clients, even if they are not in her chosen niche. At this point, it may still make sense to keep her options open. Getting to the point where she no longer needs to take on clients to keep the lights on would allow her to be more selective about who she works with.

[33:10] Kerrie should get in with the one client that she has and learn everything that she can that has to do with bookkeeping, business, and taxes so that she can speak her language.

[33:45] You have to be intentional about your business. Schedule time to work on what you need to work on. Be careful about research though.The more time you spend learning, the less likely you are to act. Get in front of the audience you want to serve because there is no environment better to figure things out. Just don’t do it before you can speak their language.

[37:00] Don’t think about it as a chance to get clients, think about it as a way to give away value and help people. No one likes to be sold to, but we love to buy. Going into it with the giving value mindset will be a complete game changer.

[38:50] Kerrie’s next actions are to get in front of some Bar associations and decide if staying in BNI is the best use of her time. There is no wrong decision with that. She just has to be intentional and replace it with it something that will keep pushing her business forward.

[41:55] Becoming an authority is not an overnight effort; it takes time. If you’re looking to make money quickly, it is not the way to go.

Mentioned in this episode: Strategic Bookkeeping Solutions

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

[4:10] Initially she was skeptical about the program and whether she could handle it with a newborn, but something clicked once he was two months old. She took her time starting the business but after a year of working on things and landing her first client, it really took off.

[6:00] The lack of flexibility was Heather’s main issue with the corporate environment. Being able to determine her own hours and how she runs her business has been very important to her. Flexibility and freedom are very common reasons for people wanting to start their own business.

[9:05] Currently Heather has 14 clients, 2 of which she had to part ways with at the beginning of the year, because they didn’t have enough profit in their business to justify it.

[9:55] Heather would recommend the bookkeeping business to someone who has the drive and the motivation to do what they need to do to live the life they want to live. There are a lot of benefits to working for an employer but you will never have the freedom you get from building a business around your lifestyle. You should also enjoy working with numbers of course.

[11:45] Heather’s end game is to move into the CEO role and start growing her and her business’s capacity. Eventually, she would love to be able to walk away from the business for a while, without having to worry about the work getting done. Finances are a factor to achieve their dreams but it’s not the main issue right now.

[14:30] When your business is not about the dire need for money, it puts you into a better situation and puts the power in your hands. You won’t feel the pressure to do something before you are prepared for it.

[15:35] By the end of 2019, Heather is hoping to double her revenue and by the end of 2020 she hopes to triple it at least.

[16:30] Knowledge is not power, implementation is power. It’s better to take a nugget of wisdom you hear and go execute on it, rather than keep listening and do nothing with it.

[18:10] To achieve the growth that she envisions for her business, Heather will need to bring on some new team members. She’s nervous about delegating, because she’s not sure the systems and processes she has set up at the moment are up to snuff.

[20:50] Start from the results that you want, and then figure out how to make it work.

[22:30] We don’t want to throw people at a process problem, we want to have our processes down and then fit someone into them.

[23:00] Heather considers networking and creating relationships to be her unique ability. She has never advertised to find clients, they have all come from word of mouth and networking events.

[25:40] While Heather enjoys creating relationships and meeting new people, she doesn’t enjoy going out and searching for new clients and creating new leads. Sales and follow up, and social media are probably the first things that she is going to offboard to someone else.

[27:30] Your first hire is probably going to be a virtual assistant, not another bookkeeper. Figure out the tasks that you don’t want to do anymore, record them, and then find a VA to do those things for you. This can free up significant amounts of your time every single month that you can dedicate to tasks you actually like to do. Once everyone is comfortable with the task, you can start expanding the responsibilities.

[30:10] List all the tasks that you do in your business, and categorize them into things that you love to do, things that you can do well but don’t energize you, and things you actively dislike doing. Start offloading the tasks you dislike the most by creating your processes around those first.

[32:15] Processes are what make your business sellable. Once you get started you will get addicted to creating more. Start with one task and give it to one person.

[36:10] For action items, Heather is going to figure out which tasks she can offload to a VA and start creating her processes. The task audit is the first step which she is aiming to have completed by the end of April, and have her first hire by the end of June.

[41:05] Before you offboard a task, ask yourself if you should just stop doing it, or if it can simply be automated. Remember this when creating your processes, because you will see things differently when you’re in a teaching frame of mind.

Mentioned in this episode: Denning Bookkeeping Solutions

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

[4:30] Elizabeth’s vision for the business is where she doesn’t have to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the business.

[5:35] Money is not her primary motivation at the moment. She has enough clients now that she is focused more on being successful. Success is the ability to reach your goals by doing things your way.

[6:45] A typical day for Elizabeth depends on what day of the month they are in and what’s due. She uses a CRM to manage her schedule and figure out what she needs to tackle first. Her day usually ends at 3pm, at which point she’s on family time.

[8:05] Working from home can be lonely but there is nothing like being your own boss if you’re self-motivated. The support she has online has been important as well.

[9:30] Elizabeth isn’t very good at marketing or putting herself out there on social media. If she had realized how powerful it can be she would have pushed herself to do that much sooner. Sometimes the traits that make you a good bookkeeping professional can prevent you from getting out there and meeting people.

[12:30] You have to feel the fear and do it anyway. Much of being a business owner is about marketing, if you can’t get past that barrier then maybe you shouldn’t be in business.

[13:15] Finding quality leads within her chosen niche has been Elizabeth’s primary challenge with her business. Breaking into a niche and establishing yourself as an authority has been a challenge as well.

[15:15] There are three elements to marketing: your market, your message, and your media. The first step for Elizabeth is to narrow her niche down to one group and focus on them. Trying to be an expert in more than one niche can be exponentially harder and actually cause confusion in your market.

[17:20] Niching down won’t limit you. Building trust and authority won’t happen overnight, it’s a long term strategy. Elizabeth needs to start thinking about her brand, which is essentially her identity in the market.

[20:30] It’s not just about working with interior designers, it’s about identifying her ideal customer and reverse engineering what it is that she really likes about her current clients. Start listing their attributes and the common traits that make you smile. Once you know your ideal client, they become your avatar and you can use that to talk to your market.

[23:40] Declaring yourself to be focused specifically on one niche can be very compelling.

[24:30] There are a couple ways to generate instant authority. The first way is to be everywhere your niche is. For interior designers, that means Instagram, Houzz, and Pinterest, and putting content online that gets in front of them and spreads your message.

[28:50] Identify your voice so that someone consuming your content will know that it came from you. Then create a framework for your niche that allows you to put their problems in a new focus. It becomes a way to create your own terminology and your own approach to solving your niche’s problems.

[31:30] What are the absolutes you believe for that industry? Absolutes you maintain as a brand immediately become authoritative.

[33:20] There are a number of ways to create content that generates authority. A podcast is one that allows you to create additional content. The idea is you should pick a media that fits your strengths.

[36:30] When you can ask someone in your niche a question and know what they’re going to say, that’s a sign that you really understand your clients and how to solve their problems, which will make you an authentic authority.

[37:45] Set aside a little bit of time on your next call with a client you enjoy working with and try to understand how to serve them better. Talk to them about their vision and goals, and who they are as people. That’s a great way to understand the deep motivations of your market. When you can anticipate someone’s needs you can really blow them away.

[39:50] Be a bulldog, reach out to your niche’s professional organizations and be persistent until they answer your questions. Make them tell you no instead of ignoring you.

[42:30] Another good tip is to look at your niche’s websites and make sure your site reflects a similar aesthetic.

[43:20] Email outreach and research on LinkedIn can be very powerful for finding new clients.

[44:15] Elizabeth has to narrow down her targeting and work on her absolutes. The next step is to devise a plan to establish her authority and figure out what medium makes the most sense for her.

[45:50] Once Elizabeth changed her mindset from thinking of herself as a stay-at-home mom to being a bookkeeping professional she landed two clients. Introduce yourself as a professional first.

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

[2:15] Ashley was a stay-at-home mom to her four kids in the beginning, but she always wanted to be able to contribute more to her family and the world at large. She felt that starting a business was the first step to contributing to her surroundings. Her husband was actually the person who referred her to the Bookkeeper Business Launch program and a few months later she decided to pull the trigger.

[5:40] Currently, Ashley serves 11 clients and on her goal sheet, which is something that she writes down every day, her first goal is to hit six figures this year. Her bigger goal for the next two years is to be the boss of a million dollar company.

[6:45] Inspiring young women is one of Ashley’s major motivations, in addition to providing a life for her family that she didn’t have growing up.

[9:30] Working from home has worked out well. It enables her to be there for her family and her clients.

[10:20] Ashley was desperate to get her first client, so if she could give herself advice, it would be to not undervalue herself. She learned a great deal from them, but if she had the ability, she would have waited for the right person.

[11:45] Ashley’s biggest challenge is to have the time to go to meetings and networking, so she is having to rely heavily on direct marketing. The good news is that is a fine way to build a viable business. It can be done. You just have to be intentional about it.

[14:30] Posting in local Facebook groups and on LinkedIn, as well as referrals, has been the main ways Ashley has found her clients. You don’t want to rely on just one way of finding clients, so for Ashley, she just has to double down on the things that are already working.

[15:40] Ashley is starting to niche down into law firms and real estate. Ben’s advice is to pick one and focus.

[17:00] Get very clear about who your market is because that dictates what your message is. The least important aspect of marketing is the media. 90% of success in marketing is defining your market.

[18:25] Once you understand what your market wants and doesn’t want, you use that to shape your message. When it comes to media, the first thing you want to do is reverse engineer what’s already working and focus on that. In Ashley’s case, Facebook groups may be her best target to start with.

[22:20] Media comes and goes. One of the best things you can do is email outreach. If you do it right, you can spend a lot of time doing research and lasering in on the right people.

[24:15] Ashley sends a general message to people that she’s connected to on LinkedIn that may be able to use her service.

[25:30] The money is in the follow up, not in the initial contact. You don’t need a CRM to keep track of those things. A Google spreadsheet will do just fine.

[27:00] Look for the private forums in your niche where the people you want to work with are discussing things. That may be Facebook, but it could also be another site.When it comes to direct mail, send your marketing to the person’s home instead of their office. That allows you to avoid gatekeepers.

[29:30] Free consultations aren’t as effective as they used to be. Sending the recipient to a free online training is what Ben prefers.

[32:00] Start with your niche and start doing more of what’s already working. Learn the questions and language your market is using, which starts to add value to the conversation. You can use the common questions to help you design your training. There is a saying in marketing, “you give people what they want in order to deliver what they need.”

[34:30] Look for shoulder groups. Who already has the clients you want to work with, and how can you get in front of them? A podcast is a great example of how to become known in a specific niche that you want to target.

[37:10] Ashley’s number one action item is to get clarification of who her market is and hone down what her message is going to be to them.

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

[4:30] During that time Mary’s husband deployed so she needed something to keep her busy. She was nominated to be the president of the local business association. It was around that time that Mary started to look for more flexibility so she could spend more time with her growing family, this lead to some timely advice from a friend to just do bookkeeping for more than one business.

[7:00] Self-discipline has been key to Mary’s success. Being able to manage her time and still get things done is a very important quality to have once there is no one to tell you what to do.

[8:40] When Mary started her business, she already had four clients and has built up her client base to 24 over the past five years. The flexibility of owning her own business really came in handy after Mary found out that her daughter had a heart defect.

[11:30] At this point Mary works around 20-30 hours a week and has a contractor that works for her for roughly 10 hours a week.

[12:30] Mary’s secret to getting clients has really been her relationship with the CPA that mentored her years ago. Several of the clients that she has now came from a referral from her mentor. You never know what relationship is going to be a goldmine for you.

[13:55] Mary is trying to balance taking on new clients and building out the processes and systems that will ensure she can handle them

[14:40] Mary has also recently opened a second business. It’s a coworking space for mom’s that need a place to work that provides childcare.

[15:50] Mary is a bit of a creative, so she enjoys the marketing and creative side of the business alongside meeting people at networking events and having conversations. It’s quite the reverse of the way most bookkeepers approach business.

[17:10] Keeping up with her email is what Mary finds the most unfun. She uses a tool called GQueues to stay on top of her to-do list. She doesn’t want to waste time trying to figure out what to get done.

[18:30] In terms of vision, Mary is looking to double the number of clients she has and add a full-time bookkeeper to her business. She wants to be able to do the marketing and the client-getting and having another bookkeeper handle the in-the-weeds work.

[20:10] Being able to bring her husband into the business is another potential goal to work towards.

[21:00] Never stop marketing or looking for good people. For Mary, she should hire a second bookkeeper and start them out with a small amount of hours. You don’t want to be totally dependent on one person.

[22:50] Mary is not currently doing the interpret and advise portion of the business that Ben talks about all the time. That’s why she’s not charging the rates that she would like, which means that she has to bring on more clients to increase her revenue.

[24:20] Her current clients haven’t really asked for any extra advice but that doesn’t mean that they don’t need it.

[25:35] It’s hard to say to your current clients that you are adding a new service so now you’re going to charge them more. It’s better to be more selective about the clients you take on in the future. For future clients, you have to educate and then sell them on the value of the service. If you work with higher value clients, the main benefit would be you wouldn’t need as many clients to hit your revenue targets.

[27:50] Look for clients that are going to value you and are looking to collaborate instead of abdicate. When looking for new clients, you are going to look for clients who are already interested in that service.

[29:40] While you’re looking for new clients, you need to start educating yourself on the services they will value. The good news is you have a built-in think tank with your existing clients to find that out.

[31:10] The next time Mary is having a conversation with her client, plan for some time to talk about what they really want in their business and how she can help them get there. What roles do they not like to do in their business that she can take off their hands? This is essentially market research into what they value. Don’t guess, ask.

[32:50] Look for key phrases and use their language. You can use the information you learn to speak and sell to your new clients.

[34:05] We are paid in proportion to the value we put into the marketplace. Ask them what they need and then create something around it. Start thinking about a system you can brand from the language and words they are using.

[36:25] There is learning that you’re going to have to do to deliver on the additional services. The best way to do it is to just pick a client that you already work with and do it for free. Nothing beats practical experience. The worst case scenario is you get experience and put goodwill into the relationship.

[39:15] Look for the low hanging fruit and what could put on semi-autopilot so you don’t have to work a lot more to produce a particular result. Your relationship with your clients is ultimately going to be the thing that protects you from the growing trend of automation.

[41:10] Mary’s action items include opening up the dialogue with her existing clients and looking for a need they have in common. To create a tool that she can use to attract more clients, and to find a second contractor.

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

[4:45] Melissa serves 62 clients that they work with every month and she has a goal to get to 100 clients by the end of the year.

[5:25] We rarely stop to smell the roses and appreciate everything we accomplish. Remember to write down how far you’ve come and keep that in mind.

[6:20] Melissa has made plenty of mistakes over the past 18 months. One of the biggest things she’s learned is to stick to her pricing and not negotiate. If the client wants to negotiate, that may be an indicator that they don’t value your service.

[8:15] Melissa works solely from home and most of her clients are local to Sacramento. One of the motivations for her in starting her business has been to spend time with her kids and this led to her finding a team member that likes serving clients face-to-face.

[10:30] Working at home can be very isolating, so Melissa really appreciates the chance to go to BNI meetings and meet people on the same journey as her.

[11:40] The best piece of advice for someone considering starting their own bookkeeping business is you have to be a self starter. There will always be things out of your control and you just have to push through it and get things done. There is also a major difference between dealing with multiple clients instead of one boss. You need to develop a thick skin.

[13:30] You have to be very self reliant as a business owner because the buck stops with you.

[14:25] There is a lot of room for growth in the bookkeeping industry. Melissa hasn’t run into any real competition in her area. If you’re thinking about getting into the business, now is a great time to jump in.

[16:00] In three years, Melissa would like to be in a commercial space with 10 bookkeepers working for her. The key piece of the puzzle will be a solid office manager to bring it all together so that she doesn’t need to touch client accounts anymore. If you can pay somebody to do something better than you, you should do it.

[18:15] Strategy is marketing, and marketing is the core of your business. It’s hard to outsource the marketing because they don’t have the same incentive as you as the owner of the business.

[19:15] In some ways the desire for an office space is about ego but a commercial space does come with some other advantages. Melissa estimates that she’s lost approximately one client a month that didn’t decide to work with her because of the lack of physical space.

[21:40] A physical space also comes with a lot of baggage. It can become your golden handcuffs or an anchor.

[22:40] Managing people is difficult, every person you bring on increases the complexity of your business. It’s important to think of things from the standpoint of the result instead of the function. Melissa doesn’t want to have 10 people work for her, she wants the result that 10 people can bring.

[26:50] Melissa’s challenge is setting her business apart from the competition. Answering the question of “how are you different from other bookkeepers out there?” is hard.

[28:45] Bookkeeping is first and foremost a relationship business. If we try to compete on the tasks, we’ll lose. You should think about how to deepen and build upon the relationships with prospective clients and existing clients.

[30:45] You have to know how to communicate with your client in a way that they will understand, and then go above that by advising them. Take a vested interest in their success from the deliverable standpoint.

[32:30] Bookkeeping used to be about abdication, now it’s about collaboration. Take two clients a month and think about what you would want to know if you were the owner of those businesses. Give them true advice, practical things they can do to improve their business and save money. Over time you will be able to charge more for your services, not because you are just raising your rates but because you are adding more value.

[36:30] Start with the clients that are already receptive to feedback. Melissa may find that what she really wants is to work with a smaller number of clients in a more personal and involved way.

[38:10] Melissa’s typical client is a small business with less than five employees that are at the point where they are not able to take care of their own bookkeeping.

[40:30] Having a specific niche limits you, but it also allows you to become very well known in that niche. You also get the perception of the industry expert and become a specialist.

[43:30] The transition takes time. Changing a niche happens one client at a time. Take your client list and think of the ones that you love to work with, then reverse engineer what it is about them that you like working with. Write them down and use those traits to figure out who your ideal client is. When you look at new clients ask yourself how alike they are.

[47:05] Try to niche from day one if you can. If you’ve established your business, you will have to go a bit slower and more methodically.

[49:05] The bookkeeping world has changed over the past ten years. It’s no longer about the individual transactions as much as it is about the results you can bring to your clients.

[52:15] The biggest takeaway for Melissa is to find the shared traits that her best clients have and use them to find more clients just like them. She’s also going to use that info to either change how she deals with her existing clients or filter through new ones.

[53:20] For years the bookkeeping industry has been a replacement offer, but those days are gone. Now it’s a new offer, somebody who can interpret the numbers and advise their clients. Adding more value to the clients we serve will insulate us to the changing technological landscape.

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[3:45] Chris got his first client one month after completing the course. He connected with them on Craigslist and is still working with them today.

[4:30] Chris used the money from the first client and joined the BNI (Business Networking International). Using only BNI referrals, Chris got to ten clients by October. He also got five more clients using paid leads from Thumbtack.

[6:50] BNI meetings are structured so the first fifteen minutes are meant for networking with the members and occasionally giving ten minute presentations. For Chris, being in BNI is not his natural environment. He was actually voted “Most Likely To Eat Alone” in high school because he was such an introvert, but he faced his fears and did it anyway. It took him a good six months to feel comfortable at the meetings but now he really enjoys them.

[10:00] Some people are good at talking to people and starting a business which seemed to be the case for Chris. He feels like it was just something he had to learn, so he did. His one regret may be not having gone to college sooner because the different learning techniques you pick up in school could have been an asset.

[13:20] Chris has to serve one more year in the military before he can retire, and because of that it has forced him to hire more employees as his business expanded beyond what he was capable of handling.

[14:30] Chris’s vision for his future business is to essentially just manage the business, do the marketing, and bring in the clients while other bookkeepers do the numbers work.

[16:15] Chris’s main challenge/potential opportunity is just keeping track of everything and keeping focused. Working with clients is a lot like juggling, when you have just four in the air it can be managed. Once you start juggling 27, things start to get hectic. The good news is that nothing major has slipped through the cracks yet.

[19:35] The goal is putting processes in place, not necessarily revenue or clients. Chris needs to create order from chaos.

[22:30] The easiest way to create a new process is to just record yourself doing that task. Record your screen while you’re doing the work, narrate what you’re doing, and make sure you keep it short. Once it’s recorded, you can transcribe the audio using a service like Rev.com. With the transcription you can condense the process into a checklist that contains the major important points of that process. Once you’ve got that finished, not only did you get the work done, but you’ve also defined a process and put yourself ahead of 90% of all bookkeepers.

[28:15] The biggest mistake that Ben made in his business was feeling that he was so busy that he need to hire people to take care of all the chaos in his business, but all that resulted in was more chaos.

[29:20] You will have to change your mindset as you transition from doing the work to reviewing the work. What got you here isn’t going to get you to where you want to go.

[30:35] Start with the processes you like least and that are the most client-facing. Give it time and you will eventually start to enjoy the process.

[33:10] Your business is a system and a system is a series of processes that get the work done. The value in the system is in clearly defined processes, especially if you are interested in eventually selling the bookkeeping business that you’re building.

[34:30] You have to be committed to the process, it’s always a challenge to do something new or something big.

[35:40] Chris is looking at a couple of different software options to help him track what he’s working on but so far he’s been falling back on just using a spreadsheet. Lots of bookkeeping professionals believe all they need is one more app but that’s not necessarily the case. Sometimes you just need what will get the job done. Start mapping out your processes with a pen and paper well before you get to an app or a spreadsheet. Look to the function before you look for a shiny object.

[41:10] You don’t want to be dependent on a person to get things done, you want processes that people can do. That way if someone leaves the team, you can move things around without causing chaos trying to find a new perfect person to fill that role.

[43:55] A virtual assistant may be just the answer that Chris is looking for.

[45:00] Keep your big goals front and center. For Ben, that means a giant whiteboard positioned in front of his desk that keeps his goals and projects always on the top of his mind. Technology is great, but you should lean on your process first.

[48:45] When you need to get something done, don’t think of “what”, think of “who”. Who has done what you want to do and how can you talk to them?

[50:30] Chris’s wife has been crucial in terms of support for the growth of the business. A common thread for people who have succeeded in the bookkeeping business is having a supportive spouse.

[52:05] The ultimate vision for Chris and his wife is to be able to travel in their RV while still running their business from wherever they are.

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[6:10] Hannah serves around 12 clients at this point. There was a lot of fear originally, taking on a client beyond Hannah’s husband who was her first, but she realized that she really did have all the tools she needed to be an exceptional bookkeeper thanks to Ben’s course.

[8:35] All of Hannah’s clients have come from LinkedIn mining, a special tactic that is covered in the course. She spent some money on Facebook but the stuff that has worked and gotten her paying clients has been completely free.

[9:20] Hannah originally started out working with farmers but quickly realized they are not clients interested in paying for a bookkeeper. She has since expanded to working with agriculture businesses instead.

[12:00] There is always another fear to break through. For Hannah, one of her greatest fears is one she has to overcome nearly every day; that her clients are not going to be happy. That one day she will send them an invoice and they will say she isn’t doing enough for them and they won’t want to pay.

[14:00] There are always things that we wish we could do differently, but those are the very lessons that got us to where we are. For Hannah, that came in the form of turning down a client that wasn’t willing to pay the price for the service that he desperately needed. In that case, she was glad that she managed to avoid what would have been a big mistake.

[16:30] Some days the stress of owning her own business is too much, but at the same time, she couldn’t imagine doing anything else. The best part of owning a business is the freedom to choose her hours.

[18:20] Hannah’s current opportunity is adding cash flow as an advisory service to her business but she’s not sure how to implement it or how to sell it.

[21:10] Everyone is motivated in one of two ways; they either want something or don’t want something. For the client that has requested Hannah forecast their cash flow, they are trying to avoid debt. Before she adds a new service to her business, she should really understand what her clients are looking for and what they want. She should ask to talk to them for 20 to 30 minutes about their vision for their business and what they are trying to achieve.

[23:45] In Ben’s experience, 98% of accounting professionals do not present their clients the statement of cash flows. The reason they don’t is because they don’t understand it. Hannah should continue to show the statement to each of her clients but also seek to learn what it means and how to explain the information.

[26:45] The most common questions that Hannah gets are basically “How much money do we have?” and “How can I pay these bills?”. Most of Hannah’s clients are somewhat financially savvy, but she’s found that what they want is for Hannah to take care of everything. But what they really need is collaboration.

[29:00] Hannah is in a position where she doesn’t have to take on new clients, that means she can filter through clients that are interested in collaborating rather than just dumping their financials on her.

[30:30] When looking for new clients, Hannah can look for people that are willing to pay for her advisory services, need them, and are willing to collaborate with her.

[31:50] Hannah should surprise one of her clients by just adding that service for free as a way to gain experience and feedback. The name of the game is simply listening to our clients and then giving them what they want.

[33:50] Data entry and figuring out problems are Hannah’s wheelhouse. She’s comfortable and confident in those skills.

[36:00] Hannah is hoping to take on a couple more employees so she can work in a more part-time role. To do that she’s going to have to get clear on what she wants for her business, what it is that her clients want, and the sweet spot between the two.

[38:30] The first thing Hannah is going to do is talk to her clients, dig into what they really want, and then she is going to get to know the statement of cash flows. Next, she’s going to make a big push for new clients that are interested in working with her in an advisory capacity.

[40:20] What are the roles that your potential clients are playing in their business that they don’t want to? What are the pains they are experiencing? What are the things that they want?

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[4:45] David realized that bookkeeping was a skill that he could start a business with and since he always wanted to start his own business he thought it might make a good fit. For David, one of his core motivations is building something new.

[6:50] David currently works with 16 monthly clients which he has acquired over the past 15 months since December of 2017. After his first gig with the church, David started searching for ways to create a bookkeeping business and that’s how he found Bookkeeper Business Launch.

[9:40] David established his business and then started building relationships. Those conversations have naturally led to more opportunities with new clients.

[11:10] The only advertising money that David has spent so far has been on his website. Having the site is probably the most important thing he has done for marketing since he’s started.

[12:40] There was a distinct point where David had to make a decision to either go find a job or go all in with his business. After discussing it with his wife they made the decision to jump in. They made a calculated risk and it has paid off for David and his family.

[15:30] The biggest game changer of running his own business has been his ability to spend time with his family and adjust his schedule. Flexibility and freedom are huge.

[17:20] There is tremendous opportunity as a bookkeeper and if you want to succeed, you have to be able to do a good job. Focus on whatever the next thing is that you need to do, don’t get overwhelmed by all the different things you could do.

[19:50] David is now serving small retail operations and currently doesn’t feel the need to hire someone, but if his business keeps growing he’s going to need to bring someone else on and that’s a big challenge for him.

