The One About Why Words Are Hard

You can practice saying the hard ones

TL;DR

So, picture this.

I was 26 years old. It was late June, and I had just gotten married a week before to a young Naval Officer who was beyond my wildest dreams in every way. I couldn’t believe he had picked me. Happiest a gal could be, right?

Well, we were at a hotel, trying to catch the early morning hotel shuttle to the airport to get home from our honeymoon in Montana.

I was sitting on the shuttle, but my husband had run back inside the hotel lobby for something. I guess we thought he had plenty of time.

Nope. We were wrong. The driver fired up the engine and closed the door and started to pull away.

At this point, it was my job to simply inform the driver that my husband was inside and ask him to please wait 30 more seconds. That is what any normal person would do in this situation.

But, I almost couldn't do it.

Because I couldn't say the word “husband”. I could not say it. Ewww.

Thankfully, I was finally able to muster some sense, and I blurted out, “Sir! That, that, that… MAN needs to get on the bus”.

That exclamation accomplished the task. The driver stopped and waited. “That man” made it on the bus.

And to this day we still joke about the time I used that phrase “that man” to refer to the man I had just vowed to spend the rest of my life with.

But y'all, I couldn't do it. I could not say the word “husband”. That word felt so weird inside my mouth. Gave me the willies.

Deep inside, I wanted to be known as his wife. I wanted everyone to know how stinkin' amazing it was that he was my husband and no one else's. I liked him and loved him.

But for some reason, I wasn't ready for that word. My lips and vocal chords could not make that sound. I hadn't practiced it. Inside I was still in my youthful “where are the grown ups?” phase, not a full grown lady “Oh crud, I am the grown up” phase.

So I had to literally practice saying the word husband so it wouldn’t be hard for me anymore.

Thankfully, I eventually was able to normalize it for myself.

This story comes to mind when I feel the willies using certain words when I’m talking about my business.

Because many words have given me the willies.

• For sure any words that talk about prices and dollars.

• The word bookkeeper has always been a tough one for me.

• What title to call myself.

• What words I use to describe my business (I’ve practiced enough to mostly use the word “firm” nowadays).

The State of The Virtual Bookkeeping & Accounting Industry Report has some very interesting statistics that I think are interesting to compare yourself to and ask yourself if you are happy with where you have landed in relation to the 645 respondents.

• What do you call yourself (firm owner, bookkeeper, accountant, CFO, etc)?

• What do you call your business (firm, agency, consulting practice, etc)?

• How does your minimum monthly price compare to the statistics? If yours is lower, can you practice saying those higher numbers out loud?

  • Which reminds me of the time I was at a conference, and I saw Hector Garcia give Tania Santos a microphone and made her practice saying the word “$38,000 thousand dollars” for a clean up project. He made her say it multiple times. To a room full of people.

Download this 2025 industry survey and circle the words that you know you want to practice. Then practice saying the words out loud until it gets comfortable.

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Deals Deals Deals

💰 Having bookkeeping or accounting skills is much different than having the business skills needed to run a firm (or even an organized solo practice). Justine Lackey is one of the best-known educators in our industry who teaches these skills - she built her firm to nearly 7 figures before she exited it in 2023. Enrollment for her program, The Nest, is kicking off in September and her VIP list is set to close this week. VIP members get some additional discounts, perks and benefits. Join the list here* before it closes.

💰 When you are ready to hire, you can use the proctored exams from Accountests to assess the technical accounting skills of your candidates. Use code BSH15OFF for a 15% discount. Learn more about their tests here*.

Please always send me any news of deals that you hear of that others might benefit from.

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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.

📅 +August 5 - Behind The Hustle: Chris Kocina. This is the 3rd part of the Behind The Hustle series. Learn from REAL people who built their bookkeeping business. Subscribe to the YouTube channel so you don’t miss it! Watch the first two here.

