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Hey, it’s Bill von Fumetti with booming bookkeeping business and I’m here today with another one of my successful students. This is Catherine. Hey there, Catherine.
Thanks for being there. Hey, how you doing? Good. What’s so funny? You know, I’m still not quite getting used to the fact that I’m successful with your program.
I should. I should be, you know, but it still amazes me. It really does.
Let’s start with what you were doing prior to starting your bookkeeping business. So I was a controller at a trucking company and that was in 2020. I got shut down due to COVID because somehow we were not an essential business as far as Dallas County was concerned.
That’s where I’m at. I’m in Texas and got your program in 2020. Didn’t do anything with it because I just was so overwhelmed, you know, that my career path was not going to be what I thought it was.
Middle of second quarter of 21, dusted off the computer and dusted off your program and went through all the modules and followed all of them except for the LinkedIn marketing thing and Facebook because I’m just so tech challenged. But the one thing I did do and evidently have done well is optimize my QBO ProAdvisor profile. That year in 21, I did about 75,000.
Started in about July, middle of the year, about 75,000. In 22, did just under 225,000. Even without being as proactive, I think, you know, as I could be given my, you know, lack of technology, that you can really be successful even without, you know, being a whiz kid on, you know, in marketing and things like that.
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So it’s really, it was very nice to see this year. You probably had other options in terms of, you know, when COVID shut down. What were some of the other options? What was life like? Were things scary in terms of your situation during that time? It was.
I had a person in my home who was exceptionally medically challenged. Two people actually, you know, that were exceptionally medically challenged. I had a couple of kids that were, one that was out of the country and couldn’t get back in because of COVID.
And one that was on the east coast that couldn’t get back, you know, this way because nobody was flying. And so, you know, it really, and nobody was hiring because it was COVID. I think the thing that really impressed me about your program is that you kept saying it’s not a get rich quick, you know, thing.
And it just, and it just showed me that, you know, if you think outside the box, if you get out of your specific, this is how it has to be mindset, really, you can go places with your program. You really can. When you’re, when most people are starting their businesses, you know, there’s some fear associated with that.
Whether, you know, the people that’ll be watching this specifically will be wondering, you know, hey, can I really learn this? Can I get clients? What were, what were some of those feelings that you had? And then what, what was the reality? I think initially I thought, oh, I have to like replace my income immediately. And the truth was, I didn’t have to. I was a hundred thousand income that I lost, you know? And so, and I, once I got over that and realized that I probably wouldn’t quit my day job if I was starting myself.
Well, I didn’t, you know, but my day job was unemployment, you know, but I, once you get past that, I was thinking you have to do it like tomorrow. You know, that’s job mentality. This is not another job.
It’s a career. That’s a different mentality. And once you get past that mentality, I think you do really well.
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What would you say to me, if you could talk directly to somebody like me and I said, well, I’m, I’m not sure I can learn this. I’m willing to do the work, but I’m not sure I can learn this. Can I learn this? Yes.
There are, I think that you need to, again, you know, your program, the thing that I like about your program, and I’ve looked at others since then, you know, the thing I like about your program is that you teach people step-by-step, not just, you know, how to go out and do the business. I don’t mean to sound that so snarky. I apologize.
But how to do basic accounting, you know, where people just, you know, you don’t have to have, I happen to have accounting theory, you know, but you don’t have to have, I have someone who works for me who doesn’t, you know, and she may, I had two people actually that work for me that, that didn’t, and they were able to like, pick it up, you know, are they going to be the next CFO? No, but, you know, but they were able to pick up, you know, accounting basics and, because of, you know, your program was probably my biggest hurdle, mental hurdle to get over is that I didn’t have to have comma CPA after my name. How about that fear of getting clients? What, like, were you curious about how, how, or if you’d be able to get clients and then what did the reality look like? I believed that what you said would happen, would happen. So I never actually thought that I wouldn’t get clients.
I just thought they would be, you know, smaller clients. And they were in the very beginning, in the very beginning, they, I took all comers. You know, I pretty much, you know, I, you have a wonderful pricing calculator and I used it, you know, but if somebody walked in and said, yeah, I need, you know, this done, and I’m willing to pay $400.
I was like, okay. You know, but I never once actually thought I wouldn’t get clients, you know, because I, what you, all of my clients have come through, except for one or two of them have come through the pro-advisor program and through book books. It never once occurred to me that it wouldn’t happen because you’d already shown us that it could, because that’s how you built your business.
How’s, how has life for you different now that you’ve got this incredible business? I travel a lot because I can. I mean, not just from a money standpoint, but from a time standpoint, you know, I travel a lot. You know, I stay in the states because of, you know, post COVID, but, but I travel a lot.
My kids, I am the sole supporter of three and a half households, which, you know, it’s been, that wouldn’t have been possible without your program. There’s no way it would have been possible, you know, and it’s nice. It’s nice to be able to just, you know, have internet, have laptop, will travel.
It really, really is, you know, and, you know, my kids are all good. The two that are still in college are all going to, you know, they’re going to graduate without any debt, not any college debt, which is really nice. I mean, did, is this something you had planned? Did you expect it to turn out like this? It just never occurred to me that I can have this kind of success.
It didn’t. It does now. What would you say to somebody, because a lot of people are thinking about starting a bookkeeping business.
What would you say to somebody who’s watching this, who’s thinking about starting a bookkeeping business? Start. Really just, you know, start. I put it off for a year, for almost, for over a year.
You know, just start. If you don’t, if you don’t start today, a year from now, you’re still going to be where you are. So you might as well put the time in, put the effort in.
You’re, you really can. The sky really is the limit. I look forward to growing this business into a million dollar company and it can be done.
It can, it can be done. Well, I’m, I just love talking to you every, you know, periodically so I can continue to track how well you’re doing. It’s really incredible.
And I want to thank you for taking the time out today to share your story and, you know, give others a glimpse into what it might look like for them. It really has been, your program has been absolutely life-changing in every facet. It really, really has.
And I will never not be grateful. I’m sorry about the double negatives, but I will always be grateful.
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Did you lose your job and feel like your career path was gone in an instant? So did Catherine, after her $100,000/year controller position was eliminated during COVID. But she didn’t just replace her income—she built a business that earned nearly $225,000 in its first full year. Now she supports 3.5 households and has the freedom to travel whenever she wants. If you’re ready to stop waiting and build a life-changing business, visit our website to learn how you can start your own Booming Bookkeeping Business.