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In this episode you’ll hear:
Thanks for listening. If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories and tag me, @ambitiousbookkeeper
For more information about the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast or interest in our programs or mentoring visit our resources below:
Visit our website: ambitiousbookkeeper.com
Follow the Blog: ambitiousbookkeeper.com/blog
Connect on Instagram: instagram.com/ambitiousbookkeeper
Connect on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/SerenaShoup
Connect of Facebook: Facebook.com/serenashoupcpa
Thank you for your support of our show. If you haven’t left a review yet it’s super simple. Please go to: https://www.ambitiousbookkeeper.com/podcast and leave your review.
Podcast Publishing Tools
This episode is sponsored by: LiveFlow
Receive 20% off your first 3 months by using code AMBITION at checkout:
http://www.liveflow.io/partnerships/ambition
[00:00:00] Serena: If you have ever had the desire to become an educator in our space. Or even wondered what it takes. Today's episode is for you. I have a very special guest on Marriott Martinez, who is actually an Intuit educator. She has been mentoring and educating in our space for several years now, and we were connected through multiple ways; through multiple people and programs, we keep crossing paths. And so we decided it was time to have her on the podcast. So in this episode, you're going to hear us just having a real conversation about the mindset shifts that you have to make as an entrepreneur, and maybe even ask of your clients? Becoming an educator in the accounting space, launching programs through a challenge method and so much more.
[00:00:55] This is a really awesome episode. I hope you tune in. And give it a listen. And if you find something valuable in this episode, please take a screenshot and tag me and Mariette. On Instagram, shout us out on LinkedIn. Write a review of the episode, whatever you have to do. We would just love to hear your takeaways and ahas.
[00:01:17] So without further ado, I am going to let you just listen to the conversation. Right at the top Marriott will be introducing herself. So you'll get the bio and the background from her. All right, let's get to it.
[00:01:30]
[00:01:30]
[00:02:00] Serena: All right. Welcome to the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast Mariette. I'm so excited to have you. I can't believe we've waited this long. We're already in the second year of podcasting and I, this is the first time I've had you on, like, how did that even happen?
[00:02:13] Mariette: I know, trust me. I mean, I have had other podcast interviews and so forgive me if anyone's listening and like, Hey, I've had you as an interviewee. But I literally am so excited about this. I don't know if I've been this excited. And everyone will understand why, but we are just so aligned in so many ways. And I'm excited to talk about that.
[00:02:31] Serena: Awesome. So anyone who doesn't know who you are, can you please introduce yourself and your background and why are you even here today?
[00:02:39] Mariette: Yeah, well, I'm sure there are many, many people that dunno who I. So my name is Marit Martinez. A really quick background is I have been in the accounting industry for over 20 years. So I am an accountant by trade. And in about seven ish years, I actually transitioned completely from a practitioner of over 20 years to an educator. So it took me about seven years to move outta my practice and get completely into education. And now I have a learning center called master. That educates the early stage entrepreneur to build their financial business literacy from the inside out.
[00:03:17] Serena: Awesome. And you are an educator in our space. Am I correct?
[00:03:22] Mariette: Yes. Yes. So I start with the early stage entrepreneur, because to be honest, and maybe we'll talk about that early stage cannot necessarily be your "early" meaning you just started, it means "early stage" meaning you're finally intentionally going to build that entrepreneurship as a way to build wealth. And many times people think of entrepreneurship as maybe a side hustle, or I'm just doing this to kind of bring some extra money, but entrepreneurship is. Full term game. Like you have to go all in on entrepreneurship. It's not truly a side hustle and maybe, you and I will talk more about what that reality is.
[00:03:58] And so an early stage entrepreneur is someone that intentionally wants to take that step to build a business for sustainability, for profitability and for whatever their bigger goals is. Many times it's generational wealth. That's one of my big goals. And as she dearly mentioned it, I'll just say it. So my ideal learners are bookkeepers and accountants that have chosen entrepreneurship to build their businesses. Yeah.
[00:04:24] Serena: Yeah. So you teach at QuickBooks conferences and stuff in person or just online or both.
[00:04:31] Mariette: Yeah so my earlier education journey actually started through Intuit. So Intuit is one of my strategic partners. I am on their Intuit education team. And so you may have heard me teach You were getting your QuickBooks online certification and one of the certification trainers. I also had the pleasure for several years to be on their trainer tour, which I don't know if you knew, but it's a national tour that goes all over the us.
[00:04:57] And basically Intuit rents out these beautiful halls and we as trainers and as part of this experience provide you training all day. And then at the end of the day, you actually can get your certification. You also get breakfast, lunch, and you get lunch with the trainers. And essentially we want you to leave with your certification at the end of the day.
[00:05:17] So that's how the live ex. Experiences were for many, many years until of course, 2020 when they had to stop any live experiences. And we took the entire certification training virtual. And so now you can do this all virtually.
[00:05:30] Serena: Are they gonna be doing this at the next QuickBooks connect?
[00:05:35] Mariette: Yes. So like we're holding our breath and crossing our fingers that we are gonna start teaching certification live again, not only at QuickBooks connect, which is an annual conference. That also was a way for us to teach live. It started in 2014 was live till 2019, went virtual in 20 and 21, but we are going live again in December, 2022. And so we are gonna bring QuickBook certification there, but we are hopefully gonna do a national tour as well. So we're hoping, hoping, hoping. Yeah. I'm very excited to be part of that
[00:06:06] again.
[00:06:07] Serena: Yeah. Well, I have my ticket for QuickBooks Connect and I know like, people are probably listening, like Serena, you hate QuickBooks. Like you don't even use it, but like, I just wanna be there.
[00:06:18] Mariette: You know, and, and Serena, let me just tell you something about that. I just got chills when you said that, because even though again, it's called QuickBooks Connect.
