WEBVTT
00:02:35.110 --> 00:02:40.350
Welcome to the Ambitious Bookkeeper podcast and the Ambitious Bookkeeper YouTube channel.
00:02:40.350 --> 00:02:42.150
If you're new here, I'm Serena.
00:02:42.661 --> 00:02:52.470
I run a virtual bookkeeping business called Of Course Financial, and I also coach and mentor other bookkeepers, through my brand, The Ambitious Bookkeeper.
00:02:52.840 --> 00:03:06.230
And this little video is just kind of an update of what to expect over the next month or so and, to talk a little bit about the summer slump some of us are in.
00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:12.030
So I'm gonna start off with, upcoming shows in the month of August.
00:03:12.110 --> 00:03:24.630
I've dropped a YouTube video on how to create a budget in Xero, and, this is something that most businesses either skip budgeting or build one in January and let it collect dust for the rest of the year.
00:03:24.630 --> 00:03:30.440
So in this episode, you can click it here and, if you're on YouTube, you can click and watch the video.
00:03:30.460 --> 00:03:44.080
But I'm gonna walk you through exactly how my firm sets up a budget in Xero in a fast, clean, and easy way through, that actually gets used all year round, because in Xero, you can run budget to actual reports really easily.
00:03:44.380 --> 00:03:46.370
And so I'm gonna share that.
00:03:46.568 --> 00:03:52.700
whether you're a business owner or a bookkeeper, it'll walk you through that process, so you can do this with your clients as well.
00:03:52.978 --> 00:04:01.709
and also coming up, we are airing an episode where I interview the CEO of bookkeepers.com.
00:04:02.075 --> 00:04:04.835
many of you may know them as Bookkeeper Launch.
00:04:05.135 --> 00:04:15.920
Um, Jaime will be coming on the podcast, and if that podcast is live, you can click below where you're watching this video or click on this YouTube video to watch it, or at the end of this video.
00:04:16.108 --> 00:04:16.967
it'll be up there.
00:04:17.440 --> 00:04:27.475
and I will… If you're in the Bookkeeper Launch community, I will be doing a little workshop inside of that community on September 1st, so look out for that.
00:04:27.795 --> 00:04:32.754
we'll also have below this video a link to join Bookkeeper Launch.
00:04:32.764 --> 00:04:34.144
It is an affiliate link.
00:04:34.469 --> 00:04:46.221
they are running a special promotion for just our, their referral partners like myself, , in August, so grab that link below where you're listening or watching this video.
00:04:46.553 --> 00:04:53.803
I will also be bringing on an interview episode with Nick from the podcast Between Two Firms.
00:04:53.803 --> 00:04:56.884
I'm super excited for that podcast episode.
00:04:57.264 --> 00:05:14.457
And, last but not least, I recently released a private secret limited time audio series called The Advisor Activation Audio Series, and, that's going to be taken down for listening in the next week.
00:05:14.518 --> 00:05:19.268
Depending on when you're watching this, if it's past August 9th, you're too late.
00:05:19.278 --> 00:05:20.717
It's not available anymore.
00:05:21.190 --> 00:05:42.730
so make sure you grab the link for that and start listening as soon as possible And last but not least, this episode, I wanna talk a bit about, summer being a slow season for bookkeepers and, what you could be doing to move the needle and plant seeds maybe next summer if you didn't figure it out this summer.
00:05:42.750 --> 00:05:52.659
If you noticed that your summer was really slow and you were a little bit stressed out about it this year, keep that in mind because that's what happens every single year during the summer.
00:05:52.909 --> 00:05:58.639
Business owners don't tend to wanna be focusing on finding a bookkeeper.
00:05:58.696 --> 00:06:11.531
they're wrapped up in their own summer plans and trying to take off from their own businesses, so the last thing they're doing is adding anything to their plate where they have to, you know, research and find a bookkeeper, interview a bookkeeper, all that kind of stuff.
