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Ep. 112 - Cara - Peach Sky Bookkeeping - 4 steps to stress free bookkeeping that will make tax season a breeze
125 Plays1 year ago
Happy Woo Wednesdays! You have to know your numbers if you want to run a profitable business. Let's chat about it with my friend Cara from Peach Sky Book Keeping.
Meet Cara - I'm a mama of 2, wifey, and owner of Peach Sky Bookkeeping. Chasing beautiful beach sunsets in Southern CA with my kiddos and helping our female business owners feel empowered through their finances will ALWAYS be my jam. Our DFY bookkeeping services allow tax season to be a breeze, have clients profiting more and actually paying themselves, while using their numbers as a resource to scale their business.
What is your hot topic :
4 steps to stress free bookkeeping that will make tax season a breeze:
1. Separate business and personal - For the average biz owner, you really only need the one checking and one savings account for tax savings used strictly for business (I love Relay Bank). If you're good with credit cards, a business credit card is great to earn points and perks. I personally love the Chase ink card. Keep business and personal separate, this not only makes bookkeeping simpler, it also protects you legally.
2. Simplify your systems - you don't need to collect income 5 million different ways or use 3 different CRM systems all doing the same thing. There are sooo many different softwares out there (especially for photographers) but the simpler the better. This allows for easier tracking of income and expenses. My personal favorites for collecting income are Dubsado backed by Stripe and Paypal Business for paying subcontractors (extra pro tip - ONLY attach your business bank accounts to these payment processors that way you don't comingle and income and expenses are still only in your biz accounts.)
3. Get in an accounting software - this will again allow your bookkeeping process to be simple, streamlined, and automated. You can connect your business bank and credit card accounts and some CRM systems to the software. My preferred software is Xero due to it's affordability, user friendly platform, and customer support. Xero allows you to set up rules for certain transactions that really only take a click to be recorded. This allows for no missed income and more importantly recording all expenses aka tax deductions.
4. Do your bookkeeping AT LEAST monthly. This allows it to be less overwhelming , daunting, and transactions don't pile up. You should also be looking your numbers at least monthly to see how your business is doing and from there you can use data driven information to make informed business decisions. (and if you know deep down you aren't going to do it - OUTSOURCE to me!)
Reach out to Cara
https://www.instagram.com/peachskybookkeeping
Reach out to Carissa https://www.instagram.com/carissawoo
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Transcript
Introduction and Background
00:00:00
Speaker
Happy Woo Wednesdays! Today I have my friend Kara Martinez in the Get It Heck Yes House. Her company name is Peach Sky Bookkeeping. I know numbers is not super sexy, but she breaks it down so you could have a stress-free life of knowing your numbers. And if you haven't heard, I have a new program called The Triple Threat.
00:00:21
Speaker
If you go to my Instagram and you DM me the word DEMO, I will send you a 20-minute free video on how to get 10 to 15 quality leads per month. And this is for all wedding professionals. But enjoy this episode!
00:00:40
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all. I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:01:09
Speaker
Time-hacks because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey. I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon!
Motherhood and Balancing Responsibilities
00:01:32
Speaker
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Get a Heck Yes. It'll be a Woo Wednesday when you are listening. I have my friend, Kara Martinez, in the Get a Heck Yes house from Peach Sky Bookkeeping. And me and her met at Mesh Kids in Redondo Beach, a co-working space. You have to check it out near the Riviera. And yeah, what's up, Kara?
00:01:52
Speaker
We're just talking about poopy diapers, right? Yes, mom life. I feel like we talk about that every time. Well, maybe not poopy diapers, but mom life and juggling all the things every time we see each other. Yeah. Tell me about your family, like how many kids, how old they are.
00:02:13
Speaker
Yeah, so I have two babies. I have a six year old daughter and I have a three year old son and they keep me very busy and on my toes.
00:02:24
Speaker
Um, but, you know, they're awesome. I love them. They just tire me out a lot. Yeah. Yeah. It was hard to even get this, um, interview going, but we've been trying, we've been talking about it for, for a long time. And I see a mesh kids working on your social media and, you know, we've met at the networking group, so I'm glad.
