JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomThis week, we're talking about value-based fees and pricing. I want to share with you some different perspectives that may loosen the tangle of logic emotion, guilt, fear, and obligation we have around money and pricing.  What I hear my clients getting stuck with, and other people that I'm in conversation getting stuck with is, “How much do I price?” and “What do I charge?” Are you selling to people who like to buy things at a discount for whatever reason? Or are you selling to people who like to buy things at full price for whatever reason? I see countless business owners who are undercutting themselves who really can't afford to be undercutting themselves because they're already struggling. I want you to be able to take a step back and simply ask yourself, “Oh, what am I doing? Does this really make sense? And is this what I want to be doing, now that I have the awareness that I might be doing it?”  Book mentioned: Value-Based Fees: How to Charge - and Get - What You're Worth by Alan Weiss https://www.amazon.com/Value-Based-Fees-Charge-Youre-Worth/dp/0470275847   Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue” https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue   Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomI wanted to talk with Jenn to tap her expertise about boundaries. So many of the challenges business owners face come back to clear and strong boundaries. Things like scope creep, meetings going long, staying late at the office, giving away your workout, choosing to not sleep as much as your body needs, to giving away services at a discount or even free.  It all comes back to clear and strong boundaries.  It’s been a long time that I have known that boundaries are an issue that I wanted to talk about on this show, because they crop up everywhere in my client’s businesses.  What I didn’t know was JUST HOW MUCH work I see myself still getting to do in this area.  And what I loved most is that Jenn showed and reminded me that in fact it IS SAFE to step into my best self, and not the purple scary monster I have it set up to be.  Of course, the questions underlying these challenges will no doubt prove to be incredibly valuable as I continue to coach my own clients in these areas.  Connect with Jenn: Email: [email protected] Website: http://kickstartyouredge.com   Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue” https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue   Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday’s guest is Christine Lustik, PhD, owner of Mindfulness in Organizations. After spending 14 years in leadership and the arena of online higher education, Christine transitioned to a role of helping teams, and the individuals in them, to thrive.  Christine works with leaders and teams who find themselves in a culture of stress, disconnection, overwhelm, and chaos. And uses the practices of mindfulness and proactive resilience to change the culture to one of connection, productivity, focus, and resiliency.  I wanted to talk with Christine to tap her expertise about nourishing our bodies and our mind at the time of the year when caring for ourselves might be falling off our calendar.  Being able to find and maintain focus when there are lots of moving parts in front of us is a skill that requires constant attention and maintenance. The result of caring for our bodies, hearts and minds most often leads to increased effectiveness and productivity and getting the same amount of work done in less time.  It’s like Buddha said, sit for 30 minutes daily. When busy, sit for one hour.  My two takeaways from this episode are: Reminding myself to use “just like me,” for when I'm frustrated with someone else who is doing something that I don't like, or being a way that I don't like. It's so helpful to remind myself that, oh, just like me, this person might be having a moment of frustration. It reminds me of our common humanity.    The other one is the idea of establishing relaxed and focused as the baseline. The default to return to, rather than imagining that in overdrive is the default, and relaxed and focused is something to aspire to. Guided Meditation: Purposeful Pause on Soundcloud:  https://soundcloud.com/user-180052466/purposeful-pause    Kristin Neff on Self-Compassion: https://self-compassion.org/the-three-elements-of-self-compassion-2/   Connect with Christine: Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.mindfulnessinorganizations.com Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mindfulnessinorganizations   Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue” https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue   Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday I'm returning to the topic of sending mixed signals to money, resenting money and learning to love money. First, let’s go back to Episode 34 - Are You Sending Mixed Signals To Money?  The basic idea in that episode is that in our lives and in our businesses, a lot of us send mixed signals to money. We say we want more money, we want to make more money. And then we also find ways of communicating the exact opposite. So we have these competing signals that we send to money.  We develop these beliefs around money and a lot of it comes from our family of origin, and we also get other messages from society. We want to be looking at the stories that we have around money. We need to get some insight into the ways that we might be resenting money.  What I want for you is nothing short of a complete shift in your energy when it comes to how you relate to and how you think about money. And you get to decide what you believe about money. And I ask you to do this work for you and for your clients. Because when you shift how you relate to money, what will the impact be to your clients?  In the work that we do, we can only help our clients go as far as we ourselves have gone.    Top Client Assessment Session: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/top-client-assessment/   Previous episode mentioned:  034 [Mindset] Are You Sending Mixed Signals to Money? https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/034   Download ebook “6 Easy Steps to Double Your Revenue” https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday, I have a few stories to tell. About driving in the snow, hockey, ice skating, skiing, and sports in general. Then I relate all these stories to things that we can do to move our business forward: Steer towards what you fear Commit Trust You will wipe out in your business Get back up and get back in the game   When was the last time you totally wiped out in your business? Wiping out is a part of the process of learning and the more beginner we are at the thing we're doing, the more we're going to wipe out. And as we get better, we wipe out with less frequency.  Even experts wipe out, screw up, miss, and they're okay. They keep playing. There is no such thing as perfect. Nobody plays a perfect game. So when you wipe out, get back up and get back in the game. Podcast mentioned:  The Sigrun Show https://www.sigrun.com/podcast   Download ebook “6 Easy Steps to Double Your Revenue” https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday’s guest is officially the world’s most highly rated advisor to accountants. Steve Pipe is a best-selling author, dynamic speaker and founder of Accountants Changing the World and the AVN Association of Proactive UK Accountants. I wanted to interview Steve to talk with him about where he sees CPAs and accountants getting stuck in growing their own businesses, as well as to talk about his current path being a force for good in the world, and inspiring and showing business owners and accountants how to do the same in their own businesses.   Two things stood out to me in this conversation: The role of CPAs as Steve views it Restore rationality to decision making in business  Distill data: make it simple, clear, and manageable Properly understand profitability models based on clear and simple data  Differentiate yourself in the marketplace and make your business a Force for Good.  Remember the value you provide to clients. Go through your own top clients and quantify it for each client, in order to remind you of just how valuable you are.    Book mentioned: The World’s Most Inspiring Accountants https://stevepipe.kartra.com/page/HighImpactFreeStuff Connect with Steve: Website: http://www.stevepipe.com  B1G1 Business for Good: https://www.b1g1.com/businessforgood/how-it-works/ Free Giving Plan report tailored to your business from B1G1:  https://www.b1g1.com/businessforgood/givingplan/ Download ebook “6 Easy Steps to Double Your Revenue” https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom**Listener survey - help shape the podcast to what you want to hear!**  https://bit.ly/3ay8FDt   Today’s guest is Melisa Galasso. She is the founder of Galasso Learning Solutions, where she offers custom, continuing professional education to CPAs, focused on engaging learner experience and improved performance outcomes. I wanted to interview Melisa to talk with her about Continuing Education. While it might not be the sexiest topic ever, with 40 required hours every year, it’s worth doing this right. And having seen a number of my own clients have to cram in dozens of hours right before the deadline, it made me think this was an issue worth bringing to the table.  What stood out to me in this conversation was just how easy it is for the year to get away from you, and that when it’s left until late in the game, you end up having to choose whatever is left to satisfy requirements, which is not just a waste of time and money, but a huge opportunity cost to learn the things that could potentially really move your business forward.  Connect with Melisa: Website: https://galassolearningsolutions.com/   Book mentioned: The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance---What Women Should Know, by Katty Kay https://www.amazon.com/Confidence-Code-Science-Self-Assurance-What-Should/dp/006223062X Download ebook “6 Easy Steps to Double Your Revenue” https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue   Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom**Listener survey - help shape the podcast to what you want to hear!**  https://bit.ly/3ay8FDt   Today’s guest is Lisa Campbell, founder of The Marcam Group, where she guides her clients to profitability as a Profit First strategist.  I wanted to have her on because she started out just like many of you, as a solo practitioner, fell into all the predictable traps, until finally she realized that something had to change. So we explore her journey of her business growth and what she learned along the way. What stood out to me was her piece about mindset work and teaching herself how to focus, how to systematize the way she thinks about things.  