The One With Scholarships
TL;DR
It sounds so cliche, but going to my very first accounting industry conference in November 2021 changed my entire business. I attended one called Scaling New Heights*. It was a fantastic conference and I highly recommend it (though there certainly are many other great options).
The mental shift for me was huge.
See, when you put yourself in rooms with great people, great things start to happen.
I was no longer just some stay-at-home mom with a cute little side gig. I was a serious and driven business owner who was building a legitimate business that fit my lifestyle and personal goals.
I was someone who invested back into myself because I work hard to support my family and serve my clients. Investing in ourselves is the absolute best ROI that we can ever get, y’all.
I had fangirl moments when I got to meet people I looked up to.
I bunked up with a fellow online bookkeeping friend I had never met in person but felt like I knew (shout out to roomie Trinity Scott!).
I came home reinvigorated to improve my business and serve clients better.
Side note: It was also FUN. There are big parties where vendors spare no expense and pamper and woo us. There are laugh-filled conversations at lunch with people who are going through the same things you are. We need FUN in our businesses, y’all!
And I think more people should have this same type of experience so they can be even more successful at accomplishing their goals.
So I am thrilled to tell you about a new foundation that was created for just this purpose.
The Accounting Cornerstone Foundation is accepting applications for scholarships to send bookkeeping and tax pros to their very first in-person accounting conference.
This foundation wants to help people who might be holding themselves back, thinking they aren't worthy of investing in themselves like this.
I know that our newsletter sponsor Uncat is one of the early financial donors. They are excited to meet the scholarship winners at some of the conferences this year!
Apply if you’ve never been to a conference.
Donate (any amount) if you believe in this cause.
Click the cute cats.
Deals Deals Deals
💰 Bookkeeper Launch (the course I took to get my business started) is having a 50% off sale*! The course is basically always on sale in some way, but rarely for this low.
Their other flagship course TaxBiz Launch is also on sale for 50% off. That discount is applied when you get to the checkout page.
💰 Are you coming to Scaling New Heights this year? You can use this link* with the disount code SNHSPECIAL50 for $50 off! I will be there, and I’d love to meet you! If you are coming, will you comment below? Maybe we can have a private gathering for the Bookkeeping Side Hustle Community? Also, I’m speaking at the event. I’d love some friendly faces in the audience!
💰 Mariette Martinez is holding a Business Planning Essentials for Accountants & Bookkeepers Workshop + Course in May that is currently discounted $50 off. You have to purchase before May 1 to get the discount.
💰 Jay Kimmelman wrote a BOOK about Xero. Efficient Accounting with Xero: The definitive guide to optimizing your accounting with proven techniques and best practices. I (gently) twisted his arm him into a discount for y’all! 20% off through May 31. I strongly believe that more folks should niche in Xero.
💰 Get 20% off a membership to the QBO Gym where you can get hands-on simulations using QuickBooks Online. You have to buy before May 1 for the deal.
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.
📅 +Mondays in May: Bookkeeping Side Hustle Community Co-working Hour. Join me on on Zoom Mondays at 11am EST. Zoom link (password: HUSTLE)
📅 May 2: Using the Banking Feed in QBO. This Royalwise tutorial will show you how to add a bank account to QBO, import and match transactions, categorize your expenses, and attach receipts. Learn more and register HERE*.
📅 +May 16: Financial Cents Demo featuring New AI Tools. Come learn more about Financial Cents during a demo with founder Shahram Zarshenas. He will also be showing us the new AI features. You can RSVP here to get a reminder (no email required).
Featured Posts
🌶️ Gabriella Granger asked about failure criteria for your business - a very interesting take and most of you said failure isn’t an option!
🌶️ The ubiquitous “what do you do for health care insurance” question. If you have to source your own health insurance, add your experience to help others.
🌶️ Do you record your zoom meetings to share with clients? I asked the hive mind and it was really easy to let the CLIENT record if they want. I’m so glad I asked this! Easy way to add value.
🌶️ Joana Linares shared a round up article from Well Kept Wallet that gives the monthly pricing that a lot of the big bookkeeping operations charge.
