The One About Sleep
The One About Sleep
TL;DR
Entrepreneurship can Wear.You.Out.
Yes, yes. It is important to take care of ourselves, including getting a good night's sleep.
And yes, yes, there are all sorts of tactics about SOPs and practice management apps that can help you avoid those late night sweats brought on by remembering that thing you forgot to do.
But do you know another thing that can help you sleep better?
That bliss of knowing you are making money while you sleep.
The bookkeeping industry has such an unexciting historical reputation. It is consistent. Stable. Debit/Credit. Debit/Credit. Split transactions. Attach receipts. Reconcile bank accounts. Compile Reports. Rocking good time had by all.
And if that traditional model suits you, I am not judging. But I will say that if you are only making money by doing direct client service, you will eventually reach the limit of your available capacity. Sure, you can raise prices and try to swap low end clients for higher ones. But there are only so many hours in the day that you have to work.
I think that on average, it is very unusual to net over $150k as a solo bookkeeping shop. Of course there will be some exceptions who can make more than that on their own. And if you are the exception to this, then my hat is off to you.
So, for bookkeepers to make more money, the traditional path is that you have to scale by bringing in staff. And sure, that is an option.
But another option is to start making money while you sleep.
There are countless ways to do it. When you have the superpower of being great at the Debits & Credits and can do backflips inside a bookkeeping software, you can take the trust and confidence clients (and the general public) have with you and sell them other things.
I think it will require a fundamental mental shift for most of you readers. It is not a normal way of thinking for bookkeepers. But, if you have your own firm, remember, you are an entrepreneur first. Bookkeeping is just the industry you happen to be in.
And I think you can shift your thinking!
You have a big brain and are a hard worker!
If you commit to waking up every day thinking “Today I will look for ways I can start to make money as a bookkeeper even when I am not working”, I think you will find some ways to do that.
We heard about one way with the Relay Partner Program interview we did last week. I have personally already taken advantage of that. Details below in the “Help You Hustle” Section.
And down in the “From The Vault Section”, I have a full video with all sorts of ideas. Ideas for days.
What will YOUR next step toward making more money in your sleep?
Let’s give a shout out to our title sponsor Gentle Frog. She has created gobs of content In her program for bookkeepers who want to build their businesses. This subscription is turn on/turn off and includes a coupon code for a 1 hour session each month. And most importantly, she is an entrepreneur at heart, which means her entrepreneur-brain will start to rub off on you. Check it out. 👇
Deals Deals Deals
💰 GrowCon* will be in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 6-7. This event aims to assist you in expanding, scaling, discovering innovative systems, solutions, and ultimately altering the course of your business. Register HERE* and use KJ200 for $200 off through April 14th or until tickets sell out! Get you booty to conferences folks!
💰 TOMORROW, Seth David is launching Bulletproof Bookkeeping® For Property Owners & Flippers* for a special introductory price with LOTS of valuable bonus content! If you are interested in real estate bookkeeping, go to his course homepage and email him telling him you want the deal.
💰 TB4A is having a Busy Season sale! Use code AUDIT for 30% off! Shop HERE*
💰 XeroCon will be in Nashville, TN, August 14-15. You can use code XCNASH24-first-access for $150 off your ticket to XeroCon through April 30.
💰 This link will get you $1,000 off Breakthrough For Accountants & Bookkeepers when it goes on sale on March 8th.
Please always send me any news of deals that you hear of that others might benefit from.
Be There or Be Square
📅 +March 4: Co-working Hour. Join me this Monday morning to kick-off your week. RSVP for Monday, March 4.
📅 March 4-8: The Power to Breakthrough Bootcamp hosted by The Workflow Queen is for bookkeepers and accountants who need to learn how to start implementing SOPs and efficient workflows in their firm so they can scale. Signup for this FREE bootcamp HERE.*
📅 + March 7: How To Start A Business Advisory Service. I’m hosting the CFO Project to teach their masterclass on offering business advisory services. You will learn if you are qualified to do this, how to get started and gain the confidence you need to add this to your service. Learn more about The CFO Project and RSVP HERE.
