The One About Appearances
How you can appear bigger than you are
TL;DR
This week, one of my FreshBooks Office Hours members showed the other members his website and how he has me listed as his “Strategic Financial Advisor” in the Our Team section of his website.
Note: He did ask my permission to do this and requested my headshot and asked what I wanted to be called.
He explained to the group that this was another way he was following my advice to him about how solopreneurs should think of ways to “appear bigger than you are”.
But this idea of appearing bigger than you are wasn't my idea. I heard it from a presentation from Tyrone Gregory, The Self-Employed Tax Guy.
A few years ago, Tyrone did a presentation to a bunch of us accounting pros about how to appear bigger than you are. He described many ways to do this. However, I remember that he focused on two main areas - Secretary and Salesman.
He said it was important for very small businesses to make sure to leverage their website and your tech stack to serve as a secretary and a salesman. And he encouraged us not to be afraid to spend some money on these efforts, because all of these ideas cost much less than an actual human secretary or salesman.
I’ll brain dump some ideas I remember from him and others that I’ve seen or personally implemented over the years.
Secretary
Use client portals to request information.
Implement any auto-reminding and/or auto-fetching of documents that you can.
Apps like Financial Cents* and Keeper* are examples of this, but there are many others (these two happen to be sponsors). 🙏
Train clients on answering their own questions (i.e. if they ask for a document that you have already provided, instead of giving it to them again, you give the instructions for how they can get it themselves.)
Create email aliases, even if you are the one answering from each of those emails. I personally have created “support” and “operations” at HeritageBusinessServices Dot com.
You can even have an automatic reply to anyone who sends emails to those addresses that provide them helpful information and give proper expectations about how fast they might expect a reply.
Use AI for taking meeting notes and even possibly automatically sharing those with your clients.
Salesman
Utilize intake forms (also called discovery forms, or prospective client forms) before a prospect is allowed to talk to you
We learned all about best practices for intake forms from Kellie Parks in this live steam. One of the best streams I did all year.
Have a frictionless way for people to book time with you.
I used the free Calendly plan for this for a very long time and did everything based on one appointment type. Even plain Gmail has one booking link for free. No excuses, people!
Learn how to do automated email sequences that continually provide touch points to prospects and upsells to existing clients.
Automatic price increases. You just declare a minimum annual price increase in your engagement letter. No discussion necessary the next year unless you want to raise it by more than the agreed amount.
Everyone needs some way to capture emails which allows you to follow up and continue to market. I personally have 4 ways I snag emails:
Free 15 minute prospective client calls
Downloadable weekly bookkeeping checklist for FreshBooks
Downloadable year-end checklist for FreshBooks
Registration for my monthly free FreshBooks Q&A for small businesses
Extra
I let my business sponsor charitable causes that my husband and I were going to give money to anyway. Most recently, Heritage Business Services bought a table for our school’s auction and my logo was displayed many places. I will do this again this coming spring. But we would be giving a decent amount of money to this organization anyway because it is currently high on the list of things we care about. Having a business that sponsors things feels pretty “big time” to me.
Honestly, this concept of “acting bigger than you are” feels like a mindset issue. My guess is, once you declare “I will prioritize building myself a Secretary and I will prioritize building myself a Salesman”, then you will probably start to think of ways and notice little things others are doing that you can copy.
One caveat I should add is that I hope people also know that I am not advocating for lying. Don’t lie. More than most industries, our business is built on trustworthiness.
What are some ways you act bigger than you are, like my client Toby?
On an unrelated note, if you want the coolest and most helpful mouse pad on the planet, bang that graphic below. Every serious bookkeeper has one.
Deals Deals Deals
💰 Hector Garcia’s Exactly What To Say resources are on sale for 10% off with code HUSTLE10. There are a variety of price points for different levels of access.
💰 Veronica Wasek’s 5MB Academy resources are 18% off* with code 2025with5mb.
💰 Bookkeeper Launch on sale for 40% off* with code gift4me.
💰 A brand new bookkeeping training course* will be launched in January from the folks behind Fast & Easy QBO (now rebranded to Akadian Accounting Education). There is no doubt in my mind that there will be a deal for people who put their email on the waitlist.
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.
📅 +January 7: Q&A Lunch With Kate. I’m going to host a written Ask Me Anything in the Bookkeeping Side Hustle Facebook group from 12:00 - 1:00 CST. This is a new idea for 2025. And I promise you that I will not make you feel like you are asking dumb questions. I will be kind, helpful, and honest. Join me! The more people that participate, the better this will be.
📅 January 7: 1099s in Quickooks Online. QBO Rock Star Alicia Katz Pollock teaches you how to confidently use the QBO 1099 Wizard to prepare, review, and file all the required copies of your federal 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC forms. Sign up HERE*.
