So what I really love doing is write about the things that I want to help you with, in order to help you to move the needle in your practice. And today, I want to talk to you and educate you around: the four types of team members that you'll ever come across, professionalism & promises kept, and a brush on zero-tolerance management. And, I'm going to link this topic to a prospective client I recently spoke with (I love, love bringing you stories from exactly what I'm experiencing in my practice!), in order to help you in your practice. Because, we are all bookkeepers going through similar things – and the stories I share with you of my success, along with where other bookkeepers are getting it wrong and falling over, will help you to forensically look at what area of your bookkeeping practice can be improved. So, I was speaking to a prospective client recently.. and I'm just going to put it into perspective a little bit. So, right now, in my bookkeeping practice, we are absolutely on wait list. No way would I be bringing more clients onboard right now. And, our wait list is usually about a month. So why would I be speaking to a prospective client? I've said this before and I'll say it again: In our business, we are never standing still – we are either growing or we are receding. Just like in nature. Nature is either growing or dying, think of trees and even humans. And I know that in business, we need to be doing our business growth activities, and a lot of ours in my practice tend to actually be on autopilot. We play with a lot of stuff in order to test and measure it for The Strategic Bookkeeper Tribe. And so if you did not join the program when the doors open on August 1, worry not because the program is evergreen. We have a way to bring you into the program seamlessly, so that you can absolutely start working with me to build your thriving practice, delight your clients, and live your dream on your terms. If you are keen to know how that works, just drop us an email or ask in the The Strategic Bookkeeper's Way Facebook Group. Because, three things: Number one, the program comes with a MONEY-BACK guarantee. Number two, I do not get you to spend extra time working with me – this is about ON THE JOB application and implementation. And number three, that money-back guarantee, it kicks in after a year but my expectation is to help you get the ROI really early, allowing you to pay for the program as we go along. But yeah, most of the things we do are an autopilot, but they still have to be set up properly to work properly. Our social media actually has a certain amount of time and money invested in it. We don't spend any money on social media advertising, however, I do have team that takes care of the social media posts, and timing is always a factor. So, that's just to put into perspective talking to that prospective client. When I was chatting with this PC, I did raise capacity and I told him that right now we're on wait list. This client's needs, he needs a fair bit. It's probably a half day client a week. And a lot of the clients we bring on, we can smash through their work in an hour a week. So someone who needs four or five hours, that can be the equivalent of four or five smaller clients – so I have to consider that. And in terms of our capacity and the way I run my practice, I want to be small but mighty. I want to do the least amount, with the biggest impact on my clients and on myself. I've worked damn hard for it. So here's what I don't want to see in your practice. I don't want to see the seesaw effect, of where the seesaw goes one way and it's like, okay, I'm doing the work, and then suddenly the work dries up and you realize, oh my goodness, a couple of clients have off boarded from natural attrition, and then the seesaw swings the other way and it's like hustle, hustle, hustle. I need to try and win some work. There are so many things wrong with that. The way that works is, simply, when you're hustling, you're not being strategic – you're working harder and probably feeling a little bit more... desperate is the wrong word, but not as choosy. So, we want the seesaw even at all times, where at one side of the seesaw we're doing the work, and at the other side of the seesaw we've got our MARKETING LAYERING in place, and all the pieces of the puzzle in place, so that an invisible PIPELINE is being filled up slowly over time. And with this prospective client, he said, I found you on Google. So that is one of the results of marketing, layering, and pipeline. We do no paid advertising to be clear, but at the time of writing this, I have been experimenting with more Search Engine Optimization (SEO), so that I can learn more, and bring what I learn to the Tribe as they come through the program. So going back to that prospective client, I was doing a NEEDS ANALYSIS with him. I'm still happy to do the analysis because very early on, I was able to assess that he was prepared to wait. He's got a bookkeeping solution right now. He is fine to wait a month or two months, even three months. What's important to him is the right solution. So, we started the needs analysis, he's using another bookkeeping practice, and as I always do, I just kind of said, "Okay, I know a few things because we spoke the other day. Right now I just want you to brain dump anything else that you want to tell me about you and about your business." And you would be surprised when you asked that question, because if you listen to that, I didn't start with, "Are you behind on the books? Do you have payroll?" – I asked him to tell me what was important to him. Those kind of open questions are great. And he told me all the beautiful, what I call ethereal stuff, all the stuff that doesn't directly relate to the bookkeeping, but guess what? It relates to the why. What is the bookkeeping there to achieve for him and what kind of solution is he looking for? So definitely, you want to know that. And, I don't find the needs analysis linear. It's not like I have a set of questions and we go question by question. It's more creative than that. So, I start with those open questions, and then once we've got through a bit of that, I then go back to more of the formal bookkeeper kind of questions, and I check them off. And a lot of them gets answered anyway in our nice free flowing conversation. So at some point, in the needs analysis, I said, okay, can I please ask you with your current bookkeeping solution? And we are familiar with that practice. We do get clients come through from there from time to time and say, what exactly are you not happy with? And in a nutshell, in my own words, what he told me is that the bookkeeper was likely quite skilled, however... And he'd actually had a few bookkeepers from this practice. One of them didn't like the fact that he likes to psychometrically test the bookkeeper – and actually, we psychometric test across all of our team and then we get together and we have really a lot of fun with who we are. So psychometric testing is amazing and everybody should be doing their Wealth dynamics, Psychometric test, or at least their DISC analysis. And the starter maintainer finisher, which I developed. So, one bookkeeper he had from this agency didn't like that, and so she didn't want to work with them. And then there was a second bookkeeper, I'm not sure what happened there, but then the third bookkeeper they had, and I see no problem with staff turnover. However, what I'm hearing here is there has been a lack of consistency and professionalism. So the bookkeeper has been making a lot of excuses for breaking her promises. She complains a lot about how hard she's working, which I often find when we're complaining about working hard, we're not leveraging tech and automation and streamlining the way that we should be. She ends up with of personal commitments that get in the way of work, and she talks about that a lot. She's a mom with kids, which this client is massive on supporting parents with flexible work environments, and I'm a mom with a special needs child, so I get it. However, this comes back to professionalism. There wasn't a big issue with her work, although she had made mistakes, but that is normal. We're human. When he told me what the problems were, what I heard was there is a lack of professionalism, and I could talk about that till the cows come home – lack of professionalism, promises broken. So those two things, and this bookkeeper sounded to me like a yo-yo, or possibly a time-waster. As a bookkeeper in practice, when you are recruiting team, an admin, someone to help you with some graphics, a bookkeeper, anyone, there are four types that you'll encounter. That is, the superstar, the workhorse, the yo-yo and the time-waster. And I can tell you right now, in terms of zero tolerance management, hire slowly and fire fast. Have I always had a zero tolerance management in my practice? Hell no. I had to learn the hard way. I had to learn from losing money, to profit bleeding, and being stressed and having to tame that people pleasing manager, and actually learn what MANAGING is compared to LEADERSHIP. And that while leadership is, in my opinion, fun and a bit more creative, management is a linear process. It is plan, organize, staff, direct and control. There is no room for movement. It doesn't mean you don't walk in with your values and your ethics, and you're absolutely a nice person, but management is linear. And when you wear the manager hat, you're not wearing the friend hat. You need to change them. However, being a manager is key. This is all elaborated in my book, in the Systems and Team chapter. If you can lean into that, together with hire slow, fire fast, and be zero tolerant, this will absolutely revolutionize your practice – and I'm going to be there to help you in the program. When you come to these bridges, you are going to say, "Jeannie, help. I don't know what to do." Or, you're going to say to other members on my team that are brilliant with this, help, I don't know what to do, and we're going to help you. So the four types. First is the SUPERSTAR. Usually, these are bookkeepers in practice who are managing to successfully run their practice. And, those bookkeepers out there who have contacted me and said, "I've read your book twice." "I've listened to the audio book, I've listened to every podcast." "I'm coming to every training or I'm listening to every training." – well hello, superstar. A superstar absolutely does their time and tasks. They do what they said they'd do, in the timeframe they said they'd do it. That is promises kept. They are highly professional and are critical thinkers that can pretty much be left alone to do the job, and they can also give themselves that pat on the back, the support that we need to give them as well. But pretty much, these are people that could run your business for you, like my right hand, Jo. Then you have your WORKHORSES. And workhorses are a little bit like superstars. They are great with time and task. They are going to keep their promises, do what they said in the timeframe they said they do it, which is rule number one for building a highly profitable practice, for thriving and delighting your clients, and living your dream on your term. So the workhorses are going to do those things. Where they differ from the superstar is that they need to be given the job to do and the instructions, and then they will work so hard to do it and do it well, and keep promises. They might not be as much of a critical thinker, but they are still really valuable on the team because they're a great workhorse that gets the job done. Their performance is consistent. They're reliable. They're just going to turn up, get the job done. Although, every now and then, you might be a bit frustrated because if you're a superstar, then in terms of a workhorse, sometimes you might think, really, you had to ask me that question? But ultimately, even in terms of asking you questions, they're not going to interrupt you yet. They're going to be consistent. Interruptions are going to be in accordance with the systems and processes you've got, which we have a lot of in the program. Because, when you get comms and you reduce interruptions and all of that is streamlined, your profitability will soar. So, moving on to the YO-YO. A yo-yo's performance is up and down. So one minute it feels like they're a superstar or workhorse, and the next minute, they're inconsistent. They missed a deadline, they didn't do a task. Hire slow, fire fast. A yo-yo will tear your house down, will burn your house down as will a time waster. So here's interesting about a TIME WASTER. They're not just wasting your time and your client's time, they're wasting their own time. Based on what that prospective client said to me, that bookkeeper sounded mainly like a time waster – wasting her own time, wasting the client's time. And holy moly, what he told me, he didn't even complain that much about it. He said, I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, and she's great in some ways. And I thought, oh my goodness, you are paying good money for this service. I don't think it is too much to ask that we are professional, that we keep our promises – those two things alone. I'm the mom of a special needs child and he can't even go to school at the moment. He's 13 years old and he is at home. If I can turn up and be professional, we all can. Okay? But if you have a yo-yo or a time waster, if you recruit team like that, there is no fixing it. You need to hire slow and fire fast. Now, action steps and a little bit of information around that. First of all, if you are coming into the program, look, we absolutely help you with how to recruit winning teams, and a part of that is psychometric testing. And then once you do, we're there to support you with what's going on. One of the actions to take is that there is no place in any business, in your bookkeeping practice, for the people pleasing manager or the people pleasing monster. And I work with my clients around this, and they love it and we all talk about it. A nice person is a nice person, and if you're a nice person just like me, I am totally prone to the people pleasing monster. But because I know it, and I've talked about the three A's to change before, so there's awareness, right? So because I'm aware that I'm kind of a bit of a big softie and a marshmallow, then I can accept that I'm going to be prone to the people pleasing monster or the people pleasing management style, and then I can take action. And the action that I take is to really be aware and accept what a manager truly looks like – plan, organize, staff, direct and control. I don't need to manage. Primarily, I sit in the leadership role, so then I get people around me to support me in mainly the day-to-day manager roles. But when I need to put my manager hat on, and this is one of the actions that I find really helpful, I literally gesture taking an invisible hat off, and putting an invisible hat on. I'm going to take my friend hat off right now because I'm absolutely friends with everyone on my team, I love them. We throw the love word around here all the time. But, I will take my friend hat off, and I will even take my leader hat off. I'll put my manager hat on, and for the minute or two or 10 that I need to wear the manager hat, I will wear it 100%. I will wear it well, and I will know that my values come with that hat. So one of my values is fairness. So my top values is courage, honesty, authenticity, kindness. When I put my manager hat on, all of those are intact. I really do encourage that hat wearing, so that you can help yourself shift gears and you actually literally can say it to a team member: Right now, I'm going to take my friend hat off and I'm going to put my manager hat on. If you ever get told by a yo-yo or a time waster that you are micromanaging them, no, you're not micromanaging them – you are managing them. You're not standing over them. You have to manage in your business, you have to wear the manager hat, in order to build a thriving practice. And if you don't build a thriving practice, your staff won't even have a job. So, do not apologize to your team for wearing the manager hat and wearing it well. Unfortunately, you don't make friends with the manager hat on, but the good news is that you can take the manager hat off, and put your friend hat on – and I've been doing this in some capacity all my life. So if I can do it, you can do it. And if you're coming through the program, we're going to be giving you tons of great stuff to recruit and manage winning teams. But also, one of the big parts of the value that I love, love, love about the program that's kind of invisible is that we are going to cross the bridges with you as you come to them. We're going to give you the support that you need when you need it, with that mentoring and that coaching and that high end confidant that you need. And don't forget that if there is anything that you want help with, do share with an open heart and an open mind via our Facebook group. If you don't want to do that, you can always reach me via email, then I can jump in and create podcast and video content for you as well.

