The One About Not Knowing
We don't know what we don't know
TL;DR
Can we agree on the following 3 universal categories when it comes to knowledge?
There are things you know.
There are things you know that you don’t know.
There are things you don’t know that you don’t know.
As I learn more and do more in my business (i.e. increasing my category 1), the relative size of my categories 2 and 3 starts to feel increasingly larger.
I am no longer blissfully ignorant. I see my ineptitude and slowness very clearly.
The known amount of stuff that I know I don’t know can be frustrating, and the unknown amount of stuff that I don’t even know that I don’t know can be down right depressing.
I ain’t feeling bliss. I just feel like a dummy.
But one of the best things I’ve come to realize is that there is an expert at everything! There is someone out there who has the natural talent and lots of experience in that exact thing that is making me want to throw my computer out the window.
It was very hard to spend money on getting help from someone in the early days of my business, but I think I’ve matured over the years and realize that the payoff of learning quickly and from an expert really is worth the money in the long run.
Things I've hired a pro to teach me:
Learning Camtasia video editing software.
A difficult situation with bookkeeping for PayPal (PayPal bookkeeping is the worst, amiright?!?!).
Mailerlite email marketing tool (I used one guy several times a few years ago. I needed some help recently and my guy didn’t write me back. So I hired a second guy and he was not nearly as good).
Google suite implementation.
Freaking Wordpress when I built my own pitiful business website. (Talk about wanting to throw my computer out the window.).
I have a consulting slot next week for help with an Automations expert named Tam Nguyen.
But Kate, how can we find someone that we will be confident will be worth the investment?
I think there are two ways to pick someone to help you learn something. To move stuff from Categories 2 & 3 to Category 1.
You ask for a referral from another business owner. Social media networking makes this so easy. Right here on Substack or in the Bookkeeping Side Hustle Facebook group you can ask “Crowdsourcing alert! I need an expert to help me implement and get smart on XYZ HARD THING. Who have you used?”.
If finding a real referral from someone doesn’t work then the next best option is to find someone who creates excellent technical content about the software or tool that you are trying to maximize use of. To be clear, you are looking for a huge nerd who ideally has free resources available that shows off just how good they are. There are people out there who get so nerdy about the oddest things. That thing that is making you cry (cough…Paypal Bookkeeping…cough) is what someone spends their free time day dreaming about.
And the very best part of hiring an expert to help you learn is that you hire them for a known Category 2 problem, but without fail, you will learn some mind-blowing Category 3 tips, too. You’ll have moments where you will exclaim “thanks for solving a problem I didn’t even know I had.”
Reader, do you agree or disagree?
The partners at Hughes and Strong Consulting have built a whole consulting business around helping bookkeepers get smarter at one very specific thing. They help firm owners implement and maximize their use of Keeper. Y’all, they are nerds about Keeper! It is truly inspiring. I’ve met Erica and Jodie. Bless them. The world takes all kinds. If you use Keeper for your month-end close, client comms, and practice management, think about how much you don’t know that you don’t know about how to use Keeper. They are inviting you to their monthly free Keeper Q&A calls on the 3rd Wednesday of every month. Bang that graphic to sign up for ANY monthly session, including their next one on April 16 and see what they are made of.
Deals Deals Deals
💰 Speaking of Keeper…Get 20% off your first 3 months of Keeper* with my referral link for our community!
💰 Use code KJ-250 for $250 off your ticket to GrowCon* in Utah.
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 14-18 - Bookkeeper Appreciation Week. BILL is hosting a week of webinars, resources, giveaways and more! Sign up for this FREE virtual event now!
📅 April 16 - Keeper Q&A. Hughes & Strong Consulting is hosting their monthly Keeper Q&A - April’s topic: Back to the Basics: Making the most of Keeper's Default reporting tasks. Register HERE.
📅 April 16 - That's a Wrap! Post Tax-Season Hoooo-liday Party. Celebrate the end of the tax season with laughter and community! Alicia Katz Pollock and Royalwise.com are having a ZOOM PARTY sponsored by Insightful Accountant and RightTool! Sign up HERE to join the fun! You might meet your business best friend at a virtual party like this.
📅 April 17 - How to Get Your First (or next) Client. This session put on by MediaBooks is designed for professionals looking to enhance their skills and leverage marketing techniques to attract their ideal clients. Register HERE*
📅 +April 22 - Behind The Scenes: Intuit Academy Bookkeeping Certification Study Group. Learn how some folks made a point to study together to earn this cert and how you can do the same. Remember, Intuit Academy Bookkeeping Certification is NOT the same as the QBO ProAdvisor Certification. RSVP in Facebook.
