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Know your numbers - Hailey
129 Plays3 years ago
I have a wonderful bonus this Friday. It's still finance week so today we have Hailey (book-keeper for wedding pros) and we are talking about bookkeeping! Trust me, the episode is still super fun even with a not-so-fun topic. Hailey is not the typical man behind a desk, pushing his glasses up and using big words that make you feel small and shameful of your disorganized finances. She is here to make it fun, easy and sometimes a little boozy with my Weekly Bookkeeping Drinking Game.
Bio
Hello! My name is Hailey and I am the Wedding Planner Wing Woman. I spent the first half of my twenties working with amazing wedding and event planners, as well as planning weddings on my own, and now I plan to spend my time using that knowledge to help wedding professionals and small businesses with their bookkeeping!
Bookkeeping isn't scary and it doesnt have to be dreadful either. It can be fun, easy and you'll feel better knowing that when tax season rolls around, you are prepared. The first 10 people to go on my website and sign up for my Weekly Bookkeeping Drinking Game will get it for FREE with the code Boozybooks. Connect with Hailey Theweddingplannerwingwoman.com https://www.instagram.com/theweddingplannerwingwoman/ Freebie Weekly bookeeping drinking game https://hello.dubsado.com/public/form/view/61a924aa765b9b311b6896c4 Connect with Carissa https://instagram.com/carissawooRecommended
Transcript
Introduction and Invitation
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back to Get a Heck Yes with me, your host, Carissa Wu. Today is Finance Week. You got to know your numbers, friends. So make sure you join my Facebook group and download my free guide on how to get more hot leads. You know you want them.
Guest Introduction: Adorable Haley
00:00:14
Speaker
Today's episode is with Adorable Haley. She is from the wedding planner, Wingwoman, and she does bookkeeping for wedding pros. She is a quick book expert
00:00:23
Speaker
and your bookkeeping bestie that transforms your books from stressy to energized. After our chat, I hired her as my accountant and she has been wonderful to work with and actually makes numbers fun. That is her superpower. Enjoy this episode.
Carissa's Photography and Coaching Journey
00:00:44
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,
00:01:12
Speaker
Time packs 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!
Haley's Bookkeeping Journey
00:01:35
Speaker
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to Heck Yes with me, Carissa Wu, and I have a very special guest today, Hailey from The Wedding Planning Wingwoman, and she's a bookkeeper, and we're going to talk numbers, but not scary today. But welcome, Hailey. Hello. Thank you so much for having me. Yay. Okay. You are so beautiful. Tell me where you are located and what you do and who you serve.
00:01:58
Speaker
Awesome. Well, thank you so much. That's so sweet. I am located in Portland, Oregon, but I am moving soon out of the country. I don't know yet if I want to disclose the location publicly, but I'm in the middle of that, so that's super exciting. Then I have my business as the wedding planner wing woman doing bookkeeping for wedding professionals.
00:02:18
Speaker
or small businesses, really anyone. Um, and basically I just make sure that people have their finances organized so that when it comes to the end of the year tax season, that they have all of their receipts, all of their invoices, everything's categorized so that they can get the deductions that they deserve and that just everything is smooth because there are too many like horror stories of people being like, here's my shoe box full of receipts.
00:02:45
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm really bad with my finances, so I'm excited to learn from someone 10 years younger than me. And it's not too late to
Overcoming Financial Challenges
00:02:54
Speaker
start. It's never too late to start. Oh, I'm so excited. Okay, so back it up to like, how you got started, what school you went to, what you studied, and why you came to now being a bookkeeper.
00:03:09
Speaker
So I've always been in love with the events world. I was in Decca in high school and we took a trip to Universal Studios in Florida and we got to watch all these presentations from all of the different jobs that are at Universal and one of them was the event coordinator. And I just thought it was so cool that every event has the same number of steps.
00:03:33
Speaker
but that each event is totally unique and so different. And so I knew at that point that I wanted to get into events. Um, so when I went to college, I went to the university of Utah and I majored in strategic communications and minored in business.