[00:06:25] So people right away like, okay, wait, you don't use QuickBooks, you don't support QuickBooks. Why would you be there? Honestly, the people that go there it's like Intuit has a way of bringing really amazing people, like amazing humans into a space that are just full of knowledge. Like incredibly brilliant. This is a global conference, but not only that, these humans want to give they're literally there to just give them themselves their knowledge, their experience. They're the ones that are like sitting on the side, benches cuz QuickBooks makes it really cute. And they'll put like swings in the conference. Like literally--
[00:07:00] Serena: They did that at XeroCon
[00:07:03] Mariette: Yeah. They have swings. They have picnic tables. They have those big little cushy chairs where you're just like lounging with your friends. And this is the kind of experience where you're literally going there to connect. That's why, even though QuickBooks is the first word, the second word is really what the conference is about. It's about connecting, so it makes perfect sense. You're gonna be there by the way.
[00:07:22] Serena: Yeah, no, I have to, I'm gonna be a zero cont in, in New Orleans this month. Well, when this airs, maybe it'll be August. I don't know. Yeah, it will. So yeah, I just decided like, this is the year, like conferences are back. I'm gonna be where my people are. And so if you wanna hang out, I'm sure you're gonna be there, right?
[00:07:42] Mariette: Oh, no, yes! I'm gonna be there and yes, we're gonna hang out and by the way, I love you said that because I, what I do just like a little secret, cause I think we're gonna give some of our little secrets today, but when I go to a conference, I actually have a bucket list. And so well I have a goals list first of like, what are my main intentions of going and what are my goals before and after I leave mm-hmm usually I keep them at three.
[00:08:04] But then I have a separate list, which is a human bucket list. And those are the human beings I want to hang out with. Yeah. And, you know, maybe have a drink with, or maybe even like let's get up really early and take a walk together. And so if you're cool with it, I can add you to my bucket list.
[00:08:22] Serena: I better be on your bucket list. You were on mine! All right. Cool. Well, we were planning on talking about connecting and building partnerships and collaborations.
[00:08:33] So I know that that's been crucial in my success as a leader in our space or an "influencer", as much as we don't wanna talk about like, yeah, that's what we are. That's our responsibility. Like you're listening to this podcast. I, you know, must be worth listening to, but that's, there's a lot of responsibility in that. So we were kind of talking about that before we hit record of like, what does that even mean to create collaborations and partnerships and things like that? Like I said, doing that even though I'm an introvert, like it's still possible. Doing that has been crucial and instrumental, really, in getting a reach and being exposed to other people is doing things like this, like collaborations. Like with you and Alyssa and like other people, you know what I mean? So my question to you, I guess, is: is that something that you were doing for your firm before you entered the education space or is it more of an education space thing?
[00:09:35] Mariette: Yeah, I love that. And by the way, I don't know if they'll also see the video, but I just wanted to share. I loved how, when Serena's like, yeah, I'm an educator and and "influencer". If I wanna say that, the reason why I'm gonna call that out. It's because she is obviously you're listening to this podcast. Obviously I know many people follow you, including myself, and I've shared for people to follow you.
[00:09:58] So I think the first thing is like to own that, to own that people are listening to you. And so you are gonna have to lean into that role, whether you're an introvert or an extrovert or combination of both. So I commend you for it because I know probably based on our personality types, it is more uncomfortable to say those things or to accept that role. Right? But you are one . So let's just--
[00:10:23] Serena: I know, put that out there. Okay. Believe me, like I went to teach at one of Alyssa's retreats and some of the women at the retreat had not really ever met me or weren't aware of me. And so I remember one of them telling me like, yeah, before I came, I was looking at like the agenda and saw that you were guest teaching. And I like went to look you up. And like, I just thought you were like an online influencer. I didn't know that you were like an actual accountant. I was like, that's hilarious.
[00:10:51] Mariette: And you're like, wait a second. I thought it was the other way around. Like you would think that they would know the other thing about you, right? Yeah. It's just amazing. So yeah, to answer your question directly I have always led with education. So just to go back a little bit into my background. So I come from a lineage of entrepreneurs. My grandmother was an entrepreneur, my mother's an entrepreneur. I was an entrepreneur and she had six kids. So my mother is a mother entrepreneur and four out of the six kids are all entrepreneurs. Okay. So we like literally have it in our blood and so as an entrepreneur, something you learn really quickly is continuous learning and educating is critical to your success. right.
[00:11:30] So I learned that early on. And so when I actually transitioned in my early twenties and thirties to practice accounting, bookkeeping, and taxes, and I was really leading. This opportunity to be an advisor and a partner with my small business owners, I felt like, how can I create that partnership really from the inside out? How can they trust that I'm really locking arms, that I'm on their side.
[00:11:54] So in the beginning of every appointment I'd have in my practice, they would be shocked cuz they're like, We came to get our taxes done. Why are you giving us a class? like, they're like, you're literally giving us a class. And I'm like, because we're not gonna be able to build a foundation. If you don't understand what I'm saying. We literally need to bring the fundamentals in. I need to make sure you understand the basic language I'm gonna use every time we meet. Whether it's monthly, quarterly, annually, we need to be on the same page. And so the first meeting was always education. It was like a class, like it was, I would call it the small business consulting session to not scare them. but it was really like, here is bookkeeping and tax 101 for you in case you never took that class. With many entrepreneurs, if they don't have a financial background, they don't take that class.
[00:12:41] Yeah. And so, so yeah, so I've been leading with education. Pretty much ever since I started my career back in the early two thousands. So late 1999 around there. Yeah.
[00:12:52] Serena: I love that. And I also wanna point out, like, what you said is I called it this because I didn't want to scare them. Yeah. And so I just wanna give permission to our listeners that sometimes you can call things, something that is not normal for our industry to call it. You can name it, whatever is gonna make sense to your clients and keep them comfortable and feel. Open to working with you and trusting you. So you can name things. Whatever you need to and deliver something a little bit different.
[00:13:23] Mariette: And, you know, I laugh. It's so funny cuz when you just said that I'm like, yes, there was no trickery there. I wasn't at all intending to, to like trick them, but I wanted them to embrace the opportunity. So when you use words like consultation, or session, or appointment, they're used to those words, right? So like, oh, we're just going to an appointment.
