The Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast

BONUS ⎸ Scotty + Serena BTS of performing at Xerocon

• Serena Shoup, CPA

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We’ve just come back from Xerocon 2024 Nashville, and i’m giving you a backstage pass to the inner workings of how Scotty ’OKR’. Scarano secured the mainstage for one of his accounting raps—and included me in the ride!

In this episode you’ll hear:

  • the story behind Scotty & I performing at Xerocon
  • Scotty’s journey rapping about accounting
  • & you’ll get to see the actual performance (if you watch the episode on YOUTUBE HERE)

Resources mentioned in this episode:


Meet Scotty ‘OKR’ Scarano
Scotty is the host (rapping custodian) of the Accounting High Podcast, and the owner of Padgett NC, a franchised accounting firm.

Connect with Scotty
📱 Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottscarano
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottscarano

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

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Serena:

All right. So I want to know, are you still, are you still like reeling from the event or just diving right in?

Scotty:

I'm still in the cloud. I'm still in the cloud. My head is still in the clouds. My feet are on the ground, though. I'm back home. Ground floor of my house. But my head is in the clouds.

Serena:

Yeah. Same. Okay.

Scotty:

My f It's fading, though. Literally, the blue in my hair

Serena:

I can see that. I thought it was supposed to last longer than that.

Scotty:

I thought so, too.

Serena:

permanent.

Scotty:

Semi. It got its day. It had its day in the sun.

Serena:

Okay, so my community, requested a podcast with you to hear the story about how all this transpired. But, we should back it up a little bit because I was going through my archives of podcasts. And I think we've only recorded one podcast together on my podcast. So, and that was quite a while

Scotty:

So this is round two. That was, wasn't it?

Serena:

and I think back then we promised a round two and we never delivered, or maybe we recorded it on your podcast.

Scotty:

That could be it, but this is the real round

Serena:

So for anyone listening, introduce yourselves or yourself and your, your alternate personality, I guess.

Scotty:

I have two selves. I can introduce both of them for sure.

Serena:

So go for it.

Scotty:

so Scott Scarano, the EA who has an accounting firm. yeah, that's, that's one guest that you've had on.

Serena:

And back then you were apparently going by Little Toddler.

Scotty:

I was too. Yeah, that's kind of evolved. So I've always had this like inside of me deep down this other alter ego, like Eminem's Slim Shady. I've had this other alter rap ego inside of me brewing., you've met him. he went by Little Toddler, Lil Toddler, L I L. that evolved into OKR, just like Sons of CPAs evolved into Accounting High. so there's a few brands bubbling up, evolving, but they're all just behind this whole, like, Scotty. So that's the other alter ego, really. There's Scott, and then there's Scotty. So, I think that's, that's how I've, you know, Scotty can go by anything he wants, but, um. He's a child. He's very childish, so we can set him aside. He jumps on stage and he has some fun when it's time. Scott's the accountant.

Serena:

Let's talk, about Scott the Accountant. And I think if you really want to know the history, definitely go back and listen to the original episode. I won't make you retell your complete origin story. I'm kind of interested in just the last couple of years of Scott the Accountant. And how that has,

Scotty:

He hasn't seen the light of day much for the past couple of years. He's been buried in the, in the back. He's been in a shed somewhere having his own time. He doesn't come out much. And when it's time to come out, he'll do his job, but then He doesn't even want, he doesn't even want to spend much time out in the day. I still have to do my taxes. They still haven't gotten done. I still have, have like a couple of businesses that I'm running now. All the books on that have not gotten touched. So like he doesn't get too much time because the creative side takes over and that's what, what happened to me, at least in the last couple of years. I'm still trying to define what that is right now, and I think he still needs some more time out because he's the one who makes money. He's, he's very profitable. So, and I can talk about him like that because we're, we're cool like that. Yeah.

Serena:

Oh, that's awesome. So you own, Pagett North Carolina is, the North Carolina franchise of Pagett. Is that how that works? Okay.

Scotty:

Yeah, in the beginning it was very geographically like located until we found Xero. And I don't know how much I talked about on that episode, but that's where it became nationwide for us, even global for us. Once we started working with Xero there. It wasn't just North Carolina, you know, our office, our home base though, is Raleigh, North Carolina. That's where my whole team is. That's where our physical office used to be. that's where a lot of our clients still are. That's how most of them find us through Google. But then the ones that found us through Xero was all over. So yeah.

Serena:

Makes sense. Okay. And right now you are pretty much hands off with that whole venture.

Scotty:

I try to sometimes dabble in there and put my hands on,

Serena:

get frustrated with you? They're like, just stay out of it,

Scotty:

Mm hmm. Stay out of it. It would have been nice for you to meet my team. They, they have been to all the previous Xero cons. This was the first one that they didn't make actually. Brought my daughter instead of my team

Serena:

that was awesome getting to hang out with her, by the way.