00:06:11.901 --> 00:06:23.841
I will say, though, there are sometimes business owners that use the summer quiet time where, when their business is slow as well, to catch up on the back ends of their business.
00:06:24.091 --> 00:06:29.512
And so it might be a good time for you to actually engage in cleanup or catch-up services.
00:06:29.542 --> 00:06:35.692
I know I had a few of those this summer, and it was great because it provided a little bit of a cash influx.
00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:43.661
I got to work through a project, I love project work, and, , and help a business owner catch up for the midyear.
00:06:43.670 --> 00:06:51.302
So, that's kind of what I recommend doing for the summer, and also focusing on your own business, like, on your own systems.
00:06:51.312 --> 00:06:56.192
If you don't have new clients coming in, work on fixing your own systems.
00:06:56.222 --> 00:06:59.718
Work on creating a marketing plan for the fall, things like that.
00:06:59.718 --> 00:07:12.318
You can also promote fall planning sessions with your own clients or potential clients, and let them know, like, have them lock it in in the summer, but that you're not gonna start until fall.
00:07:12.838 --> 00:07:16.288
Also, if you're listening to this when it goes live, it's still August.
00:07:16.288 --> 00:07:24.428
It's not too late to, to promote something like that, especially for any of you who are interested in offering advisory services.
00:07:24.428 --> 00:07:27.298
Maybe this fall is the first time you're gonna be doing that.
00:07:27.562 --> 00:07:33.160
maybe you're interested in joining Elevate and you're going to, do, like, a beta client situation.
00:07:33.170 --> 00:07:41.956
That's something that I talk about in Elevate, is having a practice client where you learn How to offer this service on a client.
00:07:41.966 --> 00:07:52.949
And so you could preemptively start promoting something like that, if you know you're going to want to start implementing those services and work out your packages and offerings.
00:07:53.244 --> 00:07:56.303
and then you can join us in Elevate this fall when it opens back up.
00:07:56.341 --> 00:08:09.961
if you're interested in knowing when that's gonna happen, go get yourself on the wait list by going to ambitiousbookkeeper.com/elevate, and you will be the first to know when we have decided a date that it will be releasing and opening.
00:08:09.990 --> 00:08:14.270
I am still in the throes of revamping the entire program.
00:08:14.394 --> 00:08:15.715
and it's gonna be so good.
00:08:15.715 --> 00:08:17.004
I'm super excited for it.
00:08:17.324 --> 00:08:31.360
And in the meantime, you have that audio series to help you get ready mentally and energetically for the work that will be required of you and, the frequency that's going to be required of you to offer that kind of service.
00:08:31.549 --> 00:08:49.229
one of the other things that you could always, focus on during the summer or, you know, late summer as we are right now, I probably should have published this episode the beginning of the summer so that you would, like, know how to handle the slow season if this is, like, your first time experiencing this.
00:08:49.284 --> 00:08:57.215
but you could be planting seeds that will come to fruition in the fall, like I said, with the plant, fall planting session, something like that.
00:08:57.615 --> 00:09:04.902
You can, , pitch and book podcast guests, as a podcast guest on other people's podcasts or in their communities.
00:09:05.288 --> 00:09:08.528
Um, work on, laying the groundwork for that kind of stuff.
00:09:08.561 --> 00:09:20.139
Continue to do the networking, and, you know, outreach that you have been doing, and, just keep going with all of that and just know that summer is going to be slow.
00:09:20.497 --> 00:09:30.497
like I said before, you can focus on your own systems and your own personal growth so that when fall busy time comes back around, you are ready.
00:09:31.018 --> 00:09:47.872
And last but not least, it's always a really good time to just follow up , if things are slow and you had people in the pipeline in January that never signed a proposal or they just kind of fizzled out or the conversation died out, follow up with people.
00:09:47.883 --> 00:09:55.670
That is the best thing that you can do because those are people who you've already had contact with, and you can offer them even now.