[00:13:44] But I'm gonna be really honest here Serena. They were shocked. Sometimes I'd have people like, the men. And I'm just gonna say that the men would be like there with their arms crossed like, what are we doing here? Like, I didn't come to school. I came to get my taxes done or have her help me set up my QuickBooks. Like, what is she doing?
[00:14:01] And I would kind of have to just be like, Hey guys, let me explain how I-- and the thing is, by the way, I just wanna go back. I would've already explained this on the call. So when we had a discovery call, I've already told them that I lead with education and that we're going to be learning on our first session, but I don't tell them that's pretty much the whole session. And so when they come in and I start kind of going through this really kind of advisory consultative role that I've always played, like at first, some love it. They're like, oh my God, no one's ever talked to me this way before. And some clients would actually be like what am I paying you for? Like, I didn't pay you for this.
[00:14:35] And so about five to ten minutes into the session, I would have to read the room and sometimes I'd have to stop because of exactly what you said. Like, I didn't want to mislead them and them feel like I'm not serving them. And so I'd have to tell them, Hey, you know what, let me remind you what I said, that I'm gonna lead with making sure that we're on the same page that may take 15 minutes based on your background, and your literacy. This may take the entire hour and a half that we're here together. And then kind of like at that point, they would be like, okay, you know, and then they would kind of calm down cuz some would put their guards up and think like I was giving them something they didn't ask for because of like you said, they may be feeling misled on what the session was really about.
[00:15:18] So I agree. I think you need to call it something that's a little open ended. So that way, when you decide to do what you're gonna do in this session, they don't feel misled.
[00:15:28] Serena: Yeah, I'm just thinking of like times that I've experienced this from the customer perspective mainly with really good doctors and like chiropractors. So I've, I've been to multiple different chiropractors. And one stands out in my mind of one that I used to see, because he would not do any adjustments until you had that first session where they kind of did like the analysis on your posture and gave you some education on like, what, why and how we're doing what we do. And I felt so well taken care of by that chiropractor because I understood what the heck was happening to my body. And same with doctors. There's been doctors like that too. The ones that really take the time to explain the advice that they're giving you and talk about their approach. Like my approach is more holistic and this is why and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like. Think about how well, like you feel taken care of in that situation. So I just wanted to highlight that and food for thought.
[00:16:32] Mariette: Yeah. It's such a great example. By the way, I love that you did that. I'm a lover of analogies, but I really am not good at them just so you know.
[00:16:39] Serena: I didn't really think I was either, but that was pretty good.
[00:16:41] Mariette: No, that was excellent. By the way. That was excellent. You know why? Because you had me remember, I would go with fitness. Like I know a lot of us probably can relate to fitness trainers or any type of health and wellness that we've had. Like if we got a coach around health and wellness and I've always appreciated the ones that are like, they don't just go straight. Okay. Let's start working out. It's like, no, can we. Explain to you, what the program's gonna be like, this is what I'm gonna take you through. I'm gonna be very careful based on your needs cuz you go there already pumped, like yeah, it's a boot camp! Kick my butt! You know? And then they kind of calm you down and they're like, wait, let me explain it to you because I wanna make sure this is really like, we're both on the same page and I have stuck more to those opportunities and those programs and the ones that are just like, I'm just gonna kick your butt. And then you're just like no, not into that, you know?
[00:17:28] Serena: Yeah. I think that probably comes back to if you're a lifelong learner, you're naturally gonna be curious about why it is the way that they do the things that they do. There might be clients that that's not a fit for, and they just want you to come in and do the thing and not involve them. So you get to decide what type of clients you wanna work with, obviously. But like, if you wanna take on that education role, and get to the point where you are more consultative and educational, then this is a great first step.
[00:17:55] Mariette: Thank you. I appreciate you saying that because I just wanna be very honest about who is maybe listening and the reason why I say this specifically is cause I had so many colleagues hear my approach and they're like, Marrit no. Like we go in there, we do our thing. We're not trying to educate. We're not trying to even have the client get in there. We wanna get in and wanna get out. And we really want them to have as little contact or access to the work until we're done.
[00:18:22] And so, again, that's to your prerogative, it's your business model. You can design your business as you see fit. But I think as Serena just mentioned, I wanna really highlight this. Then you need clients that that's what they want, that they want to be like completely out. They don't wanna be educated. Almost like they wanna be unaware until you're telling them it's time for them to see where in my case, I'm completely the other way around. I want my clients to be aware and to have their lenses nice and clear at all times, because this may sound a little dramatic okay? But I do use this with my clients. I tell them if I'm not here tomorrow, for whatever reason, don't take it like scary. But if I'm not here tomorrow, I need you to be able to take the reigns. Like, I need you to be able to take the reins of your business anytime any day, because I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow. Mm-hmm and, but that was again, my, my business models. That's why I did it that way.
[00:19:17] Serena: Yeah. And that could also mean just like understanding enough of what is happening in your own business to be able to hire the next bookkeeper. Or whatever, right? To your point, I have like one or two clients that they don't need. Things explained to them from the financial statements because they have finance backgrounds. So you just, like you said, read the room. Like, I know those people, I can just send the reports to and they're fine.
[00:19:41] Mariette: Yeah. And those are our favorite clients, by the way.
[00:19:43] Serena: But yeah. If that's the type of role that you wanna take with your clients, that's totally fine. Just make sure that that's the right fit for them. And that's what they're expecting as well. And so always comes back to those initial conversations and setting expectations.
[00:19:57] Mariette: Absolutely.
[00:19:59] Serena: So when we talked about the collaborations and intentional networking topic-- Well, you gave me a whole slew of topics that we could have talked about, and we might just have to have a whole dang series.
[00:20:11] Mariette: Exactly!
[00:20:13] Serena: We're trying to keep this one kind of focused.
[00:20:14] Mariette: I was a little scared for Sarita cuz I'm like, let's definitely have a pre-call before the podcast, cuz this can go in so many different ways and I wanna make sure we give value and we stay a little focused.