[22:30] David and his wife decided to pick the income level they are going to live at. In terms of vision for what he wants for his business, David wants to be able to work 20 to 25 hours a week while maintaining his income level. You have to really visualize what a day looks like for you in the future in order to build your business in a way that allows you to accomplish your vision. Bring your compelling vision to life.

[28:00] You don’t want to hire somebody, you want the result of what hiring someone will bring. For David, that means taking tasks off his plate that he’s not excited to do. A lot of the everyday routine tasks are the ones that David doesn’t enjoy. Before you can hire someone, you need to have processes in place that they can fit into and processes are one of David’s current weaknesses.

[33:20] Screen capture software is a great way to create videos that convey your processes. For David, he can record the tasks that he normally does for his clients while narrating what he’s doing. Once the videos are created, he can get them transcribed and create a checklist for each task. Cover the major things that need to be done and then you’ve got yourself a process that can be easily implemented. Store it wherever you and your team can access it online.

[40:35] Start with the processes that turn the dial in your business and the ones that you really don’t like doing. Processes are your freedom lever.

[42:30] Transitioning from doing the work to review the work of someone else is a tricky thing, but it can be done. Once you figure it out, you can approach the work from the role of an advisor as well. Be aware that in the midst of the transition it feels like chaos, but it does pass.

[45:50] For each client, write down everything you do for that client over the course of a week. Assess the list for the things that fall under your unique ability, those are the tasks that you’re good at and energize you. Then look for the ones that you are competent at, those are the ones you should start creating processes for and outsourcing to someone else.

[49:30] You’re not looking for an employee in the beginning, you’re looking for a virtual assistant that can handle the task. Start small with the tasks that you really don’t want to do. You can hire them for only 2 hours a month if you need to do so that means you can avoid the pressure of having to keep an employee busy.

[51:50] What are the $10/hour tasks? $50/hour? $1000/hour? Start with the lowest value work at offload that so you can focus on the work that really adds value to your business and your client’s business.

[55:30] An example task that David can hand off to a virtual assistant is managing email. For Ben, his assistant filters through his email every day and saves him 20 to 30 minutes a day. You have to be intentional about outsourcing, keep it simple or it will tend towards chaos. It starts with the task audit, but it’s guided by your vision for your business.

[59:30] David’s action items include doing a task audit, documenting his processes, and then finding someone he can give some of those tasks to. The big item on the list is the one that most people like to skip, creating the vision for his business is the first step.

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[3:50] Painters were the niche that Daniel served, mainly due to running a painting business of his own in college and because he knew where to find them and no one was serving the market directly.

[5:10] Daniel planted a lot of seeds early on, including LinkedIn, guest blog posting, and more, that netted him his first few clients.

[7:00] Bookkeeping for the first time was the first challenge that Daniel had to overcome. Once he started taking on clients, finding good people to help him scale his growing business was the major hurdle.

[9:00] Daniel had to get himself out of the business so that it can continue without him due to having to deploy in the near future. This gives him flexibility once he returns to the business when the deployment ends.

[11:30] The value that Daniel’s business provides involves advising clients on their own businesses. Daniel and his staff understand the back end of the painting niche so well that the relationship becomes more than bookkeeping. They provide consulting and advice on growing their client’s business and the technology involved.

[15:30] In regards to feedback, knowing the important KPI’s for the painting business, in addition to the bookkeeping, gives Daniel an edge over his competitors.

[17:10] System building is Daniel’s focus, so much so that he’s going to come out to one of Ben’s events to show other bookkeepers how to do it.

[18:50] Daniel finds meeting with people and having conversations to be very fatiguing, indicating that he’s probably an introvert.

[21:10] Niching is very important. If you figure out your target market first, you will see results earlier on. If you can’t find a niche, find a client and figure it out later. Processes are important before you bring people on, get your processes 80% done before hiring.

[26:00] Daniel’s current bottleneck is that his business needs more advisors in order to scale, and finding the right person with the right personality traits and knowledge base is quite the challenge. He uses the DISC personality test quite a bit to make sure that the team members in his business are working to their strengths. Without his current advisor, Daniel’s business would seriously struggle.

[32:15] One is none, and two is one. Redundancy and cross training can mean the difference between a difficult challenge and a disaster. What Daniel should do is write out the activities that he needs to duplicate with his current advisor and prioritize them. If you’re looking to hire, first you need to define the work that you need to have done.

[40:20] Daniel may actually be looking for two people. The interview process should ultimately represent the way they are going to be serving your clients.

[42:25] Before looking outside, you should look within your organization for people that could potentially take on your new role. If you can promote someone up, it’s usually easier to find someone to take on the simpler role. Once you exhaust your low hanging fruit, it’s time to put your posting out there in as many places as possible.

[47:05] It may make sense to split up the role into its component parts, especially if all together it would be very rare to find a single person with all the necessary skills. For Daniel, that may mean splitting the job up into a sales oriented role and a separate advising role.

[52:10] Sometimes you have to go back to the well and just do the things that worked before. But before you bring someone on full time, you have to really test out the relationship and make sure they are going to be the right one. It may take some time, but it’s easier and less difficult than hiring the wrong person.

[56:50] As business owners, you have to figure out every new challenge that comes your way because the buck stops with you. Beware the anecdote, what works for someone else may not help for you. Take the advice and tailor it to your individual needs.

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[3:30] Amanda gravitates towards artists and creatives; 90% of the people she works with fall into those categories.

[5:15] Amanda didn’t want to quit her job, but circumstances forced her hand to consider other options. She started looking for ways to make more money or save more. She ended up on the Pennyhoarder.com website, where she found one of Ben’s articles which lead her to bookkeeping.

[7:20] Having a good support network was really important to Amanda when starting her own business. She was definitely scared about taking the leap. Going through the course really helped prepare her for what she needed to do while also giving her a good refresher on bookkeeping fundamentals.

[9:20] Employers feel like they are doing you a favor by giving you a job, but clients think you’re the bee’s knees. A great example of this is one of Amanda’s very first clients who was nine years behind on his taxes. It took a month and a half to clean everything up, but the client was relieved of a lot of stress and anxiety.

[11:35] A huge part of being confident means getting out there, but that doesn’t necessarily mean your local area. It’s about getting in front of clients and having a conversation about what they need and how you can help. Every conversation gives you something to take away and will give you more confidence for the next one.

[14:05] Amanda tried advertising, but it didn’t work out. She tried Facebook and Craigslist, but none of her clients have come from paid ads.

[15:20] Alignable was one of the ways she got a few of her clients. Other means include Craigslist, Upwork, and Facebook groups. Marketing is like planting seeds; you never know which message or channel is going to be the one that gets you your next client.

[18:45] Being able to pick up her kids has been an excellent part of owning her own business. Being a mom is especially hard when you also have to work at the same time. Having the freedom that comes with not having a boss is one of the best parts of running a business.

[21:50] Amanda wants to grow her business with a special emphasis on helping other moms that are dedicated to their work as well as their families. Eventually she would like for the business to not need her on a day to day basis and for her husband to be able to quit his job and stay at home with the kids.

[25:00] Journaling your goals can be very helpful in actually achieving them, but as with many things, it can be strangely difficult to do the things that are good for us. Making it fun can help.

[27:45] Over the last year, Amanda has tried every single app she could find to organize her business, but none of them have clicked with how she does things and she’s defaulted to paper and pen. She needs something in front of her to let her know what she should be working on and in what order.

[31:40] The difficulty is that paper is limiting and prevents Amanda from being able to bring on new team members. Written tasks and instructions don’t scale very well. Recording your tasks and turning them into checklists that cover the key elements are one way of turning a task into a process.

[37:40] You don’t want to be too focused on the app or the software. You should think about what you want to accomplish with the software first. Define the process and then look for something that is going to help you facilitate that process. Sometimes the app can actually make your life more complicated.

[39:45] Ben uses a large dry erase board to track his major projects, but what works for him may not work for you. The key is to figure out what does work for you and not worry so much about whether or not you’re using the latest technology. As you grow your business, you have to step back, look at your processes, and then look for the lever that will make things easier.

[44:20] Your success is not going to be limited by not having the right app. Amanda has a process that works and she should build on that.

[44:50] For action items, Amanda is going to visualize her goals and what she is building. She’s also going to record her daily transactions and what she does for her clients and figure out how to refine her processes.

[46:50] It’s always important to ask yourself the question “Do my clients care?” when it comes to how you get things done. As long as you deliver results, your clients don’t care how you get the job done.

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[5:30] Jeremy currently has 8 clients, 6 of which he is working with on a monthly basis. On top of his bookkeeping business, Jeremy is also a Financial Manager at a publicly traded manufacturing firm.

[7:25] Jeremy is pretty passive in his marketing efforts. His first client was a referral from a former coworker and he wasn’t really marketing at the time. Most people get their very first client in a similar way, basically talking to people and letting them know about their new bookkeeping business. Jeremy is also a member of a couple of formal networking groups and has dabbled a bit in Craigslist.

[10:40] Of the eight clients so far, Jeremy has only spent a few hundred dollars on ads. Sweat equity has been a key component in his growth.

[11:30] Jeremy made it very clear that flexibility is the most important aspect of the role so that has given him a leg up on dealing with all the moving pieces between work, family, and business. If you want your life to be better, you will have to make some sacrifices to get there.

[14:20] Jumping through hoops and giving value on the front end is one of the major challenges that Jeremy is experiencing right now. Bookkeeping is a relationship-first business and it takes time to build that relationship. Being an introvert makes the conversations a little more difficult as well.

[18:30] Jeremy’s wife Katie has been very supportive in his move to start the bookkeeping business which has been key. Jeremy’s vision for his business is to be the face of the business and away from the day-to-day tasks as much as possible in a much more strategic role.

[22:10] The goal for the bookkeeping business is to provide for his family and allow Jeremy to connect and spend time with them. It’s important to be very clear what your business is going to do for your life and your spouse’s life. Ultimately he wants to take his 9-5 job out of the equation and that’s kind of scary.

[25:20] Taking the leap and going full time into the bookkeeping business is tough for Jeremy, he regular job provides a lot of stability and security that is hard to walk away from. They have to look at how it will change their lifestyle and how it will impact their family. It’s good to have a counterbalance in your spouse, and if they aren’t ready to take those risks that’s a good sign that it may not be the right time yet.

[30:40] To replace Jeremy’s current income he would need approximately 25 clients. It will take time and struggle to get to that point. You don’t want to coerce your spouse into taking a risk that they are not ready to make. You have to start with why when working with your spouse on what the right decision is. The question is “how do we get from where we are today to where we want to be?”

[36:40] You want to get to the point where you both know exactly what criteria you need for everyone to feel comfortable with the decision. Make a visual representation of your goal and put it somewhere you can see often. Sometimes it’s less about the numbers and more about the feelings around them.

[40:30] Jeremy recently brought on a friend as a contractor to help him with the workload. He may actually want for her to go through the Bookkeeping Business Launch program as well to gain some additional skill set. The people and systems Jeremy has now will not get him to where he needs to be so he’s going to need more of both.

[44:25] In order to reach his vision for his business, Jeremy is going to have to build in processes and people that can get the work done. You don’t want to build your life around your business, you build your business around your life. Jeremy has begun recording the tasks he does daily so that he can bring new people on and start setting up those necessary systems.

[48:05] In terms of action items, Jeremy has to have a conversation with his wife and really figure out where the transition point for the business will be and make sure everyone is on board with it. Step two is figuring out the path to get there, refining his processes, and further defining the market he serves.

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[3:00] Kim had been in the banking industry for 16 years and knew that there was definitely a need for bookkeepers in business. When Kim’s husband decided to start his trucking business, Kim made the choice to start her own bookkeeping business at the same time.

[4:15] Kim currently has 8 active clients. There are always ups and downs in the business, and clients come and go. She mainly focuses on transportation due to her insider view of the industry.

[6:05] Kim always had the desire to open her own business, but she never really knew what she wanted to do. The high costs of most business models made them prohibitive. When she discovered the idea of bookkeeping, it made a lot of sense given her background and experience. Time-freedom is the word Kim would use to describe the idea of running her own business.

[9:30] Retail banking is extremely time intensive, and Kim felt like she wouldn’t be able to go much further in the industry without sacrificing more of her time. Instead of just working more, she wanted to find a way to make more money while working less.

[11:20] Sticking to her niche was one of Kim’s first challenges. Many of the clients she initially took on were not the right fit because they were either too small or not appropriate. It can be hard to say no to a client that wants to work with you, but sometimes it’s necessary.

[14:50] Kim’s husband has been a very valuable insider who has helped shape her marketing and how she finds clients for her business.

[16:05] Take your time as you go through the learning process. While you’re working your way through it, try to put processes in play that will make your life easier. In a lot of ways, time-freedom is a double-edged sword. It’s all too easy to do work that doesn’t actually build your business. Busy work is the work we do to avoid the work we really need to do.

[19:00] The biggest challenge today for Kim is that if her business continues to grow, it’s going to take up more of her time unless she hires someone. The trouble is she isn’t sure if she wants to manage people again.

[20:35] For Kim, success means the ability to do what she wants to do and having the means to do it. Reaching true financial security is when she would define success. Given that definition of success, Kim doesn’t really need to take on more clients.

[22:50] One of the best aspects of the business for Kim has been the option of working as many hours as she wants. In terms of capacity, Kim could probably take on another 3-4 clients without eliminating the time-freedom that she values so much. At this point, she should focus on finding quality clients and upgrading her existing client base.

[26:40] When Kim hits a milestone, she takes a moment to enjoy her achievement but also look towards the next goal. She has to realize the pressure is off her. She can shape her business so that it fits her goals instead of doing things to generate an income.

[30:50] Paying off her mortgage and becoming debt free is one of Kim’s major goals. The other question is how does she want to spend her time when she’s retired. When Kim thinks about her goals, she always sees herself with other people and how she can help and serve them. To serve others, we have to serve ourselves.

[36:30] Whether or not you have team members, your business is a system. Systems are even more important than a list of clients. Once you define your processes and efficiencies, it pays off continuously over time. Start out where you are and map out your processes, and then think about how you can improve them. Processes revolve around your client; if they don’t, then why would you do it?

[42:15] You can gain a tonne of momentum and leverage in your business by hiring a virtual assistant. We think we need a big team that comes with a lot of commitment but it’s not necessary. You can take on a VA for only a few hours a week, and it can completely change your business. Before you hire a VA, you need to have your processes designed first.

[47:10] Since Kim works in the transportation niche, she has an opportunity to create a course that could help teach her potential clients how to grow their business. When they develop and grow, they could become Kim’s ideal clients.

[48:30] Before working on a new business idea, it’s good to vet the idea and make sure it’s worth your time and effort. If someone else is already doing something similar, that’s a good sign. Don’t just take someone’s word that they will buy your idea. It doesn’t mean anything until someone is willing to open their wallet and give you their money. Before taking the leap on a new idea, make sure that the resulting business fits into your vision for your life.

[51:50] For new ideas, always start with the market side of things. Once that’s in place, always undersell and overdeliver.

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[7:40] Kirsten currently has four clients but has had up to nine at one time. Some of them Kirsten decided to fire and some have gone in other directions.

[9:00] Time management was Kirsten’s first major challenge; homeschooling nine kids can make working from home fairly difficult. Being intentional with her time has been very important.

[11:30] When it came to getting clients, putting out content that would get someone interested in what Kirsten was offering without being too sales-y was tough for her. Her first client was a friend that she had known for nearly 20 years who owned a business. Three years later, just talking to people and word of mouth is still Kirsten’s primary means of getting new clients.

[15:30] Kirsten wants to ultimately live someplace warm and run her business remotely. She wants to be able to travel and enjoy her family and that means she will need additional help taking on tasks within her business.

[18:35] One of the keys to serving clients is making sure you are serving a particular niche. When Kirsten first started her business, her niche was sustainable agriculture. She marketed to them for nearly a year without getting any clients so she switched her focus. Her first client was in the tourism niche so she started trying to target them instead and later pivoted to cannabis businesses. The cannabis industry is currently like the wild, wild west and bookkeepers need to know so much in order to do the job correctly so that proved a little too difficult to break into. Now, Kirsten is sort of nicheless and isn’t sure which direction to go.

[25:15] Marketing is about three elements: knowing your market, knowing your message to that market, and the media. We get hung up on “industry” being the same as “niche,” but that isn’t necessarily the case.

[28:00] Figuring out which niche to target should be a priority, but it’s something that will happen once Kirsten starts picking up clients and understanding which ones align with her vision for her business. Focus on the relationships first.

[30:40] It’s important to go after people that we truly enjoy serving. When you’re just getting started, it’s natural to work with nearly anyone that is willing to give you money, but eventually you want to hone in and map out who your ideal customer is. Start writing down characteristics that describe them. When you understand your avatar it will make your marketing easier because you can speak directly to them.

[36:10] Slow down the process of bringing on a client. You should try to get a feel for what it’s going to be like working with them before you bring them on board. You are going to be emotionally invested in this relationship so take your time.

[41:15] Start to find the pattern. Think of the relationships you do have and the qualities that you like in other people. You are not about serving the masses, you are becoming a trusted advisor to a relatively small number of clients that you should have deep relationships with. If you build your relationships on a human level, the bookkeeping becomes a natural extension.

[46:00] You are probably not doing any marketing because you feel stuck. Remember, it’s about building a rapport with the people you want to serve. Find the groups you want to serve and become a contributor, give them value and use every medium at your disposal.

[49:00] A halfway decent message to the right market will do well, a great message to the wrong market will fall on its face every single time. Go to where your people hang out.

[52:25] The Irresistible Selling Statement is important, but that will come from understanding what clients Kirsten resonates with. She needs to sit down and figure out the characteristics of the people she wants to work with, find out where they spend their time, and start listening and contributing.

Link mentioned: The Customer Avatar Worksheet

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

[3:10] When Jaime first started, he was going to partner with a friend of his that had a degree in Bookkeeping. He discovered that a lot of random tasks end up on your plate as a bookkeeper and felt that he just didn’t want to work for someone else anymore. His friend wasn’t ready to make the leap at the same time though, and Jaime decided to go out on his own. He discovered that he was in over his head and looked for help; when he found Bookkeeper Business Launch it changed his business.

[7:10] After signing up for the course in April, Jaime got his first client in June. He reached out to his former colleagues who had ventured out to create their own firms and one of them said yes.

[9:00] One of his clients has been very influential in helpling Jaime find new clients. He has referred Jaime to a number of individuals and created new connections for him. It’s important to have as many referral sources as you can.

[11:10] Jaime had to overcome his fear and negative mindset before starting his business. We are all limited by fear but we have to bust through it.

[12:20] One of Jaime’s biggest challenges was something that many people might find easy, putting a photo of himself online. When Jaime got started, he didn’t know that he would be serving attorneys but it ultimately worked out really well.

[16:00] Jaime enjoys putting the puzzle of a client’s messy books together. It’s one of the few tasks in bookkeeping that has a definitive end point. One of Jaime’s least favorite activities is receipt management.

[19:10] Jaime has been really challenged with his systems recently. He recently lost a contractor and has found that the systems he has in place may not be sufficient. In many ways, this is actually a good problem to have and should be celebrated.

[23:00] Jaime started documenting things via screen sharing. He would record himself doing the task and then upload the video to Dropbox. Processes before people, the processes that Jaime has developed have been largely the same for all of his clients. It’s important to limit the procedures that you have that are unique to one particular client, which is one of the advantages of operating in a specific niche.

[27:25] When handing off the receipt management task to a contractor, Jaime realized that he didn’t really explain what he wanted accurately enough so he found the contractor was making a lot of the same mistakes. In the beginning, it’s important to spend more time holding their hands and walking them through the way you want something to be done.

[31:00] We often try to bite off more than we can chew. You should offload one task at a time, not look for the perfect person for every task. When you bring someone on board, they will not care about your business as much as you do. Give them a small puzzle to work on and get rid of the tasks with the lowest hourly value first. Handing off too much at one time is recipe for disaster. Don’t hire by client, hire by task.

[37:30] Overloading a new hire is a big mistake. Give them one task to master, then once they’ve got that down, give them more to work on.

[39:20] Jaime’s first contractor was a virtual assistant that did some simple tasks like managing email that he found in a Facebook group. One of his favorite ways of getting to know a potential hire is asking them, “What Star Wars character would you be and why?” Ben recommends asking the unique questions because one thing he has discovered is that the people with prior bookkeeping experience usually come with bad habits that you have to work to fix.

[44:45] People want to work in fun places with people they like. Bookkeeping is a relationship business. Going after trained bookkeepers isn’t the best approach. You may train someone and they leave, but that is just the nature of the game. Set the relationship up right before you hire, put them into real world situations that they will actually experience and see how they work.

[48:15] Never stop hiring, and never stop marketing. You never want your pipeline to run dry.

[48:45] Give your team a say in how the work gets done. You want your team to take ownership of their work and to treat your clients with respect. If it doesn’t work with one person, you’ve learned something that you can take to the next person. Once you master this concept, you can scale up your business.

[51:52] Jaime’s homework assignments are to celebrate his wins and start putting potential hires through the real world tasks they are going to be taking on.

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

[6:00] In early 2017, Justin was still working his full-time job while serving 11 clients, which was starting to burn him out. When he had the opportunity to take on a bigger client, Justin’s wife gave him the push to go for it and make his business his full time occupation.

[9:20] Justin developed a good network while he was working and spent his time getting to know who he wanted to work with and asking for specific referrals.

[11:50] When looking at new potential clients, Justin wants to see that the client is coachable and open to suggestions. He’s made mistakes taking on clients that weren’t a fit. It’s less about the niche or industry and more about the way the client works with him.

[13:45] The greatest challenge is to systematize processes. Once you get them done, it’s great, but for Justin, he finds it difficult to get through.

[16:00] The favorite part of Justin’s day is the ability to enjoy his time with his family and his wife.

[18:40] Justin’s first homework assignment is to take stock of all the challenges he has overcome so far and appreciating how far he’s come.

[20:20] Justin is in the process of onboarding three new clients so he’s focused on systematizing their processes from the start. Now that he has a team member to help him with the workload, Justin needs to optimize the way work gets done.

[25:00] The goal at the moment to spend 20 to 30 hours a week in his business so that he can focus attracting and meeting new clients as well as more personal things.

[26:50] The vision for your business is a framework that you can use to evaluate everything you do. Is your action going to move you closer or further away from your vision?

[27:40] One is none, two is one. You should always duplicate your efforts and build in some redundancy into your business processes so you aren’t in big trouble if somebody leaves. Finding team members using a service like Upwork can make the process simple.

[32:40] There lots of people who aren’t interested in building a big business but still want to do bookkeeping for a decent rate. Justin found his first team member by posting that he was looking for some help in the Bookkeeper Business Launch Facebook group.

[33:50] Calling yourself a bookkeeping professional is key.

[35:50] Take the traits of your best team member and write them down. Those are the traits you should look for in potential hires. The ‘whatever it takes’ attitude is the biggest thing that Justin looks for in his team members.

[39:30] Be slow to hire and quick to fire. This goes for your clients as well.

[41:45] It’s better to have two team members working 5 hours a week than one person working 10. Anything that the team member is going to be doing with your clients should be simulated during the interview. You should see exactly how they are going to do the job and interact with people before you bring them onboard.

[44:20] Add a little easter egg to your job posting that asks the person to include something in particular in their application so you know they pay attention to detail.

[46:15] Justin needs to find people that have the capacity to grow and are in the business for the long haul.

[48:50] If you want to scale your business, never stop marketing and never stop looking for good people.

[50:00] Finding a process to develop better processes can be tricky. Take your current bookkeeping professional and just document everything they do in the course of their work. Recording your screen while your working and narrating what you’re doing is a simple way to document what you do. Every time you add a piece of technology or software you add complexity but it’s the fundamentals that will lead to success.

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

[4:30] Tracy officially opened her doors in June of 2017 and got started by subcontracting for her fiance’s accountant a little after tax season. This was a good way to jump-start Tracy’s career and shift her mindset from employee to business owner. There were plenty of times when Tracy felt like she was overwhelmed, but she was able to persevere and push through.

[8:35] She didn’t start getting clients of her own right away. Tracy wanted to make sure she could do the job before getting in too deep, and working as a subcontractor gave her some people she could ask for help if she needed it.

[9:55] Tracy currently serves 13 clients through the accounting company. She works mainly in Sage but is transferring them over to Quickbooks. She also has 13 clients of her own.

[13:15] Tracy’s second goal was to allow her fiance to get out of driving a truck for a living and bring him into the business she was building. She created the goal in November 2017, and as of January 2019, he finished his last day of work and has come on board.

[15:30] The business started off a little slow but it has grown quite a bit in the last half of the year. Now Tracy and her fiance are available to spend time with her kids and manage their own time.

[20:20] Thinking like a business owner is about knowing that you have control of your time. It’s the flexibility of not just trading hours for dollars. One of the biggest challenges Tracy has encountered has been pricing her services. She usually starts them off at an hourly rate and switches them to monthly after a few months of service.

[24:50] The thing that we want as a business owner is flexibility but it’s a double edged sword. You’re not accountable to anyone but yourself, and for entrepreneurs, it can be really difficult.

[26:40] Tracy has experienced a lot of growth in the past few months, so marketing has slipped by the wayside.

[27:40] Don’t stop and halt your marketing. It takes momentum to get the marketing machine back up; so you should keep it going. The best time to market is when you don’t need clients, that way you can be selective.

[31:10] Helping people understand what is happening in their business is what Tracy loves to do when working with her clients. Doing her client’s bookkeeping allows Tracy to get insights into their business and helps her deliver value to them by solving their problems.

[34:40] Before we start hiring, we should understand what our Unique Ability is and where we provide the most value. List out all the tasks you do, and figure out what you are the best at and where you provide the most value. Then, list the tasks you don’t like doing.

[37:00] What are the things that you need to get other people to do? It’s not who do you need to hire, but what tasks do you need to delegate? Finding a freelancer on Upwork and outsourcing just one task is the first step. Build out your team from a task perspective instead of a person perspective.

>[41:45] Find the simplest task you don’t want to do and give it to a freelancer or virtual assistant. Don’t look for bookkeeping experience, hire for attitude and resourcefulness. Training someone else will force you to think of and write down the exact process for that task which is how you start to create systems.

[47:50] Getting your processes down gives you a resource that you can use to bring on additional team members. This gives you a huge advantage when hiring in the future. Having great people is a luxury; having great processes is a necessity.

