This is a very, very exciting & special episode because it is our 100th episode!🍾 You're in for a treat because we're pulling questions from our audience. And my team member, Tia - our bookkeeper & resident designer - is on to help read the Q’s.
In this episode you’ll hear:
If you’re interested in using OpenPhone please use my referral link!
Thanks for listening. If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram stories and tag me, @ambitiousbookkeeper
For more information about the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast or interest in our programs or mentoring visit our resources below:
Visit our website: ambitiousbookkeeper.com
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Connect on Instagram: instagram.com/ambitiousbookkeeper
Connect on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/SerenaShoup
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Thank you for your support of our show. If you haven’t left a review yet it’s super simple. Please go to: https://www.ambitiousbookkeeper.com/podcast and leave your review.
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Click here to get the free First 100 Leads Training with James Wedmore >>
Join the next free training at ambitiousbookkeeper.com/training
This is a very, very exciting & special episode because it is our 100th episode!🍾 You're in for a treat because we're pulling questions from our audience. And my team member, Tia - our bookkeeper & resident designer - is on to help read the Q’s.
In this episode you’ll hear:
If you’re interested in using OpenPhone please use my referral link!
Thanks for listening. If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram stories and tag me, @ambitiousbookkeeper
For more information about the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast or interest in our programs or mentoring visit our resources below:
Visit our website: ambitiousbookkeeper.com
Follow the Blog: ambitiousbookkeeper.com/blog
Connect on Instagram: instagram.com/ambitiousbookkeeper
Connect on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/SerenaShoup
Connect on Facebook: Facebook.com/serenashoupcpa
Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/serenashoupcpa
Thank you for your support of our show. If you haven’t left a review yet it’s super simple. Please go to: https://www.ambitiousbookkeeper.com/podcast and leave your review.
Podcast Publishing Tools we use:
Click here to get the free First 100 Leads Training with James Wedmore >>
Join the next free training at ambitiousbookkeeper.com/training
Welcome back to the ambitious bookkeeper podcast today is a very, very exciting and special episode because it is our hundredth episode. So if you've been listening for all of these hundred episodes, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. You are amazing for tuning in each week. And if you are new around here and you've been binging, thank you also. And if this is your very first episode, you're in for a treat because we're actually pulling questions from our audience. And I have, my team member Tia, who is our bookkeeper and our resident designer, my Tia of all trades on the podcast to help read the questions that have been submitted and help me make the hundredth episode super special for you all. So welcome Tia
Tia:thank you. I've been meaning to be on and finally got brave.
Serena:I know we've been talking about it for years and before we hit record you just reminded me that, or brought to my attention really, because I, I guess time flies, but we've been working together for about four years now.
Tia:I know it's wild and we're finally going to meet in person.
Serena:I know how exciting. And the, the story behind like hiring you, I'm just going to go on a little side tangent is like one of the things that a lot of people, other bookkeepers when I talk to them, they are so grateful for me kind of giving them the permission to do the same thing, which is hire a part time bookkeeper. When you have like very few clients, way fewer clients than you think you should have before you start hiring and getting help. And I can't tell you how many times I've talked to other bookkeepers and they've. Mentioned like, yeah, I remember listening to, you know, some episode or a webinar or something that I did, where I've talked about hiring you and bringing you on when I had like five clients and it was very, very low volume work at first. And we just kind of continued to grow together and ramp things up. And now here we are four years later. Yeah. Yeah.
Tia:that early on also gave both of us an opportunity to figure it out together because I've always been a numbers person, but I had never officially done any bookkeeping before I worked for you. And I did that certification class and learned all the jargon and what was actually happening behind the scenes in the software and stuff and, you know, gained an understanding of why we were doing what we were doing. But I had never actually done it before and so getting to create those systems and figure those things out together early on when it wasn't overwhelming and there wasn't so much work, like, too much work to be done, I think was also really helpful for creating those systems and also for having some systems in place when it was time to hire more than just me.
Serena:Yeah. Yeah. And you've, you've seen so many iterations of like the types of clients that we've worked with and. Pretty much. I mean, I'm super transparent with my business. And from the beginning, it's been like, all right, Tia, let's sit down and look at our client base and figure out like what's working with which clients, which ones you enjoy working with and which ones like, should we get more of and which ones should we have less of or totally cut out completely. And, um, I'm just so grateful that I've always been able to have those conversations with you and build this thing together.
