My Story Archives - Number Nerd Bookkeeping Solutions

A few months ago, I told you about why I got into bookkeeping. It was kind of an accidental journey, one that turned out for the best. And one that allowed me to turn to business ownership not too long ago.

In July 2015, I joined the Stacy K Academy because I wanted to master my craft—not because I aspired to start my own business. I was already working with a few clients on a contract basis, but hadn’t really thought about growing that.

Biz ownership was an accidental journey, but one I fully embrace. Click To Tweet

The program was delivered live but I had to watch recordings of the live instruction because I was working full time. It was a huge time commitment to take a class of this magnitude, but I was determined to make the most of my investment.

What I found was that Stacy goes way beyond sharing her systems and processes; she teaches you how to actually set up and run a business. From contracts to pricing structures, she gives it all to you. And these elements are some of the things that I found most beneficial in the program.

I started implementing what I was learning right away, both with my own clients and in my job. I had already been talking to Stacy and following her, taking most of the free information she offered and putting it to work.

I spent my lunch hours at my day job putting Stacy’s ideas into action, setting up processes and putting together systems. By the end of 2015, I knew I wanted to run my own business full time.

My contract work quickly grew from 3 to 10 clients over the last few months of 2015. Then in 2016, the opportunity presented itself to go all-in in my business. So I took that opportunity and ran with it.

Over the last 14 months or so, business continues to grow and I continue to hone my craft so I can be the best resource possible for my clients. I’ve tested out project management and accounting programs like 17 Hats, Teamwork and Harvest and have put all of these to work in my own business.

Make no mistake: starting my own business was a challenge. It’s been a lot of long hours, frustration, changing direction and time in front of the computer. But what I’ve learned has helped me grow as a person and a business owner and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

For most of the clients I work with, bookkeeping is their least favorite part of owning a business. Which is why they hired me, right? I’m the nerd who likes diving into numbers and crunching the final costs of keeping the doors open every day. I love spreadsheets and keeping the books running smoothly, day in and day out, so business owners can focus on doing what they love.

But my love for bookkeeping grew out of boredom, not necessarily a love of numbers.

Back in my late teens, I worked as a receptionist for a mechanical contractor in the suburbs of Chicago. I quickly became the jack of all trades in the office, handling dispatch and managing the office. But even with the extra duties, I was still bored at work. I’d finish what I was doing early and hunt for things to keep me busy until 5 p.m.

One day, I asked my boss for more work. He assigned me a mother of all jobs—to analyze all the jobs and projects in the company and ensure every job category was making a 35 percent profit. With our workers doing jobs that billed anywhere from $600 to several million dollars, this was a big undertaking.

I won’t bore you with the formulas I used to calculate each project’s costs, but I will tell you that I learned a lot about numbers and myself during that time. When I was done crunching numbers for each job, I had to sit with project managers who were often twice my age (and male) to talk about change orders because their projects were over-budget. I found mistakes that the managers were making and had to (gently) bring these up and get them fixed. This helped me to learn confidence in myself and in what I could do professionally.

Working with others helped me gain the confidence I needed to grow my business. Click To Tweet

From there, I started doing billing for the company, back in the early 90s when we were still doing all the numbers by hand. Meanwhile, I was still serving as dispatcher, social planner (handling the annual holiday party and team get-togethers) and diving into all aspects of the job head-on. I even went on a helicopter lift for a giant commercial A/C unit installation so I knew what our workers did in the field.

I knew early on in my number nerd days that numbers would forever be a part of my life. As I gained more experience and grew as a bookkeeper, I started taking on freelance clients who needed help keeping tabs on their books. This is where Number Nerd Bookkeeping Solutions grew, and a business was born.

With all the hats I wore, I also learned how much I love systems and organization. This has become a huge part of my business today—keeping the numbers in order so clients are more comfortable and educated about the decisions they’re making in their businesses. And teaching them systems so they can also manage some of the bookkeeping on their own.

What’s your story? Did you intentionally grow a business or did you fall into it accidentally like me?

My Story: My Dive Into Business Ownership

My Story: Why I Got Into Bookkeeping

But my love for bookkeeping grew out of boredom, not necessarily a love of numbers.