[51:45] Tracy’s next steps are to continue with her marketing and networking efforts and break down her tasks. Then, find out what she’s best at and what she should hand off to someone else.

[53:15] Find someone that will take ownership over the process. It’s common to find people that can find better ways to do things, and there is always more you can learn.

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

[6:00] Nonprofits were the niche that Amy chose to work with because working around or in them has been a part of her history and experience. She felt like she was in a unique position to help nonprofits specifically.

[7:50] In the beginning, Amy felt like everything had to be ready to go before she officially launched her business and she ended up pushing her launch back until the last week of August. She got her first three clients in the same week right before Thanksgiving.

[9:25] The first client was a Facebook referral, the other two were found on Indeed by applying for remote bookkeeper positions. There is always a price to getting clients, it’s either your effort, your time, your money, or some combination of all of them.

[11:30] The best way Amy has found to get clients has been to spend time in Facebook groups where she knows her ideal clients hang out. Giving value first is the basic strategy. Niching down is one of the keys to Amy’s success.

[14:10] Now that Amy is running her own business she can turn down the work that doesn’t fit the lifestyle she wants to live.

[15:25] Confidence in her ability to execute was one of the biggest challenges she’s had to face in starting her business. She learned a lot in the first 60 days. Each new client brings its own set of challenges. Knowledge has to be combined to gain confidence.

[19:00] All of Amy’s clients are across the country and she can essentially operate her business from everywhere.

[20:05] Running her own bookkeeping business has drastically improved Amy’s family life.

[22:10] In the beginning, Amy just wanted to bring in something for her family but at this point she’s looking at breaking past six figures and bringing additional staff to handle the workload. She’s focused on building a real business complete with brand identity.

[25:10] Get specific on your goals and what your business is going to do for you. You’re going to be much more motivated by internal goals rather than external goals.

[27:20] What do you want to be when you grow up? Now that Amy is becoming established she has to put some thought into her branding and how she wants to be viewed in her market. As you scale your business your brand becomes more important.

[30:45] A brand is a perception of who you are as an organization and perception is reality. Your brand needs to attract and repel. When someone is looking at your business, what do you want them to feel?

[34:35] Write down the words you want people to use to describe your business. Ask your clients how they would describe you already. A brand is something that is crafted, it’s not created overnight. Don’t be a copycat brand, your brand should be unique to you and your company.

[38:20] Amy may not need to market her business very hard at this point, her current methods have worked pretty well. You shouldn’t start to look for new growth strategies until the one you are using effectively stops working.

[41:10] Amy has walked in an Executive Director shoes so she knows what they need in terms of a bookkeeper. The feelings and perceptions of her ideal client will inform the brand she is trying to create. Additional perceptions can come from the auditors and board members that Amy can tap into.

[46:10] These words and descriptions will become the core beliefs, the manifesto that determines your steps going forward. Some core values are better than others but there is no wrong or right set. Establishing your core values is key to keeping people on your team long term. There is no proven methodology to creating your brand other than what comes from within.

[50:35] Amy always thinks back to her future obituary and what she hopes people will eventually say about her. She hopes her business will allow her to spend more time with her family and live the life she wants. Once you understand your brand and core values, it makes your business decisions much easier.

[54:30] Amy’s action items include figuring out what she provides to her clients and what her company stands for. Building a brand is intentional and done over time.

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

[4:20] Tracy learned most of her bookkeeping skills by going through Ben’s course, in addition to some minor experience in high school and college accounting.

[5:40] If you don’t have clients you don’t have a business - you have a hobby. Once Tracy completed the course she dove in to trying to secure her first client, and she actually connected with her first client through a Facebook post.

[8:45] You can’t give away too much for free. Giving value always seems to come back to you.

[10:00] Tracy is currently serving 18 or so bookkeeping clients plus another handful of tax clients.

[11:00] The first year was the hardest. Tracy was studying for her EA and some other exams at the time and combined with some personal issues she faced a few challenges. Around May of 2018, things really took off, largely due to a mindset shift and a snowball of referrals.

[15:40] Tracy’s vision is to start hiring some help and growing her business while still maintaining her family time. Our business needs to fit into our life, not our life into our business.

[17:30] Entrepreneurs never arrive, but it is important to stop and take stock of what you accomplished. Overcoming challenges builds confidence.

[19:50] Time management is crucial. Keeping up with the momentum Tracy has built is a challenge.

[23:20] The STEP Framework is key to getting stuff done. Time management happens across the whole Framework, but Execution is what needs to happen right now. What do you naturally gravitate towards that you’re happy to do? For Tracy, it’s the client interaction.

[25:50] Where do you add the most value to your business? The goal of hiring someone should be about optimizing that work. Even the thing you love can wear you down though, if that’s all you do.

[28:20] Tracy also enjoys putting together the processes of the business as well as blogging and video creation. As bookkeepers, there aren’t many ways to be creative. What you want to do is maximize the things you like to do while at the same time providing value to your clients and helping you feel fulfilled.

[32:10] You have to schedule time to be creative and dream. Be intentional about putting the things that are important into your life. Start off with just 15 minutes and you’ll find you have much more energy when you’re done.

[34:50] Time management isn’t the thing you need, it’s what time management can bring into your life.

[35:15] Bookkeeping is first and foremost a relationship business. If you build your business on relationships and not the transactions, you will be job secure forever.

[37:50] The repetitive tasks are starting to get tedious for Tracy. That doesn’t mean it’s trivial, but they are not important and not the best use of Tracy’s time. List the tasks you do in your business and then ask if they fall under your Unique Ability.

[41:50] What is the hourly rate for your Unique Abilities? What about your competencies? If you can less than the dollar equivalent for those tasks you’re making money. Look at your business tasks and ask is this something to continue doing, stop doing, outsource, or delegate? The point is to free up your time so you can focus on what you do best.

[43:40] You shouldn’t be looking to hire a specific person, you should be looking to outsource a specific task. Don’t throw people at a process problem. The tasks you’re competent at but don’t really enjoy doing, are the first to outsource. Time efficiency is all about saving 15 minutes at a time, those 15 minutes add up fast.

[48:30] You can do the work and set up the process by recording those tasks. Videos are a powerful way to offload the tasks you don’t want to do anymore. Dissect the task and show the logic behind it. Upwork is a great place to find freelancers that you can offload your tasks to.

[54:15] It’s going to cost you time at the beginning. The first task you should offload is something that is not going to directly affect a customer. Start with the admin or support work, the lowest hanging fruit.

[57:50] Processes before people. You build the processes then you bring in the people to run them.

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

[3:00] 99% of what Ben focuses on is real estate. Oklahoma has a growing real estate market so it made a lot of sense to niche down.

[5:20] Ben spent around 6 hours per day networking and connecting with various professionals in the market, specifically meetup.com, and that time evolved into those people asking Ben to help them with their books.

[7:00] Take it slow, ask questions, engage and offer value before you ask for money.

[8:05] Ben formed his business in a way that facilitated a freedom lifestyle. He found that building a virtual business is more of a challenge but is totally worth it.

[10:20] Fear setting is one of the major challenges that Ben has overcome in growing his business. Every day he finds new fears around talking to people and seeing what he can do to conquer them.

[11:45] Understanding when to upgrade the conversation after offering value is a particularly tricky subject.

[12:10] Fear is the number one impediment in not getting the life that you want.

[12:50] Ben considers himself an introvert but has learned how to turn it on when necessary. There is nothing easy or attractive to the process, you walk up to someone, shake their hand and say something. Then you rinse and repeat that process.

[14:50] Nothing makes you feel quite like a rockstar than providing value to someone and them saying “this is the best thing I’ve ever had, I’m going to tell everyone about you.” Knowing you’re doing a good job does wonders for your business.

[16:20] Ben’s business is a one-man show other than his marketing and web design. He also has coaches and mentors that help him out as well. Entrepreneurship is incredibly lonely and having good people around you is vital.

[18:10] Entrepreneurs wear too many hats and are afraid of taking time off, and that feeling becomes very real when they begin to scale.

[20:30] Ben’s challenge is in pre-qualifying leads. There is a huge difference between telling someone how to do something and being paid to do it for them.

[21:50] Conversations and communication is where most things fall apart. Real estate is especially tricky for this because of differing definitions of the term “transaction”.

[23:50] When you don’t have to take on more clients to cover your costs, you can be more selective about the clients you work with.

[24:40] There are four components to scale, there is Strategy, Team, Execution, and Profitability.

[27:00] Make your prospects work to see you. Once you have clients, you want new clients to vet themselves for you. Marketing is more about repelling the people you don’t want than it is attracting the people you do want.

[29:30] List out all of the things you want to know before talking with someone. What does your perfect client look like? Most of us are people pleasers, you need to make your clients work for it so you don’t waste their time or yours.

[32:25] Creating a qualifying funnel is a great way to establish authority in your niche as well as filter your prospects down to the right people.

[36:30] Bookkeeping is a relationship business, it’s not about numbers. During the interview process, you should emulate as much as possible what the workflow will be like. Never give someone a proposal after speaking with them only once, there should be a few conversations before that point.

[41:45] One of the keys to financial statements is getting them in a timely manner. Any homework you give to a prospective client should be completed quickly.

[43:15] You have to think about who your ideal client is. Most of the time we think we know who we want to serve but you have to get very detailed about that. Be slow to take on new clients. Do you have one or two clients that you like a lot? What traits about those clients make them a pleasure to work with?

[46:30] Without being explicit about your price, you can list a minimum amount on your qualifying page that will filter out the wrong kinds of clients.

[47:45] You have to deliver value in advance. Take the information a potential client has given you and tell them how to run their business more effectively. If you put enough value into the marketplace, you will get value in return. Take the pressure off and deliver the value before you give them the proposal.

[50:15] Know what you’re going to charge them once that’s done and put it on the table then be silent. Let them decide. The more decision points you give your client, the more friction they encounter.

[52:40] Stick with your pricing and never budge. If you’re working with friends and family, double it.

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah and Melissa start the conversation by announcing that this will be their last episode on the podcast. Ben Robinson will go back to hosting the show next season.
• Hannah explains how inflation is changing salary expectations and making it harder to attract high-quality candidates.
• According to Melissa, the first step to navigating pay expectations is having an idea of the type of candidates your budget can attract.
• Melissa believes business owners should set a pay range for salary negotiations because stating a specific number can weaken your negotiating power.
• Hannah and Melissa describe why business owners should create and stick to a realistic business budget.
• Melissa is a strong proponent of fair pay and keeping up with inflation but never at the expense of your business.
• For Melissa, your business model needs an update if you cannot afford a yearly pay increase to keep up with inflation.
• Hannah describes why business owners should always have a number in mind before going into pay negotiations.
• Hannah reveals the frustrating feeling of overlooking the "perfect" candidates because their pay expectation exceeds your budget.
• Melissa and Hannah agree that having a good team with less profit is better than having higher profits and managing a bad team.
• Melissa highlights the differences between managing pay rates for full-time employees and subcontractors.
• Hannah illustrates why new business owners should hire subcontractors first before going after full-time employees.
• Melissa points out the direct link between higher pay and higher employee retention rates - but company culture and work-life balance also play a significant role in retention.
• Employee turnover isn't always your fault - but at the bare minimum, Melissa believes business owners should always plan for turnover.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah and Melissa start the conversation by describing how making an offer is arguably one of the most important elements of hiring.
• Melissa shares her go-to strategy for making a job offer that candidates simply cannot refuse.
• According to Melissa, the first step to making a job offer is sticking to your budget - be a little flexible with pay expectations, but never pay more than you can afford.
• Hannah and Melissa discuss the impact of inflation on the job market and how candidates have way higher pay expectations than 12 months ago.
• Melissa explains that making a job offer is a high-stakes negotiation, and business owners should always expect the candidates to counter.
• For Hannah, incentives that have nothing to do with salaries are a great way to attract high-quality candidates.
• Melissa agrees with Hannah's thoughts on incentives and reveals they provide benefits like self-care reimbursements to try to sweeten the deal.
• Melissa shares what she would do if she found the perfect candidate but they couldn't agree on reimbursements.
• Melissa highlights the benefits of paying candidates for taking part in the practical interview.
• Hannah believes hiring is like business dating - it's risky, and you will get catfished, but never lower your expectations.
• For Melissa, the most unrealistic candidate demand she's ever heard was when a prospect expected the business to cover health insurance.
• Melissa doubles down on her earlier comments on sticking to your budget - the right candidate is out there somewhere; you just have to go out and find them.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah starts the conversation by highlighting how interviewing can be daunting, especially if you're a new business owner.
• For Hannah, the first step to having a successful interview is being clear on the type of person you're looking for.
• Melissa goes through the benefits of having a well-defined interview process.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that business owners would rather not fill the position than panic hire - a bad hire can be expensive, both financially and culturally.
• If it's your first time hiring, Melissa feels the best way to develop a hiring process is to Google other people's processes, implement them, and learn as you go.
• Melissa tries to compare an interview to a romantic first date and the risks involved when it's not a match.
• For skill-based roles, Melissa believes business owners should have a practical interview to gauge the interviewee's understanding of the tasks.
• Hiring is risky. This is why Melissa feels businesses should never ignore the red flags in an interviewee.
• Hannah reveals the quality of candidates is more important than quantity - business owners should have a screening structure on their job posts to weed out unqualified candidates.
• Hannah and Melissa go through the red and green flags to watch out for in a job interview.
• According to Melissa, the best way to improve your interview process is to ask for feedback after a successful hire.
• Hannah points out that interviewees can make a positive first impression by asking well-thought-out questions at the end of an interview.
• Melissa adds that not having questions at the end of an interview is a huge missed opportunity - this is the interviewer's way of gauging your level of interest in the job and your chance to end the interview on a high.
• Melissa shares her thoughts on candidates asking about compensation during the interview.
• Hannah and Melissa share their past interview experiences and the difference between being the interviewer and the interviewee.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah introduces the topic by highlighting the struggles new business owners face when it comes to job postings.
• Melissa highly recommends the Bookkeepers.com community for posting bookkeeping jobs due to its high talent quality..
• While the job description must be clear and straight to the point, Melissa feels the job posting is where your personality and creativity should stand out.
• To get your job posting to stand out, Hannah is convinced you must be creative - This is why Melissa uses Bernie Sanders memes to gain people's attention.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that hiding "trivia eggs" in the job posting is a great way to ensure applicants read the entire post. Applicants that do not respond to the trivia are automatically filtered out.
• For Melissa, the last thing you would want is to hire a bookkeeper who is not detail oriented. The job posting is the best place to screen for such soft skills.
• Melissa goes through the benefits of using video in your job posting.
• Hannah explains why the job description needs to accompany the job posting, helping applicants apply for the right positions.
• According to Melissa, networking and being part of a professional community is by far the best way to land exceptional team members.
• Should employers disclose pay information on job posts? Hannah and Melissa believe they should.
• Melissa adds that making prospects go through the entire application process without letting them know your pay structure is just unethical.
• Hannah also points out that higher-quality candidates that know their worth will not waste time applying to jobs that don't have a clear pay structure.
• Hannah explains why the job posting is the ideal place to highlight the benefits of working for your organization.
• Hannah and Melissa discuss the pros and cons of posting jobs on recruiting sites like Indeed and Upwork.
• Melissa believes business owners should consider in-house talent before going after new employees.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Melissa starts the conversation by highlighting the difference between paying an hourly rate versus a flat rate and what the law says about it.
• For Melissa, all new hires should be paid a flat rate until they get accustomed to the core business processes.
• When working with subcontractors, Hannah believes a fixed rate will get things done faster than an hourly rate.
• Melissa goes through the benefits of setting a fair rate for both the employer and the employee.
• Hannah reveals how hourly rates are mostly influenced by the economy and the demand for skilled labor.
• According to Melissa, one of the main benefits of hiring full-time employees is they only have to worry about production quality and not putting in as many hours as possible.
• Melissa doesn’t really care how an individual gets paid as long work gets done and the rate is fair for the parties involved.
• Melissa shares what she would do to keep high-performing employees during a recession.
• Hannah and Melissa discuss the benefits of having a consistent pay structure - there’s nothing worse than working for an organization with inconsistent pay.
• Hannah explores a simple way to pay employees according to your budget and still attract top talent.
• Melissa is a huge advocate of fair pay - employees are more likely to leave if they believe the potential pay is not worth their time.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that business owners should not take advantage of the job market and pay less for high-quality labor.
• Melissa breaks down the benefits of implementing a bonus structure in your business - bonuses are a great way to improve employee retention, increase productivity, and thank employees for their contribution in the team.
• Melissa goes through the mistakes she made when developing a pay structure for her business.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Melissa starts the conversation by describing the difference between hiring employees and hiring subcontractors.
• Melissa explains why it's important that subcontractors and employees be held to the same performance standard.
• For Melissa, performing a task audit is the first step to understanding whether you need to hire an employee or a subcontractor.
• Hannah and Melissa go through the difference in workload for sub-contractors and employees.
• Melissa breaks down the steps to making a successful first hire in your small business.
• Melissa believes it's more beneficial for your first hire to be a subcontractor than an employee while you figure out what you want.
• Hiring and onboarding is expensive. To help increase the odds of a successful hire, Melissa believes all new team members should go through a 90-day probationary period.
• According to Hannah, the most effective way to reduce employee turnover is to make it clear from the beginning that you're investing in a long-term relationship.
• Melissa adds that the goal of every successful hire is to be clear on the level of commitment you expect from the new team member.
• Melissa highlights that employees don't like too much freedom - as a business owner, you must set clear expectations, rules, and processes.
• Hannah describes how having a well-defined business structure leads to increased productivity.
• While there's no way to guarantee an employee stays with you long term, Melissa believes maintaining a positive work environment will increase their odds of staying.
• Hannah and Melissa share the pain of investing in an employee only for them to move on.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah starts the conversation by highlighting the negative impacts of a poorly written job description - new hires feel conned when the job description doesn't match the role.
• Hannah explains that crafting a compelling job description is essential to attracting the most qualified candidates.
• Melissa and Hannah agree that transparency is the most important part of writing a persuasive job description.
• For Melissa, a properly written job description is supposed to give applicants the best perspective of what it's like to work with you.
• Melissa believes a great job description should accurately highlight the responsibilities and duties of the position.
• Hannah and Melissa go through the best places to post job openings and attract qualified candidates every time.
• Melissa breaks down the benefits of creating a video job description - and why she believes video is an impactful and highly personalized approach to hiring the right talent.
• Hannah asks Melissa what should come first, the job description or the title of the role. Melissa feels the job description should come first - look at the type of help you need and build from there.
• Melissa shares her job description writing process - you don't have to be Shakespeare to write a compelling job description. Just be clear and to the point.
• Hannah and Melissa discuss the process of writing job descriptions for non-defined or complicated roles.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah and Melissa start the conversation by revealing that they don't reply to work-related emails during the weekend.
• For Melissa, there is no such thing as a work emergency - and replying to emails on the weekends gives people the impression that it's okay to contact you whenever they like.
• Melissa talks about how some people struggle to put away work on the weekends. Daniel is one such example and struggles to disconnect himself from work on weekends.
• Hannah and Melissa try to identify the only times it makes sense to reply to work emails - There aren't any.
• Hannah talks about her weekend schedule and how she shuts off completely on Friday evening.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that the hustle mentality and working throughout the weekend often leads to burnout.
• Melissa also believes the concept of "grind and hustle 24/7" to reach success is just wrong - the only thing you can expect from it is physical and emotional exhaustion.
• According to Melissa, another good habit is not using your phone during the weekend - time away from all types of screens can make you more productive when you resume on Monday morning.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah and Melissa talk about the benefits of being in a mastermind group and reveal they first met at the Bookkeeper Launch Mastermind Group.
• Melissa explains why she feels the best mastermind groups consist of people with diverse skill sets and experiences.
• Hannah and Melissa agree the best way to get more out of a mastermind group is to join groups that focus on areas you are not particularly good at.
• Hannah shares the benefits of being around people who push you and hold you accountable - Melissa adds that accountability partners should also understand if you have to pivot.
• Melissa highlights why it pays to join mastermind groups with people who have already reached the goal you would like to achieve.
• Hannah and Melissa share their experience in mastermind groups as well as some of the common themes around the more successful masterminds.
• According to Melissa, mastermind groups that lack structure and organization are rarely successful.
• Hannah explains how running a business can be very lonely - which is why camaraderie is such a huge thing in mastermind groups.
• Melissa highlights how masterminds can help broaden your thinking by exposing you to opinions and views of other people.
• Hannah and Melissa break down the difference between paid versus free masterminds - and how joining a paid group might motivate and push you a little bit more.
• For Melissa, finding the perfect mastermind group is a lot like online dating - you have to put yourself out there.
• Although several characteristics define productive mastermind groups, Hannah believes the best groups boast high participation levels and have a clear format for giving and receiving feedback.
• Melissa shares what she does to get the most out of both virtual and in-person mastermind meetings.
• Melissa and Hannah go through the advantages of only taking one or two things to implement in your business - too many ideas will lead to overwhelm.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah starts the conversation by revealing she enjoys the process of asking for and receiving testimonials.
• Although there are numerous ways to get testimonials, Hannah believes the most persuasive testimonials come from customers who are already satisfied with your services.
• Melissa explains that you don't have to ask all your clients for testimonials - start with the ones that have had a positive experience working with you.
• Hannah and Melissa discuss the difference between asking for a testimonial in-person versus through email.
• Hannah shares her experience asking for testimonials at BKX - it was interesting since most bookkeepers are introverts and camera shy.
• Melissa goes through some of the questions she asks when requesting a testimonial.
• According to Melissa, the easiest way to get a testimonial is to make your questions short and to the point. People are busy and don't have time to go through 50 redundant questions.
• Hannah explains why written testimonials are often more authoritative than recorded videos.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that people are more willing to give testimonials when you offer incentives - it's not a bribe, but you'd be surprised what a $50 discount can get you.
• Melissa reveals why it's never a good idea to ask new clients for testimonials right off the bat.
• Melissa shares how business owners can use testimonials to grow their brand.
• Hannah and Melissa go through the pros and cons of automating your testimonial collection process.
• Hannah explains why she believes you should never ask for testimonials more than twice a year.
• Melissa shares some of the software she uses when asking for both video and written testimonials.
• Hannah highlights that, ideally, you should ask for testimonials after the customer has some success with your service - but always ask. The more you ask, the more you'll get.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Ben Day is the owner of Lionshare Bookkeeping where he and his team offer full-service bookkeeping exclusively to real estate investors.
• Ben is a huge proponent of having a niche - However, he also believes your niche should be broad enough for it to make sense.
• Melissa asks Ben what it’s like to manage a large team and the difference between managing full-time employees and a handful of subcontractors.
• Ben talks about creating a flexible work environment and how giving your team the opportunity to self-govern around a set of guidelines leads to better morale, improved productivity, and positive work culture.
• Hannah goes through the benefits of creating a space where team members can grow with the business but also grow individually on their own.
• According to Ben, employees become way more productive when you allow them the freedom to create their own schedule around a set of guidelines.
• Ben talks about his BKX talk - Brain Dump Retreats. The topic is built on the idea that business owners need to get away from the business and schedule some intentional quiet time; only then can they come up with brilliant ideas for the business.
• Ben shares how he performs his brain dump sessions and the positive impacts those new ideas have had on his business.
• Hannah, Ben, and Melissa share their love for dogs and how dogs lead to more fulfillment in life.
• Hannah asks Ben about his scaling journey and the moment he decided to start bringing on new team members.
• Ben believes making a lot of money at the expense of your sanity is not a great way to live life.
• Ben’s advice for business owners looking to scale is to take it slow - scaling is complicated, and trying to rush things is a guaranteed recipe for disaster.
• Hannah highlights the drawbacks of chasing new shiny things instead of focusing on the work in front of you.
• Ben reveals his experience with mentors and the benefits of having the right business mentors.

