The One About Sloppiness
Quick! Clean up! Company is coming over!
TL;DR
When do you tidy up your house?
For me, as a not naturally organized person, the number one motivator to clean my house is when I have company coming over.
“Quick! Someone else is going to see inside, and I don't want them to know how sloppy things are! Also, boys, who left their socks here!?!”.
Now admittedly, sometimes that means cramming a whole bunch of stuff inside cabinets or closets. But there's always some actual organizing and restructuring that happens.
Even though it can cause a bit of bustle to make sure I’m ready for visitors, I typically welcome people coming over because it forces me and my crew to do work that needs to be done.
How does this relate to running a bookkeeping business?
Well, I realized the single greatest thing I have done to start to tidy things up inside my business has been hiring my Operations Coordinator (A.K.A. inviting someone to enter the inside of my business). Knowing that there would be a second set of eyes and hands has forced me to start thinking in an organized and systematic way.
It is humbling in the moment. “Please don’t judge my mess!”
But the improvements have led to ripple effects that I wasn't expecting.
For instance, this very week I was on my first of several calls with an automation expert (I mentioned I was hiring her for a few hours of training in the last newsletter, if you recall). She is yet another set of eyes seeing inside my business.
That would have been a complete waste of money 6 months ago when nothing was properly documented or repeatable.
But I feel like this consultant and I are going to be able to move fast through my list of desired automations because the last 6 months of focusing on improving MANUAL operations with my Operations Coordinator, now means that there are actual written processes that can be automated.
All because I have made the investment in letting someone else's eyes be on my business (including the sloppy parts).
Fellow bookkeeping business builder, once you and I manually organize and systematize one thing, that thing will go much faster. And we might even be able to automate it so that it takes hardly any time at all. And so then we have more time to polish up the next thing .
Or just work less because work doesn’t take a long! 🤜🤛
It is a virtuous circle, for sure.
And eventually, we will start to morph into those types of people who just have simple, streamlined, and peaceful lives, uh…I mean businesses.
Y’all, our title sponsor The Workflow Queen just launched a brand new product called the 15 Day Firm Reset Audio Series for Bookkeepers & Accountants! This bingeable, 15 episode audio series is the ultimate reset for overworked firm owners who feel buried in client work and stuck in reaction mode. Covering everything from pricing and scope creep to team structure and operations, these bite-sized episodes are designed to help firm owners streamline their offers, tighten their systems, build their team and finally take control. The best part? It’s only a $37 investment to help you learn how to fix those sloppy parts of our businesses. Check it out here.
Deals Deals Deals
💰 Bookkeeper Launch is having a 40% off sale. This is the program I took to get my bookkeeping business started. Use code hoppy420 and this link to sign up*.
💰 Kristen Corey from Media Books is opening up her Marketing Academy for Bookkeepers & Accountants on May 1. Use code HUSTLE for 20% off*. Course goes live on May 1. Early bird pricing is $97.
💰 Only $37 for the 15 Day Firm Reset Audio Series for Bookkeepers & Accountants. Sounds like a deal to me!
Please always send me any news of deals that you hear of that others might benefit from.
Be There or Be Square
Items with a “+” are hosted by me. All these events can be viewed and registered for in the DESCRIPTIONS of each event on the Bookkeeping Side Hustle Calendar.
📅 +April 30 - Personalities of AI in the Back-office: How to Think About Different AI Tools for Different Workflows. Come join the discussion with Josh Hsu about how to think about implementing AI and how it can help your business. We’ll be utilizing real examples from Bookkeeping Side Hustle Community members. RSVP in Facebook.
📅 May 2 - Tax Wrap Palooza. This is a virtual end-of-tax season party hosted by Financial Cents, made for accountants and bookkeepers who powered through the busy season. Sign up HERE. I'm participating in the Speed Giveaway part of the party and will be giving away my amazing T-account Mousepad and a gift card for sarcastic accounting t-shirts.
📅 May 5-7 - GrowCon 2025. GrowCon is a conference designed for OWNERS just like you to grow and take your business to the next level! And the location is my kind of location. Mountains 🌄 > Beach 🏖 Register HERE. Use code KJ-250 for $250 off*.
📅 May 13 - In the Ring: Xero vs. QuickBooks. Curious how Xero’s new releases stack up against QBO? Two heavy hitters will be going head to head to discuss. Sign up HERE.
+📅 May 14 - 2025 Bookkeeper Launch Review - Learn all about the updates and changes in Bookkeeper Launch. RSVP in the Facebook group to get a reminder when we go live.
📅 May 14 - QBO Recertification Virtual Conference. This will help prepare you for the QBO ProAdvisor Recertification test that must be completed by June 30.
