For this special blog post, you'll be getting content straight out of our induction series for The Transformation Program – which will also be one of a two-part series I'm doing. I've taken this out of the program in order to create a part two, because, one of our program members has actually asked me to go deeper on this subject. So I was thinking, maybe what I'll do is share this with the general community and then create the rest of the content to help more bookkeepers around mindset, around naming the critics, around creating health, wealth, and happiness through mindset mastery, which is definitely what it's all about. I will let you know that in the background, I am just daydreaming and preparing to roll out The Healthy Bookkeeper, which will level up the kind of content that I provide everybody in this space. So what you'll be reading is very much from The Healthy Bookkeeper. When I put my Healthy Bookkeeper hat on, I absolutely want to inspire women globally to put themselves first. That is, put their physical, mental, and spiritual health first. And today's blog post is definitely linked to all of that. I would actually love to hear what you think after reading this so please feel free to shoot me an email or drop a comment into our private Facebook group. Now in terms of helping you to step out of a place of any fear, anxiety and that kind of thing, into a place of courage and confidence in getting it done, I want to introduce you to the concept that I've come up with of the three critics. Now, we all go through periods of fear, anxiety, uncertainty, monster imposter syndrome, all of these things, okay? This is part of the human condition, which is shame. Completely normal. The research by Brené Brown states that if we learn to embrace the fact that shame is the human condition and not try and bury and avoid it and say, I don't go through shame, that is key to success and finding that contentment in life where we are able to step into a place of feeling that, call it evenness. We all have the voice of shame that comes up on our shoulder and says, who do you think you are? You can't do that – and that puts us into a place or moments of anxiety, of fear, of uncertainty, of I'm not worthy of all of these things. Now, I'd like to connect that to the critics in my own words as I have come up with this over time. From time to time, I've heard people around me say things like, the people say this and the people say that, and they say it in a way as in people criticising me. So for example, oh, people tell me that I can never achieve that. Or people said, I can't sell my house for this value. Or people said, I'll never be able to stick to that eating plan. And I've found myself asking, who are the people? And oftentimes I'm told, well, just people generally. And I say, well, hang on a sec, tell me exactly who it is, is it family, friends? Is it a particular friend? I've asked myself, who are the people that are criticising you, Jeannie? Because, I would like to think – and I have observed in my experience is that on the whole, most people, family, friends, community, business buddies, colleagues, whatever – majority of people are actually cheering us on and are supportive of what we can do. So I believe it's really important to name and tame the critics you have. I think, ultimately, there are three primary types of critics that we need to name and tame. Number one is the accidental critic. That is, more often than not, like a family member. And one of the primary examples I use is the parent-child relationship. You see it in sitcoms and in movies where the parent kind of throws bouquets with bricks in it. Maybe they don't realise, maybe it's the dynamic, but the parent is critical of the child. This is in an adult relationship, and the parent becomes critical of the child. And, criticism from a parent at any age can be quite crippling. And so this leads to the people are criticising me, the people are putting me down, but realistically, it's often the accidental critic, as I call it. I'll give you an example of what happened to a friend of mine. This friend had quite a lot of success and his father said to him one day, "You are so successful, son, I'm so proud of you. I am just absolutely amazed, immensely proud... ...and to think, I thought you were the child of mine who was least likely to do anything with their life." That's what I call the accidental critic – because the father, without maybe thinking about it, has accidentally thrown a bouquet with a brick in it and criticised the shit out of this person, out this adult, by saying, well done on your success. And I thought you were never going to get there. It's the accidental critic that can make us absolutely crumble and self-doubt and absolutely feeds the voice of shame on our shoulders. So that voice of shame is sitting there waiting to be fed. And this critic feeds the voice of shame who then says, haha, I told you you're not worthy. You're no good. Who do you think you are? Imposter syndrome. Now, if we can name the accidental critic, we can more likely tame the accidental critic. Name it to tame it, an old school counselling tool. So if I name that critic, I can kind of turn it into something funny and I can say to the voice of shame, "I hear you. However, I am also a human. I am worthy. I'm a human, and I know my values and my self-worth is attached to being human and my values. And so while I'm proud of my own success, I'm also just a beautifully flawed human being, stumbling along with the illusion of control like everyone else." Now the second critic is the I'm not okay, you're not okay critic. This is a psychology 101 concept. This happens for some people, alright? And I kind of have a joke in my head and I call them basic people. Because if you don't really fully understand "I'm okay, you're okay" and you just are at the mercy of your own emotions and feelings, you can easily let it spill over to others and project your stuff on them. Some people absolutely do this, and what happens is if they're not feeling okay – like someone who's in a bit of a shame and vulnerability sh*tstorm – what they may do is kind of throw bouquets with bricks in them at you, which is like an insult wrapped in a compliment in order to make you feel shitty, because they feel shitty. And it is a psychology 101 thing. And when that happens, I think it's important to recognise the situation as it is. The people who do this actually do it frequently. Whenever they're in a poor place, whenever they're in a difficult place, they will throw bouquets with bricks in them in order to "I'm not okay, You're not okay". And when they're in a great place, they will be like, "I'm okay, you're okay". They want to bring people down with them in order to make themselves feel better. And look, I absolutely know quite a few people like this because, again, it's a basic psychology thing. They don't mean it to be horrible, but they do it because they're probably not as in control of their emotions and maybe their behaviour as some other people. So it's not something that I tend to think, that's a terrible person. I think that's a person doing the "I'm not okay, you're not okay". So when that person criticises us, once again, if we can name it to tame it... let's say this person's name is Janet. "I've seen Janet do this before. This is Janet's pattern. She's doing the "I'm not okay, you're not okay". It's actually not an attack on me – although it is an attack, but I'm going to name it to tame it and tell the voice of shame. I know you love this, I know it's feeding you, but I'm not going to buy into this." The very last critic is actually the biggest critic of them all. Can you guess who that critic is? The biggest critic of them all is ourselves. And the two critics actually just serve to feed the critic that is ourselves. And the critic that is ourselves is the voice of shame. It is the voice of shame on your shoulder saying, who do you think you are? Which is the human condition. If you have the voice of shame, if you suffer imposter monster, if you suffer anxiety, fear, congratulations, you're not a sociopath or psychopath. Shame is the human condition and it is the biggest critic. It is ourselves. So when one of these other people criticises us, it seeds the major critic waiting for confirmation bias that I'm not good enough, I can't do this, I'm not built for this, et cetera, et cetera. And so what's important is to name them to tame them, and to tame them is really just about self-awareness and breathing through it, making room for shame and vulnerability, and making room to kind of, for me, I try and have a little humour in my own head and just name it and go, "That's kind of funny. That's the human condition and I get it. It makes me feel like sh*t, but it makes everyone feel like sh*t. I can take heart in the fact that I'm just human." So I just want you to think about, is that new to you? Do you relate to the three critics? How can you move forward in your life in order to name and tame the critics, in order to be able to move out of fear and anxiety and imposter monster and freezing and all of these things, in order to move out of that into a place of courage and confidence and vulnerability – which is very, very important. And, if you read Brené Brown's work, in a place where you can breathe, make room for shame, and simply take action and move past it. How can you use what I've told you in order to do better in business and life? If this stuff is hard for you, go back and read it all over again, as often as you need to. If it's not hard for you, great, but it is hard for the majority of people all over the world. So what are you going to do next time you hear one of the critics? If you hear yourself say, the people tell me I can't do it. The people tell me I'm not good enough. The people say you'll never stick to that thing. Then, can you take a moment, breathe, revisit this blog post, and then actually say, well, let's sit down and work out who the people are. I suggest that's one person or two people primarily feeding the voice of shame, that is the biggest critic, which is ourselves. Whenever you hear yourself say the people, I want you to stop and say there is no the people. Name the person, name the type of critic they are. Name it to tame it, make room, and grow personally and professionally. #critics #tamingthecritics #shame #handlingshame #bookkeepermindset #mindset #productivity #healthybookkeeper #healthymindset #businessimprovement #bookkeepereducation #successfulbookkeeping #bookkeepingbusiness #bookkeepingsuccess #bookkeepingpractice #strategicbookkeeping #bookkeeper #bookkeepingselfhelp #jeanniesavage #thestrategicbookkeeper #thrivingbookkeeping #bookkeeping #ebook #freeebook #bookkeepingguide #bookkeeperguide #tsbtransformationprogram

I am running a book club! And today, I'm going to explain why I'm running the book club, how you can register to join, and what's exactly in it for you. Whether you've read my book or not, I have created this book club for you – yes, it's about reading the book, but it's also about implementing what you learn. I'd like to start by telling you why I have created book club. So, it has been really busy with the Transformation Program rolling out (and just to be crystal clear, you can still join in!). Now, prior to the program opening, it was pretty crazy busy to say the least. And then after the doors have opened, I have been very narrowly focused and dedicated to the tribe. With that, I decided to book in a little Latin dancing holiday in Sydney for a festival. You probably know I'm a Latin dancer, and I booked that because I knew that I had that to aim for, because, it has been very hard to tear myself away from the tribe, from the members of the Transformation Program – from The Strategic Bookkeeper Project generally. It absolutely is my life's work. I love it, but, I also know it's healthy to take a break and switch off. So, I booked this holiday and I arrived and went to my accommodation, and my roommates had already headed into the venue. I was all by myself, and I then decided to jump on and have a look at my private members' feed (i.e. the Transformation Program Facebook group private members). Then, there was this thread and the first part of the thread was from one of our members, Andrew, and he was talking about how much he had noticed the impact of communication, good and bad, on all different types of businesses, and he was really blown away and it led to some other members chiming in and talking about other really impactful parts of what we're doing in the program. And honestly, the results that I'm seeing and the way that post made me feel – it motivated me to help more people. And so to help more bookkeepers globally, I came up with Book Club. So in a nutshell, that is the why behind why I've done book club. I think results in any realm, even if it's personal result, when you're aiming for something... let's say you are doing an exercise routine and you see results – it motivates you to get more results. Whereas when you struggle to get results, it actually demotivates you. And, seeing the results that the tribe members are getting has motivated me to do more, and it always does, which is one of the reasons it's hard to tear myself away. But, like I said, I know it's healthy to switch off and disconnect. So now, I'd love to just talk to you about more of the what's involved in Book Club, how you can register and what's in it for you. The book club is about my book, The Strategic Bookkeeper: My Secret Sauce Recipe to Creating a Thriving Practice by Becoming a Strategic Bookkeeper. After basically 13 years in practice, I shared my secrets to success in this tell-all book. And if you haven't read it, I know there's a lot about my backstory that you're not going to know, and so you can grab your free copy of the eBook HERE. Now, that is the book, and the book club that I am going to run is to help bookkeepers globally with a few things. So number one, to hold them accountable to actually read the book because this is a how-to guide. Number two, if you have already read the book, then I would like you to come into book club and read it chapter by chapter again with me, okay? We're all going to do it together in order to implement. In the Transformation Program, there are five keys to how I help my participants get results around my seven-ingredient methodology. So that is: Education, Assets, Implementation, Team and Support. And it is the same for you – even if you're not in the program! With education, you need to learn what you need to learn, and then assets, you need to build key digital assets. That might be build or renovate your website and other brand assets like social media. You do need to make sure that you have developed your brand, that's your organization's personality. Your menu should be a key digital asset. And all of that's explained in the book and so on. Now, once you learn and build, you need to implement. So that's step three. Then step four is team. You will need and you do need team to help you with this kind of thing. In the program, we're kind of like the team behind everything because the program is the done-for-you option. It's quite layered, but the first layer of team as a member of the program is that you've basically got the entire Strategic Bookkeeper HQ, which includes myself as a veteran, bookkeeper, trainer and coach, a world-class business strategist, a marketing copywriter, a branding specialist, a graphic designer, a search engine optimization expert, a systems and team expert, and so on. So when you come into the program and you pay a fee, part of the value behind that fee is a team that you leverage. And then we have the little black book as well where we direct bookkeepers to remarkable kinds of people and tech, as well as to special deals that we've made. For example, a recent one which is just so incredible – I shook hands with an incredible web developer to create websites for bookkeepers within 48 hours, which leverages our intellectual property to create the best bookkeeping websites I've ever seen, for only $50 a month including hosting. (Honestly, even I struggled to believe that when I did that deal!) For you in the team part, if you're not in the program, you just need to think about who you're going to need to pay, so to speak, to do all the things that need to be done. And absolutely, if you want to do these things yourself, you can. For me, I think we can't win the football game without all the right players in the right positions. And then there's step five, which is support. In terms of the program, you can imagine that the support is actually all the support you get from HQ, but the support of the tribe as they interact in the Facebook group is always what I knew would be impactful, and it's incredible! Right now, outside of the tribe is this Book Club, and you are going to get support from me and support from each other. When I talk to bookkeepers and I ask them, have you read my book? – I get three answers. One answer is, no. The next is, I've started it and the next is, I've finished it. Now, book club is ideal for you if you are in any of those camps because to rinse and repeat, I'm going to hold you accountable to reading it, and hold you accountable to implementation. Now, I picked up a great book recently called Atomic Habits and I've done one pass of that book. But, I'm going to read it again, and then I'm going to use the hard copy as a how-to guide. It really reminds me of my book – and it's even the same length! (Less than six hours long!) So, how to register: head to the Book Club, sign up, and then you are going to get an email from us welcoming you, together with links to the book formats. And, I really need you to grab the book in whatever formats you like. Grab the free eBook, grab the audio book, grab the hardcover – or better yet, grab them all! My favourite format to start with is actually the audio book because you can use it multitasking. You can either be the healthy bookkeeper and listen to the audio book while you're going for a walk, or you can just be the busy multitasking mama or dad. You could be at the play centre, multitasking as a parent, and you can really digest that content as a first pass. Now, I am actually listening to my own audio book at the moment, and I bought it on Audible. I've got access to different formats, but I really like to have it on my audible, and I thought, well, I'm just going to jump on and buy it. I'm listening to myself on 1.2 speed to prepare for book club, because I want to refresh myself as much as possible on exactly what's inside the book, so I can share fresh insights for you and fresh insights off the back of lessons from the tribe. So I do love the audio book, and I also love the hardcover. You can use it, write in it, highlight in it, that kind of thing. I call it Harry Potter style, if you remember the scene with the potions and the book, so you can write all over it. But, I also like the eBook because you can use control find. I've got the eBook open right now, and even I've done it before – you can go ctrl + F for find, and then you can search keywords and you can choose your own adventure. So next, when you sign up, we will continue to email you gently. We won't spam you – just to kind of remind you around the book, okay? Now, if you happen to read the whole book through before the official start of book club, great. All I need you to do as a bare ass minimum is read chapter one before December 4 in Australia, which is a Monday. December 4 is going to be the official start of book club where I turn up live in our Facebook group, The Strategic Bookkeeper's Way, to share fresh insights around each chapter week on week, and we're going to do one chapter per week. And so as I go on Facebook and share insights, I would like you to jump in and join the discussion. For example, week one, we're all going to be narrowly focused on chapter one, and we are going to create a discussion group in Facebook. You are going to be able to ask any questions with an open heart and an open mind. We're going to find our courage and the confidence to ask questions, even if we feel kind of icky about it. I know for me, in years past, if I was in an industry event and I didn't really understand a particular concept, I wasn't always confident to ask. And so I'm going to ask you to come in and have the confidence to name it to tame it, and just ask the questions. As we get into a discussion, I'm going to answer questions and share more insights with content all week about the chapter, so that you can deepen your learning and really understand everything in that chapter and begin to implement, or make a plan to implement. You will get emails from us week on week, just