It reminds me of something I read in “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, where he talks about the mind being kind of like a dog chewing on a bone. The dog will chew and chew and chew on the bone and they will totally enjoy it and you give the dog a bone and it will hang out there. And as entrepreneurs, we can kind of be similar. We see shiny objects and we go towards them. It takes special effort to train our minds to focus and give our attention to the things that are most important in our day and in our lives. Watch out for dog bones! Previous episode mentioned: 044 CEO Day: Why You Need to Pick Your Head Up in Your Business https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/044   Book mentioned: The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle https://www.amazon.com/Power-Now-Guide-Spiritual-Enlightenment/dp/1577314808 Connect with Lisa: Website: The Marcam Group http://marcam.ca/ Facebook Group: The Successful Bookkeeper North America https://www.facebook.com/groups/thesuccessfulbookkeeper/ Download ebook “6 Easy Steps to Double Your Revenue” https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/   JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomMy guest today is Cyndi Thomason. Cyndi Thomason is the author of the bestselling book, Profit First for Ecommerce Sellers. She is a Mastery Level Certified Profit First Professional, and the founder and president of Bookskeep. Cyndi devotes much of her time speaking at various events such as ASD Market Week, SellerCon, ProfitCon, and other industry events. She is a regular contributor to The Private Label Insider, Inventory Lab and eComEngine blogs and newsletters. Her company consists of a virtual team located across the United States, providing bookkeeping and Profit First consulting services to e-commerce clients all over the world. I wanted to interview Cyndi to ask her about her experience of differentiating herself in the marketplace and niching down.  Like so many things in life that are difficult to learn or do, once you know how to do it, it seems easy, and you forget what it was like before you knew how to or did the thing.  And it can be that way with niching down. Once you’ve done it, you forget what it was like to be in the headspace of knowing you should do it, but feeling resistant to actually putting the process in place.  So Cyndi and I are going to talk about her process of niching to e-commerce, now that she is on the successful side of it.  There was so much to love in that conversation, but what stood out to me was her recognition that even 7-figure business owners can have a murky understanding of their financials, and how important it is to know where your clients are when it comes to their level of business financial literacy.  And I really appreciated the part about finding clients whose values overlap with yours, and with whom you connect. When you do, it makes your business life so much easier and more enjoyable. Tricky clients can absolutely be a thing of the past.  Cyndi’s book: Profit First for Ecommerce Sellers: Transform Your Ecommerce Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0960028315/ Mike Michalowicz’s book: Surge: Time the Marketplace, Ride the Wave of Consumer Demand, and Become Your Industry's Big Kahuna by Mike Michalowicz https://surgebymikemichalowicz.com/ Previous episode mentioned: 055 [Coaching] Mindset Blocks Around Hiring with Dr. Sabrina Starling https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/055 Connect with Cyndi: Email: [email protected]  Website: http://bookskeep.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookskeep/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bookskeep/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/bookskeep Download ebook “6 Easy Steps to Double Your Revenue” https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomI wanted to start the year off with top five books and reviews from 2019, but I couldn't help myself and I got to at least nine. There were so many great reads that I got through this year.  I hope you find something to enjoy that will potentially contribute to your own inside transformation. And by proxy, contribute to the transformation of your business, and lead to you living a whole and beautiful life. Here’s my 9 best reads from 2019:   This is Marketing - Seth Godin https://www.amazon.com/This-Marketing-Cant-Until-Learn/dp/0525540830/   Million Dollar Consulting - Alan Weiss https://alanweiss.com/shop/books/paperback/million-dollar-consulting/   How Women Rise - Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith http://www.howwomenrise.com/   The Pumpkin Plan - Mike Michalowicz https://pumpkinplanyourbiz.com/book/   The Soul of Money - Lynne Twist https://soulofmoney.org/   Overcoming Underearning - Barbara Stanny https://www.barbara-huson.com/books-products/   You are a Badass at Making Money - Jen Sincero https://jensincero.com/shop/   Boundaries - Cloud & Townsend https://www.amazon.com/Boundaries-Updated-Expanded-When-Control/dp/0310351804/   The Gifts of Imperfection - Brene Brown https://brenebrown.com/books-audio/ Download ebook “6 Easy Steps to Double Your Revenue” https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomWishing you a Happy New Year and a very prosperous 2020! I’m closing out the year with a few more jokes from Hazel and a question. What if you raised your prices by 10% and dropped 10% of your clients? Where would you end up? I play with these and more  numbers is this short episode. See you in 2020. JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomIt’s the holiday season, and it's time to step away from the mic so that I can spend time with my loved ones. And same for you. In this episode, you’ll hear my four year old girl Hazel bust out some math jokes. Merry Christmas! Happy holidays! Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday’s guest is Sommer Poquette, Founder and CEO of Keep It Real Social. Sommer is an expert in Google Business, and I wanted to have her on today to talk about Google My Business and the Google My Business listing, how to get it if you haven't done it already, what its value is and why I think it's a good idea for you to claim your business listing on Google.  So, are Google reviews the be all end all? No. Might they be a useful differentiator in your business? Might it be worth an hour to claim your listing? Confirm your address and phone number and put up a photo of your storefront? Might be. Plus, because this is part of Google, it's part of your overall SEO. So when you claim your business's listing on Google, it enhances the SEO of your website.  For a SCREENSHOT of where to find Google My Business listing  visit: http://shethinksbigcoaching.com/064 Sommer’s Vision for Keep It Real Social: “For me the biggest thing is, I want to continue to help small businesses actually make a dent online. I know it's really competitive out there, it's hard to be found… And so I would  like to create more potential for those small businesses out there using online search, and to be found.”      Google My Business Links:  Start here: https://www.google.com/business/ Hiding your address: https://support.google.com/business/thread/1754513?hl=en   Connect with Sommer: Website: http://keepitrealsocial.com   Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: DECEMBER: Adding Advisory Services https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomI want to talk to you today about adding advisory services. I want to share with you my perspective of what I see from the outside looking in, what I hear from other business owners, about what business owners want from their CPA. As well as from the inside, watching my clients who want to grow their income and want to get more time back, knowing that there's this thing called advisory services that they maybe, can, and should be providing but they can't quite get to it. And organizing all these thoughts so that at the end of this episode, you have some clarity around which steps you need to take next if including advisory services in your practice is something you want to move forward on.  So here I am in the middle, hearing the CPAs in one ear, telling me just how much expertise and knowledge they have, and a desire to guide their clients in their businesses. And on the other hand, in my other ear I have these business owners who are dying for this expertise, and this guidance. And part of me wants to sit down and be like, “You guys really need to talk to each other!” But what I see on your behalf is an opportunity to provide something to your clients that they are desperately wanting.  If you're ready to take some more steps forward on this advisory services topic, know that I'm doing a webinar on Wednesday, December 18th. If you want to know more, go to my website: shethinksbigcoaching.com. Upcoming Webinar: DECEMBER: Adding Advisory Services https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ Previous episode mentioned: 062 Making More Time in Your Business, with Adrienne Dorison, Co-Founder of Run Like Clockwork™ https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/making-more-time-in-your-business-adrienne-dorison-run-like-clockwork/ Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/   JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomMy guest today is Adrienne Dorison, the co-founder of Run Like Clockwork™. Adrienne Dorison is the Co-Founder of Run Like Clockwork™ alongside her business partner, Mike Michalowicz, where she equips CEOs to design a business and team that can run itself, like clockwork. Adrienne has helped hundreds of CEOs increase their profit margins, develop the right systems, create bulletproof teams and be able to take an unplugged vacation. Adrienne has spent the past 10+ years in the field of operational efficiency, and has since created the most simplistic approach to making your business ultra-efficient. I wanted to interview Adriene to go deeper into the concepts in the Clockwork and how we as  business owners can use these concepts to simplify our businesses, get more time and freedom back, while making more money.  Thank you so much Adriene, for coming on the podcast.    One of the things I loved in our conversation was the repeat call to do a time audit.  As part of the onboarding process for my VIP clients, I request screenshots of my clients’ Google calendars. And just the act of asking for that is illuminating for them. For most people, what I see is only meetings blocked out, but not time to proactively work on certain parts of the business.  A common response is, I always wondered where my time went, and now I know why I don’t know where my time goes. It’s because I don’t make or decide or choose to dedicate to a certain thing. No wonder it feels like often it just evaporates or goes to whatever feels most urgent in the moment.  So the act of reality-checking your calendar is illuminating.  And from there we can get more intentional about planning time use, an activity that pays dividends. There is so much more to the book Run Like Clockwork, and if you haven’t already, I urge you to go out and pick up a copy.  You can also check out the Run Like Clockwork podcast if audio is your style.  Book mentioned: Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself by Mike Michalowicz https://www.amazon.com/Clockwork-Design-Your-Business-Itself/dp/0525534016/ Connect with Adrienne: Website: https://www.runlikeclockwork.com/ Podcast: https://www.runlikeclockwork.com/podcast Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: DECEMBER: Adding Advisory Services https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/   JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomA lot of business owners have tens of thousands of dollars hanging out in Accounts Receivable that is more than 30 days old. Where's the opportunity for you and your business, in these owed payments? If your clients owe you money, it’s likely that either they don't have enough cash to pay you, or they lack the systems to pay you on time. Dig deeper into your clients’ business to find layers of opportunity. Find out about their challenges.  If they don’t have enough money, is there an opportunity for you to offer them something like cash flow and budgeting and inventory and cost analysis services? Or maybe they have the money but they don't have the systems in place to pay you on time. Maybe they’re super inefficient and need help to streamline and to build out more efficient work systems. What solutions could you offer that would benefit you both? Because you can solve problems, you might be the one and only, the very person who can help your clients think about how to solve this problem that could have been a nagging at them for years.    Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: DECEMBER: Adding Advisory Services https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/   JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomMy guest today is Donna Leyens of the Provendus Group, and Pumpkin Plan Your Business. Donna is an entrepreneur, a Certified Professional Business Coach and has an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurial Studies. She spent the early part of her professional career on Wall St. analyzing and raising capital for public and private companies. In other words, Donna knows what makes a company tick.  Donna and Mike Michalowicz have partnered to create Pumpkin Plan Your Biz, where business owners receive training and certification in the pumpkin plan methodology to become certified Pumpkin Plan Strategists.  I wanted to interview Donna to go deeper into the concepts in the Pumpkin Plan and how they can be implemented to make it easier and more profitable to run your business.  One of the things I loved in our conversation was this idea around no longer selling just an additional service.  If you want to become an advisor in your business, you need to switch how you view your relationship with and how you communicate with your clients, from one of simply service provider to one of partner who helps solve problems.  If you like this idea of separating yourself from the crowd, and want help with the process, know that I am soon to be a certified Pumpkin Plan Strategist, because I am already applying so many of these concepts to great success with my own clients, and decided that being even more adept with the process and tools would shorten the time it would take for my clients to double their income with a third of their client load.  Book mentioned: The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field https://www.amazon.com/Pumpkin-Plan-Strategy-Remarkable-Business/dp/1591844886   Previous episode mentioned: 053 Adding Advisory Services and the Power of Niching Down with Tracy Jepson https://SheThinksBigCoaching.com/053   Connect with Donna: Email: [email protected] Website: www.pumpkinplanyourbiz.com   Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomIn this episode, what I want for you is to start thinking about 2020, because my friends, it is upon us. Since you get sucked away by the vortex of taxes from January to April, if you don't do business planning for 2020 now, then you're likely to not do it until May of 2020. What I see a lot of CPAs, and other types of business owners doing is just having their heads so buried in product delivery, that they don't pick up their heads, not just look at their business but to also do some high level planning for the next year or even the next three to five years or even your exit plan. Do you want to get ahead of the game and figure out where you're trying to go, figure out where you want things to end up and see if you can steer your business there as best as possible?  CPA dogma is you have to make hay while the sun shines. I'm just going to be working until eight o'clock every night, most Saturdays and Sundays, until April 15 and that's just the way it is.  I don't believe it has to be that way. It doesn't have to be the default design. What I want for you is to be thinking about how you can maximize profit, maintain your sanity, and reduce the number of weekends you work from January to April.  So here's some of the conversations that I'm having right now with my clients, as we head into 2020, making our assessments for the year:  Who are their top 20% clients and their top 10% clients. In what ways are those clients similar?  What's the income range of those business owners (assuming they’re business owners)? Where's the line that represents the bottom 15% of your clients?  What are my income goals for 2020. Gross, net and take home pay? How many clients does that mean, at what rate.  What's the revenue range of those business owners who will happily pay you the rates that you're looking for?  Who are the clients that you are ready to say no to and refer out?  What would amazing service look like for your top 10% or 20% clients?  Do my results happen because of the work that I do, or do my results happen because of the belief and the mindset that I have?  And in order to start thinking about the big things that could be possible that you could be creating in 2020, what I want you to think about is: What are 10 ways that I could double my income in 2020? What are 10 different paths to building a million dollar firm, and then exit it?  Who are 10 people I could talk to you about those realities? Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/   JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomMy guest today is Billie Anne Grigg, the Lead Technical Guide of Profit First Professionals, where she helps accountants, bookkeepers, and financial coaches learn how to leverage the Profit First brand and principles to stand out from their competitors, become more profitable, and transition to a more consultative role with their clients. She is also the founder of Pocket Protector Bookkeeping and a frequent contributor to financial and industry blogs, including Fundera Ledger and AccountingWeb. I wanted to interview Billie Anne because she is a master at time-blocking her calendar. And what I have noticed in my interactions with her is that every time we talk, she arrives a few minutes early, is settled and prepared, and ready to get started on time.  Managing my own time has always been a struggle for me.  My hubs, who is really good at being on time, once said to me, in the most honest and compassionate way, “Sweetie, time management is just one of those things that most people learn to do as they become adults.” Many of us have this challenge. So why not learn from somebody who really has it dialled in. And see what we can take from what she does and implement it in our own lives.  When doing time blocking, we should focus on: business delivery business development personal stuff    There were a number of take-aways that I will be thinking about for my own calendar. The main thing that time blocking helps me with is being realistic about time. Because I can operate in Wishful Thinking when it comes to how long things take in Real Reality, as opposed to  my Wishful Reality.  And when I time block, it shows me where my thinking is flawed.  It also helps me let go of “getting it all done”  because when I have planned my time thoughtfully in advance, then I know that I am doing the right activities. I have already thought it through, made the choices, and blocked it out.  So when things I want to get done don’t get gotten to, like that LinkedIn article I wanted to write last week, I know it’s ok to let it go. Another opportunity will come around and I can try again. And on behalf of my own clients, the key takeaways were around: Having a rush fee to protect your time  Having an engagement letter that clearly spells out how this relationship is going to roll  Not being open to taking calls all the time.  Connect with Billie Anne and Profit First Professionals: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billie-anne-grigg-79919067/ Profit First Professionals: http://profitfirstprofessionals.com Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomLast week I did a training for Profit First Professionals. If you've read the book Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, you may or may not know that he has a membership group associated with a book for accountants, bookkeepers, CPAs and business coaches who want to use these tools and implement them in their own practice for their own clients.  They asked me to come and do a training called Recapture Your Money, which is a lot of the same ideas that I talked about in my episodes Where to Find the $50,000 Hiding in Plain Sight in Your Business.  They asked me to come and present six places to look to recapture money that already exists in your business. A lot of the places that I mentioned, apply across many different types of businesses. But there's one that stands out that's unique to CPAs, and this is the one that the attendees cited as the most useful takeaway for them. And that is proactively scheduling end-of-year meetings. In these end-of-year meetings, remember that you're the trusted advisor. You're one of the few people in their life that they go to, to ask questions that they wouldn't ask of most other people. This doesn't mean though that you need to have all the answers, but if you can help them find their way to the right answers, to other resources, other people who may be able to help them. That sets you apart.  So being a CPA who looks out for his or her clients by proactively scheduling end-of-year meetings is priceless. And just one more thing you can do to separate yourself from the flock.  Book mentioned: Profit First by Mike Michalowicz https://profitfirstbook.com/ Previous Episodes mentioned: 024 Find the $50k Hiding in Plain Sight in Your Business – Part 1 025 Find the $50k Hiding in Plain Sight in Your Business – Part 2 Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomMy guest today is Michelle Cooper, owner of Alchemy Accounting in Chilliwack, British Columbia in Canada. Alchemy Accounting works with coaches and consultants around the world who are seeking clarity in their numbers and profitability in their business. Michelle is out to design a non-traditional accounting practice. And today we talk about what that might look like as technology enables more of us to be nomads at work. We also talk about the opportunity that presents for accountants to do taxes across international borders, and about how niching down saved her time and made her life easier. And finally, we talk about how discovering what’s called the Queen Bee Role in her business made operations clearer for everyone on her staff.  There was so much in Michelle’s story that I appreciated, and that I think listeners will appreciate too.  Some nuggets that stick with me are: As always, how helpful it is to focus on in a profession, industry, or niche. EVERYTHING gets easier, and more of the right clients find their way to you. Remember that if you say you serve a broad range of clients, or you say you work with small business owners, families, and individuals - then you are talking to no one, and your signal is getting lost in the noise.  How uncovering the Queen Bee Role in her firm simplified not just her decision-making, but made it easier for her staff to make decisions without having to check with Michelle.  Opportunities are everywhere. There absolutely is more than enough work for every last accountant who wants to be profitable while helping their clients with financial literacy and being more profitable, and reducing tax exposure.  What you choose to focus on, is what you create. In short, your Reticular Activating System (RAS) takes what you focus on and creates a filter for it. So if you don’t think something is possible, you will find evidence to confirm that belief, and if you do think something is possible, your RAS will allow evidence to pass through its filter.    