Scotty:

yeah, yeah. She's, she had a great time. Thanks for showing her a good time. Uh, y'all hung out a lot, but yeah, so, but it was, mean, we, we We didn't get to Xerocon yet, but we're kind of like, that was Scott that they went and traveled to all the other Xerocons with, it wasn't this whole new version. And that's still, you know, it's like that, that was just the stage version. When I'm not on stage and I'm somewhere else, I'm usually Scott again pretty quickly. you know, that, get embarrassed. I don't want to do karaoke or things like that either. Like when I met a group of people, I want to sit in the sidelines. I don't want to dance. I'm pretty shy too, for the most

Serena:

me too.

Scotty:

So, but if you turn a camera on or do something else than this other one comes out. So it's like, I'm trying to navigate what that means. but that's, that was like the performer though. And that was something that I've had inside of me that I've been wanting to do forever. When I was going to these other Xerocons with them, just wanting to grow my practice. Xero was tapped into something different. They always did something really cool that made you feel some emotions next to their software too. And that's what I always connected with and resonated with. So that was like pretty cool how they were able to balance that, especially at their conferences. And I was like, I always want to rap one day at a Xero conference. That was like one of my dreams. I saw this guy doing standup comedy at one of them. It's like, They dabble into like music, musical type

Serena:

performances and, yeah. Okay. So was that something that you started thinking about because of Zero Con or were you already dabbling in doing raps on your own before that bug?

Scotty:

Um, I didn't really start doing it till the podcast. This podcast kind of started scratching the entertainment type itch that I had. that was something different. That was, I was looking at it differently too. I wasn't looking at it like, not a normal person would like you're doing a accounting related podcast. I was doing it as I just want to have some fun and make this stuff fun. And I was channeling all of that in the activities I was doing outside of the podcast. I was looking at. You know, that's why we do the tournament. That's why I was doing the raps is because anything that I could pull in to accounting and then make it relatable, make it fun. I'll try and do that. I'll test it out. This is all just been experiments and stuff. and I met you around the time of like, it was, the first, or the last Xerocon, but also like around when I first started doing the raps right around that time too. And you, you know, you were started dabbling in your singing too around that time or, or that's what we bonded over. And it was like, again, I was channeling something different with that. And that was turning, I was getting a lot of positive feedback early on too. It wasn't like. It was a combination of both. Something that I've wanted to always do, but also people are getting lit up by it and they get it. It wasn't just going over people's heads. And so that experiment was like tapping into something different. I was making people feel things just like Xero was. And so that was something that I wanted to continue to scratch that itch. And that's when I started burying the other me, and I couldn't sit in front of the computer anymore, do email. Who wants to sit in front of an email when you can go make people cheer on stage?

Serena:

that's the real, like the real thing behind, I think most performers and like musicians is like, if you're just trying to evoke emotion out of people. And so if you get a taste of getting that kind of reaction from people, it is super addicting.

Scotty:

Yeah, it is, and I don't think that's very healthy. because I'm not doing it every day, it's not like that's my profession, that's not my job. Right now I'm just kind of doing it like for fun too So when I do get that, it's like, then I chase the next one. So I'm already going to another conference and I'm going to perform at another conference. Like that'll be fun. That'll be great. It's in October. So now I've got like this, this month of like waiting for the next one kind of thing, and i'll figure out what I'm going to do during that time. You know, I'm trying to, you know, Make a, make a go of this thing, like a career out of helping people, educating people, not just trying to entertain people in accounting, but I'm actually trying to teach people stuff too. Maybe you can help me with

Serena:

I think we can figure it out. So what's the timeframe? I'm going to jump all over the place with questions because then you say something and I'm like, now I have a new question. I have a list of questions that I was like, I'm going to ask all these things. We'll see. We'll see how long this episode ends up. I definitely have to leave at a certain time. But, did you already have this next one lined up before Xerocon? And I know Xerocon wasn't your first one anyway, so maybe we should back up and talk about like. when was the first rap that you performed?

Scotty:

Okay, so the first one that I teased and then performed took me about six months to do. and it was not like a planned thing, but it kind of turned into a planned thing. So I became really close to Twyla and she was building this FreshBooks accounting partner program and it was like the first big fresh pack. And she wanted to do something fun and different one of the nights. And they ended up taking everybody out on a boat and I had been practicing this rap for so long. And she said I could perform it on the boat. There was a DJ there and everything. And it was a bunch of my friends too. It was like 30 people there, you know, all in all, between the FreshBooks people and all the accountants that were there. And, I did it. And people filmed it and everybody was lit up. They had a professional photographer there too. So any picture that you see of me, like on the socials was probably from performing that night. Cause that became a headshot everywhere. but that also became a headshot everywhere. Like it was like, that was, because I did that was like, gave me the confidence to do the next one, but also like the enthusiasm to want to do the next one. and again, like. People felt something. They really liked it. They related to it. They laughed at the jokes. Like they caught the lines that I was intending to catch, but it was also a catchy song. It was Outkast's ATLiens. And so that was like a catchy dancy song. And then, so I call it CPAliens. I'm not a CPA, right? So I'm an alien in that, in that world, but it all worked out. That was a fun one. And that led to me getting the confidence. And right when I met you, I remember our call, I had just got the confidence to write a rap for Expensify. Somehow I thought they were going to take me to Italy as one of the 100 accountants they were going to take. And it was before I sent it to them and I played the whole thing for you.

