82 ⎸ Elevate Alumni Panel

For this episode, I decided to play another panel interview I held with some students from our Elevate Summer Sprint last year. They share what this course truly has to offer!

In this episode you’ll hear:

• some of the roadblocks students struggled with before Elevate
• what Elevate entails & how it works
• how Elevate can help you finally get compensated for the services you’re providing

Resources mentioned:

• The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Profitable Bookkeeping Business
• Elevate

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Podcast Publishing Tools we use:

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• Descript (affiliate link)
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Transcript

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[00:00:29] Serena: Welcome to our Elevate. Alumni panel for the first time ever. These lovely ladies who have joined us to share their experiences in the last Elevate Summer Sprint. Thank you. Thank you for joining and being willing to share your stories. 

So what I'm gonna do is kind of. It'll be kind of like a very casual conversation as most things are with me, . But what I'll do is I'll have some some questions that I'll kind of ask the room as a whole, and then whoever wants to pipe up and answer the question, you can, you so my first question is for anyone who wants to answer or maybe a couple of you guys can answer before you participated and elevate, what was the biggest problem or the issue or the block that you were looking to solve inside of your business or with your own skillset?

[00:01:27] Becky: I was gonna say Kelsey, one of us . I'll guess I'll go first. So basically, I've been a bookkeeper for 25 years and know how to do the stuff, but not the confidence in order to do sort of the analysis per se. Even though I was doing it and in the class, I learned that I'm doing a lot more than. I thought that I was doing but basically I took the class because I needed some help with being able to do and analyze statements and cash flows a lot better than what I was doing before, and able to be able to offer additional services to 

clients.

[00:02:09] Serena: Yeah. Anyone else have something similar to share or something different even? 

[00:02:15] Kelsey: And really like to piggy off back of what Becky said, like for me, I really came in cuz I just felt like I was, I was capped. Like I can only provide so much bookkeeping to my clients and this really like, I knew I needed to take that next step, and it was just like the perfect opportunity came about for me to give my, gimme the confidence. Like a lot of the things that we do is considered kind of advisory. You know, and you kind of learn that as you go through, but it's just, it gives you the confidence to be able to recoup money for it. And that's kind of like something that I can definitely take is like I was able to see like, okay, this is definitely advisory and I'm providing that, and if you want that, I'm going to like increase my monthly fee.

[00:03:03] Serena: So. Did any of you have any apprehensions about your abilities to learn the skills inside Elevate? If you, if that's what you came for, but like, I know a lot of you, once you were in, you're like, oh yeah, I am already doing this, and I do know, for the most part how to do some of these things, but it's more like putting a structure to it and being able to kind of communicate that value to the client. But did any of you have apprehensions about being able to move forward with those skills after Elevate?

No , so what I'm hearing is , 

[00:03:43] Becky: no, actually after Elevate, I put them into place pretty much immediately with a few clients that were looking for cash flow projections and budgeting that I sort of was holding off until I finished the whole course to make sure that I was appropriately, like, not that you teach pricing per se, but appropriately understanding what I was doing for them so I could bring up the pricing and, and do what they were requesting to do. So after Elevate, no, previously before I took Elevate, yes. I would not have done and put into place what I put into place 

[00:04:20] Serena: previously. Would you have just kind of struggled through it and done it for free because you didn't know how to have the value conversation or what would've been the--? 

[00:04:32] Becky: I wasn't just doing that. I was actually doing that , so I was actually doing it for free and not charging, and so it was, Elevate kind of pushed me to understand the value in which I'm bringing to the table when I am doing all the additional reporting and helping, you know, people with their cash flow statements, cash flow projections, and budgeting. So I was doing it for free prior to this, but it also gave me the ability to be confident in what I was actually bringing to the table

[00:05:03] Serena: yeah, I think that was a big one for a lot of people. Anyone else resonate with that? ? 

[00:05:09] Kelsey: Yeah, definitely confidence that like, I was doing it before, but I definitely, I wasn't charging for it, just like Becky said, like it's just kind of, it came about from a client, so we just took care of it for the client and I mean, deep down I knew that it was outside of like the bookkeeping, but at the same point too, it was like your client asked something.

They kind of toyed it into the bookkeeping conversation, so we just kind of went with it. I mean, since Elevate, I have three clients that I actually do budgets for, that was included in their like monthly fee. And two of those clients I've actually booked budgets for now. So I'm getting paid to do their budget on top of doing their bookkeeping.