As I write this, it's morning here in Australia and I am sitting, having my coffee and I was just responding to a beautiful VIP Client who's been with us for... feels like forever. And so I thought I would jump on and do a blog relating to few things. Prior to writing this, we've done our annual price rise, which is always a little daunting for bookkeepers – and it kind of should and shouldn't be. Where it gets daunting is that it is a time where we kind of go, we want more money, and our clients don't want to give anyone more money. And often realistically we're saying, I want more money, but I'm not giving you any extra, right? We're just doing a CPI price rise, which is normal, natural, and needed. But as clients and even as consumers and customers ourselves, we're always going to be wanting to know, Well, what's in it for me? If you're charging me more, I don't care about CPI. What I care about is, what's in it for me? What's the value I'm getting? I'm going to connect today's read with how to stack your VALUE, and how the program can help you in this part of our practice, okay? As you are reading this, the program has launched and it's live, but it doesn't mean it's too late to jump in. If you did not join the program when the doors open on August 1, worry not because the program is evergreen. We have a way to bring you into the program seamlessly, so that you can absolutely start working with me to build your thriving practice, delight your clients, and live your dream on your terms. If you are keen to know how that works, just drop us an email or ask in the The Strategic Bookkeeper's Way Facebook Group. Because, three things: Number one, the program comes with a MONEY-BACK guarantee. Number two, I do not get you to spend extra time working with me – this is about ON THE JOB application and implementation. And number three, that money-back guarantee, it kicks in after a year but my expectation is to help you get the ROI really early, allowing you to pay for the program as we go along. So, I'll go back by talking to you about what I was just doing. We've just done our annual price rise, and I'll always say to you that 80% of your clients should definitely just be accepting it and be happy enough with that, and 20% you'll sometimes get pushback and sometimes it's a time where you'll be kind of cleaning things out. Occasionally, a client or two might offboard from us. And that said, we want to retain the clients that we want to retain for sure. Now, even with the 80%, what I would encourage you to do is find ways so that you can add value, give value, and remind your VIP clients of the value that they might just not be noticing. And just to remind you, value is not about features and functions. VALUE is about benefits and outcomes. So one of our beautiful VIPs, I just love working with him. I don't get to see him that often anymore because my team takes care of things in the practice, but, eons ago, it was me and I was working with him. As I've said before, our retention has gone from good to great over the years. And when I was building out the program, I looked at what I'm doing and I get to look forensically at the different moving parts that influence RETENTION, as well as find and onboard without price as a priority. And actually, even though I already knew this, it struck me more that in terms of retention without price as a priority, we set our clients up for that from the very beginning of the customer journey – when they are just prospective clients. The customer journey in depth is something that I go through with you in the program, but it's one of the first things you do, and I'll help you fully understand what I call part one of the customer journey right now. So, somebody is in the market, you could serve them right through to being in your brand sphere and making an inquiry. That's part one. Part two is after we've onboarded them, and there's actually a roundabout between part one and part two (that's what we call them in Australia, where you're on the road and there's a little fork in the road, almost like you get to a spot where you can go a few different ways). I call it that because after they onboard, there's a part of the customer journey called BUYER'S REMORSE. And the way that we manage or actually eliminate buyer's remorse at that roundabout or the rest stop... That little rest stop is either going to be somewhere that makes them feel great and amazing and eliminates buyer's remorse, without you knowing it. This is customer journey for you in your bookkeeping practice. At that rest stop, without you knowing it, they might also possibly feel alone and all these other things, and it's the feelings and the experience at the rest stop that is one of the moving parts that influence retention without price as a priority, that influences relationship. So, from the early days when they first get exposure to your brand, that is how we build out all the different things for the customer, including the ability to retain them without price as a priority. It starts right at the beginning, and then it continues. Continuing on with talking about price rise and value and the experience I just had, this particular VIP client, when we sent out the price rise, he had a conversation with us. He was one of the 20% that kind of said, I don't know, can we talk about this? And so we had a chat about his situation and his situation had changed a little bit. He found that his wife, who's now a mama with a one-year-old, is able to handle the day-to-day bookkeeping. So what we did is we definitely had a conversation, then we pivoted to offering him up one of our DIY bookkeeper support packages and that we charge a really good monthly fee for (and by good monthly fee, I mean that we charge a fee that allows us to run a thriving practice). So, we charge a fee to service that is viable for us to be highly profitable, while also serving the client in a way that makes them delighted with the outcomes and the benefits they get – which means that we retain them, and also that we can pull the income and lifestyle out that we want and deserve. And so what I want to impress upon you here is that, the fee we charge for that DIY bookkeeper support package is a productized service full of benefits and outcomes, not just features and functions. And just to connect that to the program for a minute, you do get my entire suite of productized services and how to use them, and we'll help you with outcome billing as well as all the other things, okay? So in this case, we created a DIY bookkeeper support package and had a chat to the client. He said, that sounds really good. And then we sent that via Ignition software. We did our normal conversion process, which you can read about in the book, and did the VIDEO SALES LETTER for him. In the program, I help you create really quickly and easily a three-part video sales letter and stitch it together. I created a video sales letter and stitched it to my static video sales letter, which is a pre-recorded video sales letter that stacks the value of your competitive advantage, using a done-for-you for brochure, of 14 years in the making (conservatively worth $20,000 alone). And then, I add in a little bespoke video that explains the proposal and just in a really lovely way, chats to the client or the prospective client. I also went through the productized service to remind my client of all the value and the benefits. So exactly what I put in there, you absolutely get full access to and training in the Transformation Program. Going through all of that with the client, reminding him of these benefits and outcomes rather than the features and the functions— Because, the features and the functions are already offered by every bookkeeper. That doesn't give me a lot of selling points or competitive advantage, but the outcomes and the benefits do. So I run through them and one of them I tell you about in the book, and that is I offer every one of my VIPs a 90-minute planning session annually. So I said, don't forget, you get your 90-minute annual planning session that is conservatively valued at a thousand dollars. And so I noticed last night I had a text message from that client and I thought, I'll check it in the morning when I'm at my desk. And I did, and it said, Hi, Jeannie, I have just signed the DIY proposal, sorry for the delay. Actually, we haven't had a 90-minute strategy session since you visited in December 2021. So yes, we would love to organize that soon to get back on track. We have two staff leaving and looking at employing an apprentice in the next few weeks. Parenthood has been really hard, but is getting more fun as he is growing up. Turns one this week. Thanks, client name So as you can imagine, I knew that they'd had a child in the last year, and of course I'm interested in that. I love all this stuff. So when I did the video sales letter, I just said at the end, I hope you're enjoying parenthood, because I've been there for so many years and watched everything evolve. But if you look at that text message, he's seen and felt the value, and nobody else is offering that. He's not going to be comparing me to others. The fee we charge for a DIY package, like I said, it's a lot more than most bookkeepers out there would think they could charge. Why is that? Do we charge for hours here at my bookkeeping practice? Does a strategic bookkeeper charge for her time? Does she or he charge for hours? We don't sell hours – a strategic bookkeeper sells outcomes. The profitability that we all make on a DIY package could be the same as what we made on an end-to-end bookkeeping package. Though, I'm not sure as I'm not in charge of that right now, but I do see the critical drivers of profit and the metrics when we do our virtual CFO process internally. But what I'm saying is that, that productized service is built for a profitable practice. First, just like putting your oxygen mask on, we can't serve our clients unless we've taken care of ourselves as well. It needs to be a win-win. Stacking the value of that service retained that client, with a productized service that serves us, as well as him. I think that client has probably been with us now for near on a decade. So you can see, our retention is really, really good. Now, I'd like to talk about key takeaways so that you can think about the action that you are going to take. In terms of that particular client, if I showed you how to do that in the program – if I helped you with that productized service alone – that would actually give you over 60% of the program fee back immediately. I love to talk real numbers, real return on investment. And remember, this is just an example of the kind of results we're getting overall. The revenue you would generate from that one client and our beautiful DIY bookkeeper support productized service, and how to make it all work, would be more than 60% of what the program fee is. Which means, if you did that twice, then your return on investment has now exceeded the program fee. And that is the tiniest example that I can give you. So the key takeaway is, if you're thinking about the program and you're worried about, will I get enough out of it? – that's an example. And just the other day, I was talking to a bookkeeper and she had been since a little bit on the fence about the program, and it was more of a mindset thing. She said to me, I'm once bitten, twice shy, that she'd done stuff before where she invested money and she'd been let down. And I really gently and politely said, I get it. But we all have had relationships, whether they are romantic or business or otherwise, where we've been hurt, and we have to make a decision as to whether we're going to take that baggage into the new relationship. And a little bit of it is unavoidable, but life is 5% what happens to us and 95% our attitude to it. So I then challenged this beautiful bookkeeper just to think for herself and self-assess for herself whether the program was for her, and whether she could leave that baggage behind. Because the other thing I said is just in my bookkeeping practice, I wouldn't proceed with a client that didn't trust me. Occasionally, in my practice, I'll get a prospective client that goes on and on about a bookkeeper who let them down and they kind of say it in a way which says to me, you are guilty until proven innocent. And I don't proceed with those clients because one of our core values is trust. And unless PC is prepared to trust me yet to be the expert, then I don't find the relationship works. So I challenged this beautiful bookkeeper, and she said to me that that was the advice she needed to smash through that limiting belief and have that realization. And she said, I'm all in. I'm so excited. Let's do this. And we talked about that return on investment. And once again, the brochure alone, getting a return on investment is so easy. What I loved about that conversation is she said to me, I've gone from this fear around the 1% idea that I might not get value to "Oh my God, I get it. What was I thinking? I'm all in." And she said, I don't want to work with you just for one lap around the sun. I want to mentor and a coach and support forever. And I was like, yes! That's what we all need. We need support forever. So once you've finished your first lap around the sun, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I give you ways that we can continue to support you because we all need somebody to support us. The other thing that she said, which I totally resonated with, is that she'd met various bookkeepers and coaches and that kind of thing, but there was really no one that she looked at that was the caliber that she thought was really going to get her there. Whereas when she read my book and my podcast, she resonated so much that she could see I was of a caliber that I could get her there – because I'm a bookkeeper who's been there, done that. So that's a big part of it. I've been there surrounded by people that I knew couldn't get me there. However, I would say that I have proven that I can get you there. Now, the next key takeaway is the planning session that I talk about in the book. All right? So hopefully, you've read the book. If you haven't, grab a copy. Listen to the audio book. Use the hard cover as a how-to guide that gets really worn in your bag and you write all over it. And lastly, successful business owners educate themselves regularly. The more I've educated myself the last four years (I have leaned in to give you more and bigger and better, and tested and measured stuff in the program), the more I've become convinced of the value of educating as business owners. So if this blog resonated with you, read it again or listen to the podcast version. And program-wise, everything is designed with an additional piece of tech that makes it audio friendly, as well as giving you the backup videos and resources in a full training portal in an academy. So that would be my last key takeaway: to educate yourself. Please do use the book and the podcast – and the program is yet another form of education. It's education, assets, implementation, team, and support. If you express interest in the program, you're going to get more information on that. And there is also a podcast on the program, so you can have a listen as well. Go forth and thrive in practice, my friends.

Are you familiar with Keep In Touch (KIT) marketing? This can also be called database marketing, but I like to call it MANNERS MARKETING, or the Diamonds at your Feet. And lately, when I've been running some events, bookkeepers tell me it's an area that they are neglecting – and yet when I talk to them about it, they can totally see how this could be really powerful for them. And so today, I would like to share some examples and some stories, and then give you some actionable steps. My wonderful father always had a saying, and that was, “Never forget your customers and they'll never forget you”. And definitely, that has always stayed with me. I think it's a really beautiful saying because to me, it speaks of NURTURE. And whenever we use the word marketing, bookkeepers (and I feel the same!), it does kind of cause us to shut down a bit, like, oh, marketing, I don't want to do marketing. It feels icky. Whereas, when we use the word nurture, that feels totally different. And when we say never forget your customers and they'll never forget you – of course, I don't want to forget my customers, my clients, because in fact, it is manners to remember the beautiful people that we work with, and that we have previously worked with. And that leads to the word DATABASE. So database and database marketing, it all sounds clinical, but when we strip it right back, this is about the people that are in your kind of NETWORK. And again, network, it just sounds like, such a business word. But what I mean is if you imagine me right now, and I'm spreading my little fingers out like tentacles, and I'm kind of thinking about all the different people that I've met in my life and that somehow and some way I'm connected to, and I could tell you a million ways, and it's going to be a little bit different for you depending on who you interact with and the kind of person you are. Most of you know that I'm a Latin dancer. So as you can imagine, I've got thousands of Latin dancing friends. That's what it's like in Latin dancing. It's like if you're a dancer and I'm a dancer, we're friends. But then, thinking about all the people I've come across and interacted with in my life that in some way I'm still connected with – thanks to social media – now, I get to look through my friends' profiles and see them whether they're married with children and they look happy. And one of my friends I noticed that I was really close to when I was younger, he lives overseas now with his wife and the two beautiful girls, and I'll go on and look through and just get so much joy out of connecting with them just online. So when I talk about database and network, think people, humans – think your kind of humans, the kind of people that you like, the kind of people that you love. Take those clinical words around network and database and really turn it into HUMAN INTERACTIONS. The people that in some way, shape or form you are connected to, means that they are in your wider network. They are on your database. Your database could be your phone, your social media, your email... And if we were to categorize those people, we might say, I've got old school friends, so I consider them old friends. And then I've got, anyone that I connected with in the business world, but I don’t hang out with. They're not my friends, but I've kept in touch with them and they're on my database because I do really like them and we connected as humans and we vibed. I call these people my business buddies. And then, there's kind of old friends that I know I might never catch up with, but there's still a connection. Then there's your closer friends (people that you talk to more often), and what I would call your community. So community, it's a beautiful, beautiful thing. And communities come from things like churches and hobbies, like my dancing and sports. Anything where you come together as a tribe and a community and you connect, that is community. As you can see, there are many labels. And so when I use that word segmentation, again, it's very clinical, but just think about all the different people when it comes to SEGMENTATION of your email database – it is probably a little bit more clinical because it does relate to how you can and will serve them. So for example, if I was going to look at everyone on my database, and if I was you and I was new to this and I was segmenting, think about the products and services that you currently sell. So, who is currently engaged in your products? If you have one core product that you sell, which is just bookkeeping, who's getting that on a regular monthly basis? This clients are who I call VIP Clients. Who's on my business email database that has the potential to be a client, but for whatever reason, they're not right now? That could be someone you worked with historically that moved on, but you still vibe with them. You like them. If they came back tomorrow and talk to you, you'd consider working with them. So they are Prospective Clients. Those are the two simplest categories there is – and I could go into a lot more detail because we actually have a really great product ladder, which I dive into this podcast. So basically, we have core products, and then we have succession products. We do break our VIP Clients up into more than one category, but there is nothing wrong with a version one database. Right now, I just want to impress upon you that you've got VIPs, and then you've got PCs. And when you read my book, you'll see just how much I use those terminologies. Your VIPs are all the clients you service on a regular basis, and your PCs are prospective clients, which is kind of like anyone else who runs a business, who's ended up on your database, who has the potential to work with you. Another great category for your database is Accountants. So every accountant that a client has, or even just accountants that you've met on at networking events can go on this category. And then there's lots more you can do, but we want to keep it simple. Next thing I want to do is talk software. People do ask me "what software would you recommend, Jeannie?". Look, we use a software called ActiveCampaign, but there's no right or wrong to software. MailChimp is free and it's brilliant. There is nothing wrong with getting started with MailChimp as well, but it doesn't matter too much as long as you've got a software that can connect to several other software you're using. Now, I want to give you a little example of the power of database and what happens, unfortunately, when you are not leveraging database. So the other day, I was thinking about my house and a few things that I want to do in the house, as most of us do. I thought, oh, I really want to maybe change a few things in the house. And a while ago, it was probably four years ago, I had someone come and put a new flooring in my bedroom, and the new flooring solution was really great. What I loved about this guy is unlike other people, this person vibed with me because he was really bossy. He knew. He knew what he was doing. He was a really direct communicator. He listened to me when I said to him, look, I don't actually want choice. I have no interior design gene in my body. I just want you to tell what I'm doing, what it will cost, and I just want you to turn up and do it. And he said, 1, 2, 3, this is what you're doing. This is what it'll cost. I'll be here on this date. And, oh, the heavens have opened. And it was brilliant. He kept his promises, everything went really well. So the other day I thought, oh, I really would like that guy to come back and do another floor for me. I don't remember who he is. His contact details have gone from my phone. I mean, I don't remember his name anyway, so what if he had a simple way to keep in touch with me, even if that was once every six months? Usually for businesses like that, I would recommend once a quarter, and it was just a text message that said, "Hey, Jeannie, Tom here, just saying hi and reminding you I'm available if you need me." That is not intrusive. I mean, there are other ways to do it. I love text message for businesses like that, but as a bookkeeper, email can be quite good because we're working collaborating with business owners that are on the email. But I like both and I actually like automated and non-automated. Now, that is an example of how if he had a nice basic keep-in-touch marketing system, he would potentially be creating the following things. Number one, a PIPELINE of inquiries, because People will buy when they're ready – but what's important is to keep them in our BRAND SPHERE floating around, so that they can make the buying decision when they're ready. So it creates a pipeline, because someone like me will buy four years later when I'm ready. But if he's doing that with all of his database, you can imagine the multiplier effect. And most people find that kind of keep-in-touch marketing really helpful, which is one of the reasons I call it Manners Marketing. I believe it is manners to keep in touch with the people that we are seeking to serve. What we're all doing, we are seeking to serve, be of service and help, alright? And never ever do I really get, leave me alone, don't keep in touch with me. And every now and then, if somebody does say, would you remove me from your database? I mean, we have links so they can just click and remove themselves too. Then, it's not impolite. And once, actually, it even led to someone explaining how busy they are, and I was able to say, if you are busy, you need me more than ever, and it was a really cool conversation. Going back to the example of the flooring guy, you can see the impact if he did have that keep-in-touch marketing system – he would be serving me much better. I'm frustrated that he doesn't keep in touch. Now I need to go back to square one and deal with people that are going to frustrate me, or start searching through Google in the hope that I stumble across him. Whereas, if he was just politely keeping in touch with me, then it would be serving me. The other thing it does as well is a pipeline of leads – it creates WORD OF MOUTH marketing. Let's say he was contacting me once every three, four months, and I got the message, I might say to a girlfriend, oh, just got this message off the guy that did my flooring. He's so amazing. You said that you were doing your flooring and I'll recommend him – so it can create ADVOCACY for your services and your brand. So absolutely, if you read my book, you'll see I talk about Advocacy Marketing being your number one marketing strategy that I want you to focus on, and keep in touch. Marketing will absolutely create advocacy for your brand. It will create people in the market talking about you. Talking about how valuable you are, and you don't even know this is going on. The funny thing about marketing is when you have the layers and you have your tentacles out there in this beautiful authentic way – which is not really marketing, like I say, it's about manners and staying connected to people – people will be talking about you behind your back and saying lovely things that will lead to somebody else reaching out to you that you didn't even know, and therein filling your pipeline of leads. And this week I've had a few people reach out, Hey Jeannie, I really need a bookkeeper. Can you help me? That's what happens, and this is the result, the ones that I've had lately. It's just simply the results of keep-in-touch marketing layered with the other pieces that I talk about in my book, which includes being able to see my profile, read about results-based marketing and more. So that's all in my book, and that's really easy to do. I give you a linear process for getting that all sorted and ready. But right now, this is just about the keep-in-touch marketing component. Here's story or two that's related to me and my bookkeeping practice to inspire you. So literally, I have jumped on to do this post immediately after talking to someone who is a past client. So we serve them, goodness, I would say it's like seven years ago, a long time ago, and we're still linked on Facebook. They're probably still on my email database, maybe, maybe not, right? But we kind of do a lot across both platforms. And actually, they reached out to me a year or so ago and just talked to me about bookkeeping, but again, didn't go ahead again then, but they're in my brand sphere and they're floating around now. So, she was once a client, but she's now a prospective client. Let's call her Sally, and she can see me on social media. If I win an award, or get nominated, I might share it on socials and just say, Hey, celebrate with me. It'd be nothing. It won't be business. It'll be very genuine, just yay me celebrate. Whereas on my business socials, it'll be more professional and bigger and grander because that's the more appropriate place for it. But, I will share it across both. So she might be following my business socials as well as my personal socials, and basically, she knows that we vibe. I'm the kind of person she'd like to work with. She feels like this is someone I know, like and trust. Then, she can see this is also someone who's at the top of her game in her industry. All indications are that if I was to work with her again, it's going to be easier and better than if I went out and tried to find someone else. Now, in the meantime, who knows, she might have gone and tried someone else as well. And I remember my father saying that some of his competitors were his best advertising. And this is the power of keep-in-touch marketing. Even when people go elsewhere, which actually a past client has just resigned with us after going elsewhere – it's okay. These things will happen from time to time and we don't need to be in total control of it all, but if we're using this beautiful keep-in-touch marketing system, they will often come back to us. I'm never emotional when someone leaves me. I'm very authentic and if I think they're making the wrong decision, I'll tell them that. If they are a little bit outgrowing us, we also offer in-house recruitment services, something you can do too. The moral of the story is just keep in touch, okay? Last night, I was on the phone for quite a while with someone that I only met once, but we're connected on Facebook. Look, I love to connect with people. So when I meet someone and we get along, I'll be like, yay, let's Facebook Connect. And then they're in my network. And then I didn't realize he kind of owns a business. And so this is about four or five years later, he's contacted me and we had a great chat last night. And he went, Yes, Jeannie, I'm going to work with you. Absolutely. Send me a proposal tomorrow. Let's work together. Keep-in-touch marketing. All I'm doing is keeping in touch with the people that are in my network connected to me some way, and that's what happens. So keep-in-touch marketing and the diamonds at your feet – so, so powerful. And in terms of taking action, you're going to take small actions, one step at a time, and you're going to give yourself a lap around the sun. This is a gift that will keep on giving, okay? It's okay to take time to do this. So the first thing I'd like you to do, rather than think about, oh my goodness, I've got to go into my Xero or QuickBooks or my file and bring all my database across to a software – here's what I want you to do first: I want you to, right now, think about a past client or an inactive client that you've worked with before, and for whatever reason, they are not engaged in regular work right now. So picture them in your mind. You might come up with one, two, or three, that's fine. Write them down, picture them in your mind. I would like you to reach out to them, and I'm going to give you a script on the fly, even though I do them all the time. And I will let you know right now, in The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program, all the scripts and messaging, all the keep-in-touch assets, strategies and resources – it's all done for you. So be sure to join in, okay? Going back to the scripting, we're going to call this PC Tom, and your name's going to be Sally, so, Hi Tom, Sally here from Sally's Bookkeeping. You just popped into my head. I just thought of you and I was wondering how's everything going? That is one example of a message you can send. It can depend on the past client, but that is one message that you can send. Just, how's everything going? If you've recently done a catch up but you haven't heard from them in three to six months, you can say, are you still up to date? Because if you're not, can you give me a call? I really, really want to make sure that you stay up to date. You're not selling your services, you're seeking to understand, which is manners marketing. I'm going to look at running a free training around building, maintaining and using your database, but for now, you can read this over and over and if you really want to fast track and get a lot of done-for-you stuff, the program's there, and the book's got heaps in it around database as well. What I hope you take from this read is the wow moments and the aha moments, and the absolute 100% belief that KIT Marketing is a beautiful, beautiful, manners based strategy for you to use. And in fact, I often use the phrase as a courtesy. When I reach out to people, Hi, this is Jeannie. I'm touching base as a courtesy. Again, use every word I've given you. Use that as a script. I'm reaching out as a courtesy to check in, see how everything's going – the response I get from these, phenomenal. This is just the most beautiful strategy for bookkeepers because it simply requires you to keep in touch with people and to nurture them. Okay? So work on your action steps, and I look forward to hearing how you go with all of this, hopefully in The Strategic Bookkeeper's Way Facebook group, so that we can share it with the whole tribe and we can all benefit from working and growing together.

