I Love Bookkeeping – Details, episodes & analysis

We’ve all had shady clients. The question is what you should do when encounter one? For Ben, he gets rid of them as quickly as possible.

[1:15] There isn’t an easy solution if a shady client makes up a good portion of your business’s revenue, but working with an unscrupulous person can put your business in jeopardy.

[1:45] The first signs of a shady client will come up when you’re marketing. When you connect with a potential client, you should try and get a sense of how they feel about taxes.

[2:10] Everybody should avoid taxes as much as possible, but there’s a big difference between avoidance and evasion. If the person insinuates an interest in evading taxes, walk away.

[3:10] If your potential client is hiding something, that means they are lying, and if they are lying to the IRS, do you think they are going to have a problem lying to you?

[3:30] When you’re consulting with these clients, look for things that are off. But if they are already a client and things start to feel wrong, there are some steps you can take.

[4:00] If you start to see warning signs, the first thing to do is to document it and bring it to their attention. First, assume they don’t know and get them on the phone. It may be an innocent mistake, but if it’s not, you’re going to want to call out your client immediately.

[6:15] Ben’s general rule of thumb is one mistake can slide, but if they make a second “mistake”, that’s a pattern and that’s the end of the relationship. Even if the shady things seem small, if you’re seeing them more than once, you should end your relationship with that client.

[7:00] It’s okay to get rid of shady clients. You don’t need to serve them. Most people are fine, but for people that want to pull something over, it’s okay to turn them down. Handle them with care when severing the relationship, and consult an attorney if you need to.

[8:20] You want to work with quality clients that respect you, that respect the laws, and obey everything that they are supposed to.

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

Getting online reviews is the lifeblood of a virtual bookkeeping business. Reviews are one of the first things people look at when considering whether to buy a product or service, without them a certain element of trust is missing.

[1:35] Where are you already? We want to make sure you’re being reviewed where your clients can see them easily. Your Facebook page is one avenue, the Better Business Bureau is another. The BBB is a very commonplace that potential clients go to find reviews. Claiming your Google Business page is another important channel. Trust Pilot is another option that’s becoming more popular.

[4:15] When you ask for a review is key. Being consistent and asking for reviews every month from your clients is the best practice. The best time to ask someone for a review is when they are already excited to be working with you. The key way to phrase the question is “would you mind sharing your opinion with everyone else about my service?”

[6:10] Five stars is great, anything else is not good. Ask them beforehand is there any reason that they wouldn’t rate you with a five star. A one-star review will definitely hurt your business.

[6:55] Avoid giving the client a script, just focus on the five-star rating and let them phrase the review how they feel.

[7:10] Reviews are one of the biggest trust elements that will allow you to serve clients online. Ask for reviews from all your clients and make it part of your monthly service.

[8:15] When someone does leave a review, make sure to always reply. This lets other people know that you are involved and care about your clients.

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

David started out like most entrepreneurs, looking for painful problems to solve. He worked as a freelance marketer and saw a lot of accounting firms struggle with various aspects of their business including project management.

[3:45] He realized there was a gap in the market because if you’re a firm owner with a number of clients to manage, the average project management tool is not client centric at all. Sales tools are built for handling a pipeline, not for dealing with tasks. A conversation with one of his first customers lead to the genesis of Jet Pack.

[5:40] Creating a solution and then searching for a problem is a recipe for bankruptcy. David is trying to instill that idea culturally into his business and is always trying to identify the pain that they are working to solve first.

[6:25] By interviewing people in a specific niche and trying to solve their problems, you begin to learn the language of the industry and really understand the challenges they face. If you’re in the world of business, do more interviews and listen to them.

[8:45] The bad news is that there are many challenges, the good news is they are common challenges to the business. The big shift happens when you go from an owner that does everything to being able to articulate the right process for your team to follow. The most successful firm owners begin to think of their business as a product and understand that the quality of their product is determined by their workflow.