reminding you which chapter we're up to, asking you to read that chapter in advance. As I said, if you've read the whole book before we start, amazing – but if you haven't, this is me in book club turning up to hold you accountable to get it done. In terms of the discussion group, week on week, some of you are going to be more about implementation, and I'm sure some of you are going to be more around clarifying concepts, which is more education. Book club will run for eight weeks over the December-January period, which in Australia, is summer and Christmas period. I have absolutely got guests coming to stay with me. I've got a beautiful dance teacher who's now living in Germany, one of my besties coming to stay for most of the time, and more friends and family. But, I actually think this is a great time if you're taking time off with the kids, just to spend that time engaged in something creative. This is a creative process so that you start 2024 off armed with what you need to build your thriving practice. So now, I'd like to come full circle. We started with why, we moved into the what, and I'd like to circle back to the why I've done this, but also what's in it for you. I have created this book club project in order to help more bookkeepers all around the world, right? I want to help more bookkeepers with what they're feeling, with what they're doing. I want to spark a desire to move in the direction of success, and that is to learn what you need to learn first. So absolutely, this is why I've created Book Club for you – to hold you accountable. Book Club is completely free to join and get involved in and to do with me. I have created this for bookkeepers globally at no cost, in order to help you to thrive in practice. I have no doubt that by joining the book club and interacting in book club for that eight-week period, you will find ways to build and maintain a highly profitable bookkeeping practice. When I talked to bookkeepers even months and months ago who had read my book and I chatted to them about the different things they were doing, they were absolutely getting runs on the board, and I want to help you get runs on the board. Ultimately, this is about helping you make the transformation from bookkeeper to strategic bookkeeper, whether you are joining the Transformation Program or not. Now, if you would like to back yourself and go for it, absolutely. The doors to the program are wide open. We are still celebrating foundation members, and you can jump into the Program and join today. If you are not ready to do that yet, then Book Club is ideal for you. Becoming a strategic bookkeeper solves all the major problems bookkeepers have, which I think can be summarised by how to find onboard and retain clients without price as a priority, how to build and maintain your highly profitable practice, how to have fun while you're doing it, how to stay relevant in a world of automation, AI, robotics, and actually cheap labour — becoming a strategic bookkeeper, I promise you, solves all these problems. How do I know I've done exactly that? Well, you'll read about that in my book. The thing that I like to say, and definitely what is always in my heart every day for bookkeepers globally, is that I want to help you to build a thriving practice, delight your clients, and live your dream on your terms. And I always say, this is linear. You need to build the thriving practice, or you can't delight anyone. And it's only then that you get the privilege of living your dream on your terms, and that is the income and lifestyle that you want and deserve – just like I achieved five years into my practice. So now, I would encourage you, no matter what you're feeling... I actually do a lot of work with our bookkeepers around mindset and productivity. Mindset being fear and overwhelm, because the barriers to getting things done isn't always a lack of knowledge. So, if you're in a place of fear, or if you're feeling really motivated, whatever you're feeling right now, I actually encourage you to do something they say in Atomic Habits. It's like a two-minute rule. Just take action for the next two minutes. Jump on to Book Club and just register. This is 100% free to join and participate in. Just take the next action step, my friends. Let me be your coach. Let me hold you accountable. We'll then nurture you through exactly what you need to do next. I will show off and surprise and delight you, more than I've told you in this blog – that's just how I roll. And to quickly refresh on the dates, Book Club officially starts December 4, so it's about reading as much of the book as you can before that. But, if life got in the way and you've read nothing by December 4, that's okay! I'm going to be in there, holding you accountable. I really hope to see you during Book Club week x

In today's post, I want to talk to you about the entrepreneur's journey, which is the journey that you've chosen to take if you work for yourself. And, I want to talk to you about what that means, and how you can deal with the rollercoaster that it can be – and rather than letting it take you so much on the highs and lows, how you can understand more about what's going on, and how it compares to the journey you haven't chosen, which is to work in a job. We'll then wrap it all up with how you can use what you learn today to actually do better in your practice, and also do better in your life. That is, to be less stressed, to have less of the ups and downs, and to feel less of the things that I sometimes see in the members of my Transformation Program. When I see and feel my program members go through the ups and downs, I really think that understanding the entrepreneur's journey that they have chosen, that we have chosen (and all the wonderful benefits and why we did it) – when you understand that, then it's going to really help you to avoid those lows. I love to say that there are three real big moving parts to success in business, and they are mechanics, mindset, and productivity. Mechanics being the stuff you've got to do, and all the things that you've got to do to run your business. Rules of the game. Mindset, that even if you've given all the mechanics, unless you can master your mindset, everything can tend to fall apart. And honestly, I can give two people the same mechanics, the same great toolkit, and one will have success and one won't. And in terms of productivity, it's really important as an entrepreneur to time smith. People often say to me, Jeannie, oh my goodness, how the hell do you get so much done? And I've been asked that so much lately that I kind of reflected myself, and it's back to mechanics, mindset, and productivity. With mechanics, I'm really big on the 5% that does 95%. I don't do all the things. Mindset – I do really well around mindset. And when it comes to productivity, well, back to that: I do the 5% activities. I'm very, very efficient. I live by a lot of productivity rules, including Atomic Habits and The Science of When. But again, I'm also really good at not doing things when it comes to productivity. I say no to a lot, and I do not do activities that only give me a 5% result. In terms of the entrepreneur's journey, it's absolutely a rollercoaster. And what I've observed in my program members who are all over the world and who I'm very close with in a private Facebook group, when they do open hearts and open minds and share freely how they're feeling, I notice the highs and the lows. I notice that all of them, with no exception, go through these highs of I'm getting winds, I'm feeling great. And then the lows that come with something's gone wrong, maybe there's like, they might call it an emergency. I see them go through these highs and lows regardless of who they are, regardless of whether they're one of my really high achievers, or they're a bookkeeper who's a little more slow and steady – they all tend to go through these. And as I looked and observed and listened, I thought to myself, I think part of what's happening here is that all of us start out in life working in a job. Most of us that traditionally grew up, we all ended up getting a job. We worked in a job for a very long time, and most of us for maybe a couple of decades or at least a decade, before we ever became an entrepreneur. We all worked in a job for a very, very, very, very long time, and so our habits, what we know, and our mindset is around a job. And so in terms of a job, we go to work, we get paid time for money. We get paid an hourly rate for the work that we do – we don't get paid for outcomes, we get paid for hours. Sure, outcomes are expected, but we're getting paid for hours. We clock in, we clock out. We're expected to be there at a certain time. We are accountable to someone, whether that's the owner of the business or a manager or whoever. There's someone over and above us. We don't own the business. And at the end of the day, when we leave and we go home, we leave our job behind regardless of the amount of responsibility you have. And let me tell you right now, I have had so much responsibility in jobs before, but I know as an entrepreneur, there is no comparing what it is in your own business to what it was like when you had a job. So at the end of the day, you go home – if their business burns down, it's not really you that's impacted. All the risk sits with the business owner or the shareholders or whoever. And in that job, you get the same pay every week. So that is certainty. There's a lot of structure, certainty is very high, and the risk is very low. You're getting the same pay all the time, you get four weeks annual leave. If you're in Australia, for example, if you're sick, you have sick pay. Now, my idea here is that this is ingrained in your mind. You've been doing this for a long time – this is what you got used to, and then you go on to be an entrepreneur. Now, whether you've been an entrepreneur for five minutes, five years, or 15 years, the entrepreneur's journey, compared to a job, is high risk. Entrepreneurs carry lots and lots of risk. It is far less certainty. You've got uncertainty, you've got lots of risk, and there's no one above you. You are wholly and solely responsible for everyone. You can't abdicate all the responsibilities lie with you. You have to be a leader. You have to be a manager. The buck stops with you. Every fail is your fault. Every win is your fault. I would say that being in a job is kind of being on a train, going at a regular speed, easy peasy. And being an entrepreneur is like a roller coaster. And when I see my beautiful bookkeepers and business owners alike get down in the dumps and have what I call doona days, I honestly think that it's linked to them wanting the things or craving the things that come with the job. What I think would be really helpful in terms of our mindset is if we stopped for a minute and we kind of said, okay, imagine that the job is kind of like France. So the job is going to France, and France is beautiful, and being an entrepreneur is like Italy. And Italy is gorgeous too, but they're two very different destinations and there's no point being in Italy and pining for France, you might as well enjoy Italy. That is one way of looking at it. But the other way of looking at it is simply that when you have the rollercoaster of the uncertainty and all these things, when you get down about it, stop, take a breath and remind yourself, this is the entrepreneur's journey and it's the journey that I chose. Remind yourself of why you chose that journey, and how you get a whole lot of things that being in a job wouldn't give you. Because, I get that it is a roller coaster, and I get that it has ups and downs – I get that it requires a lot more effort mentally and physically than a job will ever demand of you. And so I want to share my experience of my own, my story of going into business for myself, the entrepreneur's journey. I absolutely worked for other people, worked for my family, worked for lots of corporations, big and small. And when I was working in a job, I really did enjoy the parts of it. I had a job for a while, and then I went back to being an entrepreneur eventually. And in the break between my entrepreneurial journey where I went from entrepreneur to job, then back to entrepreneur, it was funny, I guess I had experienced everything as an entrepreneur. When I went back to a job, I was listening to everyone around me complain about all these things to do with their job. And all I could think is, this is awesome. I get to come to work and I just do a job – I get the same pay every week. And, I really enjoyed the benefits while I had it because I had perspective that I always wanted to go back to being an entrepreneur. Because, the thing is, I just didn't like the boredom of working in a job. I found the boredom, like, water torture. I had to be at work at a certain time. I was getting paid an hourly rate regardless of me having a much bigger impact on the organisation. I mean, generally, I was indispensable. Literally. It was like, if anything happens to Jeannie, this place is going to fall apart. But, it doesn't mean you get a whole lot more money for it. Not like if you create something in your own business – extraordinary, you get the financial rewards as well as the wonderful reward, the impact you're having on those you serve. So when I was in a job, it was like, I get kind of really bored because I don't get to set my own challenges, like big challenges and solve big problems. And I would hunt out the challenges and the problems and I would solve them for other people, but I didn't get to set and solve the ones myself. And on the whole, regardless of how I really felt about decisions made by management, if I thought, that's ridiculous, I just kind of had to suck it up. I remember once at a job where two people in a department showed me how they completed a task, and I burst out laughing and I said, I will not be doing it that way. And they just looked at me stony faced. I struggled with doing the inefficient. I wanted to do it my way. So these are the things that we don't get in a job – we don't get to do it our way. We don't get to decide what time we go to work. We don't get to decide what time we finish work. We have to run at somebody else's schedule. On the whole, we often don't get to create anything of our own, and that is a real human need to build and to create. And when we choose the entrepreneur's journey, we're choosing all these things. Ask most people, why did you go into business for yourself? Well, they were really good technicians. They wanted to be rewarded for their effort. They wanted freedom and flexibility to decide when they worked, and they wanted financial rewards. And so when we become an entrepreneur, I know that those things aren't there instantly, and they are not always there all the time. The entrepreneur's journey is, it can be ups and downs, it can be risk, and it can be really hard work. For a while there, we might find ourselves working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and we think, hang on a sec, I'm working longer hours than I was in a job. When the ups and downs happen, when you are dealing with all of this, here's what I want you to remember. If, like me, when I was actually launching my passion project this year, The Strategic Bookkeeper – the entire project, my book, my podcast, my program – off the back of 14 years in business, in my bookkeeping practice, I worked 12 hours a day. I worked seven days a week. I missed out on all my favourite Latin dance events. I made sacrifices and none of it got me down, because number one, I'm not afraid of hard work. Number two, when friends kind of said, you can't work that hard, I thought, they don't get it. They work in jobs. And me, I'm not really working. I'm building. I'm creating. I'm investing in something that is going to have an impact on people's lives and have an impact on my life financially and by way of purpose. So as an entrepreneur, when you have the ups and downs, and I absolutely have the massive ups as well, but I've actually learned to kind of cool them down because when we have big wins, it's great. But I think, the journey is what I love the most. I remember when I launched, after 15 years of wanting to do this, in the end, the launch, it was great. It was exciting for the team, but it's the journey, and it will always be the journey. So when you have the ups and downs, when you have to work harder, when you've maybe got to work in a job and you've got to go and build your business as well, no matter what you've got to do, no matter what hours you've got to work, keep in mind that successful entrepreneurs, my friends— they do the things that others won't. You need to go the extra mile. You need to be prepared to put in the hard work and the long work to reap the rewards. When I work seven days, 12 hours a day in the middle of this year with Covid, with the flu, when I kept going... The last couple of weeks, I've worked a day here and there, go on holidays, spend time with my child, do whatever I want, and then I'll put in the work when necessary. I love that, and I'm okay with that. So when you have the ups and downs, I really want you to pause for a minute and think about the journey that you've chosen, and be okay with the pros and the cons. If you are in Italy, the entrepreneur's journey, and you've decided, I really, really, really would rather be in France, fly to France, go and get a job, nothing's stopping you. You could jump online, you can get a job, and you can enjoy the benefits of low risk and high certainty and all of that thing, if you are prepared to cop all the cons that come with a job. The key takeaway I want for you here is I really want this to be about helping you to minimise the highs and the lows, and to really dive into the science and art of what you've chosen here. You've chosen the entrepreneur's journey. When it gets hard, dig in, grit your teeth. Celebrate wins, because every win is yours to celebrate, and every loss is yours to accept. You are wholly and solely responsible for the success. And when things go wrong, it's up to us to say, everything in my business is my fault. Grit your teeth, work hard, and work smart. In the Transformation Program, I give my bookkeepers an entire system, a blueprint for success, as they call it. So don't make excuses – go out and find people like me who can support you. We absolutely do that in thestrategicbookkeeper.global for bookkeepers, and betterinbusiness.global for entrepreneurs. Stop making excuses. Go out and get help. Grit your teeth, keep pushing through. Work hard until a point that you can work smart, until you can learn to scale, and scale your business just like I have done. Working smarter rather than harder means doing less. Or, the same work for more impact, and more impact is more profitability, financial reward, and time reward for yourself and more impact on those you serve. I really do hope that this blog helps you take a breath and remind yourself never again to complain in your own mind that you're not in France, because you've chosen to be in Italy – you've chosen the entrepreneur's journey. I want you to embrace the good, the bad, and the ugly, because I want you to think this is where I wanted to be so that I am the master of my own destiny. Now, that also means that sometimes, you just have to work hard and make hard decisions. I always say to my entrepreneurial clients, I won't necessarily ask you to work harder, I am 100% going to ask you to make harder decisions, and I know they're hard. I had to make a really hard one the other day, and I had to take my friend hat off and put my business hat on. These days, I'm black and white and linear. I play by the rules of the game and I play to win, which is something I've really embraced. Business is very black and white. Especially when it comes to the administration of your business, which is leading, managing, delivery standard operating procedures, administration standard operating procedures – there is generally one way to do things in the backend. I embraced just doing it the right way and never making excuses. And I suggest you do too. I really do hope that this post has clarified why you might feel those highs and lows, feeling like, I don't have certainty. There's so much risk. Yeah, there is. Guess what? It's not going away. You can minimise risk, you can increase certainty, but you've chosen the entrepreneur's journey, and it is a wonderful journey that I will remain on for the rest of my life, my friends. I think it is the most wonderful journey to embrace, to grit our teeth, to put in the hard work, to reap the rewards of the incredible business, the empires that we build, and to celebrate the impact that we have on people globally and their families.

