The One About Middle School
TL;DR
I’m 42. I should be well beyond those middle school emotions of my youth. Most days I am. But boy, I can occasionally get deep into those 13-year-old-Kate feelings.
In my bookkeeping business, I’ve certainly been hit with those emotions that I wished I’d grown out of (and these are just recent 2023 examples!).
The FOMO. Feeling just certain that I’ll never be cool because I missed something that “everyone else” got to do. “But mom, everyone else will be there!”
The rejection. Just this week I was told that I didn’t get selected for an industry peer group I applied for. I have had many speaking proposals rejected. And then there is always the prospect/client rejection. “Why did I get cut? Why didn’t I get cast in the part? Why don’t you like meeee”.
The thinking I was invited, but then realizing I wasn’t. This is not too unlike feeling sure you were part of a group going to a school dance together or being on a team together and awkwardly finding out you are, in fact, not a part of that group after all. That one is particularly embarrassing and awkward. “How did I misread that so badly?”
The feeling dumb. Being asked a question and not knowing an answer. Talk about going straight back to the classroom. “Why did the teacher have to call on me?”
The social exclusion. I’ve been blocked on twitter by at least 2 people who are kinda noted names in our industry. “What’s wrong with my posts? Am I really so distasteful you can’t even abide a fleeting glimpse of me?”
The what-to-wear. I’ve stepped out and attended some in-person gatherings. But what do I wear??? Yeesh, talk about middle school emotions flooding back. I’ve always been fashioned-challenged and most days I am comfortable accepting that. But boy…send me to meet new people in public and “I have nothing to wear!”
The inadequacy. Thinking XYZ trait about me is great, and then to be smacked straight in the face with someone who is smarter/funnier/handsomer/wealthier/more popular/more successful (insert other adjective). “Well, turns out I’m just a big ol’ pile of doo doo”.
The disadvantage. We are all born with different life circumstances and innate talents. My obstacles were certainly not as bad as many people have, but it doesn’t mean I don’t begrudge my own situation at times. “She doesn’t have to deal with XYZ, and that’s not fair!”
Can you relate to what I’m talking about? Do you ever feel like you are not that different from the middle school version of yourself, no matter how much you’ve tried to mature and change for the better? Has your journey building your ideal career resurrected some of these same feelings as it has for me?
But reader, listen up (and Kate, listen to yourself!). If you are reading this newsletter, you are already cut from a different cloth. Even when potentially crippling emotions might bubble up inside, you are taking steps to manage your career & your life & your income. Most people let life happen to them, but you are happening to your life.
Hopefully you don't have those Middle School feelings everyday, but you’re likely going to feel them. And it is just a question of how you will handle it. Will you let it cripple you? Or will you pick yourself up and keep going? Will you stick around long enough to find the people that do appreciate you and your unique gifts?
And hopefully we’re all a little wiser than we were at 13, too. Including the bit of wisdom that recognizes that it is perfectly ok that there are some things that you just might not be good at or have no interest in.
The mature and peaceful version of you recognizes that it is ok to simply appreciate and celebrate that others have different gifts and interests than you. Doing so doesn’t mean that you are big ol’ pile of doo doo.
The grown up version of you knows that there are ways to embrace and leverage the strengths of others as you fill in the gaps of your own abilities and interests
One great example of that is leveraging the strenghts of our sponsor, Mad Woman Media, by Lorlyn Wilson. The way it works is you get her weekly email in your inbox, and she encourages you to resend it white-labeled as your own. She does all the research and writing work for you. You can swipe it exactly as is, or just take 5 minutes to tweak it to your own unique style. Give it a shot and see if you can get into a rhythm of sending helpful and relevant emails to your ideal clients. Let her be “Your Content BFF”. Click that graphic, y’all. 👇
Deals Deals Deals
💰 Join QuickBooks for Nonprofits group to get info on how to get a discount to Advanced Nonprofit QBO Virtual Miniseries. If you work in nonprofits, you need to check this out (and join this group, too)!
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.
📅 +Dec 11 & 18: Monday Morning Co-working Hour. Only two co-working hours left in 2023! Join me to wrap up your final tasks of the year. RSVP for the 11th and 18th to get a reminder.