[00:05:53] Serena: Yeah. So how did you have that conversation with your existing clients? Were you doing any of that for them already and then after Elevate you were like, let's roll you into a structured engagement for this, or how did you handle that? 

[00:06:08] Kelsey: So actually I had posted it on my Instagram just kind of. Hey, CFO day, you know, I was gonna do two kind of at a discounted rate because I want to get the feel for it before I really start to add that value. So one of my clients actually jumped on it before I even could bring it to them. They're like, I want that. I was like, perfect! So I like, I didn't have to sell them on it. Yeah. And the other one, it's just, it was that time of year, we literally had talked about our 2023 budget at our August close.

Meetings. So, and I just kind of brought it to them. I told them that in 2023, like, this is what the budget is going to look like. I've structured it out in such a way, and they were like, okay, sounds good. 

[00:06:54] Serena: Sign us up. 

[00:06:56] Kelsey: Yeah. 

[00:06:58] Serena: That's awesome. 

Okay. I'm gonna move on to another question then. So was there any one reason for someone that you decided that Elevate was the right choice to learn this versus other programs that are out there? Because there are definitely other programs, but obviously you joined Elevate versus another program, or maybe you've been in another program and then decided to also join Elevate. What was the one deciding factor, or maybe there was multiple, but the main one of why you chose Elevate versus another program? 

[00:07:35] Kelsey: You. But like seriously though, because I, I took BBA with you and just the way that you taught us, I knew that it would be the same type of teaching aspect and like teaching and growing through this program. And then, I mean the other portion that really sold it for me was the coaching with Meriah. Like cuz I knew, I knew like deep down I needed both sides of it. So it was just kind of like a two for for me. . 

Yeah. Awesome.

Yeah, 

[00:08:12] Becky: I sort of felt the same way. Serena, like, obviously I work with you elsewhere. I have taken another class in regards to being able to analyze people's financials better. And I felt like the way in which you taught this taught me more than the class plus previous business coach put together. And it was just very easy to understand and easy to implement across clients instead of, you know, struggling even prior to that, to implement something like this.

So I feel like the depth in which you teach gives people a very easily understandable perspective on how to do things instead of it being like, It's kind of like when your clients come to you and ask you a question cuz their CPA said, some accountant speak that nobody understands and you're like, oh, I've got this, I can translate.

That's kind of what you did for me in doing this. It wasn't, you know, things that I couldn't understand from other classes. It was just very easy to understand. 

[00:09:20] Serena: Awesome. Do you have a specific example? Cause I think I remember having a conversation with you about one of, one of the things that I explained and you're like, there it is! I can't remember what it was though. 

[00:09:34] Becky: I can't remember what it was either. I think it was something based on the cash flow statement versus 

[00:09:39] Serena: Probably. 

[00:09:41] Becky: Flow projections. I don't remember what it was, but yes, I had like that aha moment. I do remember that. I actually think I could probably go back to my Voxer and figure-- but it was, it was like a moment of, oh, you put that into very easy perspective. I'd been missing that whole piece all this time, and if somebody had just said that to me, I would've been like, oh, I get this. 

[00:10:01] Serena: Yeah. Oh, I remember what it was. It might not have been part of Elevate, but it was about the trial balance. 

[00:10:08] Becky: Oh, yes, it was. It was about the trial balance. You're absolutely right. Yes, yes. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like one of those moments where you said something and it's, it's kind of like that in the whole Elevate class though. You just made it very easily, easily to understand every step of the way. And you did it in such a way that it follow. Sort of what you're supposed to be, I guess, supposed to be doing or how the flow is kind of gonna go.

And that just makes things a lot easier. 

[00:10:34] Serena: Yeah. I was just discussing with my partner the other night that like, I'm preparing a talk for a business owner's retreat and I get so concerned about being able to simplify things enough so that anyone can understand, but I don't want anyone to feel stupid by oversimplifying, if that makes sense? So I put a lot of thought and effort into simplifying what I teach so that anyone literally could understand. But it also. helps you understand it in a way that your clients might understand it as well. it Helps you explain things better when you, try to simplify things too. So it's not like, I wouldn't call it dumbing it down, I would say like distilling the information to the key things that matter and putting it in a structure so that it's easy to follow. Like there's a difference between dumbing things down and just simplifying, so it's easy to understand for anyone. 

