The Successful Bookkeeper Podcast

" I think it's important that you go for it. You imagine what that looks like. I didn't go into this with the intention of having a big company. It happened one employee at a time. How do you get the 30 employees? Well, start with one." -Jenny Groberg In this episode, we wrap up a two-part conversation with Jenny Groberg, founder of BookSmarts Accounting and Bookkeeping, where she shares how she t...

" When I'd go on appointments I would say, 'You know, I do work with so and so', and then that would kind of just help them feel reassured that I knew what I was doing, but I never pretended to know everything. I would be very upfront. If there's something I don't know, let me do some research and I'll get back to you." -Jenny Groberg Jenny Groberg, founder of BookSmarts Accounting and Bookkeeping...

" One of the most famous quotes ever from Tony Robbins, this one I take with me every single day. 'Fall out of love with yourself and fall in love with your customer and watch the magic happen'. And you gotta fall in love with your customer. When you fall out of love with what you offer or your package, and you fall in love with your customer, you have a beautiful relationship that happens." -Lynn...

" You're on your own as a business owner. You're trying to figure out, there's no course that anybody gives you to tell you how to be a business owner." -Lynn Gagne-Webb In the first of a two-part series, Lynn Gagne-Webb, founder of Custom Bookkeeping, shares her journey from the corporate world to running and selling a successful bookkeeping firm. As well, Lynn dives into her unique approach to b...

"But we just don't have the time if we're on the gerbil wheel of doing the same thing over and over again every month is just a new month. Where do I find time to ask three or even one new question when I'm busy doing the stuff that I have to do, and we've got to focus our attention on fewer clients, but deeper work for those clients. And that's when we create the capacity to do the kind of work t...

"Nobody knows what we're really doing, and so if we wanna increase the value of what we deliver, we've gotta break down those barriers to understanding and find ways to make the information meaningful and relevant to what they're trying to accomplish." -Geni Whitehouse In part one of a two-part series, Geni Whitehouse, founder of The Impactful Advisor, shares her journey from tax and tech to trans...

" If I don't have a clear pathway for somebody to come in fresh, and get the experience they need and teach them what they need to know so that they can do what we do, I've really limited who I can even help get into this industry, who I can hire." -Cameron Davis In the finale of this 2-part series, Cameron Davis shares how he grew Imago Dei Bookkeeping from a side hustle to a 60-client firm by hi...

" I couldn't have moved to the next stage if I didn't learn what I learned there. Although the time there was difficult, it was such a key time period to launch me into the next phase of failing an insurance agency, which also taught me what I needed to learn in order to do what I'm doing now." -Cameron Davis In part one of this two-part series, Cameron Davis, owner of Imago Dei Bookkeeping &...

"More powerful and more comfortable don't usually go hand in hand. Usually more powerful is more uncomfortable. When you're clear about your own voice and what you're bringing to the table, you can see a pathway to saying the more powerful thing and not perceiving it as a threat to the relationship, but instead you're like fueling a better conversation." -Dia Bondi In the finale of this 2-part ser...

"You are your most powerful when you speak from who you truly are." -Dia Bondi In part 1 of this 2 part series, leadership communications coach, keynote speaker, and author of Ask Like An Auctioneer , Dia Bondi shares how bookkeepers can unlock their full potential by discovering and owning their true voice. In this interview, you'll learn... Why your authentic voice matters more than polished wor...

"Don't choose happiness, because choosing happiness is a privilege for yourself that we don't always have. We can't always choose to be happy every day. That's not always in our ability, but we can choose happiness for others, and we can choose kindness. And so just choosing kindness will inevitably make you happier." -Jennifer Moss In part two of our conversation with workplace happiness expert J...

" We've adopted pretty bad behaviors since the pandemic of over meeting and not caring about time and not setting our own boundaries, and we have this toxic productivity where we always have to be on. There's a sense of constant urgency that's manufactured, and there's also a lot of learned helplessness where you go in and just like, I'm just burned out and I'm gonna quiet quit. Instead of decidin...