00:03:49
Speaker
Okay. And I was in restaurants and hospitality for a long time. I decided to move back to Portland after I graduated. And I got in with an aerial performance company here. And then I slowly worked my way up, I worked at a venue, and then I worked for one of the top wedding planning companies in the area.
00:04:10
Speaker
And then I worked for myself doing weddings. And so my journey has slowly been getting me here. And when I started doing weddings on my own, I realized it's a lot of financial information to keep track of your invoices from your couples.
00:04:29
Speaker
But everything that you spend money on in between, especially your little kit, every wedding planner has their little survival kit. And just all these expenses really add up. And if you're not keeping track of them, not only can you lose track of your own finances, but you can essentially lose track of how much you need to be charging your couples, your clients, if you don't know how much you're actually spending on these like little extras.
00:04:55
Speaker
all the time. Yes. So were you your own bookkeeper or accountant or did you hire one too? I have been my own this whole time. I started off making a lot of mistakes. I have, again, I've been trying to travel. So I know that my personal card gets me miles and I was like, Oh, I'm just going to use my personal card. I'll figure it out later.
00:05:19
Speaker
And then that was a big no-no. And I spent quite a bit of time reorganizing my finances because I decided to do it that way. And then I found out that I could get, so I have Amex. I use a business Amex card that is also linked to my personal SkyMiles account. So both my personal credit card and my business credit card earned me Miles.
00:05:44
Speaker
Oh, okay. Cool. Yeah. You got to get those points. Yes. And I was so shocked when I was like, why is no one talking about this? Why are other business owners saying like, Hey, you can link your account? Oh my God. Okay. I'm going to try that after I need to get points. Um, I spent so much money and I'm not like accumulating anything. So I get like, I have Wells Fargo and I think I could get like a toaster or something, something stupid, like a,
00:06:13
Speaker
Yeah, I always talk to my clients make sure that they have a business credit card and that if they don't I ask them what's important to you as cash back important to you is traveling important to you because there are credit cards that have all kinds of perks so figure out what's important to you and then for your business get a credit card that will also work for you in your personal life.
Breaking the Financial Taboo
00:06:34
Speaker
Nice, nice. Okay, this is a two part question, kind of a fun question. But first, why do people say heck no to personal finances? And then how do you get your heck yes from your dream client? I know this is the hot topic question. Most people are heck no, for one of two reasons, because they believe they can do it themselves, which you totally can. It's it's totally possible for you to do it yourself.
00:07:02
Speaker
Um, or because they're afraid to show someone else their finances. I think a lot of people are either afraid because it is your money and you want to hold it tight. It's kind of personal information or they're embarrassed. They're like, I haven't kept up on my bookkeeping. I have a whole shoe box full of receipts. I'm embarrassed. And so they don't want to move forward for that reason.
00:07:25
Speaker
The way that I get my heck yes is I have tried to market myself as the fun bookkeeper. I don't care how disorganized you are. Like I love it. That's what I'm here for. I'm here to organize it. I'm a little organizing freak.
00:07:41
Speaker
I don't care if your finances are chaos. I love it. And so making sure that everyone's comfortable with not only me, but with my process and knowing that I want to set you up for success. If you just want to learn from me the best practices so that you can move forward on your own, I'm 100% willing to teach you. I don't want people to necessarily need me forever.
00:08:08
Speaker
But to just make people more comfortable with the fact that this is something you should be keeping up on, and it's really not difficult if you have the certain skills and certain workflows. Yeah, I like that phrase, bookkeeping freak. I'm going to call you that. I love numbers, and some people aren't numbers people.
Social Media for Client Acquisition
00:08:31
Speaker
Yeah, you definitely when I first you first hopped on I was like, you seem so fresh and fun. So I didn't think of you as like an accountant or bookkeeper. No, I try to imagine like this stuffy like man like pushing up his glasses. Legal terms that no one else knows. I don't want to do that.
00:08:50
Speaker
Oh my god, so how did you I'm besides college and everything and doing it yourself but was there like a book or a mentor or podcast or you just kind of geeked out on everything through the rabbit hole?
