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Hey, it’s Bill Von Fumetti with Booming Bookkeeping Business, and today I’m here with another one of my successful students. This is Valerie. Valerie, thanks for being here and sharing your story.
Thank you for having me. So, tell us a little bit about your life before you came into the bookkeeping world. Before I came into the bookkeeping world, I ran an office for a 30-year-old paving company, and I did everything.
I wrote the handbook. There wasn’t one existing when I started. I wrote the safety manual, appointed the safety committee, dealt with all the financials, the money in, money out, scheduling the crews, worked with the crews.
I did a lot, and it was too much, but my favorite part of it was doing the financials. And then, money was tight. I couldn’t make enough.
I was looking for another job to leave that place, and everything I interviewed for, I was too overqualified, so I couldn’t find anything. So, then I seen, before I seen Bill on Facebook and ad, I started seeing some ads for other people, other coaches. And I was like, man, I should really do that.
You can really do that, do bookkeeping from home and have your own business. I was like, I’m blown away. And then I seen your ad for, it was a one-time training on how to get you started, and that you did that for free.
And in your video, you said, yes, this is what I do. This is my business. I teach people how to do this and be successful, but I don’t want to charge you until you have your first client.
When you made a comment like that, I was like, yep, I’m sold right away. He’s going to show me where I can start. I’m going to get my first client, and then I’m going to buy in to his program.
So, that is why I did what I did. And you empowered me and gave me the power to start my own company. And then my goal was, within six months, to quit that nine-to-five job.
And I did. I hit 50,000 within six months. That’s huge.
That’s huge. And where are you at now? We talked about some numbers earlier, and you had recently a record month. Am I right? Yes.
Recently, I was really busy. I couldn’t believe how busy I was. I was like, man, I wonder how much money I’m making.
And I hadn’t even thought of looking at my own financials while I’m doing everyone else’s. So, I looked at my profit and loss, and it was about three months ago, I hit a $10,000 a month. And I was like, whoa, yes, second goal met.
My first goal was 50 to match what I was making. And my second goal was to hit 100,000. That’s cool.
That is really cool. When you talked about your job, you said it was getting to be too much. What did you mean by that? It’s just the expectations, the duties, the responsibilities, the level of everything I had to do and that I was responsible for was too much to fit into 40 hours a week.
So, would you say, were you working long hours? Or was it just 40? You were just having to do a lot. Was it stressful? It was very stressful. It was only 40.
It was strictly 40. Office wasn’t allowed to have anything over 40, which made it hard. And then I was manning the customer side of things too.
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I’m handling all the phone calls. And some days, the phones don’t quit ringing. And then I get the grunt of it the next morning.
Like, why didn’t you get this done yesterday? Well, because the phones didn’t stop all day. And there was times I was working more than 40, but I wasn’t paid for it. Just because I knew my responsibilities had to be done and I couldn’t fit it in my 40 hours.
But I got tired of working in that type of environment that I was undervalued. What inspired you to look for a mentor, to look for help in the first place? Just the fact I didn’t know where to start, how to get started. And your training that you offered, I think it was only an hour, was so informational.
It gave that starting point platform. And then how to price the services. And why not to do an hourly price? It’s not fair to anybody.
And you’re very empowering. And then the group, the Facebook group that is continuously empowering. Even when I put little blurbs out there to help other people, they’re empowering me, too, by allowing me to be of assistance to them.
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It is a really special community we’ve created. I mean, I kind of threw the Facebook group in like it was going to be, oh, like, it’ll be, you know, people can kind of connect with each other. But it’s grown into something where people are like, this is my favorite part.
Talk a little bit about, like, when you started your bookkeeping business, were you afraid? Was there some fear there around getting clients? Talk a little bit about some of the fears that you might have had getting started. My biggest fear was to not interrupt my current position and not interfere with that, not cross-contaminate. I didn’t want my current boss feeling like I had worked hard to build his trust.
