In this episode, our leadership coach, Meriah, is interviewing ME, Serena, on my full story & journey on getting to where we are today!
In this episode you’ll hear:
Resources mentioned in this episode:
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 on Facebook: Facebook.com/serenashoupcpa
Follow on Twitter: twitter.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 we use:
In this episode, our leadership coach, Meriah, is interviewing ME, Serena, on my full story & journey on getting to where we are today!
In this episode you’ll hear:
Resources mentioned in this episode:
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 on Facebook: Facebook.com/serenashoupcpa
Follow on Twitter: twitter.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 we use:
[00:00:00]
Serena: All right. Welcome back to the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast today I have my right hand, Mariah here, and she's actually going to interview me, so I'm just gonna let you take it away.
Meriah: All right. Sounds good. Thank you so much. I've, we've actually talked about this episode for a while and I've been really excited about it because I love your story. I think you have an amazing story and I. I think it's wonderful to get out there. I know [00:01:00] that you have been able to be published in some articles, but I thought just for our, listeners, special for them, let's give them a spec, a special sneak peek into your backstory and your journey and how everything came about to where you are today. Awesome. So I will start with asking you just tell. About your journey as far as how ambitious bookkeeper got started and we'll, we'll, we'll start there.
Serena: This is kind of fresh in my mind because I just went through an email sequence that I had to update and kind of sprinkle this story in. But, so. I guess if we take it back to the beginning of my, like, accounting career is probably the best place to start because I wouldn't be here doing the ambitious bookkeeper stuff without having my background in accounting.
So, back in college I actually started out as an elementary education major. [00:02:00] and, I had. A daughter very young. I had her when I was 19. So between, the, in the, during the Christmas break of my first year of college, I had a baby and, my plan was to go for my teaching degree. Right. So that I could have the same schedule as my child. And yes, that's kind of, that's what a lot of, a lot of moms go for.
Meriah: Yes.
Serena: And and I've always wanted to teach. So hence why we're also here today. Um, we all finally came together in a different way. but yeah, I always wanted to teach, and. And I was going for my elementary education major, things ended up not working out with, her father. And so I had to get a job and I went to a local.
Cooperative, which is a little health food store, really, grocery store in my hometown. I knew someone who worked, [00:03:00] I think in produce at that time, and he was like, I think we're hiring. You should come in and, and talk to the, the managers. And I was like, all right, I'll. I'll go ahead and do that.
. Cause I'm kinda desperate. I just need a job.
Meriah: So not picky right now. Just need
Serena: a job. So I go in and I interview with the, um, the two co-managers. One of 'em was really focused on the operations of the store and the other one was really focused on the finances. And the two of them managed, the store together. And, they ended up, hiring me for back office support. So answering the phones. We did a lot of like special orders for our members where they could order, you know, specialty health foods. And, and we would place those orders for them and deliver them to the store and they could pick 'em up. This was before Amazon.
Became a thing where you could just order everything online. And, so I answered the phone, did a lot of special order stuff. I learned the cash registers so I could give the cashiers [00:04:00] breaks. I did the daily deposits and, you know, counted all the money. And, I was very thorough and accurate with everything, and that was recognized.
The finance manager of the store kind of took me under her wing and was like, let me teach you how to do all of the accounting basically for the store. So we, she taught me the accounts payable. She taught me the month end clothes and all that kind of stuff. And she, she did not have an accounting degree. She was self-taught. And so I always like to bring that part of the story into things because. A lot of my audience and listeners don't have an accounting degree or they do have a degree, but they don't have their CPA and so they feel like they're not able to get to where they want to be in their career because of that. And I say hogwash cuz if you actually just, if you want it, you can get there. You just have to do the work.
Meriah: Yes.
Serena: Having the degree isn't really. I mean, [00:05:00] yes, I have the degree, but I put in the work to learn it and I
Meriah: The degree didn't magically give you
Serena: Yes.
Meriah: Infuse you with the knowledge you needed.
Serena: Exactly. So I like people to understand that as well. And just know that like my very first best mentor was self-taught and I learned a ton from her. And, so she took me under her wing. She taught me all of the financial aspects of the grocery store, and, eventually, I became the office manager and so I, you know, would teach, the other staff in the office how to do the deposits, how to do the AP and all that stuff.