00:09:02
Speaker
I just kind of geeked out. It was one of those things where, you know, like when you're so good at something or when you love something, it doesn't click for you that like other people might need help with it because it comes so easily to you. It was one of those things where it came so easily to me and I learned so much from my process and the mistakes that I made that I was just like, Oh my gosh, other people need help with this too.
00:09:26
Speaker
Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah. So interesting. I know a lot of people that have been in the business for a long time and they still like don't really know their numbers. And I think that's the most important thing in business to know your numbers because you could be spending like nonstop on new equipment on like new software and then maybe not even making a profit. And that's no bueno. I had a client and I was just like, roughly like how much do you profit from your weddings? Just so I know. And she was like, Haley, I have no idea.
00:09:56
Speaker
And she was like, what do you mean you have no idea? And she was like, I don't know. I just charge what I charge and I don't really keep track. And I was like, you're stressing me out. Oh, my God. You're so lucky that you love numbers. I mean, it's such a.
00:10:10
Speaker
great necessity in life, especially, you know, for marriage and children down the line and so forth. It's important to know your numbers, even if you just know the basics. I always want my clients even to just know the basics, even if they're not interested. I'm like, I just need you to know this one little thing. Yeah. Oh my God. Okay. So I was going to ask you like, you're so young, but what is like the biggest accomplishment in your business so far?
00:10:36
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Honestly, I think the biggest accomplishment because of the pandemic and also because of my age was just having the courage to start it. I think a lot of us get imposter syndrome and we think, Oh, no one else needs this. Or, Oh, I'm just different. You know, like this is just a me issue or a me passion, whatever it is you think to yourself. So I think my biggest accomplishment is getting the business started and
00:11:03
Speaker
having the faith in myself that people do need my products, people do need my services, and that I'm here to have fun and be financial.
Pandemic Business Launch and Imposter Syndrome
00:11:13
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Make that money, baby. I love it. You're going to grow exponentially with your mentality. So you do a lot of IG lives and reels. Is that your number one way to get your clientele? Can you give us a little insight of your marketing plan?
00:11:30
Speaker
Yeah, so I started on Facebook and Instagram. And what's funny, my coach and I always like laugh. I didn't want my face out there for a long time. I was like, No, I'll just make things in Canva. Like I'm not gonna put my face out there. And then one day I was just on tik tok. And I saw so many businesses blowing up on tik tok. Wow.
00:11:52
Speaker
And I was just like, okay, videos are fun. So I moved from Facebook to TikTok. So now I'm mainly on TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest. Wow. And using all of them for their specific. So Instagram is very business forward. TikTok is a little bit more fun. And Pinterest is very informational.
00:12:16
Speaker
Okay, okay, okay. So does your Pinterest like linked up to your blog and you just get tips and you have like a cute little Canva and then it kind of pushes people to your funnel?
00:12:26
Speaker
Yes. And then I have a website now too that I just launched like a month ago. So cool. I launched my coaching website. Yeah. I know. I'm so excited. Just everything's kind of finally happening with the coaching business. And I'm glad to hear that you have a coach. So you really believe in hiring a mentor and a coach. Tell me more about it.
00:12:49
Speaker
Yeah, so I have hired two coaches, actually. So when I first started my business, I hired a business coach to help me get started, help me with my strategies. And I still work with her a little bit, but I also now have a spiritual mental coach. She's a money manifestation coach. She basically just helps you with your mindset around money. Like money is not evil. It's not inherently good or bad. It's just energy.
00:13:19
Speaker
And as long as you keep your attitude positive and know that anything that is meant for you is already on its way to you, it makes it easier. I mean, you have a business. We all go through those rough patches where we're like, oh my gosh, people just aren't signing. I guess no one needs my products, imposter syndrome. But in essence, then you're blocking the money. Your fears, they won't have it, or you won't get clients. And so that ends up being your reality.