I'd like to share with you a topic that I was recently speaking on for the Institute of Professional Accountants (which was my privilege), about the changes in consumer behaviour post-pandemic – which can also be called: How to Stay Competitive in a Post-Pandemic World. And actually, the night before I was speaking, an accountant asked me what I was speaking on, and he said, "Oh, I'm not very competitive." And that struck me. And before we continue, I just want to say that whether you are booked solid with clients or whether you have more time on your hands than clients, and you really need to attract new clients, being and remaining COMPETITIVE is key to continuing to thrive in your business. In fact, the clients that you currently have are staying with you because of your selling points and your competitive advantage, even if that is that you are a great bookkeeper who meets your deadlines and tasks. That basically means you do everything you said you'd do, and believe it or not, that is called the marketing X factor, in my opinion. There are a lot of bookkeepers who struggle to do what they said they'd do in the timeframe they said they'd do it. And so if I dived into that with you and your business, I might tell you that's a really lovely part of your competitive advantage. The point being, please don't tell me you don't need to be competitive. You absolutely do need to be and remain competitive in the eyes of your clients to continue to retain them, let alone find and attract new ones. Education is key to thriving in business as well. And so, please stick with me for this read, and together, we'll take on and navigate this post-pandemic journey. Just a quick side note – if you did not join the program when the doors open on August 1, it doesn't mean that you can't join in. The program is evergreen. We have a way to bring you into the program seamlessly, so that you can absolutely start working with me to build your thriving practice, delight your clients, and live your dream on your terms. If you are keen to know how that works, just drop us an email or ask in the The Strategic Bookkeeper's Way Facebook Group. Because, three things: Number one, the program comes with a MONEY-BACK guarantee. Number two, I do not get you to spend extra time working with me – this is about ON THE JOB application and implementation. And number three, that money-back guarantee, it kicks in after a year but my expectation is to help you get the ROI really early, allowing you to pay for the program as we go along. So, the big shift in consumer behaviour post-pandemic as it relates to our accounting industry... As always, this will be a mix of structured agenda and relaxed sharing. Let's have a look at what it the Big Shift is, and why you need to ADAPT or why I recommend you adapt, and then how you can adapt. Something that I want to let you know about the Big Shift is that it's something that I've been observing for a little while now since the pandemic started over three years ago. And then, I caught up with a business buddy who is just amazing in the marketing space. And, he really walked me through a lot of this and really filled in a lot of the gaps. But let me tell you right now, I am personally still adapting. This is new stuff, and not many people are talking about it. And so I want to start by talking about what was happening before the big shift, because I think that will really help you understand it, and then after the big shift. So before the big shift, it was the typical CUSTOMER JOURNEY. In terms of your market, someone within your market or someone that you could serve (a business owner who became aware of a problem that you could solve for them), somehow found out about you. Let's say their accountant told them about you, or they met you at a networking event, or maybe found you on Google, and they decided to give you a call. The customer journey was that they had a problem, they realized that they need someone in the bookkeeping space to solve that problem, and they reached out either by giving you a call, or sending you an email. And that meant that you were able to have a conversation. And another thing I want to mention is that before the pandemic, local was quite meaningful. Local had a lot of value. Business owners, on the whole, wanted to work with a bookkeeper who was local, even if they never met them. Even if they only ever interacted over the phone and everything was done remotely, they just liked the idea that that person was just down the road just in case they needed to see them face to face. Local had a lot of value. Now, in terms of power and influence... Since this person in your market would give you a call or send you an email, this meant you had a lot of POWER and INFLUENCE. Because, during this initial discussion, this was a dialogue where you could realistically do what I would call a NEEDS ANALYSIS. You're on the phone discussing and analysing what they need, and you're able to have a conversation which influences that person around using you or not using you – because you're assessing each other. So that was before the pandemic. Now, once the pandemic hit – and even post-pandemic, everything really started to change very rapidly. One of the trends that was accelerated was this habit and behaviour that– I want to do everything ONLINE. I want to find out everything I need to know online. I want to get all my questions answered online. And actually, I want to be able to take action easily online. So this was something that was slowly but surely happening. In the accounting industry, it was definitely something that was really slow – slower than other industries. An example of an industry where it was gaining traction would be, say, the personal services industry. Think about massage, for example. People were really starting to get used to finding what they wanted online and then actually booking in. And, they never interacted with the massage therapist until the day that they turned up at their appointment. So this was happening in various industries a lot more than it was happening in the accounting industry. For me as a bookkeeper, for you as a bookkeeper or an accountant, it was much more manual, I'd like to say. There was much more dialogue – whereas in other industries (think of restaurants), people were getting really used to the convenience of simply going online, finding out everything they need to know, booking in, and turning up in a really hands-free way. Along with this, local began to lose value. And that is because everybody was forced online – everybody was forced to adapt, to buy groceries online, to do things that some of us were just choosing not to do. So suddenly, I was hearing from clients very far away. Our practice is on the Gold Coast, and we were getting phone calls from Tasmania, and people were much more likely to use us irrespective of where we were located. But, that meant that the power around local began to lose value. The other thing that changed is that, our market began to want to get to know everything they needed to know about us 24/7 online, in their own time. And that was not happening in the accounting industry prior to the pandemic. In our industry, that was not the expectation of our market. Their expectation was to be able to get some information online. But part of the customer journey post-pandemic, which is very different now, is that if you were referred to someone pre-pandemic, that person would often call you immediately, and will likely use you. But now, that customer journey has changed because without that person realising it, their behaviour on the whole has changed. So now, when they are referred to you, they Google you and they spend time floating in your DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM, what I call your BRAND SPHERE. And they want to get to know, like, and trust you online, and get more third party endorsements, before they reach out. And actually, I know someone that was referred to an accountant with a really good recommendation. This person went online and sat in their brand sphere, and didn't like what they saw. So regardless of their referral, they did not use the services of that accountant. Everything has simply changed. The last thing I want to mention here, post-pandemic, you've lost power and influence. Because, if we think of that story that I just shared with you prior to the pandemic, our behaviour was, "I'm referred, I'll call that bookkeeper or accountant." Now, "I'm referred. So I'll go online and I'll check that they're credible. I'll check that they look trustworthy." So there's CREDIBILITY. Know, like, and trust. They're going online, and they are seeking to get their questions answered online. And if they can't, then they may move on. The power to have a conversation around the needs analysis and influence them through question and answer, which is just a natural part of what we do, has dramatically changed. Now, just a couple of food for thought items. I call this "If you're not convinced", which is a big subject. I really hope that as you read this, you can reflect on your own behaviour as a consumer, like, when do you look for things that you want and need in the business or personal space? Because, a lot of us do so at nine o'clock at night, on our phone. Prior to the pandemic, our behaviour was different. As I say, certain industries like shoe shopping, fashion shopping – there was a lot of adaptation of this kind of behaviour that we went online. But in the accounting industry, it wasn't common place to do all of our question and answer for a bookkeeper or an accountant, at nine o'clock at night, on our phone, in bed. And that is more commonplace now. So in terms of why we should adapt: what got you here may not get you there. I get that this requires a change, and you might be thinking, "Do I really, really need to adapt?" Well, in business, just like in nature, I would say definitely, adapt or die. The Kodak story is the quintessential adapt or die story. And in a nutshell, in case you haven't heard the Kodak story: even though a Kodak engineer was the first person to design a digital camera, Kodak did not want to adapt when the digital camera era began to come in. So they buried their head in the sand. They said, "No, we own the camera space and we're going to stick to analog and we're not going to adapt." Until some years later, it became apparent that if they didn't adapt, they were going to die. And then they adapted too late, and so they did file for bankruptcy. Now, there are lots of business stories like Kodak around, like Border Books. They were around for 100 years. They refused to adapt to using a database, which I talk about a bit in The Strategic Bookkeeper. And so, they closed their doors. And I think that's just sad that a wonderful iconic business closed their doors because they refused to adapt. So let me tell you right now, in business, as in nature, adapt or die. So now more than ever, your market does expect to be able to get to know you 24/7 online. I know I'm rinsing and repeating here, but people expect to be able to immerse themselves in your brand 24/7 online. I'll give you the how on that but let me just tell you, we can go on this journey together. I'm absolutely adapting with you. My website for my bookkeeping practice, I redeveloped that a few years ago, but it needs updating again because consumer behaviour has changed. And in The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program, I will be helping the Tribe members much as they want and need around how to renovate or build your WEBSITE, in line with the current economic tech and business landscape. So, your market expects to be able to get all their questions answered online in watch, read, do, listen formats, and with third party ENDORSEMENTS as well – which is not as mysterious as it sounds. If I say to someone, "Jo's a great bookkeeper," that's third party endorsement. But, we can look at Google REVIEWS and AWARDS – those are great third party endorsements, as are any software company endorsements. So let's talk about how to adapt now. The first thing I want to encourage you to do is to play the long game. Like I say, you don't need to do all of this overnight. This is new stuff. And if you begin adapting now, you won't have your own Kodak moment. So, play the long game, go on a lap around the sun slowly, but surely adapting. You can absolutely look at joining my program and I'll help you with all that. Next thing, like Nike says, "Just Do It." That is progress over perfection. Please don't feel like you have to be perfect first out of the gate with this stuff. Fail in a controlled environment. Practice will make progress. And the third thing is about the how of this, which is strategy and planning. The key principle around how we're going to do it is this phrase, "Your market is still asking the same questions, they're just not asking them directly. Answer them online, and here's how to get started." There are three big keys to getting started around adapting to this new kind of behaviour in our market. First is definitely knowing that your market wants to get those questions answered online in a 24/7 way. Second is that they want to float in your brand sphere and self-assess, need and desire. And the third one is just to embrace the rise of PR and the death of marketing. Nobody wants to be advertised to any more, which is another reason we've seen a massive rise in third party endorsements. Because, that's more public relations. Here's what others are saying about me. The rise of PR and the death of marketing is something that's been happening for a very, very, very long time. That one is not new, but it's very much at play in this business landscape. So in terms of the how, I also want to tell you a fun fact: our brains don't differentiate between digital and real. And that's why celebrity endorsement works. That is exciting because rather than have to do as much one-on-one, face-to-face (which still has value and can also be fun and a nice way to get out of the house), it is proven that our brains can build, know, like and trust with another human digitally online. So there's a power for you in that. And that means there's also a power in personal BRAND. That doesn't mean that your business has to be called Jeannie's Bookkeeping Services, but it does mean, for example, that as the principal, people will want to get to know me – they'll want to make sure they vibe with me as the person behind the brand. So there is a power in personal brand. So three steps to get you started: Content, Profile, Platforms. Content is king, engagement is queen. Answer your market's questions online with your content. Just think of yourself as a consumer, and then think of the kind of questions that you get asked and the way you could answer those questions. So to give an example.. the product ladder is where your content is held. Content is step one in your product ladder. And if you haven't, you can read all about product ladder in my book. Examples of content is everything on your website. When somebody can go to a page about one of your services or your productised services, they are immersing themselves in your content and are able to get value by finding out how you might be able to help them. Our most popular website page for my bookkeeping practice is our About Us page. That speaks volumes. And so that is content where people can find out about me and my team and my brand, and see if we vibe, in order to self-assess, once again, their desire and their need to work with me. Social media posts are another example of content. Blogs and videos and a business health check is an example, a how-to guide. So how to deal with the ATO, how to get up to date with your books, which you can do in audio form, video form or a blog. Those are examples of content. So one question that business owners often ask is, "Where's all the cash?" You can answer that question in a blog. You can turn that blog into a mini book, that can be turned into some audio clips into some videos as well. You can content repurpose, but you already probably have a treasure trove of content in your business. Sometimes, it's just really about looking at the mountain of value that you're already sitting on and then looking at maybe repurposing some of that. Or, make it easier, join my program and I do all this for you. I give you, I think, 500 social media templates. So that's a bit of a dive into content. Then engagement being queen – we want to make sure that people are engaging in your content. So if you do have a mini e-book, like I've got one, The 7 Deadly Cash Flow Sins, then how are you sending that to audiences? And that's your platform. But let's look at profile first. Profile should be reasonably easy for you. And I go through this in the attraction chapter of my book, which has also got a playbook for the attraction chapter. So literally, I say there here's how to do it, let's do it together. So with profile, let's say you go into a bookshop and you head to the recipe section. There you see lots of books, some authors you've never heard of and some by chefs that you know and love. Which books will grab your attention? Which will build value in your mind immediately? Will it be the ones from authors that you've never heard of? Or will it be the ones from chefs that have a profile? So you have a profile, but you absolutely need to make sure that that's in your content and that it's displayed prominently. So in my book, I talk about the various parts of your profile that are probably fairly obvious– your SKILLS, your experience, your licenses, even insurance and registrations, AFFILIATIONS with different professional associations and software houses, including different BADGES you might have. Then, you can add on to that. Look at how you could level up. If you think, "Well, I've already done that, it's really well-displayed," – how can you level up from that? I definitely recommend looking at entering some awards and looking at winning awards. With either of those, you'll get a media pack that you can display as content. And that is a third party endorsement, which is very, very powerful. Now, let's move on to platforms. The best description I ever heard of a platform, because a platform is like social media et cetera, is someone said it's like an actual platform. So imagine that I have stepped up onto a platform and I've said, "Hey, attention bookkeepers, do you need to find new clients or something?" And if you're a bookkeeper that did, you might turn around and say, "Oh, that's me." I'm on a platform and I'm grabbing your attention. So I want you to think of these digital platforms, like social media, as an actual platform. You put your content on the platform in order to help people to get to know, like and trust you, and in order to convey how you can help to solve their problems. So examples of platforms: social media is one, but it's actually the one I like the least. EVENTS are a great platform, and that leads me to PARTNERS. Strategic partnerships, which I go through in my book, are a platform from which you can do all of these things. You can serve up valuable content and speak to your market. Now, you can combine running an event with a strategic partnership, and you've got a really powerful platform there. Email is also a platform, as well as text message. I love all of those platforms more than I like social media, but social media is a part of MARKETING layering, so it is important that we do it. It's important that we show up consistently so people can build, know, like and trust credibility. So let's wrap this up by simplifying how you're going to go about adapting, but also why, and a few other things. So first of all, if you've read this far, well done. Successful entrepreneurs do the things that others won't, and put in the hard work that others don't. Be the 20%. It is so important to continually EDUCATE yourself so that you know what you need to know, in order to take the right action. Number two, you can re-read this as often as you want to. And this is about taking a step, not a giant leap and getting it all done in two seconds. When you read through this, then what you can do is you can observe your own behaviour as a consumer. So what I would love for you to do is begin to look at various brands that you interact with, just things that you love, that you shop at, and just start to notice what they do well, and what they don't do so well. Start to think about how they act in terms of everything you're learning from me, because that will really, really help you. And, just take a step in that direction. Have a look at your website, have a look at the content that you've currently got – begin to value what you've got, and just take small steps. So that's definitely what I'd say in terms of helping you take action. And, I would encourage you to look at The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program, because I know that's going to help you step by step, and it would absolutely be my privilege to help you to thrive in practice by becoming a strategic bookkeeper through the program.

