How I Started 2 Million Dollar Companies - Bookkeeping & Real Estate Lending

If you’ve ever felt like entrepreneurship is lonely… this is for you.

This video breaks down exactly why I started making content in the first place and the real strategy behind how I’ve grown multiple businesses, including my bookkeeping company and ZIP Capital, to over $5,000,000.

Nothing about this journey has been accidental.

I walk through the exact principles and daily actions that helped me go from:
10 clients → 20 → 40 → 80
$156,000 → $359,000 → $1.3M → $3M → $5M+

And the truth is… it’s simpler than most people think.

In this video, I cover:

• Why entrepreneurship feels lonely and how content changed everything
• My proven business growth strategy that actually works
• The 3 P’s that guide everything I do in business and life
• How trust, transparency, and authenticity drive real results
• The power of relationships both online and in person
• Practical daily actions to grow your business starting today
• Why your current skills are stepping stones to something bigger

This isn’t theory. This is what I actually do every single day.

If you’re trying to grow a business, land clients, build an audience, or raise capital, this will give you a clear path forward.

Consistency wins. Relationships win. Truth wins.

If you’re serious about building something real, start here.

*Learn more about my investment fund targeting 8% to 12% fixed returns*
https://www.zipcapitalfund.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This weekend, I was reminded exactly why I started making these videos five years ago. It's because I just want an outlet. I want to share everything that I'm doing. My friends are amazing. My family is great. My wife is the best. But let's be honest, your friends and family don't really want to hear about what you're doing at work every day. And for us as entrepreneurs, what we're doing is so exciting. It's so new, it's so different. It's constantly changing. And on top of that, we don't have coworkers. So we can feel really lonely. But at the same time, it's super exciting. So that's exactly why I started my YouTube channel five years ago because I treated it kind of like a journal where I could just talk about my business. I could talk about my trucking company, my bookkeeping business. And turns out, other people like to listen. It's really cool because through YouTube, through the internet, you can connect with people all over the world who have very unique interests that you do. And so this video is just going to be kind of a reflection on where I've come, where I've been, what I'm doing, how I got to where I am. If you've been a longtime follower, I hope you appreciate this video. If you're a brand new watcher, this video is a little bit different than what I normally talk about, but I still think there are going to be some really great talking points that you can learn from this video. So, like I said, I started five years ago sharing QuickBooks tutorials, the most boring video in the world. But I was just trying to make content, trying to do something. And then I switched it up and I started talking about my trucking company. If you're new to the channel, you might not even realize yes, I started a trucking company in 2021. It failed miserably. I lost$70,000 in two years. And then I continued to make videos teaching other people how to start a trucking company, teaching other people how to do the bookkeeping for their trucking company. That was fun while it lasted. And then I transitioned away from trucking, quit cold turkey, and I went all in on my bookkeeping business, teaching other people how to start a bookkeeping business, and that worked really, really well. I got a ton of new subscribers. I probably taught thousands of people how to start their own bookkeeping business. It was a lot of fun. I'm still doing that today. I still host a private group meeting every Monday at 3 p.m. I'm still making videos, teaching people what I know, but this video, not really gonna be too much like that. I'm probably gonna talk more generally about how I got to where I am today. I was able to basically grow two million dollar companies over the past six years between Harrisburg Bookkeeping and Zip Capital. And I'm gonna talk about some of the core principles, the core fundamentals that helped me get to where I am today. I'm gonna talk about my proven strategy for growing my businesses. I've come to believe this is no accident. This did not happen by accident because I've done it twice now. Bookkeeping business. Let's just talk about that real quick. At the end of 2021, I had 10 clients. That's 10 monthly recurring clients with several big cleanup projects sprinkled in 2021, 10 bookkeeping clients. 2022, 20. Doubled in growth. That's going to be a common theme. Doubled in growth after my first year, third year, 2023, 40 clients. Doubled again, went from 10, 20, 40. You guessed it. 80 bookkeeping clients, 80 monthly recurring clients. That doesn't count cleanup projects. 