[00:20:24] Serena: But yeah, it's great that you're able to show how your business can evolve different from where you started out. And mine too. Like I never really intended on being in this space of educating or mentoring others in the industry, really. even though I've always had an interest in that, it wasn't like, that was not my original vision. So when did you get to the point where you were like, okay, like, I need to go all in on educating?
[00:20:54] Mariette: Well, I I'm just gonna point out that you just called it on yourself. Like you're like, I always had interest in it, but I didn't know that's where I was going.
[00:21:01] Serena: Right.
[00:21:02] Mariette: I think that's what it is. Yeah. Is that we always have something. Inside of us. Honestly every single person, I'm such a huge believer that we all have a bigger purpose. We all know we can create bigger impact. We all can truly leave our blueprints, like on this planet, like in this world, in our lifetime. We just, don't all take the time to figure what that is. Or we keep on putting it down and be like, oh, that's just something cool. Or that's an interest or that's a hobby, but can I really go all in on that?
[00:21:32] And so to be honest, I had that my entire life. Like, I know all through my school career. I mean, from early stage all the way to high school, I would always tutor. I'd always be the one that wanna help. I would be the teacher's aid, you know, in college I did a volunteer income tax program, which was Vida by the IRS, cuz I wanted to continue teaching. All through my practice from 2008 to 2019, which was when I officially transitioned. 2020 was when I was officially full-time educator, I would always educate. I was partnering with the small business administration with score with other organizations to do classes, chamber of commerce. So I was actually always educating. I just didn't really know what that was called.
[00:22:15] So interesting enough, in 2014, I had a complete, like, I wouldn't call it epiphany or a breakdown, but something in between where I knew something wasn't right. Like I was not feeding my soul which I could feel it, even though I had my children, I had my family, I had great community. My soul was unfulfilled. Like I could feel it. And so I realized at that point, and I was about 14, 15 years into the accounting industry. So that could have been part of it. I was like, OK.
[00:22:43] Serena: That's about when it happens.
[00:22:45] Mariette: Yeah, that could have been part of it. So I always say everything happens in a weekend, cuz when I say I'm gonna go all in, I mean, like I will literally tell my family, my friends I'm gonna like lock myself away. Sometimes it's in a hotel room for a couple of days. I just wanna be alone for a few days and I just wanna figure it out. I just wanna think about what it is. I give myself. Space to just be quiet and figure it out.
[00:23:08] So it was early 2014 and I had my little white space. I think it was over just a few days. And I realized, you know what it is. I started looking at all the things that I do, and they were all very professional related. Like my conferences were by the IRS, or they were always by like an accounting or tax organization, but very professional, very continued education, you know, related, but not so much transformative or fulfilling.
[00:23:35] So number one, I realized I'm not really hanging out with people that like excite me or fulfill me. And then I started looking at the programs. I read a lot of books, I joined a lot of programs. And those were again, very structural like how to build your business, how to continue growing, but they weren't really about what is making you happy. Why are you still doing what you're doing? So I did a quick research on a transformative conference and that's when I attended my very first one. It was called Scaling New Heights by Joe Woodard and his Woodard Team. And actually over like that weekend I booked my tickets. I remember that was, that was spring of 2014. And that conference was summer of 2014. I had two babies at that time, two and four. My husband thought I was nuts, but it was like, I'm going cuz it was in San Antonio and I'd only gone to local conferences at that time. So I booked my tickets. I took my parents with me cuz they were gonna babysit my kids when I was at the conference. And it was at this beautiful hotel and they got to enjoy the hotel while I was in a three day conference.
[00:24:35] Serena, that was it. I like realize that there are people that not only do what we do, but they're creating impact. They wanna feel fulfilled and happy and joy, and they're doing more than just accounting and bookkeeping and taxes. That was the biggest thing is I felt like, okay, but I have a great business. Isn't that enough for me personally. Mariette Martinez. I'm only speaking for myself, cause I don't want anyone to think that you should do this. Just doing the professional side wasn't enough. Like I had something more I needed to give and it wasn't being given in my business. And so that's when I needed to figure out what does that transformation look like? And that started in 2014 and it pretty much is still going now, but it took me about six, seven years and then that's when I transformed from practitioner to educator.
[00:25:27] Serena: Wow. That's a really cool story. I hope that people got goosebumps. Like I did listening to that and if that's you where you're like, I, something isn't fulfilling. You're always gonna have times in your business that you're not lit up. If the majority of your time is where you're not lit up, then you, you need to change something. Yeah. And like you said, you're only gonna get that clarity when you allow yourself the downtime. So when it seems the most inopportune time to take a break is probably when you need it the most
[00:26:01] Mariette: Yes. I got chills when you said that. I've talked to people about this many times and many people have asked me how did you do this? And, and the beauty of this is that many people I've done it since. That's what gives me the goose bumps is that I believe I have given a little bit of motivation or inspiration for other people to do this kind of big leap. Right? But what happens is that when you're like, there's no way I can take time off. There's no way I can close my door for two days. There's no way I can leave my partner with my kid. All of those are no, no, no nos. Like you're not giving your child yourself the chance that you deserve and that you desperately desire to do what you need to do, which is yes. I need to close my doors. Yes. I need quiet time. Yes. I need my partner to watch my kids, or my loved ones because yes, I need to change something. That's not right in my life, really not only my business, but my life.
[00:26:57] And so we need to stop with the no's and we need to create yes's because until you do, you will not do. Like you will not create the space and the opportune time, which there's never an opportune time. Right? But you won't do it because you're so full of nos. Like you need to switch those no's to yes's. It's so important to do that.
[00:27:20] Serena: I agree. So the whole accounting industry and the typical education that you receive in it is like you said, it is like kind of dry and buttoned up and all that stuff. And I think that's one thing that you and I, and Alyssa and lots of others that are now starting to come up in the industry are doing differently. And it's not, it's not accepted by everybody and that's okay. Those aren't our people .
[00:27:45] Mariette: Yes, exactly.
[00:27:46] Serena: Those people aren't listening to this podcast.
[00:27:48] Mariette: Exactly!
[00:27:49] Serena: But the one thing that all of those type of education situations are missing really is that inspiration.