00:02:46
Speaker
Yeah, I'm finally finally we're here. We did it. We did
From Sociology to Bookkeeping
00:02:50
Speaker
it. So tell us about your journey just like growing up, where you grew up and how are you like as a kid? And what got you to where you are now today? Long winded question, I know. Yeah, where where do I start?
00:03:05
Speaker
I had a very windy path. So I'm actually born and raised in Southern California. I grew up in a small like, I guess you could call it a suburb of Los Angeles, on the west side of Los Angeles. It's funny because now I live in the South Bay, like we both do. And growing up, I was like, the South Bay is so far away, I will never move there. I'm going to be on the west until I die, you know.
00:03:32
Speaker
Um, but then, you know, I ended up moving here, but yeah, I grew up there. I grew up in a very like diverse environment, very all friends from different walks of life, everything. I loved it. Um, and I went to college. I got my degree in sociology, got a master's in counseling, which has nothing to do with bookkeeping. So there's where my path kind of takes a weird turn.
00:03:56
Speaker
Um, so then I wanted to be a school counselor and I thought, okay, this is what I'm going to do. I have it all figured out. I was a planner. Like I knew what I wanted to do. I go to work for a pretty prestigious university here in Southern California. I won't name names, um, but I worked there for a year and honestly really didn't enjoy it. And, um, I thought, you know, maybe this is not the line of work for me.
00:04:24
Speaker
So as I was going to school and as I was working towards this master's degree, I was working at an accounting firm and we handled clients in the entertainment industry. And so I kind of just fell into bookkeeping and accounting. I never thought of myself as a numbers person ever. I still kind of don't actually, which I know sounds weird coming from a bookkeeper, but I really don't think you need to be a numbers person to be good at bookkeeping. You just need to know how to like problem solve,
00:04:53
Speaker
find the right answer.
Building a Business During the Pandemic
00:04:55
Speaker
So I basically worked there for 10 plus years and then the pandemic hit and I got pregnant with my second my son and I just like everyone kind of like reevaluated life right and I was thinking how do I want to spend my time I think everyone during that time was kind of reevaluating everything it was a hard time for a lot of people
00:05:18
Speaker
And while I was lucky that I was able to work from home, I was pregnant, then I had a newborn and a toddler. And I was like, I don't want to go back to commuting two hours a day. Like I was commuting an hour each way and it was just, it wasn't doable anymore. And I had a really hard time with my daughter, like having my first during like the newborn stage, you know, it's kind of crazy. And I felt like, oh my gosh, I have like a chance to do this over again, you know, and be here more for my kids.
00:05:48
Speaker
And so I started my business in May, 2022 and still worked full-time until earlier this year, left my job and went full-time into Peach Sky Bookkeeping, which I'm just so grateful that I even took the leap because it's a big leap when you start a business. As I'm sure you and like a lot of your listeners know, it's a big leap to take that chance on yourself and know that it's going to be okay and our hope and
00:06:17
Speaker
and praying cross your fingers that it's gonna be okay. So that's kind of my somewhat short-winded story of how I got here. Tell us who you work with and what the name represents. And I guess the third part of this question of how did you just go for it and get started? Okay, so the first question, the name. So like I said, we live in Southern California, we live like a mile from the beach and
00:06:46
Speaker
The beach is a huge part of my family and I's lifestyle. Even more importantly is the beaches where I go to feel calm, where I feel if I'm stressed, you know, I go and I look at the ocean and I just feel this calmness come over me. It's a place where I have beautiful memories with my kids.