Serena:

And you were like, it was like a reaction video. You're like, I'm going to watch your reaction

Scotty:

I wanted to see if it landed, if people got it and stuff like outside of me, cause I had just written it and you got

Serena:

so close

Scotty:

You liked it.

Serena:

do start to, that's how I am with the songs I write too. I'm like, is this actually good or is it just pile of trash? And I've just been looking at it for so long that like, I think it's good, but I don't know. Yeah. Mm

Scotty:

it got me to Italy. It was good enough for that. That's all I wrote it for. And that was pretty amazing. So they paid for a full trip to Italy. I got to take my wife. It was like, Dream come true. I'm filming the music video there. And then I meet this guy, Joe Waterd, who said, what if we had you rap at Scaling New Heights? And I didn't know how big Scaling New Heights was. I had never been to Scaling New Heights. This was like 2000. people and they were all accountants and he wanted me to rap and open up the conference and it wasn't that long from then it was like a month later less than a month and I was supposed to be in Mexico and then I asked my wife I said this is a pretty big opportunity and they offered to fly me from Mexico to go to the conference all these things are just happening like because I started rapping about accounting like there was nothing else I was still doing a podcast before all that stuff you You know, it was just because I started rapping and that went pretty well. I wrote a new rap for the conference. I filmed the music video in Vegas and like, it was just all running on adrenaline, like chasing that, like next performance. I met a whole bunch of great people. Cause that gives you the opportunity to meet a bunch of people. Cause a lot of people want to meet you after you perform at a conference that big. So like. That became another big opportunity. And I'm just still like trying to navigate all that. I don't know how far you wanted me to go with all these

Serena:

Keep going

Scotty:

you asked a question.

Serena:

I connect the, the common thread, but I want the listener to kind of like hear this too, but keep going. Okay. So what's after?

Scotty:

then Scaling New Heights was more smaller performances after that, but more meaningful ones, in different ways. So the next one I did, I think was Randy's Conference, Bridging the Gap. It was the first Bridging the Gap, and I did something entirely different for that one. I did a Chili Peppers song and I don't know why I saw the connection. I was, while I was in Mexico preparing for Scaling New Heights and then I changed it up and then I did a crazy music video for that. Invited a bunch of fellow accountants to make music video for that while we were in San Francisco. While I'm doing that, I also wrote the Tax Accountants Anthem, which was at the Tax Twitter Conference. All of this stuff is happening all at the same time because I'm, My firm's just running in the background. a tax accountant's anthem filmed music video for that, that like had its own little moment in the sun during the first tax retreat, tax Twitter retreat. and while that's happening, I'm preparing for Randy's conference. I performed there. That was loads of fun. I performed a new rap that I was working on sort of on the side, not related to anything, but just more about saying no. And then that led to me wanting to do Botkeeper again. Botkeeper comes up and that was the one that meant the most to me. Um, because it was Eminem's Lose Yourself. That's the one I started working on. And because I got to tell the Eminem story through Enrico, the founder of Botkeeper, which was the story that I wove into the entire song and, and I wrote it, memorized it within 10 days. It was like the idea to perform there. They were having the conference. and then reached out to them and then within 10 days I was there and John Garrett's introducing me on stage and then I go on and then just I choked. All of that. I had it all memorized and I choked but then I played it off like it was Eminem's lose yourself you choke you know that was the whole part of the first verse anyway and everybody laughed at me playing it off and I got the guy because I had been rehearsing it anyway so I knew I was I didn't know I was going to choke, but I had a feeling I probably would. And then I ended up making a joke about it. And then it all, the second version, I mean, when he replayed it again, it went well, it was great. Everybody cheered and Rico was crying and like cheering and laughing at the same time. So that's something I always wanted to do is make somebody cry and laugh, you know, and feel, feel something on stage. Like, I said that I did a speaking, coach or thing with Misty, Misty's Tops program. And I said that on the first one, I said, that's what I want to do. That was like my, um, my goal. And that was back in January that year. And this, here we are in October and I did it. didn't know how it was going to happen, but that, and then just the reaction I got from the people at Bod Keeper and that party, this was just like, here I am, like. A couple of years ago, I'm just an accountant, right? Now I'm rapping about accounting. And that was, these are like things that felt, I felt like I found my, my whole like purpose, right? And then things got, well, no, then I had another performance too. Things got dark somewhere in there as well, but I had another performance in Orlando at the Four Seasons for, at a tax conference and I performed the tax accountants Anthem to like. the crowd there and they loved it. Same kind of reactions too. Then things got kind of dark and it was just like, you can't jump from one thing to the next thing to the next thing without having a low period. And I was due for something. it got pretty low. ayahuasca back in January. and this was the next January, right? That, The whole like speaking thing that was the January prior and this led to this whole like run of doing these crazy chasing like the ultimate Ultimate whatever I was chasing. I don't recommend this on anybody because it left me feeling pretty low, too It wasn't the greatest This year has been a lot more slower and intentional and I got something different out of doing Xero and I had a different year This year that year I just described Was not the best because those highs while they were high The lows that followed each one was just like my family got to see the worst side of me. and I didn't know how to, any way to control each side of that. So I was also burning out. I basically burned myself out again. And we talked about burnout because we both burned ourselves out during the last previous conversations we had. So that led to basically the lowest of like, I need to go do something and I found an ayahuasca retreat. I was going to do like a silent meditation retreat or something. my wife was really pushing me to do something and I found, And I just did some search and I wanted to do something extreme, something like to

Serena:

You? Never.