Featured Posts
🌶️ Why are we always getting emails about “PCI Compliance” from Intuit and what do we need to do about them? Be smart, not scared.
🌶️ Jessica D. asked for advice on how to handle a client who was happy with a clean up, but wants to DIY their monthly bookkeeping, but keep paying for clean ups at the end of each year. The responses, y’all. Such great discussion! I love how most of the group members didn’t just shout “No! Never! Clown!”, but really engaged with the post to share actionable feedback.
I especially love a clever pricing solution from Tiffany K. about how she maintains a floor price for clean ups (fixed fee) but charges hourly above a certain amount of hours (maintaining upside if she gets clobbered by a mess).
Help You Hustle
💪 Get a behind the scenes view of the Intuit Bookkeeping Certification that is a part of the Intuit Academy educational program. This is not a sponsored video. I just met a gal in the Bookkeeping Side Hustle Community named Nandy who formed her own little 3-person study group to tackle the curriculum and test and asked her if I could interview her about her experience. I wouldn’t take that certification without watching this interview.
💪 I was interviewed by a podcast called Millionaire University. I share my story about how bookkeeping changed my family's financial trajectory.
💪 I found another accounting pro who shared her firm financials. The numbers are pretty big. But it ain't all pretty. How does what you are building compare with what she is building? For more examples of small firm owners who shared their financials, you can at these two past editions.
💪 The deadline to apply for the next 2 rounds of scholarships from The Accounting Cornerstone Foundation is May 1st. Y’all, the application numbers for the NAEA Tax Conference and Bridging The Gap Conference are LOW. Clear your evening and apply! These are all expense-paid scholarships to your first accounting industry conference. Worth around $2,500! Apply here.
💪 If you're a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, here is some info about recertification:
Intuit will drop the study materials for QuickBooks ProAdvisor Recertificatoin on April 28th. It should be inside your QBO account.
Details from Intuit are housed on this FAQ page.
There is a free vCon from Intuit on May 14 that will be like a little boot camp to help you pass the exam.
If you want extra study materials to pass the recertification exam, you can get ProAdvisor Recertification companion course from Acadian Accounting (formerly Fast & Easy QBO.)
Jobs
💼 The Job Guide had a job added - see if it is a fit for you - check it out HERE.
My Family Circus (43F, 40M, 13M, 11F, 10M)
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
🎪 Gateway Games
In this previous edition, I told you about our family's written Win Log where we record who wins every game we play. Because winning is better than losing.
Now I will share a short list of easy games that my family has enjoyed. We have a LOT of money invested in games. But these games would be great place to start for folks who want to start incorporating family game nights into their family culture. Think of them as “gateway games”. They could lead to more intense use of games.
These all meet the following criteria:
Learnable in less than 10 minutes.
Playable in less than 30 minutes.
No reading required.
Not tons of fiddly bits (the name I use for games with a gazillion tiny pieces)
List of some favorite games my young family has played countless times:
Cockroach Poker - bluffing game
Sushi Go - card stacking game
Throw Throw Burrito - fast card matching game plus throwing squishy burritos at each other 🌯
Deep Sea Adventure - press your luck
Dixit - guessing correctly from a bunch of very odd images
Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza silly card slapping
Code Names - 2 teams, guessing what concept the caller is thinking (this one does require reading single words, but there is a picture version that does not)
Let me know what you think of these if you grab any! And share any others that you would put on this list.
Kate Builds In Public
🎢 I was a guest speaker at the University of Texas at Dallas. It was so amazing! I connected with this professor on LinkedIn about a year ago. She asked if I would come talk about Freshbooks to her “Survey of Accounting Technology” class. Now my challenge is finding other professors who would want a presentation like this. I don't like creating content that only gets used one time. If you have any connections to any accounting professors, please let me know!
🎢 I'm feeling this huge slowdown in business. Now that tax time is over. My inbound leads have really dried up compared to what they were from December through April. So I got a wild hair and I looked back through my calendar and identified a cleanup client from December that I remembered had declined monthly service. I had nothing to lose, so I put together a proposal and recorded a short Loom video walking through the proposal and sent her the written and video versions. And she accepted! For $625 a month with only quarterly check-in meetings! It's a good reminder that sometimes you've just got to go get it, y'all. Don't wait on the clients to come to you.
🎢 Summer is almost here. HOW??? I have identified a fellow entrepreneur mom in our new town to line up a few “kid swaps” with for the summer. This strategy has been key to running my business. And the best part is, even though it means I have extra kids at my house some days, I typically get a lot of work done those days because when we have company, my own kids aren't nearly as interested in me.
From The Vault
⚡ Thinking about having your child(ren) work for you this summer? Check out this video about real work they can do for you.
Classifieds (Clickable)
Keep hustling!
Kate
-Chief Hustler-
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