Help You Hustle
💪 If you are feeling stuck in your business, you might need to shake things up. I think many people would find greater success and contentment in their entrepreneurial accounting ventures if they became a part of something like Breakaway Advisors. Even after the franchise fee, I bet the vast majority of people would end up with more money in their pocket.
Here are some of my main takeaways from the interview with Shea Keats (CEO) and Laura Blackburn (a Breakaway Advisor):
Shea Keats said the most successful members of Breakaway Advisors are the ones who realize they are running a business. Don’t miss this message. This is not an alternative path to employment.
Laura Blackburn did say that she was an entrepreneur at heart. That makes her the right match.
When you think about having to pay franchise fees, don’t forget that you are going to spend money on back-office stuff anyway. You are paying that kind of money somehow.
Breakaway Advisors is going to raise the franchise fee starting in September.
I’m envious of the camaraderie & support & interaction they described between the advisors.
💪Lots of good podcast recommendations in this post, including specific episodes. Go check it out and listen to one or a few! And add your favorites.
💪 I’m what I’d call "ChatGPT cynical”, but I saw Hector Garcia say he was doing a webinar on it called ChatGPT: How Accountants Can Use AI To Gain Next Level Efficiencies on CPA Academy (free learning site with almost TOO much information) and then he said that the session maxed out at 3,500 viewers (😲) and I had what the cool kids call FOMO, big time. It is on my list of ones to watch.
For Fun
💀 Who else was relieved when chatGPT failed an accounting exam? (S/O to The Big 4 Accountant).
Here is the (non-funny) news article behind the meme.
Jobs
💼 Here is a loom video to tell you how to access the “Guides” in Facebook to see the job postings that have been added. People have been having trouble finding the list of jobs.
📌 Note: If you have added a job opportunity and notice that I did NOT add it to the “Guides”, please message me. I try to catch them all, but I’m sure I miss some.
Don’t forget the standing opps on my Find A Freelance Job article. 1099 and W-2 opps.
Kate Builds In Public
🎢 I held my monthly free office hours for FreshBooks users. 4 people came! I spent $57 on Facebook ads the week leading up to it. But the thing is, all 4 of the people were already subscribed to my email list. I think they signed up because of the email I sent to my ~150 people on my Freshbooks user email list, not because of the ad. I am wondering if a better ad strategy would be to offer some sort of downloadable checklist that requires them to cough up an email? THEN hit them up for the free office hours in hopes of showing of my skills and converting them to a paying client (ideally a paying member of my private office hours group or one-on-one training, which is the main things I’m trying to sell)
2 of the 4 people that came booked private training (2 hours of training at $125 per hour). That means I spent 1 hour of my time and $57 to get (at least) $500 in revenue.
3 of the 4 attendees left 5 start reviews on my Google My Business. 2 of those 3 had to be asked 2x to leave the review. Hit send on the follow up email, y’all!
🎢 One client that I did a big clean up project for last year emailed me to “get their books reconciled to file their taxes". You know what I think my price might be??? At least 12 times the monthly fee I quoted them last year! They are using an annual clean-up (catch-up?) to avoid monthly services. 🤨 This is the argument I have heard against offering a discount on cleanups. That incentivizes people to just wait to have you do bookkeeping once a year for a cheaper price. So I’m curious, do you price cleanups by the number of months and do you discount it?
🎢 We received 3 offers on our house! Praise the Lord! We picked one and close right after my children finish school. Now we shift to the phase of all the heartbreaking goodbyes.
🎢 I got my first mammogram last week. I’m 41 (recommended age is 40). Y’all, it was much LESS terrible than I thought it would be. Not really a big deal at all. Women around my age, don’t fret the unknown. Men, tell the 40+ year old ladies in your life to go! Message me if anyone needs a peptalk!
From The Vault
⚡ Here is the original interview I did with Breakaway Advisors last year. This interview has a lot more of the technical details of becoming a franchisee. It is the interview that Laura Blacburn (guest on last week’s live stream) watched that inspired her to join Breakaway.
Classifieds (Clickable)
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Keep hustling!
Kate
-Chief Hustler-
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