📅 August 12 - Bookkeeping Buds Magic Hour - Running a bookkeeping firm can feel isolating—even when your calendar is full. You're holding it all together, saying yes too often, and wondering if anyone else understands what it’s like to build a business while trying to protect your peace. Magic Hour is your invitation to pause, connect, and step into a space where women like you gather to grow—together. Connect with your bookkeeping bestie - this month’s topic is about being Red Rope Ready. Sign up now!

📅 August 13 - From SaaS to CAAS: Tech Pricing Tactics and How to Use Them Tomorrow - Anchor is hosting this webinar In this session, we’ll reverse‑engineer the psychology and playbook that power the world’s most valuable SaaS companies and show you, step‑by‑step, how to translate it to your accounting and advisory services right away. Register for the webinar today!

📅 August 14 - One Big Beautiful Bill Act Update: Unlocking tax credit opportunities, key insights and practical impacts for your business. Thanks to Joana L for sharing the details about this webinar ADP is hosting. I will help bookkeepers be better equipped to spot opportunities, ask the right questions, and collaborate effectively with tax professionals. Sign up HERE.

📅 August 18-20 - The Ambitious Bookkeeper hosts her 3-day Bookkeeping Biz Workshop Series*. Only $37.

📅 August 19 - Restaurants (and Bars) in QuickBooks Online*. Join restaurant accounting expert Kristen Nies Ciraldo as she walks you through setting up, keeping up, and even summing up the financial life of a typical restaurant using QBO. Get more details and register HERE.

📅 +August 27 - Behind The Hustle: Yehuda Tenenbaum. Tune into the 4th interview of the Behind The Hustle series.

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Featured Posts

🌶️ Our first Behind The Hustle interviewee, Lynsi Ingram mentioned her journey to getting her Enrolled Agent credential. I challenged her to finish her exams by July 31. She gave her progress update to the group in this post.

• If you aren't sure what an Enrolled Agent is, you can watch this replay talking about whether bookkeepers should also become EAs.

🌶️Marketing idea. Irina J. shared her idea about looking into charitable sponsorships instead of just donating money to causes you know you will contribute to.

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Help You Hustle

Round up of resources to help you get clients. 💰👏

💪 Interview #2 of Behind The Hustle with Amber Reusch was the same level of awesome and inspiring, and yet so different.

• She talked about her path to $100k working 2 hours per day. And then outlined her plans to get to $250k.

• She described the specific moment in the past where she immediately raised her prices. She spoke with such conviction at that moment. Like splashing cold water on my face.

Be sure you are subscribed to the YouTube Channel, y’all. I’ve got 2 more of these Behind The Hustle interviews lined up. The next 2 will be men. I’m going to really strive hard for 50/50 guys and gals for these interviews. Who else would you like me to interview? Reply to this email.

💪 Do you know in your heart that you are a great bookkeeper but are sick and tired of not making much money? Cleanup projects are a great way to bring in really high priced engagements and then turn them into monthly clients. Watch this free replay from Akadian about how to sell and conduct this type of engagement. I’m not sure how long they will keep the replay link available. Sign up here and download it fast.

💪Are you tired of working for free? I was! Veronica Wasek's Paid Diagnostic Review course* taught me the “what” and the “why” behind the concept of charging to even look at a prospect's books to give them a quote for a clean up. The first one I did was only $125, but now I charge $300. But, the thing about this particular course that I will be forever grateful for is the script that came with it that I printed and taped on the wall above my computer so my mouth could say the words “I recommend that we get started with a Paid Diagnostic Review.” Whew, how those words used to make me sweat. But no more!

💪 Ever wondered how you get your business as in advertiser in the BSH Pub? Click here to request information on how to become a title or classified sponsor.

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My Family Circus (44F, 40M, 13M, 12F, 11M)

🎪 How to die without tattoos you regret

My husband and oldest son just returned for an epic Boy Scout adventure at Philmont Boy Scout Camp. 12 days in the wilderness carrying all their food and water. Extremely tough. When I was finally able to speak to them on the phone and ask my son if he would do ever do it again he said “100%”. It was music to my momma ears.

But for the last few months or so, I've had this idea that I have been repeating to them over and over. I think it is such a great idea! (Aren't all of my ideas are the best!)