For today, I want to send a special thanks to our wonderful TSB Program member Bec, who – with an open heart – continues to share what she is challenged by, so that I can help her along with everybody. Because, again, the more I know about you, the more I can help you. So please do jump into the Facebook group and tell me exactly what you're struggling with because most of the time, it's a case of me too with the rest of the community. So going back.. what Bec shared, I absolutely struggled with early on, and I learned and I solved the problem. And so for this read, we're diving into simplifying in order to SCALE. When you simplify and scale, a few things happen. Number one, you are able to DELEGATE work to team members. Number two, it will contribute to you doubling your PROFIT. This is a linear system. You need to build your thriving practice, because what you'll find is all of this will delight your clients even more, and you'll end up with the income and lifestyle that you want and deserve. I know I harp on about this, but this is the end game and this is the stuff that connects you to that. Just a quick side note – if you did not join the program when the doors open on August 1, it doesn't mean that you can't join in. The program is evergreen. We have a way to bring you into the program seamlessly, so that you can absolutely start working with me to build your thriving practice, delight your clients, and live your dream on your terms. If you are keen to know how that works, just drop us an email or ask in the The Strategic Bookkeeper's Way Facebook Group. Because, three things: Number one, the program comes with a MONEY-BACK guarantee. Number two, I do not get you to spend extra time working with me – this is about ON THE JOB application and implementation. And number three, that money-back guarantee, it kicks in after a year but my expectation is to help you get the ROI really early, allowing you to pay for the program as we go along. So back to what the community has been telling me in the group – I had done a post relating to how to save time because one of our wonderful community members, Jen, said to me that she was struggling with TIME. She just was really busy and she couldn't find the time in her day to do the things she needed to do to work on her business. She was too busy working in her business, to work on her business. Bec has then made a comment to tell me how she's struggling with that too. She mentioned that she has got some clients and some staff on the team. So for her clients, she has access to their bank accounts and their email inbox. She is expected to and has agreed to check their email inbox and deal with what comes in, and pay the bills through the bank account. Problem is, she doesn't feel that she can DELEGATE this work to one of her team members, and that's probably for risk and privacy. Firstly, I've been there, absolutely. So I've been in practice almost 40 years now, and at the beginning of my journey, I kind of thought that being a bookkeeper in practice was about people coming to me and saying, I want you to do this and I want you to do that. And if I had the skills to do that, then I would say, "Okay, I'll do that for you. I can do that." And then, I would charge them an hourly rate, thinking that it was twice as much and that it is going to equal thriving practice, delighted clients, income and lifestyle. Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple. I learned something special from an amazing successful entrepreneur, but also it's something that I've learned over the years and I've had a bit of fun with actually. And this is, the Jack of all trades or the Jill of all trades effect – the way that it doesn't necessarily serve us. So, it's a real double-edged sword. As bookkeepers, we do tend to be intelligent, Jill of all trades and Jack of all trades people. And actually a lot of the time when people say, can you do this and can you do that? The answer is yes. This very successful entrepreneur once said to me that one of the reasons he believes he was able to build such an incredible empire is, "I'm not that skilled. I'm not that smart. I was just good at one thing. And so I did that one thing really, really well. Other people had to do all the other stuff. And I got to focus on that one thing." That dazzled and delighted me so much, that I went to do some forensics on success and failure, and a forensics on when people are thriving versus just surviving. And, I started to notice that this theme was happening elsewhere. These business owners that were not Jack or Jill of all trades – those that could only do a limited number of things really well – were also being really, really SUCCESSFUL. Now, it's not the one key to success, but what I learned and what I went on a journey to do was to SIMPLIFY. Simplify my services, simplify my productised services, and what I was going to say I could and would do. And, it was the beginning of a journey that has just continued to evolve into a point where in my practice, we now have such a limited range of beautiful services and we are able to serve clients in an amazing way. They're delighted raving fans. Our attention has gone from good to great. It really has contributed to the thriving practice, delighted clients, and me having the rewards of time really to prioritise into whatever I want. So way back when I would access the bank account, access the inbox, things like that.. it was a very long time ago. And something I love about this day and age, this economic-tech landscape, this global workforce, is that there really is not much need anymore for us to be accessing bank accounts and inboxes and all that kind of thing. And clients don't know what they don't know, all right? Prospective clients, when they first reach out to me, they're 10, 15 years behind what I know about administration, accounts, and bookkeeping. So the last thing I want to do is let them tell me what I'm going to do for them. And what I'm going to do at the very beginning is the NEEDS ANALYSIS, and this is part one of how you're going to tackle this problem. You absolutely need to slow down and do the needs analysis – which is something we give you on the program, and as a bonus at one of the two events that we'll be running (so be sure the stay on the loop for our web events!) So absolutely, do a thorough needs analysis where you are seeking to understand everything the client thinks they NEED. And I'm not sure if you've heard me say that before, but that's a game I play. What do you think you need? Because, they don't really know what they need. They might say, oh, well, I guess I need to give you the keys to the kingdom. I need to give you the keys to the bank account, and you would just take over checking the inbox and then you would pay my bills and then I guess you'd do that bookkeeping stuff or whatever, and they don't understand what we understand. So please, don't let them put the bookkeeper hat on. You need to be the skilled technician – the skilled trade technician, just like a plumber or an electrician. We don't tell them how to do their job. So, do the needs analysis, seek to understand, but please don't start saying, yes, I'll do that. Yes, I'll do that. Seek to understand, so you can... Step two, say "Thank you – I'm going to digest everything you've told me. I'm going to go away and come up with my personalised recommendation to get you the OUTCOME that you want. And I'll send that to you by close of business tomorrow in a proposal." You've got step one and two because you may be just engaging with that client saying yes, yes, yes. Giving them an hourly rate and off you go – that is definitely not what you want to do. So, separate those things. The next thing we do, we absolutely charge like bookkeepers, using our pricing calculator which you'll be given in The Strategic Bookkeeper Program (plus, we teach you how to use it). Ultimately, when you move from hourly to outcome billing or even fixed price billing, you have to do your calculations. We use our pricing calculator that we've developed over the years, and when we calculate our rates, we calculate BOOKKEEPER RATES, not accounts clerk rates, not admin rates – because bookkeeping, true bookkeeping, is much more highly skilled and high-end than admin or accounts. And I do see a lot of bookkeepers charging out. They're an admin clerk or an accounts clerk. So one of the things I do, sometimes during the needs analysis, I educate my clients because educating your market and your prospective clients is really, really important. So I educate my clients that there is a difference between admin accounts and bookkeeping. So let's say they say to me, oh, we really need someone to check the email and get the bills. And so I listen and listen and then I say, okay, so with accessing the email and obtaining the bills, that's an administration job. And then I'll go on to say there tends to be three parts, Administration, Accounts, and Bookkeeping. Now, my practice is ultimately there to serve that high end bookkeeping need, and there is quite a chasm between the accounts, the admin, and the bookkeeping. Then I say to them, we can absolutely help you with those administration needs. We can even help you with the accounts payable and receivable needs. I just want to make sure that you understand that there are three separate categories. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to make sure I consider that in my personal recommendations for you. From there, I'm going to list out the things that are administration type duties, and the scope of what they are that you need done. Then, I'm going to think about the accounts functions, and then there's the bookkeeping. Because in terms of the bookkeeping, what we do for all of our clients clients is almost identical – it's the double entry accounting. Are we doing full service end-to-end bookkeeping, or are we doing what I call bookkeeper DIY, bookkeeper support? They're the two categories of bookkeeping that we do in my practice. And then beyond that, to rinse and repeat, if there's admin, that's scoped separately. Now, the next thing... Why would you need to access the client's bank accounts, and pay their bills for them? In my experience and in the past years, what I've found is that, if a client comes to you... and absolutely we've had them – I'm thinking of a really lovely client we work with right now, and I remember he was like, "I'm so busy, I don't even have time to pay the bills or check the email." So rather than doing that for him (because realistically, I didn't want to charge him out at higher rates for that, and he also needed help with a whole lot of other day-to-day duties), I recruited someone for him. So that's a service that you can offer that's in my system, and a what's next on the menu for a VIP client. In that case, we can offer to recruit and onboard and administration support, and we did that, and we've done that many times. Now, we still do the end-to-end bookkeeping and monthly numbers results meeting, which is again, an advisory piece that you find in the succession area of my methodology. Basically, that is one option that you can offer: to RECRUIT. But, we do have clients that we do the admin accounts for, but it's all got to be something that can be delegated to team. I don't see why you can't delegate checking an inbox to a team member, because there's very limited risk there. The risk around bank accounts is much higher. And I actually educate my clients that, in my opinion, they shouldn't really be giving the keys to their bank account to their bookkeeper or accountant. And if their business is big enough that they need somebody to pay the bills, then they do need to start thinking about getting someone to help them. But ultimately, we help our clients SYSTEMISE. I fix the source of their problem, not just the symptom. So if I want to treat the headache and the headache is like, I don't have enough time to pay the bills, then I'm going to jump in and pay the bills. If I want to treat the source of the problem, then I'm going to say to them, and this is exactly what I say, "If you follow the systems that I give you, that we give you, then just like my VIP clients who have walked through the velvet rope and are part of the Cloud 9 family, then life will be easy-breezy for you because we really know what we're doing. So let's take the bookkeeping off you. Let's get all that sorted. Let's get everything working so beautifully." And in terms of the bills, I don't see that any business should be paying bills more than once a fortnight. So we help them to quickly say to the staff, the subcontractors, that there will be payroll period changes – with a note that for period changes, always allow three months for. We give staff three months notice, and then we help them to get everything sorted so that every second Tuesday, they are going online and they are paying the bills that we are happy to prepare for them. So we can do AVA files, we can do administration work like that, but then they just sit down at their desk and they open their online banking and they spend the 10 minutes that is required to pay things. So, we're getting to the source of the problem, which was poor systems. And if we don't fix the root cause of the headache, the headache will remain and that client will not have a great chance of really thriving in business. So we take a really long-term approach with our clients, and we have not really had any need to access bank accounts anymore. And you know what? When we sit down and do a thorough needs analysis and then present our recommendations, and then we talk to them about wanting a LONG-TERM relationship and helping them to systemise for the long haul, they would much rather me fix the source of their headache than give them two Panadol knowing that tomorrow they'll have the same headache again. So couple of key takeaways: Stop saying yes. Slow down, do a needs analysis, and only offer up a simple range of productised services that are scalable. Which means, you can delegate them. When I helped a business grow from 10 to 100 million, I had to go to a department, fix it, systemise it, train somebody to take ove, and walk away. So to say that somebody can't do what you do is a limiting belief that is not serving you. You will never hear that come out of my mouth. I have learned over the years that I can train anyone to do what I do. And I mean anyone, to do what I do and do it better than me. And in The Strategic Bookkeeper program, that's what I want to do. I want to train you to do exactly what I've done, and then do it better. So everything that I've told you today works incredibly well for us. I find that clients love to be educated around the difference between admin accounts and bookkeeping. It works really well for us to have those two narrow bookkeeping services. We use Ignition software for our proposal, so that we have those productised services. We structure the bookkeeping part of the job, and then we scope out the admin, we scope out the accounts work, and we add that into the proposal as additional items, and we're able to calculate a fee for those. And, it's very important to be clear about the service level agreement and the scope of works that you are providing. All of that is contained in the program – we give you all the done for you messaging templates, productised services, and then exactly how you implement them, and we help you make it work better and better over time. Now, actions you are going to take – straight after this blog, the easiest thing for you to do is to commit to slowing down when you do the needs analysis. The action I want you to take is from now on, when you get on the phone with a client, you're going to say, "okay, I'm going to start by doing a needs analysis, and I've got my worksheet here in front of me. So let's begin, and begin with your powerful question, which is tell me about yourself." Notice I didn't say tell me about your business? Because the business is the what, the self is the why. They're going to tell you about their business, and they're going to tell you about themselves. Let them tell you anything and everything that they want to tell you, and then go into the technical stuff. Are you behind on the books? What software are you using? What's your business number? All those different things. The needs analysis is not the place to talk about price. You are going to make your final recommendations. You might even do a little thinking out loud! Sometimes I even say to my prospective clients, I'm just thinking out loud a little bit. However, I'm going to digest everything that you tell me before making my recommendations. You're going to slow down, make the analysis about seeking to understand and gathering needs. Then, you're going to give yourself that time to finish up that conversation. And then while you are alone, you're going to hang up the phone, and you are going to sit and think about those three categories. So bookkeeping, that should fairly be same for everyone. You should have DIY bookkeeper support and end-to-end bookkeeping. Then, you're going to think about the other admin and accounts that needs to be done, and scope those. And of course, you are going to come up with a beautiful outcome billing fee attached. And so if you enjoyed this blog post, we have Bec to thank. And, if you jump into the private Facebook group or you email me, you can tell me anything that you'd like to hear about on the podcast, and if you're in the Facebook group, I'll do a video for you. Tell me what's challenging you, and also celebrate with me. Share it with the community. Tell me about the wins you're getting from the content that I share. Tell me about the challenges that you're having, so that I can help you overcome them, and any questions that you have about the Transformation Program as well.