00:09:55.760 --> 00:10:19.000
You can still follow up and let them know, like, "Hey, we talked in January or February or whatever. I wanna check in with you to see did you end up getting your books in order, or are you still looking and need…" And maybe you filed a tax extension because extension deadlines are coming up, September for S corps and partnerships and October for individuals.
00:10:19.331 --> 00:10:28.100
So that's always, you know, good to get ahead of too, and that's usually another timeframe where bookkeepers see a little bit of an influx in business.
00:10:28.110 --> 00:10:35.263
So if you started your business this year and things didn't, take off as quickly as you expected them to, that's okay.
00:10:35.543 --> 00:10:44.985
You have another opportunity of the influx time, and what your marketing angle should be is, it's fall, the tax deadline is coming up.
00:10:45.004 --> 00:11:07.278
If you filed an extension, it's time to get on our client roster, to book a call, all those things, and just start promoting that And if you did have a slow summer, and you're really, like, kind of struggling with that, and, like I said, maybe weren't expecting that, just remember that it's going to happen again next year probably.
00:11:07.278 --> 00:11:21.683
So do some planning ahead of figuring out you know, I'm gonna push a little harder in January, February, March to get those clients onboarded, so that come summer we are, you know, in just regular monthly service.
00:11:22.014 --> 00:11:24.993
Or plan some sort of a summer promotion.
00:11:25.093 --> 00:11:26.653
Stock up on your cash.
00:11:26.683 --> 00:11:32.453
Make sure you have the money that you want to be able to take the time off, and just take the time off in, in the summer.
00:11:32.473 --> 00:11:36.894
Obviously, if we're, if you're doing monthly recurring bookkeeping, you're still gonna have that work.
00:11:36.908 --> 00:11:40.631
but li- likely our clients aren't gonna be booking as many calls.
00:11:40.841 --> 00:11:45.671
You're not gonna be getting as many discovery calls for potential clients during the summer.
00:11:45.671 --> 00:11:49.651
So take advantage of that time, and set up your own systems.
00:11:50.183 --> 00:12:08.724
t- take your own time off, and, be grateful for having the business model that does slow down in the summertime, and see it as an opportunity to get, you know, get that time to be closer with your family, or to pick up a new hobby, or anything like that.
00:12:09.014 --> 00:12:13.313
So thank you so much for listening to the podcast this week.
00:12:13.623 --> 00:12:22.522
This was a short and sweet one, and next week we will be back on with interviews and future live Q&A replays.
00:12:22.562 --> 00:12:35.381
If you are on YouTube, you can watch the live Q&A replays as soon as they happen, and if you're not on YouTube, we still end up putting the audios up on the podcast, a week or two later.
00:12:35.381 --> 00:12:36.671
So keep an eye out for that.
00:12:36.671 --> 00:12:39.411
We just had our July live Q&A.
00:12:39.411 --> 00:12:45.187
We took a break for the summer, and, I do our live Q&As on the last Thursday of each month.
00:12:45.557 --> 00:12:52.964
And so July, 30th, I had another live Q&A, and we are picking those back up for the fall.
00:12:53.304 --> 00:12:54.594
So mark your calendars.
00:12:54.594 --> 00:13:03.875
Make sure you're subscribed to our email list by going to ambitiousbookkeeper.com/subscribe, and you'll know when we're gonna have a live Q&A.
00:13:03.904 --> 00:13:04.854
I hold them in Zoom.
00:13:04.875 --> 00:13:09.584
I also stream them to YouTube, so if you are not on YouTube, you can join the Zoom room.
00:13:10.604 --> 00:13:11.014
All right.
00:13:11.024 --> 00:13:25.132
Thank you so much for taking the time for listening to this podcast this week, and if, uh, you wanna share it with a fellow bookkeeper or an accountant, I would love that, and I'll talk to you next week.
