With over 15 years of experience owning a virtual bookkeeping business, I think it’s fair to say I’ve had my share of ups and downs.

So for today’s post, I’m highlighting the best decisions I’ve made as a bookkeeper — specifically in relation to the core components of my Bookkeeper’s Business Incubator (Sales, Systems, Service, and Skills).

Sales: Hiring a Sales Coach

I know this may be hard to believe, but there was a time in my bookkeeping career when I didn’t have all my sh*t together. (I’ll pause here for gasps of shock and awe 😲… lol just kidding)

I talk a lot about how much I LOVE SALES! And that’s because I genuinely, 100% do! But that wasn’t always the case. By hiring a sales coach, I was able to bounce ideas off of a mentor who had far greater experience than I did at the time — and that ended up being one of my most valuable investments ever.

While a coach isn’t always necessary to becoming a successful business owner, I know it helped me feel less isolated and build confidence in my decision-making skills — especially at a time when virtual communities and networks didn’t exist. 

Systems: Finding the Right Project Management Platform

Project management systems are definitely not one-size-fits-all solutions. You’re going to have play around and find the one that works best for you, your clients, and your team.

My team and I have gone through our fair share of project management failures, which cost us hundreds of hours and a pretty penny. But ultimately, we needed something that would help us scale efficiently and effectively — not slow us down. So if we wanted to run like a well-oiled machine, we needed the right tool to do it.

We love Teamwork (yup, that’s an affiliate link) over on the bookkeeping side of things. But I also found that a different platform actually works better for content creation and tracking.

So while you might find that one platform works great for some aspect of your business, you may need to play around with finding the right combination of tools to address all of your needs.

And don’t forget, what works for others may not work for you. That is totally okay!!

Service: Establishing a Culture of Care and Perfecting the Onboarding Experience

Not gonna lie to ya… I had to make this one a two-parter because I couldn’t pick just one piece of advice.

1️⃣ Build a culture of customer care

When leading my team at Good Cents, I made sure my employees knew exactly what my expectations were in terms of customer service. I was deeply invested in my customers and wanted to see them succeed, and that was an idea I continually instilled in my employees as well.

In fact, one of our core values at Good Cents was being people-centric, which allowed us to take care of our clients and our employees in a 360-degree way. 

2️⃣ Nail the onboarding experience

I will keep saying this over and over and over again (sorry, not sorry): First impressions are a HUGE deal for any business owner, but especially bookkeepers. Hence the need to absolutely crush it with your onboarding experience. If you don’t have a clear process you can walk your clients through, you won’t be able to make them feel confident in their decision to work with you.

Skills: Investing in a Two-Year Leadership Program

A few years ago, I invested in a two-year program where my fellow students and I focused on EVERYTHING a business owner could need to address — the client experience, HR, marketing, you name it. It truly covered all aspects of owning a business from soup to nuts. 

But aside from the technical skills I gained through this program, I found that I excelled because I was surrounded by like-minded high achievers. And this is something I think is INCREDIBLY important for your personal success. 

Your circle of influence should be filled with people who lift you up and challenge you to be the best business leader and person you can be. There are even studies on how a child’s success in school can be almost directly correlated to the people they’re surrounded by. 

I absolutely believe the same goes for adults, because I saw it first-hand with my inaugural cohort of Bookkeeper’s Business Incubator students (waitlist is open, BTW!). 

Conclusion

The 4 S’s are the core components of my Bookkeeper’s Business Incubator program, which is why I love sharing my real-life experiences about them with you. As you continue growing as a bookkeeper and scaling your business, I’m sure you’ll develop your own list of best (and worst) decisions as well.

Rooting for you,

Justine

P.S. If you want even more insights, be sure to join me on Facebook for my weekly live lessons!