[12:10] When something goes wrong, always go back to the workflow that lead to that result. The SAT framework (Standardize, Automate, Track) comes into play when you’re hiring and scaling clients. If you don’t know where to start, begin with the tasks that have the biggest revenue impact or take up the most time. If you can’t get the process out of your head, have an assistant interview you.

[14:50] None of us want to be micromanagers. If you can’t step away from your business without having a panic attack, it probably means you don’t have the right set of tools to give you the visibility to feel comfortable about the progress of the firm.

[16:50] Every business has three systems: the deliverable, the marketing, and operations. Within each system there are processes that instrumental to the successful function. Simplicity is key in your checklists.

[19:20] Whatever muscles you build today are going to be the muscles that you’re using when you hire somebody. If you start building up the discipline of documenting your processes today, you will have those muscles in place when you need them. Anything you ignore in your business accrues, at some point you will have to deal with it. When you start learning you will discover patterns that will make it easier.

[25:00] If you are already using a task management tool and it’s working well, keep using it until the cracks start to show.

[26:30] The more you can systematize your business, the more valuable it is. Nobody wants to buy a business that is basically buying a job. The more days of vacation the owner can take the higher the potential value of the firm, it indicates that there are processes and systems in place, and those are key to living a lifestyle you enjoy.

[30:30] Planning your month in advance is one of the most freeing things you can do because you can see where you are each week and if you’re reaching your goals. We’re always a work in progress, you always have to reevaluate the structure of your workflow and integrate what you’ve learned. If you’re not seeing the information in front of you it’s impossible to improve it.

[34:15] You don’t have to bring all the business improvements to the table, you should rely on your team to bring ideas on how to make things better. Don’t be afraid to ask your clients how you can serve them better. There are innovations in the minds of your clients as much as there are in your team.

[37:50] More often than not, the insights are sitting outside of you in the connections and people you know and work with.

[38:40] The Net Promoter Score is a simple system for pulling insights out of your clients. You will get a lot of feedback from your clients using that tool that you may never hear otherwise. It’s amazing when you listen to your people and what they will tell you. Insights from the Net Promoter Score will uncover the client experience so you can deliver a great workflow.

[43:20] Create a guarantee that will hold you to being able to deliver on the goods. The industry is moving incredibly fast so if you don’t stand out from the pack you will fade into obscurity. A guarantee will highlight your marketing and force you to sharpen your workflow.

Mentioned in this episode:
Growing Your Firm podcast
Double Your Accounting Firm by David Cristello
Jetpack Workflow

Contact us about the show:

hello@ilovebookkeeping.com

What should you think about and do to strive toward work-life balance? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan share their challenges and advice for effectively working from home while also having free time for yourself.

[0:38] The topic of today’s episode, work-life balance, is something Hannah and Melissa often discuss, and one that Hannah struggles with from time to time.

[1:37] As Hannah points out, one of the big challenges of working from home is the fact that you never leave your office. As a remote worker, the line between your work and free time gets blurred.

[2:26] Melissa shares her struggle with finding work-life balance and talks about her decision to “aggressively” defend her personal time, as well as creating a schedule and really sticking to it.

[4:13] Hannah and Melissa go over how the concept of work-life balance differs between the U.S. and the rest of the world.

[5:17] Hannah warns against the consequences of not making time to rest – and what could happen if you don’t carve out enough time to do so.

[6:03] Hannah and Melissa talk about industries, generational differences and how work-life balance fits into the picture.

[7:28] Melissa shares a key work-balance question you should ask yourself as a business owner.

[9:08] Melissa explains how studies show that 4-day work weeks are significantly more productive than traditional 5-day work weeks, and that she’s working toward having a 3-day work week.

[11:16] Hannah touches upon her current struggle with work-life balance.

[13:13] Melissa shares some advice for Hannah, as well as with everyone else who’s struggling with work-life balance.