00:13:49
Speaker
Yeah, I totally agree. Like I'm taking the Gabrielle Bernstein mindset or money manifestation challenge right now. So sometimes like I need to I just started my group coaching and I need like 10 students. So
00:14:04
Speaker
I get those like blockages where I feel kind of desperate. And then if I do feel desperate, like it goes into like that negative energy. So she's teaching us how to like feel good around like your goals and not feel scared. And it's really helping me. It's something I need like the beginning of each year. Yes.
00:14:25
Speaker
Yeah. So I'm so happy that you have those two coaches. You're going to excel so much. Okay. One more question before we go into our hot topic, but what is, has been the biggest struggle of your business and how have you overcome it?
00:14:38
Speaker
I think my biggest struggle, so I first started as a wedding planner VA. Okay. And I had a few clients doing that and I realized that wasn't really my passion either. I can do it and I love reaching out to venues and vendors. I love creating timelines. That wasn't the issue. It just didn't feel 100% right.
00:15:00
Speaker
And so the hardest was being in that limbo of knowing that I enjoyed what I was doing, but also knowing that it wasn't what I wanted to do forever. And then pivoting my business into bookkeeping because that really is my passion and working with wedding planners. That was the hardest because I had already bought my name. I had already created a logo. I had already done all of this marketing on social media.
00:15:27
Speaker
And then I wanted to then pivot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of extra work for you. Yes. So creating a new logo, going out and getting the domain again, and all of that kind of stuff. That was the hardest. Oh, yeah. So how did you come up with that name? I love it. It's so funny. It just came to me one day. I was just typing. And when I first started, I was ever after coordination. That's what it was when I was
00:15:56
Speaker
the wedding planner assistant. And then I would just was writing a post one day and I was like, yeah, you're a wedding planner wing woman. And I was like, oh my gosh, that's so much better. You really are. And now your wings have like money signs on it.
00:16:18
Speaker
Cool, cool. Okay, so I love that answer. Let's get into your hot topic. Tell us your hot topic today, why you chose it and why it's dear to your heart. I got in the last like two or three days, 18 inquiries.
00:16:33
Speaker
What the heck? Hey guys, you all know me. I'm Carissa Wu and I'm a coach for wedding photographers. I've also been a wedding photographer for over a decade so I've been through it all. I was a shy, awkward girl and I've come so far. I'm now beyond passionate about helping wedding photographers not struggle how I did for so many years.
00:16:55
Speaker
It was six years into my business and I was so tired of being ghosted, nickel undimed, and hearing the dreaded words, we went a different direction. I also knew I needed to find a way to not rely on referrals or paying $350 a month for the knot to get my leads. I didn't want to have anxiety about when my next payday was going to come and I wanted to scale my business.
00:17:16
Speaker
Fast forward to now, I created my very own stack system to help wedding photographers get constant leads and master the dreaded sales call, and get a heck yes in 24 hours or less, and charge more than 4, 5, 6K. No more waiting around, guys. This is our livelihood, our artistry, and our passion, and we deserve to be respected, valued, and paid for what we are worth. I've helped so many wedding photographers.
00:17:42
Speaker
Watch my 20 minute masterclass all about lead generation and closing the sale. The link is in the bio. You don't want to miss out on the wedding boom and you don't want to miss out on booking your calendar for 2022. It's engagement season guys so you don't want to miss this. See you guys soon! So the hot topic today is why you need a bookkeeper and it's near and dear to my heart
00:18:06
Speaker
because I'm so sad when I hear about people struggling, like when my client said that she had no idea how much she was actually profiting off of her weddings.
Importance of a Bookkeeper
00:18:16
Speaker
I've worked with wedding planners. I've been a wedding planner. There are so many little tasks that wedding planners have to do on a daily basis, and they're working on multiple weddings at one time. So there are so many little tasks and
00:18:32
Speaker
bookkeeping is one of those things where if you don't keep up on it and you wait either until the end of the month or even the end of the year in some cases, it's overwhelming how much time it takes to go through it.
00:18:47
Speaker
You forget what certain purchases went with what wedding and all that kind of stuff. So if you're already an overwhelmed wedding professional, adding bookkeeping onto your workload feels tedious. It feels tiring. It feels yucky.