Mentioned in this episode:

Lionshare Bookkeeping - lionsharebookkeeping.com

Ben Day on LinkedIn

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Melissa shares her first experience delegating tasks and letting go of responsibilities - it was chaotic.
• Delegating is a skill that doesn’t come naturally for most people - Hannah believes business owners should not be too hard on themselves if they struggle to delegate.
• Melissa explains why the most valuable thing you can do as a business owner is learning how to delegate.
• For Hannah, delegating frees up more time for the business owner to focus on high-impact tasks and create the perfect work-life balance.
• Melissa explains why the most challenging transition for business owners is shifting from doing to leading.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that it’s almost impossible to scale your business if you don’t know how to delegate.
• Hannah dissects the first step to mastering the art of delegation: knowing when to ask for help.
• Melissa shares her post-maternal depression story and how hiring a housekeeper made life at home manageable.
• Hannah expounds on the consequences of business owners believing they can do everything on their own.
• “Average people trade their time for money. Wealthy people trade money for time.” Melissa is a huge proponent of this quote and aims to get to a place where she can trade money for more time.
• Hannah highlights that delegation is expensive, but you have to decide which is more precious: time or money.
• Melissa talks about delegation in the family unit and how parents can lighten their load by getting the kids involved in building a productive home.
• According to Melissa, it’s not unethical to source cheap labor from workers outside the US - if you cannot afford to pay local talent, it’s okay to hire foreign freelancers from platforms like Upwork.
• Melissa shares the impact effective delegation has had on her life-work balance.
• Hannah and Melissa discuss how business owners can overcome the need to micromanage their team members after delegating tasks.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah and Melissa discuss the benefits of setting big goals and having smaller goals that keep you motivated along the way.
• Hannah shares her struggles with following through on the goals she set for herself.
• Melissa shares her goal-setting process - and a framework that makes it easy to follow through.
• Hannah shares a story of how she used goal setting to prepare for a marathon and remain disciplined throughout.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that celebrating small wins along the way is the easiest way to stay motivated and follow through on your goals.
• Melissa explains that motivation is good for goal setting - but you need consistency to actually follow through.
• Melissa breaks down an intriguing goal-setting strategy that will keep you going, especially on days you don’t feel like putting in the work.
• Hannah talks about checklists and why they are so effective in daily productivity management.
• Hannah and Melissa discuss productivity and the benefits of focusing on high-priority tasks.
• Hannah and Melissa go through the pros and cons of having an accountability partner.
• According to Hannah, there is no shame in setting a goal and realizing the goal is not the right fit - However, this is not reason enough to drop every goal you set.
• Hannah firmly believes in working hard in silence and letting success make all the noise.
• Hannah expounds on the benefits of developing habits that will help you achieve your goals faster.
• Melissa reveals why she’s a big fan of making immediate changes. Just start - take action now and learn as you go.
• Hannah and Melissa debate what are the biggest roadblocks stopping people from achieving their goals.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah and Melissa go through the major highlights from Sally’s BKX speech - Personality Assessments.
• Melissa unapologetically maintains that she doesn’t like personality assessments - because there are no comprehensive studies to prove their effectiveness.
• Melissa explains why she believes personality assessments should not dictate how you live your life, both professionally and personally.
• For Hannah, personality tests are not super important, but they do help shine a light on a person’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that personality tests are great for personal use - but should never be used in any part of running a business.
• Melissa breaks down the effectiveness of personality assessments compared to the Big Five when hiring new employees.
• Hannah reveals she’s a big fan of zodiac signs - but would never use them to make hiring decisions.
• Melissa is convinced that introverts can also make great salespeople.
• Hannah and Melissa go through the benefits of analyzing your strengths and weaknesses - and how to use your weaknesses to make hiring decisions.
• According to Hannah, if employees are comfortable voicing their concerns, that’s a great organization to work for.
• Hannah and Melissa share their experience being on stage at BKX.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah and Melissa talk about Ben's doomsday BKX speech about the prospect of an impending recession.
• Hannah describes why it was important for Ben to talk about the recession and the uncertainty in today's business environment.
• Melissa explains why she's convinced that the businesses that came out of the pandemic unscathed can survive a market downturn the same way.
• According to Melissa, your actions will determine whether you're one of the businesses that come out on top in case of a recession.
• As someone with anxiety, Melissa reveals all she can do to stay sane, with everything that's happening in the world, is to keep moving forward.
• Hannah and Melissa share their admiration for Ben's "Adapt and Overcome" philosophy - and why businesses need to learn how to pivot in the face of new economic challenges.
• For Hannah, the key to surviving and even thriving during a recession is to play the long game - make long-term decisions and only make changes when it's absolutely necessary.
• Melissa's advice for business owners: when the money starts rolling in, fight the urge to start buying things you probably don't need.
• Melissa shares an inspiring story of how her clients came out on top during the pandemic.
• Melissa explains why client success should be the driving factor for any business - and how helping your clients make more money will drive more revenue for your business.
• Hannah believes the overarching theme for surviving a global crisis is being creative, expanding your services, and thinking outside the box.
• Melissa breaks down the benefits of having an emergency kit and saving for your business in case of a market collapse.
• Melissa highlights the benefits of niching down - and why having a niche is the key to surviving all forms of financial drawbacks.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah and Melissa reveal that one of their major highlights at BKX was when they interviewed Ben on stage.
• Hannah reveals that their interview with Ben was not rehearsed as he wanted to answer questions off the top of his head.
• Hannah admits that she was a little nervous about being on stage.
• Melissa describes how the audience resonated with the topic of weird client interactions - because we've all had one.
• Hannah shares Ben's reaction when he learned that the audience wanted to know who his favorite child was.
• Melissa talks about the excitement that comes with meeting fans in person and interacting with people she normally sees on Facebook.
• Melissa's pro tip for event speakers: volunteer to speak on the first or second day of the event.
• Hannah and Melissa break down the pros and cons of running a virtual event alongside an in-person event.
• Melissa explains why she believes it's almost impossible to try and compare the experience of a virtual event versus an in-person event.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that people assume hosting an event is easy because nothing ever goes wrong at well-run events.
• Melissa shares how disappointed she was with the dessert - especially since good food was a motivating factor for attending BKX.
• Hannah describes the state of her feet after a whole day of wearing heels - Melissa adds that bleeding feet is the primary reason she's a big fan of flats.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Melissa goes through the benefits of developing business processes - and why creating systems and processes is the first step to scaling a business.
• Melissa talks about the first processes she implemented in her business when she took over running the business after Daniel was deployed.
• Hannah shares her thoughts on why she believes having processes always leads to increased productivity.
• Melissa describes how hard it was to move from a sub-contractor business model to hiring permanent staff.
• Melissa reveals she is a massive fan of time blocking.
• Hannah and Melissa go through unique strategies for building efficient business processes.
• According to Melissa, processes guarantee high-quality outputs - knowing exactly what needs to be done ensures nobody skips a step and the quality is the same across team members.
• Melissa breaks down how business owners can use quantifiable metrics to evaluate the diverse aspects of their business processes.
• Hannah explains why a critical step to implementing business processes is figuring out how much it’s going to cost you.
• Hannah asks Melissa how she monitors the results of new processes - Melissa asks for feedback from her team.
• Melissa explores the benefits of building a culture where employees are comfortable pointing out the flaws in your system.
• Melissa shares how her team became hysterical when they learned that Daniel would be the one implementing the Traction business system.
• Hannah admits that she often struggles to adapt to change, especially when she’s accustomed to a specific way of doing things.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that you don’t need to build new processes from scratch - if somebody else has a process that would fit your business model, buy it and implement it.
• Melissa highlights why trusting yourself is one of the key attributes to making confident decisions as a business owner.
• Melissa explains that if your team is negatively reacting to a new process, figure out if they’re struggling because it’s new or they’re struggling because it’s not working.

Mentioned in this episode:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah asks Melissa which is easier: hiring or firing an employee - Melissa points out that both are hard as they all come with their own set of challenges.
• Melissa reveals that she's always had trouble firing people and sometimes holds on to unproductive employees a little too long.
• Melissa explains why she believes the "slow to hire but quick to fire" mantra is super effective, especially when running virtual teams.
• Hannah explains the first step to hiring an employee is identifying the role and then reviewing the job description according to your need.
• Hannah and Melissa go through the process of crafting a clear and concise job description - as well as a smart way to attract top-shelf candidates.
• Melissa describes the framework she implements in her business to guarantee a seamless onboarding process for new hires.
• According to Hannah, one of the best ways to make a new hire feel comfortable is to ensure that everybody follows the same rules and that all team members are held to similar standards.
• Melissa dissects the dos and don'ts of new employee training - and how to give new hires the tools they need to succeed on the job.
• Hannah and Melissa analyze some tell-tale signs that it's time to let go of an employee.
• Melissa talks about the benefits of setting clear expectations and giving employees several chances to improve before letting them go.
• Hannah shares her thoughts on why most managers and business owners struggle to let go of unproductive employees.
• Melissa reveals her go-to process for firing underperforming employees - and how she keeps the firing conversation professional without the emotional blow-up.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that firing an employee should always be a face-to-face affair - Melissa also adds that letting go of someone via email or Slack is disrespectful and inappropriate.
• Melissa highlights that underperforming employees aren't always lazy or unproductive; they may be nice, committed individuals who don't have the skill or support needed to succeed.
• According to Melissa, it's always a good idea to have quantifiable metrics that justify your decision to fire an employee.

• Hannah explains why she believes the first step to scaling a business is realizing it’s time to scale, then committing to scaling effectively.
• Melissa lists the steps she went through during the initial stages of scaling her business.
• Melissa goes through the primary reasons most bookkeepers struggle when it comes to scaling their business.
• Hannah describes why it’s extremely important to perfect your product or service before deciding to scale. Melissa agrees and adds that maintaining the quality of your product or service leads to successful scaling.
• Hannah shares her thoughts on the benefits of having regular internal check-ins even when you’re not scaling.
• Melissa points out that you must understand your capacity to maintain a scaling business before making any changes.
• When asked about the benefits of hiring a coach when scaling a business, Melissa reveals that having a dependable third-party partner enabled her to scale successfully.
• Hannah asks Melissa what she does to consistently evolve her business even when she has no intentions of scaling.
• Melissa admits that scaling a business is tough. However, sometimes the best way to gain clarity on scaling is to take a break from the business.
• Melissa reveals that she is not a big fan of business process consultants. Instead, business owners should invest in “done-for-you” processes and dive deep into the implementation themselves.
• Melissa describes how business owners can use scaling to uncover the strengths and weaknesses in their business processes.
• Melissa shares the amount of time and effort it took to build a clear and detailed hiring process.
• Melissa talks about the struggles of developing a business process and constantly having to refine it every time things change in the business.
• Hannah and Melissa go through the key activities business owners can implement to determine what’s working and what’s not.
• Hannah and Melissa go through scaling mistakes business owners make, especially when managing virtual teams.

• Serena Shoup is the Host of the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcasts and the Owner of Of Course Bookkeeping. She's on a mission to mentor bookkeepers and accountants so they can leave behind the stress of working their 9 to 5.
• Hannah asks Serena why she decided to start a business midway through a successful corporate career.
• Hannah asks Serena about the time it took growing the business before she felt it was eventually time to scale. Her response is scaling takes time, but there needs to be a good reason for it.
• Serena explains that following a path of careful, calculated growth is smarter than scaling a business you already can't handle.
• Melissa is intrigued by Serena's work-life balance and how her systems make it easier to run a successful company without compromising on time with family.
• Serena describes why scaling a business is more than just acquiring more customers - scaling is all about creating a system to serve more customers with little to no additional resources.
• Serena goes through how impulsive hiring can cause so many problems, especially if you decide to hire a friend just for the sake of it.
• Serena points out that making mistakes during the growth phase of your business is okay, as long as you don't make those mistakes define who you are.
• According to Serena, scaling a business is not something you do once - it's something you'll have to manage throughout the life of your business.
• Melissa and Serena agree that some business owners avoid growth because they don't want to deal with the heartache that comes with running a larger business.
• Hannah and Serena talk about the major mistakes she made during the initial stages of growing her business.
• Serena shares why she believes building relationships is extremely important if you want to scale.
• Melissa asks Serena what she does to ensure her business continues to scale sustainably - Serena explains that building a self-sufficient team and having a careful understanding of your customers can not be overstated.
• Melissa and Serena explore the benefits of treating your employees as your number one client.
• Serena reveals the key to staying motivated in business is allowing yourself space to feel unmotivated - also, remembering your team depends on you makes it easier to get up in the morning.

Mentioned in this episode:

Serena Shoup on LinkedIn

The Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast

Of Course Bookkeeping - ofcoursebookkeeping.com

• Hannah explains the difference between growing and scaling a business - and why business owners need to learn how to differentiate the two.
• Hannah asks Melissa the first action steps she took when scaling her business.
• Hannah and Melissa go through the key signs that confirm it’s time to scale your business - they also acknowledge that it’s okay for some business owners not to want to scale their businesses.
• Melissa breaks down the first measure business owners should implement when scaling their business - she also explains why reverse engineering your goals makes them easier to archive.
• Melissa reveals strategies business owners can use to cope with the growing pains of scaling a business.
• Melissa explains why getting rid of employees and clients who no longer serve the company is crucial to scaling a business.
• Hannah asks Melissa about the essential milestones she set out to achieve in the first few months of scaling her business.
• Melissa reveals that moving from a contractor to an employee-based model was one of the most important foundations of scaling her company.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that having a contingency plan is a brilliant business plan in case things don’t work out when growing a company.
• Melissa explores the benefits of having flexible systems that can easily withstand the pressure of exponential growth, without harming the profitability and efficiency of the business.
• Hannah asks Melissa about the areas in her business that caused a lot of growing pains.
• Melissa shares the must-have processes you need to scale a business - and how great processes drive business growth.
• Melissa reveals what she did to guarantee high-quality services and outstanding customer experiences when she decided to grow her business.
• Melissa goes through strategies she used to keep her costs down when scaling her business.

• Hannah asks Melissa about the exact moment she decided it was time to scale her business.
• Hannah explains why she believes the first step to scaling a business is bridging the gap between where you are and where you want to be.
• Melissa illustrates how having a consistent business process is all you need to achieve consistent results.
• Hannah and Melissa go through the benefits of consistently showing up in your business, even when you don't feel like it.
• Melissa explains why sometimes it's okay to just "wing it" in your business and figure things out as you grow.
• Hannah describes why she feels having a well-defined business process makes it easier to identify the cogs in your systems that need changing or updating.
• For Melissa, learning never stops when running a business - sometimes you learn lessons the hard way, but the trick is not making the same mistake twice.
• Melissa goes through why your objective as a business owner is to go after explosive growth - however, super fast growth can come with its own set of struggles, which you should be prepared for.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that the key to maintaining business growth is to have scalable and replicable processes at all levels of the business.
• Melissa explains that growing a business means working with more clients, data, and resources - your business should be able to handle all these new responsibilities before you decide to scale.
• Hannah reveals that one of the most painful parts of scaling a business is acknowledging that the business will outgrow some employees, and you'll have to let them go.
• Melissa shares how hard it can be to let go of employees, no matter the reason - but letting go of people has to be done nonetheless.
• Hannah asks Melissa if she has a business coach to guide her through the process of scaling her business.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Brandy Derrick is the owner of Legal Ease Bookkeeping - she helps attorneys grow their law practices by making financial statements easy to understand while teaching accounting professionals the ins and outs of legal bookkeeping.
• Brandy shares her journey into bookkeeping and what she learned running books for her father’s multiple businesses.
• Melissa asks Brandy about the benefits of running a virtual bookkeeping business - and what it’s like to serve clients in 27 states.
• Brandy describes the moment she decided to niche down and what she did to gather information about attorneys and businesses in her niche.
• Hannah asks Brandy what it’s like working with people who know the law from A to Z.
• Brandy shares how she got started in bookkeeping - and why she decided to start her own company with a specific focus on providing bookkeeping to attorneys.
• Hannah asks Brandy how she finds new bookkeeping clients and the places she believes her accounting leads like to hang out.
• Brandy reveals the pain points she endured during the first few months of her niching journey.
• Melissa and Brandy agree that trying to retain clients who cause a lot of friction in your business is never worth the trouble.
• Brandy reveals her favorite part of running a business - she also admits that running a business is not easy but can be a very rewarding journey.
• Melissa asks Brandy what she would recommend bookkeepers do when diving into the world of legal bookkeeping.

Mentioned in this episode:

Brandy Derrick on LinkedIn

Legal Ease Bookkeeping - legaleasebookkeeping.com

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Brooke Swan is the Owner and CEO of Clarity Bookkeeping and Consulting - she has helped hundreds of business owners reach their goals and even enjoy accounting.
• Hannah asks Brooke what made her want to niche down and why she settled on service-based businesses.
• Brooke describes how her business has evolved since the last time she was interviewed on ILB.
• Hannah asks Brooke how much time it took to completely niche down in her business.
• Based on her experience finding and working in one specific niche, Brooke believes building your business around a niche almost always guarantees business growth.
• Brooke explains the challenges of adding new services to your business - and what it means to uniquely position yourself based on price point, service quality, and service offering.
• Brooke reveals that her favorite thing about having a niche is the confidence that comes with understanding all types of client needs.
• Hannah underlines the benefits of being detail-oriented as a bookkeeper.
• Brooke talks about the pains of working with service-based industries - and the level of detail that goes into bookkeeping for businesses that still believe in brick-and-mortar accounting.
• Brooke shares her experience using Content Snare to onboard clients, collect documents, and process queries in her business - she also reveals some of the other tools she uses to serve her clients better.
• Brooke talks about how she built a thriving business based on referrals - and how referrals from the BNI community almost tripled the size of her business.
• Melissa asks Brooke what she would recommend for new bookkeepers to guarantee business growth.
• Brooke reveals that, as an introvert, she’s not a big fan of networking events but attends them nonetheless, for the sake of her business.
• Hannah, Melissa, and Brooke agree that the easiest way to get the most out of networking events is to go after building relationships instead of trying to sell.

Mentioned in this episode:

Clarity Bookkeeping - claritybkpg.com

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Tyler Otto and his wife are the owners of Specialty Bookkeepers, a firm that specializes in serving medium to large hospitality-based businesses. His company leverages technology to simplify clients’ financial processes and drive profit.
• Tyler shares his origin story on how he transitioned from a corporate finance job into running a bookkeeping business.
• Hannah asks Tyler why he decided to focus his business on a particular niche and why he chose the hospitality industry.
• Melissa strongly believes the more successful bookkeeping businesses focus on one specific niche - Tyler is quick to agree and explains the drawbacks of running a business that serves all types of clients.
• For Hannah, marketing to a particular niche is all about going to where your client goes and getting in front of them.
• Melissa asks Tyler how long it took him to completely niche down and primarily focus on hospitality clients.
• Hannah describes why bookkeepers must niche down once they hit a specific level of business growth - she also adds that niching down means focusing more on quality rather than quantity of service.
• Melissa asks Tyler how new bookkeepers can find the right niche, attract new clients, and run successful marketing campaigns in their new niche.
• Tyler reveals the true meaning of his company culture, “Flexible Schedule Employer” - and why today’s employees are more interested in flexibility and great working environments.
• Based on his experience running an accounting business, Tyler believes scaling a company and successfully delegating duties is the most difficult thing to get right.
• For Tyler, successfully scaling your business will only occur when your team no longer depends on you for leads and new business.
• Hannah, Melissa, and Tyler all agree that the bookkeeping community is truly special based on how businesses collaborate with each other.
• Tyler explores how building strong relationships with both clients and employees is critical to growing healthy businesses.

Mentioned in this episode:

Tyler Otto on LinkedIn

Specialty Bookkeeping - specialtybk.com

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah explains how the foundations of originality in business are built on consistently trying new things, and on being okay with things not working out sometimes.
• Melissa talks about authenticity within your niche and how creating authentic content drives audience engagement.
• Hannah asks Melissa how she effortlessly manages to stay original in her business. Her answer is she focuses on being as authentic as possible.
• Melissa describes the benefits of coming up with original ways to serve clients as a small business owner. She also shares how you can build originality & uniqueness in your branded elements.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that taking risks when creating content is the fastest way to originality in business. They also outline a simple way to bridge the gap between idea generation and actual implementation.
• Hannah shares her thoughts on originality and why this critical skill is often overlooked in business.
• Melissa explores the benefits of collaborating and brainstorming with other content creators in your niche.
• Melissa explains why making mistakes is okay, as long as you learn from them.
• Melissa describes her content creation process, and she explains why she believes success demands patience and trusting your ability to make things happen.
• Hannah and Melissa reveal effective strategies to help you overcome an idea drought and develop new ideas.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that people lose originality when they start comparing themselves to others.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah and Melissa talk about how intimidating it can be to run an exhibit at a trade show, especially if you’re an introvert.
• Melissa explains the difference between selling a product and selling services at a trade show.
• Hannah describes easy ways to gain the most from a trade show even if you’re operating on a budget.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that you don’t have to exhibit at hundreds of trade shows to drive leads to your business - sometimes simply going to the right ones is more than enough.
• Melissa reveals simple strategies you can use to minimize costs and still stand out at a trade show.
• Hannah and Melissa go through display tips and ideas to help your exhibit stand out at a trade show. They also describe the proper way to arrange your booth for approachability and friendliness.
• Hannah reveals why it’s always best to manage your expectations when determining the ROI from a trade show.
• Hannah describes why it’s never a good idea to jump into sales mode whenever a prospect steps into your booth. She explains that the first step is to build a relationship and then pitch your service.
• Melissa goes through simple but fantastic promotional giveaways that make it easy for people to remember you. She also shares her go-to memorable giveaway that always leaves an impression on prospects.
• Hannah asks Melissa what the proper attire for a trade show would be. Melissa’s answer is simple: don’t overdress and keep with the theme of the trade show.
• Hannah and Melissa discuss the dos and don’ts of following up and nurturing leads after a trade show.

Mentioned in this episode:

mymetalbusinesscard.com

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah and Melissa agree that most people have experienced at least one awkward client interaction in their careers.
• Hannah describes how a verbally abusive co-worker embarrassed her in front of a full salon after making a minor hairdressing error.
• Hannah and Melissa believe that working for a mean boss is more than enough reason to get another job.
• Melissa talks about why it’s always a good idea to keep your cool after something embarrassing happens during client meetings.
• Melissa shares her most embarrassing client interaction. It’s both embarrassing and funny, yet she remained calm and professional, even though deep down she was mortified.
• Melissa explains why you need to remain positive and focused on the job even after embarrassing yourself in front of a client.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah explains how hard it is for business owners to keep up with ever-changing social media trends.
• Melissa asks Hannah what a trend is. Hannah breaks down the dictionary definition and adds what it means from a social media perspective.
• Hannah and Melissa discuss when and when not to ride a social media trend.
• Hannah shares the most important question you should ask yourself before deciding to follow a trend on social media.
• Melissa asks Hannah if a content creator can ride a social media trend and still be authentic. Hannah believes it's possible, as long as you stay true to your company values.
• Hannah advises content creators to go after social media trends only if they align with their company values or have the potential to bring in more customers.
• Hannah and Melissa reveal some of the social media trends that backfired when they tried them out.
• Melissa talks about why she dislikes going live on social media - Hannah also shares her experience going live on social media and reveals how it was a total disaster.
• Hannah and Melissa explain why they believe the best way to stay sane on social media is not to take things personally.
• Hannah describes how your audience can see right through inauthentic content - she also discourages content creators from following trends that don't align with their core values.
• Mellisa goes through how she used popular social media trends to break down complex topics and drive engagement for her brand.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah and Melissa start by addressing the generational content gap - and how different age groups consume content.
• Hannah asks Melissa what she struggles with when creating content. Her answer is what most people also struggle with: ever-changing social media algorithms.
• Melissa reveals her content creation process involves creating as much content in advance and then scheduling it on a content calendar.
• Hannah clarifies that you should only consider outsourcing your content creation if you have the budget for it.
• Melissa talks about the benefits of professionalizing your content creation process.
• Hannah describes the difference between looking for inspiration and stealing other people’s content.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that having a pattern is the best way to create content for social media consistently.
• Melissa explains that being original in your content creation will set you apart from the competition - and that means niching down as much as possible.
• Hannah shares her experience using social media metric tools - she also reveals that sometimes asking for feedback from your audience is all you need to drive engagement.
• Hannah and Melissa go through why your content does not have to be perfect during the initial stages of your content creation journey.
• Hannah explains why your fear of being judged should not stop you from creating content online.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Melissa explains why she's very intentional about brand authenticity and maintaining a consistent business identity.
• Hannah and Melissa explain why consistency is the key to successful branding - they also go through tips you can use to stay immune to social media branding trends.
• Melissa shares why she believes the more successful businesses operate primarily in the best interest of the clients or the best interests of the team.
• Hannah talks about the benefits of having an accountability partner in business.
• Hannah explains the difference between changing and evolving your brand.
• Melissa reveals that she likes working with professional graphic designers because they effortlessly maintain consistent brand assets.
• Melissa talks about brand reputation - and explains why your bookkeeping business is only as good as your reputation.
• Hannah asks Melissa what she does to stay true to her brand consistently.
• Melissa reveals she's her own biggest critic - and explains why being your own biggest critic can be both good and bad for your business.
• Hannah and Melissa discuss what it means to live and breathe your brand.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah and Melissa start by describing their creative backgrounds and how being creative helps in building originality.
• Melissa reveals, for the first time, that she initially went to college for fashion design - This is the primary reason she has such an easy time coming up with creative ideas.
• Melissa explains how the less creative bookkeepers can build originality in their business by outsourcing or delegating tasks that demand creativity.
• Hannah breaks down the misconceptions around creativity and originality - she also goes through some easy-to-implement hacks bookkeepers can use to differentiate themselves from the competition.
• Melissa explains how analytical bookkeepers can turn their businesses into creativity hubs by experimenting with the branding and marketing side of the business.
• Hannah explains how originality leads to a better customer experience.
• Hannah asks Melissa what she does to maintain originality and cultivate creativity in her business - Melissa states she’s always open to new ideas.
• Melissa talks about failing in business and why sometimes failing is necessary for success.
• Hannah and Mellisa explain how comparing yourself to others will mean the death of your creativity - Melissa also admits to having fallen into the comparison trap numerous times in the past.
• Hannah goes through simple steps you can use to spark your inner creativity and come up with original ideas.
• Melissa explains the difference between being inspired by someone and flat-out copying.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah reveals her go-to work snack and why she can’t seem to get enough of it.
• Melissa explains why bookkeepers who are too busy to schedule lunch should always have snacks within reach.
• Melissa shares how back in the day, her work days were fuelled by caffeine - She’s on a healthier kick right now, so caffeine is off the table.
• Hannah talks about her love for Starbucks and how she always finds a reason to pop into one of their stores whenever she’s running errands.
• Hannah reveals that she’s actually a pretty good cook - she also shares a story of how she overcame her pretzel addiction in the thick of the pandemic when everything was closed.
• Hanna and Melissa dissect the pros and cons of treating yourself every once in a while.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah explains how leaders can learn to manage difficult conversations even when there's the risk of a confrontation - she also explains why most people procrastinate on having uncomfortable conversations.
• Melissa reveals what she does to stay calm when having an uncomfortable conversation.
• When thinking about when to have hard conversations, Hannah encourages people to have them as soon as possible. Immediately, if possible.
• Melissa shares the benefits of preparing for a hard conversation ahead of time - she also reveals reasons why she's against having a script for the conversation.
• Hannah and Melissa agree that removing emotions from the equation is the best way to manage a difficult conversation.
• Hannah shares why leaders should approach difficult conversations as a way of finding a solution instead of looking for a confrontation.
• Hannah asks Melissa what she would do if the other person is intent on turning the conversation into an argument.
• Hannah and Melissa discuss how the "We need to talk" statement raises anxiety - They also reveal how the tone of voice can influence the outcome of a difficult conversation.
• Melissa shares the reasons she believes all leaders should have regular check-ins with their team members - and how these check-ins can be used to have those tough conversations.
• Hannah describes why meetings break down when people in the discussion take things personally.
• Melissa explains how hard conversations become so much easier when participants are actively listening instead of listening to respond.
• Melissa reveals the one trait that differentiates exceptional from average leaders.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Melissa talks about why, as a bookkeeper, it's always a good idea to collaborate with tax preparers in your space. She also explains how a bookkeeper and a tax preparer working for the same client can make the client's life easier by collaborating.
• Melissa reveals how millennial or introverted bookkeepers can take the first step and reach out to the tax preparers in their space.
• Hannah and Melissa explain why you'll always be on the winning side if you constantly operate in your clients’ best interests.
• Hannah asks Melissa how she maintains her relationships with the tax preparers in her network.
• Hannah and Melissa discuss how bookkeepers and tax preparers can communicate their needs to each other without crossing boundaries.
• Melissa explains how and where brand new business owners can find a reputable tax preparer for their business.
• Melissa shares her biggest pet peeve when working with a new tax preparer.
• Hannah and Melissa reveal the key traits that define a tax preparer who's efficient and good at their job - they also discuss some simple yet effective hacks you can use to qualify or disqualify potential tax preparers before choosing to work with them.
• Hannah asks Melissa about the benefits she derives from maintaining relationships with numerous tax preparers.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• This episode, which is part of the Building Relationships series, addresses what’s probably the most important topic: building relationships with clients.
• Hannah asks Melissa whether, when she first started working for the company she now owns, she really prioritized building relationships with clients.
• Melissa shares a story that shows the power of relationship-building.
• For Hannah, focusing on getting to know people and what they’re focusing on, and going the extra mile, was one of the best ways for her to the foundation of a good relationship with a client.
• Melissa admits that going the extra mile to get to know clients better isn’t something that comes naturally to her.
• Melissa asks Hannah where she draws the line when it comes to asking questions about a client’s personal life.
• Melissa believes that building relationships is important but following through and doing what you said you were going to say are key ingredients of successful relationships with clients.
• Having boundaries but communicating with clients and getting feedback from them is something Hannah values.
• Melissa shares a couple of things bookkeepers could do to build better relationships with clients and to stand out from the competition.
• What you do to stand out from the competition and wow your clients doesn’t have to be something big, says Hannah.
• Melissa and Hannah talk about small gestures you can do that will have a big impact on your relationship-building efforts.