For today's short yet punchy blog post, I would love to help you do a bit of a 2024 work-life reset. To do that, I'm going to first direct you to a podcast that I recorded for my betterinbusiness.global platform called the 2023 Work-Life Reset – it's really short and quick, but it's going to give you some great ideas to set you up for success in 2024. And then to shake things up a little bit, I'm giving you this blog as something new to add on to that. So, listen to the 2023 Work-Life Reset first, okay? It's fast, it's 20 minutes, and I used the formula that I talk about in there to impact my life for 2023, and it was really cool, and I know other people that it impacted really, really quickly. Now, diving into the heart of this post, I want to encourage you to architecture your life for 2024, which is something that I talk to my clients and my friends about a fair bit. My business buddies, my entrepreneurial friends, my clients, when they come to me and they say, oh, this is happening for me and I think I need to fix this, and I think I need to do this, and I talk to them about their businesses, whether that is in a formal setting as a business coach or an informal setting, I always find myself saying to them, look, what are you doing it all for? And then, I ask them to go away and architecture their life. I did this with some clients recently and they were so excited. It's seriously the end game. We can talk about the mechanics of business all we want, however, we need to always be coming back to why we're doing it all. Now, as entrepreneurs, our businesses should give us a lot of purpose. If you don't love your business, you need to make changes in order to love your business, or, you get out of it. If I meet an entrepreneur that tells me that they hate their business, either I help them change that very quickly, or I exit plan with them, okay? You don't stay in a business you hate. This blog is not really to tell you how to fix your business, or how to exit plan, but if you want a hand with that, just reach out to me anytime. Onto architecturing your life – what do I mean by that? And how are you going to do it? Most of the entrepreneurs I work with tend to be moms and dads. But even if you're not a mom or a dad, all the same. I want you to just think about what you want your day-to-day life to look like in the short term, in the medium term, in the long term. And, this usually relates to a few things. First of all, there is your mental, spiritual, and physical health – how are you going in terms of these three? So physically, are you getting the time to keep yourself physically fit? Are you moving enough? Are you eating enough? How's your mental health? How's your spiritual health? And to give myself as an example, absolutely, in my life, I come first. I believe everybody should put themselves first. That is how we show up for those we love and serve as our best selves. I believe that we should all prioritise our own physical, mental, spiritual health first. That's what I do. Now, as an entrepreneur, it's a bit of a rollercoaster and so sometimes, I have to sacrifice a little bit of the things that I want to do, in an effort to maybe kick some goals. An example is when I was rolling out my passion project in about mid this year, I didn't get to go to my favourite Latin dance events. I had to skip Latin school sometimes. And dancing is actually my spiritual health. I mean, it probably keeps me a bit fit, but it is my spiritual health. So when I skip that, I say to myself, it's okay to do that a few times, but it can't continue, because, in terms of architecturing of my life, that needs to happen. And then for my physical health, there's certain movement activities I like to do. I love to cook, beautiful, nourishing food. And if any of that is suffering, I take stock of that. In terms of my mental health, I invest on personal growth activities, journaling, and things like that. So, how do these things look for you right now? Are you pretty much most of the time getting all those things on point? Are you putting yourself first? Because if you're not, and if you're a mom... Because mom's often laugh and go, that's hilarious, Jeannie, we can't come first. We have to put our kids first. — No, you don't. That's not true. You'll show up for your children as your best self if you learn to put yourself first, okay? If you don't know my story, I have talked about it a lot, but I had to learn the hard way to put myself first. So absolutely, take stock of where you are right now as you architecture your life. What do you want to get in terms of your physical, mental, and spiritual health? Where are you now? Where do you want to be? You need to make your plan. What does 10 out of 10 putting yourself first, physical, mental, and spiritual health look like for you, for your spouse, for your children, et cetera? And then, that links through to time-money equation, or the income and lifestyle equation. How much money do you need to make, save, and invest for your own point of satisfaction? Now, point of satisfaction in terms of money is a phrase that came out of the mouth of Angela Savage, my amazing cousin. She's an author, she's represented Australia at the Geneva Conference, and she's one of those humans that you're in a room with them, they open their mouth and your jaw just drops. And I remember, she once said to my father who is a massively successful entrepreneur, I think everybody needs to just consider their own point of satisfaction when it comes to money. And that has simply stayed with me forever. So, it's not for me to determine your point of satisfaction. It is for you to architecture your life. I've been asked over the years why I don't work more, why I take so much time off, and it does make me laugh. I think, oh my goodness, time wealth – I want to be super rich in time. I want my point of satisfaction in terms of money, but I want to be super time rich so I can prioritise my mental, spiritual, and physical health, so that I can do all the amazing things that I want to do in this life. And to quote Hunter S. Thompson: Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather, a skid in broadside, in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, "Wow! What a ride!" I love that quote so much. So hey, time wealth. I'm actually hoping to be heading to Cuba early next year. I will dance in Cuba day and night, enjoy my life. I could work 10 times more than I am now and make 10 times more money, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to have me arrive at the gates of heaven having done everything I wanted to do. So architecture in our life, it's about time and money. When it comes to money wealth, I just want you to think, what do you need to earn? And of that, what are the investments that I want to make in terms of setting myself up for retirement, et cetera? And then, how much time do I want? So you need to do a bit of a What's happening now? Where do I want to be? How much time do I want for myself to spend on mental, physical, spiritual health? Are there hobbies and dreams you've got? Do you want to take up another hobby? Basically, I want you to think about the time equation. How much time are you spending with your kids? I think we never get enough time with our kids. With my son, he's at home, he's not in school. And when I've got a week where I feel like I don't have as much on, I've said to him, we're going to do a detox from tech and we're going to spend a week where I'm really passionate about the absence of toxic vegetable oils in our diet. And, it's almost impossible to do, but I do it. But to do that, I want to make sure my son doesn't miss out. So whatever he wants to eat, I'm going to go to the supermarket with him, buy all the ingredients, and make absolutely anything and everything without vegetable oil, and only using beautiful fats. So yeah, that is going to consume our entire week like crazy. Now, that to me sounds amazing, but that is the gift of time. So I want you to ask yourself, what does your time wealth look like right now? Where do you want it to be? What does your money wealth look like right now in terms of cash to live on, and then your assets? Because in terms of investing in building wealth, realistically, I call it the five-point plan. There's earn money, save money, borrow money, invest, and then leverage, and then repeat, right? Or definitely you go invest, leverage, repeat, because you just need to be leveraging and buying more assets. It's actually not rocket science. If you just want to invest in real estate and you're fairly smart about it, you can't go too wrong. A girlfriend of mine, she's in her mid-thirties, she's got 4 million in real estate and 2 million of it is leveraged, meaning she has 2 million in loans across 4 million in real estate. She just has a regular job. So she saved her money. She then borrowed money, she bought property, she leveraged the equity and the property to borrow more money, and then she kept buying more property. In terms of architecturing your life, it's the time and money equation. If you have a spouse, you need to do this with your spouse, or get them to read this blog, okay? Then, together, you want to absolutely sit and digest this concept of putting yourself first. Really lean into this absolute truth that every psychologist, every sufi, every master will tell you: putting yourself first is key to how you will show up your best self for those you love and serve. Go to a whiteboard, get a pen and paper out. Write down "My top three priorities are: First, myself – my mental, spiritual, physical health. Then my second priority is... whatever you decide it is. My third priority is, whatever you decide it is, but I want you to come up with three priorities, and I want priority one to be yourself. That's your first action step, and then your second action step, I want you to sit down and write down "income, lifestyle". And under that, I want you to write "money, time"– because that's what these are about. And then, I want you to do a bit of a now-future analysis. In terms of income, money, I want you to put, okay, I'm earning this now I'm saving this now. If it's nothing, that's fine. It's just awareness. Awareness, acceptance, actions. That's how change happens, okay? The three A's. So what is your income? How much are you saving? What do your assets look like right now? And then in the future, whether that's tomorrow, a year, whatever, you might be unhappy with that income or I want to be earning more, and then, I want to be saving X amount, and I want to be investing this. And actually, within the next amount of years, I want to have this many assets, even if these assets have borrowings on them. So I want you to think and write about those things. Architecture your life. And then in terms of your income as an entrepreneur, I want you to think about, this is the income I need and want to achieve those savings and investment goals and my point of satisfaction. And then in your business, rather than working, working, working, really understand what you're working for. Rather than hustling and working hard, I want you to work smart. Do the same or less work for more reward. And reward, that is impact on yourself, and to those you serve. Working smarter rather than harder is the key to the income and lifestyle. Really dig into, what is my revenue right now? What is my profit right now? What would I need to do to move the needle on my net profit in order to achieve what I want in life? Drill down into that, okay? Because sometimes, you might be able to identify, actually I just need this many clients. Actually, I just need my current clients to be doing something else. Too often, we just move ahead, growing, growing, growing our business, without really focusing on the net profit we need, and taking a bottom-up approach. That means, always looking at the net profit first, and then going up the profit and loss, not down the profit and loss. And if you want any help with these things, you know where to find me, okay? In terms of your income on this sheet that you are writing down on, I want you to think of those things, and I want to give you an example of people who are getting it really right, because success leaves clues. So I have a client who's been with me for so long and him and I caught up recently in my booking practice. We did our annual planning and strategy session, and I found out exactly what's happening in his business and in his life right now. And, he is one of the smartest business operators I have ever met. Let me tell you what he's really good at – he's really good at not growing his business, which in turn stabilises and grows his net profit. He actually looks at his business very analytically. He makes a decision not to do a whole lot of work. He micro niches, which is a great idea all the time, and he architectures his business and his net profit by deliberately doing things to impact revenue, growth, profit, and net profit. And that means that he does not say yes to a whole lot of business. That means that he only has a small but mighty team. A really healthy profit for an entrepreneur and a small business owner usually comes from a small but mighty business that has the ability to regulate capacity with price, work smarter not harder, have a brilliant pricing system, and more. If you're thinking, oh my goodness, I feel like I'm not doing these things and I don't know how to do them, just reach out to me, okay? And I will have a conversation with you, and connect you with the right people, the right resources. My point here is, when you are writing down those income items and you're thinking about that point of satisfaction in the income, the last thing I want you to do is grow your business. I don't want you thinking about that. I want you to grow your net profit, and you can grow your net profit without growing your revenue at all. But, we also need you to grow your time wealth, okay? You can make great money, but you need to make sure that you are getting all the things out of life that the money is intended to do, including that your asset base is where you want it to go. If you need help with any of this, just drop me a line and like I said, I'll have a chat to you, and point you in the right direction. Here's to the new year, and I hope that you move into 2024 excited about the opportunities to come.

In today's blog, I am going to share with you an email that I have received from one of our podcast listeners, which is in response to a question I asked in another podcast: "What's holding you back from doing the program?" I asked if listeners would kindly email me because the more I understand, the more I know, – the absolute more I can help you, and the more I can tailor everything. I've got the email here in front of me, and I'm actually going to start at the bottom and just mention that this wonderful listener said that she is a absorbing all my content, which is exactly what I asked. To rinse and repeat, if you're a bookkeeper in practice or a bookkeeper at the beginning of the journey, wherever you're at, I have worked my bum off to build the entire The Strategic Bookkeeper project to serve you. And let me tell you, that was no small feat. And, to help you as best I can, if you are not yet in my Transformation Program and you really want to get the most out of me and my content before you join – I would really love for you to use me. Just like this amazing bookkeeper who I mentioned has emailed me, and now, I can help. So, she said that she's absorbing my content – and that's what I want and need you to do. I need you to read my book once, twice, three times, four times – it's an absolute how-to guide! Listen to my podcast, join Book Club, and grab my free training Profit-first: How to build and maintain a highly profitable practice. Now, if you completely immerse yourself in all those content, I guarantee that you're going to be able to kick goals, and then you can get in The Strategic Bookkeeper's Way Facebook group and ask questions, or even make podcast episode suggestions. Because, this particular bookkeeper that emailed me has said that she is struggling with finding the cashflow. And, the $99 a week to invest in the program – even though she knows that investing in the program is going to give her an ROI that pays for it – she's just struggling at the moment to find that. So, what I'd love to do is maybe help you find a bit of that through my content, but rather than going on a sprinkler focus absorbing other content that's out there, which is wonderful and fantastic too, please absorb my content on a fire hose focus, so that I can help you best. And again, lots of gratitude for this wonderful bookkeeper for doing that. Now, the next thing on the email, this bookkeeper's trying to decide – she's been in practice, she's had clients, and then she's been down a path where she's exited practice but she didn't like being an employee. That really struck me because honestly, those of us that are entrepreneurs, those of us that are self-employed and on the Entrepreneur's Journey, we are filled with uncertainty and lots of other things – the total opposite to having a job. But, I truly believe that those of us that choose that path and that journey, it is where we're meant to be, and there's a good reason that we love it. So this bookkeeper is at that point where she's wondering: she would love to go back into practice, but there were issues last time she did. There were things just not working the way she'd like them to work, and she's once bitten, twice shy. So she is talking about the direction she wants to take on this and more. The first thing I'm going to say here is plan. What I want this wonderful bookkeeper to do, and we're going to call her Trish – Trish, what you need to do and what everyone needs to get clear on (I do this with all my entrepreneurial clients as well as my bookkeepers, and they kind of scratch their head and just go, how am I just not seeing this?) — You must understand the destination that you're trying to head for. Let's take Trish for example. Now, I'm not sure how old Trish is, but the destination we are heading for and what we need and want is going to be different at the different stages of our life, okay? I'm 51. What I want now is different to the goals that I was setting back in my 30s. So the basic way to look at this for Trish, for everyone, is to start with money. Start with going, well, this is the income that I want, and you can think short term, medium term, long term, and yet again, depending on where you're at, okay? So start with money, and then go for time wealth. The reason I say that is because once you've got that goal in mind – let's say you want a take home income before tax of 100,000 or 50,000 or 200,000 – only when you know exactly what you want to earn, can you work back from there to create the small but mighty practice. In this case, I'm going to say that Trish's goal is just to have $80,000 a year in take home income before tax, but that's net profit for her to take. It is one thing to say, oh, we want 400,000 take home, and absolutely you can aim for that and get that, but it is up to you to decide. Don't let anyone tell you what your goals and what your dream on your term should be, okay? Let's just say Trish only wants to take home $80,000 a year, and she wants to work 20 hours a week. For me, I like more if I can aim to work around 12, but sometimes I might work 40 or 50. Well, that is the entrepreneur's journey. Tomorrow morning, even though I've been a little under the weather, I'll get up at 5:00 AM I'll kick some big goals. I do lots of work for my tribe. I'm actually currently rolling out a really great module around events and workshops for them, and so I'll be up at 5:00 AM doing that. The entrepreneur's journey is not the job person's journey. I've done the podcast there – but let's say, on average, Trish wants to do 20 hours a week, $80,000 a year. Well, that's the destination, how do we get there from where we are now? Let's say Trish has exited her bookkeeping practice. So she's just been doing a little bit of work for other people and she wants to go from zero clients to a chapter of her own clients that is going to give her $80,000 a year income, 20 hours a week, and she's filled with purpose and valued. Here's what that could look like: Trish will be aiming for approximately 10 to 15, erring on the side of caution, really high-value strategic bookkeeping clients. These clients would be paying Trish $10,000 or more per annum, with a very low cost of sales. We could be aiming for up to double of $80,000 a year here, but I'm erring on the side of caution. We could say, 10 ideal clients who pay Trish 10,000 or more a year, and then she has a low cost of sales and business expenses – like The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation program. Let's imagine Trish is paying me $99 a week, because once she gets some traction, she invests in the program because in there, this stuff is exactly where we're at in helping you ongoing, and it's always evolving and changing. But as I mentioned in another podcast, one of the bookkeepers in the program, I've helped her come up with a plan that'll pull about $90,000 more profit out of her existing database with no new clients. So I think, this top 10 clients is a great one for Trish to aim for. So imagining that and in terms of the plan that we're making... so Trish's