Michelle’s Vision for Alchemy Accounting: I’d love to see for my business to grow and my team to rise into more coaching and consulting roles. The Queen Bee Role (QBR) is in the book: Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself by Mike Michalowicz https://www.amazon.com/Clockwork-Design-Your-Business-Itself-ebook/dp/B078GDX7BP   Reticular Activating System explained: https://medium.com/desk-of-van-schneider/if-you-want-it-you-might-get-it-the-reticular-activating-system-explained-761b6ac14e53   Previous Episodes on Niching Down: 053 Adding Advisory Services and the Power of Niching Down, with Tracy Jepson 054 How Narrowing Your Niche Can Help You Grow Faster Connect with Michelle: Website: http://MichelleBCooper.com Website: http://AlchemyAccounting.ca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michelle.h.cooper.9   Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/   Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday’s guest is Dr. Sabrina Starling, the business psychologist, author of "How to Hire the Best," and the founder of Tap the Potential.  I invited Dr. Sabrina to be on the show today to talk about hiring, because I know how many of my own clients find it challenging to hire the right person. And oftentimes, they have resistance to hiring, and wait too long to make that next hire. Oftentimes, at their own detriment. And I'm aware that the resistance to hiring can often be mindset blocks.  I know so many business owners who struggle with similar challenges. So the thinking around this episode was to serve up some real life coaching, to bring awareness and understanding to you on some of the things that might be hiding out in your own mind that might result in shifting the choices that you're making around hiring. Dr. Sabrina’s Four-Week Vacation Mindset Tool The Four-Week Vacation Mindset Tool is based on the idea that others are whole, capable, confident and complete. When we think to ourselves, “I can't take a 4-week vacation,” we ask, “How can I?” Instead of “I don't know how to set up my business to be successful with teams so that I could be gone,” we ask “Who can I learn from?” Instead of “My clients will be upset that I’m gone, that they're dealing with someone who's not me, (or whatever our Gremlins are), “How do we, as a team, continue to provide an exceptional service in a team member’s absence?”  So we're taking all those Gremlin beliefs that run through our heads that limit us, and we're turning them into powerful questions.   Key Takeaways Dr. Sabrina has no doubt given me a lot to think about and new perspectives to look through when I think about what I want for my business, and how I might grow it in a way that works for me, works for staff employees, subcontractors, and increases my impact while getting more of my time back.  Other key takeaways for me were on shifting my perspective: believing that people are whole, competent and complete versus I have to teach them everything. the idea that I have to teach you everything  having to shoulder the workload  Some questions/learnings from our conversation:   What am I NOT doing because I hadn’t wanted to hire?  Any time that I’m doing something that’s not my gift, I’m depriving somebody of my gift. How could you have a greater impact while working less? What would my life be like if accolades weren't related to my identity and my self esteem?   Listeners, I want to hear from you. What was your key takeaway from this episode? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. Connect with Dr. Sabrina: Podcast: Profit by Design https://www.profitbydesignpodcast.com/ Book: How to Hire the Best https://www.amazon.com/How-Hire-Best-Attracting-Performing/dp/0998006203 Website: Tap the Potential https://www.tapthepotential.com/ Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomI want to talk to you today about what I see as one of the most important or biggest levers that you can pull in your business to help you grow. And that is specializing and narrowing down who you serve.  Narrowing your niche is an incredibly important thing to do to help you grow your accounting practice. What I want to talk about is why it's harder to be a generalist, what the benefits are of specializing and nIching down. I want to address the fears and the myths about niching down. I want to give you some examples of what it might look like to choose a specialty, what you do, and who you do it for, plus some sample messaging and where to start. Niching down includes two things: what you do and who you do it for. Some of the fears that I hear when I talked to my own clients and other people about niching down: What if I lose potential clients? I don't want to have to say no or turn away other people who come to me who aren't in my niche: afterall, I can help just about anyone! If you want the list of 20 possible initiatives and specialties to reference to give you some ideas to get started, download the free PDF: Possible Specialties and Niches. Listeners, I want to hear from you. What was your key takeaway from this episode? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. Download PDF: Possible Specialties and Niches: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/054-pdf-download Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomMy guest today is Tracy Jepson, founder and owner of TLJ Bookkeeping and Consulting.  Tracy started her bookkeeping practice as a side hustle in an effort to get out of debt. Four years later, her practice now includes small business strategy, consulting and advisory services, to work in partnership with businesses to create permanent profitability.  In this episode, Tracy talks about her journey from charging by the hour to moving to retainer, how she listened to really understand what her clients were asking her for, how that informed the addition of advisory services, and then how in time she niche down and niche down again, to make her own life easier, and watched her business grow as a result.  Thank you so much, Tracy, for coming on the Epic Business Growth for CPAs Podcast.    From our conversation, here are some nuggets that stick with me:  Be really careful to attempt to out-earn your spending as a business strategy. Better to get your spending underneath your current earnings and grow from there. And be really careful to make sure that you have a viable business, rather than using your hard earned savings to prop up a passion project. What your clients want from you is in your email. If you go back and not just read your email, but truly listen to what is inside emails from your clients, you will have everything you need to begin offering advisory services.  Your clients are often less than forthcoming about what they don't know. Do not make assumptions about what they know and what they don't know.    Tracy’s Vision: I want to reach as many people as possible to help them get out of debt, connect their personal and business finances and really get them on the road to profit.  Listeners, I want to hear from you. What was your key takeaway from this episode? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. Past episode mentioned: 042 Decoding CPA-Speak: Clarifying 9 Common Terms: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/042   Connect with Tracy: Website: https://tracyjepson.com/ Group coaching site: http://thebottomlineacademy.com   Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/   JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday’s guest is Danielle Hayden of Kickstart Accounting.  Danielle left her corporate job in 2014 to help small business owners with their numbers and finances. Five years later she runs an accounting practice with six people on staff serving more than 275 clients all around the country.  In interviewing Danielle, I wanted to showcase what's possible to create in five short years, especially when you're willing to lift yourself up and out of the task-doing in your practice and build a team of people who you trained well and who have solid systems for delivering a consistent and high-quality client experience.  What I see happening in so many entrepreneurs businesses is lax payment policies. It's one thing to be flexible but It's a different thing to be lax. And it costs business owners and accountants a lot of money to not have firm and clear policies in place. Danielle also said that clients say to her that her staff are “just really nice.” I hear from a lot of regular business owners that they feel intimidated by their CPA, and they don't want to ask questions. If you're known as nice, and approachable, and someone who answers all your clients’ questions on a reasonably quick turnaround time, your clients are more successful, because of it. It will also differentiate you in the marketplace, which will increase referrals in your favor. Download the Profit Planner: https://profitplannerbookkeeping.com/ Enter the code SHETHINKSBIG to get 15% off.    Danielle’s Big Goal: “I want to continue to serve as many entrepreneurs as possible. My big, hairy, audacious goal is to serve one million business owners. And that is through helping them with bookkeeping, and helping them get the profit planner in their hands. And so we want to just continue to help businesses succeed.”   Danielle’s Big Ask: “If you could think of one business owner in your in your circle, or that you've come into contact with that you know who needs help, whether that be they’re in accounting overwhelm, and they need someone to help them with their bookkeeping, or if they're overwhelmed because they cannot figure out how to create a profit in their business. I would love an introduction to that one business owner who's struggling.”   Listeners, I want to hear from you. What was your key takeaway from this episode? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. Connect with Danielle: Website: Kickstartaccountinginc.com   Past episodes mentioned: Find the $50k Hiding in Plain Sight in Your Business - Part 1 http://shethinksbigcoaching.com/024 Find the $50k Hiding in Plain Sight in Your Business - Part 2 http://shethinksbigcoaching.com/025   Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/   Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/ 1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/ VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/ JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomI have something to share with you.  As my own business and coaching practice grows, it's becoming clear to me that my sweet spot is working with CPAs to help them grow their accounting practice.  The results that all of my clients have been getting have been fantastic. Some of them are doubling their monthly income, if not more, inside of six months. Even though I see it right there on their Profit and Losses, I still think, “Wow, that's so awesome!” And what I love is that it changes their lives. It gives them more freedom, more sanity and more peace of mind.  Going forward, my focus is going to be on you CPAs to help you grow your practice, grow your numbers, grow your business. So you can lead a life that you're psyched about, which includes sanity even during tax season.    A lot of the topics I'm going to be covering will still apply and still be valuable to you entrepreneurs. So I hope you'll stick around as listeners. And I want to thank all of my listeners, all of you for being fans for sharing and being on this journey with me.  Here's a sneak peek at some upcoming topics:  Understanding what your clients desperately want from you that you're not giving them.  Where to start when considering adding advisory services Niching and specializing  Interviews with CPAs who niched down and tripled their income in 18 months  Plus tactical stuff with some experts on using SEO, Google Maps, and LinkedIn to get found by ideal clients faster.    If you know a CPA who you think might benefit I would love if you would pass this along to them.  And for my CPAs, in the future, What would you like from this podcast? What are your struggles? What do you want help with? How can I serve you? I really want to know so that I can be putting out content that you find valuable and are psyched to get on your phone every week.  