80 monthly recurring clients at the end of 2024. And then 2025 rolled around. Last year, I stopped taking on new bookkeeping clients because I launched Zip Capital. Now, normally I would not recommend starting a new business, especially when you have something going so well for you, like a successful bookkeeping company with 80 monthly clients, bringing in more than$40,000 of monthly revenue. But I saw a really cool opportunity with Zip Capital, specifically real estate lending, specifically in Pennsylvania. So that's where I live in Pennsylvania. I do bookkeeping for a lot of real estate investors. And so I kind of learned about real estate investing by accident through my bookkeeping clients, which is probably one of the best ways to learn behind the scenes from real operators who are actually doing it, not textbook stuff, not YouTube video stuff, although YouTube videos are great. But I learned behind the scenes from real accounting, real bookkeeping for real operators, real real estate investors. So I saw the need. I saw the need for private money lending. So in 2023, I did my first private money loan, super small,$50,000. And then 2024 was kind of a big transition year for me. So I was still growing Harrisburg bookkeeping, but I started dabbling in private money lending a lot more. When it got to the point, Q4 2024, at the end of 2024, I was not really focused too much on growing Harrisburg bookkeeping. I was still managing my 80 clients, but I wasn't really focused on growing Harrisburg bookkeeping, more so focused on trying to learn this private money lending, real estate lending thing. Got to a point at the end of 2024, I had so much demand. I knew I had to do something. I knew I had to start raising money from other people because I simply had nowhere near enough money to meet my demand. So supply and demand was all out of whack. Demand was like 10x my supply. So I found a real need in this marketplace for private money lending, and I filled that need by starting Zip Capital in January of 2025. This is how I know that my business growth did not happen by accident with Harrisburg bookkeeping because I did it a second time. I went from, let me just break down the numbers for you. Most of my followers are bookkeepers, accountants, business owners, entrepreneurs. So you all are probably numbers people. So let me break this down for you real quick. End of Q1, 2025, last year, end of Q1, zip capital. I had$156,000. That's it. That's not a lot of money. Q2, 2025,$359,000. Double. That's pretty cool. Double. Raised$359,000 first six months of my investment fund, zip capital. That's amazing. Here's where it gets crazy. 2023 or 2025 Q3. So nine months into it, September 30th, 2025, 1.3 million dollars. End of 2025, 3 million dollars. So I went from 150, 350, 1.3 million, 3 million. And here's where it gets even crazier. Right now, March 30th, 2026,$5 million raised in zip capital. You can see I got the number on the board behind me,$5 million raised in 15 months. That's insane. I'm I I'm not I'm not from Wall Street. I don't have a bunch of rich family members. As a matter of fact, none of my investors are family members. None of them are related to me by blood. No family members invested in zip capital. It's all from my business growth strategy. It's something that I figured out during Harrisburg bookkeeping, kind of perfected it over the course of four years, implemented it back into Zip Capital in 2025, and grew to five million dollars of assets under management of other people's money in Zip Capital. So let me let me break down for you kind of theoretically, like big picture, some of my core principles. This is where I'm gonna try to teach you a little bit, like kind of big picture, high-level stuff, what I did to get to this point. And then after I go over like high-level stuff, I'm gonna talk specifically like really practical advice. So if you're trying to grow your business, stick around until the end. I'm gonna give you some really practical advice. Okay. First of all, first and foremost, top of the list, the three Ps, polite, positive, professional. I kind of just randomly started doing this. I randomly made this like a core principle, not just of my social media marketing, not just of my online presence, not just of my work, how I want to behave as a professional in the workplace. I I took this on as just overall in life. It's a lifestyle. Everything works. Everything that I'm about to talk about, everything works if you simply follow the three Ps. And this is not just a nine to five thing at work, it's a lifestyle. So everything, private conversations. If I'm just talking one-on-one or through email or on the phone or in person, follow the three Ps. Polite, positive, professional. Have integrity, even when you're not on the spotlight, even when you're not giving a presentation to 100 people, even when you're not posting on the internet, even when you're not in