Scotty:

yeah. Right. and so, but the ayahuasca was perfect. This is exactly what I needed. It seemed like something a rapper would do anyway, because all these rappers were talking to me about it. And then there's these people in accounting talking to me about it too. So. It was like that whole part of this journey was like, they all kind of dovetailed, braided together and it was meant to be. And it was amazing. I know you listened to the episode, check out episode 200 of Accounting High, if you want to hear more about the ayahuasca journey. but yeah, that was life changing again. And I slowed down and I got some patience in everything I was doing. And I realized I can live, like, yeah. harmoniously with both of these, like it doesn't have to be polar opposites. They don't have to be fighting each other, Scott and Scotty. They could be harmonious as one person. I gotta be able to navigate that though. that's something that like, you know, you get, it's, I think for somebody that has that, you get it. Like, you've gotta be able to, Shift gear sometimes too. shift into a lower gear without it, without failing completely. So,

Serena:

then you did how many more, like between Xerocon and that, did you do any raps or?

Scotty:

I stopped with the music videos and then I did the performance at Randy's, but one rap that I worked on, so a friend of mine, Has died in all of this time too, so I'm sure your students may know or your listeners Josh Lance Died like in around November of last year around the time when I was at a really low point, too That was really hard to cope with because I knew Josh really well I would see him at every one of these trips that I would go on I didn't know how to react to that either. Like at the time, for sure. I wasn't processing those emotions cause I didn't think it was like really happening. It was crazy. Cause I had just seen him when I was filming that music video for the, um, for Randy's conference. He was supposed to be at Randy's conference, supposed to do a session with us, supposed to do a session with him and Kenji at Randy's conference and he couldn't make it cause last minute. all that stuff's happening. And then this year. I'm planning for Randy's conference. I didn't know what I was going to do. I was, I wasn't going to do a new rap. I had last year's, I could change it up a little bit. And Randy said, we're going to do something special for Josh. Josh's wife's going to be there. I was like, I'm gonna do tribute song for Josh. That's going to be, that's going to be what the other thing I do there. and it worked on that one. That one was dope. That one really made people cry. and I wasn't like try, I couldn't like, I couldn't help it with that one too. I wasn't like sitting there trying to make this, this wasn't about me at all, but that's how Josh, it was never about Josh. And Kenji's eulogy, was so impactful. Like to me, listening to it and hearing about. how Josh was and why we all gravitated to him and why, you know, just the person he was. I mean, if you want to listen to that, I probably will release that at some point. I haven't released that yet at all, but, you got to hear Kenji's eulogy. So I'm listening to Kenji's eulogy, trying to write this song, and I was going to take a little clip from it. And so as I'm making this song, you know, these songs go through a lot of iterations as I'm working on them. It, this was, um, I didn't know what I was going to do for the hook with this or for something. I was just going to take a little clip of Kenji's eulogy. He said something about a birdcage and I was, and I made a joke and the birdcage rhymed perfectly and I dropped the file in there and it just fit like over the hook. I was going to have Julia, my daughter, does the hooks for the songs and I was going to have Julia do a hook and I started to write it and I couldn't figure it out but this is Charlie Puth. This was like, this is a really popular song. You might know the one I'm referring to. But, Kenji's eulogy was over top of Charlie and it all lined up so perfectly that right when Kenji said something about his eulogy, about Josh saying something, my rap started. And I was like, And then so I cut, I chopped it up a little bit after my rap started and I moved, I moved it a little bit more, but it fit the core parts of the eulogy in with the song too, with the rap and the story I was trying to tell was told better through Kenji. So it was my first song with Kenji on it together featured with him. And I've always wanted to do a song with Kenji. He's always too busy. He said he would do a rap if I wrote it right. And he, you know, if the timing was right, But this meant so much to him too. Like it was, this was the most impactful thing I could have done. And I spent probably like the better part of three weeks just doing that, just working on that. I went to a studio and mastered it. It was super dope.

Serena:

Yeah, you sent it to me. It was really good.

Scotty:

Oh, I did send it. I sent you an early version. I rewrote it and I redid the verse, the second verse, but yeah, it's, that was really cool. And I, so I met Josh's wife for the first time at that conference and she came up to me and she was like, she had really wanted to meet me, but she hadn't heard the song yet. So that meant a lot. Like I sent a video to Josh, it was something that she saw then. So I got to meet her without like her even hearing that. So then when I saw her, You know, she heard the song for the first time. It was like, it was pretty super cool. So that was a big moment I had doing this whole stuff in here. And that was like, again, just because of the whole accounting, you know, world that I'm in, that's what led to that opportunity to be able to do that. And that meant a lot, like we didn't even talk about the Xero thing yet. That's what came next. That was only a few weeks ago, though, that thing in Chicago. So,

Serena:

So that was before you actually got to Xerocon. But you already had the Xerocon stuff in the works at that point.