00:02:35.110 --> 00:02:40.350
Welcome to the Ambitious Bookkeeper podcast and the Ambitious Bookkeeper YouTube channel.
00:02:40.350 --> 00:02:42.150
If you're new here, I'm Serena.
00:02:42.661 --> 00:02:52.470
I run a virtual bookkeeping business called Of Course Financial, and I also coach and mentor other bookkeepers, through my brand, The Ambitious Bookkeeper.
00:02:52.840 --> 00:03:06.230
And this little video is just kind of an update of what to expect over the next month or so and, to talk a little bit about the summer slump some of us are in.
00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:12.030
So I'm gonna start off with, upcoming shows in the month of August.
00:03:12.110 --> 00:03:24.630
I've dropped a YouTube video on how to create a budget in Xero, and, this is something that most businesses either skip budgeting or build one in January and let it collect dust for the rest of the year.
00:03:24.630 --> 00:03:30.440
So in this episode, you can click it here and, if you're on YouTube, you can click and watch the video.
00:03:30.460 --> 00:03:44.080
But I'm gonna walk you through exactly how my firm sets up a budget in Xero in a fast, clean, and easy way through, that actually gets used all year round, because in Xero, you can run budget to actual reports really easily.
00:03:44.380 --> 00:03:46.370
And so I'm gonna share that.
00:03:46.568 --> 00:03:52.700
whether you're a business owner or a bookkeeper, it'll walk you through that process, so you can do this with your clients as well.
00:03:52.978 --> 00:04:01.709
and also coming up, we are airing an episode where I interview the CEO of bookkeepers.com.
00:04:02.075 --> 00:04:04.835
many of you may know them as Bookkeeper Launch.
00:04:05.135 --> 00:04:15.920
Um, Jaime will be coming on the podcast, and if that podcast is live, you can click below where you're watching this video or click on this YouTube video to watch it, or at the end of this video.
00:04:16.108 --> 00:04:16.967
it'll be up there.
00:04:17.440 --> 00:04:27.475
and I will… If you're in the Bookkeeper Launch community, I will be doing a little workshop inside of that community on September 1st, so look out for that.
00:04:27.795 --> 00:04:32.754
we'll also have below this video a link to join Bookkeeper Launch.
00:04:32.764 --> 00:04:34.144
It is an affiliate link.
00:04:34.469 --> 00:04:46.221
they are running a special promotion for just our, their referral partners like myself, , in August, so grab that link below where you're listening or watching this video.
00:04:46.553 --> 00:04:53.803
I will also be bringing on an interview episode with Nick from the podcast Between Two Firms.
00:04:53.803 --> 00:04:56.884
I'm super excited for that podcast episode.
00:04:57.264 --> 00:05:14.457
And, last but not least, I recently released a private secret limited time audio series called The Advisor Activation Audio Series, and, that's going to be taken down for listening in the next week.
00:05:14.518 --> 00:05:19.268
Depending on when you're watching this, if it's past August 9th, you're too late.
00:05:19.278 --> 00:05:20.717
It's not available anymore.
00:05:21.190 --> 00:05:42.730
so make sure you grab the link for that and start listening as soon as possible And last but not least, this episode, I wanna talk a bit about, summer being a slow season for bookkeepers and, what you could be doing to move the needle and plant seeds maybe next summer if you didn't figure it out this summer.
00:05:42.750 --> 00:05:52.659
If you noticed that your summer was really slow and you were a little bit stressed out about it this year, keep that in mind because that's what happens every single year during the summer.
00:05:52.909 --> 00:05:58.639
Business owners don't tend to wanna be focusing on finding a bookkeeper.
00:05:58.696 --> 00:06:11.531
they're wrapped up in their own summer plans and trying to take off from their own businesses, so the last thing they're doing is adding anything to their plate where they have to, you know, research and find a bookkeeper, interview a bookkeeper, all that kind of stuff.