Today, I would love to talk to you about the fact that we are LIVE in The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program, and how you can still take advantage of what is currently the foundation member period. But, I'm also going to talk to you about other stuff that is absolutely going to help you to build the confidence to TAKE ACTION that actually moves the needle in your bookkeeping practice. Read on, and let's have some fun. So, The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program has opened and it is live! We are rocking and rolling. We have got foundation members in, and we are in there working together. What I want to tell you right now is that it is not too late to join. We're live, we're going, we're doing it. However, you can still sign up to the program. You can still come in and join, and it is also still the foundation member period. For a limited time, we're going to have this foundation member period where you can jump in and join, and you can get all the BONUSES. Bonuses include: A platinum level of certification where you'll become a Strategic Bookkeeper with a platinum level of certification (rather than gold or silver or bronze), which comes with... A platinum directory listing in our directory of Strategic Bookkeepers where we will be directing businesses globally, and where your ideal customers will go so they can find Strategic Bookkeepers, as we build demand and desire for your services in the background. All of that adds up to a COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE, which is exclusive to anyone who comes through as a foundation member in these early days in the foundation member period. Another bonus is, A standalone course, which is the Hourly to Outcome Billing You're going to get that included, and you can choose your own adventure and use that first if you like. And if you decide to do that, I'm going to hold your hand and help you around why and more. Now, included within that bonus is An extra bonus module, Productize Your Services You are going to get access to a whole suite of my productized services so that as you go from hourly to outcome billing, I have given you all the templates to stack your value to be able to find, onboard and retain clients without price as a priority to increase your REVENUE, and your gross profit and your net PROFIT exponentially, like I did when I implemented all this, and to actually increase your CLIENT SATISFACTION exponentially at the same time. That dazzled me when I did that. When I went from hourly to outcome, and fairly quickly, I started to see the exponential change and increase in client satisfaction. I was like, "I'm thriving more and my clients are more delighted." And the next thing you knew, I had my dream on my terms. Now, a couple more things. I have done a series of podcasts which answer some questions about the program. For example, does the program help me build or renovate my website? Yes, it does. There's a whole podcast on that. If you are super busy and you have no time, I've also done a separate podcast on how to help you with that. But, I do want to let you know that the program has been delicately structured. I am a busy mum, and so I built this program for me – for bookkeepers just like me. I thought about being a multitasking mum of a special needs child. And so I give you ways to digest content fast and get quick, immediate results in order to pay for the program as you go. So I've also done a podcast on what does the program cost and in that, you'll hear me say that the program doesn't cost anything because it's an INVESTMENT that you'll get a return on higher than the fee. And actually, I guarantee that, and I absolutely want to make that clear now. The program comes with a MONEY BACK-GUARANTEE and therefore is one hundred percent risk-free. I hear from bookkeepers who tell me about the goals they kick. There can be things that I've given them that within minutes, they bring on a new client that brings them revenue in thousands, and they've half (or more) paid for the program right there. I mean, there are a million ways that you are going to get return on investment day by day, week by week, month by month. Now, in terms of the program fee structure, look, it is another great reason to jump in early during the foundation member period, and you can go to the podcast, What does the program cost? to answer that. But today, as of writing, I want to tell you that I have structured the program to be $99 a week for a 12-month period – and that is thinking back to myself at the beginning of journey as a bookkeeper, when I wasn't cashed up. I needed help. And I thought, "You know what would've been great? If I could have paid a low fee per week and got a return on investment week on week." So if I could have just put in the work, kicked goals and then be like, "Yeah, I'm kicking goals, it's increasing my revenue, my gross profit, my net profit, and therefore it's kind of helping me pay for the program as I go." Here's the thing... Can I guarantee that the program fee structure will always remain $99 a week? I can't guarantee that. My top two values are courage and honesty, and very closely behind that is authenticity and kindness. So I'm someone that likes to lay all my cards on the table and tell you everything, all right? Just really honest with you and allow you to work with me so that we can make the best decisions together. And so, I'm going to be totally honest about the fee structure and say that right now as I write this, it is $99 a week for a 12-month commitment. Now, that fee structure may change, all right? The program fee structure may increase. Over the years as I've built this, when I mention that fee structure, so many people said to me, "You are too cheap. You need to be charging out way more." But it was in my heart, it was in my gut, and I reflected on myself at the beginning of my journey as a bookkeeper, as a woman, as a mum that ended up a single mum, that realized FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE would give me choice. And I decided that is the structure that I want to use so that I can help as many bookkeepers as possible. However, I cannot guarantee that fee structure forever. So if you do come in through the foundation member period, you are going to lock that $99 a week in so that you get that best possible fee structure for you. That's something I've thought about for quite a while and I have never shared it before. I'm only sharing it on today, in part because I feel like you'll know that sounds logical, right? Fee structures can change, they do change. But I want to let you know that I absolutely will not make promises I can't keep. I have learned over my 13-year journey that in business it's really important to always under promise and over deliver. So, when you join the program, whether it's during the foundation member period or not, whatever the fee structure is when you join up for that 12 months, you've locked in that fee structure. So if it's $99 a week at the moment and you join up, then you've locked that in. You've locked that in for the entire Transformation Program. And I know that there will be a lot of people globally that will be kind of going, "Holy cow, this seems really affordable. It seems kind of cheap." Once again, part of my desire was to try and make this program available to everyone. A lot of people wanted me to charge a flat fee upfront, and I thought, "Well, way back when I was a bookkeeper, look, I scraped together money for something back then, but there are a lot of bookkeepers who will struggle to have the upfront money." And so I did it to help bookkeepers, just like me. So I guess I would like to share with you right now that if you come in during the foundation period, then you're going to lock that $99 a week in. I'll be totally upfront and honest with you and say that none of us can look ahead to the future and predict what the fee structure will be. Whether at any time in the future, when we look at our capacity and the amount of members that are interested in coming through, whether we need to pivot to raising our prices or doing more of an upfront pricing model, et cetera. All I tell you is that today, right now, it is structured at $99 a week, and once you sign up for that during the foundation member period that you're just going to lock it in. I don't have a crystal ball, I can't tell you what will happen later, but I can tell you that for the 12 months, I guarantee 100% hand on my heart, and you will see that in the terms and conditions, is that once you sign up for the program, which is a lap around the sun (12 months) you will lock in $99 a week for that 12 months. And you are guaranteed that, let's say six months in, we decide to change the program fee structure and it goes up, you will not have to pay the new fee structure. And again, I don't have a crystal ball. I can't tell you what I'm going to do. I always want to try and make it as affordable as possible to bookkeepers. But the world never stops spinning. Our business has never stopped changing. Our price rises are a normal part of inflation and life. And so yeah, this is the first time where I'm kind of sharing that. Look, I would love to see you in the program, and if you're coming into the program, reading the book or listening to the audiobook (which is less than six hours long), you simply must do that. Even if you come into the program, you're going to see that it says, please, please, please, the audiobook's only six hours. So that's an hour a day for six days, or you can put it on 1.2 speed and get through it quicker. You can do half an hour a day for 12 days. When you listen to the audiobook or you read the book, you're going to come to me as if you have gone through, I'm going to call it kindergarten or grade one, and you are going to have this foundation of knowledge which is going to help you get bigger, better RESULTS faster. And honestly, when I wrote the book and my team read the book, they were like, "Holy cow, this gives us the foundation genie. This is everything." And I'm like, "Yes, it is." Over the years, I've absolutely felt like a crazy scientist, kind of a little bit alone in what I was doing, and like I was the only one who understood. But once I did finish the book and my team read it, and we started getting it out there, everybody definitely did begin to understand. So I want to tell you that whether you're going to do the program or not, please, please, please, you must digest the book. And to completely finish this off, I'll share something with you around what I call mindset matters. So I know that our mindset and our thought patterns are just so important, and a few of the things there is, You need to know what you need to know to take the right ACTION. So bookkeepers come to me and they've got, say, the wrong information. Therefore, they're acting on the wrong information. And when they get the right information, they're like, "Holy cow." And then they take action and they start kicking goals. So that's an example of when we set our thinking straight. That one's quite easy. It's around just getting the right education and being redirected. But the other thing that I know is things like this... (Sometimes this one's hard to digest, even for me, when I'm having a hard day or a hard week or a hard month...) Life is 5% what happens to us, and 95% our attitude to it. I'm big on journaling. I'm big on mindset. I'm big on mental, spiritual and physical health and putting our health first. And it wasn't so long ago, I was just kind of sitting down and reflecting because I have worked my ass off on getting this program built for you. 13 years in practice and over three years actually building The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program, the book, the podcast, everything. It has been a mammoth effort. And as you can imagine, I've had times where I've been like, "Oh my goodness." And as you come through and I ask you to read the book, I'm asking you to do something that takes a lot of effort on top of everything else you've got to deal with in your life. But, one thing I said to myself is, I did the long days and I did the work to bring this program to you, and I journaled, and I said, "I did it. I just did an 11-hour day or whatever on top of being a mum and everything else," and I realized that actually, I got through a challenge like that. I was like, "See, you can do it." And then I said to myself, "You know what? I'm not afraid of hard work." In the program and in what I teach you, it's about going from working hard and busy to building INCOME and LIFESTYLE. And five years into my practice, I did that. I chose to go back and build the program for purpose and legacy, because my top two human needs are growth and contribution. It has required me to dig in and work hard. And I'm going to ask you to make time to read my book. I'm going to ask you to make time to get in and slowly step by step, let me hold your hand if you come into the program, and go on a lap around the sun with me – of learning and implementation, and practice makes progress and celebrating your results. You can do this. This is a book, a podcast, and a program that has been built by a bookkeeper for bookkeepers. Don't be afraid of a little hard work. Don't be afraid of the pendulum swinging from one side to another in terms of balance. Don't be afraid of putting a little more effort into things like reading the book. Because I know the mummy guilt we get, if you're a mum, "Well, now I'm doing this and I'm not getting enough time with my child." There's no such thing as balance, and you'll hear that in my podcast around Free up Time and Get More Sh*t Done. So in terms of mindset matters, absolutely, put in the work. Put in the work to get the results. Read the book. If you come into the program, it doesn't matter how much time you have or you haven't got, because there's three things I want to help you with. That is PROFIT, CASH, and TIME. So over time, I will help you free up time. Don't be afraid of a little hard work or a little more work in the beginning. Don't be afraid to lean into what I give you and start to work less, but work smarter. Don't let the shame gremlins make you believe I'm no good at this. When you read my book, you'll begin to change all of that mindset.

I was recently chatting with a bookkeeper about various things when she said to me, "I hope I'm ready for the program." And so I said to her, "Would it be okay if I ask what you mean by whether I'm ready for it?" As it turns out, she's a really busy mama like me, and she's taken over an organization and she's got a lot on her plate. And it's really just one of the big factors for her is TIME. She's trying to prioritize her health, which I absolutely believe– your health is your wealth. She's trying to be a loving mom to her children. And then on top of it all, she is trying to take this bookkeeping business that she has purchased and to tidy it all up and make it all work. And she desperately wants into The Strategic Bookkeeper Program, but one of her problems is time. And so, right now I'm going to dive into how to help you with how to pull more time out of your business, and maybe even your life. Something I will say about the program is that it's for the long-term, it's not about working harder. In fact, I'm not going to ask you over the long-term to work harder. Maybe in the early days I will ask you to. I mean, there are times when we've all got to put in, okay? Even for me, after I've built a lifestyle business, there are times when building The Strategic Bookkeeper Program where I pull 11-hour days on top of being a mom and everything else. It's not because I have to, it's because I've chosen to for PURPOSE and LEGACY. So, what I will say is that rather than ask you to work harder over the long term, I'm going to ask you to make harder decisions. And I'm going to help you with it every step of the way. I am going to help you to build powerful HABITS and be accountable. Harder decisions more than harder work. Now, there are three things that we all need from our business. That is profit, cash, and time. And time is what will allow you to live your dream on your terms. The advice that I gave to this beautiful bookkeeper to help her with time is a little kind of process that I have... So step one is what I call, get sh*t done In terms of when you're just frazzled and you're busy and you're trying to do it all and you've got this big list, I want you to sit down at your desk, put your head down and your bum up, and just get sh*t done. Try and clear as much as you can, laser-focus relentlessly, and just get sh*t done. And with regards to that, if you're thinking work-life balance and the fact that you're a mom and all those kind of things, here's what I want to tell you about WORK-LIFE BALANCE: It doesn't exist. It kind of does exist, but it doesn't exist. I want you to imagine a pendulum, and in terms of the way that we live and the way that we work, it's not about so much striking a balance as it is accepting that our energy is always tipped into different areas in different ways. Sometimes we'll find that our energy is tipped into being a mom more or leaning into family, community – and your energy is tipped in there. And while your energy is in there and the pendulum swings that way, you put your energy into that. Now, when that happens, you'll have less energy going into, whether it's your work or whether it's whatever else is happening. The pendulum is simply swinging the other way. Now, there will be other times where the pendulum swings back to work. And I know personally as a mom, when that happens, I feel guilt and I feel like, "Oh my goodness, I'm not being a good mom. I'm not giving him enough time and attention." But the truth is, that pendulum swings. It's not about work-life balance. And it can be the same with our health. So let's say the pendulum swings back to work, and I'm aware that I'm not getting to do the things that I would normally say, make up a beautiful miracle day for me, which would be really getting outside and walking, and maybe Latin dancing and doing any gym work I want to do, and all of those things. So when the pendulum swings and I notice that I'm not putting the energy that I would like to into the various parts, the best thing that I can do is accept that. "Oh, okay. Right now my energy is at work." Because, for example, I'm working really hard on what I'll be delivering in the program, and that's okay because the pendulum's swinging that way. If I accept it, I'll know that in a few months I'll then be able to take a breath – the pendulum will swing into some more health and some more mommy stuff and other things. The pendulum is not intended to sit in the middle of the work-life balance. So step one, get sh*t done. Put your head down, get as much shit done as you can, and clear a whole lot of stuff off your plate. As you're doing step one, I want you to start having an awareness of something. Once, I heard this cool little thing and it goes, there's three A's to change, Awareness, Acceptance, and Action. So right now, when you're doing step one, I want you to sit in the awareness phase where, as you're doing all of the things, I want you to start thinking about something that leads into step two. And that is, of all the things that I am doing, are there any of these things that aren't particularly impactful? We're going to look for the 5% activities that get us 95% of the results, and we're going to look for the other 95% that get 5% of the results. Or, we could talk about the 80/20: the 20% that gets 80% of the results, that's science-based and proven, and the 20% that gets 80% of the results. So, we're just going to start to become aware of that and we're also going to start to become aware of what we could possibly DELEGATE. This is about really understanding what you could possibly just not be doing at all, where you go, "Yeah, it's on the list and I'm doing it, but is it really that impactful?" – because, you're probably better off going for a walk. But again, right now, head down, bum up, get sh*t done, and start to become aware of what I call the f*ck-it-off list. That is, I could just f*ck this task off and it wouldn't matter. The stop-doing and the delegate list. So step two – after you just clear a whole lot of sh*t up and you start feeling so much better, then step two is going to be to stop. It's great if you can take a day out. Because, we can get really busy with the busy work, but busy with the 95% that's doing 5% of the impact. We want to really work on the 5% that gives us 95% results, which is absolutely what I want to help you with as a member of The Strategic Bookkeeper as part of my tribe. So step two is what I call the "don't do it" list or the "to don't" list, the "fuck it off" list. And the other part of it is if it really, really needs to be done, can it be delegated to someone? (Just hot tip there: If you delegate something, be clear about the scope in terms of the task and the time expected. I once had team members spend in excess of 10 hours on a task that was done fortnightly, that I expected to take well under an hour. And that's on me for not briefing them properly. So just a hot tip there.) Basically, what I want to tell you here is every time you say yes to something, you are saying no to something else. Every time you say yes to a client, "Yes, I'll do a proposal, yes, I'll take you on as a client," yes, whatever, same in your personal life, "Yes, I'll answer that phone call, yes, I'll help that person." — you are actually saying no to something else without even knowing about it, because you're shrinking the time that you have in your life and your business to devote to other things. The things that you may have on the list, or you may not even have on the list that they need to get done, won't get done, because when you say yes to anything, you reduce the amount of time you have to say yes to other things. So that's what's really important about the to don't list. Once you've got the to don't list and the fuck it off list and you start to wrap your head around the power and how freeing it is just to literally not do a whole lot of stuff that you realize is busy work, not impactful work. And part of what I do is I test and measure this stuff so that in the program I can say to you, "Don't do that. Don't spend so much time on that, but do do this and do spend time on that." Once you free up time by doing all of this, one of the things that you get to do, if you want to do it, is The Strategic Bookkeeper Program. So if you feel like, "I don't have time," then that is one of the things you get to prioritize as you come up for air and realize, "Okay, I'm not as time poor as I was before because I've got shit done, I've thought about what I could just probably not do or do less of and what I could delegate to other people." If you stop doing the low value stuff or spending too much time on things that you should only be spending a little bit more time on, and you actually do join The Strategic Bookkeeper Program, then it is going to be one of those 5% things that make 95% of the difference. I know that because I've been there, done that. I continue to be there and do that. And I have worked my ass off to make sure that I can give you the upfront and ongoing support that you need to solve all the problems that you've got and to build a thriving practice, delight your clients, and live your dream on your terms. That said, I do want to tell you that I definitely designed the program so that you can learn and implement on the fly. So I give you ways to take action no matter where you're at, and I give you content to digest even when you're folding the laundry. I want you to be able to take small things and get big IMPACTS out of them. But then as you progress to freeing up that time throughout the program, then I will help you work more strategically by reserving an hour or so a day to get bigger, more massive, better results. We go on our laps around the sun together. Step three, I would like you to listen to Podcast Episode 10, and it's called Harnessing the Power to Build Your Dream Business and Life. I need you to use the first step to form new habits to get sh*t done, and then stop and do the to don't list, and acknowledge that every time you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else. This is a really great cycle to use, but you want to form the habits around that so that on a daily basis, you're constantly assessing whether something that you've been asked to do, or something that's on your agenda is worth doing or not, because there is a massive power in just not doing sh*t. Just a really simple example is, we have tested and measured putting in a lot of effort into organic social media. And at the end of it, we came up with a formula that gave us exactly how much time and effort you should put into social media, which is a fraction of what we tested, and the return on investment that you'll get. So we decided to stop doing something specifically because we analyzed the return on investment. The 5% activities, they get 95% of the results. Social media is still critically important, but you need to understand how much time to invest in it. In the program, you get all the done for you social media templates and strategy and help to implement it all, which saves you tons of time and money. So that is the third step. Take what you've learned in step one and two, embed into habits so that you actually stop doing so much, so that you form what I call the MASTER HABIT in business – To be proactive rather than reactive, and that is step four. So ultimately, to be able to free up the time, you need to do the high value activities that help you build a thriving practice, delight your clients, and live your dream on your terms, whatever that is. And for the bookkeeper who asked me this question and shared with me, her dream on her terms is so similar to mine. It's to be able to prioritize her health first, to get her health right. And then similar things to me, then to be the best mom she can and show up the best she can for her children. And then purpose, our businesses and our jobs give us purpose. So I call that our empire building. We want to build our beautiful empires and be wildly wealthy women and men who have a positive impact on the world. So, your dream on your terms, and the income and lifestyle that you want and deserve – it is for you to prioritize what that looks like. So back to step four. The first thing I'm going to direct you towards to help you with that is a book called "The Science of When" by Daniel Pink (and I recommend that you use the Blinkist app to read it because that way you'll be able to digest the highlights in 10 to 15 minutes). It is a science book. It's why they do surgeries in the morning. And I actually structure the work that I do around The Science of When, and it's been quite transformational for how I work and the results that I can get. So what is proactive versus reactive? Most people are in the habit of reacting to what's coming at them. And I work with amazing business owners who relate to this, because one of the things I say to them is, "What's the first thing you do in the morning when you go into work? Is it basically open your email?" And they say, "Yeah, it is open my email." And I say to them, because I want to help you understand why that is not the first thing that you should be doing, I help them understand that by directing them to The Science of When, and then helping them to understand that when you open your email, you start reading emails from people and the things they want from you, and that is their agenda. And you start reacting to what other people want, rather than proactively deciding on what your agenda should look like and sticking to your agenda. Now, I don't know how easy or hard this will be to comprehend, but it is transformational from reactive to proactive. Another example: when the phone rings, are you in the habit of simply answering it? Because I work in The Science of When and I work in a proactive way, I will put my phone on do not disturb in the morning, from, say, whatever time I'm working until whatever time I want to stop working on the most high value stuff that I want to work on. Let's call it 12 o'clock, one o'clock. Because, you'll learn in The Science of When that the middle of the day, I call it the multitasking middle of the day, is the best time to check your email – because your brain function actually changes. So, I've absolutely got to check my chat channels and my emails and my tasks, et cetera, but remember the three A's to change, so Awareness, Acceptance, Action. I'm very acutely aware of proactive versus reactive. So if I sit down and I know what I've got to get done or what is the 5% activities, and I've prioritized the various things that I need to do, and then I sit down, put my phone on do not disturb, do not open my email, and I get done what I need to get done, and then later on I tend to my email. I also accept that I'm not going to get everything done and I am going to have to just simply not do or delegate some things. The only way I'm really going to get what I want out of my business and my life is if I've set my own agenda, and if I proactively stick to that agenda. And one of my clients told me that when he adopted this, he actually won back the time to fly to Adelaide and win a massive job and expand his business down there. So that's outside of bookkeeping, but success leaves clues, my friends. In terms of being proactive, there is a brain model. And it goes primal brain, reactive brain, proactive brain. The primal brain is flight or fight, so very little children will have that. It's hit first, sink later. It's the saber tooth tiger chasing us and we just run. Then there's reactive brain or kind of monkey brain, which is where we just react to everything that's around us. So if our child cries, we react to them. And so, the reactive part of our brain has a very important feature and function. It's also the multitasking part of our brain, where we can be folding laundry and doing a million things at once as a mom, and we're reacting to really important things around us because we need to react. Then there's the proactive brain, also known as empire building brain. And I want you to think of it as a muscle that you need to work out over time, by forming habits. Because, to build a thriving practice, you need to strengthen the empire building part of your brain. So at work, you need to really exercise and develop the master habit of being proactive rather than reactive. So Daniel Pink, The Science of When on the Blinkist app is a great place to start. Now, just to rinse and repeat for a minute, I really took a moment to think about and ask myself, as a bookkeeper, even going back to my journey and when I am busy, what does it look like for a bookkeeper who's really busy to join my program? And I'm a trainer and assessor, so I need to know that I can deliver content to all different bookkeepers with all different time constraints, in a way that helps them. Let me tell you about how I've gone about doing that. So, I do imagine the busy bookkeeper, who might also be a mom and everything else. The way that I structure my content, and the way I will continue to show up and support you, is to be able to give you easily digestible content that you can begin to implement on the fly. So literally even in the free trainings, I get people say, "Oh my goodness, Jeannie told me that immediately after this training, I need to do this two-minute activity,"– and they win a new client! So, what I'm acutely aware of is that, if you are really time poor, then you are still going to get massive results from the program if you let me hold your hand and challenge you to start out time poor, implement on the fly (progress over perfection!), jump in, use everything we give you, and let me help you implement it all to get results. But over time, I am going to help you form habits in order to free up your time slowly. And there will be a beautiful magic that happens on the day that you start to realize that you can spend an hour or two or more, working on your business rather than just in it, in a proactive way that gets you the really big sustainable results and just gets you the lifestyle, similar to what I achieved five years in. So, the program is fine if you don't have any time – as long as you can get in and talk to me about what's challenging you most, so I can point you in the direction of the parts of the program that you can pick and choose that will solve the immediate problems for you. Whether you are super busy or you're not super busy, the program is absolutely going to help you. And I believe that you will be able to get a return on investment greater than the fee. And I believe that so much that I offer you a full money-back guarantee. So after we work together for 12 months, if you cannot get a return greater than the fee, I will give you your money back. That's how confident I am that no matter how busy you are, I can get you there. So, that is my four steps to winning your time back and your sanity back, and to get to prioritize the things that are important to you, and swing the pendulum back from all work and no play or all work and no mummy time. That was step one, get sh*t done. Step two, the don't do it list. Step three, form the habits from the first two, and step four, ultimately, become proactive. In The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program, I want to inspire you around this and more. I have a passion for what I call mindset matters because your mindset really does matter. And so, if you do join us, you are going to get all the support around the businessy stuff, and all the stuff around the businessy stuff that makes it all work.

