Bookkeepers On Fire with Deb & Donna

🔥 We went live with the powerhouse Alicia Katz Pollock (yes, crown 👑, scepter ⚡, cape 🦸‍♀️ energy included). From burnout ➝ back on fire, Alicia reminded us that sometimes losing your mojo is just the setup for a bigger comeback. 🚀 Here are 3 takeaways that hit hard: ✨ Burnout is real. Even industry legends hit that wall. The secret? Recognize it, own it, and rebuild. 💡 Curriculum by need....

🚨 Client wants references? Get ready, because we’re not playing the “prove yourself” game for free. Here’s how we handle the “Can I get a reference?” routine — with ✨confidence and a sprinkle of sarcasm✨: 🔹 Pre-screened & Fabulous — You’ll only get the people who love me. Think of it like talking to my mom… but with better QuickBooks skills. 💁‍♀️  🔹 You First, Friend — You want three ref...

🔥 Tuesday Live Replay: Bookkeepers on Fire x Anna Dina, CPA From firewalks to Butterfly Effect Financial , Anna lit us up with mindset, systems, and owning your freedom as a modern bookkeeper. 🦋 🤯 Silence the “roommate” in your head. Catch the doubt, ask “Is this true?”, and move anyway—confidence compounds when you do the hard + uncomfortable things. 🧠⚡ 🧰 Build brains outside your brain. No...

🚨 Manual Madness Marathon Alert 🚨  Are you still living in spreadsheet purgatory charging $20/hour while juggling 30 clients manually? 😵‍💫 Honey… it's time to level up. Here’s what we unpacked in this episode: 🔧 Manual ≠ Magical — Excel isn’t your personality. It’s time to embrace software and stop bleeding hours. 💰 Twenty Ain’t Plenty — If Buc-ee’s is paying $18/hr for bagging beef jerky, w...

✨ Bookkeepers On Fire goes GLOBAL! 🌍🔥 Today we welcome Geetika Bajaj— Chartered Accountant (India’s CPA), YouTuber 🎥, and Top-Rated Upwork Freelancer 💻. She runs a 100% women-owned & women-employed bookkeeping firm in India 🇮🇳 — serving mostly US-based clients. We dive into:  👉 CA vs CPA explained 📊  👉 Outsourcing models that WORK 🔑  👉 Growing from Upwork → LinkedIn → Referrals 🚀  ...

Surprise Thursday Stream 🔥 We went LIVE with Tonya Schulte—construction accounting pro + connector-of-dots. From a yard-sale textbook to WIP wizardry and go-give leadership…this one delivered. 🏗️ From Yard Sale to Job Costing Pro: Tonya’s origin story started with a 1970s accounting book and led to a career devoted to construction accounting (yes, WIP > wishful thinking). 🔧 Right App, Right F...

💥 Thinking of downgrading from QBO Plus to Simple Start? Before you hit that button and call it "cost-saving," let’s have a real chat. Because what you save in dollars, you will pay for in chaos. 😬 Here’s what you really need to know: 🔻 Features don’t disappear… they vanish Classes, locations, multiple users, robust reporting—poof! Gone. If you use them even once, Simple Start isn’t so simple....

From carrier decks to tax desks… meet Hal “in a towel” Hickey—Vietnam vet, ex-IRS auditor, and the quiet engine behind our practice. His story? Wild. His advice? 🔥 ✈️➡️📊 Grit scales: From getting shot down over Vietnam to auditing 1040s in Manhattan, Hal proves resilience + discipline beat “luck” every time. 🧠💳 OPS > DIY: “Other People’s Skills” win. Stop winging it—bring in pros, charge fo...

Bookkeepers On Fire 🔥 w/ Wayne Higdon — From Hourly to Value, QBD to QBO, and Building a Firm You Love  Today we’re joined by the legendary (and proudly introverted!) Wayne Higdon to talk about his journey—from a sociology major and “Bob Cratchit with a coal stove” 😄 to a modern firm owner running on value pricing and QuickBooks Online.  We swap stories from Scaling New Heights (remember that wi...

🔥 Ever seen “Unapplied Cash Bill Payment Expense” on your P&L and felt personally attacked? You’re not alone — but you are probably running Cash Basis reports with some “goofy” dates. Here's your spicy cheat sheet to stop letting QuickBooks make your books look wild: 🔍 Watch your dates If Larry the Computer Guy can’t figure out why he’s getting paid before he does the work, it might be time...

⚡ Chaos by Client: Why Your Chart of Accounts Looks Like a Dumpster Fire 🔥 You asked, we answered — but you’re not gonna like it. No, you can’t delete inactive COA lines in QBO.  And yes, the mess is usually homemade. Here's how to keep your sanity: 🧷 Set boundaries — and permissions. Advanced QBO gives more control. Use it. Lock it down like your best spreadsheet formula. 🧩 ✏️ Rename, repurpo...

🧨 Bookkeepers, let’s cut the crap. If your client’s still mailing checks or slapping on credit card fees, it’s not “old-school” — it’s outdated. Time for some tough bookkeeping love: 📬 Checks? Still? Why? Envelopes, stamps, and standing in line at the bank? What is this — 1987? 💳 Credit Card Fee Rage Nothing clears a restaurant faster than a surprise $3 swipe tax. Want loyalty? Don’t punish con...