00:06:11.901 --> 00:06:23.841
I will say, though, there are sometimes business owners that use the summer quiet time where, when their business is slow as well, to catch up on the back ends of their business.
00:06:24.091 --> 00:06:29.512
And so it might be a good time for you to actually engage in cleanup or catch-up services.
00:06:29.542 --> 00:06:35.692
I know I had a few of those this summer, and it was great because it provided a little bit of a cash influx.
00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:43.661
I got to work through a project, I love project work, and, , and help a business owner catch up for the midyear.
00:06:43.670 --> 00:06:51.302
So, that's kind of what I recommend doing for the summer, and also focusing on your own business, like, on your own systems.
00:06:51.312 --> 00:06:56.192
If you don't have new clients coming in, work on fixing your own systems.
00:06:56.222 --> 00:06:59.718
Work on creating a marketing plan for the fall, things like that.
00:06:59.718 --> 00:07:12.318
You can also promote fall planning sessions with your own clients or potential clients, and let them know, like, have them lock it in in the summer, but that you're not gonna start until fall.
00:07:12.838 --> 00:07:16.288
Also, if you're listening to this when it goes live, it's still August.
00:07:16.288 --> 00:07:24.428
It's not too late to, to promote something like that, especially for any of you who are interested in offering advisory services.
00:07:24.428 --> 00:07:27.298
Maybe this fall is the first time you're gonna be doing that.
00:07:27.562 --> 00:07:33.160
maybe you're interested in joining Elevate and you're going to, do, like, a beta client situation.
00:07:33.170 --> 00:07:41.956
That's something that I talk about in Elevate, is having a practice client where you learn How to offer this service on a client.
00:07:41.966 --> 00:07:52.949
And so you could preemptively start promoting something like that, if you know you're going to want to start implementing those services and work out your packages and offerings.
00:07:53.244 --> 00:07:56.303
and then you can join us in Elevate this fall when it opens back up.
00:07:56.341 --> 00:08:09.961
if you're interested in knowing when that's gonna happen, go get yourself on the wait list by going to ambitiousbookkeeper.com/elevate, and you will be the first to know when we have decided a date that it will be releasing and opening.
00:08:09.990 --> 00:08:14.270
I am still in the throes of revamping the entire program.
00:08:14.394 --> 00:08:15.715
and it's gonna be so good.
00:08:15.715 --> 00:08:17.004
I'm super excited for it.
00:08:17.324 --> 00:08:31.360
And in the meantime, you have that audio series to help you get ready mentally and energetically for the work that will be required of you and, the frequency that's going to be required of you to offer that kind of service.
00:08:31.549 --> 00:08:49.229
one of the other things that you could always, focus on during the summer or, you know, late summer as we are right now, I probably should have published this episode the beginning of the summer so that you would, like, know how to handle the slow season if this is, like, your first time experiencing this.
00:08:49.284 --> 00:08:57.215
but you could be planting seeds that will come to fruition in the fall, like I said, with the plant, fall planting session, something like that.
00:08:57.615 --> 00:09:04.902
You can, , pitch and book podcast guests, as a podcast guest on other people's podcasts or in their communities.
00:09:05.288 --> 00:09:08.528
Um, work on, laying the groundwork for that kind of stuff.
00:09:08.561 --> 00:09:20.139
Continue to do the networking, and, you know, outreach that you have been doing, and, just keep going with all of that and just know that summer is going to be slow.
00:09:20.497 --> 00:09:30.497
like I said before, you can focus on your own systems and your own personal growth so that when fall busy time comes back around, you are ready.
00:09:31.018 --> 00:09:47.872
And last but not least, it's always a really good time to just follow up , if things are slow and you had people in the pipeline in January that never signed a proposal or they just kind of fizzled out or the conversation died out, follow up with people.
00:09:47.883 --> 00:09:55.670
That is the best thing that you can do because those are people who you've already had contact with, and you can offer them even now.