Discover the secret to transforming your practice through strategic pricing! This game-changing bookkeeping strategy will make your clients see and feel your value, and be more outcome focused rather than price focused. It will absolutely be a key to you building a thriving practice with delighted clients, so that you can live your dream on your terms. We've all heard a lot about pricing. I've been tuned in to the what, the why, the how of all things pricing for 13 years now. When I first transitioned from being an employee to working for myself, I started out by charging an hourly rate to my clients, which seemed significantly higher than I was being paid when I was an employee, which seemed great at the time. My mindset when pricing then, was that of an employee, and not as a business owner. Here's the bottom line: If you are charging by the hour, you are stuck in the EMPLOYEE MINDSET. And so the first thing you need to do is change your mindset from that of an employee to that of a BUSINESS OWNER. You may have done some research already around pricing. If you have, you have probably read you should stop charging hourly, and start VALUE BILLING, or VALUE BUNDLING, or FIXED PRICING. The evidence is clear. It's irrefutable that OUTCOME-BASED BILLING is a superior pricing system and it's a win for the client as well as a win for your business. So no doubt you've heard all this evidence, so then, why can't our industry get bookkeepers as a whole to abandon hourly billing? I say it's because we haven't named the problem, and you need to name it to tame it: employee mindset. If you have done your research, you've seen the evidence and you are still charging by the hour, then why? Most people are going to tell you it's probably because you lack the confidence to change, and you are scared to change. And I actually think that that is not the key driver here. I think the key driver is the mindset, the employee mindset. And I think if we can get to the root cause of why some of us think that charging by the hour is better for our clients and better for us, then we can change our mindset and realise that we are thinking the wrong way, which means we are acting the wrong way. Shifting Your Mindset Making a mindset shift is key to so many transformations. If you have read my book, I talk about bookkeepers being very uncomfortable on the whole with sales and marketing. The mindset around it tends to be they want to clam up and say, "I'm not comfortable with this” or “I'm not good at this.". Well, I am here to help you make your current ceiling your new floor. Outcome-based Billing in 48 Hours In 2015, which was about six years after I started in practice – that's when I finally, within a 48 hour period, went from billing by the hour to fixed pricing. I'd been told by a lot of people that I should move to value billing or fixed pricing, but I actually thought that it would be a disservice to my clients, and they always come first. Clients are always the first thing I think about. Even if it benefits me, I'm like, no, if it doesn't benefit my clients, I don't want to do it. So way back then, I didn't really know that. The reason that I finally shifted is I saw a really great speaker and he said, if you're still pricing by the hour, Jeannie, you're an idiot. Now, this could be seen as really offensive but I'm really, really black and white and I like to be hit in the head with things sometimes. When this speaker told me I was an idiot I thought, "wow, if I had known that I would've changed earlier". So back then I went back to my little home office and within 48 hours, I had all my clients moved from hourly billing to fixed priced billing. And realistically, I did it in a really rough and ready way, and there was nothing wrong with the way I did it, and it's still a great way to do it today. Outcome-based Billing Calculation So how did I come up with the price? I first looked at my clients' annual bill, and if their work was maybe about the same, I just divided it by 12, and that was their monthly bill. And then I talked to them and they were all fine with that. And what I discovered in the year that followed is not only did I double my net profits without really increasing turnover, I didn't have to double turnover to double net profits. In fact, I even took a bit of a break at that time. So certainly I was not rapidly increasing turnover. Not only did I double my net profits, but my clients saw the VALUE in what I did like never before. They became happier than they'd ever been. Win-Win for Everyone So it was definitely a really great win for my clients as well as a win for the practice. I remember at some point, one client actually said to us, "How are you guys doing everything that you do for the fee that you charge me?" I guess I started to realise that sometimes we need to speak to clients more, sometimes less. Sometimes we need to jump in and give them a bit more support, with a bit of software or whatever it is. The work week-to-week, day-to-day, month-to-month can go up and down a little bit, but there are times when we've got a lot less to do. There are times when we've got more. The clients actually remember when we are doing tons for them. It was so exciting to get this feedback from the clients that they were happier than ever before, which of course led to even greater RETENTION and REFFERALS. And so I had this belief initially that outcome-based fixed pricing would be a loss for the client, however it was a win for my client. Business Owner Versus an Employee One of the reasons that you really need to make the fundamental shift is because running a business is so vastly different to being an employee. And I suggest that this applies whether you are a bookkeeper that's just working a couple of days a week, or whether you're a bookkeeper working full time and employing staff. I've heard bookkeepers say, oh, well, I just work a couple of days a week and I just contract a couple of people. So again, I'm just going to sit in the employee mindset. And these same bookkeepers wonder why they don't feel like they're really getting rewarded with the kind of money that they would expect for the time that they're putting in. And that's because you are running a business, you are no longer an employee. Unless you are on the payroll and being treated exactly like an employee, and let's look at what that looks like now. So when you're an employee and you're on the payroll, you go into the office or you work from home and clock on, you get paid for the hours that you do, you get superannuation, you will often get holiday and sick leave, even if you don't get those things, there's work cover. If you need to educate yourself, you educate yourself on your employer's time. You don't have to get insurance, the expectations upon you as an employee are different. When you go home, you don't have to take your work home with you, so to speak, mindset wise. I would come back to expectations. The expectations placed upon you when you're an employee are quite different to what they are when you are working for yourself. Even if you are labeling yourself as a contractor, when you are a contractor or in practice for yourself, you are expected to be, as a bookkeeper, licensed, registered, and insured. You do not have the protections that an employee has. You are expected to work longer and be educated, stay educated, improve your education on your own time. Unlike an employee that clocks on and gets paid through the payroll, you'll need to prepare your hours and justify your invoice to your client, which is completely different as well. You won't get paid for the time that you do that, the time that you have to open your accounting file and raise your invoice. The expectations that your client will have – even if you are contracting to them and you don't have a lot of clients – will be much greater than if you were an employee. And you will have expenses. If you have really, really low expenses, I promise you, they will still be about a third of your income. If we really drilled into them, about a third of what you are getting paid will go back into your business to pay for all the different things that you need to pay for, and the time that it takes in order to even lodge your own compliance. As an employee, you don't have any of that. At the end of the year, it's all there for you and it's all taken care of. When you're running your own business, you need to get into the business owner mindset and stop acting like an employee. Name it to tame it So what I'd ask you to accept is that, if you are going to continue to charge by the hour, that you are stuck in the employee mindset – name it to tame it. If you are going to refuse to move to an outcome-based billing system, charging for outcomes rather than hours, then you are stuck firmly in the employee mindset. I would like you to consider the amount that you are charging hourly, so let's call it a hundred dollars an hour because that's a really easy calculation – then, $33 of that you are not getting paid. So you can reduce that rate by $33, okay? Because a third of that is going to be time and money spent on all the activities required to run a successful business. Not to mention that you are much more liable, which is why you need insurance. You are much more liable. And I have met a bookkeeper who did end up being sued by a client, and she wasn't ready, and she was firmly in the employee mindset, and she was under the illusion she had a lot more rights than she did. You are running a business, or you are an employee. There is no gray in between. And that's what I really want you to take away today when you are considering your PRICING STRATEGY. In terms of how to move to an outcome-based billing system Why would you sell hours when you can sell outcomes? Delight Your Clients The pathway to happier clients, to more delighted clients, is outcome-based billing. I further discuss this and everything else you need to build a thriving practice in my book, where you get to live your dream on your terms. It's linear, you need to build a thriving practice that allows you to delight your clients. And only then do you get the privilege of living your dream on your terms, just like I did. It was about 2015 after I had started value billing, and in 2016 when I had got to a point where I had a robust lifestyle practice. I had to build a thriving practice, I had to delight my clients. I never would've got to where I had got to without outcome-based billing. And then going on a journey year-on-year, and doing my laps around the sun to improve, and listening to my clients, and keep improving and improving and improving, and future-proofing. Where Do You Start In terms of how you are going to move from billing hourly to billing outcomes: first thing, make the mindset shift. Even if after reading this and you are thinking to yourself “I don't agree” just let it marinate, let it sink in as you bill your clients. Maybe try billing a new client on a fixed-price plan, but start the mindset shift. I mean, I'm really happy if you do what I did – more so if you do it in 48 hours, like I did! Suppliers There are so many great resources out there. A couple of suppliers to our bookkeeping industry that I would definitely point you towards is Dext. If you Google them and sign up or even just contact them, they will have tons of pre-recorded and live webinars on pricing that will help you. And in fact, they helped me out a lot in the early days with pricing. Practice Ignition Is another great platform we use, built to help you with pricing. I discuss both of these platforms in my book, and I want to tell you about the tools that we use, and there are other tools too. The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program In my program I give you a pricing calculator. It's included in our Systems module, and it really works. Not only do we give you a pricing calculator, we show you how to use it, and then we help you with how to implement and continue to use it and refine it year-on-year. It's all done for you, and we give you all the calculations and an actual calculator. The other thing about outcome-based billing is once you move to this, you are going to have a lot more options around your succession services. So, hourly billing is the employee mindset. Get rid of it altogether. You don't need to make exactly the same profit on every job. You can make more or less, but if you get an outcome for a client, if you meet or exceed a client's expectations with an outcome, that's where the magic happens, not when you bill them hourly. I could go on and on and on about pricing and mindset. I guess what I want to leave you with is encouragement that if you are pricing hourly, please move to outcome-based, and to grab a copy of my book for more help. Please continue to tune into my socials as I would love to continue the journey with you and keep on helping you.