Mentioned in this episode:

Help Scout

Zapier

Handwrytten

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah talks about the fact that mastermind groups are a very popular topic among the Bookkeepers.com community and shares that she and Melissa actually met at an in-person mastermind.
• Melissa often doesn’t get many questions from those who don’t know her but does get plenty from people who attend mastermind events she’s part of.
• Hannah isn’t part of a mastermind group but she’s a member of a Facebook group.
• Melissa discloses that the Bookkeepers Elite mastermind group doesn’t exist anymore but some members have kept it alive through unofficial events.
• Hannah and Melissa see mastermind groups as a unique opportunity for different people to come together in a non-judgemental and friendly space.
• For Hannah, being open and the willingness to accept a different idea are one of the huge parts of joining a mastermind group.
• Melissa, on the other hand, believes that even though mastermind members may be open to other people’s ideas, they’re still going to do what they want.
• According to Hannah, one of the benefits of being in a mastermind group is that its members sort of have accountability partners.
• Melissa discusses ways members of Bookkeepers Elite have held each other accountable and shares her challenge of participating in virtual events instead of in-person events.
• Hannah sees Facebook groups as a double-edged sword.
• Melissa stresses the importance of always giving and contributing to a community or mastermind group you’re part of.
• For Hannah, when it comes to marketing and networking is ‘go where your clients go’ but with mastermind groups and communities is ‘go where your people go’.
• Melissa brings the concept of paid mastermind groups into the conversation, and talks about what being part of a mastermind group has done for her.

Mentioned in this episode:

Bookkeepers.com

Slack

Circle

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah and Melissa both agree on why everybody should have a mentor.
• Hannah asks Melissa whether she has an official mentor. Melissa reveals how she found her mentor and how she has been instrumental in the growth of her business.
• Melissa and Hannah explore the difference between having a mentor and a business coach.
• Melissa describes the three fundamental qualities she looks for in a mentor and she also explains why it’s never a good idea to take advice from just anybody.
• Hannah breaks down the standout traits that define a good mentor.
• Hannah and Melissa describe their experience with mentors early on in their careers. Melissa also shares how a mentor-mentee relationship can evolve into a close friendship.
• Melissa explains the reason she believes that mentors choose their mentees, and not the other way around.
• Hannah and Melissa explain why you need to get out of your comfort zone if you are to bag yourself a mentor.
• Hannah describes the benefits of having a mutually beneficial mentor-mentee relationship.
• Melissa shares her thoughts on why she believes mentors should give advice only on what they have experienced firsthand.
• Hannah talks about how humility plays a crucial part in cementing a mentor-mentee relationship.
• Melissa asks Hannah whether it’s appropriate for people to ask other people to mentor them. Her answer is yes.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Melissa starts off by explaining who an official referral partner is and why you need a signed document that clearly states what you'll both get from the relationship.
• Melissa describes the types of referral partners she has in the painting sphere. She also reveals her process of identifying potential partners and the best places to find them.
• When asked about her social media marketing strategy, Hannah explains how she primarily focuses on potential buyers and not people who are only interested in her content.
• Melissa reveals how she landed their biggest referral partner and how they've benefited from the relationship so far.
• Hannah discusses easy-to-implement ideas on overcoming the fear of reaching out to potential referral partners, especially if you're an introvert.
• Hannah asks Melissa how she's effortlessly able to manage all her many referral partners without feeling overwhelmed.
• Melissa shares how long it took before she could master the art of time blocking.
• Melissa talks about the struggles of building a referral relationship and the amount of work it takes to maintain a mutually beneficial one.
• Hannah and Melissa explain the benefits of forming referral relationships with other bookkeepers in their space.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Melissa discusses the differences between a contractor and an employee.
• According to Melissa, oftentimes, the first hire is trying to find a contractor for your bookkeeping business. That’s followed by you hiring a virtual assistant.
• Melissa talks about the subcontractor-based model and the employee-based model, which of the two is not sustainable in the long run, and goes over the approach she uses in her own bookkeeping business.
• Hannah shares when she believes most bookkeeping businesses are going to need a contractor.
• For Melissa, welcoming contractors into your company culture and treating them as if they were actual employees is an excellent way to get them to stick around and work with you longer – even if they aren’t helping you in quite the full-time capacity.
• Melissa breaks down the approach and onboarding process she uses for new subcontractors in her business and shares a story that has led her to adopt this onboarding approach.
• Melissa offers a breakdown of the bookkeeping services she uses subcontractors for.
• There are different ways to find and connect with potential subcontractors, Melissa discusses a few of these options.

Mentioned in this episode:

ILB episode 33 - Are You a Boss or a Leader? Your Pick! with Alyssa Lang

slack.com

BKX.com

bookkeepers.com

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah asks Alyssa what are some things she does to have boundaries with her employees while also maintaining the fact that Alyssa is the boss.
• For Alyssa, the biggest tactic is not being scared to be exactly, and authentically, who she needs to be as a boss.
• Alyssa believes in not wanting to be someone’s boss, but rather their leader, and being a leader that joins everyone’s unique abilities together.
• Alyssa shares a big challenge she faces from time to time: “Am I a leader or a boss right now?” She discusses the fact that there are days where it isn’t easy for her to be the leader she would like to be, and not a demanding boss.
• Melissa has had a team member that always came up with big, visionary ideas. Whenever that happened, she used to be quite reactionary; whereas now she uses a different approach to address the situation in a better way.
• Melissa explains how she brings her sales mindset to relationship-building and how other leaders can do the same.
• Alyssa goes over how her overall relationship with her employees has evolved over time and touches upon something she’s focusing on at the moment.
• Hannah sees being able to learn as you go, adapt, and evolve as a great quality of a good leader.
• Alyssa, Hannah and Melissa share their thoughts on the concept of company culture.
• Alyssa breaks down the five core parts of her company culture and discusses how she goes about assessing the health and well-being of her employees.

Mentioned in this episode:

WorkflowQueen.com

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah reveals why she doesn't like turning on video for zoom meetings - and the reason she believes being on camera is taxing, stressful, and unnecessary.
• Mellisa explains why more than 90% of people keep looking at themselves during video calls.
• Hannah recounts the never told story of how the first episode of the show was an absolute disaster and how their editors made them rerecord the episode.
• Mellisa shares her thoughts on why you should always have your video on – and she also goes through some ingenious strategies introverts can use to get comfortable using video.
• Mellisa illustrates how communicating through text and audio makes us forget we're human - and how 'video off' means we lose all the eye and body language cues that are crucial for forming connections.
• Hannah and Mellisa still can't seem to agree on whether to have video on or off during zoom meetings - but they both agree on some of the issues that cause Zoom fatigue regardless of whether your video is on or off.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Melissa shares that she’s skilled at being frugal and helping her clients save money.
• When asked about pricing, Melissa confirms that her bookkeeping business has higher pricing compared to other ones.
• For Melissa, having a toolbox of how to save clients some of their money is going to have an impact on your pricing.
• Melissa discusses a service she provides that she refers to as ‘her favorite thing to do’ – this is something any bookkeeper can do without having much tax knowledge.
• Education people don’t actually implement is one of the biggest money wasters, according to Melissa.
• Hannah asks Melissa what’s one thing she believes one shouldn’t try to cut corners about.
• Melissa shares her frustration with people constantly switching CRM tools.
• Hannah talks about something she often sees business owners struggling with, and shares her belief that ‘your process is your profit margin’.
• Hannah asks Melissa whether there’s something she sells in her business that’s unique and helps her clients save money.
• Melissa shares the first step bookkeepers can take to help their clients save money.

Mentioned in this episode:

Quickbooks

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Melissa explains why, in her opinion, the onboarding time is actually the most important time of a relationship with a client – and what you should do during onboarding.
• Hannah asks Melissa at what time you should communicate your expectations to a client… and her answer is simple, yet, powerful: the entire time.
• Melissa shares a recent update she made for her proposal at Bookkeeping for Painters.
• Melissa opens up about the way she communicates her expectations to new clients.
• Melissa touches upon a question she has been asked a lot lately: “What are the biggest red flags you see in your bookkeeping clients?”.
• Hannah and Melissa talk about a big mistake many business owners make when it comes to communicating a particular expectation of theirs to new clients.
• Hannah asks Melissa how she goes about managing expectations when it doesn’t have to do with onboarding that much, but rather with maintaining a client relationship.
• Melissa shares a pet peeve she has with those who reply faster to prospects compared to current clients – and she discusses what the best way for you to make more money should look like.
• Melissa talks about how relationships with clients have been terminated in her business.

Mentioned in this episode:

ILB episode 28 - Crafting an Effective Sales Process for Your Bookkeeping Business

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

• Hannah thinks that narrowing down who’s going to be a good client for you is key, especially when you’re starting out.
• Melissa strongly recommends against trying to close every single person out of desperation like she did when she started out.
• Melissa explains how her bookkeeping for painters business has a funnel that, in addition to painters, attracts other professionals like plumbers and roofers. She wouldn’t have but her husband Daniel took the lead in making sure the business only served painters and would send others away.
• Melissa talks about the red flags potential clients will say when you ask the right questions during a discovery call – but also if you don’t ask them. The biggest red flag, says Melissa, is when a potential client says they have had countless bookkeepers and start talking badly about them.
• Hannah shares her belief that having certain clients pre-qualified to be a good fit is something that requires a level of patience and it isn’t an easy thing to do.
• Melissa discusses how it took her a long time to think about longevity. At first, she was focused on growth, growth, growth, so she could pay people but that approach can lead to a short-sighted sales funnel.
• In her business, Melissa uses a form but she has found the best qualifying strategy to be having an actual call with the potential client. She discloses that her sales role is the last thing she would outsource.
• When it comes to finding prospects, Melissa and her team try to be everywhere painters are. One way they do that is through partnerships with business coaches who specialize in their industry.
• For Hannah, pre-qualifying your clients ensures that your retention rate is the best it can be and it helps you maintain the relationship. However, she stresses, it isn’t just all about you but it’s about whether that person is a good fit for you too.
• Melissa goes over the types of potential clients, including the types she breaks down into two categories, as well as an exercise they use to qualify a certain type of prospect.
• For Melissa, one of the biggest frustrations with the bookkeepers she works with are clients that don't respond to them and then also don't care.
• Melissa discusses scenarios in which she doesn’t want to work with a particular client, and shares some recent changes in her business.

Mentioned in this episode:

Quickbooks

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[1:33] Hannah asks Melissa what’s something that each of her sales processes have in common.

[3:57] For Melissa, crafting an effective sales process starts with the desire to make sales easy.

[6:08] Melissa shares a pet peeve she has when it comes to scheduling meetings.

[9:14] Melissa believes that making it as easy as possible for someone to sign up for a free consultation is key. And she discusses what she asks in the form her prospects have to fill out.

[11:08] Hannah talks about how she goes about buying and touches upon something that she considers a game changer when it comes to sales processes.

[12:04] Melissa talks about the importance of putting yourself in a prospect’s or client’s shoes and actually going through your own sales process to experience it as they would.

[13:28] Melissa shares her biggest takeaways – and resources – for creating touch-points with potential customers.

[19:44] Melissa has 3 big points in her sales process: making sales easy, having significantly more touch points than you feel comfortable with, and managing expectations.

[23:02] Hannah and Melissa share their thoughts regarding managing clients’ expectations.

Mentioned in this episode:

Calendly

bookkeepers.com

Bonjoro

Handwrytten

ILB episode 27 - How to Communicate Value as a Bookkeeping Business Owner

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[1:14] Even though, in this episode, the topic of communicating value is addressed from the perspective of entrepreneurs and bookkeeping business owners, Hannah believes that it can be applied pretty much anywhere concerning your workplace and relationships.

[1:43] Hannah believes that one of the first things you should do is identify what your value is and identify your promise to your clients. For Melissa, this is one of the reasons why having a niche matters.

[2:09] In Melissa’s opinion, the value communication process starts with doing an internal audience.

[3:52] Melissa talks about her “features, benefits and check questions” exercise.

[7:47] Hannah asks Melissa how she goes about communicating value while looking more confident to a potential client even when imposter’s syndrome kind of creeps in.

[10:11] Hannah believes that being prepared is a great way to feel confident and avoid the feeling of not knowing what to do next.

[11:09] Melissa goes over how she manages to stay consistent in communicating value to current clients.

[14:04] Melissa shares that, in her opinion, standing out in a particular niche comes down to how you package a concept, the words you use and the enthusiasm you project when discussing or explaining it.

Mentioned in this episode:

Quickbooks

Zoom

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:42] The children’s show Melissa has on while she’s working is The Octonauts. Hannah is one of those people who can’t stand silence – Law & Order SVU and Grey’s Anatomy are the “comfort shows” she typically has in the background.

[1:37] Melissa talks about a couple of moments in which tv shows shattered her heart.

[2:32] Melissa and Hannah share their own “toxic traits” when it comes to watching TV.

[3:56] Melissa shares a funny little anecdote about living in San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua.

[6:50] Melissa and Hannah rank their top Disney movies and talk about Disney princesses and characters.

[12:16] The co-hosts go over Disney movies they didn’t like as well as other movies that left a mark on them and that they still think about decades later.

Mentioned in this episode:

@BookkeepersDotCom (Bookkeepers.com on Instagram)

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:44] Hannah and Melissa – who have been working with a communication consultant for almost two years now – find the topic of this episode to be one of their favorites.

[2:14] Melissa believes that the art of communication is something we all constantly work on and have room for improvement for it.

[2:59] Hannah breaks down the four main types of communication: verbal, non-verbal, written, and visual.

[4:52] The co-hosts both admit to struggling with non-verbal communication.

[7:31] For Melissa, communicating effectively and respectfully are both equally important.

[7:56] Hannah sees professionalism as key. Whether you’re listening to someone, writing something for them or similar, you need to remember that you’re going to be working with these people and you should act, behave, and communicate accordingly.

[9:44] For written communication, both Hannah and Melissa recommend you take a look at Grammarly.

[11:52] When it comes to communicating with her team members, Melissa typically relies on Slack. However, for delegating a task, she’s open to the other person using whichever platform, tool, or app they’re comfortable using the most.

[13:10] Hannah believes that asking questions and communicating your goals, as well as your boundaries and expectations, could help avoid miscommunication.

[15:59] Melissa likes to learn what other people’s goals and boundaries are. She also stresses the importance of asking about these boundaries.

[18:12] Hannah shares what she believes workplaces, business owners, and bosses should focus on to create a happy work environment.

​​[21:42] Melissa throws remote working into the mix and adds how to address the issues at hand in a remote work environment.

[24:43] There are four horsemen, and in his study, these are the things that Gottman identified to understand whether a marriage will work: criticism, defensiveness, contempt, and stonewalling.

[25:23] Co-hosts Hannah and Melissa touch upon the importance of trying to focus on communicating and working harmoniously with someone you really don’t like.

[30:20] When trying to communicate with a remote team, Melissa thinks it’s important to overly communicate in a positive manner.

Mentioned in this episode:

Grammarly

Slack

ILB episode 23 - How to Be a Better Boss and Create a Company Culture Your Employees Will Love

John Gottman’s Four Horsemen

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[1:02] Melissa believes that a great way to “aggressively” defend your personal life is to follow five tips for creating a work-life balance calendar and to let technology assist you in that.

[1:53] For Melissa, the first step is to create your ideal, so you need to think about your availability for work, then set it in your calendar app (in Melissa’s case, that’s AcuityScheduling).

[3:48] When it comes to setting your availability for meetings and running meetings, Melissa suggests having padding on both ends so that your work days start and end at the times you would want them to.

[4:40] Creating your schedule is something you need to figure out and take different aspects into consideration. Melissa, for instance, doesn’t like Mondays, so she takes that into account when planning her work week.

[5:26] Melissa gives a breakdown of what a typical week looks like for her.

[6:48] Hannah asks Melissa how she deals with something unexpected popping up.

[9:27] Hannah asks Melissa whether she likes to combine all of her different calendars in one space. Melissa has 3 Google Calendars and a personal calendar, all of which are integrated together and map over to Acuity.

[11:19] Both Melissa and Hannah praise the power of writing things down to avoid forgetting them.

[12:25] Hannah asks Melissa about ways she relies on to create a work-life balance within her scheduling.

[13:47] For Melissa, it’s crucial that you resist the temptation of manually overriding your calendar when, for example, a client asks to have a call during a time slot that you’ve marked as booked because you wanted to have some downtime.

[14:52] Hannah shares one of her current struggles: scheduling time for self-care or for something she enjoys doing.

[16:18] Melissa and Hannah discuss the benefits of prioritising self-care and the impact of not doing that.

[20:02] Melissa touches upon the importance of having limits in the scheduling you create with Acuity, or a similar platform, as well as why using padding in your scheduler is a smart move.

[22:43] For Melissa, something you can do as an introvert is to stack your sales meetings so that you minimize the time you need to think about social interactions.

[23:25] Hannah talks about the fact that she prefers to start her days focusing on the biggest task of the day first.

[25:52] Melissa goes over her approach of creating different availability by appointment time.

Mentioned in this episode:

Acuity Scheduling

Calendly

Google Calendar

Canva

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:45] Hannah sees this episode being perfect for those looking to expand their practice, as well as for those who already have done or want to do it down the road.

[1:26] Melissa shares something she struggles with: she doesn’t like to think of herself as or being called “the boss.” She also warns that if you run a company and think that you’ll just be “one of the guys,” you’re mistaken. You’re the boss and are going to be seen and treated as such.

[2:25] For Hannah, having the boss' personality, in the sense of being naturally drawn to take charge of a project, is something that can be seen already from childhood – it was like this for her. Not everyone has that type of personality, though.

[3:04] Thinking about the kind of boss you’d want to have as an employee is something you should evaluate when becoming someone’s boss, says Hannah.

[3:59] Melissa advises new business owners to think about the worst boss they ever had and do their best not to become that kind of a boss. Then, think about the best boss or bosses you’ve ever had and what made them good bosses.

[7:20] Hannah sees being open to hearing other ideas and opinions as one of the hallmarks of being a great boss. That’s a difficult thing to do, however, says Melissa. She recommends creating an environment where you aren’t afraid to “look like an idiot” and encourage your employees to feel and do the same.

[8:55] Hannah believes that having a heart to heart with employees – about their goals and finding ways to help them get there and check in – is an excellent way to build trust with your employees.

[10:02] For Melissa, everyone just wants to be heard, so it’s important to really be listening as a boss. She discusses the benefits of doing that both with your employees, as well as with your sales conversations.

[12:25] Hannah and Melissa talk about the fact that there are 9 different types of motivations – and why it’s important to remember this as a boss.

[16:53] Melissa would like to hear from you: what motivates you?

[17:15] The co-hosts touch upon fear-based motivation and why some people may be relying on that.

[19:45] Hannah shares her thoughts on the company culture at Bookkeepers.com.

[21:36] Melissa goes over what she thinks is key in being a better boss and creating a company culture that values your employees.

Mentioned in this episode:

bookkeepers.com

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[1:16] Hannah isn’t a working mom but Melissa is – she has two kids, ages 4 and 2. She doesn’t consider herself a good parent to use as a case-study for the fact that she’s pretty free-range.

[5:33] Melissa shares that it isn’t easy being a working mom and having good balance between work and motherhood, and that she did most of the things wrong, when it comes to work-life balance.

[10:07] Hannah believes that a lot of mothers can relate to Melissa’s story.

[12:21] Melissa discusses having lost the ability to continue with a thought outside of a 60-second window. If she happens to get distracted by her children, whatever she was thinking about is gone, and it will come back to her a few hours later.

[14:51] According to Melissa, sometimes, mothers lose sight of who they are as a person and they may simply think of themselves in terms of being their children’s mom, their husband’s wife, etc. Some mothers in this situation find their way back to a ‘I’m Melissa Honan’ kind of moment through work.

[15:49] Hannah praises Melissa for always putting her family first, and for letting her clients know that ‘my kids and my family come first’.

[17:59] Melissa believes that the best place to start practicing forgiveness is by forgiving yourself.

[20:38] For Hannah, more moms should remember that they don’t know what they don’t know and that, sometimes, the best way to learn is by being “in the trenches”. You never stop learning.

[22:11] Melissa shares the Nora Roberts glass ball theory. The idea is that you have your personal life, you have your work life, but you don’t have to choose between one or the other. You’re juggling many different “balls,” some are glass and some are plastic. If you drop a plastic ball, it’s just going to bounce, while a glass ball is going to shatter.

[23:36] For the Nora Roberts glass ball theory, if it’s between dropping a glass or a plastic ball, you need to choose the plastic ball. Sometimes, it’s going to be your personal life, while some other times it’s going to be your work life. Missing little moments in your kids life or not calling back a sales prospect are examples of plastic balls.

Mentioned in this episode:

BKX

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:56] Hannah asks Melissa at which time of her marriage she began working with her husband. Melissa shares that she got invited by her husband to join the business after she had gotten very overwhelmed, and unhappy, about a sales job she was doing at the time.

[3:13] Melissa and her husband worked together for about a year because she got pregnant and developed some complications. Two years later, her husband deployed for a longer period of time and this pushed Melissa to come back, this time, in a more administrative role, before a set of circumstances led her to step in as the CEO.

[6:23] A loud-talker by her own admission, Melissa doesn’t share her workspace with her husband, though they have tried.

[7:28] Hannah asks Melissa how she and her husband manage to balance out being in a boss-employee relationship, as well as in a personal relationship as a married couple.

[9:11] Feeling as if she was born a leader led Melissa to clash with her husband who feels he was born a leader too. Melissa was supposed to be a mere employee but had plenty of her own ideas.

[10:12] For Hannah, maintaining a level of professionalism when working with your spouse or partner is a tough thing to do. However, it’s key that not only you aren’t fighting at work but that you aren’t carrying over that feeling of taking it personally into your home as well.

[12:03] Melissa has found a way to cope with the situation: compartmentalize. It’s about thinking about the roles her husband has in her life – he’s the founder of the company and Melissa’s boss, but he’s also the Chief of Operations, which is Melissa’s subordinate, as well as her husband, and the father of her children.

[14:34] Melissa’s advice for someone who’s just starting out working with their spouse or partner is to create boundaries and, then, essentially having a process in place to make sure that those boundaries stay in place and that everyone’s respecting them. And there’s a lot of tough conversations that need to happen, and it isn’t going to be easy, even from a marriage standpoint.

[18:21] Hannah sees establishing boundaries early on as one of the key things those planning to work with their partner should strive to do.

Mentioned in this episode:

Slack

ILB episode 20 - Work-Life Balance Series: Strategies to Actually Set Boundaries, Protect Yourself, and Your Business

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[1:09] Hannah feels as if this Work-Life Balance Series has come at a perfect time, especially since it covers something she’s been struggling with herself. It has been helpful for both her and Melissa.

[2:16] For Hannah, the topic at hand is a little controversial and it has shown a generational difference. On the one hand, there’s the older generation who didn’t believe in boundaries as much. On the other hand, there’s the new generation that has the topic of finding work-life balance closer to their heart.

[3:24] Melissa sees a connection between setting boundaries and delegating. One of the reasons people don’t delegate is the assumption that they will be seen as lazy if they essentially put their work off on other people. Younger generations see the difference between delegating to set boundaries and being lazy, but others may feel as if someone who’s delegating and isn’t working a certain number of hours each week is lazy…

[5:37] Hannah shares that one of the ways to set boundaries is to do more by doing less. The key is to focus on getting quality work done instead of little tasks that get you nowhere. For Hannah, the best way to do that is to delegate – and learning different ways to delegate, so that you don’t feel like you’re pulled in many different directions, is key. This is something Hannah is learning.

[7:16] Many “naysayers” of delegating make the argument of not having someone to delegate their work to, says Melissa. She recommends delegating to your future self.

[8:07] Melissa is a fan of prioritizing tasks using an ABCD approach: A stands for things that have to be done today, B refers to tasks that would be nice to take care of today but if they don’t get done today, they can get done tomorrow. C is about tasks that should be completed either this week or next week, while D is for something that needs to be done but that doesn’t have a due date or clear timetable attached to it.

[9:38] According to Hannah, overscheduling and spreading yourself too thin are something that negatively impacts your work-life balance. By her own admission, she’s guilty of this.

[12:09] Hannah suggests not giving out your knowledge and energy for free because it can become taxing to just give, give, give. Melissa asks Hannah how to do that, especially at a time where most people expect to get free advice through social media content, for instance.

[17:17] Hannah explains that you shouldn’t necessarily reject people who are breaking your boundaries because you can redirect them to something that does work for you.

[18:56] Melissa shares something she has learned from her business coach: you can’t control what other people do, but you can prepare for how you’ll respond to it.

Mentioned in this episode:

ILB episode 19 - Work-Life Balance Series: Work-Life Balance is a Good Habit with Alyssa Lang

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[2:21] Alyssa shares where her passion for great white sharks comes from, and discusses how she hasn’t been able to go shark cage diving, yet.

[3:50] Alyssa started her bookkeeping and taxes firm six years ago, before ending it in February of 2020. She started Workflow Queen on Valentine’s Day of the same year when she found out that many other bookkeepers and accountants also struggled with trying to create systems and processes, hiring people, and getting support, just like Alyssa did. In January of 2022, she partnered with her Workflow Queen operations manager to start a new bookkeeping firm.

[5:30] Alyssa isn’t sure that she has mastered work-life balance just yet.