📅 + March 26: How To Double Your Revenue Through Advisory Services. This is the 2nd part of the series with The CFO Project. Learn how you can grow your revenue by offering advisory services. RSVP HERE.
📅 +April 11: Sharpening Your Excel Skills For Bookkeepers. Come learn Excel tips and tricks for bookkeepers. Steve Chase of Sequentia Solutions is an excel genius and great instructor. He will share his favorite ways that he uses Excel in his bookkeeping business. This is one you won’t want to miss! RSVP HERE.
📅 +April 25: How To Get Started in Bookkeeping. The first Q&A was a SUCCESS! So, let’s do it again. This is a time for you to ask questions about starting your bookkeeping biz. It is private to registrants only, so you can feel safe asking your questions. (reminder: I WILL NOT be answering techincal bookkeeping or software questions). Register HERE.
📅 May 15-17: The CFO Accelerator Live. So I did buy that ticket to the CFO Accelerator Live conference in Dallas*. Join me! Question for the readers…do I treat myself to a hotel room or do I drive home each night?
Featured Posts
🌶️ Alisha P. started a great conversation about the Profit First method. What do you think about it?
🌶️ Jennifer R. asked about a contingency plan in case something happens to you. It is a tough thought, but something we all need to consider. I’d love to do a live stream panel about this topic. Do you have a recommendation of someone(s) who would be good to talk about this topic?
Help You Hustle
💪 Relay recently launched a partner program*, and I think it is a win/win/win situation! A win for clients, a win for Relay, a win for you. Watch the replay of our livestream to learn more about the program and come join me as one of the initial partners!
I have 2 main takeaways from the live stream:
I am excited about being one of the first bookkeepers to be in the new Relay Partner Directory so the businesses that use Relay can find me. And a client that uses a modern, tech-forward bank like Relay is already signaling that they have the traits that I desire in a client.
They are building a bank that can be a part of our overall accounting tech stack (possibly even replacing apps we have been paying for) like Bill Pay with approval rules, W-9 fetching, the spend management functions where we can help clients with issuing cards to their team members, etc. And y'all, I just got an email 2 days ago that they released Receipt Management inside of Relay! Holy Moly. I immediately signed up for a demo of that when I got that email. For clients who like being in their bank more than their QBO file, this could be a HUGE feature.
💪Y'all hear me talk about video all the time. I firmly believe that people who find a way to utilize the power of video make more money than those who do not.
And one very good way to get started with utilizing video to impress your clients is to make short videos walking through their reports.
I use loom for this. And even if you don't like your face on video, you can put a still headshot image of yourself instead of the video bubble.
But maybe it is not clear what a walk through video is. Well, you are no longer in the dark!
Nicole Davis shared a video walking through a fake client’s tax returns. If not exactly the same as monthly bookkeeping debrief would be, but it's an excellent illustration of the idea. And her entire write up of her tips leading up to the link to the fake video is spot on, y’all. She even tells you how to password-protect your videos!
The best tip she gave is to embrace the pause button! If you are feeling the video spiraling out of control into a blabbering mess, you can literally say “Let me pause to switch to that report or scroll to that page or zoom in on that number.”
Then collect your thoughts. Take a drink of water. Do 10 jumping jacks. Smoke a cig. Whatever you gotta do. And then bring up the correct page on your computer screen. Then resume recording. Using the pause button in Loom makes you a bonafide video editor. Look out, Hollywood!
For Fun
😹 Here are the 5 “teams” I nominated in the Accounting High March Madness competition.
Accounting Cornerstone Foundation 🔥🔥🔥
FreshBooks
Relay Bank
Google Suite
Bookkeeping Side Hustle
I really want the Accounting Cornerstone Foundation to go deep in the tournament! Will you please vote for it? Then you can pick whatever other 4 you want (Bookkeeping Side Hustle would be a great 2nd choice). Their website is super-buggy, sorry about that.
Jobs
💼 Jobs were added to the BSH Job Opp Google sheet. Part-time, full-time, contract, in-person, remote! Check it out HERE! Don’t forget to use #jobopp when posting about jobs!
