[00:00:00] Okay. Hi Katherine. How are you? Hi. I'm doing so great. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm so glad that we were able to make this work with our busy schedules and finally get this scheduled in here. Honestly, when I thought about interviewing a bookkeeping client, you were one of the first I thought of, Oh, and you're one of my newer clients, so, it's kind of funny.
[00:00:19] So, I'm gonna talk a little bit about our discovery call, if that's okay, . Sure. Just because I'm sure you remember I have never had a discovery call like the one I had with you. So I started out that call just knowing that we were gonna work together. So I was just very confident. I was talking like, just assuming that we're gonna work together and I, I know I was kind of apologetic in that like, I'm sorry, I don't usually do this.
[00:00:42] And it was true. Oh. But I just felt an instant connection with you. And honestly, I think it's because I got your information and then you scheduled a. Like a few weeks out. Mm-hmm. . . So, I had time to kind of look you up and I found your podcast and I listened to your podcast and at the time I think you were in Indiana for the and so I knew that you were kind of unplugging and just listening to your podcast.
[00:01:04] I was like, Oh, I like her . So, I'm really happy to have you on and I hope that, Well, I'm glad I didn't scare you away, but I hope I don't scare you away. , you were very welcoming. I, I felt the same thing. I, you know, had found you online and the discovery call for me was really just like kind of a thing. We had to do to get it out of the way, but I was like, I'm ready to work with this lady.
[00:01:24] Okay, good. . Well, at the end, I remember this and you might not remember, but you said, Yay, I have a bookkeeper now. And like, put your hands up and I, that made me so happy. I love When clients feel like I'm making a difference and you have something taken off your plate and kind of a, like a weight has lifted.
[00:01:41] I recently hired my podcasting agency and I felt the same way. Like, I, oh, I feel so happy that I'm getting to, you know, not have to worry about this anymore. So, it was fun to see that from a different angle. So I was, that just made me happy when you did that. So anyway we'll get right to it.
[00:01:57] So how did my process impact you or like any part of it? My discovery call, the onboarding communication, monthly reports. Let's see. You've been a client for. Two or three months now I, can't remember for sure, but it hasn't been that long. So answer as well as you can . Yeah. Well it was a really seamless process, which I appreciated from.
[00:02:18] So I think I had just been googling around like where I was when I was coming to find a bookkeeper is where I'm. Imagining a lot of your clients come from is kind of a place of like, Oh crap, I need help . Yeah. You know, you've been trying to do, I've been in business coming up on like, almost three years now and, you know, I was hacking the bookkeeping stuff on my own for a while.
[00:02:39] I mean, I'll be totally honest, I wasn't really doing it at all the first year. I didn't even know what bookkeeping actually like really was. Mm-hmm. , , in case you can't tell, finances have never been my strong point. And. Then I got it together and I was doing it on my own the second year, and I was just like, This is not my strength.
[00:02:54] And. Finding you was a total relief because from the second I found you, which was on Instagram, it was easy to make the process happen because it was like very easy to find information on your website. It was very clear. The communication was good. Super easy to book a discovery call, like it was super clear to know like the information I needed and then.
[00:03:12] You know, I felt that same connection with you on the discovery call and from there on out, you explained everything super clearly, like doing the back process, like, forget exactly what the term is, but like going through all of my records. Oh, the cleanup. Cleanup thing. The cleanup, Yeah.
[00:03:28] Yeah. And then just like having all, giving you all the information for like, read only access to my financial accounts. It was just super easy. I was just like, seamless is the best word that I can , mm-hmm. , use to describe it. And I think that's what you want. And any sort of business, especially when a, service provider around money because you can feel so nervous and insecure and vulnerable around it and mm-hmm. you just made it really easy. Like there was always a clear next step. The communication was super clear and I just felt very taken care of, which was awesome. Oh good. I'm so glad to hear that. I know that that onboarding process of getting the bank access and all of that is such a hassle and.
[00:04:04] Honestly, in a weird way, I feel like I'm stealing your identity. , you know, makes you feel so vulnerable. Like, Oh, I have to give all this to this person that I barely know, and just trust that they're gonna, you know, make sense of it. . Yeah. So I always feel like kind of like a hacker, like, I promise I'm not gonna use this against you.