Tia:Well, it's been really nice to feel included in it because it helps me feel bought into what we're doing together too. And not just that person there who does the things, not just a warm body, but like an actual member.
Serena:Yeah.
Tia:that's definitely helped me want to stick around for all these years.
Serena:so if you're listening and you want to know what keeps employees sticking around, hit rewind and re listen to that. There's a lot more obviously that goes into it, but it's a key component for sure.
Tia:Yeah, feeling heard and bought in and those. Feeling not just like a warm body, but that it matters that it's me that's here and not just a person
Serena:Yeah.
Tia:definitely helps me at least.
Serena:Yeah,
Tia:I assume other
Serena:us too. And it helps our clients as well. So it's good for everyone. All right. So we have a few questions that have been submitted, and some that we've pulled from the archives that we thought were., really good to share with people. And, so do you want to start, do you want to read the questions and I'll just give my answer and we're basically doing these kind of cold. Like I've looked at the questions, but I really haven't given much time to think about them. So hopefully I don't botch this completely.
Tia:Well, worst case, we'll just cut it out, right?
Serena:Yeah.
Tia:No one will ever know.
Serena:No one will ever know. All right. What's what's our first question?
Tia:Noah asks, says, I've been listening to your podcast and have found it super informative and helpful. I am a newly licensed CPA and super worried about starting a bookkeeping side hustle with my license. I was wondering if you could share with me what consideration or issues I should keep an eye out. As a CPA, I just want to stay in compliance. I appreciate any help or insight.
Serena:No. Uh, okay. So no, I reached out to me on, on LinkedIn and I, asked him if it was okay, if I shared this question on the episode, because it was very timely and I was like, well, actually I'm going to be answering a bunch of questions on our hundredth episode. And I would love to answer this one because this actually comes up a lot. And our next question is very similar, but a little bit different. And, so he was gracious enough to. agree to have his question aired. And, yeah, so to answer the question, I would start with I don't really have a background on whether or not he's working in a, a firm, or for like a big four or another CPA firm. I'm kind of assuming that he is based on this, but I'll tackle this question in both in both ways. If you're working for a CPA firm, the first thing I would do is. Refer back to your, employment agreement or your offer letter to see if there's anything mentioned about moonlighting or, working in direct competition, for anyone else or for yourself, there will usually be something in there about that if they're not okay with it. One of my first, well, it was my first accounting firm, my first and only accounting firm job. It was a very small local CPA firm in Tucson, Arizona. They had a clause like that in their offer letter. And for me, it wasn't an issue cause I was not planning on doing a side hustle at that point in my career. I was so new that, and I didn't have my CPA license. And so I, I was totally fine signing that and agreeing to not do any of that. Even if it's in the offer letter, I would suggest talking to your, direct superior or the owner or whoever you have, the relationship with of your employer to just let them know, like you've been wanting to start your, like, I always think that transparency is the best. Policy, I guess in this, if you feel comfortable talking to whoever you work for and, and talk about talking about your career aspirations and, and things like that, like if, if it truly is an open door and they are, really acting in a capacity of a mentor for you, they will understand and. And be available for that type of conversation. I'm not saying that's always how it is, but if it is definitely have the conversation with them. And if it's not, and it's not in your offer letter or anything like that, that you're not allowed to have a side hustle, then I wouldn't worry about it at all. The only thing I would say is don't try to. Poach clients from wherever you're working from. I would try to work with a totally different niche or industry or, level of client base. Like for example, For CPA firms, they're typically going to be working with larger businesses and certain industries. Whereas when you start a bookkeeping side hustle, you're more likely to be working with much smaller mom and pop businesses. And so there would never even be a question about overlap of clients or you stealing their clients or things like that. So, I would just consider those things as far as having. Your CPA license. Like I said, unless you're doing something during the day for your nine to five where you're, not supposed to be, moonlighting, there's no reason why you can't work a corporate job and also do a bookkeeping side hustle as a CPA. There's no rules against that.
Tia:I wonder, too, you have insurance that covers you. Right? So I'm wondering if that's 1 of the other things you would need to do to protect your licenses, make sure that you're like. It's errors and omissions. Is that right?