00:07:05
Speaker
That is the feeling I want to have when people have their bookkeeping handled by us. And those feelings don't always go hand in hand with bookkeeping. So that's kind of where the name comes from. And that's just the feeling I want to evoke. So the peach sky is the sunset. I love
00:07:20
Speaker
any kind of sense that I'm there. So that's where that name comes from. What was the second question? I'm sorry. If you work with I know you work with females. Yes, I mainly work with female service providers. So whether that's for talk, I have photographers, brand and web designers, consultants. But I also work with like a tax practice. I also work with a headhunter who works for tech, tech
00:07:46
Speaker
staffing agencies, things like that. I mainly work with female service providers, but I'm not, I won't say no to anybody. As long as we're the right fit, I'm really about finding the right fit. But I really do love providing, especially female business owners, the empowerment that knowing your numbers can have. And I feel that's just something that
00:08:10
Speaker
you know, sometimes we're all kind of scared of looking at. So it's something that I really, really enjoy helping my clients do. And then the third question that you had was, what did you ask? I forget. I'm sorry. I don't know why I did a three tier question. I'm like, I'm going to go for attention.
00:08:33
Speaker
Oh, I want to I want to dig a little bit deeper into you don't consider yourself a numbers person, but you got into bookkeeping and you said problem solving. But I'm sure now you do probably enjoy numbers a little bit more. But walk me through like, maybe being a little overwhelmed and to kind of getting comfortable with
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
00:08:54
Speaker
it. We're going to talk about this in a second, but just a bit of backstory. Yeah. So
00:08:59
Speaker
It's funny because when I worked at the accounting firm, I always felt very almost imposter syndrome because I didn't have an accounting degree. I really learned everything on the job. And I think to be a good bookkeeper, you do need to have like the accounting basics. And so I went to school and I got I took classes in that I even took more certification once I started my business in order to really hone in on my technical skills.
00:09:27
Speaker
But I really think one, you need to be, you need to pay attention to detail. You need to know how to find the answer and not give up when it gets hard. You know, obviously you can step away and come back to it, but there's, what I love about bookkeeping is there's always a right answer. There's always a clear answer. Something always has to balance. There always has to be two sides of things. I want more with accounting knowledge, but, um,
00:09:54
Speaker
I think just the practice and the fact that I've been doing it for 15 years is what makes me feel very confident in my skills now. And I know I pay attention to detail. I see books that I take over from either other bookkeepers or business owners and more so with other bookkeepers, I'm like, well, what are they doing here? You know, and the fact that I, you know, how to fix it and things like that, it makes me feel like, okay, I know what I'm doing. And the years of practice is what got me there.
00:10:23
Speaker
It's a great feeling. I think now I have a new program for wedding professionals, shameless plug, but you know, when you do coaching, sometimes there is not really a right answer at the end of the day. So I'm just kind of like, I just want to do everything for you.
00:10:42
Speaker
You give me the money, here's the present, you know, type of thing. Yeah. And bookkeeping is like black and white, like, hey, if you're missing these transactions, we need to find them. What is this transaction? It's got to be something, you know? Yeah, yeah. Exactly. And, and then to your point too, like, sometimes I want to do the actual bookkeeping for my clients, right? I want to take it off their plate so they don't have to worry about it.
00:11:07
Speaker
But I also give them tips like on systems to put in place to things to make your life easier, like separating business and personal transactions, things like that. And it's on the client to to take that advice and know that it's coming from, you know, someone who knows what they're talking about, someone who's trying to help them. So while we do all the kind of back end work, it's really up to our clients to implement these good business owner decisions, I would say.
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah. If you start early, it's much better.
Benefits of Entrepreneurship
00:11:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It saves you a lot of headache and then makes it a lot easier for us to do our job and have our clients be completely hands off because if everything is separate, we know anything coming through a business account is going to go to your business. I don't have to go back to my client and say, I'm sure that this, um, you know, you getting your nails done was actually for business, you know, things like that. So.
00:12:07
Speaker
Oh, I remember my third tier question. It was, what was like that first year? Like how did you, you know, you just kind of took the plunge, which is a really good decision on your family. But what was it like to get like your first like three clients and how did you do it? Yeah, so my first client came from a friend of a friend.
