Vol. 6: Presence, Peace & Focus

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For the first time since I left corporate a decade ago (this March), I have worked a 40 hour work week at least one week each month lately. And as a business owner, even if you're tracking your time, you don't track all of it.

You don't track the time in the car you spend listening to podcasts that fuel your growth and teach you business strategies.

You don't track the time you spend thinking about said strategies, visions, goals.

Heck, how many of you actually even track your time spent planning your week? I know I dont.

Sometime in October, I said:

I'm going to focus 100% on the firm (or as close to that as possible) for the rest of the year -- possibly into Q1 of 2026.

And wouldn't you know it, God has sure given me a lot to focus on over there.

Be careful what you say out loud.

My plan was to focus on prepping for year end and growing, because this time of year is the best time to land new clients. This is usually when we get most of our new clients. At year end.

What ended up occurring instead was the need to replace a team member. So my focus shifted. I'm choosing to see this as an opportunity to shore up some processes and get the right people in the right seats as we head into a season of growth and into the next phase of my firm. I've been doing this for 8 years, and I'm nowhere near where I thought I would be by now.

When I started writing this particular volume of the newsletter initially I was going to write about how I've been focusing on being present. Reading more. Doing art. Pouring into my spirituality. And while I'm not focusing entirely on writing about that, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that slowing down right before this season of growth was instrumental in my being able to handle what I needed to in business.
Also that continuing to carve out the time to be still and quiet has kept me grounded through it all.

You've heard it before: you can't pour from an empty cup.

So today I'm reminding you: carve out time daily for yourself and your spirituality. Whether that looks like yoga & meditation, or growing in your relationship with God. Even if it's just 15 minutes. And pick up a hobby. If you don't have one, what did you enjoy doing when you were 12-13? Start there.

Now let's talk about what's been going on since October.

Q4 Highlights & Lowlights

October

Just a refresher: in October I deleted instagram from my phone. I thought it would be for just a week. We are now in January 2026 and I don't miss it. At all. I've gained so much of my time back and I really needed to quiet the noise.

I needed mental space to consider & percolate on my plans for 2026 and how I intended to move forward. In this brand and in my firm.

It's really hard to think deeply when you're consuming everyone else's ideas, marketing, and lives constantly. Seems weird to be writing a piece of content that I expect you to consume and then to tell you to stop consuming content, right?

That isn't what I'm saying. Just be mindful of the quantity and types of content; remain in control.

So what have I been up to?

Like I said before, I've been focusing on my firm.

For the first time since starting the Ambitious Bookkeeper, I took a small hiatus & I'm guessing not many of you noticed.

Not everything needs a big announcement.

You're allowed to do things and make decisions in private.

so...

I wrapped up the Fall Cohort of The Bookkeeping Business Accelerator along with my 2nd cohort of The Ambitious Mastermind and let the community and students know that there would be no coaching calls or live Q&As for November and December. I also purposely didn't release a schedule for the new year, because I wasn't sure how long I would need this time to focus on my firm.

Student email and Facebook group support still continued but we paused posting in the groups for 2 weeks at the end of December.

November

At the beginning of November, I embarked on my first ever flight out of the country for a business retreat, and on the flight I got 2 emails from clients asking for their September financials.

PAUSE: I considered putting up a paywall to read beyond this point where I'd give the REAL behind the scenes adventure of the inner workings of my firm and what I've been navigating. And I may do that in the future. Right now though. I'm sticking with the sentiment: it's ok to make business moves in private.

Suffice it to say, delivering financials over a month behind is and was unacceptable which caused a chain of events leading me to make some changes to my team and reflect on my leadership style.

Here are some of the reflections I came away with:

Not everyone will be a good fit forever, even if they were at the beginning
I can work on being more direct in communication and expectations. If I'm going to expect people to communicate with me, I have to communicate well first.
When your attention is divided, likely your attention isn't on anything at the level it should be. Something always suffers.

December

At the beginning of December I onboarded a new Account Manager at my firm. This was actually a REALLY good time to do so; we'd paused onboarding new clients, I wasn't hosting any calls or podcasts for this brand, and we were closing the businesses for two weeks for the holidays.

But it only worked because I'd done such a rigorous hiring process in November. Truthfully, I had two AMAZING candidates that I had a hard time choosing between. And when I sent an offer to one on a Friday, she didn't respond until Monday (which I'd given her leeway to take time to decide) and I was nervous she was going to decline.

I was all in my feels about whether I'd made the right decision. And was devising a plan to be able to hire both. I prayed and journaled about it for the entire weekend.

She ended up accepting but I still kept communications open with the other candidate. Thankfully the other candidate did receive another job offer, but I still went down the path of trying to find a way to work with her in the future. That's a story for another day.

Looking ahead to Q1

Now we're in January and I'm very pleased with my new hire and the progress she's making, the ownership she's taking and the fresh pair of eyes on everything, especially at year end, when we need to be catching all the things that need to be corrected.

So if I have to work a 40 hour work week for one or two more months while she gets up to speed, so be it. I'd rather do that then have to deal with the fallout of Client expectations not being met.

And as far as my split focus between my firm and The Ambitious Bookkeeper:

This Quarter we're

releasing new podcast episodes & YouTube videos every other week
hosting our Free Monthly Live Q&A for the community on Last Thursdays
hosting The Bookkeeping Biz Workshops in March
Opening enrollment for The Bookkeeping Business Accelerator - VIP (self paced is always enrolling)

Im so grateful to be able to share what I learn while running my firm and appreciate you for being here reading this.

Until the next one (who knows when?!), stay ambitious.

🩵 Serena

Vol. 6. Presence, Peace & Focus