0:00

So if you're one of those people who just

0:00

feel like you have a really hard time

0:02

asking for help, and that sometimes you

0:02

feel like you're just juggling all the

0:05

things with all the balls in the air. And sometimes you just want someone to

0:07

approach you to just give you the support

0:11

that you absolutely need, or you just

0:11

really want to ask and shout it out.

0:15

But you might be struggling with that. This is the most perfect episode for you.

0:18

And also if you're one of those people

0:18

who are just like going along on this

0:22

bookkeeping journey and just really

0:22

incorporating all the different things.

0:26

And just chugging along and really

0:26

wanting to make sure that you're in

0:28

full alignment with the business. And this episode is for you.

0:32

And today's episode, I'm interviewing a

0:32

lovely woman who I just absolutely adore

0:36

after interviewing her in this episode. Her name is Victoria Smith

0:38

and she is just so wicked.

0:42

Amazing. I can't believe all the things

0:42

that she's currently juggling.

0:45

She is literally sitting for

0:45

the CPA exam history kids.

0:48

She's also runs her bookkeeping

0:48

business and also has a full-time job.

0:52

And she also subcontracts for someone else. And I just don't understand how she does

0:54

it all, but she's just so incredible.

0:57

She's an incredible mother. And she just shares her journey about

0:58

really asking for support and reaching

1:02

out to other people to get that support. And we talk a lot about really making our

1:04

clients feel comfortable to open up to us.

1:08

And so today's episode is going

1:08

to be so much fun and you're just

1:11

going to really absolutely adore. Satoria just as much as I did.

2:13

Hey everyone and welcome back to yet another episode of the Conquering Workflows and Systems for

2:15

Bookkeepers and Accountants podcast

2:18

with your host here Alyssa Lange. I'm so excited because I'm bringing

2:19

on another special guest here today.

2:23

Her name is Shatoria Smith. I'm so pumped to be diving

2:24

into the conversation today.

2:27

I was deep diving into her, all the things

2:27

she submitted on our application to be

2:31

here as a guest and I'm so excited to

2:31

just Bring someone on who's just going to

2:35

be a fresh face, someone to really share

2:35

their experience to their bookkeeping

2:38

journey with, I don't know how she does

2:38

it, but like also on top of managing

2:42

children and also going for her CPA.

2:45

And I'm just like, just in awe of you.

2:47

Like I said, I just have a

2:47

dog and it's a lot for me.

2:50

So I can only imagine what you're going through. So welcome to the show.

2:53

Thank you so much. And feel free to introduce yourself. Thank you, Alyssa.

2:57

Hi everybody. I'm Shatoria Smith.

2:59

I am a Florida native. I have three kids, three boys actually,

3:01

and they're ages six and under.

3:06

So ages six, four, and three, I'm married.

3:10

I work full time, I do bookkeeping

3:10

part time, and I decided to Why not

3:16

just take some time and study for

3:16

the CPA exam so I can get a CPA.

3:21

Yes. I love that. I like how you're like, I'm just

3:22

also going to add into the mix.

3:25

Like you pick the, the almost

3:25

the toughest thing is like, and I

3:28

kind of picked that extra thing. Girl, it's like, okay, yeah.

3:33

Doing all of the things. It's like, let's just throw

3:34

something else in there too.

3:36

So wait. Oh, why not? Why not?

3:39

I also forgot that you also said

3:39

that you were working full time too.

3:42

So let's just add that to the right, right girl.

3:47

It's crazy because I have people

3:47

that ask you, how do you do it?

3:51

And I tell them, I said, I don't know. I just do it.

3:54

And I know that sounds weird, but I

3:54

do, you know, but I still find like a

4:00

balance in there some type of way, even

4:00

though it sounds crazy, there's still

4:04

like some sort of balance in there. I don't know. But I don't know if somebody else said

4:05

that they did all the things that I do.

4:08

I probably look at them side. I like girl, stop.

4:11

Really? Okay. So for the CPA, so I'm assuming

4:13

you had to go, cause right.

4:15

You have to go to school for a

4:15

certain number of years before you

4:17

can even sit for the exam, correct? Yes.

4:20

So you have to have here

4:20

in Florida, because the.

4:24

The requirements are

4:24

different in each state.

4:28

So here in Florida, you have to

4:28

at least have college credit.

4:33

So I do have a degree in accounting,

4:33

so I can sit for the exam.

4:38

Now to get your license, you

4:38

have to at least have 150

4:43

credit hours. So being that I do have a master's

4:44

degree, I automatically have that 150

4:49

credit hours, so I don't have to worry

4:49

about taking any additional coursework.

4:53

Oh, cool. So you're really just your main focus like

4:54

it's not a big feat like I'm saying it

4:58

like your focus right now is like really

4:58

just studying the actual exam itself

5:02

and just getting ready to sit for it.

5:05

Yes, that's correct. Oh, interesting.

5:08

And how is it like what's the process? I know Serena.

5:11

Yeah, she's gone through it

5:11

and she's like, it's crazy.

5:14

Girl, it's crazy because I've

5:14

been out of school for a while.

5:20

And, like, okay, yeah, let's

5:20

just go back and try to study.

5:23

And, you know, you're out of school for

5:23

a while and you're trying to get back in.

5:26

It's just like, Oh God. Okay.

5:29

And it's like, well, you know

5:29

what, let me just put my best

5:32

foot forward and just go for it.

5:34

And, Yeah, it's intense. I said that I didn't

5:35

want to be that person.

5:38

It's like, I'm going to spend six

5:38

hours on Saturday, five hours on Sunday

5:42

and five hours on Friday studying.

5:45

No, I try to do like two hours a day,

5:45

like in bite sized pieces, because

5:49

that's the way it will work for me. Because I can't sit there for

5:52

a long drawn out study session.

5:55

Like. I will admit last week I was trying

5:56

to study and I found myself nodding.

5:59

So I'm like done, go to bed. Like I'm not gonna sit there and just

6:01

force myself to go through something.

6:05

But I figured, you know, if I do

6:05

it in bite sized pieces and just

6:08

do a little bit each day, I think

6:08

that would help me in the long run.

6:12

And I do have a schedule that I stick to

6:12

so that I'm not doing these bite sized

6:17

study sessions and it's eight months

6:17

later and I'm still in like module two.

6:21

So it's like I do have a schedule. I do have a schedule of how I

6:23

want to approach each section.

6:27

And then I go from there, review it, move

6:27

on to the next one, because I do have

6:31

a goal to take my first exam in June.

6:35

Ooh, well, congrats. Keep us posted. I can't wait to be cheering you on.

6:39

That's so exciting. I feel like me and you are very

6:40

identical in the fact that, like,

6:43

I cannot sit there for hours. One, in general, I'm not

6:45

even talking about studying. I cannot sit down for six

6:47

hours doing the same thing.

6:49

Like, you're going studying,

6:49

I'm going to fall asleep.

6:53

Mm hmm. And the good thing is like, I study

6:54

at night, like, so I do it once my

6:58

kids are asleep, because if they

6:58

were awake, I, they'd be coming in my

7:02

room like, mommy, what are you doing?

7:04

You know, my husband will be

7:04

coming in here talking about

7:07

something he's seen on YouTube. So it's like, for me to do this at

7:09

night works, you know, I don't have

7:13

to worry about looking out the window

7:13

because I'm that type of person where,

7:17

excuse me, I'll look out the window. Like right now it's raining.

7:21

I'll sit here and be like, okay, it's raining. I'm like, what is that in the gray?

7:25

So I have to do it. And yeah, I get distracted real easily.

