TL;DR
Behind The Hustle: Amanda Timcoe
Tough message coming at you. But I won’t leave you without support.
Read on.
So many of the people who are great at bookkeeping might not feel especially skilled at the client-interaction part of this industry.
And the truth is, those kinds of bookkeepers are going to be on the chopping block because of AI. It is just the truth. We have got to be able to communicate all the nerdy, math-y, financial analysis stuff that we are so good at.
If you are an excellent technical bookkeeper but are still struggling to make a good living, working on some of the soft skills is probably where you should focus your time.
Because it is the soft skills that will set you apart. The soft skills that will allow you to get ahead and stay ahead of AI and of your peers.
I won’t ever sugar coat things. But when I have a tough message, I promise you I’ll always try to offer you a resource that can support you.
That is why I was totally on board when my friend Mariette Martinez reached out to give me details about this really cool opportunity called The LaunchPad. I was sitting in carline waiting for school to let out when she texted and asked if I had a moment to talk on the phone. I’m so glad she caught me at that perfect time!
This program is a part of a very large non-profit that does a lot of things, but one of the things it does applies to you, reader.
The gist of The LaunchPad program is that it pairs bookkeepers with SMBs who need a financial mentor. These business owners are required to go through a lot of financial literacy education before they get paired with their 1-on-1 bookkeeping mentor. So that means they have weeded out the folks who are not serious (a.k.a. clowns)
And y’all, this is a PAID mentoring gig, y’all.
As their graphic below states: Mentor, Empower, Get Paid, Repeat.
To be clear, you are NOT doing their bookkeeping. You are guiding and coaching (a.k.a. those softskills that are going to help you get ahead).
Mariette’s role in all of this is to “mentor the Mentors”. She shared so many of the relevant details in the live stream we did about it. So you can watch this 30 minute discussion if you are not convinced yet and want to make sure you know what you are getting into.
Or if you are already interested in applying for the program, go straight to The LaunchPad landing page for accounting pros and get started serving business owners who need your expertise. And earning $1,000 for a 4-month mentoring relationship, where you might just benefit as much as your Mentee.
Deals Deals Deals
💰 GrowCon has provided a discount for our community. This conference is exclusively for owners of bookkeeping, tax, and accounting companies. Use code KATE200 for $200 off*. Will I see you in Utah (yep, I’m going!)?
💰 If you are looking for a feature-rich bank for your own business, you can start your account at the bank that I use, Relay Financial*. Funding with $50 gets you a $50 signing bonus. But the really fun part is that Relay’s referral program will allow YOU to start to recommend Relay to your clients and get sign-on rewards plus monthly revenue share based on their balances and spend.
💰 Veronica Wasek’s updated Complete QBO Cleanup course* evergreen discount code is BSH15OFF. Cleanups are a great way to take big steps toward revenue growth for your business. Hopefully those clients also turn into monthly recurring clients for you, too.
Please always send me any news of deals that you hear of that others might benefit from.
Be There or Be Square
Items with a “+” are hosted by me. All these events can be viewed and registered for in the DESCRIPTIONS of each event on the Bookkeeping Side Hustle Calendar.
📅 +March 4: Debits And Credits In The Wild: Advanced Bookkeeping Scenarios. Margie Remmers-Davis from Akadian will dive deep into Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, and Clearing Accounts, briefly touch on Journal Entries. And provide a handout with cheatsheets for Prepaid Expenses, Depreciation, External Payroll Providers, and Loans. Watch part one HERE.
📅 March 9-11: Bookkeeping Biz Workshops* hosted by The Ambitious Bookkeeper. The Bookkeeping Biz Workshops is a 3-day virtual, live workshop series that is guaranteed to get your bookkeeping biz started on the right path--without the overwhelm or confusion on where to start.
📅 +March 11: Behind The Hustle: Carissa Parish. Don’t miss the next installment of the Behind The Hustle series. Subscribe to the YouTube channel to watch.
📅 March 16-20: Get Organized Challenge*. Many bookkeepers struggle with feeling overwhelmed, disorganized, and stretched too thin. The Get Organized Challenge with Justine Lackey is a free 5-day event designed to help bookkeepers and accountants implement systems that improve client management, increase efficiency, and reduce stress. Secure your free spot here*:
📅 March 30 - April 3: Bookkeeper Appreciation Week. BILL is celebrating the work bookkeepers do every day, while sharing practical ideas for building healthier, more sustainable practices. Each day, you’ll receive curated content you can explore at your own pace. Sign up TODAY!
📅 May 4-6: GrowCon in Utah. THE Conference EXCLUSIVELY for OWNERS of Bookkeeping, Tax & Accounting Companies. Use code KATE200 for $200 off.
Subscribe to the YouTube Channel
Featured Posts
🌶️ Emily W. asked what software is the best to use with/manage remote employees/contractors.
🌶️ Delma K. is looking for advice on managing your inbox; what do you do? Are you an inbox 0 person or do you have 1000s?
Help You Hustle
💪 I hope you all got a chance to watch Debits & Credits Made Simple. Even very experienced accounting pros or people who have recently taken a formal accounting class praise Margie Remmers-Davis for how clearly she explains the accounting fundamentals.
You might notice the sound of a loud crash about half way through this stream. Pardon me. That was just the sound of my jaw hitting the floor when she clicked a button that opened the QuickBooks online sample company Craig’s landscape on one side of the screen and the step-by-step instructions from her practice problem on the right side of the screen. 🤯 I’ve never seen such impressive modern teaching methods! When she says Akadian* is all about hands-on practice, she means it!
