The One About Which Is Best
Your best is not my best. My best is not your best.
TL;DR
It takes a lot of self-confidence to remain firm in your desires and affections. To think “even though the world shouts to me X is better than Y, I really just like Y better”.
Take vacations as an example.
I bet if you polled society, the results would say the best honeymoon is to somewhere warm on a beach on a lounge chair relaxing and drinking a daiquiri with a little umbrella in the glass and eating something decadent you didn’t have to cook yourself. Yet going to the beach is truly one of my least favorite things to do. Thanks to the Navy, I have lived less than a mile from the beach and I can honestly say I never had a desire to go. I went, but I had to force myself every time.
However, my honeymoon was spent at an outdated cabin in Montana that was owned by one of my professors who let us stay there for free. And we packed our own lunch sandwiches to take on our hikes.
Beach people, please don’t pity me. That vacation destination was a dream come true.
For me, that honeymoon was better than society’s picture perfect beach resort honeymoon.
Or what about that pressure on parents to get your kids to Disney theme parks.
No, thank you. I have longed for that a grand total of exactly 0 times as a parent of three young people (though I did take them one time but it was because I was delivering a keynote in Orlando and wanted them to see me on stage and the lodging was a biz expense).
So hear me say this, oh you brave parents who think Disney vacations are special and are feeling sorry for my kids right now. I am not silently wishing we were at Disney when we are camping. Or visiting Smithsonians in DC. Or road tripping.
For me, our road trip through New England so we could eat a fresh lobster and climb around on an old lighthouse was better than that magic down in Orlando.
I feel like there can be similar pressure in our industry. That there are all sorts of jobs and tasks in the accounting space, but I reject the idea that there is a universal right answer of what role is best.
Now within the roles, you can certainly rank people. There are dingbat bookkeepers and all star bookkeepers. Just as there are dingbat Tax Advisors. Or dingbat fractional CFOs.
If you love the work, it is better to be the best bookkeeper, or best payroll expert, or best 1040 shop than to be bad or miserable doing some sort of work that some online accounting influencer (who is trying to sell you a course or is shilling for a software) is telling you you must do to be considered successful.
When you are working at a high level within your dream role, you will be happiest and most successful.
“But Kate, how do I even know what all the different options are inside the very large umbrella that is the accounting industry?”
Well, If the landscape of the industry and the different types of work that need to be done to serve clients seems murky to you, then be sure to sign up for the upcoming Know Your Accounting Role workshop put on by our sponsor Mariette Martinez of Master Your Books. I think it will clear up the murkiness and equip you to confidently pursue success in that role that you’ve decided is the best one for you.
Deals Deals Deals
💰 Get a 20% discount on any of the QBO ProAdvisor certification courses from Akadian Accounting training materials with code QBOPRO20.
💰 Use code HUSTLE30 for 30% off the first year of RightTool Pro.
💰 Get 20% off your first 3 months of Double (formerly Keeper) by using our community link.
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.
📅+October 28: Build Your Bookkeeping Firm on Zoho. The accounting team from Zoho will be giving us an inside look at Zoho and how you can build your bookkeeping business serving Zoho clients. RSVP in FaceBook & watch live HERE.
📅 October 29-31: Know Your Accounting Role. This Free 3-Day Learning Experience, designed for those who are ready to start, realign, and level-up their accounting services for lasting client transformation and business growth. This hands-on experience is packed with topics, tools, and real-world examples that matter to today’s modern, collaborative accounting professionals. Register HERE.
📅+October 30: Behind The Hustle: Dawn Slokan. Another episode of the Behind The Hustle series - you don’t want to miss it! And get caught up HERE.
📅 November 12-13: WorkflowCon. Clear the chaos. Find your calm. Join Bookkeeping Side Hustle at WorkflowCon 2025 — the virtual event built for accountants & bookkeepers to master workflows, grow firms, and connect with peers.
Save your seat!
Featured Posts
🌶️ Andrea F. once again asking a good question. This time she wanted to know if you ask someone “why” when they turned down your proposal. There were LOTS of differing opinions on this - what is yours?
🌶️ Jade L. asked how everyone gets testimonials for their websites. How do YOU get them?
🌶️ I made a post asking if folks wanted to do a cohort together for getting the free new Xero Advisor Certification. There are 25 affirmative comments so far. If we can get 200 comments saying folks are interested I will show the thread to Xero and ask if they will do it with us. And probably nicely ask them to pony up some Xero swag prizes, too. 😁 (P.S…anyone have a contact at the Xero education department that developed the new certification that you could connect me with?)
P.S…if you are not in the Facebook group, you can comment your interest here on Substack and I’ll count it toward the 200 affirmative replies.
Help You Hustle
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💪 Grab the replay of our recent stream with Mariette Martinez called The Accounting Services Journey: From Compliance to Confidence. This special session gives you a preview of Mariette’s upcoming free training series, Know Your Accounting Role.
💪 The latest Behind The Hustle interview is with Barb Skinner. She is a mom of 3 young ones (aged 7-3). Oh, and we calculated her “effective” hourly rate live on the call. Just reporting the facts, y’all. You make your own conclusions.
💪 WorkflowCon2025 is coming up in November - with 25 speakers, daily raffle prizes, and did I mention it is FREE - it is a great virtual event for all bookkeepers. At WorkflowCon 2025, you’ll learn how top firm owners found clarity and calm while scaling profitably. Join me and grab your spot!