[00:04:25] So it's an odd feeling from this point of view, from my side of it being like, Yeah, give me your bank info. Give your bank statement. You know, It was like a total relief for me. I was just like, you know, it was just like, Oh, okay, like this person actually knows what she's doing.
[00:04:41] I have not been, She has the information. She has what she needs from me. Like, you like this. Me taking off my hands now because it's in the hands of a professional, you know, and I'm a, life coach, and an online teacher, and I'm a great coach and a great teacher around. Mostly I work with. In emotional intelligence and self discovery.
[00:05:03] Mm-hmm. Finances. I'm not bad at finances necessarily. It's just, you know, you feel intimidated around this kind of stuff. When you start a business because you just don't have a lot of education around it. And , when a professional comes in and is like, Yep, I need this. Yep, I need this. Okay, we're good.
[00:05:19] You're like, Huh. Big self relief. Yeah. Yeah. And that's what I. So, with your coaching I've taken one of your courses, one of your many courses, the Taro and Tapping. Oh yeah. Um, you just did recently. Yeah. And I wasn't on live, but I caught the replay. And you were talking a lot about financial burdens and, feeling, you know, a certain way about money.
[00:05:40] And I know a lot of people feel that way. , I even feel that way sometimes, you know, I'm not immune to it. So it's, neat to hear the emotional side and also knowing that emotions are safe with you, you know? Mm-hmm. ,, like, I wanted to message you right away when I listened to that, cause I was like, this is so good.
[00:05:58] I'm not familiar with either Taro or EFT as much, like eft. heard a little bit more about, but just watching. Everything happened. It was just really fun and you were very calming and soothing on the call, which obviously sooth is your mastermind name, so that, that's probably no accident that I describe you that way.
[00:06:16] But I just really enjoyed it. So, part of, I think the reason that. I was drawn to you is because you feel so available to hold emotions. So I really like that. Like, not necessarily that I'm gonna be dumping on you or anything, like as your bookkeeper, but just knowing that we can have a different type of relationship than other like, business to business relationships.
[00:06:40] And I kind of like that. So, I just thought that was worth mentioning . Oh yeah. Thank you. I mean, that's really I'm so grateful to hear that and I'm so glad you enjoyed the course. And, yeah, I work primarily with highly sensitive women and. For anybody who doesn't know what a highly sensitive person is, it's it's not a disorder.
[00:06:57] It's sort of just like a way of being a highly sensitive person to somebody who has big emotions, lots of depth of processing a rich inner world delicate nervous system and highly sensitive people, you know, can, because of our big emotional world and our struggles with anxiety and people pleasing.
[00:07:14] A lot of things can feel really unsafe for us, and we may have experienced shame in the past, maybe as children or young adults for being overly sensitive, or at least that's what people told us. And so it is absolutely a priority for me to cultivate a sense of safety around the topics that I, whether it's a one-on-one coaching client or somebody who's taking a workshop of mine so rarely in the world do we get to have that space where we can be accepted and have self-compassion and a non-judgmental space. . So I really do wanna you know, strive to have that in my work. And then like with bookkeeping, it's like also like, I need that because like , you know, a lot of people have a lot of shame around money.
[00:07:55] And I think one of my struggles with bookkeeping was like, Because I was so messy at it the first couple of years, and I didn't really, It's a whole different language, you know? , Mm. , everything to do with taxes and LLCs and like I said, I literally didn't know what bookkeeping was, and now I know it's literally just keeping a record of your expenses and your, revenue and like mm-hmm. I think that's it. Right. And then like, And categorizing that Yeah. And knowing it all along during the year. Set of just once a year at tax time. Exactly, Exactly. So now you know, well this is working well or this isn't working well and, you can see where maybe some expenses are getting out of control and stuff like that.
[00:08:34] Like so bookkeeping during the year and as like a monthly process helps you as a business owner really take control. Of kind of zooming out and seeing the big picture of your business. , financially and not just being in it and doing the work. Yeah. Which is . a important piece, but you're able to focus on that.
[00:08:54] , if I'm doing the big picture and then monthly I just send you the little highlights. . Yeah. Yes. So yeah, and since I have experienced some, shame and insecurity around business financials, like it was a relief too. Find you and work with you because you were very, I can't imagine you have a judgmental bone in your body, but you weren't like, Oh my God, your books are a mess.
