I Love Bookkeeping

What should you think about and do to strive toward work-life balance? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan share their challenges and advice for effectively working from home while also having free time for yourself. [0:38] The topic of today’s episode, work-life balance, is something Hannah and Melissa often discuss, and one that Hannah struggles with from time to time. [1:37] As Hannah points out, one of the big challenges of working from home is the fact that you never leave your office. As a remote worker, the line between your work and free time gets blurred. [2:26] Melissa shares her struggle with finding work-life balance and talks about her decision to “aggressively” defend her personal time, as well as creating a schedule and really sticking to it. [4:13] Hannah and Melissa go over how the concept of work-life balance differs between the U.S. and the rest of the world. [5:17] Hannah warns against the consequences of not making time to rest – and what could happen if you don’t carve out enough

Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan are curious to know whether you listen to music or podcasts when working. They discuss what most bookkeepers listen to and their musical preferences, depending on the type of work that’s being carried out. [0:13] Hannah and Melissa want to know whether you listen to music while working and, if so, what music genre you listen to. [0:42] Melissa shares that many of the bookkeepers she knows only listen to instrumental music while carrying out their work. [1:03] Since she now focuses more on administrative work, Melissa does listen to music with lyrics – unlike when she was still doing bookkeeping work and it was instrumental music only. [1:50] Being the oldest of six children, Hannah is used to working while there may be music or TV on blasting different music shows. When working, she usually keeps the TV on in a different room to keep her company and, when it comes to music, she typically goes for either mediation or focus music. She switches it up and changes genre w

Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan have a question for you: what was your first hire? Or if you’re thinking about a new hire, what role is that going to be for? [0:19] Melissa and Hannah have a question for you: what was your first hire? Or if you’re planning your first hire, what’s it going to be? [1:03] Hannah and Melissa share the way you can send them your answers and stories.     Mentioned in this episode: success@ilovebookkeeping.com

What should you think about and do to overcome your anxiety when talking to prospects? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan go over their experience with first client anxiety and share their top tips for dealing with it and still close sales. [0:53] Melissa shares the story of how she experienced her first client anxiety. [1:36] Hannah and Melissa discuss how the need of closing a sale to make money to pay your bills can hijack your sale – and what you should consider and do instead. [4:39] To overcome her fears when meeting new clients, Melissa focused on practicing her conversations. When she feels the conversation is stuck and she doesn’t know what to do, she uses “deflecting questions”. The idea is to ask people questions so that they talk about themselves. [6:56] Melissa explains how, in her opinion, in sales, the 80/20 rule is more of a 90/10 rule where the prospect does 90% of the talking and you do the remaining 10%. [8:51] Hannah and Melissa go over what prospects want to hear and want to see y

There’s no denying: social media is here to stay. But with so many different platforms to choose from, how does one start today? Should one go for a personal or a company page, and how can one reach potential clients on social media? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan discuss social media marketing for bookkeepers in their Tips for Newbies series. [0:42] Hannah, who has been the social media manager at Bookkeeping.com for almost five years, kicks off the episode series on social media marketing for bookkeepers. [1:53] As it was mentioned in the previous episode, social media is actually one of the first things Melissa outsourced in her business. [2:39] What social media needs to be on a business’ radar? For Hannah, the top 5 social media platforms at the moment are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. Your business may not need all five. What you need to do is 1) determine how important social media is to your business, and 2) determine where your audience resides and go there [4:46] Wha

What role does delegating play into your business growth? Why should you consider delegating, how do you choose what to delegate, and who to assign a specific task? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan discuss the art of delegating for your bookkeeping business. [0:28] The topic of today’s episode, delegating in your business, is something Hannah believes many business owners could benefit from learning more about. [1:19] Hannah asks Melissa at what stage of her journey she said to herself ‘Alright, it’s time to delegate’. Melissa started delegating right from the very beginning. She explains why people don’t delegate and the message you’re sending others if you aren’t delegating. [6:01] ‘What are some good reasons people should delegate?’ Hannah asks Melissa. Melissa makes it clear: ‘If you get to the point where you are overwhelmed and can’t do everything yourself, you’ve gone too far. You should have delegated sooner.’ And this doesn’t only apply to your professional life, but to your personal life t