7:29

So it's like, okay, doing

7:29

it at night works for me.

7:32

You know, I'm able to retain the

7:32

information when I wake up in the

7:35

morning, I'd start thinking about certain

7:35

concepts that I went over the night for,

7:39

and it's like, okay, I remember that. It's like, Ooh, this part, not so much.

7:43

So I have my own

7:43

flashcards that I look at.

7:46

When I'm at work throughout the day,

7:46

I might look at a flash card or two,

7:49

you know, but, yeah, I just have to

7:49

find something that works for me.

7:54

This is so impressive. This is so impressive. I didn't realize I was going to

7:55

be so impressed getting on this.

7:58

I know reading your bio, of course,

7:58

and now hearing it, like, I'm sitting

8:02

here thinking about my routine. So, right, I get up at

8:03

four o'clock every day. It's like my thing.

8:05

And I go right to work. Like, I am, I am.

8:08

Fresh, top of mind, best on my game.

8:10

Like that's my fresh, freshest

8:10

mindset is right in the morning.

8:14

So I don't do anything else. I literally make my pot of coffee,

8:15

which is usually like already set up.

8:17

And I just have to press the little button. I go to work, but you can probably

8:19

get out of me like a good solid

8:23

two to four hours after that. I'm like, my brain can't function.

8:27

I'm even surprised I'm doing a podcast

8:27

interview at four o'clock my time.

8:30

It is not normal for me. Like this is, this is a long day for me.

8:33

Right? So the reason I say that is because

8:34

for someone like me, like my biggest.

8:37

Responsibility is to make sure

8:37

my dog goes outside to go potty.

8:41

It's that's hard for me. And then I have days where I'm

8:42

like, I can't even read my book. Like even just a personal,

8:44

like mystery book.

8:46

So I just don't understand,

8:46

like, how do you do it?

8:49

It's so crazy, but it's so amazing

8:49

and very inspiring for listeners

8:52

as well. It's crazy.

8:54

Like, for instance, on Monday and

8:54

Friday, I'm working from home.

9:00

Now, Tuesday, Wednesday, and

9:00

Thursday, I go into the office.

9:05

So, I have to be there at 7.

9:08

30. So, I'm leaving my house at 6.

9:10

45. So, I'm not here to help boys get dressed.

9:15

I might, I might, Lay out their

9:15

clothes the night before, but I

9:20

had to scale back on some of that

9:20

because I'm like, you know what?

9:23

Dad needs to take some of the responsibilities. So mommy's not going

9:25

to lay out everything. I'll make sure the clothes are folded

9:27

in the drawer, but let him do that.

9:30

Because I found myself getting

9:30

stressed out and anxious because I

9:34

was like, did you put on his shorts? Did you put on this shirt?

9:37

Did you put on the socks? Did you know? I didn't put those shoes out.

9:39

I put those other shoes out. Did you put his? Back his permission slip in his backpack.

9:44

Did you put money on his lunch account? Did you send pull ups to the school

9:45

found myself doing that when I was like

9:49

doing everything when I decided nope

9:49

dad is equal participant in this party.

9:54

their clothes are clean and it's in

9:54

there in the drawer So when it's 6 45,

9:59

I get my keys, okay And if some of them

9:59

are still asleep, the oldest one is

10:03

up All right Bye mommy's leaving and

10:03

I walk out and I have no guilt behind

10:06

it ever since I started doing that

10:06

I'm just like, okay, I can do this.

10:10

But before, because I'm a planner,

10:10

just like, Oh, by myself, feeling

10:15

like anxious and crazy, so I

10:15

was like, no, dad, dad has it.

10:18

And he'll call me, Hey, I

10:18

can't find such a second.

10:21

I'm like, did you look at your car? You know, like, did you ask

10:23

him where he had it last?

10:26

You know, I don't even

10:26

like get frustrated.

10:29

And I think that's what's like my savings

10:29

grace, because I'm just like, whatever.

10:33

He'll figure it out. I love that.

10:35

And I think it's such a good topic. Like I said, we have a lot of our

10:37

listeners who are moms, who are trying

10:41

to balance their business on top of,

10:41

you know, their kids and all that stuff.

10:44

And I have heard many conversations

10:44

around the stress and overwhelm that

10:49

comes from being a mother versus a

10:49

father where like a lot of the times

10:52

the women feel like they have this

10:52

obligation to constantly do, do, do.

10:56

And so I think this is such

10:56

a beautiful combo for one.

10:59

I'm glad to hear that both of you are

10:59

coming together because I think it was

11:02

probably really hard for you before this

11:02

was a thing for you to ask for help.

11:06

Yes. And at times it still is because I

11:07

don't want to feel like I have a fourth

11:12

child, even though we know he is, of

11:12

course, don't want him to feel that way.

11:20

So it's like, okay, should

11:20

I ask, or should I not ask?

11:24

And I try to check the

11:24

way that I say it because.

11:27

Sometimes my delivery may not be the best.

11:30

So I just try to make sure, okay, make

11:30

sure you say it in a pleasant manner.

11:35

So he doesn't feel like

11:35

I'm like, Hey, go do that.

11:38

You know, so I'm like, Hey,

11:38

can you help me with the boys?

11:40

Or I'll say like tonight. Hey, don't forget.

11:42

I have the podcast tonight.

11:45

It's like, okay. I even put an alert in our phones because

11:46

we have like to share Google calendar.

11:51

So it pops up on his phone,

11:51

just like it does on mine.

11:54

So he can't say like, Oh,

11:54

I didn't know he, he knows.

11:57

Yeah. So I try to do little things

11:57

like that and just say, Hey,

12:01

just, just in case you forgot. Well, I'll even tell my oldest

12:03

son, he said, and I'll say,

12:06

okay, mommy has something to do. So he'll say, daddy, mommy's

12:07

going to do such and such.

12:10

Are you going to make

12:10

dinner or prepare dinner?

12:13

Because I already cooked dinner. So all he had to do was just played it.

12:17

So yeah, like, let me just

12:17

figure out ways how to.

12:20

Work smarter and not harder. And so, yeah,

12:24

I love that. I love that so much. I think it's probably such a big message

12:26

for a lot of people listening who are

12:29

just trying to juggle it all, where

12:29

sometimes all you got to do is ask.

12:32

And if you don't, maybe for anyone

12:32

listening who maybe doesn't have a

12:34

significant other, and maybe you're

12:34

a single mom and you're going through

12:37

this, ask for support in other areas. It could be your family.

12:40

It could also be another bookkeeper. If you're feeling overwhelmed with

12:41

the work, there's people out there

12:44

who will jump in and help you. So just know that.

12:47

Yeah. There's always support in different

12:47

formats and different ways.

12:50

Even if it might not be in the

12:50

same capacity as, you know,

12:53

what you've been sharing. So, thank you for that.

12:55

I think it's going to be really

12:55

helpful for people who have

12:58

a hard time asking for help. Because I'm one of those people.

13:00

Absolutely. Who really, really struggle

13:01

with asking people for help.

13:04

Because I want to wear

13:04

the badge that I do it.

13:06

And I'm superwoman and I can do this. That right before we hit record, nobody

13:09

knows this until I'm about to tell you.

13:12

But I told Shatori that I like had a

13:12

cry today and that big cry was about,

13:16

like, I have a hard time asking for help.

13:18

And like, and then I get to this

13:18

point where I feel almost triggered,

13:21

overwhelmed, and I have to like,

13:21

peel back all these layers of

13:24

like, all I had to do was ask.

13:26

All I had to do was, and my friends

13:26

and family are so willing to help me.