As I write this blog in response to the question "How much time in a week do I need to dedicate to the program?", I feel a little vulnerable— because, the way that you get RESULTS through the time you spend in the program and the way I've structured it is deeply connected to why I created The Strategic Bookkeeper in the first place, why I wrote and published a book and a companion podcast, and why I launched the program. And so today, I'll share a little bit with you. As you know, I started the practice almost 14 years ago now. And there was a point in my life where it was... I got to a point where things were hard. I mean, the practice was coming along. So the first five years, you'll know if you've read my book, I call it the f*ck-up years. Five years into starting, my husband and I went our separate ways. We are great mates and great co-parents these days, but without going into it: I'm a woman who's experienced divorce, and definitely had to think about financially being able to support myself totally and being able to support my son (although his dad definitely holds up his part, he has him and does that). But, I also actually ended up taking my niece in and my stepdaughter. (My joke is that I kept her after the divorce.) I think my point here is that, as a woman and a mum of a special needs child, and like a lot of mums, I found myself juggling the normal demands that are at play there – being a mum, being self-employed, and life does get in the way. Putting a roof over my stepdaughter's head, putting a roof over my niece's head... They have spread their wings and flown since then, but it all kind of happened at once. (And I think, like me, if your stepdaughter or your niece turned up on your doorstep, you'd be welcoming them in with open arms.) And so, why am I sharing this? Because the amount of TIME that you need to spend in the program is actually connected to my why. When I was going through separation and getting back on my feet, like I've heard from other bookkeepers, my HEALTH had suffered terribly. I was really ill physically, mentally, and spiritually – I was really hanging on by a thread. So five years in when I SCALED into a lifestyle practice, I was then able to take a big sabbatical and take time out to get my physical, mental, and spiritual health right. I was able to have that six-figure income that took away the stress, and allowed me to take the break that I needed to get myself well. And so, I have structured the program and the time that you need to spend in it so that the busy, multitasking mum can get it done. So basically, imagining myself back then, or even now, and even other mums I know... I'm pretty sure we all listen to PODCASTS, and that's a very convenient way to learn. So what I've done – we've got an academy, and that has all the education and the learning in modules. So first, you listen to the audio, because that's going to do a few things. Number one, it's going to allow you to digest the content. And then, number two, because everyone's in a different place in their practice... (Some of you have told me, "I'm brand new. I don't have anything, Jeannie. I'm working in a job, and then two days a week I'm trying to build a practice." Some of you have told me other things like, you have got 20 clients, but you've realized that they're low value and there's other things at play, and you're like, "Okay, I get it. I need to make some changes here.") ...depending on where you're at, you listen to the content, and then, you're going to be able to choose your own adventure. Now, I've structured the content so that I want you to listen to everything in a linear fashion. For example, the first two things I'm going to get you to do is, first of all, do the INDUCTION. Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I'll spend the first four sharpening the axe. I'm going to get you to sharpen the axe. So that's induction done. You can do that on the audio. The next one's called The CUSTOMER JOURNEY, and this is at the heart of everything. I honestly think you'll be surprised and delighted by what I teach you and show you in the customer journey. I think you'll have so many aha moments. It connects to everything, because everything you do is from the journey that your customer is going through. I call it part one and part two. Part one is from when they're in your market to when they say yes (if they say no, they go circling back). Part two is after we onboard them. I'll ask you a question right now: if part one is before they become a client, and part two of the customer journey is after they become a client, What's the first thing that happens in the customer journey after they become a client? Ask yourself that question. Give yourself a moment and then hold that in your mind. What is the first thing that happens after a client presses go, the first thing? Now, I tell you: the first thing that happens in the customer journey after they press go... is called buyer's remorse. And we have SYSTEMS and processes and ways to completely eliminate it, but that is a normal part of the customer journey, and it can affect retention later. How they feel and what they experience in the customer journey at that first stage of part two affects everything moving forward. The reason I shared that with you is, I'd love you to consider that sometimes, we don't know what we don't know – and I can tell you right now, there's a lot of stuff in the program that you don't know, you don't know. So, you've got all the content digestible via audio – and then let's say you're listening to it and you're like, "Okay, I need to grab that resource. I need to watch that video," – so then, you will combine that with when you are already at your desk, at your own time, going into the academy, and grabbing the resources as you need them, watching any video you need to watch. Here's what I don't expect you to do: I don't expect you to have this magical extra amount of time to go to your desk and sit and learn the content, be at school, go to university, and be on top of everything that else that you've got. In whatever time you can give me... ideal would be an hour a day, but that's listening podcast-style to start with. The lessons that I give you, they are usually under 22 minutes. So it's a podcast, that is 22 minutes or less. So, if you can give me 22 minutes a day, then I can help you move the needle. One of the things that I will do with you as you progress through the program is I will help you get that beautiful thing called TIME – to build a thriving practice, delight your clients, live your dream on your term. Your dream on your term means being TIME-RICH as well, so you can prioritise what is important to you. As business owners, we need PROFIT and CASH, and we need an income. They are the needs. What we want at the end of the day is time. Otherwise, why wouldn't we be in a job? There are other things that we want and need, but if we boil it all down, it's income and time. It's income and lifestyle. So, as you progress in the program, the things that we do together will allow you to SCALE. And scaling is ultimately about freeing up time, increasing PROFITABILITY, while extracting yourself to some extent from the business. When I talk about my dream on my terms, once again in that kind of vulnerable space, that comes from me being a mum and realizing that my dream on my terms is as a single mum of a special needs child, who've always struggled a little with my health. So with the desire to prioritize my health, my dream on my terms was unique, but it also was similar to all the other mums. Never was I aiming to make the most amount of money that I could ever make. In fact, once I started living a lifestyle business, some of my friends said, "Why don't you work more and make more?" And I'm not sure I have to explain that to you. That is because I wanted to be time rich to prioritise the things that are and were important to me, being my health and my family, my son, my stepchildren, my nieces and nephews, my sisters, my parents. Do one lesson a day, bare ass minimum. And I think using it podcast-style to listen to a lesson a day would be great if you are multitasking, and also taking care of yourself. And so when you go for a walk, or you're going to the gym, or you do something else where, you can listen. I remember years ago when I was doing a program, I absolutely listened to the audio while I was at the gym. So if you have an hour a day, go and spend it on anything to do with the program – so that could be an activity I give you, for example, do a critical driver, or attend a networking event, or get your social media sorted – do your normal activities as you listen to the audio. The stuff I give you, it's like grab it and go. You've listened to the audio, you know what you're doing. It's progress over perfection. I mean, an hour a day will get you pretty massive results, but 20 minutes a day will also give you good results. So to rinse and repeat and kind of finish up with how much time do I need to dedicate each week to the program, an hour a day in a perfect world. And then, you pivot to using the academy on that job. So literally, when you are doing the things in your business, you are just grabbing what you need from the academy while you're at your desk. And then if you're not doing an hour a day, if you can only give me one lesson a day, five days a week, you're going to be doing five lessons a week – you're still going to be kicking goals! And from there, we'll work together on freeing up more time for you. If you think you can listen to one of my podcasts of under 25 minutes, then I think you've got enough time to kick some goals, and have some fun with me and the community in The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program.

(Quick side note: Have I told you how grateful I am that you read these blogs? I'd really love to hear what you're getting out of it, so please feel free to post in the Facebook group or email me personally 😊) So! For today's read, I would love to share with you some of my favourite things from the program, because as the creator – and also as someone who has been in practice for 14 years, and has been at the beginning of the journey with a lot of hustle and less strategy, and then the end of the journey and having spent the last four years reflecting and refining my perspective in terms of the things that I feel are really impactful – I really think is going to be different. After all, I'm looking through a different lens to the participants as you all come through the transformation program. Now, when you come into the program, I want to have planted a seed in your mind. And I feel like I'll be fertilising and nurturing that seed. My hope is that as you go through the materials, you'll go, "Ah, I see what she means."– because I know that when you get in, at first, you're going to be looking at the What part of it, like, "Ah, I need to go from hourly to outcome billing. Yes, that is the bit that I need", and absolutely! But, I want to focus today on a few of my favourite things that I believe will have a massive IMPACT on your journey. I feel like I've come up with four key things. Maybe four and a half... But just a quick reminder: the doors to The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program are now OPEN! So I want to ask you: Are you ready to move from being busy to thriving? Are you ready to come into a community that will support you and lift you up, to build the business and life of your dreams? Because, I am ready to hold your hand every step of the way and help you go from strength to strength. And I tell you, there is no better time than right NOW. To celebrate the launch of the Transformation Program, there are foundation member bonuses. And, I have even priced the program to suit every bookkeeper, topped off with a money-back guarantee! Just hop on today, okay? You can also check out the podcast dedicated to this. I want to help you build a thriving practice, delight your clients, and, ultimately, live your dream on your terms. This is exactly what I've done in my practice, and now it's my heart's desire to help you do exactly the same things. So, the first one on my list of favourite things... I've created the content so that it is friendly for the busy, multitasking mum. The academy is already set up audio-friendly and there's audio files in there, but, that's just not enough for me. I'm a busy, multitasking mama and I want the world's best AUDIO-FRIENDLY user experience. And so that's what I've given you. And the why behind that is, I'm imagining that busy multitasking mum wanting to get to the computer and do it in the academy, but just not getting to. So I'm imagining her being able to use the Kajabi app where you never lose your place. It's there all the time. You're at a place, you're wherever, you're folding some laundry, you're cooking a meal... you're getting some me time in. You're going for a walk, all of that, and you're actually digesting the content and going, "Yes, I'll do that tomorrow. I'll take action tomorrow. I'll move the needle tomorrow." It's about being able to get EDUCATED and get results, even if you feel like you have no time. And so that is my first favourite thing. The next favourite thing on the list is... The brochure. Oh my goodness – I'm so excited!! You might be thinking, "What? It's a brochure." The best way I can explain it is, I'm going to explain the what and the why. The brochure is basically the equivalent of a team of marketing professionals, which includes a veteran bookkeeper who's been there, done that, that specializes in sales and marketing for bookkeeping practices, marketing copywriters, graphic designers, marketing strategists that understand storytelling and story selling and strategy generally, and brand specialists. So it is that entire team, which includes my 14 years of experience creating something like this beautiful DIGITAL ASSET, which actually incorporates your menu. So, the brochure stacks your VALUE and creates DEMAND and DESIRE for what you have to offer without price as a priority, and calls your market to action with welcome lines. And the way that I've structured this brochure is so that we walk you through getting the brochure and the really easy updates that you do to make it your own. If I was to put like a price tag on this... what would that cost you to do that? Well, it's kind of impossible because of my involvement, but I would say 20, 30 grand to get that done. Now, in terms of the why behind that, this brochure – I feel like it's at the heart of a lot of the SALES and MARKETING things that you're going to do. It is at the heart of solving the sales and marketing problem. It is what you use to brief a web designer. It is what you use to find and onboard clients without price as a priority. It is what you use to convert more PCs to VIPs. And you actually are going to use it across every single marketing strategy that I give you, because the brochure is at the heart of what is pulled apart into everything else. It is even what you are going to use to put in a folder that you take with you to business networking! Honestly, I think of it as the OMG digital asset. It is what is going to be a big part of building a HIGHLY PROFITABLE practice with delighted clients, which is the pathway to your dream on your terms, the income and lifestyle you want and deserve. So that was number two on the list of some of my favourite things. Let's go on to number three. Drum roll please... The critical drivers. They're so simple but so impactful, and they link through to number four on my list of favourite things, which is— The detail, and things being checklist-driven. So how about we talk about those together? With the critical drivers, if you imagine that you have, say, a dozen strategies from the program. And just as a crude calculation, each strategy is able to win you two new clients a year. That's 24 clients over a year! That builds you a highly profitable practice with my SYSTEMS and PROCESSES, and you're going to be able to build a six-figure practice with 24 clients. And that's a real deal, like, you've heard me say: under promise, over deliver. You can generate more than that, but that's just a crude formula. So now, you've got the strategy. Again, for example, 12 strategies – but I'm telling you right now, it is the critical drivers that will get you there. What I've developed is a list of critical drivers that are across the different strategies and the things that you're going to do daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, that work with MARKETING LAYERING. It's the layering of all the strategies and the brand things. So, you get the marketing layering. Then, we have the critical drivers, and all of these contributes to creating an invisible and visible PIPELINE of inquiries – and so you're getting that drip, drip, drip, from people that are going through the CUSTOMER JOURNEY. So with the critical drivers, it is: so simple, but holy cow, impactful, as I guide you through structured checklists, and then challenge you and hold you accountable to what you are doing, what you are not doing, and forming habits, all right? Because what you're not doing is often linked to more of, I'm not in the habit of that, so I'm going to nudge you as you jump in. And I say, "Right, what results are we getting? What results aren't we getting?" And then based on anything that we are not getting, we look at those checklists and those critical drivers and we look for the things that you might not be doing. And then we're Aha! There it is. Let's talk about getting you to do that one. And that takes me to the last one of my favourite things, and maybe we'll do this as last one and a half. So, it's actually the detail. I've seen one of the big surveys that surveys bookkeepers are all over Australia, and the top two problems that bookkeepers note that they have (it's graphed and chartered by one of our amazing bookkeeper associations), is getting paperwork out of clients, and then the sales and marketing problems. That is, finding NEW CLIENTS. Now, what you really want to do is create a pipeline, like I talked about before, we don't want to be hustling all the time. We want to be strategic and create a pipeline. So in terms of detail and finding new clients and that survey... it then went on to say, when surveyed, bookkeepers are saying that their best source of sales and marketing or new clients is referrals – and referrals can be broken up into referral PARTNERSHIPS, and referrals that come from NETWORKING. So networking, partnerships, accountants, referrals. And then it breaks my heart because I know so many bookkeepers just sigh and go, "Why isn't it working for me?", which leads them to thinking that something's wrong with them. But, there's absolutely nothing wrong with you – you simply don't have the DETAIL. So that's why that is one of my favorite things, because I give you checklist-driven detail, and I show you how to use it. And that's why it was four and a half things. I hold your hand as you're using it, and challenge you to form the habits and do the things. I know that the fine detail is really what makes things work, and I know that we can use that as a diagnostics as well. It's like, if we've got the detail and it's checklist-driven and we tick off what we are doing, it's what we are not doing that we can use as a diagnostic for why we're not getting a result. So absolutely, the detail is one of my favorite things. And like I say, the and a half was that I hold your hand and support you every step of the way. So years ago, I actually opted into a really great program and it was about $17,000. So the fee structure was a lot more than The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program, but I opted into that. And before I did, I read the creator's books (he's got quite a few books and amazing books, Daniel Priestley), and I read about three of his books twice. And, it was really a lot of sales and marketing stuff, but overall amazing business stuff. And then, I opted in to the program. And once I was in the program, I had this amazing foundation to get started with – because, I had read all his books. And as you know, reading my book is one of the things you must do for the program, which is why it's digestible in audio form for just six hours, broken to an hour a day. And going back to that program – that was a year as well, 12 whole months in order to learn and implement. And what I discovered, once I was in the program, was the detail, and they had people showing up to help us with the detail based on their expertise and experience. That formed a part of the fact that they were helping us with the detail, and the step by step IMPLEMENTATION. I learned a lot about what worked with their structure, and I've definitely taken the best of it and applied it to the transformation program. So there you have it, my friends, a few of my favourite things. And, I really do hope that when you come into the program and you start doing all the things, that you have those aha moments that connect to what I've shared with you today.

Psst! I've been meaning to tell you this — I've thrown in a surprise launch bonus for August 1, when the doors open to the Transformation Program! Woo hoo! I'm very excited!! And, you know what? As I wrote this, I have not even told my team about this surprise... It is a fairly early morning where I live on the Gold Coast in Australia, and I live and die by The Science of When, by Daniel Pink, so I know my brain functions best in the morning. So, this morning, I have decided to include this launch BONUS, and that is, for the first 12 weeks, you are going to have the opportunity to catch up with me more than fortnightly. The way the program works is, the doors open August 1, so you have got 14 days to jump in before I am there for your first live IMPLEMENTATION SESSION. And, there'll be other members of the team that are jumping in as well to help you with various things. Because as you may know, I tend to separate ingredients 1 to 5, from ingredients 7 and 8. So, ingredients 7 and 8 is SYSTEMS and TEAM – and I've got someone on my team who's going to work with you around that (kind of concurrently), while I work with you around the ingredients 1 to 5, which is Brand, Menu, Attraction, Conversion, and Succession. Now, a quick rinse and repeat: the doors to The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program will open AUGUST 1! So I want to ask you: Are you ready to move from being busy to thriving? Are you ready to come into a community that will support you and lift you up, to build the business and life of your dreams? Because, I am ready to hold your hand every step of the way and help you go from strength to strength. And I tell you, there is no better time than right NOW. To celebrate the launch of the Transformation Program, there are foundation member bonuses. And, I have even priced the program to suit every bookkeeper, topped off with a money-back guarantee! Just join the waitlist, and you'll get all the details. You can also check out the podcast dedicated to this. I want to help you build a thriving practice, delight your clients, and, ultimately, live your dream on your terms. This is exactly what I've done in my practice, and now it's my heart's desire to help you do exactly the same things. So August 1, that's actually a Tuesday. Now, best case scenario: you jump in and you purchase the program that day, and you get cracking! Because then, you've got 14 days to access the content and you're going to be able to do the induction and be like, "Okay, yep, I know what to do here." And then you're going to get started, because then as you're absorbing the content that I need you to absorb. I need you to get a foundation in certain aspects of what you need to learn – remembering that there are five parts to the way I deliver in the program, and that is Education, Assets, Implementation, Team, and Support. You're going to be able to get in and have two weeks, where you can just start digesting the content. Remember, I'm structuring the content for the busy multi-tasking mum. We have an academy and all the content and the resources and everything is in there, but, I'm using a beautiful little piece of tech that makes it all audio-friendly in your podcast app on your phone. It's a private podcast, but no matter how busy you are, the busy multi-tasking mum is going to be able to actually listen to all of the content, podcast-style, and then rinse and repeat and use the academy as needed as well. So, let's say you do go in and you opt in to the program August 1 – you've got those two weeks of content where you can be absorbing as much as you can! When I show up two weeks later, August 14th, live and recorded, you're going to already know a whole lot of stuff that's going to help you get more VALUE out of the implementation session that I do. Now, at this stage, I think I'm going to allow about 90 minutes for each implementation session. Let's say you opt in on August 13, that's fine too! The implementation sessions are live and recorded. So what I would suggest is when you turn up, it might be something that you decide that you want to watch again, or you're just going to be in a different place to someone who opted in on August 1, so you'll simply want to re-digest all the content. But, the surprise launch bonus is basically that. You are going to get more COACHING and MENTORING from me in the first 12 weeks. In terms of what day and time I show up, I want to wait until I talk to you all, literally until I survey you all when you come into the program, so I can find out what days and times suit you. I will guarantee for the foundation members that join in that period of two weeks after August 1, you are going to get access to much more coaching and mentoring with me, live and recorded. Now, the other thing that may be at play... I like to under promise and over deliver, so I'm not going to guarantee this, but, I guess what is part of this surprise launch bonus is that for that 12 weeks, there is going to be more of me, and that more of me might be more than weekly. This is all about getting you RESULTS and helping you more. I want to turn up more often based on what you tell me. I also want to turn up more often in that first 12 weeks in order to tailor the SUPPORT to the key problems that you're trying to solve and the key things that you need in your practice. (And, they're just going to be a little bit different for each bookkeeper.) So, I've spoken to bookkeepers who are at the beginning of their journey and they've said, "Jeannie, I'm right at the beginning." They might have a job, or they might be a new mama wanting to go back into the workforce... They've got no clients right now and they've got nothing. And then, I've got other bookkeepers who are quite busy, but they're the busy bookkeeper more than the thriving bookkeeper, and they need something different. So as a community, here's what you've told me you NEED so far: "Jeannie, I need to find new clients." "I need help Jeannie, and my focus at the moment is brand." "I need to help with how to build a website quickly, effectively, strategically and affordably." "I need pricing strategy and productised services." "Jeannie, I need standard operating procedures." And also, I was pleased to hear from at least one bookkeeper "I'm really keen on succession", which is the advisory built by a bookkeeper for a bookkeeper. Now, I'd love for you to ask yourself if one of those spoke to you, all right? And also, if there are other things that you need, because the Facebook group is a place to post them. If you are not comfortable with that, then please email me because when I know what you need, I can make sure that I keep that front of mind, so that I know how to help you. So that surprise launch bonus, to rinse and repeat – more of me, more coaching and mentoring included, me working my bum off for the first three months. And then after that 12 weeks, what I plan to do is migrate into that normal fortnightly show up. And that's for a few reasons. I want you to spend the smallest amount of time with me, for the biggest IMPACT. I don't want to take your time, I don't want to overwhelm you, and I teach you this in terms of working with clients. It's not the time that creates the impact. We could spend 30 minutes with a client investigating their numbers and get a massive impact. Or, we could have a client where we think, okay, we need you to show up every week for a few weeks for an hour because we just want to get some goals kicked here. The more time that we take with our clients, the less time they have. And what do we know about time? Two things that we really want and need in our businesses is TIME and MONEY. So the more time and money that I can give you and that you can give your clients, the better, all right? My idea is not to take up your time in order to give you value, absolutely not. And so as we work together over the course of the program, I absolutely have front of mind, BANG FOR BUCK. Biggest impact for the littlest investment. And literally, I hop in the program going, let's talk the 5% activities that give you 95% of the result so that we're not spending the wrong amount of time and money on activities that don't give you the ROI, the result, and more. The launch special, that surprise launch bonus, however, is actually so I can tailor it to each person. It's literally so I can look at the community and go, right, these people need help with this, but they're okay with that. And therefore, let's see what time of day suits them. I'm going to show up and do a live implementation session and coaching and mentoring and support, to help the people that have this problem sooner than the implementation session that would be at X date. So, that first 12 weeks is me working harder – it's me showing up more often to serve everyone with where they are at right now, and the problems that they face. And so if you like the idea of more coaching, support, mentoring, and live sessions to help you to get results and SOLVE problems where you are at, and then this is a great one for you. This is on top of all the other celebration items – your platinum level CERTIFICATION, massive COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE, and also the access to the hourly-to-outcome billing that is sold standalone at $1,000. You will get all these, and so much more.