In this episode of the Tips for Newbies series, co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan go over the habits of remote workers – including the challenges and lessons learned from having been remote workers for a few years. [0:55] Melissa has been working remotely since 2016, before it was “cool.” Hannah, on the other hand, has been a remote worker since mid-2017. [1:19] Transitioning to working remotely was challenging for both Melissa and Hannah. Melissa, in particular, almost felt as if she was having a midlife crisis. [3:16] Melissa shares her 3 core habits: not signing on the minute you wake up, keeping your personal and professional spaces separate (if possible), and leaving your workspace when you “leave” your office. [8:08] Hannah shares why remote workers should (try to) meditate every day. [10:33] Melissa suggests people find the right morning ritual to follow. [12:12] Melissa touches upon the importance of taking care of your body, and what happens when you don’t. [13:17] According to Melissa, the

Are you a new business owner? You’re probably asking yourself how to manage yourself, your time, and others as you also carry out work. In this first episode of the Tips for Newbies series, co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan kick off a new content series with the focus on self- and time-management for bookkeepers. [1:12] Melissa discusses what she did to jumpstart self-management when her bookkeeping business was brand new. [2:33] Melissa explains how things changed when she had toddlers. [4:21] Hannah talks about the three core values every new business owner should focus on. [5:06] Melissa shares how she went about her business’ core values. [9:58] For Hannah, once you kind of have your service offerings in place, then you can think about who your ideal client is and whether or not you should be niching. [10:17] Melissa talks about a funny anecdote of a community member having a business with 5 Jeffs in it. [11:40] Melissa shares one of her favorite sayings – and how it can impact your business. [12

How do you dress when working from home? Do you focus on being well put together or do you just go for a more relaxed style with sweatpants or yoga pants? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan have a conversation about one of the key questions every new business owner should ask themselves: ‘What type of business owner am I going to be?’ [0:34] For Melissa, asking yourself the question ‘What type of business owner am I going to be?’ is a key question you should ask yourself when starting your business. [0:53] The way Melissa dresses really depends on the day and mood. On some days, like today, she wears real clothes and shoes, while on other days she may just wear sweatpants and no shoes (typically, she doesn’t wear shoes indoors). Hannah, on the other hand, is a leggings kind of gal. [2:00] Hannah and Melissa joke about how great it would be to have Lululemon sponsor an episode of the I Love Bookkeeping Podcast. [2:58] If you’d like to share how you dress when you work from home, Hannah and Melissa invi

Why should you consider going beyond just thinking about and analyzing the numbers of your bookkeeping business and actually sharing those numbers with others? This episode of iLoveBookkeeping touches upon the reasons why bookkeepers should share numbers related to their income and income potential with others in their industry. [0:42] When it comes to earning potential, there isn’t a lot of benchmark data for what students at Bookkeepers.com are doing, for the fact that they aren’t in just a bookkeeping business. [1:08] Because there isn’t much data they can use to benchmark what students at Bookkeepers.com are doing, Melissa and Hannah would like listeners to contribute by answering a series of questions, including what the income, gross and net profits of their bookkeeping business are, how much they pay for paper, and what they have been able to do with the money they have made. [1:45] Since transparency in the finances of people who operate in the financial industry is so important for the growth of ever

Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan discuss networking as introverts, how to approach events as an introvert, and something you’re currently doing that’s costing you sales opportunities. [1:29] Hannah explains what an introvert is all about. Shy people are often labeled as introverts but that isn’t always the case. Introvert people may enjoy being around people but recharge their batteries when they’re by themselves. [2:27] As Melissa points out, extroverts, on the other hand, are fueled by human interaction. [3:29] Hannah shares a networking for introverts anecdote that dates back to her time as a makeup artist, which is an extroverted industry – and how she has gone about networking as an introvert. [8:20] For Hannah, not being afraid to be new in a particular space and let others know about it can actually be a smart move. [10:34] Melissa discusses an experience that has shaped how she goes about networking today. [17:32] 92% of salespeople will give up after hearing ‘no’ 4 times but 80% of prospect

Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan talk about what to consider when it comes to raising your prices as a bookkeeper – and how to actually be successful at it. [1:34] Melissa invites bookkeepers to raise their prices of 10 to 20% because she believes that they’re probably not charging enough. [2:49] Despite this, she’s nervous about raising her prices – and she’s nervous every single time she does it. [3:40] Melissa started sending out emails about her price increase to clients she knew were going to say they weren’t ok with it. An important mistake she points out, and one she wants to make sure you avoid making, is to reply to every single email that comes in related to this matter. [4:48] This is how Melissa went about informing clients about the price increase: she informed them of what the new price would be, she informed them of why she believed they should pay and the value they would get from it. She added that if a client didn’t think she was worth that value, then it was time for them to part

Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan look at whether it makes sense to niche as a bookkeeper and discuss some of the aspects that will affect your business if you decide to niche or if you don’t. [0:45] Hannah and Melissa discuss and joke about the pronunciation of the word ‘niche’. [2:10] Melissa talks about how the niche for her business was picked. [3:10] When it comes to her business, Melissa is passionate about meeting her clients face-to-face and supporting her team members. [3:23] Hannah touches upon what she considers a pro of having and focusing on a niche. [4:39] How Melissa feels and acts when she attends in-person events. [5:29] For Melissa, when you niche, you’re able to understand your clients better and can offer solutions tailored to their needs. She considers having a niche and really connecting with it as the most important thing. [7:20] Something Melissa experienced at an event she recently attended. [9:03] Melissa shares her thoughts on the whole ‘To niche or not to niche?’ conversat

Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan talk about whether bookkeeping has a future, why small business owners should look at hiring a bookkeeper, and what being a good accountant is actually all about. [0:58] Melissa thinks that bookkeeping has a future. For years, she has heard that the space would be obsolete in the next couple of years – but that hasn’t happened, bookkeeping is still going strong. In fact, it has never been better. [1:36] ‘Is bookkeeping going to be obsolete?’ and ‘Is Artificial Intelligence going to take over?’ are some of the biggest questions Hannah and the marketing team get asked. [1:51] People need to understand an important thing: bookkeeping is a relationship-focused industry. And that’s something a computer can’t do. [3:34] There are a couple of reasons why small business owners look for bookkeepers; because they either don’t like bookkeeping or don’t have the time to do it themselves. [5:27] Melissa often has conversations with clients to help them realize that trying to do b

Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan talk about the benefits of starting your own bookkeeping business, and discuss networking and what the bookkeeping community is all about. [0:56] There’s the misconception that a degree is required to be a bookkeeper, but that isn’t the case. [1:26] Melissa is a huge advocate for alternatives to college degrees. [1:52] Unlike other industries, you can get your bookkeeping business up and running in just a matter of weeks. [2:37] Nowadays, people seem to be more interested in having a work-life balance and in making their own schedule. [3:45] Being your own boss means that you can network in the way that best suits your personality, whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert. [4:43] The pandemic has made things like Zoom calls more acceptable. [5:42] Melissa is less about in-person networking as she is face-to-face. She always makes a point to have her webcam on whenever she has a call with somebody. [7:41] There are several benefits to being your own boss, like work