13:31

But isn't that crazy? Like, I'll even share this with you.

13:33

So I've been dealing with.

13:36

Sinus and allergy issues since

13:36

March began, like here in

13:39

Florida, the pollen is ridiculous. It's insane.

13:43

So last week I had to go to the

13:43

office every day and there's so many

13:47

oak trees and all these other trees

13:47

down there at the job where I'm just

13:51

like, Oh my God, like, this is insane.

13:54

So Friday when I came home,

13:54

my head was hurting so bad.

13:58

I changed out of my clothes. I laid down in the bed.

14:01

I didn't get up until Saturday morning

14:01

because my head was hurting so bad.

14:05

And you could probably still hear it in my

14:05

voice with the calling issues, whatever.

14:09

But anyway Monday my husband had a dentist

14:09

appointment and he was like, can you

14:14

go to the daycare and pick the boys up? And I hadn't really gone anywhere because

14:16

I've been in bed, like my head is hurting.

14:21

So I was like, okay, I'll go. So when I got in the car, it

14:22

just felt weird because I've been

14:25

in bed since Friday afternoon. So when I got to the daycare

14:27

just felt a little like.

14:31

Not lightheaded, but I just felt

14:31

like my equilibrium was off.

14:34

Like, I just felt like I was leaning. so I got to my first, my oldest son

14:36

first, and he was like, mommy, okay.

14:40

I said, I'm just going to sit down. So we have some parent friends

14:41

that we hang out with at the day.

14:45

They're actually live in our neighborhood. And so when I was getting ready to

14:47

walk out, I saw them walking in.

14:51

And so she looked at me,

14:51

she was like, are you okay?

14:54

And I sat down and I started crying. He's like, why are you crying?

14:57

I said, because I'm not. She's like, why? So Rico's at the doctor, at the dentist.

15:02

I said, he wanted me to come get the boys. I said, and I just feel like

15:04

I can't stand up straight.

15:07

I said, and I just want to make

15:07

sure we're able to get home safely.

15:09

And she's like, okay, so

15:09

she was with her husband.

15:15

She was like, Hey, I'm going

15:15

to drive to Toria home.

15:18

You follow me. It's going to work.

15:20

We're going to be okay. And I was in the moment.

15:24

I was just like, it wasn't bad. I didn't feel bad asking, but at the

15:26

same time, it was like, And she's

15:30

gonna look at me like I'm crazy. Like, does it make me feel this or that?

15:34

You know, it's like those

15:34

thoughts run through your mind.

15:36

But once I got home, and got situated,

15:36

she was like, Was that that bad?

15:40

I was like, No. She was like, That's what we're here for. She was like, If I need you, I know

15:42

you would drop everything to help me.

15:46

And I would. I would just drop

15:47

everything in an instant. So it's like, It's okay to sometimes

15:48

It's sometimes it's okay to be that

15:52

person that needs the help and people

15:52

are just as equally excited to help you.

15:58

That's something that I still struggle

15:58

with, but it felt good knowing that

16:04

he was there in that moment to help

16:04

me at that point in time, it was like,

16:09

We were like ordained to be in the

16:09

same spot at the same time, you know?

17:19

Yeah. And I, I truly believe in it's hard.

17:21

Like you said, no matter how much I

17:21

believe this, I still struggle with

17:24

asking for the support and asking for

17:24

the help, but I really do innately

17:28

believe that people actually like,

17:28

I don't want to say get high on like

17:31

helping people get another right word

17:31

to use, but like, I know that I do.

17:35

I can't, I can't, I feel like

17:35

I get, I stand up taller.

17:38

I stand up stiffer when someone asks

17:38

me, I need you because I feel powerful.

17:42

When someone asks me that, like, I. Got past my barrier to be

17:44

able to ask you for help.

17:47

I want to do anything that I can

17:47

to like, well, how can I help you?

17:50

What can I do? Sometimes maybe I'm tired or I

17:51

don't feel like doing anything.

17:54

And I get that. There's those moments, but deep

17:54

down, I think humans in general,

17:58

genuinely actually like helping

17:58

other people if they're being

18:02

asked. They do. And it's like, you have to close

18:03

your eyes out to the negativity.

18:08

Like I used to watch the news all

18:08

the time because my mom, it's like,

18:11

oh, I need to watch the news too. It's like, Stopped watching it

18:11

because I'm like, watching the

18:14

news will make you afraid to go

18:14

out of your house and do things.

18:17

And when you think about it, I said, The

18:17

news is focusing on a small percentage,

18:24

so small, you know, and it's like, when

18:24

you, when you shut that out and you just

18:30

live your life and do what you need to

18:30

do, it's like, you realize, Oh my God,

18:33

there's so many great dynamic people

18:33

out there that will go out their way to

18:37

help you out, or if you need help, you

18:37

know, vice versa, you know what I mean?

18:42

So it's like, We, we can self sabotage

18:42

ourselves, you know, because we let our

18:48

mind to think that, Oh, I don't know

18:48

if anybody's going to really help me.

18:53

They might look at me like I'm crazy. And when you ask you're just

18:55

like, It wasn't that bad.

18:59

I was tripping for no reason, you know?

19:02

Yeah. Yeah, 100%. I'm, I'm definitely great that we, glad

19:04

that we are having this conversation

19:08

because I think I might have needed it

19:08

more than I did just because of what

19:12

I've been like experiencing today. I don't know what was the trigger.

19:14

Actually, I do know what the trigger was. But it just kind of spiraled today.

19:17

And I'm like, I just need to ask people. And I, what I did was I ended up

19:19

calling my business, Steve Brook.

19:22

And I was like, I just need some help. Like, how do you work through X, Y, Z?

19:26

And like, sometimes you feel

19:26

like you're going to be a burden

19:28

or all these different things. So I'm just very grateful for

19:29

people who do answer or are there.

19:33

And if they don't answer, I always

19:33

can like bother the next friend.

19:37

And then they assure you,

19:37

they're like, Hey, it's okay.

19:40

Or if you have any more questions, let me know. Okay.

19:42

Don't tip me because I will

19:42

call you in a few minutes.

19:45

Stop. It's gonna be all bad.

19:47

I think this past year I have gotten

19:47

a lot better at like reminding myself

19:51

that it's okay to ask for help, that

19:51

it doesn't make, cause I've always

19:55

in my mind have considered that it's

19:55

weak, that if I need help, whether

19:58

that's like, for example, it could be

19:58

something that nobody even knows about.

20:01

It could mean be like signing up for

20:01

a course or taking something like I

20:05

like don't want to, because like I

20:05

should know how to research on my own.

20:09

So I get like that. so I have my own internal bat.

20:12

And it's funny, cause like I am a course creator. So like I am a teacher and I really

20:14

wish someone didn't feel like that,

20:18

but I totally get that because

20:18

that's how I've always worn it.

20:20

But then now I'm at a place in my business

20:20

where it's like, I do like to still learn

20:25

things, but like, I no longer desire

20:25

the long nights and the long stress and

20:29

like the having to find all the answers.

20:32

And I think that like this

20:32

past year has really put into

20:34

perspective the importance of.

20:36

Just stopping and just asking, and

20:36

it could be the littlest thing.

20:39

Can you just put the dishes away? I mean, right.

20:43

Little things. Yes. And it makes you feel so much better.

20:46

It's like these dishes are

20:46

put up, you know, like my,

20:48

kitchen counters are cleaning. Wow.

20:52

I really wish I asked. Yeah. I wish my dog can help.

20:55

He doesn't do much. He's cute.

20:57

It's all that matters. That's all he serves for

20:59

me. When I started teaching the boys how to

21:00

put their, utensils in the dishwasher.