I keep telling them that I think they both should get a small tattoo of the cattle brand of the ranch. It's a P and a backwards S with a line above it.

I just want them to remember how special it is that they got to have this experience together. When they eventually don't live together, when one of them dies before the other, when they go through a season of doubting what they are made of, the tattoo is right there to remind them of this special and rare experience.

Unfortunately, it has been a hard No from both of them. They are such squeaky clean Boy Scouts, darn it!!!

Possibly it is because my children have heard my personal tattoo policy many times, which is thus…

1. Don't let anyone else pressure you to get a tattoo. It should be your idea.

2. If possible, get a temporary version first, like henna, to make sure you really want it for 50 years.

3. Don't get a tattoo on the day you decide you want one. There needs to be a wait list. The longer the better. This is simple economics (oh, how I wish everyone in the world understood economic principles like supply and demand). Wait lists mean the artist is good and you won't end up with something that looks like a prison tattoo. It also might lead to you changing your mind and deciding that one you thought you wanted isn't really something you want to grow old and wrinkly with you after all. Wouldn't you be glad not to have gotten a tattoo that you didn't really want 2 months later?

4. Tattoos should be very expensive. From an economic theory point of view, it really is closely related to the supply and demand issue of point #3. The supply of good tattoo artists is low, so those folks can command a high price. But for this point, I don't emphasize the econ principle, I emphasize more of an accounting principle. Amortization. Let's say you have a 50 year time horizon for the useful life of this Long Term Asset you are about to carry with you until you die. The difference between the $200 version of your tattoo and the $1,000 version is still mere pennies per day. Save up and get the best version.

But dang it if my son (and husband), hasn't listened to his momma and will not go get a tiny Father/Son tattoo of the Philmont brand! He is abiding by principle #1. That little rascal!

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Kate Builds In Public

🎢 In the last two weeks, two current clients have asked for more services. Is that not the absolute best type of money to earn? It feels better than a new prospect saying yes to a proposal.

🎢 Low pressure content idea-

I created a piece of content for my FreshBooks YouTube channel where I interviewed a client (a member of my FreshBooks Office Hours) about a very cool specific report he uses inside of FreshBooks. Basically he uses FreshBooks project tracking to track hours internally to projects so he knows if he did a good job bidding out his fixed fee projects. He's doing such a good job and is so proud of how he is using his accounting tool to run his business.

So I asked him if he would let me interview him and let him be the teacher. He shared his screen and talked through exactly how he does his time tracking to his projects.

Note: Because he shared his screen, I did have to do some advanced editing techniques where I blurred some private data, but you could even get started with simply verbally interviewing your clients and not having them share their screen.

Case studies make for great content. And it takes the pressure off of you to be interesting. You could even make them written if you aren't ready to make videos yet, by interviewing clients and giving the transcript to AI and asking it to create a written case study.

People love to talk about themselves and their lives and successes. I'm just saying.

(I notice the irony of that last sentence written in the “Kate Builds In Public” section. Guilty!!!)

🎢 We have 10 days left until school starts. And while this summer has been great, I am ready to get back a routine. It is comfortable to me. These past two weeks since the last newsletter have taken me from Fort Worth, all the way south of San Antonio, all the way out to the very west part of Texas to Fort Davis, and back to Fort Worth. In case you aren't aware of how big Texas is, that is a lot of full days of driving.

I also have hosted my parents and sisters and all their kids in Fort Worth for 4 days. Lots of prep time and lots of family time. Business was mostly an after thought.

I am ready for a predictable routine. I enjoy running my business.

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From The Vault

⚡I’ve shared recently about how much I have made with the Relay referral program - and last year I did an interview with Relay about the partner program. Watch it here if it has piqued your interest!

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Letters To The Editor

✉️

I just wanted to say Thank you for being a resource. I enjoy your newsletter and YouTube videos. - Karen D.

This newsletter had me cracking up - just little things here and there. You’re just funny. I enjoyed the read! Jackie C.

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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, including Amazon Links, 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.