Serena:Yeah. Errors and emissions, the insurance type, professional liability, is another type of
Tia:Wasn't there like, a digital
Serena:and the cybersecurity insurance, the cyber policy. So, if you scroll way back into the podcast, On the episode where I interviewed Jacques walls, we went in depth on insurance business insurance. And yes, that is a very good point to you that, in addition to the question, definitely once you start. Working with clients get insurance. And since you're a CPA, there's going to be a, I would make sure you get a policy that is designed for CPAs. Even if you're not practicing audit or tax, I have CPA insurance, even though I don't provide audit tax or assurance services. So great question. Noah thank you. I feel like I'm on a radio show next caller, please.
Tia:When I told my friend I was recording a podcast episode, she told me to get my NPR voice out. I told her that my, the big microphone means that there is no voice that is an NPR voice for some reason. Sometimes even when it's not on, just if I see it there. Can't help it. All right, question 2, this person wanted to remain anonymous. And they say they've taken the leap and have been interviewing for a part time position with a big firm. That is sort of a franchise that outside outsources bookkeeping and accounting services. And their question is, would it be considered unethical to take this job and work part time while also building their own business on the side? They, they say they mentioned. During 1 of their interviews that they still have their own business and just 1 or 2 clients and the person they were interviewing didn't say anything about it. So, they're hoping it's okay so she says, I know you had a podcast. Talking about working under a bookkeeping firm to get your feet wet, but wasn't sure if it was okay to do that at the same time as building your business.
Serena:Yeah, I think I covered a lot of what I would consider in the previous questions. So as long as like, I love that you're already being transparent with it in the interview process. So there shouldn't be any question later on. the other thing that I would consider is do you. If you already have a job, it can be really, it can be really tempting to start a new job for a bigger pay bump as you're building your business for that extra cushion. But I would typically advise to just really take that into consideration because yes, you might get a big pay bump, but then you're also going to be trying to learn. The ropes of a new job, and it's going to take up a lot of your brain capacity that could have otherwise be spent on ramping up your business. If that is your true end goal. So sometimes you might have to evaluate like, yeah, maybe I'll get an extra 10 or 20 K a year if I take this other position, but I might be working more hours, I might have less flexibility than I currently have. And I'll end up with less brain space to be able to, ramp up my business and take on clients. So yeah, I wouldn't say it's unethical unless there is a, an ex and unless it's explicitly said that you're not supposed to moonlight or they're not okay with you having your own business. But the fact that you're already being really transparent about it is a good thing and hopefully they they take that into consideration and if they're okay with it, they'll hire you. So, another great question. And thank you for, for sending that one in anonymous, anonymous accountant.
Tia:Question three. I have two clients who signed contracts. They haven't provided me much this month to do, and I typically bill the first of the month for the previous month. I feel bad for billing them when I haven't done much, but I'm wondering if I do bill if they will provide faster. My question, do I still send them an invoice even though I haven't done much? I've answered questions and whatnot, but that's about it.
Serena:All right. So I am of the camp where First of all, we charge our clients the same amount every month, flat monthly, whether they get us all the information that we need, or whether or not they schedule their meeting. They are, they are still billed for it at the same time every month. That is how our. Contract is signed or is set up. So I would encourage you to look at the way you have your engagement letter, your contract and, and put something like that in place. That's a recurring amount every month. That's a little more tricky if you're billing hourly, because if you're billing hourly and you are not able to do any work because they haven't sent you anything, then you're. You're only able to build them for the time where you, you're basically checking in with them. So that is, probably not the best approach. I would still build them something, or, you know, reach out to them and have a conversation about how important it is for them to get you the information you need. So it's not piling up until year end when. You have a lot more on your plate and, and we don't want it to become an emergency at the very end of the year because they failed to do their part. That's also something that it's really good to. Have built into your onboarding or your expectations with clients where you talk about what is expected of them. And when you plan to have things done, but that's dependent on them getting you the information you need. And some people will do like surcharges or things like that. If they are sending things in late and then they need a rush fee or a rush on it. So then you can charge a rush fee. So yes, to answer your question, I would still bill for them, especially if you're already doing a flat monthly rate and it's up to them to. Get you the information. And it may end up down the road that five or six months have gone by and they've been paying your bill, but not actually sending you the information to do your work, I wouldn't let it go that long and get that far out of hand. I would definitely continue to communicate with the client and, and let them know and pester them for the information. And if it comes to the point where you are really afraid of it, piling all up at your end. It's, it's another conversation that you have to have with the client where you let them know, Hey, like we haven't gotten your stuff for six months, really concerned at this point that we're not going to be able to complete this year's bookkeeping, in a timely manner because so much is going to be piled up and you're not going to remember what happened with the transactions and this and that and the other thing. So, offer them an opportunity to make it right or possibly go your separate ways. Every situation is going to be different. It's hard to give like a black and white answer, but, yeah, short answer is I would still build them. Maybe it will incentivize them to actually give you what you need.