[16:45] For Melissa, the hardest part is sticking to the plan you have created, even when things pop up. The second hardest is actually sitting down and making a schedule,

[17:40] And when it comes to children, she sees one of two options. The first one is to delegate, have someone clean your house, do your laundry, etc. Otherwise, you can have your children help you with some of the things you have to do, as long as they make sense for your children’s age.

[20:51] Melissa shares some tips on what to do to actually unplug from work, even when working from home.

Mentioned in this episode:

Tips for Newbies: The Art of Delegating in Your Business

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan are curious to know whether you listen to music or podcasts when working. They discuss what most bookkeepers listen to and their musical preferences, depending on the type of work that’s being carried out.

[0:13] Hannah and Melissa want to know whether you listen to music while working and, if so, what music genre you listen to.

[0:42] Melissa shares that many of the bookkeepers she knows only listen to instrumental music while carrying out their work.

[1:03] Since she now focuses more on administrative work, Melissa does listen to music with lyrics – unlike when she was still doing bookkeeping work and it was instrumental music only.

[1:50] Being the oldest of six children, Hannah is used to working while there may be music or TV on blasting different music shows. When working, she usually keeps the TV on in a different room to keep her company and, when it comes to music, she typically goes for either mediation or focus music. She switches it up and changes genre when she’s on a break and wants to get pumped up.

[3:48] To share your experience and answers with Melissa and Hannah, email them at success@ilovebookkeeping.com.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan have a question for you: what was your first hire? Or if you’re thinking about a new hire, what role is that going to be for?

[0:19] Melissa and Hannah have a question for you: what was your first hire? Or if you’re planning your first hire, what’s it going to be?

[1:03] Hannah and Melissa share the way you can send them your answers and stories.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

What should you think about and do to overcome your anxiety when talking to prospects? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan go over their experience with first client anxiety and share their top tips for dealing with it and still close sales.

[0:53] Melissa shares the story of how she experienced her first client anxiety.

[1:36] Hannah and Melissa discuss how the need of closing a sale to make money to pay your bills can hijack your sale – and what you should consider and do instead.

[4:39] To overcome her fears when meeting new clients, Melissa focused on practicing her conversations. When she feels the conversation is stuck and she doesn’t know what to do, she uses “deflecting questions”. The idea is to ask people questions so that they talk about themselves.

[6:56] Melissa explains how, in her opinion, in sales, the 80/20 rule is more of a 90/10 rule where the prospect does 90% of the talking and you do the remaining 10%.

[8:51] Hannah and Melissa go over what prospects want to hear and want to see you do when you’re having a conversation.

[10:57] Hannah talks about one of the most important things you can do when meeting with a prospect, and what business owners can do to overcome anxiety.

[13:58] Hannah and Melissa share the way they go about dealing with anxiety.

[19:17] Hannah discusses her “turn the camera off” approach and what it helps her with.

[21:54] When starting out, Melissa wanted to get pretty much any type of client since the focus was on being able to pay bills. Her husband wouldn’t agree and said they should keep focusing on clients from their specific niche.

[23:28] For Melissa, a lot of beginning businesses need to educate themselves about their niche.

Mentioned in this episode: 

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

There’s no denying: social media is here to stay. But with so many different platforms to choose from, how does one start today? Should one go for a personal or a company page, and how can one reach potential clients on social media? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan discuss social media marketing for bookkeepers in their Tips for Newbies series.

[0:42] Hannah, who has been the social media manager at Bookkeeping.com for almost five years, kicks off the episode series on social media marketing for bookkeepers.

[1:53] As it was mentioned in the previous episode, social media is actually one of the first things Melissa outsourced in her business.

[2:39] What social media needs to be on a business’ radar? For Hannah, the top 5 social media platforms at the moment are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. Your business may not need all five. What you need to do is 1) determine how important social media is to your business, and 2) determine where your audience resides and go there

[4:46] What’s Hannah’s best advice for taking care of social media marketing the DIY way? The first step is to take a moment to decide whether you’d actually like to do it yourself or should delegate it to someone. After that, it’s about determining where your audience is, and then doing some market research – who do your target customers follow on social media? What are they looking for? And ask yourself this key question: Am I answering what potential clients are looking for on Instagram, TikTok or other platforms they hang out on?