00:19:04
Speaker
So, what's important is having someone who you can lean on one because a lot of wedding professionals are the top of their chain. They don't really have anyone to lean on. So, having a bookkeeping buddy is what I call it or financial freak like me. Yeah, exactly. I was going to say that. It's just that like crutch that you can lean on of, okay, my business is being taken care of even if I'm focused on my couples, my clients.
00:19:31
Speaker
my business aspect, my finances. I have somebody in my corner. They know what they're doing. They're willing to help me. They're willing to teach me. And then you can decide from that point forward if you're able to do it on your own or if you want to keep me. And it doesn't have to be me. It can be someone else. Just having someone in your corner to help you with your business and financially I think is so important.
00:19:55
Speaker
Okay, yeah. Okay, so that would be probably tip number one. Why you need a bookkeeper is just to keep you sane,
QuickBooks Recommendations
00:20:05
Speaker
I guess. Would that be number one? It's like the overarching umbrella of keeping you sane, because you're saying wedding professionals just wear so many hats. And you need to know like,
00:20:19
Speaker
how much profit you're making, or you don't know how you're running your business, if it's successful, if it's not, if it's profitable, or if it's under. So I guess that would be tip number one. And then take us away with tip number two. Yeah, tip number two. So I'm a QuickBooks expert. There are a few different systems out there that you can use. I've heard a few of my clients started with zero.
00:20:44
Speaker
Okay. Zero was created more for accountants, more for if you want to hire a bookkeeper, it's not really something that you plan on learning yourself. But I always recommend QuickBooks, not only because I'm a QuickBooks expert, but because it has two versions. QuickBooks has its accountant version and it also has its user version. So the user version uses terms that the average day person would understand.
00:21:10
Speaker
and the accountant version uses more legal financial terms. So that way it's easy for my clients to hop on and understand what I'm doing without me necessarily having to hold their hand and walk them through the whole process. So tip number two for me to give out is finding the system, which I believe is QuickBooks, that is easiest for you to use. Yeah, and it's so cheap. It's like, what, $20 a month?
00:21:38
Speaker
Yes. And there's so many different versions, depending on where you're at in your business, there's a different version for it. There's not just one version. Um, so there's like self-employed simple start essentials, and then advanced and online plus, and you can move up and down as your business fluctuates. You're never locked in to just one system and you won't lose any of your current information by upgrading or downgrading. Okay.
00:22:04
Speaker
So when they work with you, do you kind of help them or they have to import their financials like their bank accounts and then you would kind of, you sort them each week as one of your services and you help them kind of learn how to do it themselves too? Yes. So every package that I have, I have three packages. Every package comes with a personalized QuickBooks strategy.
00:22:28
Speaker
dependent on what subscription level you're at and what you believe your needs are, I create a whole document that gives you little tips and tricks on how to get things done faster. A lot of people, I think the biggest confusion is categorizing your transactions and making sure that they're categorized properly so that you get your deductions at the end of the year.
00:22:52
Speaker
And so I go through a list of what the categories are that I believe you'll need and what they are used for. Okay, okay, cool. I'm kind of just trying to take it all in. I'm like, I'm seeing like my expenses and I'm seeing like how to categorize them. Like sometimes like for style shoots for wedding photographers, we have to buy like clothes or we have to buy like water and snacks for the vendors. So I'm just kind of trying to see like where those would be categorized.
00:23:21
Speaker
Yeah. So those are all deductions too, because they're all for your business. So, um, there might not be a specific, so you would just say other expenses and still categorize it with those. Cause those are very specific. Um, most of the big ones are like travel home office, healthcare. So those are the big overarching ones, but for like the little purchases like that, yeah, definitely other expenses that ties into your business.
00:23:48
Speaker
Okay, cool, cool, cool. So when you see people spreadsheets and they haven't touched it for years, do you ever get overwhelmed? Or is it just more of like a challenge? Let me nerd out on this and be my little organizational freak that I am.
00:24:03
Speaker
It's the second one for sure. Not that I want to do years' worth of back closing because closing books every month is very important. Once you close your books, nothing can be adjusted. It's all locked in. Make sure that everything's neat and tidy. If I have to go back through months, I actually just had a client sign on with me.