Tia:I got 1 client inquiry. He asked about the rate for services and my LinkedIn profile. I sent him a discovery call questionnaire and my LinkedIn profile and told him to fill that out and send it back to me, but he just didn't respond to any tips on how to approach this.
Serena:Yeah. So I have some major thoughts and this has been coming up a lot for me lately because I've been doing more local networking and. That means networking with other types of businesses that I don't normally work with. And it just reminds me of the reasons why I work with the types of businesses I work with, because it's really important for our clients to be able to follow a process from the very beginning of that intake questionnaire and vet people that way because Like a while back, I did an episode with Alyssa, workflow queen, where we talked about our different marketing approaches and how I have like some major filtering tactics on the front end, because I don't have time. To get on lots of calls. And I especially don't have time to be ghosted on lots of calls, which tends to happen when people don't invest either the time or the money to get on that discovery call. And it doesn't even need to be a lot of money. It can just be 15 minutes of their time filling out that form. If they're not willing to fill out that form just to get on a call with you, chances are you're going to have a hard time getting information out of them. And during your engagement. And that's just trends that I have experienced myself. And Tia's over here nodding her head because she's seen it happen in our business. every time I allow people to go outside of the process, I regret it because then later down the road. If we end up taking them on as a client, that's exactly how the relationship ends up to where they're not able to use the tools we use. They're not willing to, spend the time to gather the paperwork that we need. And, then it ends up like the situation, like the last question we talked about where they're still paying their bill or whatever, but like, we're not able to actually do any work. So I would, I would say like, you have that process in place for a reason. And maybe a lot of you listening, especially if you have. Gone through my program, or any of a couple of my different programs where I do share that discovery call questionnaire and that process and you've implemented it. Because you're, you know, you're trusting my process and you're like, okay, if Serena says to do it, there must be, you know, some good reason to it. And this is the reason, but you may not have learned for yourself why that's so important, but this is why it's so important. It's not to just create extra work for you in your. Your lead flow or your onboarding workflow, and it's not just to create extra work for your client. It's, it's to do a few things. It's to gather some information to see if the client is a good fit before you actually spend time on the call with them. And it's also to gather information around. How that client operates and how easy or difficult they may be to work with. Most times, like you're not ever going to hear from somebody if they decided to not to fill out your questionnaire. Like you're not even going to realize that they were ever a potential lead because they're just going to click off of it and be like, no, that's too much work for me. I can't work with someone like, like that. That's going to demand 15 questions for me or whatever. And so that's kind of what Alyssa and I talked about where it's like on my metrics, it doesn't look like I get a lot of leads in, but people are coming to my website. People are clicking on that stuff, but they're not necessarily all going to fill out that form because it deters a lot of people. But that's fine because then the people, the leads that do come in are very. Highly qualified leads, meaning if they've spent the time, the 15 minutes to fill out the form and they've, you know, maybe invested some money, either way they're more committed and they're more serious about working with us or working with a bookkeeper in general. And so they, there's a lot less convincing that we have to do. So there's so many benefits of having a discovery call questionnaire. But if they. If you're allowing people to book the call before they fill out that questionnaire, it's going to be really hard to get them to fill out the questionnaire. So I would definitely use a scheduling software like Acuity or Calendly where you can create the questionnaire built into the appointment scheduler so that they can't actually complete the booking until they've filled out that questionnaire. And to answer your specific question, if they Ghost you after you're like, great. I would love to work with you. Here's a questionnaire. I need you to fill out, and send back to me before we can book or whatever your process is. And they totally just don't respond. I would just let it go. You're like, all right, great. Thank you. Universe for filtering that person out.
Tia:Yeah, I feel like getting information from clients is the biggest pain point and all the service that I do. And so weeding the people out who clearly can't even just like, fill out a brief survey. Um, saves me a lot of frustration and swearing later.
Serena:Yeah.