[00:09:15] Yeah. No, you were just like, Okay, we'll do cleanup and I'll take care of this and da da. Mm-hmm. . . And it just felt very straightforward and very clear. Like, highly sensitive people also need a lot of context, and you explained every step of the way, like what was happening and like why you needed the information and what would happen next.
[00:09:32] And so, For somebody who might struggle with like financial insecurity and not insecurity like in resources, but being insecure about working with numbers or finances. Mm-hmm. ,, I think that part, like you also feeling safe to work with, like around money. Mm-hmm. Not just like, security wise. Or competency wise, but also like emotionally non-judgmental, compassionate is probably a huge reason why people might wanna work with you too.
[00:09:57] Yeah. I never want to make people feel like I'm judging. It's also , it's so funny. I feel like a lot of business owners think that their finances are way worse than they really are. Oh, yeah. So I try. Kind of downplay, you know, the severity because it's really not, I mean, as far as taxes go, as you know, I don't do taxes.
[00:10:19] But a CPA who only does taxes is really there to get all of your taxes so Uncle Sam can get his cut. . Mm-hmm. .. And that's really what there for, is to make sure that IRS is getting their piece. . and I like to focus more on making sure you have the knowledge to make decisions that you need to make throughout the year.
[00:10:39] . So that's a big difference. And then the cpa the, tax part is a piece of cake when you have a bookkeeper, . So, you know, January's gonna come around and I will do your December books poof, everything's done. And you send it off. . . So April 15th is, That's a deadline. But your bookkeeping and your taxes are already done.
[00:10:58] Yeah, like long before. So, long are the days that you have to like file an extension or anything like that. Like a lot of my clients are kind of stuck in, I always file an extension because it's never done on time. Mm-hmm. And then, you know, October rolls around and then I have to do it for last year.
[00:11:14] So, I like getting people on track. So that's good to hear that. , I felt, you know, like a safe place for you to come. feels really good. . Yeah. Because more I listen to you, the more I think I'm a self-diagnosed, highly sensitive individual as well. . Yeah. And I don't think about, my processes.
[00:11:33] Working with highly sensitive people, but I guess since I am one, it just kind of comes natural that I would wanna know this and I would wanna feel comfortable around this and I would feel weird like handing over my, you know, bank statements the first few times. But yeah, I'm really glad to hear that.
[00:11:47] Yeah. Well if you feel like you are highly sensitive, I mean, and it's business is so interesting. I mean, I'd love to, you know, one day we'll have to catch up and talk about like your business process and marketing and sales from the bookkeeping side and me and the life coaching side. Yeah, it does give you a niche, like for me, highly sensitive people.
[00:12:04] It makes my marketing and selling it easier because people need a ton of trust. So having a podcast is a great example. Mm-hmm. because they get to know you a little bit and hear your voice and you know, , mm-hmm. , feel closer to you. The clarity and ease of use that you provide is really great. The context along the way and the, the understanding that like there's a vulnerability inherent in, handing over your finances and having somebody kinda come through them.
[00:12:28] So yeah, if you're providing that, I'm sure it's attracting maybe like-minded, highly sensitive people to. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. It's funny that you mentioned my podcast because I find people through their podcasts. So my business coach Katie Farrow, she, I found her on her podcast. And I've been working with her for a year.
[00:12:45] And, I just kind of realized that's how I find her. So that's how people are gonna find me. So, And honestly, I started this not thinking anybody would listen, . And really I'm just doing it for myself more than anything. Yeah. So if it works, it works, then that's great. But I'm having fun in the meantime, so
[00:13:02] Oh yeah. Podcasts are so fun to like, explore your own voice and I do think they're, I would say almost anybody who's worked with me, A higher level has listened to my podcast. Mm-hmm. And that was a major deciding factor why they decided to work with me at a higher level, because they felt that sense of trust that can really only come through voice in some ways.
[00:13:21] Right. And I know that just kind of doing it for myself for a while, it's been producing clients. . So that's when I decided to, you know, hire my podcasting agency to be a little more intentional. About the topics I discuss and things like that. So it's just been kind of a wild ride. This is only my 11th episode, but Oh, cool.