Scotty:

was already done. The Xero

Serena:

the rap was done.

Scotty:

completely done. Yeah, so Xero's I've been working on since

Serena:

All right.

Scotty:

As you know,

Serena:

So now, here's the part of the story that people really wanted to hear, like, how did this happen? I guess maybe what we should rewind a little bit, I think maybe on the last episode that we did together that might have been around the first, one of your first raps that you did that you sent to me. It was the Infinite Cynic rap. And I recorded a hook and sent it back to you, like, pretty much without your permission. I was like, let me sing on this. so that's how we ended up doing this together, but you did ask me to do a rap with you or a hook on something else. Because I was going back through our messages and I was like, oh ****, I dropped the ball on one of these because I was in a really dark point of life. And thank you for giving me another opportunity.

Scotty:

Well, that was a very important, so That was Eminem's first, like, from his first album, and I've always in my head wanted to do these parodies of Eminem in order. So that was the first Eminem parody I ever did because it came first. And, well, I did one of Haley's song for my daughter two years ago at her quinceanera, but that one in particular, we're not going to play it because I don't think it's my best work for sure. But what you did there was like you, you took it and you added another layer to it, another dimension to it that I didn't even see. And you made it more palatable so people could at least listen to it. Cause again, early Eminem is not like something that everybody should be listening to either. It wasn't the best. wasn't what it is now, let's just say. So that was an important part of my journey too. So I, I log those things. You plant little seed there. It's going to sprout at some point. And it sprouted last week. That's pretty dope. We had a pretty cool performance. Sorry to put everybody through all of that. You asked me a few questions and I just kept talking because I had to work through all, a lot of this narrative in my head too. So thank you for everybody putting up to getting us

Serena:

also lays the like scene of how you ended up here. And then one of the common things is like, It's not all luck though, you know what I mean? That's the other thing is like, you've been putting in the work to get better and then you've, you've made the ask. So talk about,

Scotty:

yeah, let's, let's get there. So. All of these other things that I had been doing, I pretty much asked for all of them, right? Like I wouldn't have been performing if I didn't suggest the idea except for scaling new heights. That was Joe Woodard's idea and he achieved exactly what he wanted out of that. It was his vision. but every other one was like my vision. I, and I saw this as something that I wanted to do. I always wanted to wrap at XeroCon and in April, They emailed the former X Packers. So I've been on X Pack as, as Scott, you know, that was like, I was growing my firm, excited about Xero. They invited me on X Pack. I was on one of the early X Packs and they were inviting all the X Pack alumni to a special dinner before the pre con, like day before the convention. And they were sending this out because they wanted people to work on their plans because they were inviting people from Australia, South Africa. UK, Canada, and here for all a big gathering and I replied to it, I want to wrap at Xerocon and I, and I listed out all the things. So everything that I just said, I listed out, like, these are all the, conferences that I've wrapped at. These are how many accountants I've wrapped in front of. Basically, I'd been working on a portfolio to send them. And they took it seriously because within like an hour of that night, I got a text from Ben Richmond saying, we're going to have you rap at Xerocon. We're working out all the details on our end. Stay tuned. whoo, man, that was like, it, that, then it was serious. And didn't know what song I was going to do, but I knew it was going to be epic. I knew whatever thing, it was going to be perfect. And I'm talking to my team about it. What song should I do? And I'm like, I want like a deity where something where somebody's worshiping a God or something like, and I was like describing what I knew I was going to do, but I didn't know the song yet. I didn't have it connected. shout out to my son, Frankie. I was at his soccer. Practice with my headphones on, zoning out like I do, just listening to music, trying to figure out what song I'm going to do, and playing some Kanye, and Jesus Walks comes on, and the skies parted, the seas parted, and everything made sense. This was it. And I knew it. I knew the hook already when I heard it. When I heard Jesus walks, I heard Xero works. And I saw the whole stadium and I saw everybody cheering it too. But I, but I was scared minute that I heard that I was scared that they weren't going to let me. And they weren't going to let me do Kanye because Kanye has not been very good to the public eye as of lately. Not too many Everybody wants to distance themselves from Kanye. Adidas and Oh, God, it's a sorry, sorry sight. Like, right now, I don't even want to talk about Kanye. We shouldn't.

Serena:

So did you,

Scotty:

it was a perfect song.

Serena:

like, mention what the parodies are based off of in fear of that? Like, just, let's just send them the lyrics that you have and hope no one notices? Or, like, Okay.

Scotty:

no, no, no, no, no. They heard it. Well, those, this is what went in my head immediately was they weren't going to let me do it as just Kanye. So somewhere subconsciously, I also knew that that other song that I did, that I ended up using to, like, for the majority of it was a perfect song to do, but nobody would know it. This was a cannabis song and I, and I had lodged this one in my head too, because whenever I think of Xero, I listen to that song a lot. Not too many people know it, but it was a very popular song in my headphones at the time. And so I've already got that one somewhat memorized in my head anyway. I fluently kind of knew it. I knew the beat, you know, inside out and I knew that hook. And I was going to use the same hook, but it was tuned into channel zero. And I was like, that's what we're doing. We're tuning into channel zero. The way that he sets up the intro to that. I did a parody of that too, like approximately 18 years ago under the direction, and we can play it at the end of the episode so they can hear it. Yeah.