So the shift is on.  Have a great couple of days and I will see you next time.   Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day   JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomMy guest today is The Productivity Specialist Amber de la Garza. Amber is a sought after coach, trainer, speaker and writer, and host of the Productivity Straight Talk Podcast. She helps driven entrepreneurs execute actionable solutions to maximize profits, reduce stress, and make time for what matters most.  Being productive is when you are investing your best time into your best activities. I enjoy how Amber reframes productivity from being about the small minute-to-minute changes that might make our systems slightly more efficient, to really thinking about how to best use our time, so that we can be more productive. And in the end, be more effective with the work that we do in our businesses.  I especially appreciate the imagery of one bucket sitting on top of the other sitting on top of the other. And when one is full, it overflows and it spills out into the next one, and so on down the line. What were your key takeaways from this episode? How has this conversation changed how you view productivity and how you'll think about productivity in your own week? Come share your thoughts and answers in the She Thinks Big Facebook group.   Amber’s Vision: “I want every entrepreneur to know what productivity can do for their business and their life.” Amber’s Ask: Post a screenshot of you listening to this episode and tag both Geraldine @12geraldine406 and I @amber_delagarza on Instagram, and let us know that you're listening. And/or post a picture of where you are when you're listening. Bonus points if you DM one of us and let us know what your biggest takeaway was. Amber’s gift to She Thinks Big listeners: Download Buckets PDF here: http://theproductivityspecialist.com/shethinksbig Connect with Amber: Website www.TheProductivitySpecialist.com Podcast www.ProductivityStraightTalk.com Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/theproductivityspecialist Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/productivitystraighttalk Instagram https://www.instagram.com/amber_delagarza/     Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday’s guest is Nikki Rausch of Your Sales Maven. She’s a pro at helping people leverage their network to earn more business.    Leverage Your Network When I started out in my own business, I kept hearing this term bandied about: leverage your network. What does that mean? And how does one go about leveraging their network? How do I do that?  So Nikki’s here to help demystify this leverage your network business, so that you can look at your network and see what you're looking for inside your network and to figure out ways to connect to the people that you would really like to meet.   Networking with Intention One of my main takeaways from this episode is the importance of going into a networking event with intention. I tend to enjoy networking events, I love meeting new people and I love talking to people and I love listening to people. And sometimes I forget that I’m there to meet new people and to expand my network.    Your Ideal Client Another important thing is thinking about who your ideal client is. Because it's hard to find them anywhere if you don't know who that person is. And it's really hard for other people in your network to help you find people if you can't articulate who it is that you serve. The broader your picture of your ideal client, the harder it is for you to be intentional about  leveraging your network. The smaller your target of your ideal client, the easier it is for you to reach out into your network and ask for connections, introductions, and referrals.  Learning how to leverage your network takes time. Leveraging your network is a long-term plan. Listeners, I want to hear from you. What was your key takeaway from this episode? What was the most useful thing that you will take and start applying in your business this week? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. Connect with Nikki: Nikki’s website: https://yoursalesmaven.com/   Link to free download: Get Closing the Sale, Nikki’s free PDF at yoursalesmaven.com/stbp   The Selling Staircase: Mastering the Art of Relationship Selling https://www.amazon.com/Selling-Staircase-Mastering-Art-Relationship/dp/1072698781/ Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomIn this week’s episode, I talk about tribes and the tribes that we lead.  A lot of you out there are building tribes or have tribes that you have built and you are leading them. And whether you have a nascent tribe or you have a full-blown tribe, there still may be varying degrees of awareness of the fact that you have a tribe, and/or what to do with your tribe, and how to best help and support the tribe that you have. There are a lot of you out there who have businesses with certain ideas and certain different ways of doing things or different ways of viewing the world, or the way you believe things is slightly different than the norm, and people follow you around that idea. You have a tribe.  I want to talk to you about the tribe that you are building, the tribe that you’ve created. How you might recognize the aspects of your tribe and how you might better understand what they need.  What do your members want? And what are ways to help them stay connected and help them evangelize for you? When it comes down to it, what do your tribe members want? And then finally, a call to you to bring it up a level with your tribe. And to take a bigger stand.  What do you stand for? What is the deeper value set that will really resonate with your tribe and they will follow you even more passionately than they do already? Ladies, I want to know about your tribe. Come tell us about your tribe in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. I’d love to hear from you.   Seth Godin - [TED Talk] The Tribes We Lead  https://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead?language=en#t-4791   Women and Their Tribes Lesley Von Eschen and Carol Bridges of CostCare Kim Bostrom of Dancing Goat Gardens Greta Thunberg Suze Orman Oprah Winfrey Brene Brown Mel Robbins US National Women’s Soccer team   Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomTodays’ guest is Melina Palmer. Melina helps companies of all sizes to incorporate Behavioral Economics into their businesses to make them more brain-friendly, and increase conversions and ROI. Melina hosts the Brainy Business Podcast where she serves up brain-friendly concepts every week.  In this episode, we talk not just about Behavioral Economics, but how to apply these important concepts in your business. You will rethink how you package your offerings, and how you talk about your prices that makes people more likely to buy from you, and buy more of the things you know they need from you. You’ll also consider shifting all the crap that you say to yourself because we will talk about how your brain goes and creates what it believes to be true. I could talk all day to Melina about all this stuff, especially how to use scientific research and apply it to make subtle shifts in our businesses and the way that we do things that can have an outsize impact.  My own takeaway is to make sure that my own clients are using anchoring and framing correctly in their own businesses. Ladies, what were your key takeaways in this episode? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. I’d love to hear from you. Melina’s Big Ask:  Melina is looking to connect with someone from high levels in HR and Marketing inside large organizations like Target and Costco for speaking engagements and corporate trainings, for their teams to understand Behavioral Economics.   Melina’s Vision: For her name and Brainy Business to be synonymous with Behavioral Economics across the globe, to be Suze Orman of Behavioral Economics. Brainy Business Episodes Mentioned: Truth about Pricing #5 What is value #8 Loss Aversion #9 Anchoring #11 Relativity #12 Mindset #13 Scarcity #14 Framing #16 Overwhelmed brain #32 Incentives #36 Costco #47 Get in touch with Melina: Website: www.thebrainybusiness.com Podcast: Listen to the Podcast Youtube: Check out my speaker reel! Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day   JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomHow do we protect our mind from the glut of information, notifications and likes that we get all day long throughout our workday? We live in an information age. Any information that we want is available within 2 seconds via Google search. So we have this constant swirl of on-demand anything. And to a degree, demand induces demand. Because the more products you buy the more notifications you get. The more notifications you get, then the more you’re back on your computer looking at stuff. And it easily occupies an outsize portion of our attention.  And the problem with that, is that this preoccupation of all things notifications, likes, comments, shares, and so on, is that it is in direct conflict with us doing our best work.  It’s already challenging enough  for us to do our best work just as it is. Never mind the constant preoccupation with the glut of not-super-important detailed information that we get throughout the day.   So the question becomes: How can you better protect your attention?    Your ability to do your best work is directly tied to your ability to focus your attention to where it matters most. And to hold perhaps a lesser queue of thoughts and questions in your mind. And these tiny little bites of information that scramble our minds get in the way of that, and reduce our ability to be our absolute best. What I want for everybody is to have full and rich lives that they love and where they’re thriving. And where their businesses are successful. And I want people to be thinking bigger about what’s possible and what we all can create as individuals and together in this world.  Here are some questions for you, so that you can make your own choices about how to best manage and balance your needs: How can I leverage the value offered by social media and all the digital tools while also protecting my mind and my attention? What does your best work require from your mind, your focus, and your attention? What does your attention span need from you in terms of self-care? Ladies, what were your key takeaways in this episode? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. I’d love to hear from you.   Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomMy guest today is Amanda Berlin, a former New York City corporate publicity strategist who now uses her powers for good. She helps her clients tell their story, write content, and raise visibility so that the people who need them can find them. Recently Amanda invited me on her podcast to talk about getting a handle on the financials in your business. In that interview, she happened to mention offhand that she doesn’t look at her financials every month. I couldn’t let that slide. I invited her to come on my podcast to help her get the clarity she needs around her own numbers.   A Financial Planner for Your Business In your personal finances, there are financial planners who help you figure out, based on how much you have now and how much you want to have when you retire, how much you need to set aside every year in your retirement plan in order to get to retirement with enough savings. But in your business, chances are good that role is vacant. All that activity of your bookkeeper and you accountant is primarily for the IRS, not for you and not for your business.  