got my book, my podcast, the book club, and the Profit-first training. Using everything that I give Trish in there, then what she's going to want to do is come up with the best way to find at least one good client that can pay for the Transformation program. Because then, if we bring Trish into the program... looking at the mind map below, or what I call the business big picture— On the left-hand side is everything that you need to have ideally nailed for before a PC knocks on the door. And then on the right-hand side, I've got all the moving parts of how we make it all work. Right now, on the left-hand side, you've got the entrepreneur's mindset. You've got the work smarter, not harder, which is less clients, more revenue on profit. You've got pricing system, which is outcome, billing, price for profit, minimum viable rates. Then you've got productised service. So you need a simple suite of productised service, something I call the 80/20 rule. So 80% is the same, all the time, and you need to be able to offer up Strategic Bookkeeping, also known as advisory. Then you need your product ladder in place. That is content, welcome lines, core and succession, and you need a killer conversion process that allows you to convert more PCs into clients, and then VIPs without price as a priority. That includes needs analysis, welcome lines, video, sales letter, and follow up. So all of that on the left-hand side is going to take Trish a while to nail. If Trish worked diligently using all of my content that I've given her, that I've given all of you, it's going to take anywhere between a year, two years, five years, to get all of that stuff, version one nailed. Whereas when you come into the program, it is served up day one on a silver platter, and then we help you with how you implement it. Now, how I do that is a little bit of magic because when I ask the bookkeepers in my tribe, even they don't think they have nailed these. And then when I show them how they've got it all in place now, they're simply surprised. I knew that I wanted bookkeepers to get runs on the board immediately, and so I knew I wanted to serve all that up. So I think, the smartest thing for Trish to do would be to do some smart things based on my content. For example, if I'm looking at the right-hand side of my mind map, we absolutely need to generate business. We talk about find new clients, and Trish may need to find new clients but ultimately, what she needs to do is generate business, remembering that we can generate business from existing clients as well as our market, our prospective clients from partnerships and more. So this "generate new business" is a phrase that I'd like you to really embrace. In terms of Trish finding and onboarding some ideal clients without price as a priority, well, I'd suggest that finding one new client wouldn't be too hard. If I'm looking at the right-hand side, you've got brand, digital ecosystem, audience, attractions, strategies, database capture, database nurture, business development, and standard operating procedures. Now, Trish might have an old database, and in my free training that I offer you, I talk about database in there, as well as in my book as well as in my podcast. Database is the diamonds at your feet. So simply reaching out to past and inactive clients is usually the low hanging fruit, and you can do this. Trish was also saying in her email how she would love to rebrand and get the right assets in place, et cetera – but this is all a big job right now. Looking at your database and looking for past and inactive clients is something you can do without any collateral, without anything. Literally, I've got bookkeepers and people at training events who do it and they say, Jeannie, oh my goodness, it works. I just reengaged a past client. I just reengaged an inactive client – and voila, we have new business, we have a new client. We've really generated new business from someone on our database. So for Trish, for everyone, I promise that generating some cashflow to be able to join my tribe can be done by finding a client. And then when Trish finds that person, you can work on your conversion process using book club as your guide. If you join in – and I am not promising that that will be available forever because my job is to push you out of procrastination and get you doing it – you'll get all my recorded podcasts where I go into each chapter completely free. When I did the conversion chapter, I explain how to convert a PC into a file health check first, increasing your overall conversion rates. Let's say you convert five out of 10, you're going to convert seven out of 10, boom. And then that will give you more time for them to be in the customer journey, to get to know and trust you. You can do all these without any collateral. You can get runs on the board and generate enough income to join my program by doing these simple things. Zero collateral – all you've got is that you are a really great, technically skilled bookkeeper, and you are ready to do the mechanics and mindset and the productivity. You're ready to make no excuses, and no failure. If you can give me those two things, together, we can get a run on the board in order to help you be able to afford to pay for the program, so I can serve it all up done for you. And I would love to do that. So, if Trish finds someone, then that person on the database is already going to know and trust her. They might really appreciate the manners message that says something like, Hi, Sally, we haven't spoken in ages. I just thought of you and I wondered how everything's going. Make sure that they know you're the bookkeeper reaching out, so you can say things like, Are you keeping up with the books? I thought I'd just check if you need a hand, because if you do need a hand, I'm just a phone call away. I talk and train on this a lot. Birthdays – we must be working the heck out of our database, okay? Use Microsoft Excel to start. That's where I recommend Trish starts: database. The next place I recommend Trish starts is to hang her sign out on social media. And I'm not talking business social media, I'm talking personal social media. Use all the collateral I've given you and then go into your personal social media. It is the new networking room for the entrepreneur. I know that it can feel a little icky because social media can feel a bit yuck, but everything has the meaning we give it, and I don't find it yuck. I use it the right way. So hang your sign out, make sure everybody knows what you do. If you are starting a business, social media. Just like I say in my book, all you need is to post three times a week to show up consistently. Your version one is perfect, my friends. Whatever you put out for version one is your perfect version one. If you don't have a website and you want to get a website, contact my friends at Bizink. Mention The Strategic Bookkeeper and they'll take care of you wonderfully. It breaks my heart when I see bookkeepers spend tonnes of money on terrible websites, and so we've sorted that relationship for you. But, what I'm going to say to Trish and everyone is, if you don't have a website right now, it might be smarter to get a run on the board to be able to afford my transformation program, which is exactly what Trish wants to do in this email. I would not be serving you if I didn't tell you that, okay? That would seem like the smarter thing, and honestly, you can access my tribe members in The Strategic Bookkeeper's Way Facebook group and just go, anyone in the tribe, what can you tell me about this, or what have you saved or leveraged through the website collateral from TSB? Matt, the head of Bizink, when he rolled out the second website for one of our tribe members that's using our collateral, our marketing, and marketing copy, he rang me and said, Have you seen it? Holy cow, it is the best bookkeeper website we've ever done! So when you are collaborating with us, you're going to turbocharge that relationship. But coming back to Trish's email and what I want for everyone, it is to get runs on the board so that if what's holding you back is not being able to find that $99 a week, then I'm helping you right now with how you find that. And then the other thing, to rinse and repeat, is make sure you know what you're working for because as I say, I would be looking for Trish to have a handful of small but mighty clients. Now, there are other things in Trish's email – she's had staff before that didn't go so well. Who can relate to that? I certainly can. I've been the people pleasing manager. I've made all the mistakes. I've been there, done that. I would say that these days I have a lot of mastery in that area, and that's something that we can help you with in the program too. But let's work hard and let's get started by doing it ourselves, and that's what Trish would be doing. So in terms of team, I would absolutely recommend that anyone out there in this kind of position is going to go and look for a handful of high value clients and do the work yourself, and then come into the program and we'll make staff easier. Otherwise, there's a lot of high value content in my book, but being part of our tribe, you'll get the support from not just me, but the entire tribe. Everyone in the Transformation program, absolutely everyone, even the members who clearly are levelling up to become experts and ambassadors that will one day be coaching you as well, I get so excited to have that level of support around things like staffing. It's impossible for me to even convey how transformational that is. So absolutely, for Trish's email, that is what I talk about. And the reason that I'm connecting so heavily to the program is because Trish said that she knows she should be jumping in with both feet and joining the program, but she's not doing it because she can't find that $99 a week. And so that is why I'm explaining the answer for Trish in how she's going to afford it, and to help you with that too, okay? And other things that Trish said is that she is really keen to work in advisory. This is exactly what I need to hear. If you are keen to go beyond basic bookkeeping and into strategic bookkeeping, then we're going to give you the keys to the kingdom and all the collateral to not just do the strategic bookkeeping. Because, my friends, that is the easy part. But to build demand and desire for strategic bookkeeping so that your PCs and clients can't press go fast enough, and you're able to build this beautiful, small but mighty practice to build your thriving practice, delight your clients, and live your dream on your terms, that is the goal. So the other thing Trish did say, in terms of rebranding, I'd rather let us help you do that. We will save you bucket tonnes of money. So the Transformation program at $99 a week for a minimum term of a year with a 100% money-back guarantee, is a fraction of what you'll give to what will probably be a very average marketing person, okay? I just had an entrepreneur tell me he's paid $20,000 for a website a long time ago, and he hasn't even seen it yet. And this is a common tale which I hear from bookkeepers too. It is much smarter to come in and work with a veteran bookkeeper who specialises in brand marketing, selling, and administration for bookkeepers, my friends. The other thing that Trish said at the end is that she'd also like to get into one-off, one-on-one training for, say, Xero or QBO. Now, we do have a standalone course available to you called Be a Brilliant Trainer. I am a very gifted trainer and assessor myself; I've been told by clients when I train them in software that there is no comparing the way that I train to others. And obviously, I train in The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation program as well. So I decided, based on demand, that I would create this standalone course. And so if you're interested in that, you can find out all the details here. Be a Brilliant Trainer is a beautiful short audio course that you can do while you're out and about driving, going for a walk, whatever. You'll be certified in two hours. You'll learn what you need to know, and you will learn when it works and when it doesn't work in terms of training – and you'll be given a productised service that allows you to charge a thousand dollars for three hours of training, which pays for 20% of the program. You'll also be given a special qualification badge by me, and you'll be able to display that in your marketing collateral as a competitive advantage. And, it is also counts for CPD, okay? I am a registered BAS agent here in Australia, and that entire course is CPE points for you as well. So that answers Trish's last question. Trish also expressed her gratitude for everything that I'm doing, and I'm really grateful for that. The Strategic Bookkeeper Project fills my cup. I do believe it's my Dharma, and so it's my privilege to show up and serve everyone.

For this read, I will be taking it straight out of my recent podcast of the same title – and that episode, so pure and so inspiring, I tell you. So I had the chance to interview Deb, one of our tribe members, and it's so powerful to share with everyone regardless if you're in the program or not. I actually wonder, can I do a blog post that really does justice to just how incredible her journey has been? Deb's going to share with you as she just shared with me, her journey and her story in the Transformation Program. What really excites me about watching Deb's journey – her progress, her wins, everything in the program – is that Deb is the quintessential bookkeeper. And as you'll learn from Deb by the end, "if I can do it, anyone can". The impact the program's having absolutely fills my cup. I've said that a million times and I'll say it again. Like I say, I feel like I could rattle on and on in this intro about Deb and what she's got to share, but how about we just jump in and learn her story? Read the full transcript here. #thestrategicbookkeeperprogram #transformationprogram #tsbtransformationprogram #bookkeepingprogram #bookkeepingcourse #bookkeepereducation #bookkeepingonlinecourse #bookkeepingtraining #successfulbookkeeping #bookkeepingbusiness #bookkeepingpractice #strategicbookkeeping #bookkeeper #bookkeepingselfhelp #jeanniesavage #thestrategicbookkeeper #thrivingbookkeeping #bookkeeping #ebook #freeebook #bookkeepingguide #bookkeeperguide

In today's blog, I am going to start by telling you a few things: it's fairly early on a Tuesday morning when I'm writing this and the tradies will be at my house soon (as many of you know, I'm renovating my home). The other thing is, I'm sitting here and I'm sucking on a lozenge because I have picked up another little cold, which is really frustrating. And, I wanted to share a little vulnerably – but very much to serve you – that one of the things I'm doing around my health is levelling up my mindset. I prioritise myself and my health above all else. I put myself first – my physical, mental, and spiritual health. I learned years ago the hard way that if we don't put ourselves first, if we put our kids first or anyone else first, then we can't show up in a way that is best for them anyway. I absolutely prioritise myself and my health. However, I have fallen victim (if you put it that way) to a few things, and a good friend of mine who I call one of my "one-inch friends" talked to me about this. My one-inch friend concept comes from Brene Brown who says: "Get a 1x1 inch piece of paper and write down the names of the people that you can rely on to be very honest with you, even when it might be hard to hear." So I call these people my one-inch friends, and I am privileged to have quite a few of them in my life. Now, my one of my one-inch friends, Julie, said to me recently gently that she felt I should level up my mindset around my health. She didn't put it that way, but that's exactly what she said. She said to me, "Jeannie, your mindset around everything is extraordinary." She calls me like her sage, and she said, "So why is it that your health is different to that?" And these things are confronting to hear. This is why they are our one-inch friends. So long story short – my mindset around my health that I decided to adopt was that perfect health radiates from within me, and I spontaneously heal. So I'm turning up today with that mindset, and I am very happy to say that I'm getting through this little cold in record time. The reason I'm sharing that with you is because as a coach in The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program, or even outside that, when I talk to you right now, I want to remind you that there are three things that are really heavily involved in you finding success in your bookkeeping practice: Mechanics, Mindset, and Productivity. I'm sure there are lots of other things, but when I observed the tribe members in my program in the early days – who was getting results, who was struggling more – it wasn't just the mechanics because I gave everyone the same keys to the kingdom and everybody comes in ultimately with a very similar starting point. We can all say: "Oh, I'm busy... I'm this... I'm that..." I know that we are all the same "busy", but some of us found a way to get there and I truly believe, or should I say in my experience, I know that beyond the mechanics (which is the things that you need to do), it's your mindset and your productivity that makes the massive difference. For example, if your mindset is "I can't, and I don't have time and I feel overwhelmed", then my clients won't accept a price rise. Whatever your mindset is, that completely holds you back. I don't care what I give you in terms of mechanics, your mindset will prevent you from finding success. And I wanted to share that this morning, I've been inspired to do this post from an email that I got yesterday. I got this email from a beautiful bookkeeper who's not in the Transformation Program, and she was telling me how busy she is and how she's killing it in her practice. She's got about 4 staff and they just can't keep up with demand and all this. Honestly, I knew in my heart, I knew from all my experience, this was a busy bookkeeper, not a thriving bookkeeper. So I simply asked her some questions. Sure enough, the responses have told me that she's very busy – but is she really achieving the work smarter rather than harder in practice? Is she achieving the time wealth? Is she achieving the income and lifestyle that I help bookkeepers achieve when I help them with the mechanics, their mindset, and their productivity? So what I wanted to do in today's read (which I may end up breaking this into a little series of posts with such a huge subject), I want to ask you if you are making this mistake, or more broadly, "Are you making these mistakes?" We are going to dive into a bit around client attraction because when I survey bookkeepers, 50% of them say "I need more clients". It's definitely something that bookkeepers focus on when actually that is just a piece of the puzzle. Now, I said to my one-inch friend, Julie, "Honestly, I know in my heart that the first person we ever need to find the courage to be honest with is ourselves – and it is hard". And so, I'm going to ask you to find the courage to be honest with yourself, which is very hard for all of us, and to truly ask yourself: "Am I the busy bookkeeper?" Because, what I'm going to share here, we've all been there – including me. And today, I'll share with you the mistakes and misconceptions that you might be making in order to direct and redirect you. And, I'm going to refer to the mind map below, which I call the big picture for bookkeepers. On the left hand side, it's got everything that you really need to have done and ready and sorted, before you even answer the door to a prospective client, and arguably answer the door to an existing client with new needs. Then, on the right hand side, there are all the other pieces of the puzzle that you need to have in place in order to nurture that prospective client or client to onboard without price as a priority. Now, those sentences that I just said there, they were really concise and short – but let me tell you right now, it was like me giving you a novel. So if you want to go back and read this again, I would actually really encourage you to. The ability to find onboard and retain clients without price as a priority – it's not just a throwaway line. It is like the Indiana Jones movies when he's searching for the giant diamond or whatever it is, when he's risking his life and he's doing all these crazy things and he keeps going relentlessly. It's like, nothing will stop him looking for this diamond. Your ability to find onboard and retain clients without price as a priority is like that diamond that Indiana Jones would do anything to get – it's kind of like the elixir of your practice, which probably leads me into the mistakes and misconceptions. Mistakes are acting wrong, and misconceptions are thinking wrong. And if we are thinking wrong, we tend to act wrong. And with find, onboard, and retain clients without price as a priority, the mistake that bookkeepers make (that I made in the early days too!), is not understanding and truly focusing on what's really required to make that happen. What bookkeepers often look to do is to find new clients, and then to onboard those clients, and to do that using what I call the employee mindset and a math equation as pricing. Then in terms of retention, there are so many pieces