📅 +Dec 12: Grow Your Business By Sending Cold Emails with Michael Ly. Want to learn how Michael Ly scaled his business? He will be sharing his success with the BSH community. Click HERE to watch the event LIVE and leave your questions for him.
📅 Dec 12 -14: Advanced Nonprofit QBO Virtual Miniseries. Learn from some of the top QBO on how to address some of the most challenging issues facing non-profit accountants. Sign up HERE to learn from these experts.
📅 Dec 12: Elevate Your Practice: The Power of Collaborative Accounting. If you want to get insight into the new FreshBooks Accounting certification, join Twyla Verhelst and Blake Oliver. Even if you can’t attend live, anyone who signs up will get the replay. Register HERE.
Featured Posts
🌶️ How do you make sure you get out of your chair on those long work days? Kristen F. asked about using a walking treadmill under your desk, Holy smokes the comments are the reason I keep running this community. 👌
🌶️ Samantha asked what bookkeeping podcasts you recommend, and got great feedback. Podcasts are how I learned to talk “accounting speak”. I needed to hear the words our industry uses. I’m no dummy. I just didn’t know the lingo. Now I do.
🌶️ Do you like reading this newsletter If so, I would really appreciate any feedback you have. Go leave your notes HERE, so I can make it even better in 2024.
🌶️ I’m so glad Rachel B. shared her plans for this weekend with other bookkeepers in upstate NY. If YOU put together a no-strings-attached working weekend like this in your home town, I promise to help you spread the word.
Help You Hustle
💪 Be sure to watch our replays with OnPay. Now is the time of year to move clients over to be ready for payroll at the beginning of January. And you’ll get their sweet sign-on deal of $250 for each new client you bring to OnPay. Here is my referral link for accounting pros to get started with OnPay.
💪 It is almost 1099 Season (yuck!...recall my vent session about 1099s last year). I saw that Shannon Ballman from Payroll Restoration was offering a free webinar about 1099s about it. We all gotta listen to this. It ain't sexy, but it’s part of the job.
Register and get reminders to watch live here.
Watch for free free, no-email-required-free here on her Youtube Channel.
💪 In general, I’m skeptical of so-called “certifications” for bookkeepers in America (other countries have more meaningful certifications for us). I honestly don’t think any client will have ever heard of any or care about them. HOWEVER, the place where I do see value is if it makes YOU feel more confident. If it puts a big gust of wind in your sails, then they are probably worth the relatively low cost. So, I want to share that there is now something called Associate Digital Bookkeeper Certification. You get through the Bookkeepers.Com program and there are some details on page 12 of the syllabus*. I’ll update you as I learn more.
Reminder, we also did an interview with someone who received the Certified Public Bookkeeper credential from the NACPB industry association if you want to learn about that program. Maybe that one is more your jam.
💪 Top 100 ProAdvisor Nomination period has begun. I’ve seen chatter that a lot of the old guard is bowing out this year to make more room for up-and-comers. Nominate yourself or a worthy mentor.
Jobs
💼 I figured it was time to ask the community for a round up of candid feedback about the jobs at QuickBooks Live and TurboTax Live. If you are interested in applying or working at either of those, be sure to go read the comments. And if you’ve ever worked there, please go leave your feedback. Especially your pay rate. 🙏
💼 Boy, lots of new jobs were added to the Job Guide - part-time, in person and remote! It is the time of year that your peers are looking for help!
Don’t forget the standing opps on my Find A Freelance Job article. 1099 and W-2 opps.
Kate Builds In Public
🎢 Giving Tuesday Donation Match Update: Thanks to YOU, Bookkeeping Side Hustle Community, I got to send my $1,500 donation match to the Accounting Cornerstone Foundation because y’all stepped up and exceeded the goal by giving $2,050! Thank you so much! Our gifts will fund scholarships to send new bookkeeping/accounting/tax entrepreneurs to their very first industry conference.
🎢 NEW Business: I think I skipped a new business update last edition, so I’ll go back 4 weeks. All FreshBooks users.