📅 January 8: Should You Convert Clients to FreshBooks in 2025. The final date for my webinar series! If you think FreshBooks is right for you, sign up! Every attendee will also be invited to 3 support sessions in Jan, Feb, and March 2025 to help you with your transition.
📅 January 10: Velocity. Justine Lackey is hosting a FREE planning and goal achievement training. Sign up HERE*.
📅 January 22: Year-end Cleanup in QBO*. It is the time of year when businesses who have done no bookkeeping will come to you and want you do a full year. This class will prepare you do handle those situations.
Featured Posts
🌶️ Emma L. asked what you use for your title in your email signature. The responses were great - some funny (emperor), some straightforward, and Andrea shared a podcast about why using owner isn’t a good idea. What do you use as your title?
🌶️ Lynsi I. made a post outlining her passive income in 2024 (or income that was not directly related to client work). And says her goal for 2025 is $500 per month of referral money. All i can say is YAAAASSS! That is my love language. I would love for this post to get 50 comments and for more folks to share specific details about how they earn this kind of money.
🌶️ Irina J. asked how you are able to work while family/children/friends are home/visiting during the holidays. How do you help them understand your work boundaries? How do you juggle doing your job when you have others around?
Help You Hustle
💪 What Bookkeepers Need To Know About 1099s. Our guest expert Shannon Ballman Theis did such a great job of explaining. She also provides a 1099 Decision Tree. Catch the replay and grab all the resources mentioned in the video description.
💪 Jack Workman shared the Marketing Guide Checklist! Check it out. It is FREE, as in no-email-even-required free, which is my favorite kind of free. Thanks Jack!
💪 If you are in the very beginning stages of wondering whether you should start a bookkeeping business in 2025. The Ambitious Bookkeeper, Serena Shoup, has a free resource called “The Ultimate Guide To Creating A Profitable Bookkeeping Business.”*
💪 Do you know which of your clients are most profitable and which ones need to be targeted for a price increase? I spied this Client Profitability Tracker* from The Workflow Queen.
💪 We are building our Bookkeeper Side Hustle Pub 2025 ad calendar. Have you wondered how you can advertise your business in this newsletter? Email bookkeepingsidehustle @ gmail Dot com if you want more information.
Jobs
💼 Three new jobs were added to the Job Guide - 2 of which were posted in the new year! Check it out HERE.
💼 I’ve gotten a few emails that Intuit is hiring for their part-time roles - apply if this sounds like a good fit for you. I personally think they are a very solid way to get experience and get a base level of income while you build your own business.
Don’t forget the standing opps on my Find A Freelance Job article. 1099 and W-2 opps.
My Family Circus (43F, 40M, 13M, 11F, 10M)
🎪 Remembering
My husband and I did a quick, impromptu date night last week.
We went to this nearby place where we’ve been known to go grab a drink as we are starting to experiment with letting our kids stay home alone (or as a friend says “Jesus was our babysitter” 🤣).
Now, normally we take a crossword puzzle on our date nights (so hot). But this night we saddled up to the bar with a clipboard and a few pieces of paper. And we just wrote down anything that came to mind about our life in 2024.
Big things like my mission trip to Belize and getting our flock of chickens. Sad things like my last 2 grandparents dying. Little things like finally buying curtains for our house. We used our photos and our calendars on our phones to help us remember what we did. Then the next day we built a fire outside and sat around with the kids and asked them all to add their important moments to the list. It is good to remember the ups and downs, the exciting and the mundane.
We transferred the written list to some bullet points in a Google Doc. Makes it easy to save for forever.
Kate Builds In Public
🎢 I raised my prices on my website. I don't particularly enjoy this (because “pricing strategy” is not my strong suit), but I was an Econ major, so I understand inflation and that if I don't raise prices then I am getting poorer each year. Shoot, even my husband gets a raise every January from the Department of Defense. I should, too.
For my services that have a clear price listed, here is what I changed them to.
Hourly training rate: $140 to $150
Diagnostic Review $275 to $300
FreshBooks Office Hours $69 to $74 per month
🎢 Over a year and a half ago I interviewed 4 bookkeepers who had formed their own Mastermind group. They described it as their personal “board of directors”. I've been hungry for my own group like this ever since.
Well, y'all, I finally got one put together! We have a weekly date and time set and a recurring calendar invitation and zoom link. I am hopeful it will be a milestone moment and an indispensable part of my business.
Watch the YouTube video if you want to copy this idea.
From The Vault
⚡ New year, new ways to create income…I think that is how the saying goes 🙂 Check out this video about creating Passive(ish) Income.
Letters To The Editor
✉️ Thanks Amber R. and Aliza E. for the shootouts in the Facebook Group:
You have the best newsletter! I look forward to reading it every time. It is actually the only one I always read. Thank you!
Thank you Kate McGill Johnson and Accounting Cornerstone Foundation. Your group opened up a world of opportunities for me
Classifieds (Clickable)
Keep hustling!
Kate
-Chief Hustler-
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