Vol. 10. Drowning, Procrastination, and Templated Help

First of all, I’m writing this newsletter because I’m procrastinating on client work. I really should not be doing this, but when I’m inspired, I gotta run with it.

Inspiration usually hits at the most inconvenient times.

Also, it’s been a hotttt minute since I wrote one of these.

Last week I did something that caused a FLOOD into my inbox.

Each week when we publish a new podcast episode, I send out an email to let you know a new episode just dropped, and what it’s about.

But at the top of the email, I usually have some other random piece of a personal update or value to share.

And some of you know this but many of you probably don’t… I’m about to giveaway my secret weapon… but I use an email template from my good friend Liz Wilcox **gasp!**😱

🗒️ Side note: if you’re interested in starting an email list for your firm or another business you have, I highly recommend her membership. JOIN HERE, it’s just $9/mo. <<one of best investments you can make is building an email list.

🗒️ Side note to the side note: she just bought Smart Passive Income from Pat Flynn. Should I have her on the podcast to talk about this? I’ve had her on the podcast multiple times, which you can find HERE, HERE & HERE.

I’m all about using other people’s brains to speed things up & lighten the mental load, and I feel good about this one because her emails help me actually get to know you better, provoking lots of responses. The actual content I share is stuff from my brain. It’s just helpful to have a starting point (that isn’t AI).

Anywho… back to what happened.

The template last week was to send an AMA (Ask Me Anything) email to the community. I almost didn’t, cause I knew people would respond (thank you! ya’ll are the best!) and truth be told, I’m behind on literally everything this week: Client work, Elevate edits, dishes, laundry, relationships, you name it.

It’s giving… drowning energy. Not even something I intended on bringing up, but this is Behind the Scenes and that’s some real stuff happening right now. If you’re also drowning…. I’ll see you at the bottom! 🌊 🤿

And so… like I feared, many people responded. Even my biz bestie, Alyssa screenshotted the email, texted me and asked if I was going to respond publicly to all the questions or individually cause she thought it was cool. And she wanted to see the questions and answers!

All of the questions were SO GOOD.

And I wanted to share them somehow with everyone else. Cause not everyone is going to ask the questions (thank you to those who did—you’re the real heroes).

So here’s the plan (subject to change cause… time constraints & life):

I’m going to post each question & answer as a BLOG post!

What?! Do blogs still exist?

Yes, they do. I want everyone to have access to these in the format that works for you. Some of us prefer to read (aka skim). Some of us prefer to listen. And some of us prefer to watch, listen and read. All at once (where are my closed captions people?! I heard this is an ADHD thing... you tell me??)

So a Blog, podcast, and youtube video for each. Each version may not come out at the same time. But once they’re all done, I will have my amazing team link all the things and round them up for you in one place.

Now that I’m committing to this, I am seeing that it might take me longer to share all of these than I want, but …. at least I have content now for a few weeks/months.

So for now, I will leave you with….

a list of the questions

so you can have something to look forward to. And when they all have published answers (I answered each person individually already—yes, myself, no AI—I feel like I need to add that disclaimer all the time now….), I will link them on this page too (did you know you can actually read this and past volumes online, kind of like a blog?)

And if I already answered your question, when I start recording and blogging these answers, I will likely elaborate a lot more on my answers…. cause sometimes I can get on a soap box!

Question 1:

I know I want to do a[n Advisory] course, not sure if yours or the CFO Advisory (CFO Project has a scalable and says different than Fractional CFO), honestly there are so many terms (CFO, Advisory, Controller, Fractional, etc) and in developing my new website I need to also figure this out. I have a wealth of knowledge in accounting and I know I give a lot of value away as well. However I feel I may know enough or want the training to feel more confident as well and properly service the clients. Very confusing. How does your program differ from one like Adam Lean CFO Project for CFO Advisory Do you still provide access to the advisor activation podcast to see if Elevate is good?

I'll give you a sneak peak to part of my answer... it's on the FAQs of the Elevate landing page. 

Question 2:

I’m curious about trademarks & copyrights for bookkeepers. What do we need to be thinking about/registering for as we get started?

Question 4:

When you started out, did you have Xero/QBO experience or that is something that you picked up as you were building your business? Also, for someone like me who spent most her corporate accounting years in one industry, how do you recommend building confidence and skills to serve clients in other industries?

Question 5:

I want to focus on building my skills and eventual business into supporting creative small businesses in my local community, such as makers, artists, craft artisans, etc.  I think there is overlap with also supporting e-commerce businesses who sell their products online.  I think I'm on the right track - working part-time for an accounting firm, enrolled in an accounting course, reading and studying on my own - but it also feels like I'm wandering around in the dark playing Marco Polo trying to determine how much further I need to go.  If you had to narrow down a list of the most fundamental accounting concepts to learn that would best support this community, what would you recommend?

Question 6:

I still struggle with the idea that I need another certification to make me more marketable (I have an MBA - so I do know things LOL!) and as everyone else I struggle with getting clients and charging what I am worth. So that is me - not sure I have a specific question - but thanks for listening!

Question 7:

The problem that I am running into is that I have centered the client communication and focus on me as sort of a personal brand. While I am glad my clients have rapport with me and trust that I'm handling their financials, I worry about not being able to continue reviewing everyone's books, delivering their reports and recording a Loom overview myself every month. Eventually I will want to pass some of this off but I feel like I have bottlenecked myself. What would you suggest I do to help clients transition to accepting monthly reviews from my team without losing their trust/rapport/familiarity?

Question 8:

I do have a question about how you handle the first invoice when a new monthly client also needs historical work.

In my Dubsado proposal, the client selects their monthly bookkeeping package, and I pre-select a Clean-Up or Catch-Up package based on the number of historical months they need. So the initial invoice includes both their first month of ongoing bookkeeping and the historical work.

I’m planning to set up the recurring monthly invoice separately. For that initial invoice, would you typically require payment for the historical work + first month of bookkeeping all at once? Or would you structure it so the historical work is due upfront, with the first monthly payment due separately closer to when ongoing bookkeeping begins?

Question 9:

One thing I'm curious about is how to communicate best practices around cash with clients. Of course I emphasize that declaring all income, including cash, is their obligation, but we all know that's not always the reality. What's the best way to acknowledge this reality and the possible consequences of a lifestyle audit, etc. without sounding like a disciplinarian? Also, do you have  thoughts on when to disengage with a client who fudges their deposits and receipts more than a little. I don't want this to sound like I want to enable my clients, rather I'm curious what your experience has been in this area.

Now that you know what’s to come, which question have you had that you’re the most excited to hear about? If you have your own questions, feel free to respond to this or that original email and we’ll add them to the series.

And if you’re wanting to ask your Qs live, I host a free Live Q&A Every Last Thursday of the month on YouTube at 10 AM Pacific. You can also go back and binge previous Q&As if you want!

This used to be part of our weekly emails, but I'm moving it here instead: 

🎧 What I listened to this month:

Lots of podcasts… as always. I'm really into Smart Passive Income now that Liz took over... cause she's so freakin' cool! If you're in the NYC area, she and Pat are putting on a 1-day event at Kit HQ. I would go if I was closer. Someone go and report back to me--tell her Serena sent you!

📺 What I watched:

Sewing tutorials, gardening & homesteading content

📖 What I read:

I’m currently reading Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. My sister let me borrow her copy when we were in Hawaii. I’m slowly working through it between all my other hobbies & committments.

Stay ambitious,

💙 Serena