The One About Questions
TL;DR
You are going to learn all about my thoughts on my recent trip to the Reframe Conference later in this newsletter, but for now, I want to start with some of my main takeaways from Reframe. They all revolve around asking questions and are based on my notes from the conference keynote speakers.
❔ Asking questions puts you in control of the conversation: This was obvious after hearing it, but it has really been ringing in my head. But think about it. The question-asker is the one directing where the conversation goes. Also, this little nugget might help you if you are shy. Just ask a question. Then you don’t have to be the one sharing!
❔ Don’t be the advice monster: Replace giving advice with being curious.The practical takeaway I wrote down was that when I feel the need to say a solution (which is natural for us in our industry), ask 3 more questions. One.Two.Three. Not so hard when you think of it like that.
❔ Qualities of good questions: Ed Kless said good questions are 1) ambiguous, 2) personal, and 3) edgy.
❔ Memorize and practice good questions: Remember how you used to be bad at QuickBooks and now you are really good because you’ve done it a lot? Yeah, that is the same thing with this communication and question thing. We can practice it. We had a list of questions from the Exactly What To Say (Accountant’s Edition) book and had to say them to our table mates on these fake client problem scenarios. You can literally tape up good questions on your wall so you see them when you are on a call with a client.
❔ Apply this to your personal life: 2 things here...
Ed Kless says his favorite thing to say before dropping kids off at school is “Ask good questions today.”
You can tell your loved ones that you want be better at asking questions and really listening to their responses and get their permission to try this on them. Because they might think you are weird at first. And then try, and fail, and try, and keep trying.
🎯 You’ll be glad you are a good question-asker. Because the more you understand your prospective client problems, the better you can craft a proposal that they can’t say “no” to. Be sure to join the workshop on developing your proposal process that starts next week. You’ll take your knowledge gained from asking them good questions and then confidently price the work and impress them with your proposal and processes.
Deals Deals Deals
💰 Accountests is offering 15% off all their skills tests when you are ready to hire your firm. Use code BSH15OFF.
💰 Bookkeeper Launch Program is offering $1,000 both full pay and 12-month pay off with code freedom24. Sign up here.
💰 I saw an email for early bird pricing for The CFO Accelerator conference* in May. Use code OCTOBER24 for $600 off.
💰 The Solopreneur's Bookkeeping Workshop with Mariette Martinez is coming up in November. Get $50 off with early-bird pricing through October 28th. Sign up HERE*.
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.
📅 October 28-30: Perfecting Your Proposals Workshop. Pachira Solutions is hosting this 3-day workshop about pricing proposals for prospective clients. Learn more and sign up here.
📅 October 30: Intro to Xero. Hop on this webinar to learn about Xero and how to get started. Register for here.
📅 +November 5: Financial Cents Solo Plan Demo. Shahram Zarshenas will be giving us the rundown on the NEW Financial Cents Solo Plan. RSVP in the FB group so you don’t miss it!
📅 November 7: The Solopreneur's Bookkeeping Workshop: Simplify your finances, get organized for tax time, and learn the simple steps to pay yourself from your biz in just 1 day. PLUS a bonus 90-Minute Q&A session will be held on Wednesday, November 20th from 10 to 11:30amPT. Sign up HERE.
📅 +November 19: Website 101 for Bookkeepers: RSVP in the FB group. Do you need a website? What should it say?
Featured Posts
🌶️ To Delete Bank Rules or Not To Delete Bank Rules? That is the question. When you and a client disengage, do you delete your bank rules? These perspectives and thought processes are fascinating.
🌶️ It is that time of year…the 1099 conversations are popping up. But at least this one is juicy as it is a pricing one. Dana D. asks if you charge for 1099 prep and, if so, how much? For heaven’s sake, YES, charge. I shared how I price mine. Where do you stack up to the pricing shared here? You need to make your decision about this now for the upcoming season.
🌶️ Mai D asks if it is realistic to do bookkeeping as a side hustle? Imma like “hold my beer!” But many comments talk about the hard side of the side hustle part of this. I don’t want it to seem like only unicorns and rainbows.
Help You Hustle
💪 How to hire bookkeeping talent: This past week, Giles Pearson taught us how to hire a bookkeeper who knows what they are doing. Watch our live stream HERE and grab the”How To Hire Fast Confidently” checklist HERE..That resource is in digital or video form. Here are two things that keep running through my head from what he taught us:
His first step in his checklist has nothing to do with the hiring process. It has to do with how you are presenting your business so it is a desirable place for the top talent to want to work. Brilliant.
He makes such a good argument for SPEED during this process. Because good talent is in short supply, the firms that can move quickly are going to snap up the good candidates. The firms that move slow are going to be left with the
schmucksless-qualified candidates.
💪 $750 Scholarship Opportunity: I’ve been sharing info about the Hands-On Training for QBO “college-style” course from Royalwise Training that starts November 4. But I believe so much in really sitting down and getting educated on this bookkeeping craft of ours that I want to help 2 people take this course. I’m offering scholarships for 2 people to take this course. Learn more and apply here.
💪 Seth David from Nerd Enterprises has released the Accountant’s AI Bible*. Bold name, eh?
Jobs
New jobs were added to the BSH Job Guide. Check it out!
Don’t forget the standing opps on my Find A Freelance Job article. 1099 and W-2 opps.
My Family Circus (43F, 39M, 13M, 11F, 10M)
🎪 It sure is easy to be cynical about the state of our country during election season. I can’t count the number of times I’ve thought “can someone please round up all these clowns and let us start over”?