00:12:33
Speaker
And then my second client, he found me on Google, which at that time I wasn't really, I wasn't doing anything. I don't even think I had my page set up. So that's why I had a website, but maybe I think he just Googled bookkeeper in the area. He found me and he's, he's awesome. And then another lady I met at mesh actually. And, um,
00:12:54
Speaker
So it kind of just happened and it was really scary, especially the decision to leave my full-time job. I was the higher earner. My husband works full-time, but I was the higher earner. It's always been like that. And so I think that's been like one of the harder things to just get adjusted to is kind of like our role shifting a little bit and figuring out the new norm for our family. But like leaving a full-time salary and then going into this world of
00:13:24
Speaker
entrepreneurship where, you know, luckily with bookkeeping, I have recurring clients, but like, you know, with your business, things can go away in a second sometimes. So I think that unknown was scary, but I even feel like today was just another
00:13:43
Speaker
like affirmation that I did the right thing because like my son was sick, but then I contact you and be like, Hey, you know what? This is going on. Like I may need to move things around at a client meeting. I just reached out to her and was like, okay, can we shift things around? And that's the beauty of having your own business. I feel like you can do it on your terms. You can work with who you want to work with. And while I always am professional and show up for my clients, like life happens and I want to work with people.
00:14:12
Speaker
who will understand that.
00:14:14
Speaker
that wasn't always the case in corporate. So yeah, I had a conversation with a friend yesterday where I was talking about, I was new to the school and because we moved from Gardena to Torrance and she's like, Oh, there's like a Halloween, Halloween parade, like, you know, at school. And I was like, Oh, I feel so blessed. I could just, I don't even know what day it is. I'm sure it's like a Tuesday or Wednesday, but I could for sure go because flexible schedule. Yeah. No, I thought the same thing because we got an email from my daughter's school and it was like,
00:14:44
Speaker
All these events and I just thought, wow, I'm, I'm so lucky like I can, I can just go to these things to ask anyone permission. So, yeah.
Simplifying Bookkeeping
00:14:55
Speaker
All right. Yeah. You're, you're doing the right thing for sure. So let's get into it.
00:15:01
Speaker
We have four steps to stress free booking keeping that will make tax season a breeze. So audience, I know this is not like the most sexiest topic ever, but I felt, you know, Cara really had to be on this podcast because if you don't know your numbers, you don't have a business. So don't learn the hard way where, you know, you just don't care about it. Actually listen to these steps, this process.
00:15:29
Speaker
reach out to Cara at the end if you don't want to do it yourself and take it very seriously. So you're into you're in it to be schooled right now. So four steps to stress free bookkeeping. You take it away with step number one. Yeah. So before I go into the steps, I just want to preface it by everything you said is completely true. It is really important. And if you're wanting to treat your business like a legitimate business, you really want to know your numbers. You want to be doing your bookkeeping. But on the other hand,
00:15:59
Speaker
I always tell clients and this is number one for me is like setting up a no judgment zone.
00:16:06
Speaker
I've always seen, I've seen all of the books, I've seen all the myths, like none of it really phases me anymore. And so I just always want clients to feel comfortable and know that you don't know what you don't know. So if you come to me and you don't know any of these things, that's okay. Like we can get you going and we can get you set up. So I just like to set that stage because finances can be a really touchy, sensitive topic with people sometimes, so.
00:16:32
Speaker
No judgment zone, come on, let's go. So the number one thing would be separating business and personal. So for the average business owner, especially if you're just starting out, you definitely just want probably one checking, one savings account for tax savings. And then if you're good with credit cards,
00:16:54
Speaker
then I recommend you get a business credit card. If you know yourself and you're going to kind of sign crazy, then maybe credit cards aren't interesting, but you want to keep them separate. So you don't want to go shopping at the mall on your business card if it's not actually for your business. You want to make sure you're keeping business transactions with business and personal with personal
00:17:15
Speaker
There's so many reasons why this is important. Number one is your ease, like it's going to be easier on you, especially if you're doing your own bookkeeping to remember, okay, was this business or personal? If you ever get audited, they will, with a fine tooth comb, look at every single thing and ask you for documentation or backup as to why these are business expenses. And if you have an LLC or even more so an S Corp,
00:17:40
Speaker
you're going to want to make sure that's completely separate because if you mingle, then it pretty much gets rid of that, that protection against, against you. So yeah, this is hard for me to do. So I even went about it and I put a big sticker on my credit cards and said, personal business, just because, you know, when you've been doing something for so long, um, you honestly forget you need like, kind of like a shift in momentum, like big science lashing lines.