 So let's get like tactical and what, what is the word that I want to use, I guess yeah, kind of tactical, but what was the actual experience like going through Elevate? Like the day to day what was required of you? how often did you need to show up and then how long did it take you to walk away and implement, or were you able to do everything in the program on the calls that we had, basically, is my question. ? 

[00:12:00] Kelsey: So the calls once a week, even though that they were two. Like, I felt like it was the right amount of time without being too much time. And then at the same point, not being taken multiple days. Like it was super easy for me to throw that in my schedule, know that for these two hours, for four weeks. And I think that's the other piece that's the biggest is so many times you take these classes and it's like eight weeks or 12 weeks and they go on, I feel like forever. And it's just, it gets tough. Like at some point client work wins and you're like, I can't make this call. You know, I think that the time with it was perfect. And there really wasn't a whole lot of homework, so to say, that we needed to do before or after the calls. A lot of times, you know, like there was, and I might be even getting the coaching portion mixed up, but like there was times where we had like 10 or 15 minutes to go through the issues that we were talking about and we could handle it right then and there on a call.

[00:12:55] Serena: Yeah. 

[00:12:55] Kelsey: Versus having to take the stuff. Like absorb it and then circle back to it. . 

[00:13:01] Serena: Yeah. that was one of my intentions for the format of the call is to be able to have you guys like literally have your clients file up and walking through things as I was kind of doing the demo so that you could ask like real life questions of what's happening in your client's books. As I'm like kind of giving examples, you guys can be like, oh, this right now is going on. When I look at my clients like trends like. Can we talk about this or like, what questions would you ask the client in this scenario? 

Because I think that's the missing piece for a lot of people is unfortunately when you do a like one to many class, And it's not a small group. You cannot answer everybody's questions and you like, it's just really hard, especially if it's in a self-paced environment. So that was one of the intentions with making it a live class. I teach for a little bit as I'm teaching, you guys can kind of like, let me apply this to my current clients or whatever client that I chose to kind of like go through this program with.

And then, Providing time during that call so that you wouldn't really have homework so that you could, it was like when you're in school and you're like, oh, I love it when the teacher's like, I'm just gonna lecture for five minutes and then we're gonna work on the thing that I just taught. Cause I don't want homework. It's kind of the same idea there and I'm glad to hear that that worked out. 

But we also had the Voxer Group chat channel in between calls so that if someone couldn't make it to the live call, they could still get the same support. Or maybe you walked away from the call and didn't have any questions, but then as you were meeting with a client later that week, questions from the client came up. So you could literally just ask me in a voice text or in a an actual text, basically in the Voxer channel. Like, this is the scenario with the client, like, what should I do next? I think that that was the other like added value and having access to something like that, would you say that that enhanced the experience and made you feel like you had more time to soak things up and implement instead of just being like, hi and dry? Like, okay, go figure it out.

[00:15:17] Becky: Yeah, so I really appreciated, I don't know if Kelsey felt the same. I think you were very active in that group too. I feel like there were a couple people that weren't very active in the group, but for me, the Voxer chat was great because I got to hear other things that were other people were going through with their clients that were much more in depth than what my clients are looking for or some of my clients are looking for, that taught me other things that I would've never known. Without having that Voxer chat. 

I also super appreciated that it was a small class, because like you said, if you have 20, 30, 40 people in a class, you just don't get the questions answered. And that's kind of what I went through with the previous class is that it just kind of like. You read, you have to do a bunch of homework, which again, I'm with Kelsey. I have a very busy practice. Homework is nonexistent. If I have homework, forget it. I'm not gonna do the class kind of thing. So I appreciated the smallness of the class, and I think the Voxer chat was definitely an added piece for me specifically because I got to hear what everybody else was doing and your in depth answers. And when I say in depth, I don't mean like a two second answer where that you're like, just do this. Serena takes the time to stop and explain and ask additional questions that you probably wouldn't have gotten from somebody else to kind of actually give you the answer that you need instead of just some blanket answer that hypothetically it doesn't go across all the clients. 

[00:16:52] Serena: Yeah. Cause that's, that's kind of the thing with this type of work, There isn't a prescription for every business because every business has a different, a slightly different model, they have a different owner with a different personality. You have a different personality, so it kind of, I do tend to ask more questions than answers I give, but it's in an attempt to help you draw out the answer you probably already know of which way you're kind of leaning and it's helpful to have-- well, like if I do give you an answer, I'm gonna explain my thought process and why I'm thinking this way, because of the experience that I have, but you might have a different thought process or be able to tweak what I've given you and apply it to different clients across your client base as well.