to this puzzle, but if we come back to the three parts of the buying decision – relationship, convenience, and price – you need to be a 10 out of 10 in relationship. Because one of the mistakes that I made early on, I was able to lose a client when somebody else came along and impressed them more, dazzled them more, and gave them something that was maybe perceived as a dollar cheaper. It was believing that retention will just happen because you're a great technician. I guess the first mistake is really around going to market in your practice without a rock solid understanding of what it means to find, onboard, and retain clients without price as a priority. In order to expand on the mistakes that you might be making in regard to exactly what I just shared, I think the best way that I can do that is to share what I do, and what the tribe members are doing. We are seven months in to opening the doors to the program, and a lot of them have been with me the whole seven months, but we've also got newer tribe members. And so I'm going to share this with you as I seek to help you with the mistakes that you might be making, so I can direct and redirect you. My job as a coach, and it's something that I really believe and know in my heart, is to direct and redirect you. I've done it with business clients, and now I do it primarily with my bookkeeping clients. I'm giving you fresh direction, so it might be something that you really don't know. For example is the customer journey. You come to me (just like the bookkeeper who reached out to me by email) and you've got a lot going on in your practice – you're doing this, you're doing that. You tell me what you're doing because you still have a problem. Like the bookkeeper I did the hot seat with, she had so much work and therefore, a capacity problem. However, all of the work wasn't really translating into the dream. The dream becoming a nightmare rather than a reality. So, when she came to me, I checked her practice audit first, because when you come into the program, you complete a practice audit for me in a Google form, and then I've got all the results in a spreadsheet so that I can – at any time – look at what was happening in your practice at the beginning. And if we do hot seat, it's really helpful as well. I was able to analyse her practice before we caught up, and it was clear to me – as a coach sitting on the outside of her practice – what she needed to do. But, during the hot seat, I went down a rabbit hole on one particular subject, and that was a client that she was working with that had not been paying her, and what was going on there and why. Then the other rabbit hole we went down was the staff that she was considering recruiting. Now, long story short, in terms of direction and redirection on the client – that was problematic. The reason I focused on that is to change her mindset. Her mind and her behaviour around that client was going to change her mind and her behaviour around everything. I knew that. So what I had to do was redirect her, and then the same on the staff she was about to recruit (to be honest, it was going to be a disaster). She knew all the things that I told her and showed her. She tended to have in her heart and her gut, and that's what happens. Our gut doesn't often steer us wrong. I know when I'm talking to bookkeepers that aren't in the program, deep in the pit of their gut, they know they should join – but they develop a case for why they don't need to. Our gut doesn't often steer us wrong, and I just wanted to digress into this direction and redirection because that's why I'm here – to give you direction, and more importantly, redirection. I think of it this way: if you are headed in a specific direction thinking that you'll get there, but then you are veered off course, my job is to steer you back on course in the direction of income and lifestyle, of a thriving practice with delighted clients, and your dream on your term. So going back to some stories of me, of the tribe, and how we get this find onboard and retain clients without price as a priority to help you with the mistakes you might be making... Just by looking at my mind map above, I've got kind of a the top 12 mistakes that you could be making, because success is a lot like a jigsaw puzzle. And one of the first mistakes that I see bookkeepers make (that we get the tribe to not make anymore)— the employee mindset and a math equation for pricing. The second podcast that I ever recorded is about pricing and employee mindset. If you haven't listened, I recommend that you do. To give you an example of how my tribe gets this right, when I have a tribe member come in to the program, I do ask them "have you listened to that podcast?". If you haven't, you're going to take that action because we're not going to be surprised by the results we don't get, from the work we don't put in. So listen to that podcast, and with the tribe – definitely the ones that get the best results are putting in the work. So they get the Pricing Academy which is a foundation member bonus, and otherwise available for purchase standalone. So, once you get the Pricing Academy, which has my productised services, you also get my thought leadership around outcome billing. I often hear bookkeepers talk about value billing or fixed pricing. Honestly, these are phrases coined by suppliers and alike, and accountants. I'm talking to bookkeepers, and I'm a bookkeeper who's been there, done that. Now, I want you to read this: Outcome billing. In my tribe, we have like a mantra – we sell outcomes, not hours. We are outcome billing. You will not hear anyone in my tribe talk about value billing. Can you tell me what value billing is? Because I used to feel like it was the emperor's new clothes. The absolute first thing is to move away from your employee mindset. Let's say, as an employee, you were getting paid $30-40 an hour, and then you can double that rate. Amazing. Oh my goodness, right? That's employee mindset. The entrepreneur mindset is completely different to that, and it's multi-faceted. And I did another podcast on that called The Entrepreneur's Journey. So the entrepreneur's mindset – which is always evolving – when you have had 35 years in employee mindset being paid an hourly wage, this will not happen overnight or even in a year, but you will begin the journey and you'll rock it and kill it, then you'll kill it and rock it even more in the years to come. However, one of the foundations around pricing when it comes to the entrepreneur mindset is to sell hours, not outcomes. To actually focus – in a linear fashion – it is to build a thriving practice, before you seek to delight clients, and certainly, before you ever get the privilege of living your dream on your terms. And a thriving practice is one where you have a smart strategic pricing strategy, which has got productised services and minimum charge-out values, and where the hourly rate is not a math equation. For example: you had one client getting one type of productised service. If you were to break that down hourly, they might be paying you 2, 3, 4, 500,000, or $2,000 an hour. If that makes you go, "Oh my god, that makes me sick in the stomach, I don't understand that", then I want to tell you, you probably have some form of employee mindset going on, and that's the first thing that you need to think about. When you engage a real estate agent to sell your home, they charge you a percentage of the sale price they are charging you for the result that they get. As an entrepreneur, your job is not to sell your time or your hours, and that's actually not what your prospective clients and your clients want either. I can tell you right now – what they want is they want you to help them. If you think of just reconciling the bank account is helping them, well, then you've got a little bit of a ways to go and I'd love to be the person that helps you get there. Well, I've sat on this first misconception for a while. This first misconception is such a foundational piece, and I want to continue these posts week on week as we explore a bit more of these mistakes relevant to finding new clients – which, as I said, 50% of bookkeepers are going to tell me that's what they need. Where diving deep relevant to that, but also relevant to how you actually build a practice where you are working truly smarter, not harder. And that means, doing a certain amount of work for a massive result. Because, I can tell you right now, the bookkeeper who emailed me, bookkeepers all over the world and myself in the early days – I have had eight staff before and done the same profit as I can do with two staff. Working smarter rather than harder. I am going to wrap up this blog with a couple of things. So, action plan – your action is to absolutely listen to these two podcasts: Unlock the Power of Strategic Pricing and The Entrepreneur's Journey. Tune in to those two podcasts, grab my mind map, and be honest with yourself and ask yourself, if you really understand all the parts of the mind map and whether you have got all of that ready. If you haven't, then, what action are you going to take? When I got this email from this bookkeeper, I asked myself, "What is it that I'm not conveying about the Transformation Program that doesn't help this person see that it is the answer to all their problems?" I don't know whether it's because they sit in a place of not being entirely honest with themselves and wanting to believe that they can keep working and working and working. I'm imagining that kind of trudging and trudging and going and going, then one day it'll all fall into place, because this bookkeeper's email tells me a million things that this person's trying to get right. Everything that this bookkeeper's trying to get right is served up done for you in the program. So I ask myself: What's holding them back? Is it that I'm not conveying what's inside the program enough or properly? Or is it more that they don't believe that they need it , that they can actually build all these things themselves? And if that's the case, it's a misconception that I totally relate to because in the early days, I did seek help. As you'll read in my book, I thought I found help and it was never the help I needed and I had to do it myself in the end anyway. My first five years were my f*ck up years, and I look at bookkeepers and I think I know what they're headed for. They're headed for getting 2, 3, 4, 5 years more in and turnover having gone up – but their time wealth and their income not being where it should be or could be. That leading to those feelings of the dream just not becoming a reality. And so that other action is around being honest with yourself, okay? The way I see it, you've got two options: You can do it alone to try and save some money, or you can back yourself and go for it and join my tribe. And let me tell you, we are knocking it out of the ballpark. That's not a sales pitch. That is me serving you, dare I say courageously to find success.

Today's read is something very different; we're shaking things up a bit! (And honestly, don't expect this to be a regular thing). But, here's the deal with The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation program – it's always evolving. Right now, with our close-knit group, I've got the chance to experiment with some cool stuff, which means the tribe gets results even faster! So, recently on a Saturday I held a hot seat coaching session with Melissa, one of our awesome tribe members from the United States who's launching her bookkeeping practice. Now, one-on-one coaching isn't something we usually do in the program, but hey, I'm all about going the extra mile to help my tribe get results! And so today, I'm sharing with you the raw transcript of how our conversation went, in order to give you a sneak peek into how the program rolls. It's like getting a backstage pass, letting you see what it's like when you're part of the tribe. And the best part? You'll hear directly from one of our fantastic tribe members! Read the full transcript here.

If you have read my book, you'll hear me talk about three types of marketing: Brand, Advocacy, and Paid. For today, I want to help you understand advocacy as it relates to creating advocacy in your market through prospective clients (PCs) – not just with your existing clients. And for me, as a bookkeeper, that is a bit of a mind blowing concept. If you had come to me ages ago and said, did you know that you can create advocacy for your brand for who you are and what you do, with people that aren't even working with you? I'd be like, What??! Right? And so today, I want to give you a real life example. I am literally looking at an email from a PC who has never actually pressed go, and I kept in touch with him. He's cool, we vibe, I'd love to work with him, but we haven't yet, and he has referred me onto someone else. He actually has gotten to really know and trust me, and he is quite happy to be out there as my sales and marketing team, telling people that I'm awesome and that if they need a great bookkeeper or even better, strategic bookkeeper, they should use me. And so I want to link this to database and give you simple strategies for using database. And also, to a really high value resource that you can get access to which is our Profit-first Playbook – a FREE training on how to build and maintain a highly profitable practice. Because, for this blog, that is front of mind with regards to what I'm going to share with you on advocacy and action steps around database. But just to segue for a minute, I'm going to tell you the two books I recommend to everyone that revolutionised my health. One is called Deep Nutrition by Dr. Kate Shanahan – heavy duty read, like 12-hour audiobook. And then, Deep Science – I'm a whole different person because I read that book, plus with the revised version of Dr. Mosley's The Fast 800 Diet. It's only three and a half hours audiobook. And so with that little tip around health, I just want to tell you to always keep in mind to be the healthy bookkeeper as well, okay? So going back to our main topic: I'm looking at my little notepad and there are three things I want to cover and give you action around. I really want you to do your best attempt at taking action immediately after you read this blog, or as soon as you can reserve a tiny bit of time. And then, as I mentioned, I want to make sure you access the Profit-first Playbook: How to maintain a highly profitable practice – 100% free bookkeeper training. And if you haven't read my book, you must read my book. If you're more of a hardcover person or audiobook person, you can get that too, because I'm going to share with you a little, but the book is going to give you a lot more. Now, advocacy is the main form of marketing that you want to use. I was just actually talking to Matt Wilkinson from Bizink, our website partner. Nobody globally does websites for bookkeepers and accountants better than Matt. And, he was saying that he loves to talk about leads to loyalty, and this is definitely about leads to loyalty as well. I've just received an email, and this person, let's call him Justin. He and I connected about a year or so ago and we had a good chat. I did a needs analysis and a proposal to take over from his existing bookkeeper, who he wasn't entirely happy with. Now, even though I followed up and we've kept in touch, we haven't been able to proceed. There was even a time when he got one of my emails and he said, "Jeannie, good timing." So to be clear, we have automated emails that go to him, and I also send the occasional text message. The automated emails is what I call passive nurturing. And then, when I've got my business development hat on and I just send a nice text message, that's what I call manners marketing. It's good manners to keep in touch with people. And, in the Profit-first workshop, I share with you this incredible mind map that I've done that tells you exactly how all this fits in. So, Justin got one of those emails and he said, "Oh my goodness, good timing, Jeannie. Absolutely really want to go ahead in the next couple of weeks", but it didn't happen. And that's okay because as you may know, if you've read my book, Justin is going through the customer journey – the windy road with twists and turns of digesting a lot of content on average 7-11-4: 7 hours over 11 touch points and 4 platforms. Basically, think of it this way – if we remove the marketing language and take it back to basics: Justin and I have spoken on the phone. I've texted him, he gets emails from us, he listens to my podcast. Do you need a podcast of your own? No, you don't. But if you want to launch your podcast, go for it. I will let you know that in the program, we have a Done-for-You podcast. I'm just rejigging it as at November 2023 to make it a little bit more powerful for the Tribe before we formally give them more assets around how they can use that to promote themselves. So in terms of the 7-11-4, 7 hours, 11 touch points, four platforms, if we go backwards, the platforms he's been on is the podcast platform, the email platform, the text message platform, these, again, marketing language platform. But let's take it down to basics. If you talk about touch points: watch, read, listen, do. He's listening to the podcast, he's reading my emails, he's having dialogue on the phone, he's reading my text messages, he's following our social media. So there's lots of touch points here. And don't worry, you don't have to be a marketing expert to make this work for you, but I would recommend that you use my podcast and my book to slowly but surely educate yourself just little by little on these concepts. I promise you, some of them you're already using in the real world. You talk to people, you text people, you email people. So it's just kind of a step beyond that. This is the deep science and art of it, but don't be overwhelmed. In this case, we have sent an automated email, so this is all kind of on autopilot, but you can do this even without all the stuff in place. And literally, I'm looking at my email and he just sent me another email – I'm doing this in real life for you right now. I've sent an automated email, which you can do exactly this as a manual email as a pivot to action. I'm going to tell you what I did, and you can consider, I'm going to sit at my computer and do exactly what Jeannie did, just that I don't have my database maybe as organised, and it's not going to be a preset auto. I'm going to go in, and I'm just going to email all my prospective clients, anyone that I've ever kind of talked to about the possibility of doing services, my past clients as well, and my inactive clients. So anyone who you could categorise a PC, you could send them exactly what I sent Justin. The subject line is, "are you behind on the books or BAS?" Pretty simple – relevant to all your prospective clients, no reason you can't send that out. If you are sitting there thinking, oh, I don't think I really have my database in order, well, whatever accounting software you are using, your clients are in there – but all your past clients and inactive clients are in there too! So some of your prospective clients are in there. Technically, you could go in, export, and just take the clients out and everybody else is a PC. If we were doing fast furious or as I've heard it put before, quick and dirty, you probably don't have a million clients. You might have 10 clients, five clients, 20 clients, you can quickly extract them and everybody else is a PC. Now, if you only send this message to those people, you are on fire, my friend, these are the most engaged. They've done business with you before. Now, if there's anyone in there that you never want to speak to again, just take them out. I want to give you ways to simplify this stuff so that you can actually take a small piece of action immediately with the potential to get results. Now, segue for a minute, I did actually consider having this blog exclusive for my paying program participants only. But, I decided I wanted to give this to everyone because I could definitely find ways to help you inside and outside the program – but more so when you're in it, actively participating with the rest of the tribe. So in terms of the email I sent Justin, and which you could send out as well, you could use the nine-word email formula. Now, I just did a private podcast on that for my paying members. For you, all you really need to know is you could Google that, but I don't recommend you do because you'll go down a rabbit hole of how it's used for all different industries. For bookkeepers, I like to call it the nine-word email, text, or phone call. It could just be a really simple email that said, Hi, name. Are you behind on the books or BAS? That's it. It's an email of nine words or less, that simply seeks to pick up where you left off. So in terms of all these people that are either past clients, inactive clients, or if you know where your database is of anyone that you've ever sent a proposal, or anyone that inquired but you didn't send a proposal, import them in and you can send it out to them. All you need is this in Microsoft Excel, and technically you could even not use MailChimp. You can import them into MailChimp pretty easily and send out a nice mail, merge with their name, but you could also kick it quick and dirty and just go. I do recommend you use their name, but if you are doing zero now, anything is better than