So I got question is from a lovely bookkeeper, and she says, "Currently I do not have a website. Does your program offer any training or provide any information on having a website that stands out?" Now, regardless whether you're planning to join the program or not, and whether you currently have a website or not, this blog is going to give you the strategies you need about WEBSITES and CLIENT ATTRACTION – because that's primarily why we have a website in the first place. And I'm going to give you some insights into so much more, so as to help you build your thriving practice, delight your clients, and live your dream on your terms. A quick & very special reminder: the doors to The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program will open AUGUST 1! So I want to ask you: Are you ready to move from being busy to thriving? Are you ready to come into a community that will support you and lift you up, to build the business and life of your dreams? Because, I am ready to hold your hand every step of the way and help you go from strength to strength. And I tell you, there is no better time than right NOW. To celebrate the launch of the Transformation Program, there are foundation member bonuses. And, I have even priced the program to suit every bookkeeper, topped off with a money-back guarantee! Just join the waitlist, and you'll get all the details. You can also check out the podcast dedicated to this. I want to help you build a thriving practice, delight your clients, and, ultimately, live your dream on your terms. This is exactly what I've done in my practice, and now it's my heart's desire to help you do exactly the same things. So, as I've created the Transformation Program, I have absolutely imagined me as a bookkeeper, at the very beginning of my journey. I was starting my practice with a baby in my belly, never knowing where this journey would take me, but just wanting to get started and have a crack and have a go and figure it out as I went along. In terms of when I did decide to get a website, that was fairly early on because I'm very future focused around the tech and economic landscape. I like to recognise what is happening, what is coming, and be an early adopter. I started out with a free website from way back then – Yellow Pages. But then, I started to realise that my little business was growing and I got that spark and that itch for wanting to do something more. And so I tried a web developer, but it didn't do anything. If we think about the purpose of your website, it's really client attraction. A website is where people should be able to get to KNOW and TRUST you, so that they can see if your vibe is their vibe, and if they think you can solve their problems. So ultimately, this is about having a website that can GET FOUND on Google and that your prospective clients are able to start with in order to get to KNOW YOU, 24/7 digitally online. This was not such a big thing way back then. If somebody was referred to you, they would ring you. These days, that is not the case. Post-pandemic, if somebody is referred to you, they're going to want to check you out online and they're going to want to buy when they are ready. So back then, I did try to put myself in the hands of people that were telling me they knew what they were doing. I remember my first couple of iterations of websites. I was raised by a really successful entrepreneur who got advertising right, and a website definitely is a form of your advertising. And I thought, this isn't working. So one day I met someone and he was part of an organisation that had a reputation for being the biggest and the best, and they were pretty expensive in website development. It seemed like this guy knows what he's doing. So I threw a heap of money at him, and he made me something that looked really, really nice. He made me something that looked really, really good – but got me zero results. And while that was frustrating to me, it was also fascinating. And so long story short, I sat down and thought about the things that influenced his success, and I then proceeded to design and develop my website myself. Now, I didn't do the technical aspect. That is actually the easier part. At the time, I got connected to a lovely guy that lives in Pakistan that used to do a lot of work for a business buddy of mine, so there was good reputation. And so I gave him the full brief. I designed the website and everything that was going to go in it, and he put it into the WordPress template. In terms of being found on Google, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION sounds technical, and look, these days it is much more technical. We've actually recruited an SEO person for The Strategic Bookkeeper team. (I'll kind of pause and just remind you that with The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program, you'll get my team behind the scenes that conceivably you couldn't recruit yourself, in order to help you with all these technicalities along with my little black book.) And so what happened back then, and still to this day, there is a truth in search engine optimization – the first thing that you need to do is show off online with GOOD CONTENT, and to make sure that you're visible. So that's kind of like step one. Once again, these days a little more complex, but I did those things. I built a strategic website based on everything I knew in business, contra to what these alleged professionals were telling me. I built it the way that I knew sales worked, and it worked for me. But, I'm going to tell you something else. It was some years ago when I really nailed my website by building it myself (about eight or so years) – and then we asked ourselves, what's changed in eight years? As you may know, I work strategically with many of my clients. And one client I was working with, he is in the electrician trade kind of space, he was getting a website built, and he asked me to have a look at the website build. So I got on and had a look, and I spoke to his developer. And I said to his developer, "This website is absolutely beautiful. Visually, it is absolutely gorgeous." And he said to me, "Thank you so much. I think it is too." I said, "It is. Honestly, it is gorgeous. But I do not see it generating any SALES." And look, the basis of that was, while the graphics were beautiful and everything about it was pretty, it didn't have the strategic moving parts – those that called the website visitor to action, that offered up a COMPETITIVE EDGE, unique SELLING PROPOSITIONS, back to call to actions, profile, results-based MARKETING, and everything else that you need to have in a website. Now, here's the really shocking part about that story. That web developer said to me, "I agree." He said, "I agree that this website has not been built to generate sales whatsoever." And so of course, I inquired why he had done that then, and he told me that he was unable to get from the client the images and the various things that he needed in order to make it a website that converted the visitors into actual customers. And so he just did his best and built a pretty website rather than a powerful part of a SALES MACHINE, which to be honest is what a website is designed to be. The moral of that story is, many web developers are graphic designers, and graphic designers are often built to make visually beautiful stuff, but not necessarily understand the SALES PROCESS and all the other parts of how to build a strategic website. A year ago, another client of mine got really excited as well because she was building a new website, and from the get go I thought, oh crap, I've got a crystal ball, I can see the problem she's going to have. Because, she got cracking with a web developer and started to make all the cool stuff and the cool assets, without having a mapped out PLAN that would make it far more PROCESS-DRIVEN than creative. And really, I do believe that's how you build a strategic, smart website that does what it's meant to do. If we think about that, when somebody visits your website, they're able to get the information they need, they're able to get to KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST you. They're able to see your profile, your REPUTATION... They're able to build your competitive advantage based on what they're seeing. And so if you have a process for building a website that is going to work, then it's simply about that step-by-step process and just implementing that over a very tight timeline. So this client of mine, they think at the beginning, yay, build the website, and they've engaged a professional, "we'll be done with this in no time". And a year later they're telling me, "We haven't actually finished that website. I just don't know how to do this bit and that bit." Problem is, only they can do it. The web developer can make stuff look pretty and they can maybe do some other stuff, but a marketing copywriter is actually probably a really important piece of the puzzle as well. And just to pause again, in terms of the Transformation Program, guess what, you get two marketing copywriters at the moment. You get my amazing head strategist, lead strategist, and I personally am a passionate marketing copywriter myself. Now, in my book, I give you a playbook and I give you some suggested website pages and I give you some help in there and talk about a lot around that. But, let's talk about program and how it helps you, as that's what the question is also about. So back to the beginning of my journey, I held myself in my mind and I said, if I had known this, if I had have had this kind of help, if somebody had of stepped in and did this for me and with me, what would the impact of those things have been? And here's what I came up with – I thought, it would've been helpful for someone to tell me everything I NEED to know. That's the EDUCATION piece. And then, if I already know all of those things, it would've been helpful if they just gave me a whole lot of stuff that I needed done for me, like the digital ASSETS and collateral. Then once I got told what I needed to know and got even all that great digital collateral, I know from experience that I would've needed that person to help me IMPLEMENT it all. To just hold my hand every step of the way, definitely for the first year, so that I could practice and fall over, ask questions, try again, and get it all right. And then I thought, who were the other kinds of experts and professionals that I need to help me with this stuff ongoing? And that was the TEAM. So it'd be great if, rather than having to figure all that out myself and go and try and find these professionals, and then make all the mistakes that I've made along the way and just being clueless around who I need to do what... It would've been great if someone said, "Oh, don't worry. You just need this, this, this, and actually we've got those people in the little black book." And then the very last thing was, throughout my journey, I was constantly meeting suppliers and other bookkeepers (and definitely I've told the story of how helpful Dext was in my bookkeeping practice), but ultimately, I never met anyone that knew more than I did. And so, I actually felt alone. That there is the last piece of the puzzle – the SUPPORT. I thought, imagine if I had have had somebody that was there to support me with a team behind them, and then imagine if they put me in a community of people came together and we lifted each other up to do all this... That's how I came up with Education, Assets, Implementation, Team, and Support. So in terms of developing your website, we give you all that in the program. Just to rinse and repeat, The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program is not static. It's not like I build it once and then, "Off you go, best of luck." – It is a program that will EVOLVE over time. As I always say, the world never stops spinning, the tech and economic landscape never stops changing. And so, you can expect me and team HQ to be in the program with you, listening and asking questions, and changing with you and changing with the industry and providing you with the things that you tell us that you need and want. And right now, as a bookkeeper, you've either got a website, haven't got a website, or you're in the middle of trying to build one. (If you are, I feel the pain.) Well, the Transformation Program's going to actually help anyone in any of those situations because I have absolutely held all of you in my mind as I've developed the program. So if you don't have a website, or if you do or if you're developing one, I designed a solution that kind of helps all of you. My team and I have developed and refined a beautiful and killer BROCHURE – and it has all the moving parts of what you would put in a WEBSITE, along with a place for your BRAND. Within that brochure, you're going to have all The Strategic Bookkeeper unique selling propositions and SELLING POINTS, which is made visual with MODELS, your CERTIFICATIONS, and more. These all contributes to your competitive advantage and helps you make clients outcome and value focused, not cost focused. And, all that contributes also to your PROFILE. Basically, that brochure has a marketing copy included which is meant to tell a STORY. It's designed to CAPTURE your prospective clients and clients in a way that CONNECTS them as to why they're going to use you. If you listen to any of my other podcasts or you've read the book, you'll know that I rattle on a lot about helping bookkeepers to be able to talk in why language. Because, people don't buy what you do, which is the bookkeeping. They certainly don't want to pay a premium for it – they buy WHY you do it. For example, bookkeeping is globally recognised as pillar one for the success of any business. And, we know that successful business owners know and use their numbers – how well do you know and use yours? You can see how I'm transforming what language into why, and there's a whole lot more in terms of the psychology which I'm not going to break down here. So in that brochure, we showcase results-based MARKETING. Whether you have no clients right now or you have clients, I will show you exactly how you can put your results-based marketing in there. And just a tip, anything that comes out of someone's mouth that they say about you, whether they're currently paying you a fee or not, is something you can use in your results-based marketing – because it's what someone's saying about you. So in the program, we make sure that we're showcasing those results, what others are saying about you, which then stacks your REPUTATION. Circling back to the profile, there's other things that we insert in there, but the key to understand here is that the brochure has some of the moving parts that make it work and make it stand out, because this brochure becomes a brief for a web developer – a really big part of the process in developing your website. So, from your profile and your reputation, we move on to your MENU, which there's a whole chapter in my book. In the brochure, we dissect the menu and we kind of turn it into a story. So that includes your VISION for your client, your MISSION on how you're going to achieve that vision, the key problems that your clients face, the customer journey, the key benefits and outcome you're going to achieve for them, your guarantees, and we definitely make sure that we've got clear ways to allow them to take action, which are Calls To Action. The other thing to note there is, your PRODUCT LADDER is a part of this beautiful brochure. And actually, your brochure is a part of your product ladder as well. There's a whole podcast on that – you've got content, welcome lines, core products, and succession products. And your welcome lines are actually Calls To Action. So for you to go out and develop that brochure by yourself... you would need a really great graphic designer, an exceptional copywriter, and you would actually need someone to do what is normally called a full brand strategy where they understand your industry and they dive into the problems, the solutions, they develop your vision, your mission, everything else. You would need all of these things, and that would easily cost you in excess of $10,000 for the brochure alone. If you're going to go out and create that yourself and develop a website and all of those things, you're going to spend 2, 3, 4 times what you're going to spend in the Transformation Program. And let me tell you right now, none of those people are going to give you a money-back guarantee. Let me tell you right now, if you have got someone that has developed that entire process for you – so I am a bookkeeper who has spent 13 years in practice, and I had to build my own website because nobody was able to get me a result. I've tested iterations and I've worked out what doesn't work and what works. I have had well-meaning experts over the years tell me, "No, no, no, Jeanie, you are wrong and we know what works and you change yours up." I've tried everything, and I've been able to try, and fail, and work it out – you're going to get all of that experience from me. So to rinse and repeat, that brochure is going to be the most incredible brief for your web developer. That is going to save you so much MONEY and so much TIME, and that alone can easily give you the return on investment on the program. Another thing about that brochure and something I'm really passionate about, is I'm developing it so that you can have it printed really, really beautifully. Imagine that you speak Italian and you are trying to speak to someone who speaks English, but they don't speak Italian and you don't speak English – that is what it is often as a bookkeeper trying to convey your VALUE to a prospective client, or your market. And what I want to do is give you a translation device, and that brochure acts like a translation device. And guess why I know? Because even I do it. Recently my right hand said to me, "Oh, Jeannie, you know what, I always find myself reverting back to the what language and not the why." And I said to her, Me too. It's okay, me too. I'm a bookkeeper too. That's why I have a menu that I pick up and I use as a translator, and I point to it and I read from it, and it helps me to take that bookkeeper hat off and put the PR hat on and talk client. The brochure is a SALES and MARKETING collateral that you give to yourself when you're in the role of the person who is looking for more people to help and solve problems for, so rather than have them look at you confused and scratching their head, they nod, and they shoulders drop and they relax and they say, "Oh my goodness, how did you know?". And sometimes, the outcome there is just for you to be able to relax and just think, "Gosh, I don't even really know how this works. I feel like I'm saying the same thing." And guess what? You are saying the same thing, but you are now speaking the same language. So, that brochure serves as a brief for a web developer, but it also serves as collateral you can take to any NETWORKING event that you go to. It serves as the basis for your video sales letters, which I will hold your hand and walk you through developing and give you all the support you need to create amazing video collaterals. (If that scares you, don't worry, because I will move heaven and earth to get you there.) We can do some done-for-you collaterals as well, but I'm going to work with you and the tribe to make sure that we do what's right for you and what works for you. To sum it up, that beautiful brochure is an asset that works in Brand, Menu, Attraction, Conversion, and it actually works in Systems and Team – because it is a part of what you are giving to the team to convey your vision and mission, which the team is living every day to achieve your vision for your client. This is something that threads throughout every ingredient in my seven-step method in order create an impact. But, for this blog, it was mainly around how I help you with your website – how I help you build from scratch, or renovate your existing, or get through the pain of being stuck right now in a process where you thought the website would be done ages ago and it's not done. If you've got a website now, I DON'T want you to get into the program and go, "Oh, okay. Well then the first thing I need to do is renovate my entire brand." NO, NO, NO, NO, NO. What I want to do is give you done-for-you assets and collateral that will allow you to start kicking goals, while we go about renovating your brand. I want to be able to give you things to hit the ground running, so that we don't have to stop and do work that doesn't immediately generate RESULTS. So hopefully, that's given you some insights into how The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program solves that problem. Now, I would encourage you to join the waitlist NOW as we don't have never ending capacity, and doing so is going to reserve your spot for the August 1 launch, together with bonus specials x