Tia:I don't like taking on a client and taking their money and then not being able to do the work that they've contracted me for and knowing that there's nothing I can do about it because I've done everything I can do. And they aren't doing their part, but it still feels like I'm failing because the work isn't getting done. I don't like that.
Serena:Yeah. I don't either. I don't think anyone with a conscience likes that feeling because even if we have it in our contract where they are still going to have to pay monthly, whether or not we're able to complete the work, if the, you know, if it was on them and not us, like I would still want ethically, just my personality. I would still feel kind of obligated to like. Refund their final month or whatever. You know what I mean? Like, because it's like, we literally couldn't do anything. I feel weird taking your money. So,
Tia:I have to remind myself that part of what they're paying for is space in our schedule. And so what they have been paying for during that time that they are not getting work is the space to do that work. And if they haven't been taking advantage of that, that's on them. But it's a very weird gray area that's hard to like. I've been trying to change my mindset around it a little bit when I know I've done everything I can do. To not. Harbor any guilt about taking their money because they agreed. And I made the space in my schedule, which kept me from being able to commit to other things.
Serena:Yeah.
Tia:And so I should get compensated for that because I would have gladly done the work if they had made that possible.
Serena:Yeah, absolutely. That's such a good way to, to frame it. Okay, let's do, one more bookkeeping related question and then switch over to a design or two questions since we have you on the air with us.
Tia:I know we'll have to do another full. I listened to the episode where the AI came up, but you guys were also talking about marketing and positioning and things. And I was like, we have some things to chat about. So we'll have to do a separate episode about design and marketing and things, but we can touch on a couple of little things today. I won't get too far up on my soapbox. All right, how do you handle client bank access? I have a couple of clients that do not want to deal with bank feeds and sending statements, so they gave me bank access. I can set up a generic email and password for my team to access, but some require a phone number for multiple factor authentication. I don't want to be constantly sending codes or approving access on my phone every time a team member is accessing a client bank account. Is there a way to get around?
Serena:Yeah. So I wanted to share the process we have in place. I feel works pretty good now. How would you
Tia:So much open phone has changed our life.
Serena:Yeah. Okay. I was like, I probably should have asked you this before. I was like, let's do this question.
Tia:like, what's this answer going to be? Oh, no, no. You'd have heard about it if it hadn't made things better.
Serena:Yeah. And like, especially because you've been here since the beginning, you know what the process used to look like. So let's take it back to like, what it used to look like was I had a Google voice number that, so I've always used the Google voice number. That's a, that is. That I designated for the business for my two factor authentication, if I'm not able to use the email. So I always opt to try to use an email as multi factor authentication first. if the system allows it, not every system does. So I always try to do that first and we always direct it to our help inbox, which is our shared inbox for, for client communication. Highly recommend instituting one of those. Pretty much when you start your business, even if you don't have a team, it'll just make your life so much easier to keep all the client related stuff in a different inbox.
Tia:out all the accounts that we needed to switch to that. When we finally started doing it was such a thing. I
Serena:It was.
Tia:catching them for months. Oh, yeah. And this and this and this.
Serena:Yeah. We're in a good spot now. It probably took us like a year, but, so yeah, I would suggest creating that from the beginning of your business. If you don't already have it, do it today. So that's number one, trying to set up all your multi factor authentication to go to an email if possible. And if that's not an option, make sure you have a dedicated business phone number. And like I said, I started out with a Google voice number and I was actually able to transfer that same phone number over to a. Software that we now use called open phone and how would you describe it? It's like a shared, it's an app, so you can have it on your phones also on the computer. So if your team, like you don't have to require your team to download an app to their phone.
Tia:I've never put it on my phone.
Serena:yeah, I have it on
Tia:use it through the browser.
Serena:Yeah, you can use it through the browser. You can use it through an app on your computer, but basically it's, it kind of operates like the shared email inbox. It's everyone shares the phone number. So a client can actually text us to that phone number and everyone will see it. And you can mark things done if you've taken care of it, but,
Tia:That was the feature I was going to mention. That's my favorite, is being able to make it go away.
Serena:Yeah. And
Tia:this is done.
