The Successful Bookkeeper Podcast

See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Your clients' financials tell one story. What your clients think about their business tells another. In this episode, fractional CFO, course creator, and speaker Debra Angilletta returns to show how closing that gap — through simple, curiosity-driven conversations — is the most direct path to selling advisory services. No complicate...

See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Dr. Sabrina Starling has spent over 20 years helping small business owners build profitable, sustainable companies without burning themselves out. In this episode, she brings her business psychology background directly to bookkeepers — walking through her $10,000-an-hour framework, the mindset shift that changed everything for her,...

See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Teresa Gregory has spent her career helping leaders find the hidden patterns that quietly shape every decision they make. In this conversation with host Michael Palmer, she turns that lens directly on bookkeeping professionals — the people who sit in a unique seat of trust with their clients every single day. Whether you manage a te...

See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Melissa Broughton, founder of Busy Bee Advisors in Sacramento, has built a bookkeeping firm that grows not just through referrals and marketing, but through strategic acquisition of other bookkeeping practices. In this episode, she pulls back the curtain on her complete acquisition process — from finding firms before they shut their...

See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → AI is moving fast, and the bookkeeping profession is squarely in its path — but not in the way most people fear. In this episode, Michael Palmer sits down with AI strategist and educator Benjamin Tasker to talk about what the shift actually looks like on the ground, which skills will separate bookkeepers who thrive from those who st...

See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Sammy Mattingly and Fred Ott are back for the finale of their two-part conversation with host Michael Palmer. Where Part 1 covered the leap into bookkeeping entrepreneurship, Part 2 gets into the gritty, practical work of making a young firm sustainable — documenting processes, surviving the first real growth wave, hiring employee n...

See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Sammy Mattingly and Fred Ott co-founded Mattingly & Ott Financial Accounting in their mid-twenties, with backgrounds in Big Four auditing and investment management — and a brief, memorable detour into portable sanitation. In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, they walk through the early decisions that shaped their firm: getti...

See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → If you've ever quoted a price, panicked at the silence, and then talked yourself into a discount before the prospect even responded — this episode is for you. In the finale of this two-part series, Natalia Zacharin, Founder and Principal of Zacharin Consulting, picks up where she left off: taking a firm from underpriced and overwork...

See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Natalia Zacharin had no bookkeeping background, no clients, and no safety net when she started Zacharin Consulting in January 2019. She was 49, a single mom, and her invoicing clerk job was being phased out. In part one of this two-part conversation, Natalia lays out exactly how she went from that starting point to building a firm t...

See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Ashley Jocic started Florida Keys Bookkeeping at one of the most turbulent moments imaginable: a separation, COVID shutdowns, and a career pivot — all at once. What followed was five years of growing a fully virtual bookkeeping firm while navigating a new marriage, a daughter, an international move to Serbia, and twins. This episode...

See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Anne Napolitano started her firm a decade ago as a solopreneur with an accounting degree, a background as a controller for Hermès of Paris, and a stint as a personal chef. Today she runs a 10-person firm with a specialty niche in food and beverage — and she has learned, often the hard way, how to charge what her work is actually wor...

"There were times I remember having to pull money out of our retirement savings to cover payroll. We weren't sleeping, we were stressed. We didn't know where to turn, and it was so stressful. It was not a good scenario." -Teresa Slack In this episode, Canadian bookkeeping expert and million-dollar firm builder Teresa Slack shares the hard truth about pricing and what it really costs when you get i...

" When you start speaking to yourself with more precise and definitive language, it changes how you show up for yourself. Think about how your clients and the people that you work with, it impacts how they see you." –Justin Atherton In this episode, former law enforcement detective, SWAT operator, and leadership coach, Justin Atherton breaks down a skill most bookkeepers overlook: precise communic...

"This is how you look at success. It is only a narrative of people to people, to people. Why else wouldn't you wanna spend your time doing that more purposefully and intentionally?" -David Homan In the finale of our two-part series with community building strategist and author, David Homan, he will show you how to turn everyday interests into real connections and why the opportunities you're looki...

"There's all that magic that seems to happen by those who are born with relationship privilege, but we can all build it. It just starts with how you can become more purposeful and intentional with what you want out of not just your life, but the people around you that form your purposeful community." -David Homan Community-building strategist and author of Orchestrating Connection , David Homan ch...

"High performers liked to be with high performers. So if you start to train yourself as a manager, as a boss, as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, in holding people accountable, you will notice who doesn't mind that, who kind of thrives around that, and those kind of people attract more people like that." –Gina Cotner In this episode, founder and CEO of Athena Executive Services, Gina Cotner s...

"At some point in the future, somebody's going to be watching a movie about our era and there's going to be a human bookkeeper. And they're going to turn to their parents 20 years from now, and they're gonna say, 'Bookkeepers used to be people? That's so weird. I thought they were always artificial intelligence. I thought they were always computers.'" -Joe Woodard In this spotlight episode, founde...

"Oftentimes we get into burnout because we are saying yes to everything. We're getting scope creep, and we aren't billing for those extras."–Linda Hunt In this episode, the author of The Money Conversation: Speak the Truth. Set the Standard. Get Paid Without Apology , Linda Hunt explains why burnout often starts with unclear boundaries and underpriced services. She shares practical strategies to h...

"We always say ' Motivation is like a shower. You should visit it daily.' You have to keep yourself motivated every day. How do I get myself motivated and sold back on myself so that I can be the best version of how I want to show up for my clients?" –Julee Gracey In this episode, sales and marketing coach, speaker, and author of Highly Confident , Julee Gracey explains why confidence is the found...

" In order to create that trust, you have to be honest enough to know that you're not the right person for everybody. But those people that you do connect with, when you find that connection, that is when you can start to go through that process." –Amy Jacobson In this episode, Australian emotional intelligence expert, speaker, and author of The Emotional Intelligence Advantage: Mastering Change a...

"The biggest one and the most impactful one is not making the time every week to work on the business. They get themselves into the rat race. They spend the money on these programs, and then they don't make the time to implement them. That's the biggest mistake that I see. Do the hard things 'cause we can all do hard things and it's okay if we screw up."–Teresa Slack In the final episode of this f...

"You can have all the great checklists and all the great systems for quality bookkeeping and you can hire all the right people, but if you don't know how to price your services, you are going to fail. You will not be profitable."–Teresa Slack In part three of this four-part series, Teresa Slack, co-founder of Financly Bookkeeping Solutions, shares the phase where momentum finally began to build. A...

"We can do hard things even though you're afraid, even though you don't know if it's going to work. You have to try. You have to do different things and you will fail. And that's part of the growth. Part of the learning is to not be afraid to take that leap." –Teresa Slack In part two of this four-part series, Teresa Slack, co-founder of Financly Bookkeeping Solutions, shares the breaking point th...

"The mission was always to build a million dollar bookkeeping firm. Our goal was to grow a large bookkeeping firm with clients and staff across Canada. That's what we wanted to do. And that's kind of what we are now." –Teresa Slack In part one of this special four-part series, Teresa Slack, co-founder of Financly Bookkeeping Solutions, shares the honest story of launching a virtual bookkeeping fir...

"The hardest thing is to not try and solve their problem in the sales interview, just listen to the business case, and then come up with clever ways to achieve that business case really as easily as you possibly can. So you're looking for smaller projects, not bigger projects. It's, it's a complete mind shift." -Jonathan Stark Jonathan Stark, author of Hourly Billing is Nuts , breaks down why hour...