[00:27:58] Mariette: It's so interesting. When I decided to go into education, which what, what I always get chills and I'm looking at Serena. Again, I don't know if y'all see the video, but her and I actually were doing this journey almost around the same exact time. We also had a lot of the same mentors and guides, and we were in the same programs, learning a lot of this. And so, I would consider myself pretty new cuz my learning center was founded in 2020. So we're only talking about two-ish years here. And so I have been testing out like what kind of education-- intentional education is, what I call it-- I wanted to design and deliver to my community. And the biggest part of my kind of execution and action taking is I wanted to lead with inspiration, motivation mindset. But I was so worried if people would buy that. Like, especially since we're, we're literally teaching our peers, we're teaching bookkeepers and accountants and they are, so--
[00:28:53] I love you guys. Okay. So just let me say that we're very linear. Okay. We're very linear. We're very left brained. As soon as you start bringing the bright brain and your whole heart into training and education, they're kind of like, what is this? And again, it's because of what we've been used to forever, in regards to how we've been taught or what we believe education is or what it looks like.
[00:29:16] And so, it's been a journey for me to incorporate mindset and inspiration and motivation and mentorship into my education and more into my community than I'm building and nurturing because I believe that is key. If you don't believe that this is important to you and belief is mindset. Belief is not the technical side. Belief comes from your heart. Doing comes from the left brain, believing comes from the right brain. So if you don't believe what I'm saying, you're not gonna do anything I'm saying.
[00:29:46] Serena: You don't believe it has an impact.
[00:29:47] Mariette: Yeah, exactly. So I have been definitely bringing in a lot of mindset. I actually, what I decided Serena, and I'd love to hear how you do it in your programs, is I decided to kind of make sure I feel okay with the way I am bringing in motivation and inspiration and mindset. And still serving my community is I bring in coaches. So even though I love mindset, I've had a coach for almost 15 years, and I have coaches for different things. I have a mindset coach, and I have a business coach. Then let's say I'm doing a special project, I'd have a content creator coach. I've had a speaker coach. I've had a lot of coaches.
[00:30:23] So what I feel like if I was part of my community coming in, I came in for Marriot to teach me how to be a bookkeeper, learn to fundamentals. I'm very into business and financial literacy. Again, early stage people that really wanna go all in and wish they would've learned this before they decided entrepreneurship. That's what I'm teaching you. So I'm giving you the fast track to do things right with all of my 20 plus years. But then when the mindset stuff comes in, I don't think they came in for that. Right Serena?
[00:30:53] Serena: I think this is a mindset block for you.
[00:30:56] Mariette: Yeah. Well, you know what? You're right. It's a mindset block. Thank you, Serena. So I'm obviously working through my own blocks right now on this call. We all are. So what I've decided to do is bring in coaches and that what I do is I'll transition in the program. Let's say, I'll give you an example. If we in it, we're in a session and it's 12 weeks, then we'll have like one or two days that are very technical. And then one day the mindset coach will come in, and it will all be about her and about her working on our mindset. And when I say we're working on our mindset, I'm working on my mindset too. So I'm there alongside them as their peer working on our mindset and that's my expert coming in. So that's how I do it. I'd love to know how you do it.
[00:31:37] Serena: I like that approach. So I would say I probably do a little bit of both. Anyone who listens to this podcast has heard me talk about mindset. And I know you've watched and you've participated in some of my workshops. And the first day, is really about mindset. And I do that coaching. And I talk them through where I've taken myself through. Like I used to be that same way of like black it's black and white it's linear. I did not realize how much the way you perceive things and the way you think about things and the way you talk about things really affects the outcome. And for a long time in my life, and I don't know if I've even said this on the podcast, but I'm pretty sure I, I talk about it in the workshops. I just thought that I was just not as happy of a person as most people. Like I just thought I inherently had like this gene for being less happy. And I did not realize that I could control that.
[00:32:34] Yes, some of us are more predisposed to having difficulties based on our life experiences. And maybe there is some genetics in there, but I would say about six years ago, I realized how much I did have control over that. And I think that really was when I started my entrepreneurial journey.
[00:32:52] Mariette: Wow. Do you know that my heart just got so full when you said that just because like, obviously that was a limiting a belief or a block or whatever you wanna call it. Right. Cuz in mindset we sometimes call it different things, but I feel like that was like such a breakthrough. I have been telling myself this for whatever, I'll just say like I'll just pretend 40 years. Right. Cause many times we've been telling ourselves things for 40 years. Okay. And now it's like, I just realized it wasn't true.
[00:33:20] Serena: Yeah.
[00:33:21] Mariette: And a lot of times you just have to sit with that, by the way. Because that's devastating. Like why have I been trying--
[00:33:27] Serena: My whole reality is turned upside down. What do you mean I can choose to be happy? Like I know it's not that easy, but there's like things that you can do, you can shift the way of your thinking. Another, like, I know you've probably read it to be honest, because the same coach that we've worked with is the one that recommends this book over and over again. It's Happy Pocket Full of Money.
[00:33:46] Mariette: Yes. Yeah.
[00:33:47] Serena: That one is it's mind blowing
[00:33:51] Mariette: Yeah, I think I, I have it somewhere back there.
[00:33:54] Serena: It is mind blowing and that is like a really good place to start. There's so many books that are a great place to start, but yeah, it all starts with just realizing that yeah, like everything that you've been telling yourself is probably a lie.
[00:34:07] Mariette: Yeah, I know. Gosh, I just, yeah. I mean, I think that is a whole episode in itself and maybe we could even bring someone, one of our favorite mindset, people to talk about it. But yeah, I will just, I'll just say this: that's why I prefer my mindset at coaches to come in because I will have learners. I call them community members have that breakthrough, literally during my program, which is like a very technical program building their bookkeeper business, but then they'll have that kind of mindset breakthrough, and I'm gonna be really vulnerable here. I don't know what to do with that. Like I like, you know, I almost feel like I shouldn't deal with that. Like that's too big for me.