[8:50] What do people do when they log on to any social media platform? They look for something: information, inspiration, something aesthetically pleasing, to decompress, to laugh. It’s important to try to be the question to what your target clients are seeking out on social media.

[10:08] With so many social media to choose from, how should a business owner go about getting started? Hannah recommends creating a game plan and being laser-focused – if you’re feeling overwhelmed, then pick only two platforms and focus on them first.

[10:58] When starting out with social media, what overwhelmed Melissa the most? She didn’t focus on a couple of platforms, rather followed a “the more, the merrier” approach.

[11:40] What are some additional reasons that lead people to feel overwhelmed when it comes to leveraging social media for their business? Hannah believes that one of the main causes of this is focusing too much on content without actually doing much brainstorming.

[12:42] What should one do if she feels she’s too old for something like TikTok? The answer is simple: if you don’t feel comfortable doing it, just don’t do it.

[15:08] Feel as if your target clients are on a specific social media platform but you aren’t on there much? You should act now, says Hannah. In Melissa’s case, for instance, many painters are on TikTok. And another thing they do is leave a lot of reviews. And which platform gets plenty of reviews published on it? Facebook…

[15:32] ‘Do I go personal or business?’ is one of the questions many business owners ask themselves. And are there particular boundaries to set with clients who would like to connect with me on my personal profiles? Hannah recommends making your social media profiles not personal pages but business pages. As far as boundaries are concerned, she suggests not becoming Facebook friends with your clients, as they’re likely to talk business on your personal profile. You may have working hours with your business but that’s harder to do because social media has blurred the line of your 9-to-5. That’s why it’s important to create boundaries and “aggressively” protect your personal life.

[20:26] Once the audience has been defined and found on social media, how does one go about creating content? When starting out, Melissa really struggled with this because she had a ton of ideas and she wasn’t sure which one to create content around. Hannah suggests looking at other pages for inspiration for content you may want to create. As for the actual creation, Canva – especially the Pro plan – is the platform both Hannah and Melissa rave about. Create content that adds value, then mix it up.

[24:06] Wondering how you can engage others on social media? Using a giveaway can be a great way to engage others. The incentive can be as small as a $5 or $10 gift card to a place like Starbucks, for instance.

[26:56] Are there some strategies for inviting people to follow me on social media? Yes, there are. Hannah shared how some people and companies actually create ad-hoc discounts that are available only to those who start following them on social media, because most people enjoy getting free stuff.

[29:21] What’s something that shouldn’t be done on social media? Copying other people’s content is a big no-no, and keeping your visuals high-quality matters.

[33:31] How do you go about finding someone to help you with social media? If you have content ideas in your head but you’re just missing that creative flow or perhaps you need some small graphic design tasks done, then you could look into hiring a graphic design student as a contractor. In case you’re having a tough time with planning, coming up with a calendar, and scheduling, then you’re more in need of help from an agency or from somebody who does this full-time.

[35:06] Wondering about Hannah’s #1 social media tip for newbies? You’ve actually heard it before: find where your target customers are, and go there.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

What role does delegating play into your business growth? Why should you consider delegating, how do you choose what to delegate, and who to assign a specific task? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan discuss the art of delegating for your bookkeeping business.

[0:28] The topic of today’s episode, delegating in your business, is something Hannah believes many business owners could benefit from learning more about.
[1:19] Hannah asks Melissa at what stage of her journey she said to herself ‘Alright, it’s time to delegate’. Melissa started delegating right from the very beginning. She explains why people don’t delegate and the message you’re sending others if you aren’t delegating.