00:24:25
Speaker
they had a glitch in their system and they lost six months worth of their receipts and their transactions. And I was like, okay, let's do it. Like, yeah, it's kind of like a puzzle for me. So how do how should people save their receipts? Is there some sort of app you did just take like a photo with your phone and then kind of log it in?
00:24:47
Speaker
Yeah, this is another reason I love QuickBooks. So QuickBooks has three different ways that you can upload and keep track of your receipts. My favorite way is you download the app on your phone and you take a picture of the receipt right then
QuickBooks Features
00:25:01
Speaker
and there. As you're at the store, take a picture of the receipt, it uploads it and then it can read your receipt and find the price and it will automatically match the transaction and the receipt.
00:25:16
Speaker
Oh, cool. Right then and there. Yeah. So it makes matching super easy. It makes attaching your receipts super easy. So that's the easiest way. Let's say you have all of your receipts on your computer. You just haven't uploaded them to QuickBooks yet. You can email it to QuickBooks and same thing. QuickBooks will scan all of the receipts and suggest matches for you. And then you just have to go through and be like,
00:25:43
Speaker
Yep, that's a match. Yep, that's a match. Nope, that's not a match. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. I was reading your questionnaire and you said to do quarterly taxes. And if you don't, you said you could get penalized for that. Yeah. So all businesses should be paying their quarterly taxes. If not, the IRS can come after you and they can fine you for not paying quarterly. Some people are like, Oh, it's like,
00:26:10
Speaker
It's like you're personal, you just do it once a year, nope. If the IRS catches you not paying quarterly taxes, you could get a huge fine. Wow, wow. Okay, I know we're doing so many tips right now, but what should we do for tip number three? You just gave like 10 tips. I know, I'm like all the things. I think the biggest tip and the one that might sound the most tedious is any time you have a transaction,
00:26:39
Speaker
just go into QuickBooks really fast and just put a few words as to what it's about. I don't know if you've ever done this where like you don't look at your finances for like a month and then you look back on a transaction and you're like, I have no idea. Yeah.
00:26:55
Speaker
So the most tedious, but also the most helpful is if the same day that you've made the purchases, if you can just log on and do a few words like, um, close for a styled shoot or new piece of equipment for the camera, even just a few words will help you trigger like, Oh yeah, I was at Nordstrom. That's what, yeah, this is what that's for.
00:27:17
Speaker
Yeah, that's so helpful. It makes everything easier. One thing that I'm proud of myself for doing is every time I buy something, like clothes or shoes or whatever, I take a screenshot and I put it into a little album that says purchases. That is so smart. Every time I want to purchase something else on those stupid Instagram ads and I just have to look at my purchases to see if I bought something similar. I love that. That's fantastic. I know. I don't want to buy. Yes.
00:27:46
Speaker
those Instagram ads really get me sometimes I'm like oh wow they really know me right I know it's the algorithm it does know you okay so any lasting tips before we get into like kind of fun rapid-fire questions um
00:28:03
Speaker
I feel like I dumped. If you're apprehensive, please reach out. All of my first calls are free. Anyone that wants to book a call with me just to even ask a question, all those calls are free. If you're apprehensive, if you have other questions, if you have concerns,
00:28:25
Speaker
Please, please, please just ask. There are no stupid questions, especially when it comes to finance. We all know that the education system failed us when it comes to money. Oh, totally. Thank you for saying that. Yeah. It failed us to like the negatives.
00:28:43
Speaker
60 quay in debt or 250 in debt, it's horrible. It's horrible. And I'm like, oh no, that was so avoidable. Why did no one teach us? Oh my God. Okay, so I want to dig deeper into why you are so obsessed with financials and numbers.
Haley's Financial Origins
00:29:02
Speaker
Did your parents help you?