💼 I wanted to remind you of a specific job opportunity at a company called Belay. I have interviewed them before for our community and they have lots of part-time contract positions. They reached out and said they are specifically trying to grow the Accounting Services side of their business. This kind of job might be a great fit for anyone who loves bookkeeping and wants flexibility, but doesn't want to have to do all the additional tasks that come with growing your own firm.
My Family Circus
New section of this newsletter for 2024. Completely non-bookkeeping related.
🎪 I told you my favorite piece of technology for my family. Now here is my favorite family analog activity. 👇
The old classic game foursquare. All you need is sidewalk chalk and a $5 rubber ball 🔴.
Why is 4-Square so great?
Play anywhere: You can play anywhere you have a hard, flat surface.
Inclusive: (Almost) All ages/abilities/fitness-levels can play together. We took our ball to my parents’ house at Christmas the players' ages spanned from 68 (my mom) down to 5. Not many outside, physical games can include that many people.
Fast rounds: The rounds go fast so you can keep a lot of people involved if you have more than 4 people.
Low time commitment: The game has a very low time commitment. Get a game going. Make sure some neighbors are playing, too. Then you can hop out of the rotation and go check on dinner, take a call, etc. Tiny ones can play a few rounds and then flitter away and jump back in later.
Warning –the game can be somewhat of a home-wrecker. To avoid divorce, neighbor feuds, or disowning a loved one, it is best to have a minimum of 5 people playing so the person who is not playing is the referee.
Even if you don't have a driveway that is flat, you can play in the street. Each round is typically so short, you will have time to clear off if you see a car coming. We have to play in the street. “CAR!!!”
Kate Builds In Public
🎢 So I shipped three new videos for my FreshBooks tutorial channel (this is where all my clients come from). Each video was very different in how I produced them. I would like to explain those differences to you, so you can get a flavor for different types of public videos you can create.
One is a comparison of the different FreshBooks Plans businesses can buy. This video is an affiliate link play. I want commissions when people purchase Freshbooks software. So I made a very detailed script so I said exactly what I needed to say and didn't go rambling. If you are worried about not being a writer, know that I start almost all of my videos scripts by using the voice recorder tool in Google Docs and I just ramble on and on to capture my thoughts and then I go back and rearrange/edit/clarify what I said.
One was made during a moment of frustration. I had dealt with 3 different clients in a short amount of time that all had questions about multi-currency in Freshbooks. And Freshbooks doesn't have multi-currency accounting even though their website talks about it. I was kind of fired up and frustrated for these clients. I just needed to explain this quickly and get it off my chest. So for that one I just scribbled the 3 sentences of the 3 quick points I wanted to make and hit record. I explained that I was not going to spend a lot of time editing it or scripting it, but I had to get the message out while it was fresh on my mind. So now if anyone is searching for questions about Freshbooks and multi-currency, hopefully Google will surface my video and I'll get my “Well, Ackshually…” message out there.
The third one is about a very obscure accounting topic and is a combination of a slightly scripted intro and outro plus a blurred out walkthrough video I made for a specific client. (Note, I did take time to hand write a more detailed script for that intro/outro, but I did not use my teleprompter because I didn't have it with me…notice the difference between this one and the first video about comparing Freshbooks plans where I did use my $170 teleprompter) See, I had a client who had a very specific situation and I needed to provide instructions to him. Video screenshare was the best way. He sold some investments and had a gain on sale. So I made a loom video to answer his specific question. But as I was filming it, in the back of my mind I thought that I wanted to keep it as general as possible while still helping him. So that specific example is the meat of the video, and I downloaded that from the Loom application. And then I put that in my video editing software and I recorded a proper intro and outro to the video. So think of it like a sandwich. I went back and made the two slices of bread a month after I had recorded his short answer. And the loom video is the meat that will still be helpful to others in the future. ⚠ Alert!, you have to have legit video editing software to blur out specific client names to utilize real client files in public videos.
From The Vault
⚡ I told you I have got ideas for days about how to make money in the accounting industry without clicking around in a bookkeeping file. Which one will you try first?
Classifieds (Clickable)
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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.