[00:13:39] Every other week. So, it's been nice. So I haven't really overstretched myself either. I don't think I could do a weekly podcast, but this is perfect. twice a month is good. . So have you ever had a different bookkeeper or have any other experiences with a bookkeeper or is this your first? This is, You are my first bookkeeper, which is so wonderful.
[00:14:00] And like I said, is the first year I did keep a very basic spreadsheet, but it was not categorized, It was pretty ad hoc. I didn't really know what I was doing. The second year, I did work with a money coach who gave me like a bookkeeping spreadsheet that she had created. Mm-hmm. . . And that was useful. so it's been a very staged approach, right?
[00:14:18] Mm-hmm. ,, like the first year was like me ki trying to hack it with like a self-made spreadsheet. The second year I have a better spreadsheet that shows me like percentages and categorizations and how much I need to put aside for taxes. but , I'm still doing it myself and I'm still making errors and like missing revenue and I.
[00:14:34] Downloading a report from Stripe and trying to cut and paste it into the spreadsheet and just like spending hours each month, you know, like pulling my hair out and being like, Why I'm not good at this . And then, no. And then you are my very first like official bookkeeper. So it was like, I'm like graduating each year
[00:14:53] I love that. What was your thought process before investing in a bookkeeper? It was like, I need help, you know. When you start a business, you're doing all of it on your own at first, usually, like, and that's, fine. And that's kind of, I kinda like that because then you're like getting a basic understanding of how things in your business function, so For example, I don't need to know how to build a website, but because I kind of put together my first website, I have a little bit of an understanding of that, right? And I'm not an Instagram expert, but because I work on my own Instagram, I have a little bit of an understanding of that. But it does come the point when you're like, What do I enjoy in my business?
[00:15:29] What am I good at in my business and what am I like spending hours on in my business that is like, It's being detrimental to my business. , Right. Keeping was one of those areas for me where I was like, Okay, Katherine. Like I know, and I'll also say, every time I've invested in outsourcing, it's only ever helped my business, you know?
[00:15:47] Mm-hmm. , , I know we it can be fearful to invest in , mm-hmm. , delegating to somebody or like, whether it's a virtual assistant or a podcast manager or a bookkeeper, and I don't think you need to do it all at once, but. It's so the space that you free up like mentally and emotionally around it, like just has a really good ROI for your business no matter what.
[00:16:06] So I was just at this point where I was like, Definitely need help. This is not a strength of mine. I was filing as an S corp. I was moving from an LLC to an S corp, and I was like, I need to professionalize this stuff a little bit more. . So, yeah, I was like really ready. And I felt really good.
[00:16:21] I was like very like, prepared to invest. That's awesome. I completely agree with you as far as hiring really does free up more than just the hours. That it took you to do the thing. Because , the way I've been doing this is I've really been focusing on my instincts lately. I have good instincts and when I can act on them quickly, That's when things really happen.
[00:16:42] So I've been, I'm a list person, so I have, you know, all of these lists and I've noticed the things that I need to outsource are the things that never get marked off my list, or I move them to a new page and I keep moving them to a new page. And I, keep rewriting them thinking maybe I'll put it at the top today and maybe it'll get done.
[00:16:59] So that's definitely it might take me four hours. A month to do X, Y, Z. But if I can hire someone to do that, how many hours did I spend moving it and like dodging that on my to-do list and it taking up mental space like you're saying, like that is, I can't even put a number of hours on that.
[00:17:17] Mm-hmm. And just like worrying about. You know? Yeah. And worrying about why don't I wanna do this? Mm-hmm. , , it's so easy. It takes me four hours and I know that . Totally. So completely agree. And it can be something that even I enjoy once I sit down and do it. Yeah. But just the dodging and all of that means something.
[00:17:34] So if I'm dodging something over and over and over, I have to look at that, like, why? Like what is it about this task that I don't feel is important as others? And it's not priority, but it still has to get done. Yeah. So yeah, I have tasks like that in my business too. , I'm my own best bookkeeping client.
[00:17:52] Honestly. I do my books first out of the month which is a good habit to get into. Especially I feel like when, you're a bookkeeper, it's really easy to not do your own bookkeeping, but focus on your clients , and that's kind of been a Something I've seen a lot of my peers do.