21:05

Oh my gosh. When I tell you, it's like

21:06

even the baby, he's three.

21:08

I'll say, okay, go put your spoon up. He said, Hey.

21:12

And he said, mama, I did it. I said, Hey, thank you.

21:17

And in a few months, I'm like,

21:17

I'm going to teach you how to load

21:19

this dishwasher now to turn it on I'll probably, I'll probably have

21:24

a six year old do it, but, It's

21:27

just like a sense of accomplishment

21:27

and they're so proud, like, when

21:30

they're doing it too, like, yay! Yeah, I'm like, that'll fade

21:32

when you become an adult.

21:35

It's like, now it's no fun. Yeah, it's just like, oh God, okay.

21:40

I totally get it. Totally get it. Well, man, I love, I love this.

21:44

I do want to kind of circle into

21:44

your firm and kind of what you

21:47

have going on, because I know that

21:47

you're also juggling full time.

21:49

So, I'd love Like to talk about

21:49

where are you currently at?

21:53

Like in the business, what

21:53

are you offering right now?

21:55

What are you really focused on? I know, I believe you have a niche I

21:57

think is what you kind of mentioned to me.

22:01

So kind of give me some context about

22:01

the firm and what you've got going

22:03

on. Absolutely. So I work with started out working

22:05

with wedding planners photographers

22:12

and corporate events and, I've

22:12

actually started networking with a

22:17

lot of balloon artists and florists. So I'm thinking it's just more of like

22:19

a wedding and event type of bitch.

22:23

Yeah. And I really enjoy it because

22:24

deep down inside, I always wanted

22:26

to be like a wedding planner. Oh, same. So I feel like really?

22:29

I didn't know that. Where, so where like I really, I used to buy,

22:31

like at Barnes and Noble when I was

22:35

younger, like all the money that I had,

22:35

I used to buy a little wedding planning.

22:39

Wedding planning books. Mm-Hmm. like event planning things.

22:41

I really thought I was gonna be an event planner. Yes.

22:43

And here we are not event planning.

22:45

Well I just knew I was gonna be.

22:48

A wedding planner. I just like, Oh my gosh, like you guys

22:49

put on these elaborate events and it's so

22:53

lush and so like everything just like, you

22:53

know, I just knew I was going to do that.

23:00

And here I am with an accounting

23:00

degree, but it's okay.

23:04

But I really enjoy

23:04

working in that industry.

23:07

Like I, I like it. I love and I'm an Instagram girl.

23:10

So I love looking at the

23:10

pictures and all of that.

23:13

So like seeing the full picture

23:13

come together, it's just like,

23:16

Oh, and then seeing it behind the

23:16

scenes, it's like, Oh, it takes

23:19

all of that to put on the wedding. I'm like, you got to talk to this

23:20

vendor, but you got to pay this.

23:22

You got to do it. So I like to see like what's going on

23:23

behind the scenes, but, um, I got started.

23:28

Okay, so this is this is

23:28

how I think I started.

23:31

I relocated from South

23:31

Florida to Central Florida.

23:36

I was working in law enforcement

23:36

still in an accounting capacity.

23:40

I started working at a local school district. And when I got to the school district,

23:42

they were like, Oh, we need you to.

23:46

Support some of the school

23:46

bookkeepers and I'm like, what?

23:50

And they're like, we just need you to go

23:50

over and look at like the, the monthly

23:53

reports that they submit to the district,

23:53

making sure that they're accurate.

23:57

Okay. So when I started doing it, nobody

23:59

was in that position before me.

24:03

So for me, it was just like, there's

24:03

no like, where the SOP is like, I need

24:07

to know what to do because I don't

24:07

really know what y'all want me to do.

24:09

So I ended up making the

24:09

position like my own or whatever.

24:13

And I started working with

24:13

school bookkeepers who had

24:16

no financial background. They were either school clerks

24:18

school crossing guards, or former

24:24

bus drivers who didn't want to be bus

24:24

drivers or crossing guards anymore.

24:28

They wanted something that was in

24:28

the office, and I had to teach them

24:32

how to do their bookkeeping, how to

24:32

read a bank statement, you know, how

24:38

to enter a deposit into the system.

24:40

That's it. To reconcile their, they had P cards.

24:44

So how to reconcile your P card, how to

24:44

keep your documentation, things like that.

24:49

And I enjoyed it because I was able

24:49

to break down basic concepts and

24:55

make it in a, in a bite sized pieces

24:55

in a level that they can understand

24:59

because they're like, you know,

24:59

we try to work with other people.

25:01

They're using all these terms and I

25:01

don't really know what that means.

25:06

And so I would just break it down. I was like, well, let's think about

25:07

you paying your bills at home.

25:10

Okay. You know, what would you typically do

25:10

in this situation or when it's time

25:15

to get paid, do you go through and

25:15

look at what bills you have coming up?

25:19

Or do you just pay bills and just

25:19

wing it and pray and just hoping

25:22

everything goes through, you know?

25:24

And so I realized like, wow,

25:24

I really like doing this.

25:28

So I stayed there for about seven years.

25:31

And, while I was there, covid happened. Mm-Hmm.

25:34

And Covid kind of put things

25:34

in perspective because

25:36

it's just like, oh, okay.

25:39

What's happening in the world? Like, they're like, am I gonna have a job?

25:42

Like, and I just had my second baby and

25:42

I was all on Instagram hearing about

25:47

side hustle, side hustle, side hustle.

25:49

I'm like, well, maybe I need a side hustle. . Now I have two kids.

25:52

Like, what can I do? A side hustle That is your side hustle.

25:55

Hustle . Yeah. So I was just like, uh, I don't know.

25:57

So I came across this Instagram

25:57

post, somebody put on there.

26:01

She's a CPA. And at the time he was launching

26:04

her own firm and she was like, I'm

26:09

ready to outsource and hire somebody.

26:11

So when I saw her post, I

26:11

was just like, whatever.

26:16

And I went on, did my own thing. Well, her post showed up again and I

26:18

was like, why do I keep seeing this?

26:23

So when I saw it again, the third time I

26:23

just went ahead and applied I ended up.

26:27

Getting the job from her. She reached out to me, interviewed

26:28

me, and that's how I got started

26:32

in a virtual bookkeeping, like

26:32

working with small business owners.

26:36

And with me working in corporate,

26:36

I never used QuickBooks before.

26:40

I heard about it, but I never used it.

26:42

I was always using Oracle, which is

26:42

completely different from QuickBooks.

26:47

So working with her. Allowed me to see how things work

26:49

in QuickBooks and what it's like

26:53

working with small business owners

26:53

and seeing what it's like to own

26:56

your own business and work from home.

26:59

I like the flexibility because I

26:59

could do my bookkeeping for the

27:03

clients that she assigned to me. I can do it at night.

27:06

I can do it on the weekend. I can do it while the boys are asleep.

27:08

As long as I had everything

27:08

done by our monthly deadline,

27:13

they care less what I did. Yeah. So I'm like, okay, you know,

27:15

so she started me out with four

27:18

clients and she gave me five.

27:21

Then I got eight, believe it or not,

27:21

this is going to sound so crazy.

27:25

I'm going to have my firm and I

27:25

still subcontract for her too.

27:28

Oh my gosh. You just like forgot that little piece.

27:32

Yes. I still subcontract her because

27:33

she's such a beautiful spirit.

27:36

Like she's an amazing person. Then even if I decide, like, I don't

27:39

want to have that full plate, I would

27:43

probably still like do like one or two

27:43

clients for her because I just love

27:47

her that much because she gave me that

27:47

opportunity, he poured into me and I

27:52

just admire her and just seeing like how

27:52

her business has grown and transformed.