00:29:06
Speaker
And then tell us more about like what you are feeding into your mind, like what podcasts, what books, I just really want to like dig deep because I just want to like, get this Haley essence and just encapsulate everything for our listeners. Okay, so this is a funny I find this story funny. I think this is funny. When I was six,
00:29:25
Speaker
We went to Disney World for the first time and we went right after my birthday and I've always kind of been a money freak. I loved saving money. I enjoy the finer things in life or what my mind believes is the finer things in life. And so it was right after my birthday and I was saving my money and we get to Disney World and I think it was one of the first stores we went into. I found like this life-size R2D2.
00:29:54
Speaker
And it was $200 and it turns on, it talks, it rolls on its own. Like it's a whole thing. And I fell in love with it. And I was like, I'm going to buy that. And my mom was like, first off, do you have enough money? And I was like, of course I do. And so my mom was like, how are we going to get this home? This is like a life size R2D2.
00:30:21
Speaker
But we figured it out. It was $200 for me to buy this R2-D2. Oh, that's pretty expensive back in the day. And as a six-year-old, I felt like such a baller, like, whacking up. Oh, my God. That's awesome. And sending them the money. So that's, like, my first, like, positive, fun experience, like, with money and... Rachel, how did you have the money for that? Did you save up from, like, your Christmas and stuff?
00:30:45
Speaker
Yep, I just saved like my sister was the type of kid that like anytime the ice cream truck came around or anytime we were at the store, she would get a treat. I was the kid that wanted to save for the big ticket items. Well, interesting. And that's kind of how it's been my whole life. My family has this joke. They call me the bank of Haley. Oh, interesting. Oh my god. That's so interesting. Because well, I listened to Dave Ramsey now and I bought my daughter the little money
00:31:15
Speaker
game. So it's all about delayed gratification, but I didn't know about that. I want it now and I want it now. Amazon, Amazon, click, click, click, click. Yeah, I love that story. Oh my God. Okay, so ask me a question. I'm kind of running out of questions and I'll kind of think of one more. So I'm super curious. So you went from photography. What made you want to transition into coaching? Oh my gosh. So coaching is the best thing ever. So if I could
00:31:44
Speaker
actually make this shit happen, then I'm a freaking genius. Because there's like zero overhead, just a couple of subscriptions and whatnot. You know, I have some people on my team that I have to pay. But yeah, everything is like the laptop, laptop lifestyle.
Carissa's Shift to Coaching
00:32:02
Speaker
And I definitely deserve it because I've been doing this for 12 years. Like crazy knowledge.
00:32:08
Speaker
But I think because I was always, you know, shooting nonstop all weekends, like I do have a lot of anxiety. So I spend, you know, when I'm feeling out of control, I have two babies, I want to buy like concert tickets or like stuff on Amazon to feel in control. But if I create this margin in my life and space and time, then I could be more intentional and actually look at my numbers and look at QuickBooks. So I'm just so excited for my new life. I've been so busy, you know,
00:32:36
Speaker
Yes, I totally get that. That's awesome. Yeah, and during pandemic, you know, I kind of got a taste of the good life.
00:32:45
Speaker
We all did. I still had money because I had people's deposits, but I wasn't working and I was like eight months pregnant. So it was just so nice to just slow down and bake cookies and do random stuff, scrapbook, you know, just be like a middle schooler again.
00:33:07
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Oh my God. Okay. So tell us like your woo factor, your Haley factor, and then tell us about your freebie or what you're going to give to our listeners.
The Fun Side of Bookkeeping
00:33:17
Speaker
Yeah. So I feel like my woo factor is just that I'm fun.
00:33:22
Speaker
Like I'm not like a stuffy accountant or like the stuffy financial guy that you kind of hate, but you feel like you need. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I want, I want to be your bestie. I want to be your bookkeeping bestie. I want to make sure that you know that I support you and your business and that's what I'm here for. I'm here to work for you and make it an enjoyable experience. You know, like I don't.
00:33:45
Speaker
I don't ever want someone to be like, oh, I have to talk to my bookkeeper today. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't want to do something that you dread. So then my freebie that I'm offering for you guys is I created this QuickBooks drinking game. And when I first started it, I had a few people that were like, oh, Haley, you're going to mix like bookkeeping and booze. And I was like, absolutely.