public, follow the three Ps. Polite, positive, professional. I always say nothing can go wrong if you follow the three Ps. At least nothing within your control can go wrong if you follow the three Ps in your communication, interactions, and how you conduct yourself. So private conversations, public marketing, social media, just as important. Whenever you're creating content or whenever you're engaging with other people's content, if you're ever wondering, should I say this? Should I post this? Follow the three Ps. Is this polite? Is this positive? Is this professional? Now I'm not saying, so let me just backtrack. So whenever I say positive, I'm not necessarily saying that you can't be honest. If you're struggling, if things aren't going well, you can talk about that. But I'm just saying, in general, whenever I say be positive, I mean like don't talk down to other people, don't be negative, don't be nasty. You know what I mean? Whenever you're talking about your own struggles, sure, you don't have to always be optimistic Oscar. You can for sure be real, transparent, authentic. But in general, whenever you're interacting with others, try to be positive. On the internet in general, if you're anywhere, anywhere on the internet, it doesn't have to just be your public marketing, but anywhere you find yourself publicly on the internet, follow the three Ps in person, not just business, not just on the internet, not just private conversations, but in person. Whenever you're having a random conversation with somebody on the sideline at your son's football game or your son's baseball tournament or your daughter's soccer game, or drive through at a restaurant, at a fast food restaurant, or total strangers, especially even just as important, close friends. Follow the three Ps everywhere in your life. I'm talking about it way too much because it's way too important and it's so often overlooked. There's not some magical secret, there's not some secret strategy to being successful. There are a million different things you can do, but overall, I really believe if you can achieve the three Ps with your persona and who you are as a person, I think it's going to take you so far. So, so far, so much further than a college degree, so much further than one single relationship or one referral. Like following the three Ps are going to help you so much. And so I know I talked about it way too much, but I'm really, really passionate about the three Ps. Be polite, positive, and professional. Not just a nine to five thing at work, but it's a lifestyle. And let me also just be clear I'm not perfect. I have just as many flaws as other people. I slip up, I make mistakes. I'm not always polite, I'm not always positive. But in general, I try to be more polite, positive, and professional. So you're not gonna be perfect. I'm certainly not, but as long as you strive to be better than you were yesterday, that's all we really can do. Follow the three Ps. Number one, trust. Oh my goodness, trust. Bookkeeping is all about trust. Business in general, getting clients is all about trust. Investing, absolutely, getting people to invest into zip capital, all about trust. Probably way more trust involved onboarding a new investor in zip capital than trying to get a bookkeeping client, but still super applicable to both. So, how do you build trust? I don't know. It's pretty simple, I think. Show up every day, show up every day consistently and be who you say you are. Be who you are. Build trust through being authentic and transparent and honest and consistent. There's there's really no other magic way to build trust other than just show people that they can trust you by showing them who you are. Be a trustworthy person. Say you're gonna do something and then actually do it. Don't lie. I don't know. It all seems so simple and it's almost kind of hard to explain to somebody how to build trust with other people. Excuse me. Really, the only way to do it is just to show up every day and say do what you do what you say you're going to do. Okay. Transparency. So, first, in order to be transparent, you gotta have the courage to put yourself out there because it can be scary, it can be intimidating, especially social media, especially on the internet. You gotta have thick skin, but you gotta have the courage to put yourself out there. And there's really no way you're not gonna wake up one morning with courage and thick skin. You build it over time. Be transparent, be who you are on the internet and in your daily interactions with your friends, family, and acquaintances and business clients. It's going to come over time. You got to build that confidence and build that courage over time, but it starts today. Be transparent. People crave transparency, especially in today's age in 2026, with artificial intelligence and Claude and Chat GPT and social media and the highlight reels. People crave transparency. People connect to transparency. It's easy. You just tell the truth, and that