[6:34] When starting her first business, Alyssa had no idea about the importance of systems and processes – now, though, with her new business, she really wants to document and outsource the work right from the get-go.

[7:48] When it comes to communicating boundaries and expectations to clients, Alyssa feels that things are better now.

[9:51] Alyssa’s way of doing things may not always sit well with prospects, but she talks about how that has actually been an important thing, despite it being a little bit of a constant struggle.

[13:50] For Hannah, the way you communicate your boundaries or expectations is similar to how you wrap up a package and deliver it to people.

[16:09] Massages, getting her nails and hair done, as well as cooking, and off-roading are Alyssa’s main acts of self-care related to her work-life balance (though, now, it’s harder for her to get them done because of the remote location she’s currently living in).

[18:55] While she initially struggled with work-life balance, as of late, Alyssa has made an effort to put herself first – like during a recent mastermind in Key West where, instead of working and networking like other participants, she decided to take a break because she needed a vacation.

[21:59] Melissa shares how, for her, work-life balance is a habit and that’s very easy to fall out of good habits. She stresses that it’s important to identify that, and then get back on with those good habits.

[22:35] According to Alyssa, ‘slow down to speed up’ and pre-projecting things to do – in her free time – after having completed a work task are two good things to follow and do in order to get into the good habit of work-life balance.

[25:49] Melissa opens up about going through a burnout, and how, now, she realizes that she did fall out of the good work-life balance habit. Alyssa shares a story about a recent time when she informed her team that she needed to take some time off.

[27:31] Melissa talks about the importance of choosing to rest and some challenges she has faced in recent times – and the role Hannah has played.

[29:12] Alyssa is a big advocate for work-life balance for her team as well. She has had team members letting her and others know that they would be taking some time off, and Alyssa is a fan of that. One of her main goals is to protect her team’s personal time.

[31:02] Daily check-ins – with today’s concerns and intentions – and check-outs for her team members have been a key resource that has helped Alyssa identify whenever a member of her team seemed to have been in need of some time off.

[33:18] Alyssa discloses that they’re currently hiring at both Workflow Queen and her firm Magnetic Bookkeeping and Consulting.

Mentioned in this episode:

WorkflowQueen.com

support@MagneticBookkeeping.com

@WorkflowQueen on Instagram

BKX

Asana

Bookkeepers.com

Slack

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:23] Melissa discusses how she went about things when she got started with her business.

[2:13] Hannah talks about something she struggled with in regards to productivity for networkers.

[2:54] Hannah asks Melinda what was one thing she wasn't willing to compromise.

[3:23] Melissa goes over the first thing she does when trying to work with somebody on time management is having them create their ideal work schedule.

[7:32] For Melissa, setting boundaries is something that should be taken care of right off the bat – and she shares an example of how she deals with that in her business.

[13:38] Hannah and Melissa touch upon the issue of trying to set boundaries after the relationship with a client has already been established – and the potential consequences of that.

[20:19] Hannah shares the fact that a lot of women come to fear being negatively labeled.

[23:34] ‘Just’ is a word that Hannah was invited to omit.

[27:06]: Hannah points out that you can’t control other people’s reactions. Sometimes, you’ll say things as nicely as possible, and if they react horribly, then it’s ok. You have to prepare yourself and hold onto your power for people who are going to break your boundaries.

[32:04] Melissa talks about the reason why women should stop saying ‘I’m sorry’ in a professional context.

[33:15] Melissa explains why, as a business owner, you should stop apologizing.

Mentioned in this episode:

QuickBooks

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:41] Brisbane-based Jimmy Rose is the Co-Founder of Content Snare, a software platform that helps bookkeepers collect information and documents from clients. A former automation engineer, he now focuses on helping business owners regain their lives and be more productive.

[2:19] Hannah asks Jimmy what made him want to pivot away from running a digital marketing and web design agency.

[3:48] Based on his experience and conversations with bookkeepers, Jimmy sees wasted time chasing clients for documents or similar as the biggest pain-point for bookkeepers.

[6:07] For Jimmy, even after asking for client documents there may be challenges, as those documents may be forwarded to a bookkeeper in many different emails and attachments.

[9:05] Melissa talks about how Content Snare has helped her bookkeeping business when it comes to onboarding new clients and how surprised she is that the platform wasn’t initially created for bookkeepers.

[10:04] Melissa asks Jimmy what he would recommend, apart from Content Snare, for new bookkeepers to do to make their lives easier.

[10:35] According to Jimmy, many people make the mistake of trying to put systems in place before they’ve actually done the work manually.

[13:31] Jimmy shares how using something like TextExpander can help bookkeeping business owners.

[16:25] Hannah asks Jimmy what’s something that helped him in the early stages of his journey from a tech standpoint.

[16:49] Jimmy considers having a Get-Things-Done system the #1 thing everyone needs.

[18:30] Hannah asks Jimmy whether there are tech tools that can be used to easily put processes in place.

[21:49] Melissa points out that new business owners often get stressed out by not having everything perfect in place. It’s about things being nice and perfect, though, it’s just about getting it done.

[24:10] Hannah, Melissa, and Jimmy discuss additional things TextExpander can come in handy for.

[28:23] Hannah asks Jimmy why it’s important for Content Snare to help business owners build and maintain relationships with their clients.

[32:09] Melissa shares an automated process she uses whenever a new client signs a contract.

Mentioned in this episode:

Content Snare

Zapier

TextExpander

Monday.com

Teamwork

Trello

Todoist

Google Docs

Loom

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:38] The topic of today’s episode, work-life balance, is something Hannah and Melissa often discuss, and one that Hannah struggles with from time to time.

[1:37] As Hannah points out, one of the big challenges of working from home is the fact that you never leave your office. As a remote worker, the line between your work and free time gets blurred.

[2:26] Melissa shares her struggle with finding work-life balance and talks about her decision to “aggressively” defend her personal time, as well as creating a schedule and really sticking to it.

[4:13] Hannah and Melissa go over how the concept of work-life balance differs between the U.S. and the rest of the world.

[5:17] Hannah warns against the consequences of not making time to rest – and what could happen if you don’t carve out enough time to do so.

[6:03] Hannah and Melissa talk about industries, generational differences and how work-life balance fits into the picture.

[7:28] Melissa shares a key work-balance question you should ask yourself as a business owner.

[9:08] Melissa explains how studies show that 4-day work weeks are significantly more productive than traditional 5-day work weeks, and that she’s working toward having a 3-day work week.

[11:16] Hannah touches upon her current struggle with work-life balance.

[13:13] Melissa shares some advice for Hannah, as well as with everyone else who’s struggling with work-life balance.

[16:45] For Melissa, the hardest part is sticking to the plan you have created, even when things pop up. The second hardest is actually sitting down and making a schedule,

[17:40] And when it comes to children, she sees one of two options. The first one is to delegate, have someone clean your house, do your laundry, etc. Otherwise, you can have your children help you with some of the things you have to do, as long as they make sense for your children’s age.

[20:51] Melissa shares some tips on what to do to actually unplug from work, even when working from home.

Mentioned in this episode:

Tips for Newbies: The Art of Delegating in Your Business

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:13] Hannah and Melissa want to know whether you listen to music while working and, if so, what music genre you listen to.

[0:42] Melissa shares that many of the bookkeepers she knows only listen to instrumental music while carrying out their work.

[1:03] Since she now focuses more on administrative work, Melissa does listen to music with lyrics – unlike when she was still doing bookkeeping work and it was instrumental music only.

[1:50] Being the oldest of six children, Hannah is used to working while there may be music or TV on blasting different music shows. When working, she usually keeps the TV on in a different room to keep her company and, when it comes to music, she typically goes for either mediation or focus music. She switches it up and changes genre when she’s on a break and wants to get pumped up.

[3:48] To share your experience and answers with Melissa and Hannah, email them at success@ilovebookkeeping.com.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:19] Melissa and Hannah have a question for you: what was your first hire? Or if you’re planning your first hire, what’s it going to be?

[1:03] Hannah and Melissa share the way you can send them your answers and stories.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:53] Melissa shares the story of how she experienced her first client anxiety.

[1:36] Hannah and Melissa discuss how the need of closing a sale to make money to pay your bills can hijack your sale – and what you should consider and do instead.

[4:39] To overcome her fears when meeting new clients, Melissa focused on practicing her conversations. When she feels the conversation is stuck and she doesn’t know what to do, she uses “deflecting questions”. The idea is to ask people questions so that they talk about themselves.

[6:56] Melissa explains how, in her opinion, in sales, the 80/20 rule is more of a 90/10 rule where the prospect does 90% of the talking and you do the remaining 10%.

[8:51] Hannah and Melissa go over what prospects want to hear and want to see you do when you’re having a conversation.

[10:57] Hannah talks about one of the most important things you can do when meeting with a prospect, and what business owners can do to overcome anxiety.

[13:58] Hannah and Melissa share the way they go about dealing with anxiety.

[19:17] Hannah discusses her “turn the camera off” approach and what it helps her with.

[21:54] When starting out, Melissa wanted to get pretty much any type of client since the focus was on being able to pay bills. Her husband wouldn’t agree and said they should keep focusing on clients from their specific niche.

[23:28] For Melissa, a lot of beginning businesses need to educate themselves about their niche.

Mentioned in this episode: 

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:42] Hannah, who has been the social media manager at Bookkeeping.com for almost five years, kicks off the episode series on social media marketing for bookkeepers.

[1:53] As it was mentioned in the previous episode, social media is actually one of the first things Melissa outsourced in her business.

[2:39] What social media needs to be on a business’ radar? For Hannah, the top 5 social media platforms at the moment are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. Your business may not need all five. What you need to do is 1) determine how important social media is to your business, and 2) determine where your audience resides and go there

[4:46] What’s Hannah’s best advice for taking care of social media marketing the DIY way? The first step is to take a moment to decide whether you’d actually like to do it yourself or should delegate it to someone. After that, it’s about determining where your audience is, and then doing some market research – who do your target customers follow on social media? What are they looking for? And ask yourself this key question: Am I answering what potential clients are looking for on Instagram, TikTok or other platforms they hang out on?

[8:50] What do people do when they log on to any social media platform? They look for something: information, inspiration, something aesthetically pleasing, to decompress, to laugh. It’s important to try to be the question to what your target clients are seeking out on social media.

[10:08] With so many social media to choose from, how should a business owner go about getting started? Hannah recommends creating a game plan and being laser-focused – if you’re feeling overwhelmed, then pick only two platforms and focus on them first.

[10:58] When starting out with social media, what overwhelmed Melissa the most? She didn’t focus on a couple of platforms, rather followed a “the more, the merrier” approach.

[11:40] What are some additional reasons that lead people to feel overwhelmed when it comes to leveraging social media for their business? Hannah believes that one of the main causes of this is focusing too much on content without actually doing much brainstorming.

[12:42] What should one do if she feels she’s too old for something like TikTok? The answer is simple: if you don’t feel comfortable doing it, just don’t do it.

[15:08] Feel as if your target clients are on a specific social media platform but you aren’t on there much? You should act now, says Hannah. In Melissa’s case, for instance, many painters are on TikTok. And another thing they do is leave a lot of reviews. And which platform gets plenty of reviews published on it? Facebook…

[15:32] ‘Do I go personal or business?’ is one of the questions many business owners ask themselves. And are there particular boundaries to set with clients who would like to connect with me on my personal profiles? Hannah recommends making your social media profiles not personal pages but business pages. As far as boundaries are concerned, she suggests not becoming Facebook friends with your clients, as they’re likely to talk business on your personal profile. You may have working hours with your business but that’s harder to do because social media has blurred the line of your 9-to-5. That’s why it’s important to create boundaries and “aggressively” protect your personal life.

[20:26] Once the audience has been defined and found on social media, how does one go about creating content? When starting out, Melissa really struggled with this because she had a ton of ideas and she wasn’t sure which one to create content around. Hannah suggests looking at other pages for inspiration for content you may want to create. As for the actual creation, Canva – especially the Pro plan – is the platform both Hannah and Melissa rave about. Create content that adds value, then mix it up.

[24:06] Wondering how you can engage others on social media? Using a giveaway can be a great way to engage others. The incentive can be as small as a $5 or $10 gift card to a place like Starbucks, for instance.

[26:56] Are there some strategies for inviting people to follow me on social media? Yes, there are. Hannah shared how some people and companies actually create ad-hoc discounts that are available only to those who start following them on social media, because most people enjoy getting free stuff.

[29:21] What’s something that shouldn’t be done on social media? Copying other people’s content is a big no-no, and keeping your visuals high-quality matters.

[33:31] How do you go about finding someone to help you with social media? If you have content ideas in your head but you’re just missing that creative flow or perhaps you need some small graphic design tasks done, then you could look into hiring a graphic design student as a contractor. In case you’re having a tough time with planning, coming up with a calendar, and scheduling, then you’re more in need of help from an agency or from somebody who does this full-time.

[35:06] Wondering about Hannah’s #1 social media tip for newbies? You’ve actually heard it before: find where your target customers are, and go there.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:28] The topic of today’s episode, delegating in your business, is something Hannah believes many business owners could benefit from learning more about. [1:19] Hannah asks Melissa at what stage of her journey she said to herself ‘Alright, it’s time to delegate’. Melissa started delegating right from the very beginning. She explains why people don’t delegate and the message you’re sending others if you aren’t delegating.

[6:01] ‘What are some good reasons people should delegate?’ Hannah asks Melissa. Melissa makes it clear: ‘If you get to the point where you are overwhelmed and can’t do everything yourself, you’ve gone too far. You should have delegated sooner.’ And this doesn’t only apply to your professional life, but to your personal life too – as a working mom, you can’t do it all by yourself. [10:29] For Hannah, learning how to delegate isn’t just something that can help you grow your business, but it’s something that improves your overall quality of

[12:49] What should people do to make their life easier? According to Melissa, an audit of your personal life, since it’s so intertwined with your business life. [13:58] Do we work better when we’re under supervision? Melissa shares a statistic that illustrates the fact that people working from home are 47% more productive. They work and perform better when they’re given trust. Both Melissa and Hannah agree, and share their experiences.

[20:24] Which areas should you focus on delegating? It comes down to a few “categories”: tiny, tedious, time-consuming, terrible, and time-sensitive.

[24:31] What are the traits of a great leader, according to Hannah? It definitely is about understanding the importance of delegating – and actually delegating – but also about being able to take constructive criticism.

[27:03] How do you decide who to delegate a task to? It starts with doing a task audit, as career and business strategist Jenny Blake recommends. Melissa starts by looking at the order in which to delegate – she begins with prioritizing time-sensitive tasks, but also looks at tasks that, if delegated, would free up the most time. Then, she asks herself, ‘Is the right person to deal with this task already on my team?’

[29:37] For Melissa, asking herself ‘How do I know whether a team member is the right person to assign a task to?’ has been the hardest question. When asking herself this question years ago, she realized that her team wasn’t made of the right people.

[32:33] Has outsourcing been helpful for Melissa’s business? Yes it has, particularly in regards to outsourcing social media, since it didn’t come naturally to any of Melissa’s team members.

[33:26] What are some important questions to ask yourself if you’re considering outsourcing? For Melissa, the list includes questions such as:

• ‘Is this a task for one person or a team?’
• ‘Am I hiring for one task or a full role?’
• ‘Are my processes for this task documented?’
• ‘Do I have the time to train the new employee on the items I’d like to delegate?’
• ‘Do I even have an idea of what it is I’d like them to do, and is it documented?’

[35:47] Hannah asks Melissa how she has gone about keeping her task delegation process going effectively. According to Melissa, achieving buy-in is key. And clarifying what success means will help with that.

[42:24] Melissa touches upon a struggle she has when it comes to her role as leader.

Mentioned in this episode:

Jenny Blake’s 3rd book Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business

BKX Conference 2022

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:55] Melissa has been working remotely since 2016, before it was “cool.” Hannah, on the other hand, has been a remote worker since mid-2017.

[1:19] Transitioning to working remotely was challenging for both Melissa and Hannah. Melissa, in particular, almost felt as if she was having a midlife crisis.

[3:16] Melissa shares her 3 core habits: not signing on the minute you wake up, keeping your personal and professional spaces separate (if possible), and leaving your workspace when you “leave” your office.

[8:08] Hannah shares why remote workers should (try to) meditate every day.

[10:33] Melissa suggests people find the right morning ritual to follow.

[12:12] Melissa touches upon the importance of taking care of your body, and what happens when you don’t.

[13:17] According to Melissa, the key to their success has been their focus and being consistent. There have been plenty of opportunities she has been presented with, but the main focus has been the business.

[14:01] Melissa shares her experience with moving into a company that, despite it being her own, was a new company.

[16:14] For Hannah, the hardest part about working remotely has been transitioning from 12 hours working on her feet to sitting down in front of a computer, trying to figure out her own schedule.

[18:24] Hannah managed to overcome the obstacles she was facing thanks to practicing gratitude.

[18:56] Hannah recommends getting a mentor that doesn’t have skin in the game because they’re going to be straight with you – tell you where you’re doing things wrong and what could be done better.

Mentioned in this episode:

Witchcraft for Daily Self-Care by Michael Herkes

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[1:12] Melissa discusses what she did to jumpstart self-management when her bookkeeping business was brand new.

[2:33] Melissa explains how things changed when she had toddlers.

[4:21] Hannah talks about the three core values every new business owner should focus on.

[5:06] Melissa shares how she went about her business’ core values.

[9:58] For Hannah, once you kind of have your service offerings in place, then you can think about who your ideal client is and whether or not you should be niching.

[10:17] Melissa talks about a funny anecdote of a community member having a business with 5 Jeffs in it.

[11:40] Melissa shares one of her favorite sayings – and how it can impact your business.

[12:39] Hannah touches upon a common theme both Hannah and Melissa have seen.

[14:26] Hannah discusses how something she thinks everyone is going to run to.

[15:19] Melissa shares the beginnings of her business.

[17:50] Melissa talks about the hardest transitions you can make.

[19:30] Hannah illustrates what she sees as the most important thing of time management.

[25:03] Melissa talks about why running your business shouldn’t be your #1 way of spending time.

[26:40] How do you go about coming back from being sick for a week and find over 180 unread emails in your inbox? Melissa shares her thoughts.

[27:08] Melissa discusses what the Pomodoro Technique is all about – why it actually doesn’t work for her, and what she prefers doing instead.

[30:44] Hannah opens up in regards to her approach to time management.

[34:55] Melissa recently asked Alysssa Lang – aka the Workflow Queen – about her approach to time management.

Mentioned in this episode:

bookkeepers.com

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:34] For Melissa, asking yourself the question ‘What type of business owner am I going to be?’ is a key question you should ask yourself when starting your business.

[0:53] The way Melissa dresses really depends on the day and mood. On some days, like today, she wears real clothes and shoes, while on other days she may just wear sweatpants and no shoes (typically, she doesn’t wear shoes indoors). Hannah, on the other hand, is a leggings kind of gal.

[2:00] Hannah and Melissa joke about how great it would be to have Lululemon sponsor an episode of the I Love Bookkeeping Podcast.

[2:58] If you’d like to share how you dress when you work from home, Hannah and Melissa invite you to send an email to Success@iLoveBookkeeping.com and share your work from home outfit with them.

[3:53] Melissa thinks that considering slippers as shoes is a very personal question for a lot of people, but she has no doubt what the answer to the question ‘Do you consider leggings pants?’ is – a big, fat, YES.

[4:17] For Hannah, slippers are shoes, there’s no question about it. She wears them everywhere in her building. And she’s all about sweatpants and yoga pants.

[5:18] Hannah is adamant about not exercising while working from home. She shares how she tried in the past and felt nauseous trying to read while walking. Melissa couldn’t do it either.

[6:15] Melissa and Hannah are about to roll out the series Tips for Newbies – you can expect the next few podcast episodes to cover different types of topics for beginners.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:42] When it comes to earning potential, there isn’t a lot of benchmark data for what students at Bookkeepers.com are doing, for the fact that they aren’t in just a bookkeeping business.

[1:08] Because there isn’t much data they can use to benchmark what students at Bookkeepers.com are doing, Melissa and Hannah would like listeners to contribute by answering a series of questions, including what the income, gross and net profits of their bookkeeping business are, how much they pay for paper, and what they have been able to do with the money they have made.

[1:45] Since transparency in the finances of people who operate in the financial industry is so important for the growth of every bookkeeper, it’s important for podcast listeners to contribute with their answers to the questions.

[2:06] Hannah and Melissa will lead by example – in fact, Melissa mentioned that she will be sharing her financial reports.

[2:14] Sharing your numbers wouldn’t be useful only to the establishment of the data set that could eventually be used for benchmarking, but it would also be useful to you when you circle back to it in the future. Melissa, for example, feels that having shared that she has a $1.4 million bookkeeping business, and having done so out loud, was an amazing feeling. Lastly, sharing is also going to be a great opportunity to everyone else to be inspired to get where you are as they set their goals for the year.

[2:55] The easiest way to contribute is by sending the answers to success@ilovebookkeeping.com.

[1:29] Hannah explains what an introvert is all about. Shy people are often labeled as introverts but that isn’t always the case. Introvert people may enjoy being around people but recharge their batteries when they’re by themselves.

[2:27] As Melissa points out, extroverts, on the other hand, are fueled by human interaction.

[3:29] Hannah shares a networking for introverts anecdote that dates back to her time as a makeup artist, which is an extroverted industry – and how she has gone about networking as an introvert.

[8:20] For Hannah, not being afraid to be new in a particular space and let others know about it can actually be a smart move.

[10:34] Melissa discusses an experience that has shaped how she goes about networking today.

[17:32] 92% of salespeople will give up after hearing ‘no’ 4 times but 80% of prospects say ‘no’ 4 times before they say ‘yes’.

[20:12] Hannah believes that going to a networking event with a mindset that focuses on building connections, instead of looking at people as numbers, takes the pressure off of your shoulders.

[23:44] Melissa explains why, when done right, networking has nothing to do with sales.

[25:58] Melissa goes over what she does to recharge her batteries when attending an event and networking as an introvert.

Mentioned in this episode:

Jen Brown (Melissa’s business coach)

book: Think on Your Feet: Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Impromptu Communication Skills on the Job by Jen Oleniczak Brown

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[1:34] Melissa invites bookkeepers to raise their prices of 10 to 20% because she believes that they’re probably not charging enough.

[2:49] Despite this, she’s nervous about raising her prices – and she’s nervous every single time she does it.

[3:40] Melissa started sending out emails about her price increase to clients she knew were going to say they weren’t ok with it. An important mistake she points out, and one she wants to make sure you avoid making, is to reply to every single email that comes in related to this matter.

[4:48] This is how Melissa went about informing clients about the price increase: she informed them of what the new price would be, she informed them of why she believed they should pay and the value they would get from it. She added that if a client didn’t think she was worth that value, then it was time for them to part ways.

[5:52] Hannah believes that people have a lot of fear about asking for a price increase for two reasons: they’re afraid of losing their clients, and they’re afraid of the backlash and criticism that could come their way as a result.

[6:15] Melissa discusses a NPR article she recently read on why women don’t ask for more money. According to the article, women worry that pushing for more money will damage their image.

[7:31] Hannah shares what she went through when it was time to raise her prices. She believes that half the battle is you believing that your value is increasing.

[8:59] Hannah doesn’t think you should worry about clients leaving you because you’re too expensive and that you should put your value first.

[9:34] Melissa talks about a recent experience she had with a client who didn’t agree with her raising her prices.

[15:33] Melissa brings up a recommendation that stood out from the NPR article Why Women Don’t Ask for More Money? – and that is: when you’re negotiating a price increase, think of other people your salary is supporting, so that the negotiation doesn’t seem all about you.

[18:18] Melissa goes over how she addressed and overcame the fear of raising her prices.

[19:35] Another recommendation from the NPR article was to stop looking at negotiation as adversarial, but rather as solving a problem: your gross profit is low, your costs are high, etc.

[21:47] Hannah shares one of the biggest things she had to do for herself – practicing confidence.

[24:23] Melissa talks about a girl she has found on social media who recorded herself, every day, telling herself that she loved herself.

[26:35] There have been times when Melissa felt as if she couldn’t support herself. She reached out to her friends who were able to uplift her when she wasn’t able to.

Mentioned in this episode:

article: Why Women Don’t Ask for More Money?

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:45] Hannah and Melissa discuss and joke about the pronunciation of the word ‘niche’.

[2:10] Melissa talks about how the niche for her business was picked.

[3:10] When it comes to her business, Melissa is passionate about meeting her clients face-to-face and supporting her team members.

[3:23] Hannah touches upon what she considers a pro of having and focusing on a niche.

[4:39] How Melissa feels and acts when she attends in-person events.

[5:29] For Melissa, when you niche, you’re able to understand your clients better and can offer solutions tailored to their needs. She considers having a niche and really connecting with it as the most important thing.

[7:20] Something Melissa experienced at an event she recently attended.

[9:03] Melissa shares her thoughts on the whole ‘To niche or not to niche?’ conversation.

[10:41] Hannah and Melissa talk about the pros of actually not niching down in your business.

[13:43] According to Hannah, when switching industries, by having some expertise in the subject, you can get your foot in the door.

[14:28] Melissa touches upon the analysis paralysis trap some business owners fall into and shares what you should do if you don’t know what niche to choose.

[16:04] What most of the members of Hannah’s and Melissa’s community think when it comes to niching down.

[16:59] An advantage Hannah sees when looking at people who don’t settle for a specific niche.

[18:00] Melissa shares her thoughts on the idea that business owners who don’t niche down can tap into a larger pool of leads and clients.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

[0:58] Melissa thinks that bookkeeping has a future. For years, she has heard that the space would be obsolete in the next couple of years – but that hasn’t happened, bookkeeping is still going strong. In fact, it has never been better.

[1:36] ‘Is bookkeeping going to be obsolete?’ and ‘Is Artificial Intelligence going to take over?’ are some of the biggest questions Hannah and the marketing team get asked.

[1:51] People need to understand an important thing: bookkeeping is a relationship-focused industry. And that’s something a computer can’t do.

[3:34] There are a couple of reasons why small business owners look for bookkeepers; because they either don’t like bookkeeping or don’t have the time to do it themselves.

[5:27] Melissa often has conversations with clients to help them realize that trying to do bookkeeping by themselves would be very time consuming as it’s something they probably would be learning from scratch.

[6:33] For small business owners, bookkeeping is having someone in your corner, who takes care of certain things for you, no matter what.

[7:41] The fact that bookkeeping is always going to evolve and have something new – and that people are always going to need it – is one of the biggest points about the future of the industry.