💪 If you learn best by using written material, Alicia Katz Pollock has updated her QuickBooks Online Bootcamp: From Setup to Tax Time textbook* to include new screenshots of the new QBO interface and updated material about the new AI agents.
Jobs
💼 A few jobs were added to the Job Guide - and I’m still looking for a unicorn in the Fort Worth area! Check it out HERE.
Don’t forget the standing opps on my Find A Freelance Job article. 1099 and W-2 opps.
My Family Circus (44F, 40M, 14M, 12F, 11M)
🎪 My girlfriends and my sisters have let me down. But I will not do the same for you, dear reader. You mean too much to me.
I was 44 years old before I set foot in a DryBar. It is a crying shame.
Thankfully, my neighbor set the universe aright and told me about this blessed place.
Do you know what a DryBar is?
Apparently, it is a nationwide chain of hair salons that only do a hairstyle called a blowout.
No haircuts. No hair coloring. They just style your hair.
Unless she wears a Pixie Cut, I honestly can’t imagine a woman or girl going to a DryBar and not coming out feeling prettier.
It had been a long time since I felt that pretty.
I even made it a mother-daughter affair and took my daughter because we were going to the same special event. She looked beautiful, of course. And I scored major cool-mom points because I haven’t even treated her to a pedicure yet and she feels deprived (“you can ask your grandmother to spoil you, Teeny One”).
How in the world have I not set foot in one of these locations sooner!?! 99% of the time I’m in a t-shirt and messy bun. But even for ragamuffin gals like me, there is that 1% where I want to look and feel a bit special, y’all.
And the cool thing is, DryBars are all over the country. So if you’re traveling somewhere, like to an accounting conference, or to a concert out of town, you could pop in to the nearest DryBar and feel fantastic about how you look.
You can bet your boots I will swing through a DryBar next time I’m speaking at a business conference and will be using photos from being on stage in marketing materials. Or on a day when I might get new business headshots taken and charging that single-use personal grooming expense to the business. (You know, I checked my calendar and it looks like have a date with my husband on that same night…what are the odds?) 💎
Men, listen up, too, and treat a special woman in your life. Especially one who might not be prone to spoiling herself. 👆
Kate Builds In Public
🎢 So that DryBar visit I mentioned above… The reason I had my hair done was because I had got to attend the 250th Navy Ball in Fort Worth. Now, I have attended countless events like this since I was 23 years old when I first caught the eye of my handsome sailor. This would not normally be worth sharing with you, except this time my business was an official sponsor (a.k.a. “advertising expense”). Supporting various causes is a very personal matter, but there is something really powerful about how business owners get to legally use business expenses to reduce our taxable income, that just might also allow us to support causes we believe in.
Also, since the TCJA, the percentage of households that take the Standard Deduction on their tax return is very high. Like over ~90% of Americans do not itemize. If you are part of that 90%, then maybe it is time to start thinking in a legal, tax-optimized way when it comes to how you “support” your near-and-dear causes.
OMG, none of what I written in this newsletter about blowouts or charitable donations VS advertising or taking your family when you attend conferences is tax advice. Talk to your tax pro. Don’t go to jail because you read a silly newsletter on the internet.
🎢 You know what is really hard? Maintaining up-to-date referral links all over the internet. Seriously, the more you start to learn about the power of the additional income you can generate by sharing things you love, the more you are going to want to do it. But then, you have to start remembering where you have pasted them. Like YouTube descriptions. Or email signatures. Or 500 different spots on other pages/posts on your website and social media.
You know what is LESS hard. Having a single page on the internet called “www Dot biz name Dot com SLASH Tools”. But behind the resources listed on that page, you just have a single, ”living” Google Sheet that has links to all your preferred tools.
At the very least, you could simply have a final line in your email signature that says “Small Business Tools I Recommend” and that could direct to your Google Sheet. Every single person reading this should do that right now. At least have referral links to your favorite bookkeeping software, payroll provider, and business banking tool. Then you can continue to update it over time.
So this week I used my very mid WordPress skills to make a work-in-progress page on my business website. I put 3 pictures of tools on it for now. I will add more. But click all 3 pictures and you’ll see how the destination is the same Google Sheet. I only have to maintain the single sheet. I feel like I’m winning the internet in the most lazy way possible.
It took me 7 years of business internetting to get my head here.
🎢 Military folks…listen up. I applied for and was accepted to a program/conference called Veteran EDGE. Veteran EDGE is a three-day, in-person business growth conference designed to help veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs scale. The registration fee is (only) $400 and includes full access to sessions, workshops, and networking events, plus three nights of lodging and most meals. I’ve only attended accounting conferences. Never a small business conference. I’m 90% sure I will accept my invitation. Maybe I’ll see you there!
From The Vault
⚡ Last newsletter I shared how I increased my prices for my paid diagnostic reviews. Well, here is where that first began: an interview I did with Veronica Wasek on how to price your first diagnostic review. This is a good starting point and she walks you through the steps.
If you decide you want to follow her method and templates, check out this resource* of hers.
Letters To The Editor
✉️ Just when I wonder if my writing is worth it, Stephanie M. knows how to make a writer keep going one more day. For real.
Also, your newsletter is the highlight of my inbox! I enjoy it so much!
✉️ It is always nice to hear how readers connect with the newsletter in their personal lives, not just in their business.
Love the reminder that I’m not the only one wearing a lot of hats! LOVE the sushi story and the challenge/meaning behind it for your family. It made me stop and reevaluate how to add something like that to my family. -Tiffany M
Classifieds (Clickable)
Keep hustling!
Kate
-Chief Hustler-
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