[00:18:07] And it's really easy to get 'em caught up when I need to, you know, if I was to let it go. But my coach mentioned that, be your best client. Like be your number one, top priority client. So, and honestly it's, kind of fun cuz my books are the easiest. I have all the answers, you know?
[00:18:23] Mm-hmm. , I don't have to ask myself, what was this I already know. . So I can get it done pretty quickly and it's nice and clean and then I can move on, instead of letting it stack. Yeah. And then only do it quarterly or, whatever, so. Right. Yeah that's, kind of fun. But so what has been a ripple effect?
[00:18:39] Have you noticed a ripple effect in the couple months that we've been working together? Oh, yeah. I just, I have relief like Besides transitioning to filing as an S corp, I'm also in the process of purchasing a home and you need a lot of financial documentation to do that. And beforehand it would just be like, I'd be like, they'd ask for a thing and I'm like, I don't even know what that is,
[00:18:58] And then I'm like digging around in my records to try to find it. And now it's just like the relief of knowing, like I can email you if I need a particular statement or a profit and loss or whatever, like a year to date statement. So relief is kind of a ripple effect like, And just having that trust is like so nice cuz you know that somebody's like, got your back financially.
[00:19:20] Mm-hmm. like, you you know the business is business and life is life, but like obviously we're in business. To like have a better life for ourselves too, like to do our, souls calling and our work, but also like to do things like create money to purchase a home or create money to, you know, take our kids somewhere or to whatever, you know, and pay taxes and do all of these things.
[00:19:41] And. , when you have like, trust that your business finances are, being taken care of, for me, it has a ripple effect into just my peace of mind in my day-to-day life too. Yeah, that's awesome. I've noticed lately I hope I don't freak you out cuz I've been listening to your podcasts.
[00:19:56] Sometimes that can be a little creepy . No, I love it. I mean, the intimacy is really there in a podcast, right? Yeah. So it's just funny. I'm listening, but you don't know I'm listening. . It's that sort of thing. . It's kind of fun though, but I know that you've been talking a lot about generational like you're the first in your generation to you know, own a business, to purchase a home or first woman.
[00:20:21] So that stuff is big. Oh and, I like, That you see that more as a challenge, like to do this well and I've been feeling that a lot lately too. I'm the first. Like college graduate. . And I'm the first entrepreneur. I'm the first a lot of things, and I kind of see that as a challenge too.
[00:20:40] Mm-hmm. ,, like, I want my kids to grow up and see that they can do this. , if they want to, and kind of, if they wanna go to college, that's great. If they wanna start a business instead, that's great. If they wanna do both, you know? Mm-hmm. ,, just knowing that they're not really pigeonholed into doing things one way.
[00:20:56] It's just kind of interesting to me to see the generational influence. You know that Yeah. That generations before me have had, because I learn from them and I get a lot of my independence from them. And then seeing like my daughters growing up and wanting to sit on my lap and they wanna help me.
[00:21:11] . Whenever I get a new client, I tell my kids and. I have a four year old and a six year old both girls and they say, Oh mommy, you got a new booking client? . . That's so cute. So it's really fun to have conversations with my kids about my business. So, yeah, a lot of the generational stuff that you talk about Has really rung true with me or, at least struck a chord.
[00:21:34] . And I was just at a business retreat this past weekend and we were talking about generational trauma and just kind of sitting around the table. Not any specific activity, but just talking about generational trauma and that not only trauma comes through generations, but also the good things.
[00:21:51] Yeah. Come through generations. I think that's important to think about too. . Cuz I think generational trauma is kind of a, phrase lately, like a hot phrase that people talk about. . , . But I like knowing that other things pass along too. And not just the trauma . Cause that's kinda depressing.
[00:22:07] Oh, all of it. You know, all the limitations, all the blessings, all the trauma, all the talent. Like it's all part of our lineage. And when you were referencing my podcast episode, what I had been talking about for anybody who's curious is just that I had a realization that I am the first unmarried woman and the first.
[00:22:25] Woman entrepreneur in the lineage that I know of on, on either side. And I had been really beating myself up because I still struggle with scarcity and insecurity around running my business even three years in. And I'd been struggling with a couple, like, and I'm using funds for my business to help purchase my first home.
[00:22:41] And it has been really scary and I've just been like, Why are you so scared, Catherine? Like, you just need to like get over it. And. , I had this realization that I'm the first person to use money to make and use money as a woman as I see fit. , that is a blessing to be able to do. You know, everybody else in my lineage had been a, stay-at-home mom.