[00:34:45] And so when my mindset coach is supporting me as she'll literally join my program for the 12 weeks, by the way, like I'll have her join and she'll open it up and say, Hey, if y'all have breakthroughs like that, You contact me personally, like you call me. She'll have some extra sessions for them to join her separately because I have had many people have those breakthroughs and I just, I don't know how to deal with it. I'm being honest. Like , I'm like, what do I do?
[00:35:10] Serena: That's OK. That's not your zone of genius. I like to give people like, not this surface level of mindset, but like just enough to start beginning opening their mind to the possibilities. And then. If you wanna go deeper, there's options, right? Like you can hire a mindset coach. You can, for some people like it's-- and this is one thing that I realized when I started working with a coach one on one, a couple years ago, I was like, after the end of our three months together, I was like, I think I just need therapy.
[00:35:41] Mariette: Which, by the way, that's probably what was happening in those three months too.
[00:35:45] Serena: So yeah, for sure. They just can't call it therapy, but giving my students the initial, like this is, this is part of entrepreneurship. When you decide to become an entrepreneur, it's gonna be the biggest, mindset shift you're ever gonna make. And this is what's gonna open up your personal growth journey. So I do a little bit of it, but I have no qualms about being like, I think you should hire a mindset coach, or a life coach or whatever, depending on what situation they're in. And some people are gonna be open to it and some aren't, but they can still get the rest of the value out of the program that they came for. And maybe just maybe that little thing will stick with them and maybe a year down the road, when they're ready for it, they'll listen to a replay and be like, this is what I needed now. Yeah. But I knew where to find it.
[00:36:31] Mariette: And I agree. And I would say just to kind of tie in education in general. I think that's why it's important that you think through how are you gonna support those students or those community members when they have those breakthroughs? Mm-hmm because many times they will have a month later or a year later, maybe they have that moment in a challenge, not necessarily in one of your programs, but now they're ready to go all in with you Serena. And so how are you nurturing that for when they are ready to go all in? And I think maybe you wanna talk a little bit about if you want to. That's a lot of the times, the reasons why we'll have more of these challenges or opportunities for people to start kind of getting to be part of our community, knowing it's gonna take them a little while to get comfortable, to open up, to feel nurtured, to feel connected, and then eventually join a program of ours.
[00:37:17] Serena: Well I know that we went through the same program to learn how to do the challenge method that we use, right? There's lots of different methods out there, but you and I use a method that's called the paid challenge or the paid bootcamp method, right? Yeah. So are you still doing that as well?
[00:37:34] Mariette: Yeah. So you know, it's interesting. We were in a challenge, which was a five day challenge. And if anyone's ever been in one, I'll just share. The idea is for you to really have these breakthroughs and to take action quickly, which really just puts fire under your butt to be honest. Like if you are an action taker, a challenge will get you fueled and on fire, but then you have to keep going. That's the idea. And then hopefully the host, or whoever's providing the challenge has the energy and they're contagious, and they're just like supporting you on this next step.
[00:38:06] And so I've always loved the challenge idea. It's just it takes a lot of work. So if we're gonna be honest here, and I know Serena we're like, we need to also be very honest about like, what is really involved. A challenge is not just you like going out there and giving your all it's a lot of behind the scenes. And again, maybe that can be an entirely different podcast episode. And so what I've realized is I had to take a step back a little bit, cuz I had to build my team for that. I realized that I love challenges and I'm a huge believer, and it's so beautiful to get people going and started and moving along in this really hyper momentum in just three or four or five days. But I don't want to do that by myself. yeah, because it's a lot.
[00:38:48] Serena: It's really possible once you break the 50 to a hundred person, mark.
[00:38:53] Mariette: Exactly, exactly.
[00:38:55] Serena: You need this.
[00:38:55] Mariette: So yeah, so my goal in 2021 and in 2022 has been to build a team. And again, having a team as a content creator is very different than having a team as an accountant. Right? Like completely different. So I do, I've been building a team. I have a team of three ladies now plus myself that support me on challenges, on content creation, on design. And now I'm definitely at a point where I can go back and kind of go back into that strategy. But I just would say, if anybody wants to do that strategy, it's so great to try it on your own, but then you're gonna realize there's quite a bit of moving pieces and having a support system and having actual systems like the tech stack and all of the background things that you have to be lined up. It's good to go back and kind of set that up now that you know, what's really involved and then relaunch again with that all set in place.
[00:39:47] Serena: Yeah, for sure. The program that we both went through specifically, cuz there's free challenges, right? The reason, at least this is my reason for doing a paid challenge is that I want people that are really gonna show up. Cause a lot of people will sign up for a free challenge and never follow through. I am guilty of that a hundred times over I'll be like, yep. Sounded good in the moment when I signed up for it, but I did not make the time for it. So that is one of the reasons why I charge a small fee for my challenges. And I don't know if you're doing paid challenges as well, but yeah.
[00:40:19] Mariette: Yeah. I think we both have had heard it many times. People that pay, pay more attention. Right? Yeah. A lot of our mentors and coaches have told us that. And I completely agree, even with my workshops that I know I can do 'em for free, I'll do 'em for, you know, $27 or $97. First of all, because I know I'm gonna bring that like way massive value for that, but also because it's true. I know they're coming there to pay attention when you know, you're paying 27 or 47 for something. For some reason now you're all like pen and paper and ready to go. Yeah. Right. And so you get it's free results. Like, oh, it's in the background. Right. Like I just lifting through it in the background. Cause it's free. So it's so true. You're so on point on that.
[00:40:59] Serena: Yeah. Yeah. And then the other part of that is it does help compensate you for your time delivering the challenge because a lot, like you said, goes into it. Like we prep months in advance. To put on a challenge for the past two months, my team has been putting together the next challenge that isn't going to run until the end of September.
[00:41:18] Mariette: Oh, wow. See, I love, but I'm glad that you mentioned that though, because again, I'm sure that's a whole different episode, but like there is literally a timeline. And there's a different things that you're doing. So that way, when you do this challenge, I mean, especially at your, I know at your stage, like you really. Like wanted to obviously deliver to your community, but also there may be a till in, at the end where you're gonna upsell a course or a program. Right. All of that needs to be like in line. So that way all you do is show up and just do what Serena does. Yeah. But if you're worrying about all those other pieces, then you're right. It's not going to be the challenge you want it to be it's.