" I could take my time. That's a really big one because so many times, when we're in a crunch, you really wanna hire before you get to that. Because what happens is, when you hire, when you're in a crunch, you may end up settling or you may not pick the best fit." -Nacondra Moran In part 2 of this great conversation, Nacondra Moran, founder of Exceptional Tax Services shares how she transformed he...

" I had a lot more of mindset issues than the actual execution because I felt like I could provide good services. I had a certain level of confidence. But it doesn't matter really how much confidence, if you do also lack that critical mindset piece to really help you move forward." -Nacondra Moran In part 1 of thie great 2-part series, Nacondra Moran, founder of Exceptional Tax Services, shares th...

"As a business owner, you have to pick up everything. So right now, it's not my goal to hire at that capacity, but definitely to hire more of an assistant for myself to make sure that I am getting the support that I need as I'm building this business, rather than bringing someone in to run this business." -Christina Springstead Christina Springstead, founder of Springstead Solutions, shares her jo...

"Think about what you want. Be intentional on why you're growing your business. Are you growing it for a money goal? Are you growing it so you have more time and flexibility? And then create those boundaries around giving yourself what your why is. Build a business that feels like your own fairy tale." -Cindy Schroeder Cindy Schroeder, owner of Bright Bookkeeping and founder of Bookkeeping Buds, s...

"Speaking requires feedback. We have to listen to ourselves. We have to listen to each other and give feedback in order to get better. Speaking is social." -Ruth Milligan Ruth Milligan, founder of Articulation and curator of TEDxColumbus, dives into how better communication leads to better business — especially for bookkeepers and business owners who want to be more clear, confident, and effective...

"Practice is what gives the consistent and reliable delivery of whatever you're mastering. So for me, I remind myself that I'm not faking, I'm becoming, I'm working on it until I become it." -Michelle Quiñonez Michelle Quiñonez, CEO and partner at Financial Stories Inc, shares how childhood play led to a lifelong love for administration and business building. She opens up about her journey from st...

"Just start small. Just start doing it. It'll take a while, most likely to kind of build. So start even before you feel like a hundred percent ready. Just start. It's a lot of it the first year or so, it's just like kind of practice too." -Morgan Law Morgan Law, founder of Fine Points Bookkeeping and a popular YouTuber, shares how she transitioned from corporate life and copy editing to part-time...

"By offering corporate services, compliance services, payroll and sales tax registration services to their clients, they're actually not only enhancing their trusted advisory services, but they're also scaling their revenues, increasing their revenues. More importantly, they are keeping that client with them long term because they're becoming a one-stop shop." -Nellie Akalp Nellie Akalp, CEO of Co...

"Go out, stick your hand out, say hello and start talking. It's not easy, but over time it becomes easier and it's definitely worthwhile just creating the relationships either virtually or physically in the community." -Holly Corcoran Holly Corcoran, owner and CEO of Corcoran Business Advisory Services, shares her journey from running a traditional CPA firm to launching a virtual, advisory-focused...

"If you think about the most common mistake that most small and mid-sized business owners make when it comes to cybersecurity, it's this assumption that 'I'm not very big. It's not going to happen to me'. And so they're not doing any security or they're doing minimal security measures in place." -Nick Mullen Cybersecurity expert, Nick Mullen, founder and CEO of Entoo Security, shares the rising th...

"Define your customer first. I only want to work with people who understand that accounting is important to their business." -Debra Kilsheimer Debra Kilsheimer, owner of Behind the Scenes Financial Services, shares her journey from growing up in an accounting household to running a modern, client-focused bookkeeping business. She discusses the power of flat-rate pricing, building strong client rel...

"As I was building all these processes in my mind, if I had been documenting them, I would have not had to spend that two years documenting everything after the fact when the team started to come. If you're good at what you do, your accountants are going to find you and they're going to start referring business to you. So just to have those processes documented and you're ready for when they come,...

"People came to me thinking that I was an expert. They saw the posts that I was posting about bookkeeping for law firms, and they already had buy-in to use my services. So I didn't need to sell them that much. I just needed to prove that I was a real person. I don't want to be out there selling my services. I want people coming to me already sold on my services." -Brandy Derrick Brandy Derrick, ow...