00:18:08
Speaker
Don't use this card for this and don't use this card for this. Yeah, no, I do it too sometimes. So I break my own rule once in a while too. It's just, and there, and that happens, mistakes happen. So you can definitely remember that and still get that business transaction entered into your books. You just have to remember to do it, which is sometimes the harder step. Cool. All right. Let's go step number two. All right. So number two, um, this one I've seen,
00:18:36
Speaker
with some of more of the photographers that I've worked with, and that's not to call anyone out. I'm sure there's others that do this, but just really simplify your systems. Again, I'm familiar with some of the softwares that
00:18:51
Speaker
my clients use, but some of them have like 5 million different softwares all seeming for the same thing. And that makes your bookkeeping really difficult because you want to make sure you're capturing all the income that's coming in. If there's any expenses you're being reimbursed for through your clients and you're billing through something like Sessions or you're using Dubsado or using HoneyBook, things like that. Perissa, you probably know other specific softwares, but those are the ones I've kind of seen where
00:19:22
Speaker
it just gets so many systems in place that there's really no clear flow of data. And so you're missing income or you're missing sales tax that you need to report. So really simplify your systems. And you know, if you're using Stripe or PayPal for your business, make sure you're only attaching business bank accounts. So when you get that money, that money should be going directly into your business account. It should not be also attached to the PayPal you pay for your like
00:19:52
Speaker
your haircut lady or something, you know? Yeah, yeah. So you just want to make sure you have really simple systems because it can be easy. I just think sometimes we get shiny object syndrome, which I get to and you're like, Oh, I want to try this one in that one. And I think it can be really simple. Okay, so that sounded like gibberish to you guys just pretty much use one system.
00:20:13
Speaker
Pick one, pick Devsado, pick HoneyBook, pick 17 hats, pick one and just use it all for your business. And then the day it's going to save yourself a lot of headache and a lot of like mind space. Exactly. Yeah.
00:20:30
Speaker
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00:20:53
Speaker
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00:21:21
Speaker
Facebook ads or being in the industry for five plus years. It's all linked up. I made the best program in the industry and it's truly going to help you become the one. Enjoy. So yeah, my my third one kind of goes in with that, but getting it getting into an accounting software, whether that's QuickBooks or Xero or Wave is a free option. It's not my favorite, but it's a free option that I know
00:21:49
Speaker
people use and so the accounting software is going to connect to your bank accounts and it's going to automatically bring in all your transactions. So you're not sitting in there like with a spreadsheet, entering in each individual transaction. I personally love Xero, so it's X-E-R-O. Some people have heard of it, some haven't. It's probably the competitor to QuickBooks. I like it for so many reasons, but I'll give you three. Number one is that it's a lot cheaper.
00:22:17
Speaker
I get my clients a plan for around $10 a month versus QuickBooks. I don't know. I think it's like $60 a month, something like that. It pairs really well with Stripe and PayPal.
00:22:28
Speaker
which a lot of us use to collect payments and their customer service is just amazing. You can actually reach out to a person and get help. And it's just an awesome platform and it's very user friendly for the non-accountant. So definitely get an accounting software to streamline all of your processes and make sure your books are accurate.
00:22:51
Speaker
Yeah, I have zero, so shout out to zero. X-E-R-O. Yes. I mean, $10 versus $60, that's a big difference, so. Yeah, no, it is. And again, QuickBooks I think is good for certain companies and certain businesses. I still use it. I use both. I liked my clients to be on zero, but I understand QuickBooks is kind of a leader in that space, so.