[00:22:59] You know, generationally that was like, what? Was done, you know, historically. And they, the thing was these women were basically all like the managers of the finances, but they weren't the ones, they didn't get to earn the money mm-hmm. . And ultimately because they didn't earn the money and because of the time, you know, that they were all born in.
[00:23:16] They didn't really get to say what was done with the money. So they get to manage the money, but not like really have influence over it. And so for me, I'm like, Oh, I'm the first one. Of course this is hard for me. And now I'm gonna use that as motivation to like get really rock solid at my finances and really understand what I'm doing.
[00:23:34] And yeah, hiring you and having you as a bookkeeper has absolutely been a part of that. Right. a ripple effect from you too. Like other people will learn from you. And they are learning from you . So I think that's really huge too. Like whether or not you have kids, like you still influence a generation.
[00:23:52] Yeah. Yeah. . . So what would you think or how would your life be different without me as your bookkeeper? ? I would be very stressed. . I mean, I felt like what I was doing beforehand was a lot of scrambling. Like the books were always like an afterthought, something I, that kind of thing that you dreaded, that you just put off.
[00:24:11] The house stuff would be a lot more stressful because I would be scrambling to find these documents that I didn't even really know what they were, and I just wouldn't like, have confidence. Like right now, I know that like, month to month I'm gonna get like an insight. just like helps me know that I can look in my business without needing to be obsessive at about it.
[00:24:28] , I kind of ping pong back and forth between like obsessively, like refreshing my revenue or my Stripe dashboard versus like not looking at it at all because I'm scared, like maybe I didn't make enough money this month or whatever. And this is just like, okay, like I will look at this when these reports come in and then I have a good snapshot and.
[00:24:46] Yeah. Without that service that you provide, I think I would not have that sense of like relief and foundation. That feels so good to have. I love that you let me in on the house purchasing conversations. I like cheering you on and I know that that's scary. I mean, you know, I've.
[00:25:04] Three houses now. And each time it's been a completely different experience. Never post pandemic have I bought a house, . Wow. So I can't imagine what that's like right now with the economy and the market as it is, but I love that I'm here to support you with that. And also, you know, all your questions about, you know, I don't feel like you've sent me many questions, , but Whenever you do need a report it's really easy for me to pull and I don't mind at all. I actually feel like, Oh, this is exciting. She must be doing something today, you know, where she needs this. So, that's always exciting for me and I feel like, I don't know. There's just something about kind of being a cheerleader for other businesses.
[00:25:42] Mm-hmm. , I feel like I'm, a part of your business, like I'm not. But I do feel like we're teaming up to tackle this together. So, I'm gonna start doing something new with my client reports. Not that new. And I actually have done this for you already, but including the whole year to dates you can see every month of the year.
[00:26:00] So you can just, if you ever pull it up, you can see your revenue across months. so you can know I was so stressed last summer over finances and look, it was right there, it was the same as every other month, or, I just feel like for me, that's something that I like to look at. Or when was it the lowest?
[00:26:17] Well, that was when I wasn't even worried about it, you know, or like all of a sudden I had a really high month in August. What did I do different in August? Or what had I done previous months to lead up to that? So all of those are questions that I naturally ask myself, and I feel like if you had that in front of you, maybe you do or maybe you don't have that kind of curiosity like I do.
[00:26:38] But if you are ever curious and wake up in the middle of the night and think, You know, I was so stressed about my finances last month, but look how it stacked up. I actually did better. know, like my revenue was there all along, or a lot of reoccurring revenue is nice, you know, that, you know that you have that there.
[00:26:56] So I'm gonna start adding. All of the month today, or year to date with all of the previous months included in the report. Mm-hmm. . Right.. Just cuz it'll be nice to have , I just think, Oh yeah. Yeah. That's, You can see the little trends yourself. I like to point those out. If you have like the highest month since I've been working with you, I point that out and Oh, cool.
[00:27:15] Yeah. So I like to have little celebrations too. I definitely look over your finances and think, what would I want to know if this was my business , like what would I want pointed out to me that might be either worrisome or cause for celebration? And most of the time it's cause for celebration, honestly.
