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Hey, it’s Bill with booming bookkeeping business. And today I’m here with another one of my successful students. This is Katrina.
Katrina, thanks for joining me today. Yeah, no problem. Cool.
So tell me a little bit about what life looked like for you before you started your bookkeeping business. Before I started my bookkeeping business, I had been a stay at home mom for about eight years. Prior to that, I had been in like a nonprofit administration.
And so I was looking for a new career path ready to get back into the workforce. Why bookkeeping? Why was bookkeeping something that you decided to go into? Well, it was something I had done off and on through administration of jobs and profits because in nonprofits, you have one job, but really you have seven jobs. And so I had helped out a little bit with the books at a previous job, and I was interested in it.
I had actually interviewed for a position at QuickBooks. And in the interview, they said, you can still have your own client while you’re doing this. And I was like, wait, what? I can do what? And that’s kind of what led me down the rabbit hole.
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What parts of bookkeeping were appealing to you? I like the organization, and I like the puzzles of the cleanup, of trying to figure out what goes where. I think it’s challenging and fun. When people start businesses, period, they typically have some fears and concerns going in.
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What were some of those concerns that you had? Really, the only concern I had was that I would take on a client and mess up. That was my biggest concern. I started out very slowly.
So I started my bookkeeping business actually like six months prior to finding Booming Bookkeeping Business. And I was struggling to find good leads and land clients. My marketing was a mess.
And so I was just really, I was focusing so much on that, that I was so nervous about lacking on the bookkeeping side. So really, my only fear was that I was going to mess something up so much worse. What ended up being the reality? Was the reality that, yeah, you did mess them up? Or did you figure it out as you went? I figured it out as I went.
And I learned that actually what the client had done to their own books was way worse than I felt like anything I could do myself. And I was lucky that my first client that I had a really good cleanup for was very open to communication. And so I was asking questions like you do for cleanup constantly.
And we kind of figured it out together, bumbled my way through my first cleanup. And it was not even close to as bad as I imagined it would be. You’ve had a little bit of experience prior to starting, but some people watching this are starting brand new to bookkeeping.
What would you say to them to alleviate some of their fears on, hey, this is something that you can learn? I have told so many people in my life that anybody can learn this career field. If you are in any way interested in it, you already have the step in the door. All you have to do is enjoy it.
Because it can be tedious work. There’s a lot of numbers, a lot of repetitiveness. It kind of is a business that thrives in repetition and workflows.
And so if you’re someone who is kind of prone to that anyway, you can be successful How about getting clients, though? Was that a concern of yours? Like whether or not I know you talked about your marketing being all over the place. But was it prior to that? Was it like, I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to get clients. I’m new.
Yes. So I hate marketing. I hate networking.
I hate selling myself. And I don’t even use social media in my personal life. And so the thought of like putting myself out there in my business in that world was very scary to me and was like, made my skin crawl a little bit.
And so I actually signed up because I did like a market used to do marketing seminars. Sometimes I think I signed up for one. And I bought the program solely for the marketing module.
And it was amazing. So the first thing I did was set up the pro advisor profile. And that felt very low risk to me because I was only advertising myself in a place where people were actively looking for someone like me.
It wasn’t me like trying to put myself in their face. And I started getting leads and good leads immediately. Like the next day, I think what would you say to somebody who’s, you know, new and, you know, who’s willing to do the work and follow the steps? What would you say to them to alleviate their fears that like, hey, you can get clients even if you’re new, like I did your program and I did the bare minimum, and I still get clients and have a successful business.
So I feel like if anybody put even slightly more effort into it than I did, they would be way more successful than I have been. It’s all there. The framework is all there for you.
It’s really you’ve built it out to where there’s not a lot of effort, additional effort on top of watching the courses. So when you started your business, you started where we all started with a big fat zero for revenue. What does revenue look like for you now? What is the number of clients? Can you speak on that a little bit? Yeah.
So I started out very purposely slow. So I had one child in full-time school and one child getting ready. He was like in halftime school.
So I was very purposely limiting my hours to working like 10 hours a week. And so I started at zero and now I’m about two years, no, three years in, three years in now. And I’ll hit 120K this year.
How many hours do you think you’re working on And I’m working 25 hours a week. What do you think about what you’ve done? Do you ever look back and reflect and how does it make you feel about what you’ve done? I’m really proud of what I’ve built. And I was purposely looking for a career that allowed flexibility for my family life.
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I have a husband who’s in a very demanding career field and he’s gone a lot. And so I need to be the primary parent most times. And so I’ve built exactly what I was hoping for and I’m very happy with it.
Wow. Okay. So speaking of your partner, what did he think of, what are his thoughts of what you’ve done? He’s a very career motivated and driven person.
So he’s just blown away by what I’ve been able to build from our dining room, essentially. What do you like most about being your own boss? I’ve learned a lot about myself, about my habits, like time management, procrastination, those types of things. I think it’s been a really good growth opportunity to look at myself and kind of grow in that way.
It’s been really eye opening on like what I’m capable of. And I feel like in this business, really the sky is the limit. Like you can work as much as you want and make as much as you want.
Like the freedom and flexibility, can you talk about what that has meant for you and what that allows you to do? The freedom and flexibility is really one of the main reasons I got into this field. And so I guess a really great example is like we recently had a bunch of snow days that my kid’s school was canceled and I was able to even cancel meetings at state, because I was home anyway, stay home and enjoy the snow with my kids. When they’re on summer break, I take a full month off in the summer and I enjoy the summer and we travel and go on vacations.
And I’m able to drop them off and pick them up from school every day. And that was my main priority around flexibility. Let’s say you’re talking to somebody like me and I’m considering starting a bookkeeping business.
What would you say? Do it. No hesitation. I feel like as far as businesses go, it’s a very low stakes kind of game.
Like there’s not a lot of startup costs. Usually the only startup cost is whatever course you decide to take and a laptop. If you do the work, I think it’s a 100% chance of success.
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And even if your success level is one client, you’ll get it. There’s no question. What do you have further goals? I would like to start hiring staff.
I’m going to work on making myself a little bit more removable so that vacations can become more unplugged and things like that. What would you say to somebody who’s considering purchasing my program or investing in my program? I should say. I would say it’s 100% worth it.
You will most likely make back the investment in your first one, probably your first client that you get from it. Thank you for coming and sharing your story and inspiring others because it’s exactly what you’ve done. It’s been a very inspiring journey for you and I appreciate it.
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Were you a stay-at-home parent ready to get back into the workforce but needing a career with true flexibility? After eight years at home, Katrina built a bookkeeping business from her dining room that will earn $120,000 this year, all while working just 25 hours a week. She now enjoys snow days with her kids and takes a full month off every summer. If you’re ready to build the flexible, high-income career your family deserves, visit our website to learn how you can start your own Booming Bookkeeping Business.