00:23:18
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I just I went through the process. So it's pretty easy. You just yeah, you connect your accounts. It works first time for for me, but you're saying if you know if you have new hookups and customer service will actually get back to you. And maybe yeah, sign up today and
00:23:39
Speaker
If you are intimidated by it, then reach out to Cara. She'll hold your hand for you. I do setups as well. So if somebody wasn't in the place yet where they wanted ongoing, but I can also help them get set up and caught up and show them how to use it. All right, we're breezing through the steps. So step number four, and then we'll dive a little deeper into it.
Monthly Bookkeeping Best Practices
00:24:01
Speaker
Okay, so yeah, no, step number four is going to be to do your bookkeeping at least monthly. So at least once a month. I know I have a lot of clients who come to me and we're in October, almost October now and they haven't done bookkeeping since February of this year.
00:24:18
Speaker
So and I get it. It's normal. Life happens. You get busy, but it's so much easier if you kind of put it into your routine. If you have a reminder on your calendar, OK, October 2nd, I'm going to do September's books. I'm going to go in. I'm going to categorize all my transactions that came through the bank feed. I'm going to make sure everything is there and make sure I can look at my numbers like looking at your numbers monthly, I think is so sometimes so undervalued by business owners.
00:24:47
Speaker
If you want to know where your money's going, where your money's coming from, what you're spending on, what you're actually profiting, not what you're bringing in, but what you actually get to take home and spend, you want to look at your numbers and you want to be doing it monthly. So definitely at least monthly is my suggestion to get in a good routine.
00:25:07
Speaker
Yeah, have a money date with yourself, put in your calendar, drink some wine, have fun. Maybe, maybe just make it like, yeah, maybe once a week, just go through those transactions and by the end of the month, you're going to see it and it's just going to become a habit, a really good habit. Exactly. Yes.
00:25:27
Speaker
Cool. And if you don't want to do it, then you know, you know who to talk to. Yes. We all link you up in the show notes. So just to recap four steps to stress free bookkeeping. Number one, separate business and personal. Step number two, simplify your systems, meaning maybe use one system. Step number three,
00:25:45
Speaker
get an accounting software, we mentioned zero, we love it. And step number four, do your bookkeeping at least monthly so you're not stressed out by the end of the year. And yeah, I wanted to ask you a couple questions. Let's, let's say deep into just wedding pros, you know, they're creatives, they want to create pretty stuff for Pinterest and Instagram. But
00:26:11
Speaker
You know, I've read so many books and, you know, or meets, I forget his last name, but he's like, I would teach you how to be ranch. And he has that show on Netflix and they really go deep into like the money stories. But what are some of like your past plans, money stories that really, um, kind of got them in a messy situation and just, uh, how do they overcome it? Yeah. Um, that's a good question.
00:26:39
Speaker
I think a lot of, not any specific stories, but just like I was saying before, a lot of my clients come to me almost ashamed or like a little bit scared of even looking at their numbers or they come to me and they're already apologizing. Oh, my books are just such a mess. I know I'm a business owner. I should know how to do this. And so I think a lot of us as business owners think we should, we should, we should, like we should know how to do this.
00:27:06
Speaker
But I don't really feel like we're ever taught how to be a business owner. We're never taught how to know your numbers. That's not something they teach us growing up. And it was a conversation I was just having with someone else. There needs to be more discussion around entrepreneurship and how to do your taxes and how to look at your profit and loss and actually understand it so that you can run your business. So while I don't think of any specific stories that stand out to me, but I do know once my clients
00:27:36
Speaker
come in and they actually see their numbers and we break it down to them in a way that's understandable. Like you can almost see this weight lifted off of them, you know, or the fact that someone else is just handling it and they can focus on their business and their zone. All of us have our zones, right? Like I could never do photography. I can never, I have no creative bone in my body. Like I leave that to my clients. But
00:28:02
Speaker
I think we just need to remember that we don't have to do everything and that's why it's good sometimes to outsource and to really not be scared to tackle things because usually it's not as scary as it seems once you're in it.