And, little did I know during that time, oh, I guess I should backtrack. I actually ended up. Changing take, taking some accounting classes because I was like, oh, this is, you know, this clicks like, it's pretty easy for me. Let me just take some accounting classes and see like what happens. And so I doubled up, some accounting classes one [00:06:00] semester before I actually changed my major and did really well in those classes.
And the, my advisor was like, You should probably change your major to accounting. Oh, no. Oh, that's awesome. So it, it ended up working out, I changed my major and it, it, it really did work out for the better because I was able to, finish my degree on time while working, almost full-time as a single mom and all the things which would've been really hard to achieve with doing the elementary education major because there's a lot of extra time involved in that.
It was more of like a five year program, not a four year. And that would've been if I took a full load.. Yes. So, uh, so it ended up working out. I changed my major, I continued through college and I continued working at that store. And during that time, while I was still getting my degree, the finance manager, I [00:07:00] realized had been, Kind of, I guess, prepping me for her departure.
Oh, hi. She was Waters. Yeah,. Um, she had different, you know, career aspirations and was ready to move on. And so, um, and there was some changes happening with the, the board of directors and things. And so she was, she was ready to split and I came in one day. and on my desk was a manila envelope with the, store credit cards, the keys to the store and her resignation letter,
Oh wow. And basically handing over the position of finance manager to me. So, I was lucky enough to go through one board of directors meeting with her where she kind of helped me present the financials. But after that it was, it was me on my own. So I was now the person. Presenting financials to a board of directors who is volunteer by the way.
And so a lot of [00:08:00] them don't really have the background of finances. So you're explaining it's, I mean, it prepped me for today, right? Explaining con Sure. Absolutely. Like complex things to, in simple terms, so that our bi, our clients can understand. So that was where I got my start in accounting. It was on accident.
It's kind of fun like hearing other people's accounting stories because. I don't know very many people who purposely chose accounting as their career.
Meriah: by by design, set out well dreamed of being going into accounting when they're little. You know, you dream about being a firmin a teacher and things like that, but. Yeah, probably not often. The accounting, that'd be interesting to hear. Who actually dreamt of going into accounting.
Serena: I think some people, do, if they like grew up with like a family that owned a firm or whatever. And I think in that case it's kind of like, oh my, [00:09:00] if your dad's a doctor, you're gonna be a doctor type of situation,
Meriah: right, right.
Serena: That was not the case in my family. so yeah, there I was finance manager. I was like 21 maybe at that point.
Meriah: That's fantastic.
Serena: I did that through college and I was close with the other co-manager that managed the operations. She stuck around and she knew my plan was to, leave hometown once I graduated college. And so, everyone like knew the story and so everyone was ready, like prepared for my departure. So I was able to help hire my replacement and and move on in that way.
So after college I moved to Tucson, Arizona and got a job at a very small CPA tax practice. And, it was me, one other accountant who then became shortly after became partner and then the main [00:10:00] owner and then his wife was like the office manager. So it was a very small practice. That's where I learned a good portion of how I managed my practice. Thankfully they were ahead of the time and they had gone paperless before I started. So we did have some paper files, but we also had everything digital cuz they were at the tail end of that transition where they were just kind of keeping duplicates. So everything that was on paper was also scanned in. And that's where I learned kind of how to manage all the, the digital files and run kind of quality control over monthly bookkeeping. And obviously we did tax there. I don't do tax in our practice now, but yeah, that's kind of where I learned the ropes. I was there for almost two years and then I moved to San Diego and got a job at a manufacturing company. So, my career has been pretty varied in industry, which has been great. [00:11:00]
Meriah: Gives you a, a vast array of experience to bring in to what you do now.
Serena: Yeah, and I worked in manufacturing for a couple years and then moved over to biotech. I guess at that point I was like five or six years into my career, got another six years in manufacturing in biotech and in, in corporate and, and in biotech. I worked my way up to corporate controller and, built out an accounting team.
So, Yeah, lots of experience, fun times. Glad I'm not in corporate anymore. But it did it every, everything that we go through serves a purpose, like in our experience. And earlier on in my corporate career, I saw kind of like the potential for being able to do this on my own and work remotely and work on the cloud [00:12:00] because in corporate we were a subsidiary of a large, public company that was based out of New York, but we were in San Diego and so we were able to basically work remotely from that company. And I did a lot of travel during that time for another subsidiary that we bought up in Washington.