00:09:55.760 --> 00:10:19.000
You can still follow up and let them know, like, "Hey, we talked in January or February or whatever. I wanna check in with you to see did you end up getting your books in order, or are you still looking and need…" And maybe you filed a tax extension because extension deadlines are coming up, September for S corps and partnerships and October for individuals.
00:10:19.331 --> 00:10:28.100
So that's always, you know, good to get ahead of too, and that's usually another timeframe where bookkeepers see a little bit of an influx in business.
00:10:28.110 --> 00:10:35.263
So if you started your business this year and things didn't, take off as quickly as you expected them to, that's okay.
00:10:35.543 --> 00:10:44.985
You have another opportunity of the influx time, and what your marketing angle should be is, it's fall, the tax deadline is coming up.
00:10:45.004 --> 00:11:07.278
If you filed an extension, it's time to get on our client roster, to book a call, all those things, and just start promoting that And if you did have a slow summer, and you're really, like, kind of struggling with that, and, like I said, maybe weren't expecting that, just remember that it's going to happen again next year probably.
00:11:07.278 --> 00:11:21.683
So do some planning ahead of figuring out you know, I'm gonna push a little harder in January, February, March to get those clients onboarded, so that come summer we are, you know, in just regular monthly service.
00:11:22.014 --> 00:11:24.993
Or plan some sort of a summer promotion.
00:11:25.093 --> 00:11:26.653
Stock up on your cash.
00:11:26.683 --> 00:11:32.453
Make sure you have the money that you want to be able to take the time off, and just take the time off in, in the summer.
00:11:32.473 --> 00:11:36.894
Obviously, if we're, if you're doing monthly recurring bookkeeping, you're still gonna have that work.
00:11:36.908 --> 00:11:40.631
but li- likely our clients aren't gonna be booking as many calls.
00:11:40.841 --> 00:11:45.671
You're not gonna be getting as many discovery calls for potential clients during the summer.
00:11:45.671 --> 00:11:49.651
So take advantage of that time, and set up your own systems.
00:11:50.183 --> 00:12:08.724
t- take your own time off, and, be grateful for having the business model that does slow down in the summertime, and see it as an opportunity to get, you know, get that time to be closer with your family, or to pick up a new hobby, or anything like that.
00:12:09.014 --> 00:12:13.313
So thank you so much for listening to the podcast this week.
00:12:13.623 --> 00:12:22.522
This was a short and sweet one, and next week we will be back on with interviews and future live Q&A replays.
00:12:22.562 --> 00:12:35.381
If you are on YouTube, you can watch the live Q&A replays as soon as they happen, and if you're not on YouTube, we still end up putting the audios up on the podcast, a week or two later.
00:12:35.381 --> 00:12:36.671
So keep an eye out for that.
00:12:36.671 --> 00:12:39.411
We just had our July live Q&A.
00:12:39.411 --> 00:12:45.187
We took a break for the summer, and, I do our live Q&As on the last Thursday of each month.
00:12:45.557 --> 00:12:52.964
And so July, 30th, I had another live Q&A, and we are picking those back up for the fall.
00:12:53.304 --> 00:12:54.594
So mark your calendars.
00:12:54.594 --> 00:13:03.875
Make sure you're subscribed to our email list by going to ambitiousbookkeeper.com/subscribe, and you'll know when we're gonna have a live Q&A.
00:13:03.904 --> 00:13:04.854
I hold them in Zoom.
00:13:04.875 --> 00:13:09.584
I also stream them to YouTube, so if you are not on YouTube, you can join the Zoom room.
00:13:10.604 --> 00:13:11.014
All right.
00:13:11.024 --> 00:13:25.132
Thank you so much for taking the time for listening to this podcast this week, and if, uh, you wanna share it with a fellow bookkeeper or an accountant, I would love that, and I'll talk to you next week.