$4065 clean up 36 month clean up. Only one checking account until about 7 months ago when she go a CC. I’ve engaged a contractor to do this work for me. We’ve been in close communication and have been waiting for the right project to collaborate on. I’m paying her 60% of the project and intend to be pretty hands off.
$2,200 clean up for 11 months. This is just the remaining Jan - Nov 2023 of the larger project I told you about in this past newsletter edition. I am proud of myself for staying in scope and not touching anything in 2023 until I was engaged (and paid) to do so. And proud of turning an existing client into more revenue. More money over fewer total clients is always a good thing.
2 new office hours members (one member did leave, though. Sad face).
4 new training clients at $250 for 2 hours That’s $1k.
2 repeat clients coming back for more time for $125 per hour.
🎢 Speaking at a vCon: You’ll recall last edition that I invited you all to watch me speak at the Virtual Host Conference.
My presentation was titled “Don’t Let Bookkeeping Ruin Your Virtual Event”. You can see my slides here (perhaps be inspired, but don’t plagiarize). I also got to have a “booth” in the “Expo Hall” which means I got to record a private YouTube video as my booth and include an “offer” for conference attendees. But my problem was that I’m only going to actually work with any of the conference attendees if they use FreshBooks. The vast majority won’t be using FB, so, I tried to get creative about how I could still provide something of value to everyone and also somehow get some value (aka MONEY) myself by serving them. So I whipped up the idea of offering a “discount on my Tech Stack Audit”.
Shhhh…I’ve never had a service called “Tech Stack Audit”, but now I do!
I am not sure how much ROI I’ll get out of participating as a speaker at this particular event in terms of paying clients, BUT, here are some bits of value that I think made it worth my time.
It made me turn on my settings in Calendly to require people to pay at the moment they book time with me for a specific meeting. If any attendee wants this Tech Stack Audit, they will have to pay as they book this meeting. I’ve never used a feature like this. Right now, when someone wants any paid time with me for FreshBooks training, I have to send them an invoice that then contains the scheduling link for my 1-hour meeting. I have been considering how I can reduce the friction for letting people pay to meet with me (since 1-on-1 training is what I like doing right now). But as of now, I am not super comfortable just letting random business owners book hours of my time without me understanding their problems and business a bit first (yes, I fully understand this means my intake process is weak…future Kate’s problem to tackle). BUT, I’m thinking that I could have a Book-And-Pay Calendly link for Accounting Pros who have FreshBooks questions. For some reason, other industry peers seem less scary to me, like we’ll be more likely to speak the same language. That is what I’m noodling on now.
I made my “booth” video GENERIC as it related to this specific event. You can watch the private link here to consider how you could riff on this idea. I truly used a lot of brain power to create something that I can hopefully recycle over and over. So now I just have to go find more vCons for small business owners to speak at so I can reuse the booth. Got any leads for me to talk about bookkeeping topics to small business owners?
I now have this super cool new Tech Stack Audit service. Yay, me! Maybe I’ll get good at doing them. Who knows. I certainly love talking to thoughtful business owners who are trying to build good businesses. Here is the current version of the Google Form they get after they pay that I’m asking them to fill out prior to meeting. But I think the real kicker to this would be having paid referral links for my preferred SMB tech stack solutions at my fingertips during the calls (with full disclosure that they are paid links). I have to decide how and how widely I want to market this service to the general population.
Feel free to roast me (kindly, gah!) on all of this above section about speaking at this vCon!
🎢 Done playing lawyer: I successfully finished playing lawyer and converting my Virginia LLC to a Texas LLC. Remember, based on my experience I shared with y’all, I don’t necessarily recommend doing this all by yourself. I’m pretty sure I could have hired someone to handle it all for me for less than the value of the time I put in to doing it myself (because Texas rejected my application twice!).
From The Vault
⚡Are you going to be making a difference in your community this tax season? Volunteering as an IRS VITA is such meaningful community service, but it can help you gain tax experience, too. Learn more about VITA and why you should do it - watch this video.
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Keep hustling!
Kate ~Chief Hustler~
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I am down right rabid about transparency and full disclosure. If a link has a * beside it, it means it is either an affiliate link where I might receive compensation if you make a purchase, at no additional charge to you. Or it could be a tracking link that another business provided me to see how many readers click on that link.