Serena:Yep. And, so we use that phone number for multifactor authentication. So everybody has access to it. The process used to be where I was the only one with that Google voice number. Cause it was like a personal Google voice. It wasn't technically a business one. And I like, I would have to just like be available on Slack, like at all hours, whenever people are working, because that's, that's the culture I've set up. Like we all work whenever it works best for us. That might not be everyone, everyone's thing, but I, I appreciate that. So yeah, if Tia is working on pulling bank statements or logging into Stripe or PayPal for a client at 9. She would be like, that was me on Slack. Like we had an authentications codes, a Slack channel. So that like, if I saw that pop up, I knew immediately I needed to answer it. And, I would get pinged to my phone. So I would know somebody was in there, but yeah, it still was. Hit and miss.
Tia:Well, you should be allowed to not be tethered to your phone every moment of every day. Like, just because I'm working at nine o'clock on a Tuesday doesn't mean you should have to.
Serena:Right. so anyway, if you are struggling with that, I'd highly recommend open phone, sharing the phone number, sharing a help inbox or a support inbox for your firm. And for the most part, it has solved the problem. There's on a rare occasion, I will sign up for something where. they know it's like a voiceover, what do they call it? Like a digital phone number? Like it's, they know it's not an actual real phone number. And so they
Tia:a
Serena:send the
Tia:like a voiceover IP. It's
Serena:Okay. That's what I thought it was, but, occasionally whatever system we'll know that it's not like a, a hard line or whatever. And so the codes won't come through, but for the most part, it's worked for all the clients stuff. It's worked for all the bank stuff it's worked for Stripe and
Tia:Yeah. I haven't had any trouble since we started it.
Serena:Yeah. It's not free, it's like 10 a user. But like I said, like you can still kind of work around having multiple actual users if everybody logs in under the help box, we always got to work around.
Tia:Well, we don't need any features
Serena:Yeah.
Tia:one user. We don't need extra lines or independent, like messages going specific places. We want everything going to the same place. Yeah.
Serena:Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So.
Tia:extensions or anything. I don't want anyone calling me. Please don't call me. You have my email. Please don't call me on the telephone.
Serena:yeah, that's kind of, I mean, like, that's the type of clients we work with, like, rarely do I get on the phone with clients. But if you are working with clients that do need to get on the phone with you, that's also a really good option. And you can text through it and all that good stuff. So, and assign, I think, can you assign things to people if you have multiple users in there? I feel like you can,
Tia:didn't dig into it too much. I really just need it for Stripe logins.
Serena:Yeah, exactly. All right. So let's move on to, I guess this would be our final question, on design. So, should we talk about, should I create my own logo in Canva?
Tia:So, before I get too high up on my horse, Canva is an excellent service for doing online presentations. For designing your social media things. I'm sure it does scheduling. Canva does not function in a way that works for my brain and every attempt I have ever made to use it makes me feel like a jumbled chaotic mess inside and for some reason it just. It's not for me, but I think it's great that it makes it easy for people to make really great social media things and much better designs than they would do on their own, and in a much more streamlined fashion. There's no reason For someone running a small business to take the time to learn Photoshop and Illustrator and InDesign, which is how I was building all of your social media graphics when I was doing it. I spend all day in there and it was easier for me to just do what I knew. But specific to logos and branding, Canva creates what are called raster images, which are pixel based. So, it's a bunch of teeny tiny squares touching up against each other and the colors blending together is what makes what you're making, but it's square. It's all squares that are turned on and off. And so, if you do not, you can scale it down and you can scale it up a little bit. But you can't really make something bigger than what you decide the size you designed it at. And so, especially with logos, you want to be able to put that on a billboard and you want to be able to have it on your business card and can't can't do that. And then, depending on what kind of merge. Or swag, or whatever kind of thing you might want to have it on in the future. The actual physical machines that make that stuff need vector files. And the difference is, is that raster images, which is what Photoshop, Canva, Adobe Express, anything you're designing for web, all of those are pixel based. So it's just. Teeny, tiny squares and the computer either sees them as on or off, but that means that like, as things get bigger and those squares get bigger, you lose resolution. And that's why things start to get blurry and fuzzy around the edges and unreadable. And so when you do an actual logo design and something like illustrator, you're creating vector images. And what's really cool about that is what you're seeing is a visual representation of a mathematical formula. So every time you scale something in Illustrator, it's rewriting the math behind it to tell something where those how to draw those lines, which means it can literally be any size you want, and it will always be exactly right. And you won't lose any of the resolution and get that fuzziness around the edges as you blow it up and