zero. Version one might be using Microsoft Excel and you're just using your Gmail or whatever, and you're just sending it out. You're going, you know what? I'm just going to take action. But version two and version three is going to be a bit more organised, all right? So I recommend you just use the nine-word email and you just send that. I love nine-word emails in this age where we have limited focus and we're also time poor. It's awesome. Mine kind of said, "Hi Justin, as always, I'm sharing this with you for one reason, which is to help you do better in business." I've also done it in what's called sales page format. Sales page format seeks to do some of the copy is in bold, centred, and also in a larger font. And what that does is when you get an email like that, oftentimes you only read that. So if he only read the stuff in bold, I'll tell you what he would read, do better in business up-to-date accurate numbers is globally recognised as pillar one for success optimise your business performance, your profit, and cash How can I help? Free of charge Back in the driver's seat, you'll have the floor I'll share insights freely That's all he would read. But basically, because I'm kind of a version 10 already, mine talks about, so last time I touched base, I wanted to know what your gut feeling around your numbers was. This time, I'd love to know: are you behind on the books and BAS because up-to-date accurate numbers, blah, blah, blah. It's what we call numbers 101 and it goes on and on, and then I actually give this person an opportunity to book in a complimentary 90-minute strategy session. Now, I like the nine-word email as much or better than I just told you. In sales and marketing, things are always evolving, and right now, I love the nine-word email, so please don't feel like you have to be doing my version 10, okay? Now I want to pivot back advocacy and how it works. So I've shared the story of when we met and so far, a bit of our communication. So then, I got an email today and it says, "Hi, Jeannie, I've referred to you, (let's call him) John Smith. Reach out to him as well. He has thousands of followers in his coaching business. And here's the message from this. John Smith says, does anyone have a great bookkeeper who's on the Gold Coast where I am or in Brisbane? I need a few hours a week, please. So basically, based on this friend of his wanting a bookkeeper, he's referred me even though he's not a client, even though he's never given me money, even though he's a prospective client. He has such a high opinion of me, that he's happy to actually tell people around him. This is the power of creating advocacy in your market, not just with your clients. We absolutely always think that advocacy only comes from working with someone because then, they become a happy client – and a happy client advocates for you. Well, these days in the economic and the tech landscape that we live in, the exciting thing is that you can and should be creating advocacy in your market for your brand, rather than just focusing on your clients. And, the book and free training is definitely going to help you with that. One of the most powerful things that you can start doing is keeping in touch with your prospective clients and your clients. With your clients, you need to make sure you're on the phone having dialogue once a month, and you might be thinking, but what if they don't have any queries? Get on the phone, once a month, ask, hi, how are you? Trust me now, believe me later. There is going to be a magic that happens. In my program, the tribe members often say, Jeannie, there's a magic that is happening. Well, there is a momentum that is happening, and it's through marketing layering, which I talk about in the Profit-first Playbook workshop. So, make sure that those quiet clients that you never hear from, you're calling them once a month. "Hi, Jeannie the bookkeeper here. We haven't spoken this month. Do you have a moment? Just want to find out how's things." Powerful, powerful, powerful. It will deepen retention, referrals, everything. Not to that mention you might have the opportunity to find out that they have other problems that you can solve. The power of keeping in touch is in having conversations. Now I'm going to tell you exactly my reply to Justin's email. I said, "Hi, Justin, thanks so much, and please call me anytime during or after hours on my mobile number, even if it's just to chew the fat on business generally. Always happy to be a sounding board. Hope you're looking forward to Christmas with the family." Now, there's a science and art to what I put in there. So why would I say please call me during or after hours? Well, my father has a saying that I love and it goes open the doors and give the people what they want. Sometimes, the time that a prospective client might think of me is actually after hours. And if we think about the reason for that is that, they've had a long day or a long week or a long month, and what they're thinking about is, I wish I had some more help in the business, and their brain is just tossing and turning things over. And then because I keep in touch, I pop into their head and they think, oh, pretty sure that girl could make my life easier. I would be quite happy with this person. And then, he's going to think, she always says on repeat all the time, please call me anytime during or after hours. So if I wanted to, I could just call her. She's already making my life easier and we're not even working together. Imagine if I gave this person some money. Now, how many after hours calls do I get a week? Zero. How many do I get a year? Two. I am more than happy to see a missed call or to receive a call if I'm not busy tending to the kids or Latin dancing. I have no problem. I 100% embrace the entrepreneur's journey. I'm not trying to have the best benefits of a 9-5 job and be an entrepreneur, and I recommend that you don't either. And then why do I say, even if it's just to chew the fat on business, generally, always happy to be a sounding board – it's because whenever we talk to a PC about where they're at and what's happening for them, we are doing more needs analysis. This is why it's really important to keep having conversations. And then obviously, hope you're looking forward to Christmas with the family. I remember him telling me about his family and how he just moved here. This is ages ago, and I love that, and I hold him in my mind, and of course I'm thinking about his beautiful little children and enjoying time with them. But the science and art here is, as I say in my book, people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it, and everything that I've talked to you about today leans into the why. So call me during or after hours, even if it's just to chew the fat on business generally – I want to know his why. You know what I mean? What are your wins? What are your losses? What are you struggling with? And I'm telling you, literally 15 minutes ago, he sent back to me. "Hi Jeannie, appreciate that. I'm going through an acquisition of a practice at the moment, but hopefully we can connect in the new year." Basically, he's telling me I haven't started using anyone else. I'm still with the bookkeeper I'm not happy with. I did a podcast on relationship, convenience, and price – the three buying triggers. Now, he is only staying with his existing bookkeeper because it is inconvenient to leave them. That bookkeeper doesn't realise this client is holding on by a thread and will leave, will run from his practice, the minute that he has the space to do so, but it is inconvenient to change bookkeepers. So this business owner is telling me, I absolutely want to work with you and I'm going to. All I have to do, with my business development hat on, is keep in touch with him. I actually talk about this more in the Profit-first Playbook, free training. I give you some more information on how you can do that in there, but to keep simple: Imagine if, every day, you reached out manually to a past client with a text message, or an inactive client, someone who hasn't said yes to a proposal, right? Keep in touch. Somebody that's six months ago said yes to somebody else just to say, "Has it all worked out? Are you happy? Call me anytime to chew the fat on business. Generally happy to be a sounding board." What would happen in your practice? You would eventually say, gosh, I just seem to have a pipeline of leads now. So if your head's spinning now, just remember, you can re-read this blog anytime. I'm going to tell you that embracing the diamonds at your feet— your database will revolutionise the results you get in your practice. After you finish this blog post, if you have a past client or an inactive client, just send them a text message which seeks to understand where they're at, which is also the nine-word email that picks up where you left off. So, Hi, Sally. Haven't heard from you a while. How's things? or, Hi, Sally, you just popped into my head. Are you keeping up to date with the books? If you're not, please just sing out during or after hours. So there's two messages you can send. I can tell you right now that two weeks later, I'll get a reply that just says, "You're such a gem for thinking of me, Jeannie", and this is authenticity and manners marketing, my friends.

I want to ask you: Will you be one of the 20%, or one of the 80%? Today, I want to educate you around the science of what that means, the five key areas that I primarily think that bookkeepers make mistakes around that leads to struggling to find the success they want and need, and, the three big keys to making it work so that you can be one of the 20%. Before we get stuck in, I thought I would share something a little personal with you: I'm totally into the Science of When, it's Daniel Pink's science-based book and it is why elective surgeries are done in the morning. For me, I'm always listening to the bookkeeping community, primarily in The Strategic Bookkeeper's Way Facebook group – and based on listening to what they tell me they need and want and what they're struggling with, my little brain gets working and I come up with this thought leadership and ways to educate you, inspire you, challenge you, and that is generally in the morning. So it is a gorgeous morning here on the Gold Coast, and I'm writing this blog for you. And I am so passionate about this one because I'm passionate about bookkeepers making the decision to take a step in the direction that will lead them to having success, because I just see it all too often that inaction costs them everything. In this post, I'm going to name it to tame It. It might sound like I'm pitching the program, but I'm not. And I want to explain that what I'm pitching is that you learn the statistics around success and failure, that you accept them to be true, that you realize that there is a choice around action and inaction, and that you take action. I am pitching you to take action, in order to find success. In terms of my program, you're going to read my book or listen to the audio book. You're going to listen to my podcast, you're going to attend my free trainings, and you're going to SELF-ASSESS when you're ready to join. But, here's what I know, inaction can and will cost you everything. And that's what I dive into here. And so I just wanted to name it to tame it before we got started that if it sounds like I'm pitching the program, look, I have no problem singing the praises of the program because I know it's extraordinary, but I'm actually pitching you to take action. And I was talking to an accountant friend not so long ago, we're great business buddies, and we were talking about our clients getting a return on investment for our services. He is absolutely a strategic accountant as I am a strategic bookkeeper. And so we were kind of chewing the fat on that, and then we talked about something else and he said, oh, that seems to be expensive or That costs a lot. And then he caught himself, and he put his hand to his mouth, and he said, I just did it - I'm such an accountant. Everything for me is a cost. Whereas ultimately, whatever we were talking about was something that was a clear investment. It was like a Yes, if you do that, you're going to basically get a really quick return on investment higher than the fee – which is also exactly what my program is. It's what my book is, it's what my podcast is. I know that my podcast is free, but it is something intended to give you value in order to do better in business. That is my VALUE approach. So what I expect is for you to kick goals, for you to make money, because then I'm giving you value and I'm proving myself to you. My book is very low cost, and you know that you can make lots of money and save time by using the book. These things are not a cost, they're an INVESTMENT. And in fact, our bookkeeping practices are a form of investment. And when we become time rich and we're still pulling six figures profit out to put food on the table and prioritize the things we want, that is the return on the investment. So in terms of the program, same thing. Within no time, you make more than the program fee. As I said, inaction have been costing bookkeepers and accountants everything, and I do believe it is linked to all of us, myself included – we find it very easy to see things as a cost rather than investment. And actually, basic bookkeeping alone is seen as a cost, not an investment. Let's quickly take in the difference between a cost and an investment: A piece of clothing that I really don't need is a cost, but a practical snow jacket is an investment in me not freezing to death. But yeah, definitely consider your own profile and your own bias. I am the same as you in that way because, if, as a bookkeeper, you can actually shift your mindset to invest some time and money in something that will help you to find the success that you want and deserve, then that is the action that will help you get what you want. Because in terms of the program, just for example, if you say, well, I'm not going to do the program because I don't want to pay the fee for it, I don't want to spend the time in it, then that is inaction. And then in the year or two or three or four or five years that you're struggling along trying to find success, it is the inaction that has cost you. Whereas let's say, with the program, you go, okay, I see that's an investment. Jeannie has guaranteed I'm going to get a return on investment or she'll give me my money back. Or, actually when I do my sums, if I invest this specific amount of money and a specific amount of time, then I can see that within a 12 month period I'm going to get a return on my investment. But ultimately, the kicker here is that with bookkeepers and what I've seen in the 80/20 rule – it is a science-based rule, and in fact, if you look at all of your clients, 20% of them will be giving you most of your revenue. It is a science model, and 80% of bookkeepers, through inaction, will never find the success they're looking for. And that's why 20% of us in the industry are winning the work and finding the success. We're winning the work off the 80% who are getting it wrong. It's a bit of a hard pill to swallow, but it is the art and science of it. When I talk about joining my program, I have no shame in talking about that. It is not a sales pitch. I recently said to someone, my program is probably not right for you – because at that time, this person couldn't find it in themselves to trust me, and that's not going to work. When you step into the program, you step into a place of trust. Since then, that wonderful community member has joined, and we are great business buddies and we're going to do great things together. What the key takeaway to this is that, when I talk to you about my program being a return on investment, I do that because the cost of inaction for bookkeepers breaks my heart. So hopefully I'm being really clear on that. It is for you to self-assess the right time to join the program. But if I didn't educate you on this, if I didn't tell you this, if I didn't tell you what I'd seen, if I didn't tell you the science of the 80/20, I wouldn't be serving you. Now, all these actually translates into business. The official business statistics globally are that 80% of small businesses go bust in their first five years. Bookkeepers are not separate to this. Bookkeepers are in that pool – 80% of bookkeepers through inaction and through thinking the wrong way and taking the wrong action, will shut up shop within five years, or be in a position where they're scratching their heads wondering why they're not making as much money or time as they probably could in a regular job. So my question to you is, are you going to be in the 20% or are you going to be in the 80%? And if you're struggling right now, what are you going to do about it? Based on those metrics and even my own journey, if you've read my book, you'll hear me talk about my first five years as my f*ck-up years. And if you haven't read my book, read my book. Inaction will cost you everything. It's available in audio form, less than six hours long, an hour a day while you're going for a walk, okay? Please start with the book. (And actually, it's compulsory before you come into the program, and we give you all the audiobook files in there as well just in case you haven't done it.) Back to the science and statistics – it is natural to understand that within five years, you should have got there. So if you are beyond five years in and you haven't achieved what I achieved, which was a six-figure income and the ability to work a handful of hours a week to work whatever I wanted, then you are absolutely at risk, and you need to take action and get some help. Five years in, you should absolutely have nailed marketing, selling, and systems. You should have nailed pricing system, the marketing X factor, which is trust, keeping your promises relentlessly. You should have nailed leadership and management brand and brand assets, and you should have nailed what rather than why. I thought about it, and I've determined five KEY AREAS that bookkeepers fall over on – the five key areas you need to nail, non-negotiable, if you're going to be one of the 20% that succeed: 1. Pricing and products It is globally recognized for every service-based business that one of the pillars for finding any success is pricing strategy. So again, in bookkeeping, we are professional services. And this is not just my stuff, this is not my rule of the game. This is the rules of the game. So in terms of pricing, there is a pricing system and productized services micro niched into helping bookkeepers, and that is OUTCOME BILLING and PRODUCTIZED SERVICES. You can listen to my podcast on pricing and for outcome billing, the important bit is that outcome billing is selling an outcome not an hour, okay? Productized services are selling benefits and outcomes, not just features and functions. And if your head is spinning right now and you're like, this is all new to me, I recommend you jump into the Facebook group and actually say, Jeannie, I just listened to this podcast and I don't fully understand what you're saying – I will point you to content that explains more, okay? So the next thing on the list, 2. The marketing X factor I would sing about this one all day. It's simple, but 80% of bookkeepers are getting it wrong. It is trust. It is keeping your promises. What does trust look like at work? It looks like I'd do what I said I'd do, in the timeframe I said I'd do it. It looks like time and task. Are you surprised that 80% of bookkeepers are getting that wrong? And they'll actually tell me, oh, it's okay. My clients understand. No, your clients are ringing me to change over. And actually, I'll let you know that what contributes to bookkeepers getting this wrong is, more often than not, they take on more work than they can handle, which is poor capacity management. Now, everything I give you right now, everything I talk about, is nailed for you in the program. I've got all the detail. Please do listen to my podcast Some of my favorite things because it explains the impact. The third one, 3. Leadership and management Boy, did I learn this the hard way. I was actually thinking about this yesterday and I was like, what if I had have known this way back when? It's like almost this ethereal stuff that explains everything. Now, leadership, which I did not understand at the beginning, is, As a leader, you set the vision and the mission of the organization. This is outlined in brand, your organization's personality, why you exist. I didn't start that way. I didn't have a vision or mission early on, and I've dived into the science and art of it the last four years, to create a groundbreaking vision and mission, which is done for you in the program. Because as a bookkeeper, we can leverage this together. You need to be able to have a clear vision – that is why you exist in the eyes of your customers. And then a mission, that's how you going to achieve that vision for them. And then, you need to inspire the team to bring that vision to life by following your mission. When you have team, whether that is a subcontractor or through a digital marketing agency, you need to be able to wear the manager hat and wear it well. That is Plan, Organize, Staff, Direct, Control – zero tolerance, my friends. So once again, jump in the Facebook group and just say, Hey, Jeannie, no idea what you're talking about. Give