Serena:

of this episode, for sure.

Scotty:

For sure, Ian's got that down. all of that stuff worked and I knew I could cover up enough of the Kanye to where it would be just as impactful if I didn't do the whole thing, and it wouldn't be just about that. And that way I could do both. And so I saw the medley, and so it all orchestrated like kind of as, as it was unfolding. And this was around the time, was early May, around that time. And then once I had it all written and everything, I just thought, I'm not that good on stage. I need somebody out there with me. I need something that's like, confidence boosting a little bit. And I thought, well, Serena's, done a hook for me before. And, I text you and I don't know what you thought. Like, so at that moment, now you can step into this part of the

Serena:

Yeah. So yeah, you texted me and I'm, I don't know if you're into the whole, like, what are they called? The personality things. Anyways, I'm a generator. So it's like, I get like a sacral, like, yes or no immediately when I get faced with a question If I ignore that and try to, like, logically change my mind based on logic, it usually ends not well. But you texted me that and I, it was an immediate yes. Like, before, it was like a full body yes. I was like, hell yes, I'm in. Like, I will figure it out. Not passing this one up.

Scotty:

So yeah, so that worked out. I also wanted to have my daughter perform it as well, but I did not think she would want to. Her immediate would have been no and her immediate was no when I floated the idea to her. I didn't want to, I didn't want to pressure her. I knew that she would be great on the song. So I already knew how that was going to work out and it worked out perfectly. But I saw it in my head as like, I knew you would want to too. I knew that this would be a great opportunity and I think this and it turned out exactly as I had visioned it. And my daughter still got to be on the track and she still got to be there and watch it and hear herself up there too. Like she's been on almost all of my songs. So that was still part of it too, as part of the story. And for the context too, when I said the first Eminem song I did was Haley's song for my daughter's 15th birthday, this was her 17th birthday watching this. So that was pretty cool too. So back to like, the moment when you said you would, I knew you would. And I wasn't doubting any, at any point, even when you like, and we didn't talk about it for weeks, and I'm still working on all the details and everything. I knew we'd figure it out. and were you gonna try to convince yourself to back out at some point, at any point? Or were you just like, how is this gonna work out? Or were you, were you questioning it at all?

Serena:

normally that's my pattern, for sure. Like, I have, made myself sick to be able to back out of things. Like, not in, sort of intentionally, but like, I've manifested becoming ill in order to get out of things big like that, that are like really uncomfortable. And that's something that I've like, tried to really work on in the past, like, several years of healing, of like, you know what? I should just be the person that I want to be instead of like, having these little excuses and like, yeah, it's gonna be freaking uncomfortable, but I've been doing the work, like, I've been wanting to get up on stage. For me, it was just this last January was the first time I got up on stage, um, but writing my own music, performing with, Solo and with other people. and so I knew I had, already put in enough work to be able to just kind of power through it. And like, I will figure this out. And I didn't really ever have doubts or want to back out of it, which is crazy. Cause normally I would for sure. But I was just like, no, this is a thing that's going to happen. Xerocon is a dream stage for me too. Although it was like for speaking.

Scotty:

Well, the same with

Serena:

Um, but it's funny how the,

Scotty:

in a way, but well, so here's why it made so much sense to me for you to be on was because you use Xero. Like I'm an accountant that uses Xero. That's really why I'm rapping about it. at its core. You are an accountant who uses Xero. That's really why you would be singing about it at its core. You weren't just some Dave's Highway or some Ashland Craft that they found and pulled in. You were somebody that would have already been there to begin with. So that's why, that's why, , it made sense. Like, All of it impactful thing they could have done, and that's why they made it the heart of the conference, right in the middle, too. Yeah, that was perfect. At first I was like, Oh man, I would have liked to have opened it, or I would have liked to have closed it. But nah, I think that was, that was the best part. So they had us positioned in a two day conference at the beginning of the second day. For anybody that didn't make it or

Serena:

and honestly,

Scotty:

it.

Serena:

them doing that probably increased the attendance that they would have had on day two and on that keynote stage in that main stage area, because

Scotty:

Mmm, not by that much. We had a little bit of a crowd. We had a, we had a pocket, but that was a big room. That was a big room, and it felt empty. It was fuller. Once we got up on stage, it was fuller, but they showed the wings on the side. And when you see the wings, it's a huge room. And unless that room was at max capacity, those wings aren't going to be full because everybody's going to want to sit in the middle and that middle area is big. And we got to see the scope of it and how big it was once we actually got out there, but it looked empty from our perspective. so still, I mean, it, it was, it was a very big, conference all in all. Yeah, so that was a big opportunity for you. me as well. And leading up to it, I felt calm, and cool, and prepared, and ready, and I was excited. I never let on that I was nervous, because I wasn't nervous. Up until the rehearsal.

Serena:

I know. But you know what?