make it bigger. But also some of those machines like the laser cutters that make the mugs. You know, where they cut your design into a frosted mug or whatever, they need those mathematical formulas to tell the laser cutter where to go. Or when you're cutting things out of vinyl to make your big signs or things like that, it actually needs the formulas from the vector. And some of the software for those kinds of machines will pull Your raster images in, but they do a really bad job of differentiating if the contrast in your colors isn't good enough. And so I've spent a bunch of time as a subcontractor for a print company, fixing logos that only had raster images and rebuilding them and illustrator so that the machines could do something. And so. Like if when you're ready to do a full brand, like that's why it makes a difference to hire someone whose education and background is in design and knows the difference in those things and knows that software and can build you those files. Because what happened with a lot of the print shops clients is they had to pay me to redo their branding so that they could use it. So they had already paid someone to do all of this design work. And some of the logos were beautiful. They just weren't. Built properly. And so it's kind of you and I were talking earlier and it's kind of like QuickBooks, where like, someone who kind of knows what they're doing can get in there and do just enough to be dangerous, because they don't understand the underlying what's actually happening and QuickBooks like Microsoft Word. Makes a lot of assumptions for you in an effort to make things easier, but that only works if you fit their exact perfect circumstances. And if your case doesn't meet that, then all of a sudden, everything starts to fall apart and you don't understand why. So
Serena:Yeah, thank you for that. And I should have prefaced the last question with like, Oh, now I'm going to turn around and, and make you answer a question. I
Tia:I knew it was coming.
Serena:about that. I was like, I could have set that up better, So, in case In case you missed it at the beginning, I talked about, how Tia's was the first bookkeeper I hired, but she also obviously has a design background. And, um, so she supports, both my businesses in the design, work, and we're so grateful to have her as part of the team and have that resource. But also I'm just going to give you a little plug, a little shout out. Tia just also launched website in a week, right? I messed that up.
Tia:No, you
Serena:website in a day the other day, but it's in a week because there's homework
Tia:and a week. Yeah, well, in the week just seems easier. It puts less pressure on the client to be available all day to give feedback because I know all of us are busy. And so I build your website in the 1st day ish, depending on. All of the pieces, and then we have the rest of the week to go back and forth on edits and updates and refining and me having a little more time to come back to you and say, you know, we're missing this piece, or I need you to write up a couple sentences here or. Some things like that, but it gives all of us a little bit of time to sit with it and see how we feel about it and not have to make snap decisions. About do I love this? Do I hate it? Whatever. It gives us a little bit of time to sit with it or even get feedback from outside sources and have other people take a peek at it. But keeps the keeps it fairly well contained so that it's not taking 6 months of going back and forth before we get it done.
Serena:Yes. And to specify, you also provide this service specifically for bookkeepers. Not, I mean, you'll do other websites too, but Tia obviously knows our industry really, really well. She helps support us at the ambitious bookkeeper. And so she's constantly interacting with other bookkeepers. She's designed multiple bookkeeping website, lots of websites by now with book for bookkeepers. So. Just like I say, it's important to kind of. Pick a niche for bookkeeping. And the way I educate our clients on like how important it is to work with someone who understands your industry. I will say this, the very same thing for any other service provider. It is just so much easier to work with someone who understands your industry. You're not having to explain lingo to them or explain what it is you do.
Tia:Yeah,
Serena:They already know.
Tia:absolutely. And they're also coming back to the, like, niching down. It makes marketing and things easier because if you're not marketing to a specific someone, you're marketing to no one. So,
Serena:Yeah,
Tia:it helps that I understand both the design part of it, but also what it's like to work with bookkeeping clients and help you kind of figure out who you want to target and
Serena:Awesome. All right. So with that, thank you so much for helping me put together this hundredth episode. I was super excited when you offered to hop on and read the questions with me. We were hoping for people to send in voice notes, but I think that's just not accountants. Most accounts are not going to just. Record a voice note. So that is okay. But thank you so much for listening today. And you can always shoot me a message on LinkedIn or Instagram if something resonates or if you have a question such as the ones that we covered on today's episode. And do you have any other closing words to you?
Tia:I don't think so. I think we covered a lot of ground today. I think we're both just very helpful ladies.
Serena:This is, um, I know such an episode. We may have to do more of these, um, but not too many because then the hundredth episode wouldn't be so special.
Tia:maybe like every 25 or something, like quarterly.
Serena:Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. All right, well, thank you so much for tuning in today and we'll catch you on the next episode.