helps you build trust. Along with transparency, authenticity. I feel like so many people are struggling. What do I talk about on the internet? What kind of content do I create? Just be authentic. If you're just getting started, talk about your journey. Talk about how you're going back to school to study intro to accounting. You just got your QBO certified pro advisor exam. You just you're learning something new on QuickBooks. Or for me, I was just authentic with my zip capital journey. I was super honest in Q1 of 2025. Hey everybody, I raised$156,000. Yeah, that's not super cool to somebody who might have$10 million, but for me in the moment, it was really cool. I got my first investor,$100,000 in February of 2025. You better believe it. Everybody, guess what? I just got my first investor, and you can do the same thing with Zip Capital. Everybody, guess what? I just got my first bookkeeping client. How cool is that? Be authentic. Everybody starts somewhere. Don't be afraid, don't be ashamed that you're brand new, you're just getting started. That's actually the best time to be transparent and authentic because that is the most relatable. Me right now, I'm less relatable than I was five years ago because I have five million dollars of other people's money. Like that's not super relatable to other people. Marketing content doesn't need to be world-changing or life shattering, it can just be you and it can be very engaging if you're just authentic. It's so simple that it seems wrong. And I feel like that's probably holding a lot of people back. They're like, that's too easy. That's too simple. That can't be the best marketing strategy. But honestly, it's not easy. It's simple, but it's not easy. It's really, really hard because a lot of people are intimidated. A lot of people are scared to be authentic and to be transparent. But if you can have the courage and the thick skin and the confidence to do it, I think your marketing content and your business growth is gonna surprise you. Okay, one last thing, and then I'm gonna get into practical advice relationships. So that's what helped me get to where I am today. Relationships. And this is gonna sound crazy, but it's a a thousand percent true. You can build real relationships on social media. You don't have to build relationships in person in 2026. I know for some people who are more traditional, who've been around the block for several decades, it might seem weird, it might not seem legit, but I promise you, you can absolutely build relationships on social media. I have some really strong relationships with business acquaintances and clients and investors and referral partners who started on the internet. Maybe I've met them once or twice in person, but the majority of my interactions email, phone call, Zoom meetings, social media, DMs, interacting with people on social media, engaging with their content, commenting on their posts, replying to their comments, sending emails. Seriously, it sounds crazy, but it's true. You can build real relationships on social media. And then there's also in-person networking events. Look up, look up in your local area. I guarantee you, there's there's a networking event every single week that you could attend. If you don't like the internet, if you're not a social media kind of person, you can absolutely do in-person networking, B and I, La Tip, other networking events, maybe local non-affiliated networking groups. Get plugged in somehow. Somehow, some way, you gotta build relationships because trust, all about relationships. And then, like I've been saying, just do what you're saying, what you say you're going to do. Be honest, be transparent, build trust, build relationships. That's really what it's all about. High level stuff here. High level, it's simple, but it's really, really hard because you got to show up every day. You got to be polite, positive, and professional in all of your interactions. It can be tough, it's simple, but it's really, really hard. Okay, practically speaking, let's wrap up this video. Practically speaking, show up every day. Consistency. I know I talk about it way too much, but seriously, that I'm not special. I I am probably not much smarter than any of you. We're all probably pretty similar. I certainly don't have access to any technology that you don't. I'm literally in my home office here with my cell phone, with my laptop, with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, QuickBooks, social media. I don't have access to anything that you don't. I'm just like you. And that's the really cool part. That's the the authentic, that's the transparent, that's the honest truth. I am just like you. There's nothing special. I didn't go to an Ivy League school. I didn't grow up downtown Manhattan with with very well connected family. I grew up in a modest, middle class, south central Pennsylvania family with what everybody else has. So all I really did was show up every day and be consistent for six years. That's