[6:01] ‘What are some good reasons people should delegate?’ Hannah asks Melissa. Melissa makes it clear: ‘If you get to the point where you are overwhelmed and can’t do everything yourself, you’ve gone too far. You should have delegated sooner.’ And this doesn’t only apply to your professional life, but to your personal life too – as a working mom, you can’t do it all by yourself.
[10:29] For Hannah, learning how to delegate isn’t just something that can help you grow your business, but it’s something that improves your overall quality of

[12:49] What should people do to make their life easier? According to Melissa, an audit of your personal life, since it’s so intertwined with your business life.
[13:58] Do we work better when we’re under supervision? Melissa shares a statistic that illustrates the fact that people working from home are 47% more productive. They work and perform better when they’re given trust. Both Melissa and Hannah agree, and share their experiences.

[20:24] Which areas should you focus on delegating? It comes down to a few “categories”: tiny, tedious, time-consuming, terrible, and time-sensitive.

[24:31] What are the traits of a great leader, according to Hannah? It definitely is about understanding the importance of delegating – and actually delegating – but also about being able to take constructive criticism.

[27:03] How do you decide who to delegate a task to? It starts with doing a task audit, as career and business strategist Jenny Blake recommends. Melissa starts by looking at the order in which to delegate – she begins with prioritizing time-sensitive tasks, but also looks at tasks that, if delegated, would free up the most time. Then, she asks herself, ‘Is the right person to deal with this task already on my team?’

[29:37] For Melissa, asking herself ‘How do I know whether a team member is the right person to assign a task to?’ has been the hardest question. When asking herself this question years ago, she realized that her team wasn’t made of the right people.

[32:33] Has outsourcing been helpful for Melissa’s business? Yes it has, particularly in regards to outsourcing social media, since it didn’t come naturally to any of Melissa’s team members.

[33:26] What are some important questions to ask yourself if you’re considering outsourcing? For Melissa, the list includes questions such as:

• ‘Is this a task for one person or a team?’
• ‘Am I hiring for one task or a full role?’
• ‘Are my processes for this task documented?’
• ‘Do I have the time to train the new employee on the items I’d like to delegate?’
• ‘Do I even have an idea of what it is I’d like them to do, and is it documented?’

[35:47] Hannah asks Melissa how she has gone about keeping her task delegation process going effectively. According to Melissa, achieving buy-in is key. And clarifying what success means will help with that.

[42:24] Melissa touches upon a struggle she has when it comes to her role as leader.

Mentioned in this episode:

Jenny Blake’s 3rd book Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business

BKX Conference 2022

success@ilovebookkeeping.com

In this episode of the Tips for Newbies series, co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan go over the habits of remote workers – including the challenges and lessons learned from having been remote workers for a few years.

[0:55] Melissa has been working remotely since 2016, before it was “cool.” Hannah, on the other hand, has been a remote worker since mid-2017.

[1:19] Transitioning to working remotely was challenging for both Melissa and Hannah. Melissa, in particular, almost felt as if she was having a midlife crisis.

[3:16] Melissa shares her 3 core habits: not signing on the minute you wake up, keeping your personal and professional spaces separate (if possible), and leaving your workspace when you “leave” your office.

[8:08] Hannah shares why remote workers should (try to) meditate every day.

[10:33] Melissa suggests people find the right morning ritual to follow.

[12:12] Melissa touches upon the importance of taking care of your body, and what happens when you don’t.

[13:17] According to Melissa, the key to their success has been their focus and being consistent. There have been plenty of opportunities she has been presented with, but the main focus has been the business.

[14:01] Melissa shares her experience with moving into a company that, despite it being her own, was a new company.

[16:14] For Hannah, the hardest part about working remotely has been transitioning from 12 hours working on her feet to sitting down in front of a computer, trying to figure out her own schedule.

[18:24] Hannah managed to overcome the obstacles she was facing thanks to practicing gratitude.

[18:56] Hannah recommends getting a mentor that doesn’t have skin in the game because they’re going to be straight with you – tell you where you’re doing things wrong and what could be done better.

Mentioned in this episode:

Witchcraft for Daily Self-Care by Michael Herkes

success@ilovebookkeeping.com