🔥 New Episode Drop: "Support, Not Psychic" 🔮 Ever called support expecting them to read your mind? Yeah... don’t. On this episode of Bookkeepers on Fire, Donna spills the inside tea ☕ from the other side of the support call 👀. 💥 Here’s the spicy scoop: 🎯 Be Ready: Name. Email. Company ID. and Company Name. If you don’t bring it, we’re just guessing—and spoiler alert: we’re not psychics. 📞 B...

🔥 Prior Period Panic? Oh, we’ve all been there. One minute you’re reconciling January 2024, next thing you know, you're knee-deep in 2023's mystery meat of transactions. 😅  Here’s the real talk from the bookkeeping trenches: 📌 No Adjustments? You're Lucky. If you reconciled a year with no adjustments, go buy a lottery ticket. That never happens. Like… ever. 📌 The Tax Return is Sacred-ish. Once...

"Just started using QuickBooks Online again... and wow, I forgot how much I hated it." 😅 If you've ever screamed internally at QBO, you're not alone. But here’s the deal:  QuickBooks wasn't built for accountants — it was built for humans. 💥 So before you rage-quit and grab your green ledger paper, consider this: 🔸 Forms > Journal Entries Your client doesn't speak debit/credit. They speak “I...

🔥 Zero It Out — because sometimes bookkeeping gets real. Ever had a client whose Social Security deposits hit the business account? Yeah... us too. On the latest episode of Bookkeepers on Fire, Debbie and Donna dish out spicy solutions with a side of sarcasm. Here’s what you’ll learn (and laugh about): 💸 Wrong Account, Right Fix — Why owner's equity is your new best friend. 🧾 Cash, Checks, Chic...

 🎙 “Pitch It Anyway” — Because sometimes, rules are just... suggestions. A company wants a full-time W-2? Cute. But we know better. 😏 In this episode, we tackle the fine line between what they want and what actually works for us as professionals. 💼 Key Takeaways (with a kick): 💸 W-2 vs. 1099: Just because they said “employee” doesn’t mean you can’t educate them on options. ☕ Bookkeeper ≠ Recep...

🚀🔥 What an epic Bookkeepers On Fire episode with the legendary Ron Baker — the man who makes you rethink everything you thought you knew about pricing. Here’s the 🔥 takeaway buffet you didn’t know you needed: 💡 Value is a feeling, not a formula – Stop selling hours, start selling transformation. Price tells your story , not your stopwatch. 📦 Subscription ≠ Payment Plan – True subscription mea...

🧾 Personal Bookkeeping: It's Messy, It's Lucrative, It's... Marital? 💸 Ever been asked to handle someone’s personal books? Not the business kind — we’re talking hair appointments, pool guys, and surprise facials. Before you dive in, here's what you really need to remember: 🔑 You're Not Dr. Phil – If they’re fighting over her spa day or his tech splurge... nope. One point of contact. You're the...

🧠 Thinking of Starting a Bookkeeping Biz? Read This First. So someone asked: "I don’t have clients yet, but I’m practicing by transferring money between my personal checking and savings accounts. What category is that?" 😬 Ohhh… where do we begin? Here’s the hard truth ⚡️👇 🔹 YouTube ≠ Training. Watching Facebook reels doesn’t make you a bookkeeper. Get actual education—from a community college...

🔥 Subscription Sticker Shock? Let’s Talk. Are you clutching your pearls over software costs while sipping your $7 latte? Let’s realign those priorities, friend. Here’s the no-fluff breakdown: 🔹 Paper + Pencil ≠ Profit – Running your biz like it’s 1995? That’s not vintage—it’s a liability. 🔹 Pay Up or Pivot – If the software makes you money, it's an investment. If it doesn’t, stop whining and wa...

🔥 Welcome to another red-hot episode of Bookkeepers on Fire! 🔥 Today, we sit down with the one and only Mark Corum, co-creator of the beloved Chrome extension Right Tool — the game-changing add-on that’s transforming how pros interact with QuickBooks Online. ✨ Whether you’re doing cleanups, batch edits, or just trying to stop yelling at your screen — Right Tool has your back.  In this episode,...

You may know him as Hector’s brother — but after this episode, you'll remember him as the communication wizard 🔮, pricing mindset shifter 💸, and co-creator of Reframe and Exactly What to Say – Accounting Edition 📘. 🎙️ In this jam-packed episode, we talk about: Why pricing is more than math — it’s a confidence game 💥 How Carlos went from banking to building Reframe Society, a coaching space for...

🔥 Solo, Sane, and SO Over Hiring 🔥 Let’s talk truth: not every bookkeeping boss wants to build an empire with employees, HR headaches, and diaper rash updates at 9 AM. In our latest Bookkeepers on Fire episode, we break down why flying solo might just be the secret to staying sane (and profitable). 💼💰 ✨ Here’s what we unpack: 💸 Why hiring someone can cost you $50K —and your peace of mind. 🔥...

🔥 Digits is Changing the Game! 🔥  In our latest Bookkeepers on Fire episode on YouTube, we sat down with Jeff Seibert, CEO of Digits, and let’s just say… minds were blown 🤯.  From AI agents to bank sync magic, Jeff gave us a front-row seat to the next-gen of small biz accounting. 💥 Here's what we unpacked: 🚀 Real-time financials and AI agents that learn as you go (no more training rules like...