[00:41:57] And a lot of times, to be honest, a lot of us in the content creator space, those of you that are listening, we're doing challenges to create five to six or even seven figure results. Like I just wanna be really honest about that. Like that's what our goals are. Our goals are pretty big. And so that's why we're planning. Yeah. So it can just go really, really well.
[00:42:19] Serena: Yeah, for sure. So a lot of, lot of planning goes into it, a lot of strategy. But yeah, so paid challenges. Great idea. Another thing that, like, I remember when I first was in the program that we took together, the first time I went through it, I was like this isn't gonna work for my industry.
[00:42:40] Mariette: Mm. Yeah.
[00:42:42] Serena: My industry doesn't do challenges. They're not, they're not doing fitness challenges. They're not doing like, nobody's gonna be interested in a bootcamp and boy was I wrong? Like. That just goes to show that like, we all have our mindset blocks. We all have the box that we think that our industry should be in. And I just really wanna encourage people to think outside of the accounting box because there's a whole world out there of stuff that works.
[00:43:06] Mariette: Yeah. I'd love to just hear what were those first few things or pivots, or almost like validations that you were like, this does work. Do you remember what those things were to really like, validate that this is where you need to be? And this is how you're gonna go ahead and connect with your, with your learners?
[00:43:24] Serena: I think the first one was that well, even though I kind of had that block of like, this isn't gonna work for my industry initially when I finally was like, I'm just gonna let go. I'm just gonna try and see what happens. when you step into that mindset of this is just a test and I have no expectations of what the end results are, and I'm just gonna show up and give my best and know that if nothing else, if nobody joins the main program at the end of the challenge. I'm still gonna learn. They're still gonna learn. Everyone's still gonna get some sort of result. And so when you approach it from that perspective, it makes things just turn out better because the universe is now on your side.
[00:44:06] So yeah, I started thinking of it in that way and I was like, well, what can I do to make it so that at least have the chance of people wanting to sign up. And it was a tweak in the language that I used. And instead of calling it a bootcamp, I called it a workshop because--
[00:44:21] Mariette: Interesting.
[00:44:21] Serena: Just like with your clients, how you're like, it's our initial, what do you call it? Your initial consultation.
[00:44:28] Mariette: Yeah. Small business consultation.
[00:44:29] Serena: My small business consultation. Mine. This is the bookkeeping BIS workshops. So everyone in our industry takes workshops for continuing in ed. They go to workshops to learn how to do QuickBooks. You go to workshops. So I was like, I'm just gonna call it a workshop.
[00:44:45] Mariette: That's. You know, what's so brilliant about it is that, I was not intentional, like you, to start changing my language to workshops because I do workshops too. But now that I think about it, like, oh my gosh, you're so right there must have been something subconsciously, like people don't wanna be challenged. They wanna go work at the workshop , you know, cause that's how our committee thinks. Right?
[00:45:06] Serena: Yeah. And also it felt more in alignment with charging for it because it was never free challenge and sometimes challenges or it's just assumed that they're free. So I was like, I wanna make sure people realize it's not free. Obviously. I'm very transparent about that. People are more willing to pay for a workshop than a challenge. And I didn't feel like the word bootcamp was really in alignment for what I was trying to achieve. And that was just a personal thing. So I was like, I'm just gonna play with the words .
[00:45:38] Mariette: Yeah. I love that. Now okay. So I just wanna ask you, so you were playing with the words. Now I wanna just pick up this for a moment. So did you do any work on yourself to start playing with the words? Did you, did you like. Had you done any work on, around the importance of branding, the importance of language, the importance of copy? Cause I feel like there was something that may have come before with you, knowing that you should play with your words. Was there something before that?
[00:46:02] Serena: Yeah, I would say like, I actually don't really identify as a numbers person. I am a very creative person. Like if, we go, if we rewind back to my childhood, what I was doing, spending my time on was playing music, drawing, painting, doing art. Like I was a very creative kid and I know that's not the case for a lot of accountants. So that's probably part of it. And the other part of it is that like, I really do things from this place of detachment from the outcome. And I try to stress that a lot to people it's easier said than done, but once you do it once and then you see results, you realize how beneficial it is because it really does shift everything and I don't even, I can't even explain it without going into quantum physics.
[00:46:53] Mariette: well, just hearing you, I can see where you lead in more with that creative, open mindset versus that you know, linear more accounting kind of thinking, and the way I explain it. So I'll just kind of share the way I'll explain it. Like if I was trying to explain it and it's based on what I was hearing from you in regards to you letting go of the outcome. And I teach this in my programs too, and I share it in regards to how many of us are goal oriented, which includes me, you know. I've always been goal oriented, which is very linear where it's the number? What's the metric? How do I get there? How do I check that performance? It's like, you are very, very tied, connected to the outcome.
[00:47:32] But then what happens when you start working on your mindset? You actually start going into this creative mind and this open mind of being more intentional. And that's why I use intentional a lot. And the word intention is actually completely disconnected to the outcome. If you actually look it up, the intention is you're doing something from a soulful level. You're doing it because you feel it's right, because it feels good, but you have no attachment to what's gonna happen at the end. You actually don't even know what's gonna happen. You just intend to do something hoping things turn out okay, but you have a complete detachment to the outcome.
[00:48:13] And as soon as you have a complete detachment to the outcome that releases all of that energy that you get, or you have to have, when you're doing a goal, when you're setting a goal when you're trying to reach that goal, all of that energy-- which it's positive energy, because if you're positive about your goal, you're excited. But let's be honest. There's also a lot of aggressive and negative energy when you're thinking about goals, right? Yeah. Especially when you're feeling bad about not reaching them, but with an intention you don't care whether you reach it or not, because you have no attachment to what happens, you just intended to do something right, because it feels good.