I didn’t want him feeling like I was giving trade secrets to anybody. You know, it was very hard working a full-time 40-hour-a-week job and making myself available for my clients. So when can I do these meetings and meet people after 4 o’clock p.m.? Well, that’s when these people want to be with their family, just like I want to be with mine.
That was the hardest struggle. So when you started, though, did you have some fear about, like, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get clients? Yes. I mean, I got that first one really fast.
I didn’t even, I had home-printed business cards that I printed from home. I hand-drew my logo on it. I mean, it was pretty chicken-scratched.
But, you know, I got that first one. And then with that income, I paid for your program right away. Can you talk a little bit about how, like, when you started, you had a little bit of fear about, am I going to get clients? And then how that fear subsided once you hit that record month? Oh, that record month blew me right away.
I still have a little bit of fear, like, are people really hearing me? Are they really seeing me? But then when I looked at the numbers that month, I was like, whoa, yep, I’m being seen. They know I’m here. That was awesome.
There isn’t words to put in there to how that made me feel. I felt pretty powerful and successful. I’m assuming you have some people in your life that you’ve made proud as well.
Could you speak about that a little bit? My kids. They’re so happy that I’m home and available now. What does that mean to you and your kids, that you have that kind of freedom? It means everything.
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I took them on a trip last year. My oldest is still very envious of it, but I took the younger two. We went to Destin, Florida for seven days.
They love it. They love that I’m available. They love that they know they can count on me.
What would you say to somebody who is considering starting a bookkeeping business? What would you tell them? I’d say do it. There is a lot of competition, but you can also network and work with each other. So let’s say you’ve got somebody in front of you that knows how to do bookkeeping, who’s willing to follow the steps to market themselves and those types of things.
Can you talk a little bit about their prospects for whether or not they can be successful? Be confident. If you don’t show confidence, they won’t take you seriously either, and they won’t trust you. You have confidence written on your face, and they can feel your confidence.
They will trust you almost right away. Can bookkeeping be learned? If somebody is willing to put in the work, can you speak about that a little bit? It can be learned. I’ve been commenting in some of the accounting groups recently.
There’s been so many questions, so many students in college asking, I just can’t get the debit credit thing. And once you go into this world, this accounting world, that was the first thing I felt when I was in college was, what is this? This debit credit thing doesn’t make sense. Why am I crediting an account when I’m taking money out of it? Once you can get that, then it’s all smooth sailing from there.
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So would you say that bookkeeping can be learned? It can be. And there’s a lot of free ways to learn it rather than going to college. How about getting clients? If somebody were to say, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to get clients, what would you say to them? Do you have to be some great master marketer? No, just have to be confident.
Just have to have the confidence, like I said, show that you’re confident, show that you know what you’re doing. Even if you don’t, you’re in this group, you’re in this booming bookkeeping group of a ton, numerous, unlimited people that will help you every minute of every day. That’s cool.
You should be really proud of yourself and what you’ve accomplished. I mean, that is no small feat. Thank you for providing the insights that you do.
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I don’t even think I would have started without you having that program. Well, I’m glad. I’m always happy to be just a small part of just, like you said, just helping because there is more than enough to go around.
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Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you.
I appreciate it, Valerie. I really do. It means a lot.
And thanks again. I’ll send you a picture of me with this award. And then when I get the other one, I’ll take another one and send it.
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Yeah. We want to see those pictures. They’re so great.
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Yes. Okay. Thanks so much, Valerie.
We’ll talk to you soon. All right. Thank you.
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Okay. Bye-bye.
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Are you feeling overworked, underpaid, and undervalued in your current job? So was Valerie, before she took control and built her own six-figure bookkeeping business. In just six months, she quit her stressful 9-to-5 job and recently hit a $10,000 month! If you’re ready to gain the freedom, flexibility, and income you deserve, find out how you can start your own Booming Bookkeeping Business today.