And so I was able to tap into the remote network and do my job from an airplane, and it kind of got the wheels turning of sure of like, if I can do this in corporate, why wouldn't I be able to do this on my own for small businesses? And so I had that like, desire even before I got my CPA license, but I kind of knew, I was like, I gotta put in a little more time and learn some, some more things before I kind of take that leap, which now I see as just a mindset block. So if you're listening and you're feeling like, oh, well, Serena said I need to put in more time and learn more things. That's not what I'm saying here. [00:13:00] That was my mindset block, because the reality is at that point.
Yes, I have learned more since then that have absolutely helped me through my path, and with my clients that I have today. But, I don't think that it would've really hindered my success with starting a business, if that makes sense. I just, I, I wasn't quite ready. And I was really, I still was really tied to like, needing that or feeling like I needed that, like consistent. paycheck and benefits and all that stuff. because I was a single mom. So
Meriah: there's that, that's a whole different ballgame right there. It's absolutely, so, so what would you say to those who may be listening that I, I guess two questions, kind of what would you say to them? Those listening that have that same, well, I should [00:14:00] maybe get more experience or I'm not, you know, ready or also maybe the single moms wanting that paycheck and that stability. Well, what would be your advice to them? That's one question and then I'll ask the second, cuz you might kind of tie it in. Do you, I, I know hindsight is always 2020 and we can always look back, but looking back, do you wish you would've started on your own sooner?
Serena: I'll answer that first. I do wish I would've started on my own sooner because I think that a lot of the things that I continue to learn in corporate, I could have learned as I built my business because there's a lot of stuff that I don't use with clients that I learned in corporate. So, at that point in my career, when I started kind of having that dream, I already had a lot of the skills and would've been able to fill in the blanks, I think.
So yes, I do wish I would've started sooner, but, it's not the way the cook [00:15:00] crumbled.
So what was your first question? What would I say to someone who's feeling like they're not quite ready, they need to learn a little bit more? I would say that yes, there's always gonna be more that you can learn. So I would say come up with a plan and a timeline of when you're giving yourself the, the escape route, right? Like if you know this, that you're ready for this and you want to move forward. Say a year from now, you're going to do as much as you can to possibly learn as much as you can in your current position and soak up everything that you can that will help you in the future and build on the side. Like, I really wish that's what I would've done. Instead of just saying it's all or nothing. I could [00:16:00] have started something on the side. Granted, my side thing at that point was studying for the c p exam. So I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing both because for most of us, studying for the CPA exam is a part-time job.
So if you're already in a full-time job and you really want that CPA license, and you've made the decision that like it's worth it for you, that's. Whole other podcast, which I think I've done.So we'll link it in the shadow.
Meriah: Yes. we will.
Serena: It may or may not be the right choice for you, but if it is, treat that as your side hustle.
Do that and then do the side hustle because if you're in corporate right now and you're working 40 hours plus a week and you decide to start a side hustle, it's gonna be really hard to manage all three later on. Something we'll have to give, and it'll probably be the CPA exam. So if that is a priority for you, make that your part-time job right now, and when that's done, Your [00:17:00] timeline is then 18 months from now, you're gonna start your side hustle. and so maybe your timeline is a three year plan, not a one year plan. So I would just get, get real with like, what is, what is on the horizon for you as far as a CPA or not a family or not, or whatever you have going in on in your life. And just be realistic about how long things are gonna take. It'll probably take you, depending on how much extra time you put into a side hustle, it could take you a year to get to the point where you're able to quit your nine to five. It could take less. It's kind of an unknown. There's so many factors that go into that.
But that is the approach I wish I had taken. I wish I had. Okay, once I'm, once I pass my CPA exam, instead of going and looking for another job, I'm going to build that extra income by doing a side hustle and, and go that route. But the route that I chose was, now that I have my CPA [00:18:00] license, this place isn't promoting me. So I'm gonna get my promotion by moving to a different company, and that's how I got my 20 k pay bump, and then worked my way up there. If I had spent that instead of,
so that is still an option, right? Like you could still be like, okay, now I have my CPA license, I'm gonna go take another job. I would say if you really do wanna start your own business or a side hustle, the learning curve when you start a new job is going to, even if it's not extra time, you're putting in it's extra mental effort when you're learning a new job that you could. You could, you could be skating by your other job that you were already in and be focusing your mental energy on growing your, business. So, again, it would, starting a new job is like a whole thing. That I wouldn't really recommend unless you really, really need the money. But then at the same time, it's like you could probably gain that extra [00:19:00] income with your side hustle in reality.
