The Successful Bookkeeper Podcast

"This also means diversity of thought, because even if you have a demographically diverse team, but everyone went to the same college and thinks the same way, that's still not going to be able to leverage and maximize the benefits of diversity." -Dr. Ella F. Washington Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is more than just taking a course or hiring from particular demographics. It's about how we...

"If you're forcing yourself to do those tasks you don't enjoy doing and you're not good at, please start delegating!" -Kristy Yoder Happy New Year and welcome to the first episode of 2023! Running a bookkeeping business can be overwhelming, especially at this time of year, so much needs to get done and it can often feel like we are the only ones capable of doing it right. Problems start to arise i...

It is almost the end of 2022 and wow, do we have an incredible episode for you to finish off the year! In our special Year in Review show, Michael talks to a panel of terrific guests about the ups and downs of the industry this past year. Our returning Year in Review guests are Julie Watson, founder of Bookkeeping Relief, Jessica Fox, owner of Florida Virtual Bookkeeper, Teresa Slack, co-founder o...

"We all are really good at one or two things, but we can all do maybe 20-100 things, and sometimes as entrepreneurs, I think we get caught up in the 'I have to do it all.' " -Nikki Rausch Pressure is a great motivator, but too much can damage the quality of our work and cause us to burn out. When we hold onto the belief that we are the only person that can achieve the right results for our clients...

"If you can answer the questions that are being asked to people that don't even know what their questions are to begin with, then you have created a name. People will say you've gotta come and see what he's doing for us." -Michael Alliman In part 2 of the interview with Michael, he digs into the importance, power, and potential that can be unlocked when businesses find and focus on their niche. Al...

"I'm not the expert in real estate, that's why I hire you. It doesn't make any sense for me to learn it just to buy one house, as it doesn't make any sense for you to learn accounting just to get your own numbers in order." -Michael Alliman Creating, owning, and running our own business is really challenging. So many things need our attention that it can often feel overwhelming, like we can't get...

"You need to surround yourself from an inclusion standpoint, with people who fill in the gaps and complement the skills you don't have so that you don't have those blind spots." -Carice Anderson Building a business is never easy, and yet we often make it so much harder for ourselves by believing we can't be truly successful unless we are the ones doing everything. This kind of thinking only leaves...

"With Anchor, you work and then you get paid by default and your client needs to actively do something in order for you not to get paid." - Omry Man It's well-known that comfort and convenience rule everything we do. People and especially clients are always looking for simpler and more effective ways to handle their business. We have all had clients that aren't good at paying us on time, not becau...

"There will always be chaos. There will always be change. You will always be dealing with fires in your life, and it's really about how you respond to the chaos that will determine your success or failure." -Elisa Schmitz The way we think becomes the way we act. If our thoughts are riddled with self-doubt and fear, we are never going to get to the place of success we dream about. Life is full of c...

"If you have the belief, you can't get off that rat wheel…you're not going to reach out for something to build the skills to help you." -Sharon Francisco The wheel keeps turning and if we are not careful, we can end up trapped chasing the same things that aren't working for us. Belief is a key component in the mindset of successful people. Very rarely do people master a skill on the first attempt....

"Leadership is something you do with people, not to people." -Dr. Elizabeth Moran We have all found ourselves at one time or another having to react to an unexpected change. Often those of us that go into business for ourselves do so to have more freedom and control over the decisions that will affect the long-term viability of our businesses. Problems start to occur when we become so avoidant of...

"The minute you move into a leadership role, it's no longer about you." –Shelli Warren Being a great individual contributor doesn't always make for the best leadership material. We all know someone who is great at what they do but struggles to scale those skills when put into a leadership position. When filling leadership roles too often we are looking for someone to fill a gap, when we should be...

"LiveFlow gives the ability to create these very tailored dashboards. What's really good about that, is that it allows the bookkeepers to increase the fees for their services." -Lasse Kalkar Bookkeeping is not what it used to be. Clients are less willing to spend large sums of money on people to keep accounts when they can be easily kept by automated technology. The role of bookkeepers is changing...