27:58

So, that kind of made me

27:58

look at things differently.

28:01

Right. So with me working at the school and.

28:04

The politics of stuff going

28:04

on in the school district.

28:07

I was just like, you know what? Now that I'm a mom, maybe I should

28:09

start looking at things from a different

28:13

perspective, as far as starting my own

28:13

business and one day being able to take

28:20

that full time so that I can have a

28:20

true work life balance that works for

28:26

me and not have to worry about working

28:26

in a corporate environment that can be,

28:31

not can be, that is toxic, you know?

28:34

So. I did that work with her for a few

28:36

years and still working with her.

28:41

And in 2023, the end of 2022,

28:41

23, I was like, you know what?

28:46

Maybe I'll just step out on

28:46

faith and do my own thing.

28:51

And sure enough, I did. And I, believe it or not, I got

28:53

my first client within a month.

28:57

I got my second client the next month.

29:01

When I ended last year, I was just

29:01

five clients, but didn't want to Put

29:05

too much on my plate and set myself

29:05

up for unrealistic expectations.

29:10

And, I love it. Like all my clients, except one they're

29:11

quarterly, because I feel like that

29:15

just works better for me and my schedule

29:15

right now, most of my clients, still have

29:20

full time jobs and they're, you know,

29:20

working on their businesses part time.

29:25

So I'm like, you know, we have

29:25

something in common, you know,

29:28

And, this year I dubbed three

29:28

more, but I have seven clients now.

29:32

And I think I'm kind of going to

29:32

stop there until, you know, I'm

29:35

make some changes or do whatever.

29:38

I really like working with my clients. They're very easy to talk to.

29:42

They know going into this,

29:42

that I have a full time job.

29:46

They know that I have three kids. They are aware that I work in

29:48

the wedding and event industry or

29:52

work with people in that space.

29:55

And, I'm enjoying it. I have faced some challenges as far as

29:57

not necessarily knowing everything, but

30:05

I like that because that allows me to

30:05

dig a little deeper and to learn more

30:11

instead of just being like, oh, well.

30:13

You have like, for instance, a new

30:13

client, I have, she had her honey

30:17

book hooked up with her quick book

30:17

and my God doubles up everything.

30:22

It's like, oh my God, it's the worst.

30:25

Oh my God. So I was just like, oh my

30:26

goodness, this is insane.

30:31

Yes. And so I'm like, okay, I'm glad that

30:32

I accepted this challenge at all.

30:36

I know how to go through

30:36

it and deal with it.

30:39

You know, because had I not, I. Wouldn't have known that it was such a

30:41

nightmare like that, but I'm grateful that

30:45

I was like, you know what, I'll go ahead,

30:45

see what this consists of that she didn't

30:49

really have too many clients inside of

30:49

HoneyBook, which was a blessing in itself.

30:55

Yeah. still, it was, It's a little mess.

30:58

Yeah. Yeah. We just signed on a cleanup client

30:59

that is an ops like specialist.

31:03

And so they help a lot of

31:03

different businesses with like

31:05

operations and stuff like that. And so she has Dubsado and she

31:07

hooked up her Dubsado because someone

31:10

told her somewhere to hook it up. And I was like, there's probably

31:12

an influencer who told you this,

31:14

who gave you terrible advice. And now everything's duplicated.

31:18

And then even then the other

31:18

day we reached out to him.

31:20

We're like, Hey, By the way, we

31:20

need you to disconnect Dubsado.

31:23

And we gave her the instructions, which were to do the disconnection from within QBO.

31:27

Yes. And she actually ended up was

31:27

thinking that we also were like, Oh,

31:31

go into Dubsado and disconnect it. So she disconnected it from Dubsado, but

31:33

she also had given permission from QBO.

31:38

And so when you're also giving,

31:38

just because you disconnected from

31:41

Dubsado, doesn't mean that you also

31:41

didn't just give permission to QBO.

31:45

To go from their way into Dub Sado.

31:47

And so even though she disconnected with

31:47

it, we were like, we're still seeing it,

31:50

but then I was like, maybe give it 24

31:50

hours and maybe it'll go away or whatever.

31:54

It didn't, it kept bringing in

31:54

all the different, the invoices

31:56

and kept repeating everything. So then we looked in the apps again.

32:00

So we sent her the instructions

32:00

again, which were the same SOP.

32:03

And I was like, Hey, just to remind

32:03

you, like you need to disconnect

32:05

it from within QuickBooks online. And she's like, I already disconnected.

32:08

I was like, you have to do it within QuickBooks online. Cause you're also telling QBO.

32:12

That you're giving it permission to pull

32:12

in from Dubsado just as much as you told

32:16

Dubsado you were giving QBO permission.

32:19

So you just doubled your connection. And that's why it was doubling

32:20

the data on top of the other

32:23

transactions coming to the bank fee. So it's like three times the work.

32:27

so we got her to disconnect it, but a

32:27

lot of people don't know those things.

32:30

Well, like you said, it's like a

32:30

blessing that there wasn't a lot of

32:33

stuff in there for a person to do it.

32:35

Right. But at the same time, it's nice because

32:36

these are also things that help with like,

32:39

What can I talk about on my social media? Because these are common mistakes that

32:43

business owners make. Exactly. And she's like, I didn't know.

32:47

I said, I wouldn't expect you to.

32:49

I said, but same for me. I didn't know either.

32:52

You know, I said, because I could have a

32:52

client that has a honey book and didn't

32:57

connect the two and everything flowing

32:57

smoothly, you know, and then seeing

33:00

yours, I'd be like, well, what's going on. This is so it's okay.

33:03

I said, I really like it. You learn. And I think a lot of times

33:06

like we're always expecting it.

33:09

To have these perfect scenarios,

33:09

but I think imperfect scenarios

33:13

really help make or break you. It's like, do you want to take this

33:15

on or do you not, you know, and I just

33:20

grateful for, you know, I can't get upset.

33:23

I can't get mad because it's, it's a

33:23

part of learning and growing from it.

33:27

And if there's something that I don't know. I don't mind doing the research.

33:30

I don't mind asking somebody or

33:30

even ask her like, Hey, when you

33:34

went in there, what did you do? Let me see this. Let me see that.

33:36

Like she even, um, I told her, I

33:36

said, I'm gonna give you an A for

33:40

effort because She was trying to do

33:40

her own, but keeping herself, like

33:44

categorizing her transactions and

33:44

setting up rules and doing that, I

33:48

give you credit for that because some

33:48

people won't even do that, you know?

33:51

So you had the right mindset.

33:53

You had the right intentions. I said, you just need someone to

33:55

help you out and clean it up and

33:58

make sure everything is good to go.

34:00

But, you know, like I told her, I said,

34:00

sometimes we see when you're not familiar.

34:06

And it's like, okay, I'm going

34:06

to just go ahead and categorize.

34:09

I think, what was it? Line of credit was what she was using

34:11

for her credit card transactions.

34:14

And I was like, no, no, no, no, no. I said, that's not the same thing.

34:18

And I explained to her what that was.

34:20

And she was like, Oh, she says, you

34:20

know, I'd never even thought about that.

34:23

She said, I didn't even think to research it. You know, I said, but as a small business

34:25

owner doing all the things, I wouldn't

34:30

expect you to research a line of credit. You know, some people may know what it is.

34:33

Some people may not know, but

34:33

I can't pop you on the wrist.

34:37

We're like, you don't know what a line of credit is. You don't know what that is.