So those are the kind of options I would say to consider. But definitely sit down and look at the next five years of what's on the horizon for you, where you wanna be, and, and create a. I mean we're, we're accountants. We're good at planning.
Meriah: I think that wisdom is pure gold really and truly, and I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but would that have been a good bridge, you feel, to move to where you are now for say, if there's more single moms out there, or so providers for other means, but the fear of, well, I'm the provider, you. It stops, it ends and stops with me to provide for my family. So do you, do you feel like that would've been a good bridge for you to have if you were building that on the side?
Serena: Like that extra, like a side hustle [00:20:00] income or the,
Meriah: like the having the security route for somebody who. Doesn't wanna just jump, you know, cold Turkey is maybe putting it off, putting it off because of that, but they still have the dream on their heart. So
Serena: yeah, I think so
Meriah: start so implementing a plan and start, start growing, even if you can just devote a little bit of time. Effort compounds onto effort. And a year from now, if even if you're spending what, a couple of hours a week? A year from now, you're gonna have something. Yeah, more than you have now. And inside of BBA you have a bonus that helps them get 20 extra hours in their week.
Serena: I was actually gonna like, just speak to that and, when you ask that question is like, would that have been a good bridge? Absolutely. Because at that point I already knew that I was capable of. Working all day and then studying in the evenings, which was my other part, my part-time job, the CPA [00:21:00] exam. So once I was done with all that studying, I could have then just switched to filling that time with building a business and, been a lot further ahead than I am now, which I don't want people to like look at things that way, but I mean, that's the truth. Right?
Meriah: Right, right.
Serena: If I had started that business five years earlier, I would be 10, 15 years into, running a business. And the, the potential, the earning potential when you own your own business is, is greater than when you work for someone. Because you have control over your time if you build it right, and you have control over how much you make, if you build it right. And, if you, you know, build a team and all that kind of stuff, like you then have an asset so it's, there's so many things that go into it that.
Yeah, I could have gotten to my six figure salary [00:22:00] before I ended up getting there in corporate, if that makes sense. Like, if I had started back then when I first kind of had that dream. But it's also really ha-- like at that time there weren't as many online communities. , there wasn't like the visibility to seeing other people doing it and. When you don't see other people doing what you wanna do, it makes it really hard to believe that it's achievable. That was a big reason why I didn't.
So, if you're listening to this podcast, you are already seeing that other people are doing it because we highlight our students. I talk about, you know, my journey and things like that. So that should not be a factor for anyone listening.
Meriah: It's achievable. It's possible. So don't, don't wonder if it's possible because it is, you just, I think you've proved that you just need a strategy in place. And you need to work your strategy and you need to [00:23:00] have people in your world that can come alongside you and support you in that strategy and give you some wisdom when you get stuck.
Serena: Yeah, absolutely. That was probably one of the biggest factors of me not doing it. Because there was nobody there like on the sidelines, like, yeah, you should totally do it. Like, just try. You know? , like, what's the worst that can happen? You try and it doesn't work out and then you just go back to corporate.
Like, or just stay in corporate. If you're hustle right? You really don't have much to lose except a little bit of time, in the end because you're gonna gain so much knowledge and experience that even if you weren't to stick with running your own business, you're going to be a completely different type of employee for your, for your boss or whatever company you decide to work for.
And that's one thing that I always come back to that I'm like, if I ever get tired of this or. You know, it [00:24:00] ends up not working out in the end for me. Like, I'm gonna be a completely different employee, a completely different leader, because I know I would be in a leadership position, like , there's so many skills that I have built by running my own business that my, my corporate experience would be, 180, like a totally different experience because, Just the way that I operate is completely different now than the way that I operated in corporate. So there's that too.
Meriah: options are always good. And always important, I think, and to to see options that are out there because the options really, especially nowadays, they're endless. So, okay, so take me back to corporate and how that transition. To today, ?
Serena: Oh cuz we, I just kind of gave you my corporate background.
So I ended up, leaving, taking [00:25:00] maternity leave to have more kids, new partner, all the things and, I knew and my partner knew that I was not gonna be going back to corporate. So, so I kind of set things up before I went on maternity leave to make sure that the person that was gonna be filling in while I was on maternity leave was actually gonna also be able to stay and replace me.