the thing. That's where most people give up. That's where most people, that's what set, that's what separates the people who are winning and the people who didn't win because they just gave up. That's really all there is to it. Show up every day, practically speaking, very specifically, send DMs. Seriously, reach out to people. You never know what might happen. Ask somebody if they want to grab coffee. If somebody is two or three steps ahead of you, reach out to them and say, Hey, can I take you out to coffee? Can I take you out to lunch? I would love to meet with you. Send DMs. Hey, can we hop on a quick phone call? I would love to chat about XYZ. Hey, I'm a bookkeeper. Let me know if you need help with your QuickBooks. Hey, I just started Zip Capital. Let me know if you want to earn eight to 12% fixed returns. Yeah, that's what Zip Capital is offering. Do you want to chat about it? Here's my website, here's my email, here's my phone number. Let's connect. Send DMs. You got to reach out to people, especially when you're new, brand new, just getting started. Nobody knows who you are. You gotta actively reach out to other people. So set up a system for doing that. I'm doing that right now with Zip Capital. LinkedIn sales navigator, it costs money, but it's super helpful. Not sponsored by LinkedIn, but I use their platform every day to send out DMs to local people who I think might be a good fit for Zip Capital. I sent I send 30 connection requests every day on LinkedIn. And everybody who accepts my connection request, I send them all a message. I send them all a DM on LinkedIn. Does it make me, does it does it have a high success rate? Probably not. I'm not gonna get 70% of the people to respond, but if it takes me 20 minutes every morning and if I get one or two people to respond, it's worth your time. Quickly follow up with inquiries. Speed, speed, speed. Quickly, if somebody reaches out to you, oh my goodness. This is a warm lead. If somebody reaches out to you and they're interested in hiring you to be their bookkeeper or they're interested in investing in zip capital, oh my goodness. Up with them immediately. Quickly follow up. Call them. Email them right back. Schedule a meeting. Have a website to streamline onboarding and consultations. I can't stress this enough. Have a calendar link on your website. Hey, you just reached out to me. I want to invest in zip capital. Okay, great. What's your email address? What's your phone number? Hey, here's my website. Go out and fill out a connect card and then we can chat. We can schedule a Zoom call. Or I do private, I do real estate lending to Pennsylvania real estate investors. Anytime somebody reaches out and asks me for a loan, boom, here's my quick two-minute loan application. Fill this out. I'll send you loan terms in less than 24 hours. Have a website to streamline onboarding and consultations. If people have more information, frequently asked questions, send them to your website. So super simple. It enables you to communicate quickly and effectively with a large number of people every single day. Marketing, here's a very specific tip: mix personal and business marketing. Now, if you're a bookkeeper, golden rule, never mix business and personal transactions. But if you're trying to grow your business, golden rule number two, mix business and personal marketing. Now, I know what you're thinking, Zach. I don't want to put my personal life out there on the internet. If that's you, I respect that. You don't have to do it. But if you're okay with it, I think it's going to help you grow your business because it's all about relationships. How do you build relationships? Be authentic, be transparent, be genuine, build trust with strangers on the internet. How do you do that? Boom. Put yourself out there. What are you doing on the weekend? Did you go to church? Did you have a good time at church? Post about it. Or talk about it. Not necessarily just posting, but talk about it. When you're at the barber shop, talk about your personal life. Talk about your business. Mix it up. So when you're talking to people in person, when you're talking to people on the internet, whenever you're creating content for social media marketing, mix it up. Are you coaching your son's football team? Are you going to a baseball tournament this weekend? Did you go to a concert on Friday night? Are you in a bowling league every Wednesday? Whatever you're doing, mix it up. It helps you connect with other people. It helps you to build trust and relationships. If you just talk about business 24-7, yes, it might work, but I don't think it's going to be as effective. Make videos. Obviously, here you are watching this video right now, all because I have been consistently making videos for about four or five years now. Making videos helps expedite the process of building trust. It helps people to see my face. You hear my voice. We you really build relationships quickly by watching other people's videos. So if you