me more content. And I'll just point you towards all of that. These things, they are also a diagnostics tool. You can look at them and, oh, I'm not getting that right, et cetera. And then, you can start to diagnose the problems to come up with the solutions, which, I'm going to put my hand on my heart and say, the easiest, quickest solution is join the program. Fourth on the list, 4. Brand and brand assets I was chatting to a bookkeeper the other day and they kind of were trying to tell me what they needed and what they didn't need in the program. And this bookkeeper's in Canada, and I had a look at their website and I could see that there was a complete lack of brand, which is organization personality, and the brand assets had been developed without the brand, which leads to them being... how would I put it.. it's like they lack the power, and therefore they can't actually do what they're intended to do. A brand is intended to connect you in a deep way to your market, and it does it positioned in your brand assets and your brand sphere, which is your brand weaved through your brand assets. And primarily, this is the digital ecosystem. Website and socials is the fundamental way that you are going to create an invisible pipeline in your bookkeeping practice, which is one of the big five keys so that you're not on the seesaw strategy of do the work, win the work, do work, win the work, one at a time. You have an invisible pipeline of people that float in a brand sphere that quickly connects them to you being able to find, onboard, and retain them without price as a priority. And you've got the competitive advantage. So the very last of those five things, your five point plan for really diagnosing why maybe you're not finding the success you are finding, is 5. The What rather than Why What we need to do is have the Why rather than What, or two Why's to every What, okay? And the bookkeepers who know me well enough know that I'll always talk about it. It's very connected because your why is your brand. It's why, in the eyes of your client, they want to work with you. And then what is the features and functions. So the What is what you do, like bookkeeping, financial reporting, tax accounting, all these other things that is like a car that you jump into, drive to your dream holiday. And the dream holiday is the Why. What I see bookkeepers do all the time, and I did this at the beginning as well – so bookkeepers, we are detail orientated people and we will always talk about What we do, not Why we do it. And to really have success, you need to be able to connect the Why, the benefits and the outcomes. So just as an example, the bookkeeping is the What, the benefit of having your bookkeeping up to date and accurate is peace of mind, numbers in your pocket, these kind of things. The ability to see how your business is performing, which is how you're going to improve your profit and cash, it is optimization of business performance, optimization of profit and cash and more. So if you come into the program and you hear me talk and you hear me educate you, or even in the free trainings that I've done, you'll hear me go deep into the Why language. Now, this takes time for you to bet into habit. How much time? A year – and that's why the program is a lap around the sun. So, I've given you five point plan, okay? You can re-read this as often as you want. I want to wrap up by reminding you that inaction is what costs bookkeepers and business owners everything. You need to take the right action and invest the right amount of time and money to get the right return on investment, find the success that you want, and be one of the 20%. Remember, this is a global statistic – 80% don't find success. If you join the program and you do the work, and you work the system with me, then your success is pretty much guaranteed. Because, you're buying into a system that is proven. So another fact is that, while 80% of small businesses go bust in their first five years or near on bust, systems like franchise systems have a failure rate in the very small, single digits. The best of the best is 1% and less. And, The Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program is a licensed membership system, a proven system with a money back guarantee. So joining in, you're buying into a system and the global data and metrics around the success of a proven system (which is talked about in the E-myth, a world bestselling iconic book). The statistics are that, the failure rate is 1% rather than 80%. The systems which aren't as amazing, their failure rates are still in the single digits, but they can be up to 6%. When you buy into a phenomenal, amazing system, the failure rate is 1%. If you go at it alone, the failure rate is 80% – I absolutely want to help you be one of the 20%. The last thing I want to share with you is something close to my heart, and that is something I know and that is, when you come through the program, you're absolutely going to be one of the 20%, right? And then, there's going to be 20% of my program participants who shine the brightest. And that is the 2% – because the 80/20 rule continues to work within itself. So for example, if you look at your client base, 20% of your clients are bringing you the most work. Now, look at the 20% of that 20%, and 2% are the highest value to your practice. And so what excites me is that, I know that 20% of you, which ends up 2% of you, will just shine so bright. And I'm so excited! My vision is for you to become tribe experts, and for you to be in there delivering some of the training as you shine. So absolutely, you can aim to be in the top 2% of bookkeepers globally that shine the brightest, okay? I am absolutely proud and humbled to be in the top 1% or less of bookkeepers globally that are shining the brightest. I absolutely pinch myself, but I did the work and I invested the time and money. And recently, a business buddy and someone I work with actually said to me, Jeannie, nobody gets results like you. And then she said, but Jeannie, nobody shows up like you. And showing up is about showing up ready to not just work hard. You absolutely have to work hard. In the eight weeks before I launched The Strategic Bookkeeper Program, I worked seven days a week, day and night. So show up, ready to work hard, make harder decisions, invest time and money, and then back the hell out of yourself. I have backed myself like a crazy woman over the years, and it's not hard. There's times I've folded and I've listened to the voice of shame, or I've listened to some well-meaning person who thought they knew better. And I'll tell you what, I reflect on the inaction that I took when I didn't back myself, what I didn't do, the different decisions I made based on well-meaning people who thought they knew better than me, and if I had have made those decisions, if I had have taken that action, I would be better off today for it.

For today's read, I want to dive into some things around SYSTEMS and TEAM. I know I've been talking a lot about sales and marketing, and that's because the sales and marketing stuff is much harder to nail. SOPs, not so much – but there is a part of SOPs, which is really related to the management and few other things, that makes it much harder than it should be. So, let's jump in and learn some stuff that will move the needle today or another day, depending on whether you've got team now, or you intend to hire. I'm sure you've noticed that our podcasts and blogs around sales and marketing are micro niched into bookkeepers. And that is, to help you with exactly what you need to know – I'm not a generalist, I'm a specialist, right? Sales and marketing for bookkeepers is a lot like painting a Picasso. It is not linear. It is throwing paint on a canvas, and it is a windy road down the customer journey from A to Z. It is the science and art. It interacts with so many things. Even Google! The algorithms change – what works one day doesn't work another day. Different referral partners work differently. You get information off people that's completely wrong. It is not your specialty. It is not what bookkeepers generally do well, right? I could go on and on. So the sales and marketing stuff is really hard to nail and honestly, globally, I've seen what's on offer out there. And look, this is probably why nobody in the bookkeeping space is offering the kind of help and support that I am offering because, you know what? It's much easier to offer support around systems and standard operating procedures. And actually ,it's easy to sell that to bookkeepers because your profile is such that you naturally bias into wanting to believe that standards, systems, and SOPs are what will build your thriving practice, when actually they're just a piece of the puzzle. If we can't find new clients when we need them, if we can't create a beautiful pipeline strategy, not only will we not grow our business, but we won't have much fun – because we'll be on the seesaw strategy. When you find a new client, you certainly need to know what to do with them as well. I give you lots of stuff on that if that is a problem that you really, really want to solve. The book is great, the podcast is great, but there is nothing like the program. It is a Ferrari. So I would encourage you to either join, or begin to look at what's inside and the value of it. Now, let's talk about the 5% things around standard operating procedures that will make all the difference. And as I talk to you today, I'm holding a bookkeeper in my mind that reached out to me not long ago. We had a beautiful chat. We had so much in common. It was just open hearts, open minds, amazing. And, she has taken over a bookkeeping practice. So I know that she's got team, right? She's got heaps of clients, and she said to me, I'm so bogged down with trying to kind of fix everything, the infrastructure, the back end – because the sales and marketing is the front end, and the administration is the backend. Imagine the front end of your business like a little girl running around with a flower in her hair skipping, and then the back end, imagine that as a serious woman with glasses on, sitting at a desk, ticking off tasks. The backend, like I say, is very structured and linear, and the front end, not at all. So I hold this bookkeeper in my mind because it's a great example of someone who really needs this kind of information. So whether you have a team now or you're going to recruit a team in the future, the minute you have one person, everything will completely change; you go from you, to plus one. I remember doing that and you think, it's just someone helping me, right? Oh my goodness, no – read the E-myth or do the Blinkist up E-myth summary, 10 to 15 minutes. Here's the thing about RECRUITING your first staff member or recruiting team: You are recruiting humans, not robots. You are recruiting messy, beautiful, flawed humans. And I did a podcast that talked to you about the four types. So you've got the superstar, the workhorse – that's who we want on our team. And then unfortunately, you've got yo-yos and time wasters, and we need to hire slow and fire fast. And one of the reasons for that is because, unlike the creative windy road of sales and marketing where things are all over the place (and it's hard to even tell what's correct and what's not!), in the backend, things are very linear, very black and white, and there's not much room for movement – which in my opinion makes the backend a lot easier if you are prepared, or rather, makes it simpler, because simple isn't always easy. My friends, I have learned the hard way that in terms of the backend, we need to be prepared to make the hard decisions far more than we need to be prepared to work hard. Hard decisions, rather than working hard. Hire slow, fire fast. Hold people accountable, no excuses. So when you recruit your first team member, let me tell you, your business is going to change. Imagine it going from one to 10 in terms of the challenges that you'll face. And the way that you can minimize those challenges is to really absorb and implement the things I give you. And, the best way you can implement what I give you is to absolutely use the invisible hats. So when you're implementing what I give you, I want you to take your personal or parent or friend hat off, and you're going to have to put your big boss manager hat on. But the great news is that you don't always have to wear it for very long and you can interchange hats, but you absolutely are going to have to do it. I absolutely wish I had done this better in my business over the years prior to starting my bookkeeping practice. I did it really, really well in other people's businesses. And I firmly believe that's because we're not at the top in a way. We get to blame the owner of the business or whatever, not verbally, but in our mind it's like, well, I'm being paid to do a job. I'm being paid to manage this team and I'm going to do it in a very structured box ticking way. I'm going to be fair, I'm going to keep my values intact. But then, when it comes to our own business, there's nobody – we can't look over our shoulder at the big boss who everybody knows is to blame. Do you know what I mean? I certainly found it completely different doing it in my own business versus doing it in someone else's business. And what I'm talking about is that people pleasing manager, the people pleasing monster, leaving the friend hat on. And then when I did wear the manager hat on, having half the friend hat, half the mom hat, half the manager hat, and even having the sales and marketing hat on, we definitely don't want to have that on when we are in the backend dealing with administration and dealing with staff. The only hats we want to wear when we are in the backend are the manager and leader. So, if you have a team of one or more, or you're going to recruit: In terms of standard operating procedures and developing those for yourself, or even if you come into the program and we give you everything done for you and then we hold your hand for a year – As the owner of the business, you are not the best person to develop the SOPs or roll out the SOPs, whether it is outside or inside of our program. If you have a team of one or more, usually that person or someone on your team is the one who is best heading it up. Now, in the book I give you psychometric testing, which is really easy to do and I do recommend that you get that done with you and your team. Everybody on my team has theirs done. I don't recruit before I have it. And we all share it and we laugh a lot about it. And then we're able to really understand each other's strengths and weaknesses. So, this will really help you understand this person's aptitude for taking care of the standing operating procedures. So that is number one, hold it in your mind. Number one, you are not the best person to do it. If you are all by yourself, then absolutely you can document what you do in order to create SOPs. I call it the "I did it" document. If you're working all by yourself, you could have a document open and you say what you're doing, how often you do it, how long approximately it takes is a really good one. And then, the last column is a link to a basic SOP that tells someone if I became unavailable, this is how you would do it. Remembering that we're not teaching someone how to be a bookkeeper either – because we recruit bookkeepers, and this is going to be for the day-to-day bookkeeping primarily because we always want to be documenting the critical client flow first. But, there is a crossover into the admin onboarding et cetera, because the administration of your business happens while the critical client flow is happening. And then, the onboarding and offboarding is to be considered as well. So, the second thing is a mistake I've definitely made before, and I think most bookkeepers make it. It's back to the fact that we recruit humans, not robots, and that is that. So we recruit a human and it's easy to feel like, okay, great, I'm just going to ask them to do something and they're going to do it. And they're always going to tell me the truth. The truth is not a black and white. What I would say with regard to that is, when you bring on a team member, it is natural for them to want to, I think of Frank Sinatra when I say this, do it my way. You need them to do it your way. Your way is your standard operating procedures. We call our SOPs The Strategic Bookkeeper's Way, and then we turn it into the Cloud 9 Way – we've built it off the back of ours. So, what I say to my team is, you need to believe in my way and you need to trust me and you need to do it my way. Zero tolerance. There's no room for movements. If you don't want to do it my way, that is okay, but you can't work for my brand if you don't do it my way. Because, we are going from our vision for our clients to our mission, and that is all backed up by our processes. So if you're not going to do it our way, then best of luck and let's keep the friendship and end the employee-employer relationship or subcontractor, whatever you want to call it. I actually once had a really amazing employee and as we began to turnkey the business, she said to me, I don't like that you are turnkeying. I don't like that. I have to follow processes. And I said, well, this is business 101, and you're amazing, and I love working with you. That's not something I can be flexible on. Every business needs to turnkey. And so she moved on. And to this day, we are still friends. We still get along really, really, well, but I couldn't keep someone on my team that had such a major conflict. So then, what do we do about that? Well, number one, we manage them. Alright? In terms of getting your SOPs in place, the team has to be using them 100%. Zero tolerance. I believe you should give yourself a special project that is over one year. Begin it, you monitor it, you manage it, and you celebrate at the end. Now, there was a time that if you told me that, I would go, but they're just SOPs and I just give them to the staff and they follow them – I wish it was that simple. These are humans. We have habits at play. They all want to do it their way, and often they feel like they know better than you, and also that you don't understand their workload, you don't understand all the different excuses they've got for skipping steps, and just telling you they're doing it because you don't really understand. Now, let's say you came into the program (and actually, it's the same if you don't come into the program, but it's going to be easier for me to brain dump thinking of it that way) – and we give you the SOPs and we kind of help you with how to get started. Let's imagine for a minute that you've got two on the team. So the day-to-day of what you do, the work is the ongoing stuff. Anything that you need to introduce and implement is, to some extent, a special project. And using that phrase "special project" is great because we can also say, okay, this is the beginning of the project, here's what we need to do, and I'm going to check in and check on the progress, so you can have a way to understand how it's all going. So somebody on your team, for example, if you're in our program, they would head up all the standard operating procedures. Now, what they need to do is pretty simple. They need to take the SOPs, learn them, implement them. If there's anyone else on the team, they need to help them with how they implement them, then they need to look at if everything is working in respect of, is everyone doing all the things that they are meant to do in the timeframe they are meant to do them. And then, they need to have a way and a forum to tackle things that come up weekly. In our team, we have something called "The better every week" process and sheet. We don't do interruptions. We have ways to tackle all that so that every week, everybody has a forum to talk about the things that need to be modified and improved, and who's going to do it. So, over that year, let's say you are just catching up with the person involved once a month, just to look at how everything's going. And internally, we have things like the critical drivers of profit. We can see profitability on jobs. SOPs are to primarily keep your promises to your clients. They are the second thing. They are to make your business super efficient, okay? Time wasters and yo-yos will make your business inefficient and cost you a fortune and your profits will drop. Very linear, very black and white. So that is a mistake I see bookkeepers make, and I've made it myself. Okay? So SOPs, SOPs, here you go. So easy – bookkeepers are built for them. Implement, go. Absolutely, make it a year long special project. Now, that does not mean that you can't implement and start using them very quickly. Your team needs to be following a process and checklist, and they can all jump in and get all that cracking immediately and use them. What happens when you have it as a special project? I talk about it in the program with everything – I can give you everything and you can get cracking in a month. But then, what we want to do is hold your hand while we look at what's working, what's not working, and we progress and we practice – and in terms of standard operating procedures, until it is perfect, until it is turnkey, until there are no excuses. To give you an example of exactly what happened in my practice, I've had standard operating procedures from the get go, but over the years, we've tested and measured different kind of formats, and I have recruited team and I haven't been zero tolerance. And then, I've had to tackle the fact that they are not following the SOPs. Here's something that I did as a mistake: When team members weren't 100% performing, when there was little cracks happening, when there were problems happening rather than zero tolerance managed, I tried to improve the SOP – and I now know that what I should have done was just hire slow, fire fast, zero tolerance. It doesn't have to be mean like, I talked about with the team member who has moved on because she wasn't keen on turnkey. It was fine. I've referred work to her. And I'm a marshmallow, I'm such a softie, but there's no real place for the wearing the wrong hat when you're at work. Another example is a beautiful friend of mine, first person I ever worked with, worked with me for ages – we've known each other half my life. And when we updated our vision and our mission and started moving to strategic bookkeeping, she said to me, I love your vision. I love your mission, and I don't want to be part of it. And I loved her honesty so much and she moved on. She's so amazing because see, she knows if she's not 100% on board, then it's not going to work. So these things don't have to be yucky at all. And then another example, so some years ago I decided, I want to change up the way the SOPs are working, and I'm going to create this special project and come hell or high water, I'm going to move heaven and earth to make sure I get the result that I want. Turnkey operations. So, I appointed someone to head it up exactly like I'm talking to you about, just in a simple way. And then we had regular meetings to track what everyone was doing. In this case, one of the things I decided that I wanted the team to do was to create client how to videos, and also written instructions. 