And so, For the most part, like the leadership team, all kind of hr, everybody kind of knew that's what was gonna happen. So they were supportive in, in filling that role with someone permanent. And there's a whole like team morale thing, like whether or not we should have handled it that way. but like sometimes you have to make decisions.
Keep the team intact. And I had a very loyal team, so there was risk of, people leaving if they knew I was gonna be gone permanently. And so we just made kind of [00:26:00] the made, made the decision to not be very, Outward and upfront that I wasn't coming back. But I think everyone honestly knew. Like I probably wasn't coming.
She's not coming back. but yeah, so I, at that point, I knew I wasn't gonna come back during maternity leave. I, I, I just took a maternity leave and. And we had the fortunate experience of me not having to work. So I, took time with my baby and then when she was about a year old, or almost a year old, I started getting kind of restless and, was like, well, I worked really hard for this CPA license.
Like I, I let it go inactive. But I didn't like let it expire. There's a difference there. So I went inactive and then immediately was like, no, I don't wanna be inactive,. So I started back up on my CPEs and Started taking like [00:27:00] free, I, you know, I had learned about CPA Academy, which is a free c p e resource online, which basically is just an advertising platform for
Lots of softwares and providers that want to get in front of the accounting industry. And so during that, stint of getting catching up on my CPEs, I was learning about all. Tech and, resources for small businesses because they're, you know, they're geared toward a total, like, it's totally different than the corporate world.
Like we used an e R P system. It was all on like a local network. Nothing was really, Totally in the cloud. And so I was learning about all this new technology that existed for small business and that's when like kind of the low light bulb went off that I was like, oh yeah, I had this dream before
Maybe this is a sign I should finally pursue it. And. So I, I did, I [00:28:00] started finding ways to find clients online without leaving my house because I had a baby at home and that place was Upwork. And, I started just sharing my experience on Upwork. Like I would find a job that looked like something I was interested and I would send a little proposal.
You know, offer to do things for basically free. Not quite, but basically for free. And, yeah, I, I was just very upfront about like, yep, I've, you know, I've been out of corporate for about a year. I have kids at home and I'm. You know, I just wanna help a couple small businesses and turns out there's a lot of small businesses that are cool with that.
Nice. so yeah, I got all of my initial clients off of Upwork and and then those clients started referring me to other clients and it just kind of went from there. And so about a year [00:29:00] into that, I. Another child. Another baby. And so I was just kind of building things really slowly, doing a lot of project work on Upwork.
I had a couple, monthly clients that I was maintaining. And then, I kind of put po pushed pause on growing things because it turns out having two babies is really difficult. It takes a lot of time. so I was just kind of doing the bare minimum with the, the couple of monthly clients that I had.
And then once he, once my, my third baby was, About a year old, I decided to go all in and, because I was like, I do not, I don't want to go back to corporate, but I wanna build something enough to where by the time that they're in school, it will be like a full-time income, not a full-time job. Time wise, but a full-time income where I can have that same salary that I had in corporate but literally only [00:30:00] work that the hours that my kids were in school.
So that was my, basically my five year plan. Right. If you think about like when your kids go to kindergarten, I was like, by the time they're all in school, I wanna be able to have that full-time income. And so, I mean, we're there , my youngest is not quite in full-time school. He's in part-time pre-K, but the income goal has been achieved, so that's good.
Meriah: Yay. That's phenomenal. So it's possible, right? For those listening, it's possible to have that full-time income without the full-time work. And time. time's one of those resources we don't
Serena: get back. And if you're a parent, you know that all too well. Yes,. Um, so yeah, so that's kind of where we're at today with, with the firm.
About a year after I was like, I'm gonna go all [00:31:00] in. I was, you know, in lots of bookkeeping communities online and seeing the same questions that I had come up. Especially for those of us that have left corporate, like we already have the experience, we just kind of need assistance with, really just like the comradery of other people doing the same thing.
And then, you know, kind of like the confirmation that we're on the right path and we're. Approaching things correctly and kind of learning what strategies we could or should be using. I was seeing a lot of those same questions, like especially when it came to onboarding clients. People were like, what do we ask our clients?
Like, I'm new at this. Like I worked in corporate. Like I, I, I think I know, but I'm not quite sure if I'm getting all the, the things that I should be asking for and. That was kind of my first like, aha of like, well, I could just share the things that I ask for from clients and, [00:32:00] my whole on, you know, Onboarding process or whatever.