00:28:17
Speaker
I love that. Let's talk about your money story. Like growing up as a kid, how did you see like your parents handle their money and were you always just kind of, you know, good at it ever since college? Was there any advice that you were given as a kid that you, you know, kind of took ahold of your finances early on? Yeah. So it's funny because I'm really, I will be, I'm, I'm all about honesty here. I am not the best with budgeting for my own personal self. Like,
00:28:46
Speaker
for my family and myself, but I'm really good at getting everyone else's books under control. I do do my own business books every month before I do any of my clients because that kind of motivates me. But I kind of always saw money, honestly, a little bit of a struggle. I grew up middle class. I didn't grow up poor by any means, but I did always have friends that I felt like had more money than me.
00:29:15
Speaker
Even though, again, we lived in, you know, a decent area. I always, money just always seemed kind of like a struggle, like, Oh, okay. How are we going to figure out where we're going to get money to buy this? You know? And so I think that also helps when I'm talking to my clients, because like I said, I'm just want to make them feel comfortable. I want to make them feel like, okay, it's fine. We're going to figure this out together. You know, you're here now. That's the first step. And, you know, now we can.
00:29:44
Speaker
What's done is done is in the past, and then you move on to make, you know, better, more informed decisions, I guess. Thank you for sharing that. I think it makes you more relatable for sure. And still kind of tell you, Hey, I'm not perfect too. Definitely not. No, I'm like,
00:30:02
Speaker
I even worked with a money coach earlier this year when I was almost gonna leave my job. It was more so to like, okay, I need a budget and figure out where am I gonna make this money that I'm leaving on the table? So even if a keeper has, I have a business coach, I worked with a money coach. I'm definitely not perfect by any means. Maybe our next episode will be about budgeting. Yeah, yeah. You can do it.
00:30:28
Speaker
What is your favorite, heck yes, sales technique?
Authentic Sales Approaches
00:30:31
Speaker
How do you get a heck yes from a drink client? So I feel like I keep saying this during the chat, but I really don't think of myself as like a salesy person. Like I just failed before I started my business, really like me and my stomach turned. I was like, ugh, just no, I don't want to be a salesperson. But I think people really,
00:30:54
Speaker
are drawn to me because I'm not your typical accountant. I'm not your typical CPA. Like I'm going to respond to you. I'm going to communicate with you. I'm going to make you feel comfortable. I'm not going to downplay like your business. I hear that a lot from people that they meet with, you know, maybe even more established, bigger firms. And they're like, Oh, you're a little business. Like, you know, we'll see if it works out kind of thing. And I'm always honoring my clients where they are. And I think that makes it
00:31:24
Speaker
a comfortable space for them and a relatable space. And so I think that's why a lot of the clients I have are have been drawn to me. Oh, that's interesting. So you're saying other accountants kind of downplay the business like, Oh, is it gonna work? Or is it maybe not gonna work? That's what I've heard. Like, I've never had it happen personally to me. But I have heard other clients come to me and just, they didn't feel supported by their CPAs, or they were kind of just like, Well, are you sure you want to do all that, you know, and
00:31:54
Speaker
person's obviously sure they're doing it and they didn't ask for your opinion. If they thought that the business would be good, you know, so I definitely want to always make people feel like, you know, they're doing their thing. Their efforts are going into something.
00:32:14
Speaker
Cool, I love that. Okay, we'll get into rapid fire questions. We just talked about like poopy underwear earlier when we first started, but what is your favorite mom boss hack? Mom boss hack? Um, iPads?
00:32:32
Speaker
If I'm being honest, that's the only way I can get anything done sometimes. But also sometimes I have my daughter, she'll sit with me at my desk and she'll do her homework while I'm working now that she's like in elementary school. So I feel like that's a good way to kind of knock out two birds with one stone. I'm helping her, but I'm also getting client work done. But yeah, screens saved my life a lot of the times. I know a lot of moms don't like that, but
00:32:57
Speaker
I'm all about the screen. My daughter has a runny nose, so she's on my phone. She wasn't even asking for it. Anyways, I was going to ask you, me and you see each other at MeSH, and I see you working on your social media a lot. What is some tips that you learned the past year about social media and content creation? Oh my gosh, everything. I'm still learning.