80% of what we do for our clients is pretty much the same. 20% is the nuances that we really need to document. And especially when it comes to payroll, I just found that this stuff was kind of keeping me up at night. So what I wanted to create was more business continuity planning. I love business continuity planning for my clients, for my practice, so that if a staff member left suddenly, the business continuity around that client's account was very streamlined and easy. So you would think, this is pretty easy. I said to the team, as you do your work on a client's account, I just want you to create a set of how two videos. So literally, when you're working on the account, you just press record on your Loom, you explain what you're doing, and that goes into the folder and then we have something. There's a document that we have that details and the little nuances as well. So that's for their task instructions. All right? So pretty simple. Now, one team member in particular pushed back and just pretty much said, I'm not going to do it, and tried to tell me why. So in this case, I've got too much work on, so I can't do it. And I said, no, that's okay. I'll take the workload off you. There you go. You've got time now. She did not want to do it. Now, why she didn't want to do it is actually irrelevant. The fact is, I guess the point I want for you to take home on this is, that humans are messy. Why we do what we do, who bloody knows, right? So what I said to that team member and to the whole group was, come hell or high water, this project will get done. I will remove any barrier that you have. This is my highest priority right now. You're on board or you're not on board. There is no gray. And so very reluctantly, this team member did that, because I was quite happy to take all her work off her if that needed to be her priority, all right? But, I needed to be prepared to do what I needed to do. And another example is another team member we had. Now, this team member was working remotely, and he simply wasn't doing his job and he was kind of telling untruths about it. He was actually a really nice guy. And once we implemented Precision by Dext together with the workflows, we could really visually see that he wasn't doing what he needed to do in terms of process, time and task. And so throughout the project, we were able to quickly have a discussion with him. And again, hire slow, fire fast. He really wanted to stay on the team, but we could see that he had really poor habits that prevented him from being able to work from home. So we parted on really lovely terms, but it was what it was. Another one is that, I have a price and service guarantee in my practice. Attached to the service guarantee, we need to deliver all parts of the SLA. And, I discovered that some team were simply not sending out end-of-month financial reports. They were telling me they were, but they weren't. And again, the excuses in their mind, well, I'm really busy. Jeannie doesn't understand, and I know better than her, so I'll just nod and say yes. I needed to be zero tolerance about that. Now, what has been the effect of me doing all the things that I've told you that I have done? RETENTION has been one of them. Our client retention has gone from good to great, to exceptional. Another one is PROFITABILITY. Our profitability has gone up and up and up and up. And the third one is CAPACITY. So our capacity to do work has opened and opened and opened, as we've become more and more efficient. We've been able to reduce our team by natural attrition as people left, and not have to replace them because of committing to wear the manager hat and wearing it well. I don't actually have to do it much because my right hand manages the practice, but, commit to do this and be zero tolerance, and accept that when you put the manager hat on, you're not going to make friends. The good news is, you can take it off and put the friend hat on again. And, committing to all of this has truly meant that piece of the puzzle has allowed my business to thrive. This is not just about finding clients – this is about find and on board, without price as a priority. That's being able to convey your value, and talk about your why rather than just your what, supported by your SOPs. If you need to, re-read this, and really do think about your decision to step up, make the hard decisions, and wear the manager hat, and wear it well.

In today's read, I absolutely want to give you value around the things that you need to do in your practice, and I want to connect it to a sort of comment that I had from one of our amazing community members. It's around the, "I don't have time to spend a year with you Jeannie, but I really want to." So, I'm absolutely going to connect this to what you need to do, regardless of whether you come into the program. However, I definitely want to address the fact that it's not really about spending a year with me. I'm going to be here for a year to help you, and everybody's going to need different kinds of help. It's about the five elements across the seven ingredients. So it's about education, assets, implementation, team, and support across the five ingredients in my methodology. What I give you access to from day one when you come into the program, is going to help you from day one to build your thriving practice, delight your clients, and live your dream on your terms. And so within the first four weeks, we are spending no more time than you currently spend in your practice. This is golden the way I have structured it. Don't give me any more time in your day than you're really spending right now. Why did I structure it that way? Because I'm a busy multitasking mama, and I've structured it for every busy, multitasking parent. So, as I said, I was just talking to a community member and she had said to me that she absolutely loves everything that we are presenting. That there is nothing really globally that hits the mark like we are giving you. And you know what? After spending 14 years and in the last four years building this for you, and spending bucket tons of money and giving you everything that I would've dreamed to have been given at the beginning of my journey, or within the first five f*ck-up years that I talk about in my book, it is not really a surprise to me that the feedback from the community is, "Holy cow, Jeannie, there is nothing like this worldwide." I'm a bookkeeper just like you, that built this for you off the back of my two top human needs: growth and contribution. Being able to contribute to your success absolutely sets my soul on fire. Let's talk about why I want you in the program, even if you have not one minute to spare in your day, okay? Because, I don't actually expect you to go to your computer and to dedicate hours specifically to my program – I want you to get all of this done without actually dedicating extra time. Here's how it works: Everything that you need to learn is in the academy, and we use Kajabi, which is the gold standard of training academies, and I'm a trainer and assessor. So you've got this academy with everything in it. Listen to everything audio-style. What does that do? Oh my God, it saves you bucket loads of time. So if you do basically anything during your day where you can listen, then you are going to be able to digest everything. I need you to learn on the fly while you're going for a walk, while you're doing the dishes, while you're having a lunch break. And, just a side note, please do take a lunch break. Please don't multitask while you're eating. You can spare 10 to 20 minutes to eat without being at your computer – and taking a break is a strategic way to do better in business. Trust me now, believe me later. So, if you can just give me 20 minutes a day while you are doing other things like cooking, or while on a walk, or you're at somewhere else where you can just mute everything and listen to the content – that's all I need from you. The next thing is, while you are working and you are at your desk, doing your bookkeeping work for your clients or anything else that you do in your working time, you're going to have the academy open, and you are going to use what I give you on the fly while you're working over that year. It's not about finding extra time to work with me, it's about me giving you this beautiful academy full of the stuff that you need to build your thriving practice, to delight your clients, and to ultimately get that income and lifestyle. For example, let's imagine you're at your computer, and you've been listening to all the podcasts, and you're like, yes, this is amazing, I get it – and you've got that kind of repeating a bit in your mind. Let's say, in this case, a prospective client has come through and said, "Hi, Joe's accountant referred me to you and I need this and I need that and I need this and I need that." Boom, you're in the academy, and you are going to use the CONVERSION process. You are going to use the NEEDS ANALYSIS. You are going to whip up your MILLION DOLLAR STORYBOOK BROCHURE in no time. And the reason I call it the million dollar storybook brochure is I believe that you would never be able to create that even with a marketing team on your own, okay? Because I have created that as the leader of our organization with a marketing team behind me, and I've second guessed the hell out of a team of marketing professionals the entire way. So unless you've got a 14-year bookkeeper veteran on your marketing team with all your mix of agencies, there's no way you could create this – not even for 20, $30,000, but if I had to put a fee on it... $20,000 and you'll get something that maybe is 10% as good as what I've created. So, you've got a prospective clients come through, you say, "Yes, I would love to help you out. Can I give you a call back in an hour? Can I give you a call back in three hours? Can I give you a call? When's a good time for us to do a 15 minute needs analysis?" In the time between that person calling you and you doing the needs analysis, you are going to be able to do what you need to ONBOARD and RETAIN that client without price as a priority. You're even going to get in the member-only Facebook group and go, Jeannie help, and I'm going to be so excited to jump in with you. So, that's one example of how you would use the academy and everything in the program in order to get a massive result. Now, just out of that one perspective client, you could get your return on investment in the entire program back, okay? Because, I'm going to help you with how you onboard and retain them as a forever client without price as a priority. Another example is when you're at your computer and let's say, you are on the seesaw strategy, which is the delivery-hustle. So delivery being I do the work, hustle being I go out and get the work. Let's say you're doing the work and then you identify, I really need to get some more work because I need to make more profit. Well, first of all, as soon as you come into my program, I'm going to help you see that getting more work is not the answer to making more profit. The answer to making more profit is to be more strategic. The old work smarter, not harder, but, I actually give you the devil-is-in-the-detail around the step-by-step that makes that happen. It is absolutely to be more profitable, which is the source of the problems you face. If we play the Why game... why do I need more clients = more profit. Why do I need standard operating procedures, quality, process, retention = all roads lead to more profit. So, why do I need to go to networking to find new clients = to get more profit. If we play the Why game, it's about PROFITABILITY. That three parts that I talk about, thriving practice, delighted clients, your dream on your terms – your dream on your terms is income and lifestyle. That is profitability. Time, profit and time. And so when you're thinking, oh, I need to find new clients because as Jeannie has explained to me I need more profit, then, you would pause and take a breath for a moment and you would do some of the work that I give you. You would leverage the sh*t out of the BRAND that I license you to use together with the brand ASSETS. And then, you would use an ATTRACTION strategy that would not only bring you more clients, it would begin to fill up an invisible PIPELINE that would be throwing seeds into the ground, that would slowly come up, and be nurtured into fruit trees that would give you the fruit. We would move you off slowly from the seesaw strategy (where you do the work and then you get the work), to the beautiful PIPELINE strategy where you are leveraging my brand and my brand assets to create an absolute Rolls-Royce of a brand sphere, with a unique selling proposition and more, in order to over time you'll go, How did that happen? I don't do the seesaw anymore while I'm doing the work, yet the inquiries just seem to come through. That, my friends, is the science and art of sales and marketing specifically done for bookkeepers. I will help you move to that, until one day, just like the client that I worked with eons ago, he said to me when we pulled an extra quarter of a million out of his business, How did that happen, Jeannie? And it was like, it happened step-by-step over time over the last year, but he was like, how did that happen? So, I'm not asking you to do extra work. I'm asking you to do the work you're doing now, with me, and my collateral and all my stuff in there. And often I say to my clients when I work with them strategically, I've learned this over time. I say now, I won't necessarily ask you to work harder, but I will ask you to make harder decisions. And before I forget, thank you to the community member that emailed me and actually shared this comment with me that she felt like she couldn't do this another year program. And actually, I shared something with her that I want to share with you too. What I said to her is something that a friend taught me. It was probably 12 years ago, and it was relating to the fact that I'd paid for some daycare and then I decided to take my son out for various reasons. And she said to me, Well, I'm glad you're not one of those people that thinks, well, I paid for a punch in the face now I want my punch in the face. It is natural for us as humans, if we've paid for something, even if it's crap, to want to keep going with it since we paid for it. Well, we have paid for stuff in my practice. I have tested and measured stuff. I have paid tens of thousands of dollars, probably well over hundreds of thousands of dollars, testing stuff. I have paid for punches in the face in order to serve you up the stuff that works, the final versions of everything— Of how you build a website, of brand, of everything, so that you don't have to waste the time and money and get the punches in the face. So if you try things and you're like, that's not working, or oh, okay, Jeannie showed me how, if I talk about what rather than why I'm going to miss opportunities. People buy why we do what we do, not what we do. Why do you exist in the eyes of your client? People buy thriving business, not bookkeeping. Bookkeeping is the vehicle you get in to drive to destination. Why? Destination benefit, destination outcome. So if you've paid for stuff and it's not working, or you realize why it's not working, you need to walk away. Don't be the person who says, I paid for my punch in the face, I want my punch in the face. So going back, let's say you're working, that prospective client came through – you're going to be able to offer up an outcome billing, productized service. If you're currently hourly billing and you're selling what you do, features and functions, then immediately you're going to be able to do it on the job, implement on the fly, a PRODUCTIZED SERVICE with an outcome bill attached – and you're going to stack your VALUE in a way that means that PC is prepared to onboard without price as a priority. So it's going to be on the job implementation using those assets. I'll rinse and repeat: Education via podcast, together will the assets – they are all in the academy to use on the job implementation, on the fly, on the job. And then, you've got the team and support. The team behind you. I'm like your sales and marketing and management team behind you that you wouldn't conceivably be able to recruit and pay yourself, and then the support of the whole team HQ, together with the support of the entire private Facebook community. I could give you a million examples of the things that you would do on the job in your practice, leveraging my collateral that you get in the program, but what I'm going to finish up with now is that, all I want you to do is promise me, If you're not in the program while you are running your bookkeeping practice, if you identify what you really need to do A or B or C, I want you to think about asking me, Jeannie, is that included in the program? – so that you can compare paying someone else to create whatever you need, versus what's already inside the program. Because I know, for the program fee, for what you pay over a year... And I give you the ability to pay it weekly only because I wanted to make it cash flow affordable to as many bookkeepers as possible, allowing you to get the return early. So let's say you get the whole return in a month, you're like, Oh my God, one action and I made an extra five grand – then that's going to allow you to pay for the program in advance. Over time, you're going to have the cashflow from getting the return on investment. All I want is for you to ask the question, rather than go and spend a thousand dollars, $2,000, $5,000, $10,000 and more, on something that is already inside the program tested, measured, proven to give you results, so that you won't go paying for something that in isolation costs you as much as the program, or will end up being a punch in the face. And so my friends, if you could imagine the passion in my voice there, that's just because it breaks my heart to know that a bookkeeper will go on waste time and money on something that I know that I can give you in the program, that will give you the results – and I give you a money-back guarantee! No marketing agency is going to do that. We have built standard operating procedures in different ways, in different platforms before, and I literally got a punch in the face and walked away. I was told by a really well-known bookkeeper, she put us in front of someone who does SOPs, and I bought into their stuff. I spent about 10 grand because they said, workflow maps are the way to go and you should do it this way. We did it all. We went from what we were using to what they were using. It was a punch in the face that is built for big business and not for us. So again, that's just an example of something we've tested and measured and gone down rabbit holes to bring you what we know is the simplest, most beautiful system for you to use. And with SOPs, we give you two options. You've got the manual kind of system, and then you've got Trainual as well. So that, my friends, is a wrap on helping you to self-assess how the program can help you without actually spending really much more time at all. Any more time that you're going to spend on any activity that you need to spend in your practice, you are not going to spend extra time. You are just going to do it with the material that we give you, while you are working day to day. I would love to hear your comments, questions, suggestions, dropped into the Facebook group. And if you are less comfortable with that, just drop me an email. Love hearing from you. Absolutely love it.