[9:03] For Melissa, learning the technology of the niche you work in as a bookkeeper can be very valuable to your clients.

[10:37] There are a couple of reasons why Melissa believes that small business owners should look at hiring a bookkeeper. Take the time a business owner would spend doing bookkeeping alone and think about how much they would earn if they spent that time focusing on activities that generate business. Plus, bookkeepers can also help business owners make more money by helping them save on taxes and other fees.

[15:24] Melissa sees the lack of customer service as the major pain-point people have when it comes to their accountants.

[17:27] One of the things a good bookkeeper does is to help clients understand bookkeeping and their business better.

[18:47] Melissa shares her predictions on what bookkeeping is going to look like 5 years from today.

Mentioned in this episode:

Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy

[0:56] There’s the misconception that a degree is required to be a bookkeeper, but that isn’t the case.

[1:26] Melissa is a huge advocate for alternatives to college degrees.

[1:52] Unlike other industries, you can get your bookkeeping business up and running in just a matter of weeks.

[2:37] Nowadays, people seem to be more interested in having a work-life balance and in making their own schedule.

[3:45] Being your own boss means that you can network in the way that best suits your personality, whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert.

[4:43] The pandemic has made things like Zoom calls more acceptable.

[5:42] Melissa is less about in-person networking as she is face-to-face. She always makes a point to have her webcam on whenever she has a call with somebody.

[7:41] There are several benefits to being your own boss, like working with clients you want, doing taxes or payroll, advising, as well as picking and using the tools you prefer and ditching those you don’t like.

[10:08] One of Hannah’s favorite things about the bookkeeping community is the fact that there aren’t real gate-keepers nor industry secrets that are kept. Everyone is supportive and generous with sharing their knowledge.

[13:05] Becoming a bookkeeper can lead to other opportunities too – like in the case of Alyssa Lang, for instance, who is now known as the Workflow Queen.

[14:54] According to Hannah, starting and owning a business really adds to your personal development as a person. It creates a new layer to people.

[1:10] New podcast co-host Melissa Honan is a mom of two children, a dog, and a cat

[2:17] Melisa discusses how she began working with her husband Daniel

[4:46] Online Bookkeep, the company Melissa is the CEO of, has some impressive numbers: 115 monthly clients, approximately $107,000 in monthly recurring fees, three departments (Bookkeeping, Account Management, and Tax), and it’s a team of 17. Today, the business has about $1.4 million in annual revenue.

[6:12] Melissa and her family are currently in Mexico for a few weeks and are considering which place they want to call “home” next

[8:03] Melissa, who is a former workaholic, is deliberate about defending her personal life, and she doesn’t shy away from putting her children first

[9:23] Even though she isn’t a bookkeeper anymore, Melissa is clear on how she’d like to provide value to the I Love Bookkeeping podcast listeners

[10:19] Hannah Robinson, who is Atlanta born and bred, was a hair and makeup artist working long hours before she entered the bookkeeping space. And, like Melissa, she wasn’t prioritizing having a life outside her career.

[12:13] Hannah talks about the impact of organizing the first in-person meeting during the summer. She got to meet people whose stories she could listen to carefully and get inspired by.

[1:55] There have been several unique opportunities that have emerged since the advent of COVID-19, and Ben happens to be right in the middle of a number of rapidly changing environments.

[3:30] With all the changes to the regulatory environment, bookkeepers have been extremely busy helping business owners figure it all out. Everybody who has been waiting to do their books suddenly has an urgent need to get it all done as quickly as possible.

[5:00] For bookkeeping professionals that are established, there has never in the history of time been a better time to be a bookkeeping professional. The word of the day in the industry is survive and just do what you can one day at a time.

[5:30] We saw a similar cycle 12 years ago with businesses that weren’t prepared, or that weren’t really businesses. They were the ones that didn’t make it through. The most important thing you can focus on right now is how you can help your clients and do whatever you can to help them survive.

[6:05] The urgency of tax day has been replaced by the urgency of getting your books in order to secure a loan. What we’ve seen so far hasn’t been as much of a stimulus as it was just enough to allow small businesses to survive. The only way that many businesses have been able to do that is by getting the benefits, and that means bookkeepers are instrumental.

[7:40] There is no COVID-19 version of your books, they are either done or not done. Not having the information on hand means your business is leaving free money on the table.

[8:05] Paul tells the story of trying to make Mother’s Day special and how different restaurants handled the lockdown. We hear a lot about the economic downturn but plenty of businesses are seeing a flood of customers that they may or may not be able to handle.

[10:35] When it comes to economic turbulence, some types of businesses will thrive and some will suffer, but any business that isn’t prepared is going to run into major problems.

[11:00] Ben always tries to have at least six months of operating expenses in his business’s savings account. If you have a team right now, they are nervous and there is no such thing as over-communicating and no such thing as giving away too much information. If you are secure, your people need to know that.

[12:15] You should work with your clients in the same way. People can typically deal with bad news, what they can’t deal with is unknowns. Having a fight you know about is way better than not having any idea about what is going to happen.

[13:15] Take care of the things that you can control. You may not know what is going to happen with schools in the fall, but you can get your books done and find out what your finances look like.

[14:05] Everybody is worried, but being in a position to give someone answers can be very valuable. The bookkeeping industry is a recession-resistant industry and bookkeepers are in a position to really help business owners get through the current situation. When we do come through to the other side, those businesses are going to remember who was there for them.

[16:40] Right now is a great time to start a bookkeeping business. There are no guarantees, but this may be the absolute best time to be marketing bookkeeping to businesses that desperately need the service.

[18:30] It’s also a great time to be advertising since ad costs are low. The one caveat is that hard tactics are out and building relationships is in. It’s the perfect time for bookkeepers to focus on the top of the funnel.

[20:00] Bookkeeper Business Launch will give you the fundamentals you need to start your bookkeeping business, but if you want to go far, it’s important to surround yourself with people on the same journey as you. The mastermind and community are huge assets to bookkeepers just getting started.

[23:05] Bookkeeper Business Launch experienced its highest period of enrollment ever because more people are coming to the realization that being in control of their income puts them in control of their destiny.

[24:00] Some bookkeepers have lost clients or have had to reduce their service fees, but that’s been offset by picking up new clients all over the place. Bookkeepers have to be flexible and creative enough to adjust to what’s happening in the world.

[26:20] Life gives to the givers and takes from the takers. Are you a giver or a taker? Your clients need you more than ever so it’s a great time to start giving.

[3:00] Kim had been in the banking industry for 16 years and knew that there was definitely a need for bookkeepers in business. When Kim’s husband decided to start his trucking business, Kim made the choice to start her own bookkeeping business at the same time.

[4:15] Kim currently has 8 active clients. There are always ups and downs in the business, and clients come and go. She mainly focuses on transportation due to her insider view of the industry.

[6:05] Kim always had the desire to open her own business, but she never really knew what she wanted to do. The high costs of most business models made them prohibitive. When she discovered the idea of bookkeeping, it made a lot of sense given her background and experience. Time-freedom is the word Kim would use to describe the idea of running her own business.

[9:30] Retail banking is extremely time intensive, and Kim felt like she wouldn’t be able to go much further in the industry without sacrificing more of her time. Instead of just working more, she wanted to find a way to make more money while working less.

[11:20] Sticking to her niche was one of Kim’s first challenges. Many of the clients she initially took on were not the right fit because they were either too small or not appropriate. It can be hard to say no to a client that wants to work with you, but sometimes it’s necessary.

[14:50] Kim’s husband has been a very valuable insider who has helped shape her marketing and how she finds clients for her business.

[16:05] Take your time as you go through the learning process. While you’re working your way through it, try to put processes in play that will make your life easier. In a lot of ways, time-freedom is a double-edged sword. It’s all too easy to do work that doesn’t actually build your business. Busy work is the work we do to avoid the work we really need to do.

[19:00] The biggest challenge today for Kim is that if her business continues to grow, it’s going to take up more of her time unless she hires someone. The trouble is she isn’t sure if she wants to manage people again.

[20:35] For Kim, success means the ability to do what she wants to do and having the means to do it. Reaching true financial security is when she would define success. Given that definition of success, Kim doesn’t really need to take on more clients.

[22:50] One of the best aspects of the business for Kim has been the option of working as many hours as she wants. In terms of capacity, Kim could probably take on another 3-4 clients without eliminating the time-freedom that she values so much. At this point, she should focus on finding quality clients and upgrading her existing client base.

[26:40] When Kim hits a milestone, she takes a moment to enjoy her achievement but also look towards the next goal. She has to realize the pressure is off her. She can shape her business so that it fits her goals instead of doing things to generate an income.

[30:50] Paying off her mortgage and becoming debt free is one of Kim’s major goals. The other question is how does she want to spend her time when she’s retired. When Kim thinks about her goals, she always sees herself with other people and how she can help and serve them. To serve others, we have to serve ourselves.

[36:30] Whether or not you have team members, your business is a system. Systems are even more important than a list of clients. Once you define your processes and efficiencies, it pays off continuously over time. Start out where you are and map out your processes, and then think about how you can improve them. Processes revolve around your client; if they don’t, then why would you do it?

[42:15] You can gain a tonne of momentum and leverage in your business by hiring a virtual assistant. We think we need a big team that comes with a lot of commitment but it’s not necessary. You can take on a VA for only a few hours a week, and it can completely change your business. Before you hire a VA, you need to have your processes designed first.

[47:10] Since Kim works in the transportation niche, she has an opportunity to create a course that could help teach her potential clients how to grow their business. When they develop and grow, they could become Kim’s ideal clients.

[48:30] Before working on a new business idea, it’s good to vet the idea and make sure it’s worth your time and effort. If someone else is already doing something similar, that’s a good sign. Don’t just take someone’s word that they will buy your idea. It doesn’t mean anything until someone is willing to open their wallet and give you their money. Before taking the leap on a new idea, make sure that the resulting business fits into your vision for your life.

[51:50] For new ideas, always start with the market side of things. Once that’s in place, always undersell and overdeliver.

Mentioned in this Episode: Home Time Bookkeeping

[4:45] Melissa serves 62 clients that they work with every month and she has a goal to get to 100 clients by the end of the year.

[5:25] We rarely stop to smell the roses and appreciate everything we accomplish. Remember to write down how far you’ve come and keep that in mind.

[6:20] Melissa has made plenty of mistakes over the past 18 months. One of the biggest things she’s learned is to stick to her pricing and not negotiate. If the client wants to negotiate, that may be an indicator that they don’t value your service.

[8:15] Melissa works solely from home and most of her clients are local to Sacramento. One of the motivations for her in starting her business has been to spend time with her kids and this led to her finding a team member that likes serving clients face-to-face.

[10:30] Working at home can be very isolating, so Melissa really appreciates the chance to go to BNI meetings and meet people on the same journey as her.

[11:40] The best piece of advice for someone considering starting their own bookkeeping business is you have to be a self starter. There will always be things out of your control and you just have to push through it and get things done. There is also a major difference between dealing with multiple clients instead of one boss. You need to develop a thick skin.

[13:30] You have to be very self reliant as a business owner because the buck stops with you.

[14:25] There is a lot of room for growth in the bookkeeping industry. Melissa hasn’t run into any real competition in her area. If you’re thinking about getting into the business, now is a great time to jump in.

[16:00] In three years, Melissa would like to be in a commercial space with 10 bookkeepers working for her. The key piece of the puzzle will be a solid office manager to bring it all together so that she doesn’t need to touch client accounts anymore. If you can pay somebody to do something better than you, you should do it.

[18:15] Strategy is marketing, and marketing is the core of your business. It’s hard to outsource the marketing because they don’t have the same incentive as you as the owner of the business.

[19:15] In some ways the desire for an office space is about ego but a commercial space does come with some other advantages. Melissa estimates that she’s lost approximately one client a month that didn’t decide to work with her because of the lack of physical space.

[21:40] A physical space also comes with a lot of baggage. It can become your golden handcuffs or an anchor.

[22:40] Managing people is difficult, every person you bring on increases the complexity of your business. It’s important to think of things from the standpoint of the result instead of the function. Melissa doesn’t want to have 10 people work for her, she wants the result that 10 people can bring.

[26:50] Melissa’s challenge is setting her business apart from the competition. Answering the question of “how are you different from other bookkeepers out there?” is hard.

[28:45] Bookkeeping is first and foremost a relationship business. If we try to compete on the tasks, we’ll lose. You should think about how to deepen and build upon the relationships with prospective clients and existing clients.

[30:45] You have to know how to communicate with your client in a way that they will understand, and then go above that by advising them. Take a vested interest in their success from the deliverable standpoint.

[32:30] Bookkeeping used to be about abdication, now it’s about collaboration. Take two clients a month and think about what you would want to know if you were the owner of those businesses. Give them true advice, practical things they can do to improve their business and save money. Over time you will be able to charge more for your services, not because you are just raising your rates but because you are adding more value.

[36:30] Start with the clients that are already receptive to feedback. Melissa may find that what she really wants is to work with a smaller number of clients in a more personal and involved way.

[38:10] Melissa’s typical client is a small business with less than five employees that are at the point where they are not able to take care of their own bookkeeping.

[40:30] Having a specific niche limits you, but it also allows you to become very well known in that niche. You also get the perception of the industry expert and become a specialist.

[43:30] The transition takes time. Changing a niche happens one client at a time. Take your client list and think of the ones that you love to work with, then reverse engineer what it is about them that you like working with. Write them down and use those traits to figure out who your ideal client is. When you look at new clients ask yourself how alike they are.

[47:05] Try to niche from day one if you can. If you’ve established your business, you will have to go a bit slower and more methodically.

[49:05] The bookkeeping world has changed over the past ten years. It’s no longer about the individual transactions as much as it is about the results you can bring to your clients.

[52:15] The biggest takeaway for Melissa is to find the shared traits that her best clients have and use them to find more clients just like them. She’s also going to use that info to either change how she deals with her existing clients or filter through new ones.

[53:20] For years the bookkeeping industry has been a replacement offer, but those days are gone. Now it’s a new offer, somebody who can interpret the numbers and advise their clients. Adding more value to the clients we serve will insulate us to the changing technological landscape.

Mentioned in this Episode: Busy Bee Advisors

[3:10] When Jaime first started, he was going to partner with a friend of his that had a degree in Bookkeeping. He discovered that a lot of random tasks end up on your plate as a bookkeeper and felt that he just didn’t want to work for someone else anymore. His friend wasn’t ready to make the leap at the same time though, and Jaime decided to go out on his own. He discovered that he was in over his head and looked for help; when he found Bookkeeper Business Launch, it changed his business.

[7:10] After signing up for the course in April, Jaime got his first client in June. He reached out to his former colleagues who had ventured out to create their own firms and one of them said yes.

[9:00] One of his clients has been very influential in helping Jaime find new clients. He has referred Jaime to a number of individuals and created new connections for him. It’s important to have as many referral sources as you can.

[11:10] Jaime had to overcome his fear and negative mindset before starting his business. We are all limited by fear but we have to bust through it.

[12:20] One of Jaime’s biggest challenges was something that many people might find easy, putting a photo of himself online. When Jaime got started, he didn’t know that he would be serving attorneys but it ultimately worked out really well.

[16:00] Jaime enjoys putting the puzzle of a client’s messy books together. It’s one of the few tasks in bookkeeping that has a definitive end point. One of Jaime’s least favorite activities is receipt management.

[19:10] Jaime has been really challenged with his systems recently. He recently lost a contractor and has found that the systems he has in place may not be sufficient. In many ways, this is actually a good problem to have and should be celebrated.

[23:00] Jaime started documenting things via screen sharing. He would record himself doing the task and then upload the video to Dropbox. Processes before people, the processes that Jaime has developed have been largely the same for all of his clients. It’s important to limit the procedures that you have that are unique to one particular client, which is one of the advantages of operating in a specific niche.

[27:25] When handing off the receipt management task to a contractor, Jaime realized that he didn’t really explain what he wanted accurately enough so he found the contractor was making a lot of the same mistakes. In the beginning, it’s important to spend more time holding their hands and walking them through the way you want something to be done.

[31:00] We often try to bite off more than we can chew. You should offload one task at a time, not look for the perfect person for every task. When you bring someone on board, they will not care about your business as much as you do. Give them a small puzzle to work on and get rid of the tasks with the lowest hourly value first. Handing off too much at one time is recipe for disaster. Don’t hire by client, hire by task.

[37:30] Overloading a new hire is a big mistake. Give them one task to master, then once they’ve got that down, give them more to work on.

[39:20] Jaime’s first contractor was a virtual assistant that did some simple tasks like managing email that he found in a Facebook group. One of his favorite ways of getting to know a potential hire is asking them, “What Star Wars character would you be and why?” Ben recommends asking the unique questions because one thing he has discovered is that the people with prior bookkeeping experience usually come with bad habits that you have to work to fix.

[44:45] People want to work in fun places with people they like. Bookkeeping is a relationship business. Going after trained bookkeepers isn’t the best approach. You may train someone and they leave, but that is just the nature of the game. Set the relationship up right before you hire, put them into real world situations that they will actually experience and see how they work.

[48:15] Never stop hiring, and never stop marketing. You never want your pipeline to run dry.

[48:45] Give your team a say in how the work gets done. You want your team to take ownership of their work and to treat your clients with respect. If it doesn’t work with one person, you’ve learned something that you can take to the next person. Once you master this concept, you can scale up your business.

[51:52] Jaime’s homework assignments are to celebrate his wins and start putting potential hires through the real world tasks they are going to be taking on.

[4:30] Tracy officially opened her doors in June of 2017 and got started by subcontracting for her fiance’s accountant a little after tax season. This was a good way to jump-start Tracy’s career and shift her mindset from employee to business owner. There were plenty of times when Tracy felt like she was overwhelmed, but she was able to persevere and push through.

[8:35] She didn’t start getting clients of her own right away. Tracy wanted to make sure she could do the job before getting in too deep, and working as a subcontractor gave her some people she could ask for help if she needed it.

[9:55] Tracy currently serves 13 clients through the accounting company. She works mainly in Sage but is transferring them over to Quickbooks. She also has 13 clients of her own.

[13:15] Tracy’s second goal was to allow her fiance to get out of driving a truck for a living and bring him into the business she was building. She created the goal in November 2017, and as of January 2019, he finished his last day of work and has come on board.

[15:30] The business started off a little slow but it has grown quite a bit in the last half of the year. Now Tracy and her fiance are available to spend time with her kids and manage their own time.

[20:20] Thinking like a business owner is about knowing that you have control of your time. It’s the flexibility of not just trading hours for dollars. One of the biggest challenges Tracy has encountered has been pricing her services. She usually starts them off at an hourly rate and switches them to monthly after a few months of service.

[24:50] The thing that we want as a business owner is flexibility but it’s a double edged sword. You’re not accountable to anyone but yourself, and for entrepreneurs, it can be really difficult.

[26:40] Tracy has experienced a lot of growth in the past few months, so marketing has slipped by the wayside.

[27:40] Don’t stop and halt your marketing. It takes momentum to get the marketing machine back up; so you should keep it going. The best time to market is when you don’t need clients, that way you can be selective.

[31:10] Helping people understand what is happening in their business is what Tracy loves to do when working with her clients. Doing her client’s bookkeeping allows Tracy to get insights into their business and helps her deliver value to them by solving their problems.

[34:40] Before we start hiring, we should understand what our Unique Ability is and where we provide the most value. List out all the tasks you do, and figure out what you are the best at and where you provide the most value. Then, list the tasks you don’t like doing.

[37:00] What are the things that you need to get other people to do? It’s not who do you need to hire, but what tasks do you need to delegate? Finding a freelancer on Upwork and outsourcing just one task is the first step. Build out your team from a task perspective instead of a person perspective.

>[41:45] Find the simplest task you don’t want to do and give it to a freelancer or virtual assistant. Don’t look for bookkeeping experience, hire for attitude and resourcefulness. Training someone else will force you to think of and write down the exact process for that task which is how you start to create systems.

[47:50] Getting your processes down gives you a resource that you can use to bring on additional team members. This gives you a huge advantage when hiring in the future. Having great people is a luxury; having great processes is a necessity.

[51:45] Tracy’s next steps are to continue with her marketing and networking efforts and break down her tasks. Then, find out what she’s best at and what she should hand off to someone else.

[53:15] Find someone that will take ownership over the process. It’s common to find people that can find better ways to do things, and there is always more you can learn.

Mentioned in This Episode: Between the Lines Bookkeeping Services

[6:00] In early 2017, Justin was still working his full-time job while serving 11 clients, which was starting to burn him out. When he had the opportunity to take on a bigger client, Justin’s wife gave him the push to go for it and make his business his full time occupation.

[9:20] Justin developed a good network while he was working and spent his time getting to know who he wanted to work with and asking for specific referrals.

[11:50] When looking at new potential clients, Justin wants to see that the client is coachable and open to suggestions. He’s made mistakes taking on clients that weren’t a fit. It’s less about the niche or industry and more about the way the client works with him.

[13:45] The greatest challenge is to systematize processes. Once you get them done, it’s great, but for Justin, he finds it difficult to get through.

[16:00] The favorite part of Justin’s day is the ability to enjoy his time with his family and his wife.

[18:40] Justin’s first homework assignment is to take stock of all the challenges he has overcome so far and appreciating how far he’s come.

[20:20] Justin is in the process of onboarding three new clients so he’s focused on systematizing their processes from the start. Now that he has a team member to help him with the workload, Justin needs to optimize the way work gets done.

[25:00] The goal at the moment to spend 20 to 30 hours a week in his business so that he can focus attracting and meeting new clients as well as more personal things.

[26:50] The vision for your business is a framework that you can use to evaluate everything you do. Is your action going to move you closer or further away from your vision?

[27:40] One is none, two is one. You should always duplicate your efforts and build in some redundancy into your business processes so you aren’t in big trouble if somebody leaves. Finding team members using a service like Upwork can make the process simple.

[32:40] There lots of people who aren’t interested in building a big business but still want to do bookkeeping for a decent rate. Justin found his first team member by posting that he was looking for some help in the Bookkeeper Business Launch Facebook group.

[33:50] Calling yourself a bookkeeping professional is key.

[35:50] Take the traits of your best team member and write them down. Those are the traits you should look for in potential hires. The ‘whatever it takes’ attitude is the biggest thing that Justin looks for in his team members.

[39:30] Be slow to hire and quick to fire. This goes for your clients as well.

[41:45] It’s better to have two team members working 5 hours a week than one person working 10. Anything that the team member is going to be doing with your clients should be simulated during the interview. You should see exactly how they are going to do the job and interact with people before you bring them onboard.

[44:20] Add a little easter egg to your job posting that asks the person to include something in particular in their application so you know they pay attention to detail.

[46:15] Justin needs to find people that have the capacity to grow and are in the business for the long haul.

[48:50] If you want to scale your business, never stop marketing and never stop looking for good people.

[50:00] Finding a process to develop better processes can be tricky. Take your current bookkeeping professional and just document everything they do in the course of their work. Recording your screen while your working and narrating what you’re doing is a simple way to document what you do. Every time you add a piece of technology or software you add complexity but it’s the fundamentals that will lead to success.

Mentioned in the episode: Watch My Green

[6:00] Nonprofits were the niche that Amy chose to work with because working around or in them has been a part of her history and experience. She felt like she was in a unique position to help nonprofits specifically.

[7:50] In the beginning, Amy felt like everything had to be ready to go before she officially launched her business and she ended up pushing her launch back until the last week of August. She got her first three clients in the same week right before Thanksgiving.

[9:25] The first client was a Facebook referral, the other two were found on Indeed by applying for remote bookkeeper positions. There is always a price to getting clients, it’s either your effort, your time, your money, or some combination of all of them.

[11:30] The best way Amy has found to get clients has been to spend time in Facebook groups where she knows her ideal clients hang out. Giving value first is the basic strategy. Niching down is one of the keys to Amy’s success.

[14:10] Now that Amy is running her own business she can turn down the work that doesn’t fit the lifestyle she wants to live.

[15:25] Confidence in her ability to execute was one of the biggest challenges she’s had to face in starting her business. She learned a lot in the first 60 days. Each new client brings its own set of challenges. Knowledge has to be combined to gain confidence.

[19:00] All of Amy’s clients are across the country and she can essentially operate her business from everywhere.

[20:05] Running her own bookkeeping business has drastically improved Amy’s family life.

[22:10] In the beginning, Amy just wanted to bring in something for her family but at this point she’s looking at breaking past six figures and bringing additional staff to handle the workload. She’s focused on building a real business complete with brand identity.

[25:10] Get specific on your goals and what your business is going to do for you. You’re going to be much more motivated by internal goals rather than external goals.

[27:20] What do you want to be when you grow up? Now that Amy is becoming established she has to put some thought into her branding and how she wants to be viewed in her market. As you scale your business your brand becomes more important.

[30:45] A brand is a perception of who you are as an organization and perception is reality. Your brand needs to attract and repel. When someone is looking at your business, what do you want them to feel?

[34:35] Write down the words you want people to use to describe your business. Ask your clients how they would describe you already. A brand is something that is crafted, it’s not created overnight. Don’t be a copycat brand, your brand should be unique to you and your company.

[38:20] Amy may not need to market her business very hard at this point, her current methods have worked pretty well. You shouldn’t start to look for new growth strategies until the one you are using effectively stops working.

[41:10] Amy has walked in an Executive Director shoes so she knows what they need in terms of a bookkeeper. The feelings and perceptions of her ideal client will inform the brand she is trying to create. Additional perceptions can come from the auditors and board members that Amy can tap into.

[46:10] These words and descriptions will become the core beliefs, the manifesto that determines your steps going forward. Some core values are better than others but there is no wrong or right set. Establishing your core values is key to keeping people on your team long term. There is no proven methodology to creating your brand other than what comes from within.

[50:35] Amy always thinks back to her future obituary and what she hopes people will eventually say about her. She hopes her business will allow her to spend more time with her family and live the life she wants. Once you understand your brand and core values, it makes your business decisions much easier.

[54:30] Amy’s action items include figuring out what she provides to her clients and what her company stands for. Building a brand is intentional and done over time.

Mentioned in this episode: ADEM Bookkeeping

[2:35] Access to data and statements is crucial for proper accounting, so Yoseph built Relay Financial in order to attack the problem from a fundamental point of view. Relay gives you the ability to issue MasterCard debit cards and manage payments all from inside your own business bank account.

[3:25] The three primary reasons businesses are switching over to Relay from the usual financial behemoths are the user permission model, the ability to manage their payables inside their bank account, and they can manage business spending by issuing cards directly to employees.