So what would you. what would you say, anyone here can answer this as well, but what would you say to anyone who's thinking about joining Elevate for our fall sprint, which kicks off this coming Thursday? Before we know it, we'll be in another cohort, but if someone's on the fence about it, like what would, what would you say to them?

[00:18:01] Kelsey: Like if you're there in your bookkeeping business and you feel like you're strapped and you feel like you can't put the things in motion to really like take that next step. Elevate and Serena are the thing that will take you to that next level. It's just, it was a no brainer. It was hands down one of the best investments I've made of the summer. And I'm just really excited that it's been able to like, set me up for Q4 to kind of put some things into place for 2023.

[00:18:32] Serena: Yeah. And this time of year is usually when business owners start thinking about creating a budget in the forecast, and they're gonna need a guide. So the question is, are you gonna be that guide or are you gonna let them hire a $10,000 coach to, to kind of guide them . Because that's the reality of a lot of these business owners. They, they will, they will hire a business coach who doesn't have insight into their actual numbers and doesn't have the same kind of insights that we have to the way that they're running their business and their business model. So have some tools in your toolbox that Elevate will definitely help you extract and use with your clients. Yeah. Anything else to add?

[00:19:19] Becky: No, but I, I'd like to agree with Kelsey. Honestly. I know that we're all about Serena, but it's not, it's not because we're all about Serena. It's because, honestly, I agree. Working with Serena has really changed my approach to my client base and to help me kind of level up to that next level. So my clients aren't necessarily going to look for that $10,000 coach that knows nothing about their numbers in their business, and an easy way to implement all of the tools that she taught us. So I would say I agree with the investment piece of this, Kelsey, for sure. A hundred percent. 

[00:19:57] Serena: Awesome. Thank you. You guys are amazing. It's so awesome to watch you on social media selling your CFO day and just like being that resource for your clients and future clients and-- 

Kelsey are, have you had non clients book your CFO day or has, has it just been current clients that you've worked with so, 

[00:20:21] Kelsey: No. So my plan right now is to kick off the CFO day at the end of this month, or even the beginning of February. But I have the two CFO days. One is a client and one is a non client. The non-client and I are in a leadership academy together locally. So I think that's how he may have like, seen me and seen like my name and stuff, but I thought it was neat that it kind of was outside of my current client base too.

[00:20:47] Serena: Yeah, and that's the thing about that is it can be kind of nerve-wracking to offer that to people that aren't necessarily your clients, but you can absolutely provide this service to someone who is not your client. And to an extent, al It can almost be easier because it's like, it's a one time project, it's like one and done. And you don't have to really worry about the numbers that they give you being exactly accurate because when it's our bookkeeping, we're gonna find all the issues before we can like actually move forward. But when it's like, if you're not responsible for the bookkeeping, you've kind of just explained to them like, whatever numbers you give me is what we're working with. So I hope they're it, you know, I hope you're caught up and I hope they're accurate. Because garbage and garbage out type of thing. But it almost simplifies it because you don't have to worry about that piece and you don't get like, sucked into the details. But let me know how that goes. And also if he becomes a client, ongoing

[00:21:45] Kelsey: I do know that he has an office manager. He's a pretty good size company, so like he has got a full-time office manager. But yeah, I'm super excited to kind of wiggle my way in there with this. And hopefully, you know, even if it's more of like a oversight than the actual handling of the books, like I don't, I don't know. So we'll see. I'm excited. 

[00:22:06] Serena: Yeah, keep us posted on how it shakes out and Yeah, with the CFO day too, it's like there's opportunities to like, yes, it's a one time project, one and done, but there's absolutely opportunities to be like, well do you wanna check in every quarter and we can compare to your actuals to see how you're tracking? And offering like continued advisory in that capacity.

So, Awesome. Well, thank you all so much for watching this. I appreciate everyone showing up live and everyone that was a part of the Elevate Sprint last time. Thank you so much for being the founding cohort and validating my process. I mean, it's a process that I use, so I know it works, but it's really nice to see that it makes sense to other people and you're able to take it and implement it easily and effectively with your own clients. So that's always fun to see out in the world in the wild. 

So, Alrighty, thanks again for joining me and thank you ladies for sharing your experiences and I will see you on the Instagrams. Great. Bye.