[00:48:50] And I feel like that's what you're saying. Or at least that's how I have learned myself to also like take action. And if it turns out, right, I always call it spaghetti on the wall. My intention was to feed you something delicious. So I'm sorry, you didn't sit. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. But I really intended for it to be a good experience for you. And now I'm gonna have to learn from it and kind of move on. You know? And so that's kind of the way I see it is like, whether you intended it with no outcome, no attachment, or if it's a goal, then it's like, oh, you have all that pressure of what happened, you know, did I get the outcome I wanted? And when we released that, then we kind of have this more free spirited way of thinking.
[00:49:35] Serena: Yeah. And I wanna come back to like, I approach things from like a level of detachment. Like it isn't always initially like that. I will approach things initially, like this is the goal, this is what we have to reach, cuz I'm very goal driven too. That's, what has gotten me to where I was in my career. It's like a balance of both. Like, this is where I want to be, but I think that the other piece of it is that like you can't be attached to the path that takes you there. So it's like, this is where I wanna be. I'm gonna just do one thing to get me closer that I think is the right direction feels right.
[00:50:12] So back to that, like, this is what my soul tells me to do, what feels right, just the next step. And then the rest of the path will be illuminated. But yeah, I take things like I'm always testing and tweaking things and then just realizing that whatever the result is, like, whether you hit your goal or not, it does not mean anything about you as a person. It doesn't mean you're bad or good. It just is right? And so that's where I'm saying, like, try to be detached right. To the outcome of like you, it just is whatever happens is it's not that you are good or you were bad or you're better or worse. Like that's what you have to be detached from, like the meaning behind it.
[00:50:53] Mariette: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I'm glad you stated that because obviously we wouldn't be where we are at, if we were completely detached to our outcomes. Right? Like, let's just be honest, right? Yeah. I mean, again, we got to where we are for that reason. And that's why I'll just give you a strides. I learned from another one of my coaches, Louise, Henry. And she says, what you can do in regards to the outcome, is you can have a good, better best. And so you create your outcomes and you, and now going back to the linear goals, because the goal is really the good, the better, best goal that I could have reached. But now it's like, you have like that flexibility to be like, okay, obviously I'm trying to get somewhere now that I'm going back to my left brain and I'm gonna take action. Because we are always going from right brain to left brain, like all the time. But then if you have that good, better, best outcome, then you are not so hard on yourself. Like you. You know, you're like, okay, I did good. So now I wanna do better. Right? Yeah. And then, and that also grows like your good, better, best two years ago may be completely different than your good, better, best two and a half years later. Right?
[00:51:59] Serena: And that's like, where you can tie it into, like, if you're doing a budget for a client, do three scenarios, show them the results from good, better, best call it, whatever you want.
[00:52:09] Mariette: Ooo I love that. Yeah. There you are with your analogies, bringing it in again!
[00:52:13] Serena: I just taught a lesson on that today in my group. So it's really fresh. Yeah we talked about that is, providing three different scenarios and they may start out the year with a budget, and that's the budget you adopt, but things change throughout the year. You have to make a pivot, whatever. You may end up achieving your profit goal, but the way that you got there was completely different than how you planned. And that's generally the case with successful businesses.
[00:52:41] Mariette: I just had like a little vision and I'm like, I think we probably could apply that, that where we're at is probably not where we thought we were gonna be two years ago or five years ago. Oh my gosh. Yeah, that is so true. And that's entrepreneurship.
[00:52:54] Serena: I know oh, well, okay. So we did not tackle all the topics, which is good. I hope we kind of stayed on topic. This was a really valuable conversation and I'm like super excited to go back and listen to it and pull out some golden nuggets. But why don't you go ahead and give our listeners, like, where can they connect with you? What do you have going on in your world that people might be interested in?
[00:53:19] Mariette: Yeah. So where you can connect with me is masteryourbooks.com. So I've been trying to keep things very simple. I still have mariettemartinez.com, which was my practice for almost 20 years. So if you, if you look me up there, go ahead. But it's a little dated. But I will get back to that soon, cuz I do wanna keep that. So masterbooks.com what I'm into now, which hopefully Serena and I are aligned, is really getting back out there. Creating human connections, speaking live at conferences, hugging people if you're okay with that. No pressure. Right. And, and just really leaning into this intentional education idea with an opportunity to, again, bring in what I think is super important, which I think we talked a lot about is mindset. And letting you all know that wherever you are and whatever stage you are in your life and your business, that we really need to be using our whole selves, our left brain, our right brain and our whole heart. And that's really where I am putting all of my passion. Right.
[00:54:18] Serena: Awesome. So you will be at QuickBooks Connect later this year. Do you have anything that you for sure are gonna be at coming up?
[00:54:26] Mariette: Yeah, so I will be at QuickBooks connect in December, 2022. I will be teaching a few private organizations. So I do teach privately for other organizations where I'll be traveling to them. I'll be part of an amazing experience and hopefully y'all follow Heather Saterly and Liz Scott from the Appy Hour. They're also influencers and educators and leaders in the accounting bookkeeping, and tax space. They're gonna have a very cool experience called the Appy Hour Camp in September. I will be there and I will be their official Appy Hour correspondent, which actually, I'm glad I'm mentioning that because the whole point is that we want you to know what it's like to be in these very kind of closer, more intimate experiences with leaders and influencers and educators in the accounting, bookkeeping and tax and even technology space. So every night at this. Camp, it's literally a camp retreat in September. I will be going live to share with you what we're doing, what it's like to be in a room with 20, 30 ish leaders. And what type of things that we talk about, and more importantly, what do we take with us and how do we continue to impact our industry?
[00:55:31] So I'll be doing that in September. And then always partnering with Intuit and other organizations like SBA Score and, and some great organizations out there. So just follow me on masterbooks and on Instagram I'm @marriotmartineznyb, we'll go and probably post that somewhere in the notes. Yep. And and I'm happy to connect with you and hopefully we'll do another, another episode to continue on this awesome conversation.
[00:55:53] Serena: Yes. Thank you so much for taking the time to come on today. I'm glad we connected again and got this scheduled as quick as we did. So thank you for that.
[00:56:02] Mariette: Yes, of course, this is so amazing. Thank you so much.
[00:56:06]