And so I started sharing that and, then people were, would ask more questions. And so I would answer more questions, and I was like, I'm basically just kind of like mentoring these people. Maybe I should do something with this. And then Ambitious Bookkeeper was born, I started a blog, kind of just documenting everything that people were asking and putting it in one single place.
And, then I created a P D F. For $27 back in the day that had like, basically A to Z, like how to set up your business and where to get clients and all the things. And, um, then we made that into a course, which is now called the Bookkeeping Business Accelerator. And, yeah, it has, it has definitely grown.
Now the blog is a podcast that you're listening to right now,
Meriah: So inside the Bookkeeping Business Accelerator is a wealth of [00:33:00] knowledge that you have put into including how to get clients on Upwork. Right?
Serena: And including how to find 20 extra hours in your week for either studying for the CPA exam or doing your side hustle.
Meriah: Yes. And how to onboard clients. And it's just a wealth of knowledge on top of, you can have serena as your mentor and support. So if you're listening and you would like that support, even if it's a side hustle, we invite you to come check it out.
Serena: We have options. There's payment plans, there's self-paced. There's VIP If you're a VIP, you get to come to monthly zoom calls where you can ask whatever questions you have, and I will answer them to the best of my abilities or direct you to the resource where you can find the information.
And we have monthly co-working sessions where we all get on Zoom and, spend an hour and a half just working through whatever it [00:34:00] is that we need to work through. It's like really, it's a really amazing accountability tool. Like even I get a lot done on those calls, but I'm also there available to support you.
So, you are Mariah, anyone on our team. so yeah, those are the two main perks of v i p. Both, both versions have, the com, the Facebook community and me and my team are in there to answer questions. And if you're not on Facebook, you can also ask your questions in the course platform. I like to let people know about that because, um,
multiple ways that we can support you. You're a podcast listener, I'm guessing because you're listening to this , and we have all the lessons also loaded into a private podcast feed so you can listen to them on your way to work, and work through the content. in the pockets of time. Yes. So we've
Meriah: made it.
I don't think we could have made it more simple.
Serena: There's definitely a [00:35:00] lot of content in there. You may or may not need all of it, but it's there for you. I share every possible template that, I could think of. So anything that we're using in our firm, we share processes, templates. Ways that we use certain tech.
We, we just wanna make sure that everyone has the tools to succeed without, having to go through a trial by error. Yes.
Meriah: The right term? Yes.
Serena: I believe so. Trial by fire, trial and error. I think
Meriah: both work and I will just say that Serena is more than generous and any, if we get requests for content.
Guess what? She creates it and we drop it in there. Or if we see, oh, this would be neat to have, we drop it in there and, and you get access to all that for life. And so it's not only the, the amazing thing about the program is it's so robust that it [00:36:00] works for you. If you are thinking of starting a business or if you are ready to scale and grow your business and really take it to the next level, it really will fit for both scenarios.
Serena: Yeah, I wanna talk to that for a minute because, I used to think. Everybody took the same approach and it's, that's not the case. A lot of people will just start to get clients and it kind of just like grows out of control and then they look back and they're like, oh, I should have done things differently.
I was very intentional about the way that I built my business. So that's how I built the program so that that doesn't end up happening for you. So if you're at the beginning stages and you're just thinking about it, this will. Force you to be super duper intentional with how much time you wanna spend in your business, how many clients you wanna serve, how much money you wanna make, and we build it from there. But that being said, that's also why it works for someone who already like is in it and they're like trying to backtrack and be like, [00:37:00] what do I need to do to fix this problem? , um, that has just grown out of control. Yeah, it might be, it might be kind of difficult to go back and do that, but tho those tools and resources will also help you with that.
And, I can't stress enough, like how important, like if you do choose v i p, those are things that we can help you through on the hot seat calls. Like, like creating the plan and, and going backwards and, like creating. We're recreating things from, from like where you wanna be. I'm saying this so messed up right now.
Like call me all. Mariah,
Meriah: I think you're, I think you're saying it amazing and you're good. I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think if somebody has a dream and they come into our world, And they wanna put in the work, because obviously you have to put in the work. Your dreams aren't gonna just magically happen for you. You've gotta put in the work. But if [00:38:00] you have the dream, you're willing to put in the work and the time and the effort, and you come into our world, we're gonna do everything in our power to help you succeed. And we have the tools and the mentorship available to help you succeed. Do you feel that's,
Serena: yeah,
Meriah: that's fair?