34:40

You don't can't do that, you know,

34:40

because everybody does not know

34:44

and it's okay that they don't know. But I think in this space, it's good

34:45

to have that teachable, like type of

34:51

spirit, you know, so that you're able to.

34:54

teach and help and encourage and not to

34:54

make somebody feel bad not to condemn

34:59

them like so stop doing it like that

34:59

because that's not right you know because

35:04

that adversity can cause someone to just

35:04

stop in their tracks and be like I don't

35:09

want to work with this you know like I

35:09

don't want to you know don't work with

35:13

this she talked me crazy she do it's like

35:13

I don't want to do that I want you to

35:16

know that working with me is important. I'm here to help free up time,

35:19

definitely free up stress.

35:23

Like I like looking at the numbers. I like going in and drilling

35:24

into it to see what's going on.

35:27

You may not like it. You might just want to sit back

35:28

and say, Hey, can you help me

35:31

understand how to read my PNL?

35:34

Can you help me? How did you reconcile?

35:36

Like, I would like to reconcile. How did you do that?

35:39

What does that mean? You know, You know, so I always just

35:40

want to go into it as like a teachable

35:45

or approachable type of thing, not to

35:45

scold and condemn, you know, because

35:49

they already feel bad if they haven't

35:49

been keeping their book, keeping up.

35:54

You know, a lot of time it's like,

35:54

when you, for instance, like I talked

35:58

to a lot of people on Instagram, so

35:58

they'll reach out and they'll say,

36:02

Oh, I do this, I do this, I do that. And then the more that they build that

36:04

relationship or that connection with

36:08

me, they're like, I thought I was doing

36:08

that, but I really wasn't doing that.

36:12

Or I had every intention to

36:12

do that, but I didn't do it.

36:16

It's like, you get, you

36:16

get the truth behind it.

36:20

And all that is, it just helps me to

36:20

understand, okay, this is how I can

36:24

approach X, Y, and Z with this person

36:24

and start talking about bookkeeping

36:28

from this perspective, not to make

36:28

them feel bad because they already feel

36:33

guilty, like, I haven't filed my taxes.

36:36

What am I supposed to do? Or I haven't done any bookkeeping, you

36:37

know, am I supposed to slap their wrist?

36:43

No, that's wrong. Like. It's not going to make

36:45

them feel good. And I say all the time that the

36:46

two most vulnerable things is

36:50

being naked in your finances. Because to show that side of, like you

36:52

said, there, this is totally normal.

36:55

I'm sure all of our listeners here too

36:55

are also going to think the same, that

36:59

like a lot of clients will come up to

36:59

you saying that they're vanity metrics

37:02

of like, I make this money and like

37:02

I, this, and then like you go behind

37:06

the scenes because it's easier to say.

37:09

You're here versus like what

37:09

the reality actually is.

37:12

And people feel shameful.

37:15

So we find that a lot of people are

37:15

resistant to working with someone because

37:19

like, how scary is it to actually like

37:19

give someone and pull back the curtains

37:23

to something that's one of the most

37:23

vulnerable things that you could give

37:26

up, which, cause our society, says that

37:26

more money equals you are more valued.

37:31

Like you are a better person

37:31

or whatever they say, right?

37:35

Like, I don't, I don't believe in all

37:35

that stuff, but like, you definitely

37:38

are like, you got more money than you're

37:38

higher up and that you have a better life.

37:42

And like, there's all these, you know,

37:42

connotations around all that conversation.

37:46

And I think that when clients come to

37:46

us, when they have that like you said,

37:50

it changes the game for them to finally

37:50

open up because I can't tell you how many

37:54

times I work predominantly with women. I can't tell you how many times like

37:56

women come to work with us and they're

38:00

like, I get mansplained and this is

38:00

no offense to all the men out there.

38:03

We love you. But they get mansplained or like big

38:04

words are used or they feel really

38:07

overwhelmed or they feel dumb. And this also can come from women

38:09

too, like women doing the same thing,

38:12

but like big words aren't cute. Like, they do nothing for someone

38:14

who doesn't understand them.

38:17

Like, their idea of debits and credits

38:17

is like my debit card and my credit card.

38:21

Right. Yeah. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

38:24

They do. And it's like, I had someone

38:25

that worked with, she's a client.

38:29

When we started working together, she

38:29

was so nervous about messing things up.

38:35

had, think she had like 12 bank

38:35

accounts because she was like,

38:40

all my income comes in here. And then I transfer it to this account,

38:42

and then out of this account, then I

38:47

transfer my taxes to this, but I have

38:47

two tax accounts, one for odd years, one

38:52

for even years, then I have this, and she

38:52

was like, she was just so nervous because

38:56

she was like, everyone talks about co

38:56

mingling funds, co mingling funds, and

39:00

I just didn't, so I was like, okay, step

39:00

back, that's it, take a breath, it's okay.

39:06

So let me explain it to you. Your bank account that you use every day

39:08

for you, not your business, but for you.

39:15

I said, do your business expenses

39:15

come out of that account?

39:18

It's like, no. I say, is your business income

39:20

going into that account?

39:23

Like, no. I said, so you're not co mingling.

39:27

I said, co mingling is If, and I used

39:27

to always explain this at the school

39:31

a lot because what we found out at

39:31

the school, it wasn't necessarily

39:35

business and personal at schools. It was faculty and students.

39:39

So that's how we always had

39:39

to talk about co mingling.

39:42

So, I explained to her, I said, so imagine

39:42

you have your business account, right?

39:48

Your mortgage is due, you're going

39:48

to pay your mortgage out your

39:51

business account your home mortgage. It's like, no, that's a desk co mingling.

39:56

Same thing on from the

39:56

school side of things.

39:58

If the students have a parking lot

39:58

account where juniors and seniors

40:02

buying parking passes, their juniors

40:02

and seniors are funding this account.

40:07

Did I see end of the year teacher

40:07

celebrations come out of that?

40:11

No, because the teachers didn't

40:11

contribute to the account.

40:14

So it's like, you got it,

40:14

you know, explained that way.

40:16

I said, so don't feel like you have to

40:16

confuse yourself and put more work on

40:20

yourself by getting an individual account,

40:20

because you just don't want things

40:25

to be messed up because you feel like

40:25

you're going to get a snap on the wrist.

40:28

I said, you're doing fine. I said, but You're putting

40:29

additional stress on yourself that

40:33

you don't have to put on yourself

40:33

by having 10 different accounts.

40:36

I said, I applaud you for being able

40:36

to keep track of all of this stuff.

40:39

I said, but let's try to consolidate

40:39

that because you don't need to have

40:43

all these extra accounts like that. Like, yeah.

40:47

Yeah, exactly. And I think a lot of this space has

40:48

what I like to call fear mongers.

40:51

So people who are like, the best way

40:51

to describe this, they're like the

40:55

narcissists of the business space,

40:55

like the ones that make you feel like

40:59

you can never not work with them,

40:59

because if not, business will crumble

41:03

and like you could never not do it. And I've seen that in like the accounting

41:05

space to where like, Preparers or certain

41:09

CPAs will make them feel like if you don't

41:09

do this and you don't do it my way and

41:14

with us like you are gonna crumble and

41:14

you're gonna get audited and like this

41:18

fear that they instill and it's and it's

41:18

almost like it's literally that's the

41:22

best way I can describe it is like a Very

41:22

narcissistic relationship because at the

41:26

end of the day who's picking up the pieces

41:26

the friends and family So the people

41:30

picking up the pieces are the bookkeepers

41:30

and accountants and those out there who

41:33

genuinely want to help But them trusting

41:33

them Is going to be really hard because

41:39

this person has convinced them that like

41:39

they cannot work with anybody else Right

41:43

if they one time accidentally pay their

41:43

mortgage to their business account like

41:48

and they accidentally do it All of a

41:48

sudden you're going to get audited and

41:50

you're just going to go down the drain. It's like The IRS also

41:52

is pretty understanding.