The first episode of the relaunch of I Love Bookkeeping sees new co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan share their stories and how they have gotten to where they are today, and they discuss what they’ll bring to the show. [1:10] New podcast co-host Melissa Honan is a mom of two children, a dog, and a cat [2:17] Melisa discusses how she began working with her husband Daniel [4:46] Online Bookkeep, the company Melissa is the CEO of, has some impressive numbers: 115 monthly clients, approximately $107,000 in monthly recurring fees, three departments (Bookkeeping, Account Management, and Tax), and it’s a team of 17. Today, the business has about $1.4 million in annual revenue. [6:12] Melissa and her family are currently in Mexico for a few weeks and are considering which place they want to call “home” next [8:03] Melissa, who is a former workaholic, is deliberate about defending her personal life, and she doesn’t shy away from putting her children first [9:23] Even though she isn’t a bookkeeper anymore, Meli

We are in the middle of some strange times right now but even with the challenges we’ve seen so far, we’ve also seen several people connect better with their audiences. [1:55] There have been several unique opportunities that have emerged since the advent of COVID-19, and Ben happens to be right in the middle of a number of rapidly changing environments. [3:30] With all the changes to the regulatory environment, bookkeepers have been extremely busy helping business owners figure it all out. Everybody who has been waiting to do their books suddenly has an urgent need to get it all done as quickly as possible. [5:00] For bookkeeping professionals that are established, there has never in the history of time been a better time to be a bookkeeping professional. The word of the day in the industry is survive and just do what you can one day at a time. [5:30] We saw a similar cycle 12 years ago with businesses that weren’t prepared, or that weren’t really businesses. They were the ones that didn’t make it through. T

Kim started in late August of 2017 after purchasing Bookkeeper Business Launch. Four days later she registered her business name and closed her first client, who later on became her husband. [3:00] Kim had been in the banking industry for 16 years and knew that there was definitely a need for bookkeepers in business. When Kim’s husband decided to start his trucking business, Kim made the choice to start her own bookkeeping business at the same time. [4:15] Kim currently has 8 active clients. There are always ups and downs in the business, and clients come and go. She mainly focuses on transportation due to her insider view of the industry. [6:05] Kim always had the desire to open her own business, but she never really knew what she wanted to do. The high costs of most business models made them prohibitive. When she discovered the idea of bookkeeping, it made a lot of sense given her background and experience. Time-freedom is the word Kim would use to describe the idea of running her own business. [9:30] Retai

Melissa was working 70 to 80 hours a week at her job and was starting to get really burned out. She decided that she needed to make a change and that was when she was injured during a run. This gave her plenty of time to look for opportunities to work from home. She found her first client online and that gave her three months to find more. Word of mouth and BNI has been how she’s found the majority of the clients she has now, with the process being largely organic. [4:45] Melissa serves 62 clients that they work with every month and she has a goal to get to 100 clients by the end of the year. [5:25] We rarely stop to smell the roses and appreciate everything we accomplish. Remember to write down how far you’ve come and keep that in mind. [6:20] Melissa has made plenty of mistakes over the past 18 months. One of the biggest things she’s learned is to stick to her pricing and not negotiate. If the client wants to negotiate, that may be an indicator that they don’t value your service. [8:15] Melissa works solely

Jaime has been running his bookkeeping business for the past two years and has acquired 13 clients in that time. He’s hoping to get more clients and continue growing, but it’s a scary thing to think about. [3:10] When Jaime first started, he was going to partner with a friend of his that had a degree in Bookkeeping. He discovered that a lot of random tasks end up on your plate as a bookkeeper and felt that he just didn’t want to work for someone else anymore. His friend wasn’t ready to make the leap at the same time though, and Jaime decided to go out on his own. He discovered that he was in over his head and looked for help; when he found Bookkeeper Business Launch, it changed his business. [7:10] After signing up for the course in April, Jaime got his first client in June. He reached out to his former colleagues who had ventured out to create their own firms and one of them said yes. [9:00] One of his clients has been very influential in helping Jaime find new clients. He has referred Jaime to a number of i