00:33:25
Speaker
definitely to show up online and be consistent. And that the thing I've accepted recently is that especially Instagram, and again, my, my industry may be different from like wedding pros is Instagram is a long game. Like you have to keep showing up. You have to keep being visible and
00:33:47
Speaker
I found a couple of clients on Instagram, but for me, I've started to realize maybe that's not where all my clients are going. You know, like maybe it's more reaching out to local businesses, going to more networking things, things like that. While I love social media, I love connecting with people. I love putting stuff out there. It's a lot of work.
00:34:08
Speaker
It's just a long game. And I really thought you just see people's success stories and they're like, Oh yeah, I bought a million followers. And now I have this blown up business and it seems like it happens overnight, but I just.
00:34:19
Speaker
Yeah. Hasn't happened for me, but yeah. My mentality on social media is the same, same as you long game. Um, I'm just going to push stuff out, see what happens. But yeah, consistency. I'm like, I don't like post something like, Oh no, I didn't get any, like, you know, yeah. It's just, you got to keep showing up. Yeah, exactly. That's what I try to do. And I also give myself a break. Like if I don't feel like showing up one day, like I don't have to go on there, you know, it's not.
00:34:50
Speaker
it's not going to make or break me or my business if I don't show up for a few days. You know, at least that's how I see it. Again, it may be different in different industries, but I, it's a long game for sure. Um, I was going to say, what do you and your family like to do with like your, what'd you call it? Like play money. Cause I know in finance, they say like give yourself a, some like a category.
Future Goals and Professional Advice
00:35:18
Speaker
Okay.
00:35:18
Speaker
Yeah, like fun money. Yeah. What do you guys like to do for fun with your fun money? Yeah, we like to take little trips like we love going to Palm Springs and staying in Airbnb. My daughter loves that and she was like, is it gonna have a pool? So I have to have a pool. We did Legoland earlier this summer before this, when the summer first started and that was the first time the kids went there. So that was really fun.
00:35:43
Speaker
Anywhere they can run around like scooters, jungle, like a bouncy house. They are like all about it. So I love some little like day trip or something. I love it. Um, I don't believe in magic wands, but I do believe in pushing yourself to goals. So, um, if you had a magic wand, where would you see your business in three months, ideally? Three months. Okay.
00:36:08
Speaker
So definitely adding more clients, still looking at more clients and replacing my full-time salary. I'm almost there, but I'm not quite there. And that's my big goal on my list, especially as we end the year and move into the new year. What's it called? Mindful salary?
00:36:26
Speaker
No, sorry, my full-time salary that I did. Sorry, I mumbled. I'm trying to replace that. So that's my biggest goal. And also, yeah, just getting more awesome clients that I love working with.
00:36:42
Speaker
Cool. And then just lasting words, I've just talked to the wedding pros right now listening about like, if they're struggling financially and don't know where to start, they don't know their numbers, they do feel a lot of shame. They do have a bad money story, if you call it of their past and just speak to their hearts and tell everyone where to find you. Yeah, so I definitely would just remind you that you're not alone. Because
00:37:10
Speaker
I, when you might think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not is like one of the first thing everybody tells me is like, Oh my gosh, I can't believe I let it get like this, or I haven't touched my books. So just know you're not alone. I think reaching out to someone like myself or anyone that you feel is the right fit for you is the awesome first step. Like you're making that first step.
00:37:31
Speaker
and you're going to feel so much better once it's either handled for you or you have a consultation and you just chat things over with someone. I think it's really important to find the right fit. If someone makes you feel bad about it or bad about your business or anything like that, just run and find somebody else who there are a lot of us out there and there's a lot of us who will be the right fit.
00:37:52
Speaker
So I think that is what I would advise wedding pros. And you can find me on my Instagram at Peach Sky Bookkeeping. The website is also peachskybookkeeping.com. And yeah, feel free to reach out to me with any questions. I'm happy to chat. Thank you, Kara. This is a great interview. Thank you so much.
00:38:16
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine. See you next time, wedding pros!