And unless you have an accountant who offers strategic advising, who can help you get from where you are now in your business to your income goals, chances are good that that role, the equivalent of a financial planner for your business, is vacant.   Do You Know Your Numbers? I appreciate that Amanda was willing to be transparent about what she knew and what she didn’t know about her numbers. So many women have a knowledge gap here and are embarrassed and even ashamed that they don’t know much about their financials. I’m grateful to Amanda for simply being straight up about where she is and open to getting the help she’s looking for.   Key Takeaways One of Amanda’s key takeaways is: If you’re not already, work with a bookkeeper and/or accountant who will get your financial statements to you monthly. And when you receive these numbers, be sure to use them. If you want to get insights the same way Amanda did, I recommend a Lightning Strategy Session where you send me your financials in advance and I work on them so you won’t have to bang your keyboard getting frustrated with Excel. Then together, we work through your questions and you get the insights you need and get your questions answered so that you can help your business grow faster.  Ladies, what were your key takeaways? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. I’d love to hear from you.   Previous Episodes: 009 Shame, Money Mindset, and Your Profit and Loss 036 How Tracking KPIs Can Help You Work Less Hard In Your Business Connect with Amanda: Website http://amandaberlin.com Podcast Empowered Publicity   Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday’s guest is Kate Ahl of Simple Pin Media. Simple Pin Media makes Pinterest Marketing easy to understand and implement without feeling overwhelmed. In today’s episode I talk to Kate about her journey from food stamps to running a 7-figure business that supports a team of 40 women and clients around the world. I love hearing successful women stories of being an entrepreneur. I especially admired the moments that Kate decided to go all in.  There’s so much power in deciding to do something, in saying “This is what I’m committed to trying and making happen.” Because once you decide, the rest has a way of figuring itself out. So ladies, what have you decided to create in your business? And how committed are you? What I want from you is to decide and to be committed. Because with those two things, you will make happen whatever you want. I'd love to hear from you. Share your key takeaways from this episode in the She Thinks Big Facebook group.   Get in touch with Kate: Website: https://www.simplepinmedia.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplepinmedia Twitter: https://twitter.com/simplepinmedia Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/simplepinmedia/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-ahl-79a653107/ For CPAs, Accountants, Bookkeepers: As business owners, it’s not always possible for you to see the picture when you’re in the frame. It can be easy to see that it’s possible for your business to grow. But hard to see exactly how, especially when you’re caught in the day-to-day. The 3 biggest challenges I see my own clients struggling with are: How to fill your calendar with the right clients Clarifying your goals and laying out the steps to reach these goals Creating clear and strong business boundaries If any of these topics are of interest to you, check out the 3-part webinar series - Where to Find the $50K Hiding in Plain Sight for Accountants and Bookkeepers, coming up 3 Wednesdays in August: on the 14th, 21st and 28th. These webinars are all free, for you to create more value and more profit in your business. Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomIt's July, and six months of the year have now gone by.    At the beginning of the year, back in January, you were so excited, and you were all on fire after the winter break. “I’m gonna rock 2019!” So I want to know, are you rocking it? And if you're not rocking it, where are you off course? Have you yet planned to take a day or a half day out of your business to take stock of the progress that you've made and where you need to go for the rest of the year?  You know it’s important to take time off to look at your business. What I hope to do in today's episode is to convince you, through a story, of the importance of periodically stopping and picking your head up to take stock of where you are and compare that to where you want to be going. Listen to my story of when I had this crazy idea in 2002 of doing an Ironman, which is a 2 1/2 mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and a marathon. So what does my Ironman story have to do with you and your business? There comes a time when you get uncomfortable in your business and you do things that have you drift off course. And you're drifting and drifting, and your head is down in the water. And you tell yourself a story that you don't have time to pick your head up. But you DO need to pick your head up every now and then.  And halfway through the year is the perfect time to pick your head up. Because now you have 6 months of metrics, KPIs, of solid financial data.  And if you haven't been keeping track of your metrics or your financials, call me. Because it's time for you to pick your head up in your business and look around.  Because if you don't, what it’s going to cost you is TIME and MONEY. Keeping your head down in your business could be costing you in countless ways. And it could be costing you right now.  Let me be the one to tell you to pick your head up. We need you to see where you're going in your business.  What do you need to do? Open up your calendar and find half a day or a day where you can stop and step out of your business. And look at what's going on. Schedule that time for yourself. Now could be the time that you're off course and come December you don't want to look back at July and be like, "Ugh, if only I picked my head up then, because it would have made a difference." If stepping out of your business is hard for you and you want help with it, I would love to help you. One of the things I'm good at is hovering above your business and seeing what's working in it, and what is not working in it, that needs tweaking.  Know that I would love to work with you to get your business back on course.  Now, head to the website, SheThinksBigCoaching.com and click on the Work with Me tab to see what's available to you. Ladies, I'd love to hear from you. When are you scheduling time to step away from your business? Share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group.   JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday's guest is Kate Baker, a Physical Therapist from East Missoula, Montana.  Kate has been a Physical Therapist for 5 years. After having her first child, she decided to go from working in a clinic to stepping out on her own as a solo practitioner. Being in business is new to her, and just like most new business owners, she's figuring it out as she goes along.  In this coaching call, Kate and I talk about making the money and the time add up so that she has time to parent her 7-month old boy. We talk about the best use of her time, should she outsource her bookkeeping, what to do about her website, and should she outsource that, and what are the best avenues to build an ongoing client base. Kate has everything she needs in order to build a successful practice. It's just a matter of focusing her time on what drives revenue, and not getting bogged down in the work that she's not great at, doesn't love, and frankly, would prefer not to do anyways. If you're feeling overworked and overwhelmed, chances are good it's because the time and the math don't add up. And the glue that holds it all together is YOU. And it comes at the expense of your own self-care, and your own physical and emotional wellness.  If you're overwhelmed or overworked, if something isn't working, start putting pencil to paper and bust out your calculator and see if what you're trying to create actually adds up. A note on outsourcing: When you do everything in your business, you cap your income. It's that simple. There's only so much you can get done as one person inside a week. If you want to grow your income, you need to free up your time. And you do this by paying other people to do work they're skilled at, and that you're not so skilled at.  Thinking of hiring a bookkeeper? Get the free PDF download in episode 009 - Shame, Money Mindset, and Your Profit and Loss, which contains 17 interview questions to ask a bookkeeper. Ladies, what were your key takeaways? I'd love to hear from you. Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. Get in touch with Kate: Website: katebakerdpt.com Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomI’m here today to help translate from CPA-speak to regular person English, sometimes known as layman English.  How many of you have met with your bookkeeper or your CPA and honestly it’s like they’re speaking Greek and like, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”  I’m here today to make CPA and bookkeeping-speak a little bit easier for you. And I’m also here to remind our friendly, much-beloved bookkeepers and CPAs just how foreign this language is to your everyday business owner who is super busy with their graphic design clients, who has a full plate already writing content for social media posts. Who already can’t quite get their handle on when is the next time, who is the next person they should hire. Much less try and wrap their brains around an entirely new way of speaking about numbers and new ways of showing and displaying finances. What I want our bookkeepers and CPA listeners to get is, “Oh yeah, this stuff is super-foreign to them, I really need this not just to simplify it but talk to them in terms that sound familiar to them rather than the ones I’m used to.”  What I have today are 9 terms that CPAs and bookkeepers use all the time, that the rest of us nod and go, “What?!” Profit and Loss Gross Net Balance Sheet Chart of Accounts Accounts Payable Accounts Receivable Cash or Accrual Owner’s Draw I want these terms to be less foreign to you. I want you to have some kind of imagery that you can use to help you remember what these terms mean. So that you’re less intimidated by your numbers and financials, so that you’re more confident, so that you can start to use them and be savvy with them.  So that you can ask yourself, “What do I need to know about these numbers? How can I find what I’m looking for? How can these numbers help me be smarter in running my business?” For your reference, I’ve created a cheat sheet of these terms plus further explanation. I also include some tips about which Profit and Loss reports I think are handy to look at every month and what you’re looking for in each one of them. It also includes references to previous episodes about money.  Ladies, what were your key takeaways in this episode? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group.   Download PDF: Decoding CPA-speak    Previous Episodes on Money: 009 Shame, Money Mindset, and Your Profit and Loss 019 Stop Magical Thinking: The Math Needs to Add Up 026 Simple Financials and KPIs for Your Business with Virtual CFO Hannah Smolinski Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomHave you ever felt awkward answering your kids questions about sex? Well my guest today knows exactly how you feel. Amy Lang teaches adults how to talk about sex and sexuality to kids.  She has been an educator for more than 25 years, and has a degree in adult education. And volunteered as a sexual health educator.  In 2005 she decided to put the two together, and her company, Birds and Bees and Kids was born.  