Scotty:

it got bad. I physically got, like, ill.

Serena:

Yeah. Well, because you were feeling that way during the rehearsal, I think is what enabled the actual performance to go so well, because we kept running, like, we ran through it like four or five times. Okay.

Scotty:

times.

Serena:

I stopped counting. I was just like, whatever, do it again. But.

Scotty:

you were, you were okay. You were, you were helping me during the rehearsal and I was a basket case because I had gotten in my way immediately. Once we got on the top of that escalator and I knew we were about to rehearse, I got completely shut out. I like lost. everything for a moment. Like I had to meditate. I couldn't do anything. I got locked up and I was nervous and I don't know why and I couldn't get out of it. and even after the rehearsal, I probably probably should have loosened up. Had some alcohol or something to loosen myself up, but I like, I have a very strong mind and I want to get through something and I got to figure it out. And, and everything was going wrong at that moment. I looked at what they had and it turns out what they did was actually really cool. And I almost had to remove it. But you know, anything that deviated from what was in my original vision of this was off or wrong to me at that moment and I couldn't be convinced otherwise and so it was I was gonna sabotage the whole thing it worked out

Serena:

did. Everything was fine.

Scotty:

all did it all did didn't it

Serena:

Yeah. It actually worked out better than I could have imagined. Like, the guy, the MC, you talked to him in the green room ahead of time and you were like, please make sure everyone's standing up. And that was a game changer. Because now you look at the videos and the pictures and people are like cheering, standing up. It was, it was pretty cool. And it just started

Scotty:

yeah and that was a big difference at Scaling New Heights. Scaling New Heights, nobody was informed to stand up and I tried to get people to stand up and nobody wanted to be the first one to stand up because everybody would see that they were the first person to stand up and nobody stood up at Scaling New Heights. that's okay. I was still newbie and I found out through John Garrett and others that have helped me throughout this process was you got to get people off their feet or else they won't. And you gotta have somebody else do it before you get up there. If you try to do it, it'll, it'll work okay, but it'll feel better if somebody else has done it to warm them up for you. And so you need a hype man. That's what he always said. and so that was gonna be your job until we had him.

Serena:

I was ready for it. I got the fringe on my

Scotty:

Yeah. Yeah. You still got everybody hyped. Everybody was cheering when you came on too. So he got everybody on their feet and man, that worked out great because I did the Star Wars thing. And at first I wasn't going to put that there cause you couldn't see the visuals that Ian created. So our editor, Ian, created all these cool visuals that Xero said we couldn't use.

Serena:

them at the, we're going to do that at the end of this video because this is going on YouTube. So we can

Scotty:

Dope. Yeah. Good. Yeah. So yeah, well it'll, it'll see the light of day. That was like, it all came together. People immediately got it. Like they were out, they were on their feet and the Xero's really, so let's, let's kind of tell the story first. But when I say the Xero's, I mean, all the Xero employees that came from all over the globe, they were, they were really like. This connected with them because I told their story. I told Xero's story in the beginning there. And that was all facts, you know, that, that I pulled from and I used from cannabis's song, I use his same narrative style. He was talking about America and I turned it into Xero, you know? it was pretty cool the way it all kind of came together.

Serena:

I agree. So stay on your feet, put your hands together, and please welcome Scotty OKR Scarano. Approximately 18 years ago, under the direction of New Zealand's Raj Ruri, and in the interest of computer security, a single unified ledger, accounting 2. 0, was established. This tool's primary objective was to decentralize accounting and spread this software as a service model across our planet, connected by a global network of remote services called the cloud. We the Cloud Zero, We the Cloud Zero, We the Cloud Zero, We the Cloud Zero, We the Cloud Zero, We the Cloud Zero, We the Cloud Zero, We the Cloud Zero. It's the new cloud accounting tool, welcome to it, to it, to it. A beautiful Bluetech solution. Xero showed the masses what an app was with cash code. To shatter the globe's reliance on desktop as we know it. I'm talking about the great invention around 2007. When Xero would grow out of New Zealand. For technologically advanced tenants. Simple finance, safe programming, browser based sessions. 2012 had lots of skeptics. And the mobile version of our domestic desktop was pathetic. You can reject it for its soothing blue aesthetic. And fail to recognize the beauty inside these debits. A very high percentage of accountants in our nation. Pre console worshiping desktop applications. For more construction of on site server pricing installation. Redundant ongoing IT maintenance. They gave us real time information. It can take place in several different team locations. Unlimited seeds in easy collaborative ecosystem customization. Choose your own software application. Booster application program basis. They create integration. Two step secure authentication. National Xero ambassadors. People like Liz Mason. They speak and teach and make certifications. They're trying to free western civilization from green domination. Well, you need to know that they changed the game. File based safe space with a beautiful interface. Give it up for the ambitious bookkeeper, Serena Shoup. Ledgers. Best agents. But most of all, we have more with broken bank connections. Rob Chope, give it away. He gives this lecture. Connects banking. Xero works with me. Source controllers, fractional CFO. Exe, bank feed, sync clear. My team bolts from green. Breaking almost nearly. Xero so fast we don't blink. I alert skeptics. Even though that's the way I need Xero. Dog, we need more Xero. Everything except for Xero. That means Xero's AI auto tech. My desktop won't integrate. Huh? Is this really machine learning? It'll probably automate by month ends. Then the weeks turn to days to seconds. And integrate everything in the cloud. Let's go Xero. Xeropon, everybody scream it out! ZERO WORDS! Rob showed me the way. He uses ledger, connects bank accounts. ZERO WORDS! The only thing that I pray is bank fees go family now! Okay, so now that we're still coming down from, I'm so glad you scheduled this interview like quickly because I was like I want to talk about it while everything's still fresh. And we're just going to drop the episode like almost immediately as soon as it gets, just as a bonus because I think it's important to get this out here. But, uh, Otherwise it wouldn't be out until like October because I'm really batched ahead. So now that this is over, you do have another one coming in in October and you did hint at, I've been following comments on LinkedIn, you did hint that there's something in the works for a future Xero situation. Are you allowed to share with that,