But I know it is worth it to fight for joy and optimism. Deep down, I want to be joyful, not cynical. I know I’m blessed to be a US citizen. And I want children who are joyful and optimistic citizens as well. But they will likely mirror my attitude about how I approach our system of government.
So here is what we recently did in our house…
I asked ChatGPT to find a sample ballot for Tarrant County, Texas, and, like a good little AI, it served up exactly what I needed.
I hit print (all you paperless people can kiss my pale, paper-printing booty!) and proudly placed it in the center of the dinner table. We had a pleasant discussion about the ballot and voting procedures. We passed the paper around and examined different parts of it.
We examined all sorts of things:
How do you register to vote so you can fill one of these out?
What is a write-in candidate?
If someone runs unopposed, do they automatically win?
What does the Texas Railroad Commissioner do?
How do I find my voting location?
What is the Green Party?
What does a Sheriff do?
When my husband and I weren't sure of an answer (I mean, what does a Railroad Commissioner do???), we had ChatGPT open on my phone and asked it and it talked back to us, which the kids loved.
I’m leaving the ballot on the table for a while. More questions are being asked. 🙌
Kate Builds In Public
🎢 Reframe Conference Recap: As I mentioned in the intro section, after our fall break family camping trip, I traded my tent in the east Texas woods for a luxurious hotel on the beach in Miami at the Reframe Conference. This conference is put on by Hector Garcia and his brother Carlos. This year was about communication. Next year will be about pricing. I put down my deposit for next year.
Things that stood out to me last week:
There was a sweetness about the conference as a whole and humility about the hosts. There was not a lot of “big shot” or “bro” energy in the room (some, of course, but not much at all and none from the hosts). Hector is arguably one of the most successful accountants and businessmen in our industry, and yet he is busting his butt to make sure each attendee felt seen and had their needs met. He was not above running around holding microphones. He was passing out pens and markers and papers. He was looking for the person on the outskirts. Just hands on, y’all. Right in the mix with us plebeians. You could tell that Hector and Carlos had a “I’m here to learn, too” attitude, yet it was their conference!
It was small. The hurricanes meant some folks had to back out, but I think there were about 130 people in total. Next year he is capping it at 200 (he says 150 are already sold). We were all in one big room. We had table assignments each morning and afternoon so we were forced to meet other people, which is honestly really good because it is way too comfortable to find one wingman and just stick with that person.
A lot of the attendees aren’t trying to build the standard, boring accounting/bookkeeping firm. A little funkiness amongst us. I like funky firms. That is what I’m building.
The numbers:
$1,500 conference ticket
$530 for my flight (ouch! Should have bought it sooner!)
$455 for 3 nights in the fancy hotel (I had a roommate, so that is half the cost)
$120 total Uber costs
$34 on food (2 of my non-conference meals were paid for by someone else)
Non-cash costs - getting my family situated for momma to be gone. So much work!
Unexpected non-cash return - having lunch back in Fort Worth this week with 3 other professional women (2 lawyers and a commercial banker from Chase) this week and being able to say “Oh, I was in Florida last week for a conference”. It felt so good. Borderline boastful. But it felt good. It felt successful.
🎢 Update on hiring for my Operations Coordinator Position: I’ve been sharing my journey on making my first hire (for internal support, not for bookkeeping).
Sharing the job description (shared in this edition) in Facebook groups and with friends from school and church was not getting me the traction that I hoped, so I had to start acting like a serious grown up. These methods have proven more fruitful. 👇
I got the guts to put the job on LinkedIn via their free job posting.
I paid for a post on a job board called RedBalloon (spoiler alert: it is conservative).
I’ve interviewed 3 people and had a 4th person totally no-show 🤡. I have 1 more interview scheduled. I’d like at least 4 more.
I stuck to my interview script (shared in this edition). And I’m so grateful that it was written out, or I just would have been nervously word-vomiting all over these poor candidates! Using a script has been the only time I’ve felt a sense of confidence in this journey.
And I think I realize why I feel like an imposter doing this. The last time I interviewed for a job was 2010 and before that my job interviews were business school interviews with enormous companies. So, in a nutshell, I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing. I know I felt this feeling before as I've run this business of mine, but dang it is uncomfortable every single time. Looking over my shoulder for the professional who knows what they are doing and there is no one there. It’s just me.
I don’t know how to make a job offer. There, I said it. I foresee several hours of study inside the resources in my Gusto payroll account. But I am trying to look on the bright side. I am trying to think about how I can turn this discomfort I’m feeling into content to share with clients and prospects. They don’t know how to do this either. Now I will be better equipped to help them.
From The Vault
Many moons ago I was a guest on the Side Hustle Show with Nick Loper. I have said many times that his podcast was one of the most important influences on my early days in business. When I was first asked to be a guest, it was a true career highlight for me.
Well, last month he asked me to come back and do a bit of a “where are they now” update. So, he re-released the original show but he tacked on an updated interview with me at the end. I spill more tea including numbers. Like 💲 numbers. Listen here.
Letters To The Editor
✉️ A note from Stacie H. in a comment in the FaceBook group. Glad all my anecdotes are resonating.
[The newsletter] really hit home about finding coaching and mentoring that offer practical real-world resources. I have joined accountingcoach.com to deepen my knowledge. I also signed up for Workflowcon. On a more personal note I also have decided to start having my teen do some uncomfortable conversations to improve her people skills.
Classifieds (Clickable)
Keep hustling!
Kate
-Chief Hustler-
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.