Behind The Hustle: Carissa Parish
Debits And Credits In The Wild
It’s true that the word bookkeeping/bookkeeper has a bit of a PR problem.
Not a single other financial function can occur unless there’s a good bookkeeper making sure the financials are accurate, yet there are still people out there who like to downplay what we do.
People who don’t appreciate bookkeepers.
People who don’t appreciate how important we are to the overall business landscape and economy.
But not BILL.
BILL recognizes that bookkeepers are the frontline partners keeping small and midsize businesses running.
BILL is elevating the bookkeeping profession by equipping and training those of us who embrace the role as bookkeeper.
BILL is shining a light on what we do and is recognizing our hard work during Bookkeeper Appreciation Week.
Be sure to check out all the activities they are doing for us.
And I have secret intel that they will also be providing faux fur blankets as swag. 🐇
Register now! It will be here before you know it!
💰 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!)?
💰 Bookkeeping Fast Track program from Akadian is $1,200 off.
Please always send me any news of deals that you hear of that others might benefit from.
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 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 23 plus 8 more weeks: The next Bookkeeping Business Accelerator by Serena Shoup* cohort will have a little twist on. Serena is bringing in a co-leader, the illustrious Erin Pohan, who hosts the WAVE conference in Seattle. That should be a fun pairing! With this program you get lifetime access. Doors to purchase this program close soon.
📅 March 24 - Building a Marketing Strategy Around Your Niche by MediaBooks. Join the Marketing Academy Open House to learn how to build a marketing strategy and focus your efforts where they matter most.
📅+March 25: Behind The Hustle: Kayla Maldonado.
📅 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.
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🌶️ Racquelle R. was looking for advice to shift from Zoom meetings with clients to Loom video recordings to save time. 51 comments so far. Our group is not short on opinions!
🌶️ Carina M. is asking the question ALL parents ask - how to do it all? She has 2 under 2. Lots of you poured your heart into your answers to her.
🌶️ Did you take the poll about organized you are? How do you stack up?
💪 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.
💪 The Get Organized Challenge* starts in just 2 days! This is one of those topics that could cause some bookkeepers to put their head in the sand like an ostrich. But just because an ostrich tries to hide from their problems, the ostrich still has its giant fluffy ostrich butt sticking in the air. Just like a bookkeeper still has all their disorganized digital files and stacks of paper and post-it notes causing them stress and overwhelm. If you are ready to quit hiding from your problems and face them straight on, join this free challenge. It is always best to be organized from the beginning, but the next best time to start is now.
💪 The Debits And Credits In The Wild: Advanced Bookkeeping Scenarios replay is required listening.
If you listen to this and you know all the answers before we say them out loud, then you will get an incredible confidence boost. You know your stuff!
If you listen to this and you realize you don’t have a good grasp, then that will be good information too. It doesn’t mean that you can’t build this business, but it means that you will need to keep studying and working hard to learn the fundamentals. And we do not leave you without a ton of support to make sure you get all the training that you need. This URL contains the roundup of all these resources to help you.
💪 Carissa Parish was incredibly transparent with her revenue figures in the latest Behind The Hustle.
She shared how she had a formal written plan of how much money she would need to be able to exit her corporate job.
And she shared how much her MRR is now. 👀
💼 SIX jobs were added to the Job Guide! If you live in Massachusetts - be sure to check it out!
Don’t forget the standing opps on my Find A Freelance Job article. 1099 and W-2 opps.
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🎪 We recently did something in our family that I wish we had done a lot sooner for our children.
I’ve started putting reading material on the little corner pedestal shelf in the bathroom my kids use.
If you make your bathroom a no-screen zone and deliberately populate it with reading material that you want your children to read, you have a captive audience that might just learn some of the things you want them to learn.
But they don’t even really know they are learning. They are just bored sitting there on the pot.
This strategy is a lot more chill than the “my overbearing mother is making me learn more boring stuff I don’t want to learn uh-gain!” kind of high-touch mothering that my poor children are used to.
Here is what we currently have curated for them:
The Complete Human Body: The Definitive Visual Guide*.
This book weighs a TON, so don’t get it for the super tiny humans. But it has led to so many interesting conversations “Mom/Dad…did you know blah blah blah about our bodies?”
Adventures in Odyssey (we paid for the audio club membership for a year and there was a bonus monthly magazine that comes with it)
(Note: the 3 magazines were a Christmas present for each of them this past year)
I am thinking I will put some SAT prep problems in there soon for my oldest.
I wish we would have been much more thoughtful about this years ago! My kids don’t have screens, but I think about all that 💩 time I could have been giving them something interesting to read.
🎢 Military folks (active, veteran, retired, and spouses), listen up! I took 3 days off from work to attend a business conference called Veteran EDGE. The ticket was $400 and the hotel room and breakfast, lunch, and dinner were covered. What a deal! I didn’t even have to pay very much for travel because I was able to drive from Fort Worth to Dallas, but even those who had to fly in got a pretty great deal. You need to follow the Institute for Veterans and Military Families to learn about all of their MANY programs for entrepreneurs at all stages of business.
🎢 Recent billing info for my firm:
I landed another FreshBooks cleanup. 12 months for $3,250.
I landed a monthly client at $715/mo. Monthly bookkeeping plus quarterly check-in meetings. I only want 2 more new MRR clients for 2026.
My Ignition dashboard says I’ve billed $35k in 2026.
⚡If you think you might be inclined toward adding tax prep as a service line, make sure you watch this stream: Should a bookkeeper become an Enrolled Agent? God bless all the hard working tax professionals! One more month of busy season, y’all!
Keep hustling!
Kate
-Chief Hustler-
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I am down right rabid about transparency and full disclosure. If a link, including Amazon Links, has a * beside it, it means it is either an affiliate link where I might receive compensation if you make a purchase, at no additional charge to you. Or it could be a tracking link that another business provided me to see how many readers click on that link.
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