00:34:11
Speaker
I love it. I'm a big drinker, so. Me too. Okay. And I like, drinking for me is very celebratory. Like anytime I book a client, I like to pour myself a drink. I like to just celebrate. And if you do it right, if you're able to keep up with your bookkeeping, you really could just log on, have a glass of wine in your hand and just click through and just double check that everything is right.
00:34:39
Speaker
And that's what the QuickBooks drinking game is that I have. It's just like a fun little celebratory keep you on track with your weekly bookkeeping. It has tips and tricks. It has fun little videos. That's the best preview I ever heard of in my life. It's so fun. So it's free for you guys. It's not free for everybody, but I have like the little discount code that I sent you. Oh gosh, I should have
00:35:05
Speaker
It's okay. I'll link it in the show notes. Yeah, I love how you're so fun. And I felt like that as soon as I saw your Instagram and I, you know, hopped on the call with you like you make everything so fun and light. Good. That's my goal.
00:35:23
Speaker
Yeah, I think if you make it fun for people, then it's not so scary. And people really need to know their number, especially when you first start just getting good habits, because, you know, all of a sudden, you're going to get so busy, and then you're going to forget about your Excel sheets and your QuickBooks, and it's just going to get too overwhelming, and your business is going to run you and you're not going to be able to run your business.
00:35:48
Speaker
Exactly. And I want to encourage all wedding professionals to make it their full time job. I mean, I'm sure you've heard it before, but like so many wedding professionals, they consider it their side gig or their side hustle.
00:36:01
Speaker
When it's a full-time career, they just need to keep on top of their numbers. Totally. I know you said you couldn't disclose where you're moving to, but you could tell us about why you're moving and anything exciting for your future or where you want to see your business in three months or six months.
00:36:21
Speaker
Yeah, so most people that know me, especially because I'm in finances, they know I'm a pretty logical person and they know that I have a plan and I usually stick to it. With moving, I saw one picture of this place one time and I just got such a good feeling about it that I was like, I will live there one day. Whoa, that gave me chills.
00:36:44
Speaker
Yeah, so this is the one part of my life where I don't really have it planned out like I don't even have my plane ticket yet But I'm hoping to be there by the end of the month Wow, well, that's the beauty of your job too because you're a laptop lifestyle so you could work anywhere
00:36:58
Speaker
Yes. And that was my whole point of creating my own business and working for myself. And so in three years, I am hoping that I have enough clients that I can hire someone on to help me have my own little team of financial freaks.
00:37:16
Speaker
Yeah, just be traveling. I don't really plan on that my next location. I don't plan on living there the rest of my life. I'm using it kind of as like a jumping point and I'll live there for six months to a year pick a new place and just travel. Oh my gosh, I is there like a travel Instagram that you have to that you could link up or not yet? Not yet. I'm thinking of one and I think the name is going to be hey hey on her way.
00:37:46
Speaker
Hey hey, freak daddy. I'm just kidding. Okay, tell us your Instagram account now and then how to work with you.
00:37:58
Speaker
Yeah, so my Instagram is theweddingplannerwingwoman and that's also my website. If you want to go to my website, theweddingplannerwingwoman.com and you can book a free call with me on both platforms or on either platform. And I love to just start with a call just so I get to know you, get to know exactly what you're looking for. I can create packages based on anyone's needs. You don't necessarily have to choose
00:38:23
Speaker
from the three that I have. And that's the best way because I did have someone that just like booked with me on my website. And then it was like this whole weird of like, they didn't tell me what they needed. We're like, Oh no, money. Like you booked, you know? Yeah. I was like, Whoa, okay.
00:38:49
Speaker
That's awesome. Well, you deserve everything. And I'm so excited to see your business grow, not in three years, but three months. Yeah. Thank you. I'm super excited to follow your journey and where this coaching takes you. Yes, I love to have you speak to like my students about be so cool. And any lasting advice from Haley for just wedding professionals in general?
00:39:14
Speaker
Finances are not scary and you can start any time. So just go out there and do it. Yay. Thank you so much.
00:39:29
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.