[00:27:32] if there is something that could be like expenses are creeping up, your profit margins going down. I might realize that, well, maybe your profit margin went down, but it's because you invested in X, Y, Z this month. Mm-hmm. ,, you know, and an, investment is a plan for the future, whereas it's not just an expense that you threw away or, you know, I'll, mention things like that.
[00:27:53] So hopefully we'll see more of that in the future. I hope so. Yeah. I love that. That all sounds amazing. Okay, good. So what would you say to anyone on the fence about hiring a dedicated monthly bookkeeper? I think it's so valuable. I know it's scary to invest, especially like if it's your first investment.
[00:28:10] I wish. I had invested earlier in a bookkeeper, it would've you know, I have to admire myself for trying to figure it out on my own, you know, But it was not the best use of my time and, it caused a lot of stress. Like I had to go for tax time last year. I had to go back and like, redo all of my books.
[00:28:27] And it was just like, I never would've had to deal with that. And I think you'll know at a certain point, like when it's time. I think it's fine when you're starting out, like to be doing your, books on your own, depending on what your revenue is looking like. Again, cuz I think it, gives you a sense of, into like, how does this process work?
[00:28:43] Like getting a little bit of familiarity with it, but maybe the second, like you feel. You can afford it, or maybe even a little bit before you feel like you can totally afford it, it's worth it to invest. Because it'll just give you that peace of mind. And for me, like, I mean, I think about building a business, like building a house.
[00:29:00] Like the foundations really have to be strong. And like your finances and your revenue, you know, are a big part of the foundation. And if you have like I wouldn't try to. Foundation on my own. Cause I've never built a house foundation before. And so like mm-hmm. ,, it's worth it to hire a professional who knows how to build foundations,
[00:29:18] Cause then you're not gonna worry that your house is gonna like tip over . Right. And that is the important part is, you know, the base, the floor, the walls. Yeah. The structure. And all the rest can be kind of added on. Yeah, as needed. And it can kind of come and go, like the decor can change as the seasons change and Yeah.
[00:29:36] Yeah. I like that analogy. And it's timely for you too, Exactly. The house purchase and everything. I definitely think that with me too, you know, there's things that I've wanted to outsource and I think I wish a lot of times I would've done something sooner and. Then I always feel like there's a reason why I didn't.
[00:29:53] Oh, totally. You know, like , I'm just more appreciative for it now. . Same with my business. I worked in corporate for a long time and I never dreamed of having my own business until, you know, a few months after I left . I'm thinking, man, I could have been growing this bookkeeping business on the side, like the whole time I was in corporate.
[00:30:11] So I could've, but I wouldn't have had the same motivation. Yeah. So I think doing it yourself and kind of bootstrapping things is part of the process and part of the learning process and it really does make you feel so much more appreciative once you have someone that can take it off your plate.
[00:30:28] Yeah. That is a huge point. Like, cuz now I'm like, if I hadn't gone through all of the struggles of trying to figure it out on my own, I think I would not get how big a deal it is to like feel self supported and like have that relief. And now I'm like extra appreciative. I'm like, Oh, this is totally, totally worth like the investment.
[00:30:47] Because I've been on the other side where I was like, Feeling confused and like scrambling to find documents and spending hours downloading Stripe reports and trying to cut and piece them into a spreadsheet and like, and now I've been there and a silver lining of that is now I have the appreciation of like, why it's amazing to have a bookkeeper.
[00:31:07] Yeah. I really feel too, like you said, you were relieved. Mm-hmm. And I feel like relief can really. Like really push you into doing, like focusing on other aspects of your business. That you wouldn't have had the brain space for. Like just feeling any kind of relief just adds motivation, you know, to do other things.
[00:31:28] I've definitely felt that way too. So it's just nice to kind of sit in that relief for a minute. say, Lets just feel good about this for a second. Well, it has been lovely to talk to you. Thank you so, so much for meeting with me. And where can people find you? Yeah, well, so my full name is Katherine Andrews and that's Katherine with the C.
[00:31:48] So I'm on Instagram at Katherine Andrews. And then my newsletter and podcast are called The Sunday Suther, and you can find more about [email protected] Okay, great. Well, thank you so much for being here, and I will talk to you soon. Yay. Thank you so much. It was a delight to talk. Awesome. See you later.