41:55

I think people are scared of them all the time. They're not like, they just

41:57

don't do it all the time.

42:00

Like it's going to happen. They get it.

42:03

Yes. I had, so like my bookkeepers that when

42:03

they had like the, the district P cards

42:08

and one of them was like, I went to

42:08

McDonald's and I used it to buy my leg.

42:12

Like she called the office.

42:15

I got there in the morning. She called frantically crying.

42:19

I just know I'm going to lose my job. I'm going to lose my job. I'm like, what happened?

42:22

She's like, went to McDonald's

42:22

and I just bought a breakfast

42:26

sandwich with my P card. You just wanted a detached branch.

42:30

So I said, what? Because when she said

42:31

it, I was like, okay.

42:34

She was like, but it wasn't for

42:34

personal, it wasn't for school use.

42:37

It was personal use. I said, it's okay.

42:40

I said, all you have to do is

42:40

just write the district a check.

42:43

I'd say when that check comes in,

42:43

deposit it back into that account.

42:47

It's okay. I said, now it happens.

42:51

I said, but next time I said,

42:51

put a label on that card, right?

42:55

District P card, whatever you need to do.

42:57

So when you pull it out, yeah,

42:57

because with, with the school

43:01

bookkeepers, a lot of times they

43:01

would have to go to Costco or Sam's.

43:04

So they always carry card on them.

43:07

We have other personnel or they did.

43:10

Cause I'm not there anymore. Some of them, you don't need to

43:11

carry the card, but for the ones

43:14

that could carry the card, I'm

43:14

sure, you know, it's like, what?

43:19

We're not crazy enough to

43:19

leave that limit wide open.

43:21

I think their daily limit was just 200.

43:23

So they couldn't go

43:23

crazy if they wanted to.

43:26

But Yeah, but it's just

43:26

like, Ooh, like, yeah,

43:30

but they get overwhelmed. Yeah. Oh, yes.

43:32

Yeah. Comfortable. And they just, yeah, I find that like

43:33

the more that we can relate to the

43:36

clients and get down onto their level. And like, when people say like, you

43:38

always want to explain something,

43:40

like you're talking to a third

43:40

grader and it's not disrespectful and

43:43

it's not rude, it's genuinely like,

43:43

but you shouldn't be condescending

43:47

when you're doing it, obviously. Like you don't want to sound like

43:48

you're really talking to a third grader, but you're talking in the

43:50

terms of like, Okay, the different,

43:53

what debits and credits actually means

43:53

and what we're talking about is this.

43:56

Reconcile means this. Remember your old school little checkbook

43:58

and you used to like write down all the

44:01

double check and put the double checkmark. It's the same thing.

44:05

And I think the more that we've

44:05

become that approachability, what

44:07

it sounds like, that's what you're

44:07

doing as well, which I can just

44:09

get that in like the way you talk. You probably make people feel so

44:11

comfortable with not feeling so guilty

44:14

because they do, clients do feel shameful. They feel overwhelmed.

44:18

They will ask questions like yeah. So do you happen to know like

44:20

your, you know, your profit margin?

44:22

Like, we're just like having a casual combo. And usually I don't like to use that

44:24

word anyways, cause that's already a

44:27

lot for some people if they don't know

44:27

it, but like, that's just something as

44:30

an example, and there'll be like, I'm

44:30

so embarrassed that I don't know this.

44:33

Or I'm, I hear that all the time, but

44:33

what we've done recently is like we

44:37

hooked up with our Our social media

44:37

managers to start doing more campaigns

44:42

around like the things that the

44:42

people are saying that we're finding

44:46

that they're constantly in fear of. So for example, like it's okay that

44:48

you don't know your profit margin.

44:51

Like it's okay that you don't know these things. The fact that you're even sitting

44:53

here reading this post tells me that

44:55

you want to know about it, right? That you're here on this call.

44:58

The fact that you showed up to this consult. So we have to like almost over like,

45:00

Over, celebrate with them that they

45:05

showed up to the call that like the

45:05

fact that you don't know is okay.

45:08

Like the fact that you're here

45:08

is the biggest first step and

45:12

I'm very grateful for that. That means that you really

45:13

truly desire to fix something.

45:15

It's just that you don't know where to start and you're trying to lean out to like an expert,

45:20

you know, I've said that to clients too.

45:22

They're just like, I just don't know. I said, well, let's shake that.

45:25

I don't know off. I said, because you needed a standing

45:26

ovation, a round of applause,

45:30

I said, because you're great. It's a. You know, ownership in this, I said,

45:32

and I said, did you go to school?

45:35

Do you have a degree in accounting? You're like, no, I said, so take that off.

45:39

I said, I'm not a photographer.

45:42

I'm not a wedding planner. I can't put these elaborate bullet.

45:45

Now I can do it if I put my mind to

45:45

it, because I think I am very creative.

45:49

I said, but at all, I said, you can't

45:49

do everything in your business that

45:54

you're trying to be the accountant. You're trying to be PR.

45:57

You're doing customer service.

46:00

Like. You got to give yourself some grace.

46:03

I said, take some of that

46:03

stuff off of your plate.

46:05

That's even when you have a nine to

46:05

five, I said, payroll does the stuff

46:09

that we don't even think about as,

46:09

you know, small business owners, when

46:13

you become a small business owner,

46:13

there's like, oh dang taxes, you

46:17

know, but when you're a W 2 employee,

46:17

you don't think about that stuff.

46:20

You worry about getting your paycheck. Yeah, you know, so I said, the shake

46:21

at all, and it's gonna be okay, you

46:27

know, and I, and I try to talk to them

46:27

the way that I would like someone to

46:31

talk to me, but I'm a Southern girl.

46:33

So it's a lot of y'all my girl stop,

46:33

you know, and I don't mean it in like a.

46:39

You know, I'm like, girl, you better stop. And they're like, I know

46:41

Shatori, I don't know. I don't, I don't like, yeah.

46:44

I said, what can we do to change that?

46:47

You know, or they'll even call and

46:47

say, let me tell you what happened.

46:50

It's not even business related,

46:50

but let me take, because they

46:53

just want to vent to somebody. I said, well, what happened? And I'll sit there, we'll

46:55

sit and talk about it.

46:58

Again, building that rapport up so

46:58

they can feel comfortable with coming

47:01

to me talking about their finances.

47:04

when I, when I went to a, I did my first

47:04

in person, speaking engagement this year

47:09

down in Miami, with the group of balloon

47:09

artists and bounce house stylists, I

47:14

guess is what they call themselves. So I asked him, I said, do you know the

47:15

difference between revenue and profit?

47:21

And they were just like, so I explained

47:21

it to them and I did it real basic.

47:26

And they were just like, I never

47:26

thought about it like that.

47:28

I said, so I said,

47:28

think about it this way.

47:30

I said, one thing that we see on

47:30

Instagram all the time, reels or

47:35

whatever, I make 20, I had a 20 K month.

47:38

I had a 30 K month at a 75 K month.

47:41

Right. I say, but my question is, what do those

47:42

expenses look like, is what I want to

47:47

know, you know, what do you take home? What's your profit?

47:49

Yeah. I said, because you can sit back

47:50

and say, Oh, well, you know, I had

47:54

a 5k month, great now when you paid

47:54

your bills, what was left over?