Today Amy teaches adults how to talk to kids about sex and sexuality so they can grow up to be whole, healthy adults.  And, I know you’re disappointed… but today instead of talking about sex we’re going to talk about the super successful business that Amy has built, the mistakes, and what she has learned along the way.  I absolutely love talking with Amy. She’s down to earth, funny, and never takes herself too seriously.  I want to call particular attention to this phrase that Amy slipped in - she said, “I didn’t envision myself as an entrepreneur because I just wanted to help people.” Ladies, you can be an entrepreneur AND help people. In fact, you can help LOTS of people. Just look at Oprah Winfrey. Incredibly successful entrepreneur, and HUGE impact helping millions of people. So if helping people is what you want to do, then be an entrepreneur, and make money. The more money you make, the more people you can help.  And ladies, I know you want to have a big impact in the world, and I hope you will open your arms up wide to being an entrepreneur and making the money you need to support your big vision.  And remember, Amy’s big ask is a connection to someone at the high levels of organizations like Girl Scouts or Campfire so she can increase the size of the audience she reaches and the number of kids she impacts.  Ladies, what were your key takeaways? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. Find out more about Amy and her work:  Website Birds & Bees & Kids  Podcast Just Say This!  Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomI’m back from the B A M Success Summit, hosted by Julie Fry, which took place in Seattle a couple weeks ago.  Business Among Moms is more than just an annual conference, it’s a collection of more than 30 locally-based chapters around the country, and a whole lot more.  In this episode I gather takeaways from some of the great women I met.  Kate Ahl, founder of Simple Pin Media, makes Pinterest Marketing easy to understand and implement without feeling overwhelmed. Website: https://www.simplepinmedia.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplepinmedia Twitter: https://twitter.com/simplepinmedia Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/simplepinmedia/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-ahl-79a653107/   Katy Blevins Calabrese is the Chief Leadership & Training Officer for Business Among Moms.  Website: www.businessamongmoms.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katyblevins Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seasonofkaty/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/seasonofkaty LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katyblevins/ Michelle Cooper owns Alchemy Accounting. Alchemy Accounting uses the Profit First cash management system. Her team is trained and certified by Profit First professionals to guide business owners and entrepreneurs in maximizing their profits through excellent bookkeeping and accounting. Website: http://MichelleBCooper.com Website: http://AlchemyAccounting.ca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michelle.h.cooper.9   Karen Nelson helps website owners use Facebook ads and Pinterest ads to drive traffic to their products. Email: [email protected] Website: KarenJNelson.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenJNelsonDigitalSupport/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karennelsondigital/   Melina Palmer is the founder of Brainy Business. She helps companies of all sizes to incorporate behavioral economics in their businesses, to make them “”brain-friendly” to increase conversions and ROI. Website: www.thebrainybusiness.com Podcast: Listen to the Podcast Youtube: Check out my speaker reel! What I got from the summit is countless, genuine, authentic, fun, and valuable connections. Because of the time that I spent connecting with amazing women, I’m not noticing just an uptick, but rather like an explosion of activity in my business. If you want to know more about the BAM Success Summit, go to https://bamsuccesssummit.com. Registration and tickets reopen in December. Register here:   https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2020-bam-success-summit-conference-all-access-tickets-61727767414 Ladies, what’s your takeaway from this episode? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group.   Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day   JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomMy guest today is Kim Bostrom, of Dancing Goat Gardens and the Hope Center. In 2014, Kim left her job in the pharmaceutical industry, ready and in need of a change. A few years later, Kim and her husband Jay founded two companies and a non-profit all housed under one roof: To provide education, wellness, and cannabis products to those looking for alternative therapies. You may have heard of CBD oil: it’s legal at the federal level, but up to each state to manage it. That’s not Kim’s only challenge as a business owner: she’s in an industry that is a patchwork of sometimes clear, sometimes ambiguous, sometimes downright contradictory laws. And, she is part of a small but growing force of women aiming to shift the old black market paradigm to one that is legitimate and operates above board. It’s hard enough to start a business. Never mind one that has all kinds of hoops to jump through, won’t let you use traditional banking, and won’t let you market your products. I admire Kim’s courage to lead in an industry that carries around all kinds of baggage, stereotypes, and pigeonholes, and the effort required to shift the paradigm in an industry that has operated in the shadows for so long. I am also grateful to Kim and her husband Jay, not as a user myself, but on behalf of those who do legitimately need medical cannabis. I want to say it’s high time, but that’s a terrible pun, that we give this plant the recognition it deserves for its medicinal properties, and get it off the black market. Ladies, what inspired you about Kim, and the work she and Jay are doing? Know that I would love to hear from you. Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. Get in touch with Kim: Dancing Goat Gardens website Dancing Goat Gardens Facebook page Dancing Goat Gardens Instagram page The Hope Center website The Hope Center Facebook page The Hope Center Instagram page Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomFinding Solutions to the Problem of Childcare I love it when people see a problem and they go, “Huh, I wonder if I could fix that?” Today’s guest, Erica Mackey, did just that. She returned to work with her six-week old only to find that basic childcare is basically broken. But rather than shrug her shoulders in resignation, she asked herself if she could use business to address the problems in childcare. Now, two years in, with 17 employees and 40 educators, MyVillage is a community of high-quality, in-home childcare and preschool programs in Colorado and Montana, with plans to expand nationwide. Erica’s Vision for MyVillage Erica’s vision for MyVillage is to see a network of incredibly talented and skilled caregivers and educators that are community leaders. And to inspire children to do the same, and create and instill that sense of confidence and the skill set to be able to act on that confidence. Which means a sea of entrepreneurs, of budding educators, and of capable children who are ready to be the citizens of this country that we deserve. What Erica Asks from the She Thinks Big Community Erica asks that you reach out and encourage anybody you know in your network who just needs a little confidence boost to be able to take the next step forward. If you have somebody who has touched you or your family in a way that you know that they would be incredible at providing this service to their community, reach out and encourage them to check it out because sometimes it just takes a little nudge to get over that initial fear. I’m just blown away by what Erica and her team are creating, in the same way that I was blown away when I first used Lyft and Square. MyVillage is taking a system that was so archaic and bringing it into the 21st century and solving dozens of problems elegantly in one fell swoop. Thank you, Erica, for your big vision. Ladies, I would love to hear from you. What is your biggest takeaway from this episode? Come and share on the She Thinks Big Facebook group page. Get in touch with Erica: https://www.myvillage.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericamackey/ Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomMiri Disney Faller of Back on Track Physical Therapy is a Physical Therapist who helps those with neck and low back pain, headaches and vertigo return to wellness. Like many health and wellness practitioners, she sometimes finds it challenging to run the business side of things the way that she wants, so that the patients, the time and the finances all balance out. It gets even trickier in the summer when the usual calendar goes out the window.   Today, we take some time to look ahead of summer and get real about putting plans into the calendar so that we can see what the implications are for various work schedule, so that she can decide what choices she has to make around how many patients she can see and when. We talk about what is the balance she can handle and find a compromise that she can live with. One of the pieces I hope you'll listen for in this episode is how Miri has some reluctance to get specific. The temptation is to leave things loosey-goosey. But loosey-goosey often leaves the door open for negotiating with yourself at a later date, justifying choices that aren't aligned with what you want to create in your life and dropping out on your bigger vision. In this episode I help Miri get really clear about the summer that she's trying to create and not let her slide where she wants to leave the crack open, all in service of enjoying both her work and her family time. If you're looking for Miri because you have a headache, neck, low back pain or vertigo, you can find her on backontrackptmt.com. And if you need some guidance planning out your summer, you can download a Prep Your Summer Calendar PDF from the link below. Ladies, I would love to hear from you. What is your biggest takeaway from this episode? Come and share on the She Thinks Big Facebook group page. Links: Download PDF: Prep Your Summer Calendar Back on Track Physical Therapy Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day   JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomIn this episode, we’ll be talking about Key Performance Indicators or KPIs in your business, why measuring them is important, and how to think about which ones you should be measuring. Most business owners I run into are not tracking much more than revenue, expenses, and net income. What we don’t realize is that sometimes, there’s information that’s hidden, and it’s really useful. Imagine if all of a sudden you found extra money hanging out in your business. And extra time. How would that feel? It’s important to know what to track and how often, and to have a system for tracking. And  most importantly, what decisions you’re going to make based on the information that you find. Because the real problem here is that you’re likely to be leaving opportunity in the form of money, profit and time on the table. And working harder than you need to be. I want to teach you how to think about what you need to measure. I want to help you figure out what your own pain points are. And from there, figure out which KPIs to measure in order to help solve your pain points. When we look at our numbers, when we start asking questions, and measure what’s working and what’s not, it becomes really clear how we can save time and not not work so hard, and make more money.   