Serena: Yeah, absolutely. So in short, like if you cannot figure it out on your own, We can help put a strategy together for you and then you go and execute it.
Meriah: Yes. Yes. You have to execute it. You've gotta put in the work. And Serena, I will just, I'll also throw in here, she is an incredible wealth of knowledge. Not only does she just naturally possess a wealth of knowledge with all her experience and everything, she is always also really amazing at research and figuring out the answer and so just like you're missing out if you don't have her in your corner mentoring you and [00:39:00] supporting you.
Serena: Thank you.
Meriah: So you're welcome.
Serena: Thank you.
Meriah: So what do you think, what do, what was the most challenging part for you in starting your firm and the ambitious bookkeeper?
Serena: Honestly, I think the most challenging part for me, and it's still a, it's still a challenge, is that I am good at working. Like I really love to work too, which means that I have to reel it in and like be really intentional with like being present to my family and my kids and my life if I could, I would work all the time. So, that has been the most challenging thing because I have really big aspirations and dreams and I know that I can eventually get there, but some things do take time and yeah, it's, [00:40:00] I grew slower than I wanted to because of that. Yeah, I, that was probably, that's probably been the most challenging thing if we're honest is, is me not being able to work as much as I want to. But that has what has also given me the tools to help other people do that as well. Cuz if I could manage then
Meriah: they can too. So would, would you say a good mindset and then I, I think we should speak to mindset a little bit, but do you think a good mindset would be that it's a marathon, not a sprint? And so be ready to be in it for the long haul. You're not gonna just have overnight immediate success. It's gonna take time in the work.
Serena: Yeah, that is a great mindset to adopt. And also the mindset that has really helped me, is when I came into this I was quite the [00:41:00] perfectionist and I think a lot of accountants will resonate with that, of having everything needing to be balanced to the T and Perfect perfectly matched together. And there is a time and a place for that, but you'll learn that even. Even with work, especially with working with clients, there's sometimes where it's like it's not worth the time and the effort. Like I'm not saying to do like a $10,000 adjustment because you don't feel like looking up what happened,
But if it's 5 cents, like sometimes you have to look at like, is my hour researching this 5 cents really worth it? Does the client care ? No. No. Yeah, they don't care. So, the other thing is to just. Good is better than perfect, and done is better than perfect. I'm not saying to put out crappy work, but, for the most part, like we just need things to get done and done [00:42:00] well instead of perfect.
If that makes sense. It does. It does.
Meriah: What do you think your favorite part about running, of course, bookkeeping and the ambitious bookkeeper.
Serena: My favorite part is probably the impact that I'm able to have on people. So with my clients, it's the impact I'm able to have on them, like helping them understand their numbers and helping them, grow their business and not feel stressed out about taxes or, even though I don't do taxes, like just having your stuff together in order helps people stress levels immensely, giving them time back in their day.
And then on the ambitious bookkeeper side, obviously, Impacting, other people, helping them see that their dreams are possible and helping them achieve their dreams, giving them the strategy to do so, uh, just being in their corner. And then I cannot, last but [00:43:00] not least , forget my team, because I don't do any of this alone.
And there was a very. Small portion of this journey where I did do it alone. I very quickly hired and I feel like this was also in the email sequence. So , I'm like, why am I thinking that? I just
like,
Meriah: why does this sound familiar, why does this sound
Serena: familiar? But one of the things that I did really early on that is contrary to what a lot of people.
Will say and give advice on in Facebook groups and things is that for some reason, A lot of people like to say that you have to have a certain number of clients or a certain number of revenue before you should hire. But I did not do that. I hired a part-time bookkeeper very early on because I knew that I did not want to be doing everything [00:44:00] myself because I knew that my end goal was to have an asset and not, just another job.
And so I hired a part-time bookkeeper very early on, so I've been used to sharing. in the profits, essentially , like, I'm not bringing a hundred percent of the money home for myself. Like I've been sharing that all along. So it was, it, it's easier as you go, if you start out that way, but also like time is really valuable to me and I knew that it was, that. That's just You have to have a team if you wanna grow something to a point that allows you time and the money that you want. I don't think that, I don't know. I might, this might be in end up controversial, but I, I don't think it's sustainable, at least. Like, yes, you might get to a certain revenue point on your own, but you're probably gonna.
Really strapped to your desk and at the beck and call of your [00:45:00] clients if you're the only person doing it. And I know that a lot of people have a resistance to hiring or sharing profits or having a. A team and quote unquote being a leader. But there's resources for that too in our world. I dunno if you, yes, there is, you've met her, but her name's Mariah.