📅 +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. Financial Cents is hosting an end of tax season party! I’ll be there as a “speed giveaway” participant. Join your fellow accountants and bookkeepers for an epic virtual event filled with laughter, networking, prizes, and well-deserved relaxation. Sign up HERE.
📅 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.
Featured Posts
🌶️ I asked community members to share how much they are paying for insurance. I felt like I was over paying. I shared my info. Some others were brave enough to share theirs. The data is by no means perfect, but I think I’m getting hosed! Should I do a live stream with an insurance broker to educate me in public about what I need to consider when shopping for insurance and how to tell if I’m overpaying? Give this newsletter a like on Substack if you would watch that live stream.
🌶️ Monisha M asked a question about whether a spouse might be an employee or a contractor and ended up getting a lot more advice about mixing Work and Love.
🌶️ Martha M asked if community college for a bookkeeping certificate is worth it.
Help You Hustle
💪 In a recent newsletter I talked about how I had wrestled so hard with zoom to figure out how to add required registration questions when someone registers for a zoom meeting. So I made a video walkthrough showing how to add registration questions to a zoom meeting so you can avoid the struggles that I had.
P.S. If you hit the comment button here on Substack and ask a question about this newsletter, there's a good chance I will make a video that helps solve your problems.
💪 Kristen Corey with MediaBooks is hosting a FREE webinar on how to get your first - or next - client. This is the perfect learning opportunity for those of you just starting out and are looking to grow. Kristen will teach strategies on how to market to your ideal client - even for you seasoned owners. Sign up HERE*.
💪 Speaking of something you don’t know that you don’t know…this one was a doozy! Accounting nerds straight up melting down because Erica Goode shared that she just learned you can click the “sum” in the footer of an excel sheet and it copies to you clipboard. I don’t think my life will ever be the same.
💪 Intuit announced that the QBO ProAdvisor Recertification materials will be available on April 28. For the last 2 years I’ve used the Recertification study materials from Akadian* (formerly Fast & Easy QBO).
Community Poll: Should I keep up my Advanced QBO Cert even though I’m completely niched in FreshBooks now? Y/N
Jobs
💼 The Job Guide has been updated with a variety of jobs - from a QBO expert to a VA to a full-time position in Maryland. Check it out HERE.
My Family Circus (43F, 40M, 13M, 11F, 10M)
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
🎪 Remember Mad Libs?
One of my favorite analog time-passers and tools for screen-free family interactions is an old-fashioned Mad Libs book. You might not have played Mad Libs in a while, but everyone has played at some point. Mad Libs was invented in 1953! Talk about an idea that has stood the test of time!
Two of the main places we’ve incorporated Mad Libs into our family are (1) restaurants and (2) long car rides. It is very important to me that my family is able to be calm and civilized in both of those situations.
Pros of Mad Libs:
Teaches parts of speech
Increases vocabulary
Puts a pencil in the hands of a small person
Lets them be master of the moment
Keeps everyone involved since there is not a lot of time until it is their turn to pick the word again
Easy to keep in your car
Can get very silly and silliness is very important, especially for people like me who tend to have a more serious and stern personality
Cons of Mad Libs:
You have to remember how to teach what an Adverb is. 🤕
There are tons of Mad Libs books to choose from.
✏ This Supersized Mad Libs* is probably the best deal (5-in-1) but is a bit on the thick side.
✏ This Junior Mad Libs* has some lists of words that help really young people play on their own, but we didn’t really use that feature.
If you give this a shot, come back and tell us how it went and who you did it with.
Kate Builds In Public
🎢 I sent my first invoice for a $75 fee for a missed hourly training meeting. Sending that invoice felt like I was running a marathon (narrator: she had never and will never run a marathon). Everything new that I do is hard. There will come a day when it will not be a big deal to send that Missed Appointment Invoice, but this first time felt like a big deal. Elevated heart rate for sure. It is what I call “click anxiety”.
Remember, I shared the exact text of the email that I used to announce that I would be starting to charge for missed appointments in this past edition if you want to copy me and make yourself feel click anxiety. 😰
🎢 For the second year, my business sponsored my children's school’s charity auction. My business name on a huge banner outside of school for 6 whole weeks. My logo plastered all over the room the night of the event and in all the emails that were sent marketing the event. I had a table up front with a placard with my logo.
I felt so proud. Also, my tax pro agreed it was an “advertising expense”.
But here's the thing. This is the charitable organization that is going to get a lot of my money anyway. This felt more strategic and valuable (to me) than just giving as an individual during their regular giving campaigns and having it go on my 1040 charitable donations next year.
From The Vault
⚡ Check out this video to learn how to use Zoom annotation to help train your clients via screen share. Watch, learn and get to work!
Classifieds (Clickable)
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.