[5:40] For accountants and bookkeepers, Relay integrates directly with both Xero and QuickBooks online and delivers enriched standardized data into the accounting system which makes it easier to do the books overall.

[6:10] Inside of your financial portal, you can have multiple clients within Relay Financial and have easy access to each client’s banking information. This can save you an hour per client each month in back and forth communication. Relay Financial is a bank account that connects into your key systems and increases financial visibility for small business owners.

[7:55] Bookkeepers universally struggle with getting information from clients and Relay Financial is a potential solution to those common challenges.

[9:30] This kind of service can be revolutionary for bookkeepers and small business owners.

[10:05] Yoseph founded the company in October of 2018 and brought the first customers on board in the first half of 2019. The response to the product has been tremendously positive with the service reframing what’s possible from a bank.

[10:35] Relay is best suited for a wide range of small businesses since they all have very similar financial needs. Businesses that are typically cash-heavy like restaurants or bars are not necessarily the best fit, same with businesses that have to batch deposit a large number of checks at the same time.

[12:00] The long term vision for the company is to automate financial management for small business owners. Yoseph is looking to build useful software on top of customer’s bank accounts to make it even more valuable for business owners.

[13:10] Most people have an existing bank account, but Yoseph is seeing a lot of customers trying out Relay as a complimentary service and once they test it out they organically switch over to make Relay their primary financial institution.

[15:05] If you’re trying to convince your clients to make the switch to Relay Financial, talk to them about how they can sign up online within 10 minutes so it’s incredibly easy to get started, how it solves a specific pain point for the business, and the benefit of being able to issue cards for their employees.

[16:55] Relay Financial is currently only servicing US-based companies at the moment but expanding beyond the US is part of the plan for the business later this year.

Mentioned in this episode: Relay Financial

[3:25] Alyssa doesn’t prepare the taxes for clients that she does the books for. There is a lot of value in having a second pair of eyes so the client gets the right information.

[4:05] Alyssa currently has 12 clients, many of which are monthly. She gets the work done with her team of three virtual assistants and one full-time bookkeeper.

[5:00] Alyssa also has another business that came from the result of working with another client who fell in love with her systems. Now she also builds the systems that other bookkeepers use to run their businesses.

[6:45] We often get stuck in our heads and tell ourselves that we are the only ones who can do things, but the only reason that is is because you haven’t documented it. You should have your systems and workflows set up so that if you’re hit by a bus tomorrow, someone can come in and pick up where you left off.

[8:20] Alyssa works from home and enjoys the benefits that come with that as well as the downsides. Being stuck in the same place all the time can be a blessing and a curse.

[9:50] Being able to decide how hard you are going to work is great but if you don’t work hard it can cause problems a couple of months down the road. Sometimes it would be nice for someone to tell you what to do rather than making all the decisions.

[11:20] Long term goals for Alyssa are to pick up some more clients but not so many that she isn’t able to work one on one with them and give them the highest service possible. She’s at the point where she can say no to some clients so she’s in a good place right now.

[13:20] Work/life balance is the biggest challenge that Alyssa struggles with every single day. Ben has issues with that as well, it comes with loving the work, but if you want to spend more quality time outside of work you have to be intentional about it. Writing down your perfect day is a good exercise to get clarity on what you actually want. Put more than just work on your calendar.

[17:55] Taking yourself away from your work allows you to clear your mind and refocus. Working all the time doesn’t mean you are accomplishing more, taking breaks will lead to more work being done overall.

[20:20] The advantage of creating courses is that you gain the ability to generate revenue without having to actually sell or get clients all the time, while still allowing you to stay in the bookkeeping world.

[21:50] The most important thing about a workflow is writing it down. Take the time to write every little task so you can identify exactly where the results are coming from. Entrepreneurs always encounter the struggle of managing the workflow as the business grows.

[24:35] Set yourself guidelines for your future vision. Keeping why you want to do this will keep everything in perspective.

[25:30] As you build the business the way you want, not only do you get to benefit from it personally, you also create a business that is much more sellable. Most “businesses” that are sold are just jobs.

[27:00] Works expands to fill the time allotted to it. If you set yourself a schedule and less time to do something, you will be surprised what you are capable of when you are down to the wire.

[28:30] Don’t forget to take care of yourself, if you don’t you won’t be able to serve your clients properly and your life and business will suffer. You’re pouring yourself into your clients and team every day, and the only way you can continue to do that is to pour energy back into yourself.

[30:45] Balance is a constant struggle, it’s easy to say and incredibly difficult to do but your long term success hinges on that.

Mentioned in this episode: Workflow Queen Top Notch Bookkeeping Solutions

[4:20] Tracy learned most of her bookkeeping skills by going through Ben’s course, in addition to some minor experience in high school and college accounting.

[5:40] If you don’t have clients you don’t have a business - you have a hobby. Once Tracy completed the course she dove in to trying to secure her first client, and she actually connected with her first client through a Facebook post.

[8:45] You can’t give away too much for free. Giving value always seems to come back to you.

[10:00] Tracy is currently serving 18 or so bookkeeping clients plus another handful of tax clients.

[11:00] The first year was the hardest. Tracy was studying for her EA and some other exams at the time and combined with some personal issues she faced a few challenges. Around May of 2018, things really took off, largely due to a mindset shift and a snowball of referrals.

[15:40] Tracy’s vision is to start hiring some help and growing her business while still maintaining her family time. Our business needs to fit into our life, not our life into our business.

[17:30] Entrepreneurs never arrive, but it is important to stop and take stock of what you accomplished. Overcoming challenges builds confidence.

[19:50] Time management is crucial. Keeping up with the momentum Tracy has built is a challenge.

[23:20] The STEP Framework is key to getting stuff done. Time management happens across the whole Framework, but Execution is what needs to happen right now. What do you naturally gravitate towards that you’re happy to do? For Tracy, it’s the client interaction.

[25:50] Where do you add the most value to your business? The goal of hiring someone should be about optimizing that work. Even the thing you love can wear you down though, if that’s all you do.

[28:20] Tracy also enjoys putting together the processes of the business as well as blogging and video creation. As bookkeepers, there aren’t many ways to be creative. What you want to do is maximize the things you like to do while at the same time providing value to your clients and helping you feel fulfilled.

[32:10] You have to schedule time to be creative and dream. Be intentional about putting the things that are important into your life. Start off with just 15 minutes and you’ll find you have much more energy when you’re done.

[34:50] Time management isn’t the thing you need, it’s what time management can bring into your life.

[35:15] Bookkeeping is first and foremost a relationship business. If you build your business on relationships and not the transactions, you will be job secure forever.

[37:50] The repetitive tasks are starting to get tedious for Tracy. That doesn’t mean it’s trivial, but they are not important and not the best use of Tracy’s time. List the tasks you do in your business and then ask if they fall under your Unique Ability.

[41:50] What is the hourly rate for your Unique Abilities? What about your competencies? If you can less than the dollar equivalent for those tasks you’re making money. Look at your business tasks and ask is this something to continue doing, stop doing, outsource, or delegate? The point is to free up your time so you can focus on what you do best.

[43:40] You shouldn’t be looking to hire a specific person, you should be looking to outsource a specific task. Don’t throw people at a process problem. The tasks you’re competent at but don’t really enjoy doing, are the first to outsource. Time efficiency is all about saving 15 minutes at a time, those 15 minutes add up fast.

[48:30] You can do the work and set up the process by recording those tasks. Videos are a powerful way to offload the tasks you don’t want to do anymore. Dissect the task and show the logic behind it. Upwork is a great place to find freelancers that you can offload your tasks to.

[54:15] It’s going to cost you time at the beginning. The first task you should offload is something that is not going to directly affect a customer. Start with the admin or support work, the lowest hanging fruit.

[57:50] Processes before people. You build the processes then you bring in the people to run them.

Mentioned in this episode: Ledger Harmony

[7:40] Kirsten currently has four clients but has had up to nine at one time. Some of them Kirsten decided to fire and some have gone in other directions.

[9:00] Time management was Kirsten’s first major challenge; homeschooling nine kids can make working from home fairly difficult. Being intentional with her time has been very important.

[11:30] When it came to getting clients, putting out content that would get someone interested in what Kirsten was offering without being too sales-y was tough for her. Her first client was a friend that she had known for nearly 20 years who owned a business. Three years later, just talking to people and word of mouth is still Kirsten’s primary means of getting new clients.

[15:30] Kirsten wants to ultimately live someplace warm and run her business remotely. She wants to be able to travel and enjoy her family and that means she will need additional help taking on tasks within her business.

[18:35] One of the keys to serving clients is making sure you are serving a particular niche. When Kirsten first started her business, her niche was sustainable agriculture. She marketed to them for nearly a year without getting any clients so she switched her focus. Her first client was in the tourism niche so she started trying to target them instead and later pivoted to cannabis businesses. The cannabis industry is currently like the wild, wild west and bookkeepers need to know so much in order to do the job correctly so that proved a little too difficult to break into. Now, Kirsten is sort of nicheless and isn’t sure which direction to go.

[25:15] Marketing is about three elements: knowing your market, knowing your message to that market, and the media. We get hung up on “industry” being the same as “niche,” but that isn’t necessarily the case.

[28:00] Figuring out which niche to target should be a priority, but it’s something that will happen once Kirsten starts picking up clients and understanding which ones align with her vision for her business. Focus on the relationships first.

[30:40] It’s important to go after people that we truly enjoy serving. When you’re just getting started, it’s natural to work with nearly anyone that is willing to give you money, but eventually you want to hone in and map out who your ideal customer is. Start writing down characteristics that describe them. When you understand your avatar it will make your marketing easier because you can speak directly to them.

[36:10] Slow down the process of bringing on a client. You should try to get a feel for what it’s going to be like working with them before you bring them on board. You are going to be emotionally invested in this relationship so take your time.

[41:15] Start to find the pattern. Think of the relationships you do have and the qualities that you like in other people. You are not about serving the masses, you are becoming a trusted advisor to a relatively small number of clients that you should have deep relationships with. If you build your relationships on a human level, the bookkeeping becomes a natural extension.

[46:00] You are probably not doing any marketing because you feel stuck. Remember, it’s about building a rapport with the people you want to serve. Find the groups you want to serve and become a contributor, give them value and use every medium at your disposal.

[49:00] A halfway decent message to the right market will do well, a great message to the wrong market will fall on its face every single time. Go to where your people hang out.

[52:25] The Irresistible Selling Statement is important, but that will come from understanding what clients Kirsten resonates with. She needs to sit down and figure out the characteristics of the people she wants to work with, find out where they spend their time, and start listening and contributing.

Mentioned in this episode: The Customer Avatar Worksheet Purple Sapphire Business Solutions

[3:00] 99% of what Ben focuses on is real estate. Oklahoma has a growing real estate market so it made a lot of sense to niche down.

[5:20] Ben spent around 6 hours per day networking and connecting with various professionals in the market, specifically meetup.com, and that time evolved into those people asking Ben to help them with their books.

[7:00] Take it slow, ask questions, engage and offer value before you ask for money.

[8:05] Ben formed his business in a way that facilitated a freedom lifestyle. He found that building a virtual business is more of a challenge but is totally worth it.

[10:20] Fear setting is one of the major challenges that Ben has overcome in growing his business. Every day he finds new fears around talking to people and seeing what he can do to conquer them.

[11:45] Understanding when to upgrade the conversation after offering value is a particularly tricky subject.

[12:10] Fear is the number one impediment in not getting the life that you want.

[12:50] Ben considers himself an introvert but has learned how to turn it on when necessary. There is nothing easy or attractive to the process, you walk up to someone, shake their hand and say something. Then you rinse and repeat that process.

[14:50] Nothing makes you feel quite like a rockstar than providing value to someone and them saying “this is the best thing I’ve ever had, I’m going to tell everyone about you.” Knowing you’re doing a good job does wonders for your business.

[16:20] Ben’s business is a one-man show other than his marketing and web design. He also has coaches and mentors that help him out as well. Entrepreneurship is incredibly lonely and having good people around you is vital.

[18:10] Entrepreneurs wear too many hats and are afraid of taking time off, and that feeling becomes very real when they begin to scale.

[20:30] Ben’s challenge is in pre-qualifying leads. There is a huge difference between telling someone how to do something and being paid to do it for them.

[21:50] Conversations and communication is where most things fall apart. Real estate is especially tricky for this because of differing definitions of the term “transaction”.

[23:50] When you don’t have to take on more clients to cover your costs, you can be more selective about the clients you work with.

[24:40] There are four components to scale, there is Strategy, Team, Execution, and Profitability.

[27:00] Make your prospects work to see you. Once you have clients, you want new clients to vet themselves for you. Marketing is more about repelling the people you don’t want than it is attracting the people you do want.

[29:30] List out all of the things you want to know before talking with someone. What does your perfect client look like? Most of us are people pleasers, you need to make your clients work for it so you don’t waste their time or yours.

[32:25] Creating a qualifying funnel is a great way to establish authority in your niche as well as filter your prospects down to the right people.

[36:30] Bookkeeping is a relationship business, it’s not about numbers. During the interview process, you should emulate as much as possible what the workflow will be like. Never give someone a proposal after speaking with them only once, there should be a few conversations before that point.

[41:45] One of the keys to financial statements is getting them in a timely manner. Any homework you give to a prospective client should be completed quickly.

[43:15] You have to think about who your ideal client is. Most of the time we think we know who we want to serve but you have to get very detailed about that. Be slow to take on new clients. Do you have one or two clients that you like a lot? What traits about those clients make them a pleasure to work with?

[46:30] Without being explicit about your price, you can list a minimum amount on your qualifying page that will filter out the wrong kinds of clients.

[47:45] You have to deliver value in advance. Take the information a potential client has given you and tell them how to run their business more effectively. If you put enough value into the marketplace, you will get value in return. Take the pressure off and deliver the value before you give them the proposal.

[50:15] Know what you’re going to charge them once that’s done and put it on the table then be silent. Let them decide. The more decision points you give your client, the more friction they encounter.

[52:40] Stick with your pricing and never budge. If you’re working with friends and family, double it.

Mentioned in this episode: Lionshare Bookkeeping https://lionsharebookkeeping.com/

[2:55] The freedom to create her own schedule and have the flexibility to be there for her family and friends is Shelby’s favorite part of the bookkeeping business.

[4:20] The biggest challenge with the transition from the manufacturing company to a bookkeeping business has been creating a culture and a team digitally. Shelby currently serves seven clients with a goal to serve eleven by the end of the year. The reasoning behind that is increasing revenue, but it also aligns with her main motivation of being able to help people.

[6:50] Shelby has one employee at the moment that comes into her home office once a week. Future employees will be virtual only.

[8:00] There are pros and cons to having a virtual team. If you want to create a positive culture you have to be intentional about it. Shelby does enjoy being able to see her team face-to-face, but the benefits of a virtual team is that it opens up your business to the world.

[10:00] When hiring and developing your team, hire slow. Have your processes down before you start to bring on people. People will not solve a workload issue without processes in place; they will only make the problem worse.

[11:15] Never stop looking for great people, always be planting the seeds when talking to people, and when you discover someone who might make a good fit, keep them in mind for the future. Upwork is a great platform for finding a virtual team member and you can bring them on slowly with a commitment of only a few hours a week to start.

[13:55] You will pay a little more by using Upwork in the short term, but you will be saving money in the long term. One of the most expensive mistakes you can make is hiring wrong. This arrangement allows you to build the relationship before you bring them onto the team officially.

[15:00] The employee can have the best skill set in the world, but if they don’t believe in what you believe about your business, it’s going to be very difficult.

[15:30] Your vision doesn’t have to be formally created, just writing it down on a sheet of paper is sufficient. When people come to interview with you, share your vision for the business so they can understand what you’re trying to achieve and what you believe is important to the business.

[18:00] All your vision is for naught if you aren’t working with likeminded people. If they don’t share the core belief system that you do and aren’t looking for the same things, they aren’t your people.

[18:45] Since Shelby does like working with people in a physical space, it’s totally possible for her to hire locally. Being able to get together face to face and sharing a meal is an excellent way to build that connection and relationship with your team. She can also reap the benefits of working virtually even if she does hire locally.

[22:15] Shelby’s current focus for her business is nailing down a niche. Three of her clients share similar characteristics and personalities and they may become the model she uses to find more clients and define her business.

[23:40] Another important point is to keep in mind the tasks that you enjoy doing. Knowing that will help you figure out exactly what tasks you want to delegate to a team member first.

[25:15] There is no such thing as overcommunication. Email is okay, phone is better, in person is the best. Don’t swamp your team with meetings, but always stay in touch, especially when you are working virtually.

Mentioned in the episode: EntreScore Bookkeeping Solutions, LLC

[3:00] When looking for an online source of income Tanya didn’t look at too many opportunities before learning about Bookkeeper Business Launch and deciding to jump in. She had no prior bookkeeping experience and it was quite a learning curve, but staying consistent every single day was the key.

[5:20] Perseverance is crucial to success in business. If you need to know for sure whether or not something will work, you shouldn’t consider going into business for yourself. There is always an inherent risk which you must have the determination to push through.

[6:05] The flexibility of the bookkeeping business is Tanya’s favorite part. Being able to set her own schedule around her family makes being a bookkeeper her dream job.

[7:15] The flipside of being an entrepreneur is the stress that comes with bearing the weight of the business on your shoulders. Being able to recover from the bad days and preventing the stress of being a business owner from creeping into other areas of her life is Tanya’s biggest challenge.

[8:35] Tanya currently serves 18 clients, a bunch of which came from an interview she had with a major vendor that generated 20 consultations all at once. The clients themselves are from all over the US, not just the local area.

[10:50] When Tanya started the business, there was just a short-term vision for what it could be, but now that she’s surpassed that she’s thinking about potentially selling her business in the future or turning it into a more passive endeavor.

[12:35] There are a lot of benefits to building a business to sell, even if you don’t intend to sell it. Most people never think about the value of their bookkeeping business, but if you build the business right, selling it will be the biggest payday you ever see. The good thing about building a business to sell is that it can come with you throughout the different seasons of your life.

[14:45] At this point, Tanya no longer handles the day-to-day work. She focuses mainly on supervising and management, while bringing on new clients. The less your business requires you or your time, the more valuable and sellable your business is. As a rule of thumb, a bookkeeping business sells for 0.5x to 1.5x the gross revenue. The less work that you put into the business each month, the more valuable it becomes.

[18:30] The main question that Tanya should be thinking about is, “How can I remove myself from this business? The day to day and the month to month.” Take the task in increments. If you are currently spending eight hours onboarding a client, how can you reduce that to five hours?

[20:35] Break the work down by doing a task audit. Reduce all your work to the tasks that you believe are only inside your head. As you delegate to other team members, they will become better and more capable of taking on more complex work. Even work that you believe only you can do can be delegated, you just have to groom the team member correctly.

[23:35] When you streamline who your clients are, you reduce the amount of variance in the work and that simplifies everything about your business. Since Tanya is at the point in her business where she can be more choosey with who she works with, she can really hone in on her ideal client.

[25:45] Make it a habit to go through your daily todo list and ask yourself about each task whether or not you are the only one who can handle that.

[26:30] There is no formula that will let you know that it’s the right time to bring someone on to start replacing yourself. It’s a gradual process of finding the right person and helping them along the path while also building in redundancies.

[28:30] The last thing on your todo list that should be there every single day is brainstorming ways to work on your business. Sometimes nothing makes sense but sometimes you discover a gold nugget that can completely change things.

[29:45] A good exercise is to consider what you would need to change about your business for you to take 90 days off without the wheels falling off. The best way to test your plan is to put through a trial run. Take 30 days off and commit to it, see what breaks, and then fix it for the next time.

[33:10] Most people who start a service-based business don’t own a business, they own a job. There are a number of things we can learn that will change our mindset and allow us to become owners.

[35:00] For Tanya, one of the mental obstacles is giving up the control of the business and the relationships that she’s built with her clients. One tip is for her to keep the plan in mind with new clients and setting the tone from the very beginning of that relationship.

[38:05] Tanya’s first action item is to break down her onboarding process and look for parts that can be offloaded to other team members.

Mentioned in this episode: Tidy Books

[1:00] Reflection is crucial. Take the time to get away from the daily grind, turn off your electronic devices, and escape. The only tools that Ben takes with him when going into reflection time are a pad of paper and a pen.

[1:40] Go into your time of reflection with a single thing you want to think about. For Ben, his focus has been on how he can better serve bookkeeping professionals. Ben believes that if he focuses on that aspect of the business first, the profitability will fall into place.

[2:30] What is your vision for your business? Articulate it in several ways and then just sit back and think. Don’t worry about your thoughts wandering, just be aware of your focus and be disciplined in bringing it back to the thought exercise at hand.

[3:05] Taking a day away to reflect is very powerful and it will move the needle on your business, but the same exercise can also be used in other areas of your life. No matter when you choose to reflect, make sure you are in a distraction-free environment away from where you have your routine.

[3:50] Even taking just five minutes to reflect on the heavy stuff is very important. It leads to clarity and allows you to grow personally and professionally.

[4:05] Masterminds, innovation, and reflection are powerful tools that will put you ahead of the curve and reveal opportunities that you didn’t know existed.

[1:20] If you’re prepared, that can be a good thing for your business. If you took away everything you did day to day right now, how would you still serve your clients?

[1:50] We have to start thinking about the differences between what our clients need and want. People need to have their tax returns prepared, but they want to save as much money on their taxes as possible. Bookkeeping clients need to have clean books, but they want to have more profitability in their business.

[2:55] As you start to innovate, ask yourself, “If everything I did today went away except for the human interaction I have with my clients and my team, what would I do?” Then ask yourself what your clients want, not just what they need.

[3:20] You will not be laughing when bots are able to provide perfect financial statements, but instead of working against the bots and technology, we can work with them instead. They should complement the human interactions in your business.

[4:10] Artificial intelligence will take a lot of the mundane tasks off your hands, which will free up your time to develop new skills. That could include budgeting, forecasting, or financial ratios, anything that your clients truly want and not just things that they need.

[5:10] Go to Google Trends and type in bookkeeping. Set up an alert to stay in touch with what is happening in our industry and be proactive.

[6:05] Another benefit of getting away to a mastermind is that you get away from your routine and your environment. Just make sure that you prepare your team and your clients and that you’re actually unplugged. There is no such thing as a bookkeeping emergency.

[2:30] When searching for your mastermind, look for one that is not all bookkeepers or accountants. It’s important to have people from all different industries in the group because the problems you have in your business are shared with all industries and every person can provide very different perspectives.

[3:20] You can borrow and adopt what people in other industries are doing in their business and implement it in your own.

[4:00] The physical location is the secret sauce in the power of a mastermind group. In many ways, Ben’s business would not be where it is today if he had not joined his mastermind group.

[5:30] Masterminds will cost you money and time and energy, but they are an investment that will generate an incredible ROI for your business and your life.

[6:15] If you’re just getting started or don’t own a bookkeeping business yet, don’t worry about the mastermind right now. Focus on getting the foundation of your business established first and set a mastermind as a long term goal.

[2:10] We hear a lot of talk about bots and automated bookkeeping and frankly that’s a good thing. Apps and bots taking over the repetitive and rote tasks of data entry is great because that will allow us as bookkeepers to elevate our game.

[2:45] Everything starts with the transactions, but built upon those is the three financial statements that you need to be able to present to your clients in a way they can understand. Being able to interpret these statements for your clients is the first level of a 21st century bookkeeper.

[3:20] Being able to extrapolate for your client and helping them understand the meaning behind the numbers is crucial. Business owners can be overwhelmed by the raw data and this is where having a niche can give you an edge. You learn the language of the business and can start to leverage economies of scale.

[4:10] We all need to be improving our communications skills because that’s not something that a bot can easily replace.

[4:20] Built upon interpretation is advice. Being able to look forward and affect positive change in your client’s business by giving advice is very important. You have a perspective that can unlock your client’s ability to make more money and free up their time.

[5:25] Do you know your client’s goals and understand what they truly want? Understanding their goals will give you the foundation for providing good advice.

[5:50] The digital bookkeeping professional is getting away from the preparation and data entry tasks and moving towards becoming a trusted advisor. The difference between just giving advice and becoming a trusted advisor is your client will come to you.

[6:30] Interpreting, advising, and becoming a trusted advisor is how you distinguish yourself as a 21st century digital bookkeeper.

[1:05] Things aren’t set in stone, we just get stuck in a rut doing the work the way that everyone else does it. You don’t have to have a busy season, you can spread your work out over the year, but it can’t be done overnight.

[1:30] Being a digital bookkeeper means going to a higher level with your clients and becoming a trusted advisor. When we add value to our relationships, the more we get paid.

[1:55] We want to go deep with a few clients and help them to look forward instead of just looking backwards. Working with fewer clients that pay you more allows you to avoid the highs and lows of busy season.

[2:40] Question the way things are. Do you really have to suffer through the chaos of busy season? There is a way out and you don’t have to sacrifice the income.

[3:30] Everything starts with the type of client you serve. Your marketing, sales, and delivery all stems from the kinds of clients you serve. Keep in mind that marketing is not just for new clients, you have to continually resell yourself to your clients in every interaction with them.

[4:10] Set aside 20 minutes this week to think outside the box proactively. Ask yourself the big questions like, “How could I forget about busy season?,” “How can I make more money?” and “How can I serve my clients at a deeper level?” Doing this every single week will have a tremendous impact on your business.

[2:35] All three are crucial. If you are only presenting the balance sheet and the income statement, you are leaving out a critical element. Analyzing the cash flow is the lifeblood of the business. If you’re not currently presenting the statement of cash flows, your first step is to learn how to create it and start presenting it to your clients.

[3:55] The second thing is to present the statements using the accrual basis even if the business uses the cash basis for tax. Timing is the difference in the accrual basis because it gives you an accurate picture of the financial health of the business that can’t be manipulated.

[5:40] One challenge that bookkeepers encounter is when Quickbooks presents the balance sheet one way, they assume that’s the right way. It’s up to you to customize them so they are accurate.

[6:25] You should also use a multistep income statement that includes all the business’ relevant numbers. It’s important to separate out direct and indirect costs once you start doing financial analysis. Putting everything into one expense category is a common mistake.

[8:30] The statement of cash flows goes through the business from operating, investment, and financial perspectives. The key metric for any business is the cash flow from operating activities.

[9:40] The most important thing is to present the financial statements and interpret them for your client, don’t just give them to them. Help the client see what the numbers mean in a way that they can understand.