She's our, our leadership coach here. And, we can support you in that as well. So even if you are just starting out and you're like, I don't even have a team yet, I just know that I'm gonna need one, then we have support for you. And congratulations if you're already thinking that way. Because. Yeah, your leaps and bounds ahead of the game there.
and yeah, leadership is not something that we're born with, so don't beat yourself up. I mean, some people maybe. It's just like the CPA exam. Some people can pass it without studying. That was not me. Um, it's just like anything, there's always gonna be those natural,[00:46:00] prodigies, but for the majority of us, we have to work at things and we have to learn things and we have to grow. So, don't beat yourself up if you don't feel like you're a good manager or a good leader. But be willing to do the work to make it better. Yes, cuz
Meriah: those are skills you can develop and grow.
Serena: And we can help you.
Meriah: And we can help you. So, so what, what activities do you enjoy? So, we'll, we'll kind of flip, I think we, we did a great job kind of covering the backstory and so to get a little more personal, I guess as far as activities and things like that, what would an ideal day out of the office, and I put that in quotes, but what's an ideal day out of the office look like for you?
Serena: So it depends on the time of year, but right now it's winter. So my ideal day is on the slopes. I'm an avid snowboarder. I actually just picked it back up after [00:47:00] like an eight year hiatus cuz you know, babies. And it's, I learned as a child, so it's like second nature to me and it really is like riding a bike. I would say if there is an activity that you used to do as a teenager or a child that you've had this itch to start doing again, now's your sign or here's your sign, now's your time to just pick it back up and be okay with kind of sucking at it for a little bit if you, you know, need to build the skills or the muscles or whatever back up. But that is one thing.
In the summertime, I'm on my paddle board, so I, I picked up standup paddle boarding, a couple years ago when we moved from California to Arizona, cuz we have, we actually have lakes. I'm not in the desert. It is, it, we do get snow in the winter and we do get some rain in the summertime. We have a few lakes where I'm at, [00:48:00] but that's where you can find me in the summer. That's an ideal day on the, on the lake with a paddleboard. And I do take the kids out on the paddleboard and it's super fun. They just sit on the, the end of it and, that's fun.
If it's a rainy day and I have to be inside. You can catch me probably tinkering around on my ukulele or my guitar and singing
Meriah: Nice. But so, and, and you may have already said it, but is there something that might surprise people to know about you?
Serena: Hmm. Any of those things might surprise people. The other thing is I could touch my nose with my tongue.
Meriah: do you wanna show us? Are you just gonna keep that?
Serena: Please don't pose that on social media. Like you guys grab that sound clip. It's okay. Yes, I can touch my nose with my. My kids think it's hilarious.
Meriah: Very talented. Very talented. [00:49:00]
Serena: And with that, you also might be surprised that I am quite the goofball.
Meriah: She is. She is a lot of fun. Just, just an amazing person to, to be around and be next to you.
Serena: Thank you.
Meriah: So You're welcome. You're welcome. And I guess that we could talk forever, but I suppose that we should probably wrap it up. So what would, what's, what's a piece of advice? One or two or five, I don't know however many you wanna leave, but what is a piece of advice that you would like to leave with our listeners?
Serena: I think there was lots of little nuggets throughout this episode of advice, but, number one, if you have the dream, you are now in this world so you can see that it's possible for other people, then that means it's also possible for you and, You have the dream, so [00:50:00] create the plan and figure out what are your, just your next steps.
You don't have to know all of the steps right now, but just that one next, one or two step that you need to take to get closer to that dream. That's all you really need to worry about right now. And then when you get done with those one or two steps, you just figure out what the next one or two steps are and just keep taking it step by step.
Meriah: I love it like stairs. Think of your dream, think of your dreams at the top of the stairs, and just what steps do you have to climb to get there.
Serena: So I'll, I think I'll leave it with. Okay. I
Meriah: think it's, thank you so much. I think it's amazing. I, I think there are so many nuggets in here, truly for all, all stages and walks of dreams or full-fledged already in business just.
Yeah, [00:51:00] be sure you're not multitasking, I think on this one. And, yeah, really have your ears tuned.
Serena: We'll have to move that clip to the beginning.
Meriah: Right,. All righty. All right. Thank you Serena, for sharing with us.
Serena: All right. Talk to you soon.