Download this PDF for some questions you need to ask to determine what KPIs you need to measure for your business. Ladies, I would love to hear from you. What’s your biggest takeaway from this episode? Come and share in the She Thinks Big Facebook page.   Download PDF: Questions to Determine What KPIs to Measure Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday, I’m talking to you about letting go of past mistakes that you've made in your business. Running a business is simply a series of making mistakes, right? Until we find the things that work. And if we hold on to making mistakes we just drag them around. And it costs us time, energy and focus. What is the thing that you're holding on to? What's keeping you from letting it go? A lot of mistakes we're capable of simply just letting go and moving on. But we have certain mistakes that, for whatever reason, we just hold on to. And we can't seem to find a way to put it down and move on. What we have today are some examples of the mistakes that we hold on to and drag around, some questions you might ask yourself when you notice yourself holding on and you want to let go. I'll close out the episode with one of my favorite writings by Safire Rose called She Let Go. Ladies, I would love to hear from you. What’s your biggest takeaway from this episode? Come and share in the She Thinks Big Facebook page. She Let Go (Poem by Safire Rose) - https://safire-rose.com/books-and-media/poetry/she-let-go JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomWhen was the last time you explored your relationship with money? Your Relationship with Money Today’s episode is Part 1 of a multi-part series about your relationship with money. In this episode, I'm going to talk about how you talk to the universe about money. Parts 2 and 3 will be about resenting money and unconditional love for money. Two episodes that might just blow your mind! Sending Mixed Signals? In today's episode I'll be talking about how you might be sending mixed signals to the universe when it comes to money. How the messages you send may be holding you back in your business. And what you can do to square up your signals. There's a problem here: By not exploring your relationship with money, by hanging out with old, unhealthy behaviors around money, if you're not aligning your desires with your actions, you are sending mixed signals to the universe. And it is likely that you are leaving truckloads of income. Creating A Relationship with Money So how does one even begin to understand one's relationship with money? How do you even go about creating a relationship with money that you want to have? What if your relationship with money were to be really clean and healthy? Download this PDF for some questions that you can ponder on about your money mindset. Think about the ways that you might be sending mixed signals to the universe when it comes to money. And have a look at how the messages that you are sending might be holding you back in your business. Look at what you say you want and compare that to your behaviors. And start squaring up your signals. Ladies, I want to know: What is one thing that you are going to start or stop doing? I would love to hear from you. Come and share on the She Thinks Big Facebook group page. Download PDF: Money Questions   JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday’s guest is Anne Torrez of Tri It Your Way Coaching. She coaches triathletes who are ready take their performance to the next level. If you’re wondering what actual coaching is like, here is a raw, barely edited session where neither of us is giving any mind to the possibility that this might be aired. Anne wanted help fleshing out her thoughts around a possible talk that she wanted to deliver at a conference. We explore her topic idea, about mentally strong women. Why is it important to be mentally strong, particularly as women in the sport of triathlon? Two things I want to point out from this episode: First is the deep desire that so many of us have to support other women on their path to peak performance and how playing small can infiltrate so many areas of our lives. I love how Anne uses the sport of triathlon as a window into our own beliefs about what we are capable of accomplishing. Second is that our conversation and subsequent piecing together of her thought leadership came from a tangent that my intuition wanted to take her on. Too often we ignore our own inner knowing, our own intuition. So if you’re drowning out your inner knowing with brainly logic, you might be missing out on accessing a place of deeper knowledge. What are your main takeaways from this episode? I hope you’ll share on the She Thinks Big Facebook group page.   Connect With Anne: Website: TriItYourWay.com https://www.triityourway.com/ Email: [email protected]   Links about Neurons in Your Gut: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enteric_nervous_system https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-fallible-mind/201701/the-pit-in-your-stomach-is-actually-your-second-brain JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday’s guests are Lesley Von Eschen, PA - C, and Carol Bridges, MD, co-CEOs of CostCare. CostCare is a state-of-the-art medical office in Missoula, Montana that aims to combat the inaccessibility and high cost of health care. It provides convenient, easy access to care, transparency and affordable pricing. CostCare began as a walk-in clinic, but has since expanded into family practice, with direct primary care, occupational medicine, and wellness. We talk about how they got started, the struggles and challenges that they have faced along the way, and their vision for transforming the way healthcare is practiced as we know it. Direct Primary Care Business Model in Healthcare In today’s healthcare situation, there’s no free market competition in medicine because insurance companies dictate prices. There’s a lot more money in people getting sick than people getting healthy. Find out why the doctors believe that the direct primary care business model is going to be the solution for primary care in the US. Their vision is to have a complete outpatient center under the Direct Primary Care model, where you have primary care, integrated behavioral health, physical therapy, a pharmacy, an endoscopy unit to have colonoscopies done, and extended urgent care. What they need to make that vision happen is to have an investor who wants to make a point, who’s interested in making a statement and proving that this can be done. Listen to the podcast and be inspired by how these courageous ladies fight everyday to make change to bring down the cost of healthcare. What are your main takeaways from this episode? I hope you’ll share on the She Thinks Big Facebook group page. Connect With CostCare: Website: CostCare.com JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomToday’s guest is Jodi Flynn of Women Taking the Lead podcast. We talk about about all things not good enough, which a lot of women are struggling with. “I’m not a good enough mom/wife/business owner.” “I’m not smart enough.” Overcoming "Not Good Enough" How do you overcome “I’m not good enough?”  You just have to be aware of it, see it for what it is. It’s your Inner Critic telling you you’re not good enough to do this or have this. You don’t need others’ permission to move forward. The only person you need permission from is yourself. You have to give yourself permission to just be good enough. Think of all the behaviors you display or the lack of actions you take because you don’t feel good enough to take them. What is this costing you in your life? What are all the things you’ve done or not done as a result of not feeling good enough? Call to Action and Main Takeaways Here’s our call to action for our listeners: Will you give yourself permission to believe that you are just good enough exactly as you are? One of my main takeaways was to continue to be a keen observer of all the different slippery and clever ways that believing not enough plays out in my clients' lives and businesses. Questions to Ask Yourself Here are questions to help yourself when you’re caught in the line of I’m not good enough thinking: What do I need to believe instead? Or what do I want to believe instead? What if I believe the opposite of what I’m currently believing? What would happen right now if I changed this line of thinking? If I fully 100% believed in myself what would be different? When you envision the person you want to be, the person that you’re becoming, imagine yourself getting really angered on who that person is, and ask her what does she believe about herself. If you’re really stuck doubting yourself: List out 10 ways that you are exactly enough. What in this moment will I choose to believe? I’m curious to know what your main takeaways were and what you got out of this episode. I hope you’ll share on the She Thinks Big Facebook group page.   Reminder: Lightning Strategy Sessions go up in price on May 1st. Lightning Strategy Sessions are great for solving 1 to 2 big problems that are in your way in your business. You can also clarify your priorities and create a plan that works for you. To know more, click on Strategy Session under the Work with Me tab on this website.   Connect With Jodi: Email: [email protected]  Website: Women Taking the Lead    Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom

JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomI have four clients who have similar businesses. Very similar women from the same town. Yet they’re in different places in their business. Why? Because of the thoughts, beliefs, perspectives and filters that they have. This is the power of the mind to shape what you create. In this episode I want to dive into how your thoughts create your life. Unintentional Thoughts, Feelings and Emotions Back in Episode 022, I talked about unintentional thoughts which inform unintentional feelings and emotions, out of which you make choices, which lead to your actions, which yield your results. And you compile your results over time and that’s how you create your life.    Change Your Thinking If you want to change your life and grow your business, you need to change your thoughts. If want to get to the next level, you’ve got to develop a new series of thoughts, a new perspective, and have new filters so that you can create the next level of what you want in your life. You have to change your thinking. Think Intentional Thoughts You have to examine your unintentional thoughts so that you don’t live your life by default. What I want for you is to be thinking intentional thoughts. You need to be thinking intentional thoughts to generate the feelings that you want to feel, to make the choices you want to make that are going to lead to the actions and results that you want to get. And if you’re not getting what you expect to get, then you go and create it for yourself. This is one of the things that I do with my clients. To help them imagine the business that they want to have, the life that they want to have. Head on over to my website if you’re ready to get the clarity that you’re looking for. What was your takeaway from this episode? Come share in the She Thinks Big private Facebook Group. It’s free, and it’s the best place to be if your big ideas need airtime and support to grow. Watch: Awareness Test Work with Geraldine Carter: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day JOIN PEAK FREEDOMFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want peace and calm without hiring, scaling, grinding, or reducing profithttps://geraldinecarter.com/peak-freedom