"It's marketing. Just saying bookkeeping is not as enticing as saying, 'I'm going to change your life!'" - Andrea MacKenzie Sometimes success can take us by surprise. We can very quickly become overwhelmed by everything we have to get done. So much so, that when looking to scale our bookkeeping business, we are so desperate for help, we take the first person available. Having help though is never...

"I want to do this, but I don't really know how to do it, so you talk to people who have been there before that can help you on the way." -Karla Dembik Pennies become dollars far faster than most of us realize. Businesses (on balance) don't fail because of a dramatic catastrophe; they suffer death from a thousand cuts. We often agree to all kinds of service and business fees, because we don't know...

"Being passive or being a people pleaser in business is not a great way to get results." -Erin Daiber Running a bookkeeping business isn't easy. There are enough external challenges to contend with, without piling on internal ones of our own making. Too many of us aspire to be all things to all people. But this strategy only ever leads one way… to overextension and burnout. There is a huge differe...

"It's no longer enough just to provide services, you've got to really help the customer transform from where they are to where they want to be." -Ron Baker Welcome back to another spotlight session with your host Louie Prosperi, the third in our three-part series on subscription models for bookkeeping and accounting businesses. In order to get the most out of our businesses, we need to be really c...

"There are plenty of fish in the sea, and by helping the people in my community, that's going to raise the tide, which is going to rise all ships." -Andrew Wall Adapting to change is never easy. What we plan for versus what actually happens are often wildly different and can leave us feeling like we don't really understand what we're doing at all. Making plans and business building become much bet...

"I've heard people get to 5-6 staff, and they're making basically the exact same money they were at 2 staff. And that doesn't make any sense!" -Louie Prosperi All of us know what it feels like to learn from our mistakes. But we don't often pause to think about just how much faster we could have realized them if we spent more time engaged with those in our industry that have walked our path before....

"Far too many professionals want to feel good about themselves and demonstrate their expertise, but what they do is, they jump in and talk about how they are going to solve the problem before they have an understanding as to the value to the customer." -Ed Kless Welcome back to another spotlight session with your host, Louie Prosperi, the second in our three-part series on subscription models for...

"My tribe helped me realize I don't need to compete with anyone, and I can use everyone as a resource and sounding board." -Coreen Wright There is a tendency among small business owners and start-ups, to feel like they are in constant competition with others from within their industries. The same fear is true among bookkeepers. But when you let go of the idea that asking for help equates to weakne...

"Probably 20% of your clients are causing 80% of the problems." -Natalie Eckdahl Finding your bookkeeping niche is hard. But not as hard as finding the number of clients needed to make a low-price business successful. Low pricing may seem like the way to gain many clients fast. But in reality, this kind of business model is working against you. When you find your niche, it will be because it is so...

"One of the biggest challenges I see is that women do not have enough profit coming out of their business, and the base behind that is they are not charging high enough prices." -Natalie Eckdahl Overcoming the struggles of building a business is tough enough, and yet for a lot of women, there are considerable added pressures. Not just in terms of feeling like an imposter in the workplace, but bein...

"If we want premium pricing, we have to go to the market with an uncommon offering." -Ron Baker Welcome to a new episode of our Spotlight series, now hosted by a great friend of The Successful Bookkeeper and world-class business strategist, Louie Prosperi. This is part 1 of a 3-part Spotlight series about subscription models for accounting and bookkeeping firms. You see, many bookkeepers struggle...

"You will never have the time, and you have to make the time, so make it in small chunks. Schedule fifteen minutes a day to work on that, because as long as you are moving forward, you aren't standing still or moving backward." -Tanya Hilts Finding your own path is not easy. Textbooks say one thing, but real life says another. Your story isn't written by anyone but you. So, you won't know how succ...