are able to highly recommend make videos. If you want some inspiration, go back to my oldest YouTube videos and watch them and see how cringy they are. I have not been making videos like this forever. I have evolved, I have gotten better, I have improved my ability to flow through a 30-minute video, to flow through a two-minute short video with little to no editing and to be able to communicate clearly and simply. Get started today. If you make a video today, no one's gonna see it. But slowly get better over the next three or four years, and eventually you will just the trust will compound on itself. Start early, start marketing early. What did I do with Zip Capital? What did I do with Harrisburg Bookkeeping? As soon as I got the idea, I started talking about it on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on Instagram, at family reunions, at church, with my friends, at the barbershop. Start early, start marketing yourself. Just start telling a story. Marketing is just telling a story. So just tell the story of Zach Pascarello. Tell the story of what you're doing. I'm going back to school, going to take intro to accounting. Really interested in bookkeeping and accounting. Might try this thing out. Who knows? I'll keep you posted. I'll let you know next week how it's going. Start early. Do it yourself. When it comes to marketing, practically speaking, do it yourself because here's the honest truth no one else will care more about your business than you. I promise you, nobody else. There might be somebody who's better at marketing. There's definitely people who are better at marketing, but nobody cares more about Harrisburg bookkeeping than Zach Pascarello. Nobody cares more about the success of zip capital than Zach Pascarello. Do it yourself. Even if you don't know how to do it, you gotta learn. You gotta do it yourself. Okay, stepping stones. Stepping stone to something bigger. This is the last thing I'm gonna talk about. Take me, for example, Harrisburg bookkeeping was a stepping stone to something bigger. So should you start a bookkeeping business? Absolutely. Should you continue with your bookkeeping business? Absolutely. Should you continue doing your bookkeeping business forever? Maybe. If that's what you want to do, go for it. It's a great career, it's a great job, it's a great business. Maybe. But also maybe your bookkeeping business might be a stepping stone to something bigger, not necessarily better, but possibly bigger. With zip capital, I can scale my revenue much easier than I can with Harrisburg bookkeeping. But bookkeeping is a great place to start. You're gonna learn, you're gonna marketing, networking, finances, accounting, taxes, software. You're gonna learn so much about business by starting a bookkeeping business. But then maybe you graduate to high-level tax consulting. Maybe you start charging$20,000 a client for high-level tax consulting. Or maybe you get into AI integration for entrepreneurs, or maybe real estate investing, or maybe, like me, lending, or maybe investment fund like me, Zip Capital, hard money lending, real estate lending, investment fund targeting 8 to 12% fixed returns. Check out the link in the description if you want to join Zip Capital. Everything you do now is a skill that can't be taken away from you. Your education, your skills cannot be taken away from you. So everything you're doing now, it's not a waste of time. Everything you're learning now, how to set up a business, how to get an EIN, how to file payroll taxes, how to file your taxes, how to get a website, how to start social media marketing, how to use Claude and Chat GPT and artificial intelligence, how to make videos, how to edit videos, all of that is a skill. If you learn it now, you can take it with you the rest of your life. It can't be taken away from you. Networking, relationships, marketing, it can all build on itself. People ask me how do I have such great deal flow with zip capital? The honest truth, I've been marketing to real estate investors for the past six years for Harrisburg Bookkeeping. So I already have a vast marketing and networking system in place. I am simply leveraging all of that that I did for Harrisburg Bookkeeping. Now, instead of selling bookkeeping services, I'm selling real estate lending services to the exact same people on the exact same social media channels. Finally, don't ruin your reputation to make an extra buck. Your reputation is priceless and it can be ruined in a split second. So if you're if you're trying to run a scam, trying to fraud somebody, or if you're even just not doing a great job in delivering your services, it'll tarnish your reputation. It's not worth it. Do what you say you're going to do. Be honest, be transparent, be polite, be positive, professional, and I think you're going to do great. Thank you all so much for watching. God bless you. Check all the links in the description of this video if you want to learn more. I'll see you all in the next video.