We are back next week for Advanced Debits & Credits Scenarios In The Wild. So make sure you are subscribed to the YT channel so you don’t miss it.
Margie will dive deep into Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, and Clearing Accounts--especially how they impact the balance sheet and how to catch mistakes.
💪 Don’t miss Amanda Timcoe on the latest Behind The Hustle.
She came to this industry with no background in accounting. That might encourage some of you. But be sure to listen to how hard she had to work.
She went a little deeper into her tech stack than some of our other guests, including mentioning a couple of pieces of tech that no other guest has mentioned yet. I really like that, because sometimes I feel like we can all be in an echo chamber and are just copying each other because we are naval gazing at our own industry.
💪 Applications are open for the 2026 scholarships from the Accounting Cornerstone Foundation. This organization exists to send accounting professionals like you to the very first accounting conference. It's all expenses paid.
Jobs
💼 A new job was added to the Job Guide! Be sure to use #jobopp when posting your job opportunities.
Don’t forget the standing opps on my Find A Freelance Job article. 1099 and W-2 opps.
My Family Circus (44F, 40M, 14M, 12F, 11M)
🎪 Community building around books
We had fourteen parents of 6th graders in my house last night. The whole purpose was to discuss a novel that our 6th graders had read in literature class this year.
Here is how you can copy what I did (and plan to do for all 3 of my kids, ever year until they graduate high school):
Look at the reading list for your child’s literature class. Select a book that you are interested in. Do not select the longest book.
Select a day about 2 months into the future where you can host a gathering.
Find a free online platform for people to RSVP. I used something called SignUp Genius, but that is only because it is the platform our school uses to share volunteer opportunities, so I knew people would be familiar with it. I’m sure there are tons of other free options. You just need a way for people to tell you they are coming and get their email address to communicate with them to remind them to come when the date gets close.
Share the link to the sign up as widely as possible. Our school has grade level group chats, a few official and unofficial Facebook groups. I also shared it directly via text message to some people that I personally knew. And I shared it with my daughters little 6th grade rec volleyball team (which is all girls from our school).
Send a reminder about a week before and a day before.
Prepare your house to host. We cleaned the kitchen counters, swept, and cleaned the bathroom.
Write up a few questions as you read the book to get the crowd warmed up and talking.
Take a photo to share with your school administration. It would be an encouragement to them to know parents were doing something like this.
Schedule a coffee date with your child to discuss the book 1-on-1 with him/her because you now have that book in common!
Voila! Real humans talking about books is good for the soul and for society!
A few other details of how I decided to pull this off.
Our event started at 7:00 p.m. I made it that late because I wanted to make sure no one would expect dinner. A couple days before the event, I walked through Trader Joe’s and just grabbed a few of my favorite sweet and savory snacks. And I had some drinks available.
I communicated that this was an adults-only event. I didn’t want a gagillion kids at my house. Total vibe-changer.
On a whim, I invited the 6th grade teacher. And she came! I made sure to emphasize that there was no pressure for her to attend. But it was so awesome having her there! She seemed to have a genuinely good time.
For the curious, here are the books I picked for this year:
Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis (5th grade)
Shane, by Jack Schaefer (6th grade)
The Chosen, by Chaim Potok (8th grade)
Kate Builds In Public
🎢 Not a lot interesting to report about my business in the last 2 weeks. My mental energy is mostly focused on supporting and onboarding my new part-time Digital Operations Assistant. I did land 1 clean up at $2,500, 2 new FreshBooks Office Hour members, and still have a fairly normal amount of hourly trainings for FreshBooks users.
I can feel myself getting a bit annoyed at the hourly training service I offer. As an example, I saw someone on my calendar last week and just didn’t even want to spend anytime trying to help him. He has called several times a year for 2 years, and I just know he is beyond help. He is cheerful, and the banter is fine. But as far as all of his bookkeeping goes, he is an absolute train wreck. And he just appears to be fine with it. I did not even want his $160 to zoom with him for an hour. I used ChatGPT to help me craft a delicate email letting him know that I was not able to help him and needed to cancel his meeting.
🎢 I told you here about accepting a job to be the assistant coach for our school's very first Middle School softball team. We had our first scrimmage last week and looked more like a team than I thought we would! I am happy as I can be any time I am doing something for this coaching job. And the wheels seem to be mostly staying on for my business and my family as I am distracted by all things softball.
From The Vault
⚡As we enter tax season, it is a good time to share a replay of a video I made called “Should You Tithe on Your Tax Refund”. Feel free to disagree in the comments below.
Related: “How I Tithe as a Business Owner”. But this has completely changed as of 2026 because we are now utilizing at Donor Advised Fund tax saving strategy for all our charitable giving. I’m so excited for this leveling-up of our charitable giving.
Letters To The Editor
✉️ Who else is taking action after watching a Behind The Hustle interview? Check out this comment on Amanda Timcoe’s interview:
And now I have a Post-it on my computer screen that says "Master the Pivot!" Great episode! - Stephanie M.
Thanks for the encouragement, Kristi R.! It keeps me going!
Your newsletter is full of great info, as always. Thank you!!
Classifieds (Clickable)
Keep hustling!
Kate
-Chief Hustler-
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