47:59

And so when I explained it like that, they're like, Whoa, is that what profit is?

48:04

I said, yeah. I said, you can't sit here and

48:05

just bank off of your sales

48:08

and be like, yeah, I got this. No, you don't.

48:11

No, you don't. The IRS is like, not today.

48:14

You you think you have that, based on

48:14

your sales, but we look at that bottom

48:19

line and see after everything came out

48:19

and we see that you thought you had a,

48:24

a six figure month when you had a six

48:24

month, then it's like, Hmm, I said,

48:29

but that's the beauty of bookkeeping.

48:31

You get to see the numbers for yourself.

48:33

You can't hide from it

48:33

because it's on paper.

48:36

You can't hide from it, you know,

48:36

and, and it's okay if you have that

48:40

thick You know, because now, you know,

48:40

moving forward, what changes do I

48:45

need to make so that I can't have that

48:45

six figure month, five figure month?

48:49

What do I need to do? What do I need to look at?

48:52

What do I need to cut back on? A lot of times, one thing I've noticed

48:54

with some of my clients is that we

48:58

sign up for the subscription for these

48:58

trials that you put your card on file

49:03

and then you tend to forget about it. Always.

49:05

So we go through, you

49:05

go through your P& L.

49:09

And it's like, okay, so you

49:09

have ConvertKit and Flowdesk.

49:12

Which one do you use? Oh, I use Flowdesk.

49:15

I said, do you realize you've been paying

49:15

for ConvertKit for like seven months?

49:19

No! I'm like, yeah. I'm like, you're paying for ConvertKit.

49:23

Whoa, how did that happen? I said, well, did you sign up for

49:25

a free trial or anything like that?

49:29

And they said, no, I didn't.

49:31

And they said, yes, I did. And I put my card on file.

49:36

And I said, I was going to cancel

49:36

on the 15th and I didn't yeah.

49:41

But I'm guilty of it too. I said, but being able to see it on

49:43

paper and seeing that you can discharge

49:48

every month, you want to sit back and

49:48

say, Oh, wait, no, let me cancel that.

49:52

Now that now you save us some money. I said, but if you're not looking at that

49:54

PNL, you don't know what's coming in and

49:58

out in your head, you may have an idea.

50:01

Yeah. Paper. Low def, I pay for HoneyBook, I pay for

50:02

this, but if you're not looking at a

50:07

paper and it's somebody like me that has

50:07

three children, I need to see it on paper.

50:11

I can sign up for something seven minutes

50:11

ago and be like, did I sign up for that?

50:16

Like, I need to see it.

50:18

Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy.

50:20

Yeah, I think that just like being

50:20

able to be open, honest, and vulnerable

50:24

and tell them like, this is me too,

50:24

this is my everyday of my life,

50:27

like, trust me, like, this is life.

50:29

it's such a great message and I hope that

50:29

like, especially everyone listening to

50:33

like resonates with that because I think

50:33

at the end of the day, We're all guilty.

50:36

I have definitely admitted

50:36

that I've co mingled like here

50:39

and there like I try my best. Like I've put things on the wrong things

50:41

in the wrong places and I think that

50:45

that's okay to like admit and talk about.

50:47

And I think it just creates more

50:47

of a a bond with other people

50:51

just knowing that like you're

50:51

human and that no one's perfect.

50:54

Nobody can get it all right,

50:54

you know, at the end of the day.

50:57

So I think this is amazing. And I'm so excited to be releasing

51:00

this episode because I feel like you've

51:03

just been so relatable to a lot of

51:03

our listeners and a lot of people who

51:07

like interact in our, industry and our

51:07

space, who are juggling all the things

51:12

and who might just be going through

51:12

maybe a hard time of like, I just

51:15

need to ask for more help or how can

51:15

I just be more receptive to my clients

51:19

that big words aren't always cute. Like they're just be a decent.

51:23

Human, just be a good human

51:23

person to just help people.

51:26

And I think it just goes a really long way. So I really appreciate

51:28

you being here today. I do want to say before, before we

51:30

kind of leave off today, I wanted

51:34

to see is there any piece of advice

51:34

or anything that you want to give to

51:37

someone who's maybe just starting out

51:37

their journey of something that you

51:40

wish you would have known when you started? So one thing I wanted to share with

51:43

those who are just starting out, because

51:46

although I have this degree in accounting.

51:50

That doesn't mean that I know

51:50

everything about bookkeeping, and you

51:54

have to give yourself grace and I,

51:54

and I always think about it this way.

51:58

When starting out, you think of it as

51:58

you're in high school in the ninth grade.

52:03

In ninth grade, you shouldn't know

52:03

or be where a senior is, you know,

52:07

where they're currently at in their

52:07

matriculation as a high school student.

52:11

You're on the ground level, so it's

52:11

okay that you don't know everything.

52:17

You're not going to know everything

52:17

starting out, so it's okay if you're

52:21

unsure or uncertain about something,

52:21

so use that to your advantage.

52:26

And Last questions, do some

52:26

research, build some connections.

52:31

Like I reached out to women that

52:31

I connected with on Instagram.

52:34

And I'll have connections with these women. I've never even met them in person,

52:36

but we built that rapport online.

52:40

So I know I can go to them and say,

52:40

Hey, can I ask you this question about

52:43

strife, can I ask you this question

52:43

about PayPal or Dub Sado or HoneyBook?

52:50

It's okay to ask questions. You would be surprised with how.

52:54

Receptive people are when you approach

52:54

them in the DMs and you approach them

52:59

genuinely because I have received DMs

52:59

from people that are just like, how

53:03

do you know they come at you wrong?

53:05

And it's just like, yep, no block. but when you show up as your true

53:07

authentic, so people will be more

53:11

than happy to help, use the DM,

53:11

but give yourself grace, and don't

53:15

expect to just know everything

53:15

it's going to come in due time.

53:20

You're going to get to where you

53:20

aspire to be, you know, and after that

53:23

first year, celebrate yourself that

53:23

first month, celebrate yourself when

53:27

you, when you get that first client. Celebrate it.

53:30

When you get that second client

53:30

celebrated, do something for yourself.

53:34

So you could say, you know, yeah,

53:34

I'm a brush these shoulders off.

53:37

I'm a treat myself, to

53:37

lunch or dinner, whatever.

53:40

I might buy that Pandora

53:40

charm that I want.

53:43

Treat yourself like, don't do all

53:43

this hard work and think that you

53:46

can't preach yourself like you're

53:46

in charge, you're the boss, but.

53:50

Don't be afraid to ask questions. And if somebody says no, there's

53:53

going to be several other people

53:56

who are willing to say yes. So step out on faith, just.

53:59

Do it and have no reservation because

53:59

in a year you'll look back and

54:04

be like, you know what I did that

54:04

and you're going to keep doing it.

54:08

give yourself grace, take a

54:08

deep breath and just be like

54:12

the little engine that good. Like, I think I can, I think

54:13

I can adopt that mentality.

54:16

Cause I promise you, it will

54:16

carry you throughout that journey.

54:20

Yes. I love that. Great tip. I absolutely love all of that.

54:23

Now, where can people get immersed

54:23

into your world, connect with you?

54:27

Where can they find you? So Instagram is my jam.

54:30

I hang out there like all the time.

54:33

So you can find me on Instagram

54:33

at the virtual bookkeeper.

54:38

Sweet. I love it. And we'll put any links below for anyone.

54:41

Thank you so much for being here today. I'm just so excited and

54:43

I really appreciate you.

54:45

Oh, thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

54:48

I had a blast. Yay, same here.