Scotty:

I don't have any real details of that yet. This is, that is, I'm hinting at it because it's probably a reality, but that's only because, yeah, I mean, but that's, that's how this one started too. I would think so. I don't know when the next XeroCon is, but I would think that within my next few interactions with them, I will have some idea of what it looks like. I don't know though, cause I don't even know if he'll do the same song because this song doesn't. this song doesn't land because this was made for the U S like all the songs and the references or QBO and all that. So if I do something there, I would just do the Jesus walks part and, and then maybe change up the beginning or do something different. I don't know, but that's all. All honesty is yes. that would be cool. But that was just teased like on LinkedIn. the whole plan, like, as far as was supposed to be, this might be my last, I already convinced myself that I'm going to do October, but this was going to be like, where I try to tame this and hold back and do less, or I'm just getting started. I know I teased that too. So it was either the whole theory was, if this doesn't go well, that's fine because I gave it my all. I did. It was, I gave it my best shot and maybe it landed with a few of my friends and they got it and that was it. And I can just go back to, you know, running a business or doing something, making some money or it goes really well. And then it turns into something else. And maybe I, maybe it does give me an opportunity to go to Australia or London or other places too. just under this whole accounting umbrella or cloud umbrella. So we'll see how that trickles out. It's still like, I just know that it did go well. The reaction that we got from the audience within that conference, you felt it. It was pretty electric. It was, it was electric blue.

Serena:

Yes. Yes. Not unlike your hair.

Scotty:

It was, yeah, it was pretty dope. it all like, you know, I, to, for, for more context, it was just well planned and well executed. That was all. I messed up. We, we both could be critical. I was most critical of myself when I first started watching the videos. When I first started watching the playback, it was just from the front fruit front few rows. And you don't see the big screens and you don't see the scope that it had. And all I saw was the flaws because it was still close up. It wasn't until I started getting some other videos of people that were further back that I saw that nobody saw any of those details. All they saw was the moments that they had this camera on the big screen because you can't really see the stage that much of the details on stage. You're looking at the big screens and that it looked good up there. Both of us looked really good up there. Like. That was perfect. so it made me feel so much better because it looks better from further away. Everything looks better from further away. We all know that.

Serena:

because the initial videos that I got were from like my team and Alyssa who were also singing along in the video and I was like, did I sound like that?

Scotty:

Yeah.

Serena:

Just a note for people and when you record video of other people singing and you're singing along, it's going to pick up your voice. But uh, yeah. So those were the initial ones I got and then one of my other team members had stood in the back up on a chair and that was the other video I sent you and she did it like landscape and caught the whole thing and I was like, Oh, wow, actually, but then I kept rewatching it and rewatching it and then I was like, Oh, I could have done this different. I should have been further up on the stage when I was singing instead of way back there and da da da da da.

Scotty:

Yeah, yeah. I've got my own critics. I can give you my list of things that I would have done differently at each, at each individual part. I've watched it so many times, but you know what? We can't change any of that stuff now. We can only do it the next time and learn from it the next time too. One thing, one note that I would give is I could have looked at the cameras too, because that's what the screen was. So, you know, whenever those cameras were on us, we could have looked at them and then the people would have seen us on the

Serena:

I didn't even notice when those cameras, like I just had no, you also have no

Scotty:

I didn't either, because they weren't on there in the rehearsal. they didn't even like, If I had done that before, I probably would have been more cognizant of the cameras, but those were really helpful, and they did show some flattering shots of us, and it was pretty cool what they did, because I saw it from further back. But if I had known, I would have looked more at it and been a little bit more animated. Granted, this was 9am too.

Serena:

Not only that, but we had to be in the green room by what, eight?

Scotty:

Yeah, yeah. But we didn't go out and party the night before. Like, that's what most people did. And most people that were there, I knew they were out the night before too. And they still made it for our performance. So that was pretty sweet. that was a lot of fun. I know I keep bringing it back to that because I want to make sure that like, the impact of that was also like, felt. For us. And we don't just move on to the next thing too. I'm glad you interviewed me now too. That's pretty cool. Cause sometimes when I get back home and my feet are on the ground, my head also doesn't stay in the clouds and things get low again. You guys were so amazing

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