The Emotional Roller Coaster of Entrepreneurship

Episode 001

https://www.zipcapitalfund.com/investment-offering

This video is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered investment, legal, tax, or financial advice. Any discussion of ZIP Capital is intended to share my personal experiences building and operating the business. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investments involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Any investment opportunities discussed are available only to investors who meet applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

August 12th, 2026. I have a very important announcement to make. My name is Zach Pascarello. I've been making these YouTube videos for the past six years. Recently, I've been teaching everybody how to start and grow their own bookkeeping business. My very important announcement: I am no longer going to be focused on making YouTube videos, teaching you specifically how to grow a bookkeeping business. I know that might be frustrating, might make you kind of feel upset. You might be disappointed that you're going to miss out on future videos. I understand that, but let me just be clear: I did just make an entire 10-video, 10-week series, everything you need to know to start your own bookkeeping business. There is a specific playlist on my YouTube channel. So if you really want that content, I made that playlist just for you. Moving forward, I'll still talk about bookkeeping. I'll still talk about entrepreneurship, starting and growing a business, just maybe not necessarily specifically how to start a bookkeeping business. And there's two reasons. Number one, it's all about focus. For me right now, I'm trying to focus on my main thing. I've got a lot going on. I have a bookkeeping business that I started six years ago. I have kind of an education business that I've been running through my YouTube channel, and I have my investment company, Zip Capital. Right now, I'm not necessarily trying to sell you on anything. I'm just trying to be honest and transparent and open. Right now, I'm focused 100% on the main thing. And that main thing for me right now is zip capital. Zip capital, my investment fund, is my main goal. Let me explain what else I'm doing, and let me explain the math behind how I made this decision. So I've been super transparent. My bookkeeping income, really, really strong. I'll give you a breakdown. Six years ago when I got started, first year, 10 monthly clients, about $5,000 per month, monthly recurring revenue. Second year, doubled, 20 clients, $10,000. Third year, doubled again, 40 clients, $20,000. Fourth year, this is 2024. The fourth year doubled again. 80 monthly clients, $40,000 monthly recurring revenue. I was running the business by myself. Amazing business. Unbelievable. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd be making half a million dollars per year just running my bookkeeping company. Absolutely amazing. Then I started teaching people how to start a bookkeeping business and I made decent money. Let me just give you a quick breakdown. I probably made a few thousand dollars a month selling a course, which was good. I probably made $2,000 a month on YouTube ad revenue, which is great. And I started hosting a weekly group meeting where I charge people $50, and I had about 50 people in that meeting. So I was making another $2,000 just from those weekly meetings. So I was making decent money from my education company. I was making really good money from my bookkeeping business. I for sure could have just continued to run both of those things and probably made close to a million dollars per year and lived an amazing life. But then I learned about real estate private moneylending by accident in 2023. So I switched not necessarily my business, but more so my investment. This was my investment. I was taking my cash that I earned from Harrisburg bookkeeping and investing it in real estate private moneylending. So I was taking $50,000, $100,000, $25,000. I was lending it to real estate investors. First lien mortgages, Pennsylvania real estate. I was making a decent return on my own money. And then 2024, I started getting more real estate investors requesting loans. And so I started connecting the dots. I would find other lenders, I would find other borrowers, and I would play middleman and I would try to connect the pieces borrower to lender, and then I would take an underwriting fee or a processing fee. So that was okay in 2024, but it quickly got out of hand and it was just way too much work and it was a lot of following up and keeping track of different lenders and different borrowers. And so in my mind, I was thinking, gee, this would be a whole lot better if instead of connecting the dots playing middleman, what if these lenders just gave me the money instead? And that is how zip capital was born. Now let me give you a breakdown of the time required and the scalability. Let me explain why I decided to go 100% all in on zip capital instead of Harrisburg bookkeeping. Here's the math, here's the logic. Hopefully, I can explain this in a way that makes sense. One bookkeeping client on average pays $500 per month and requires two hours of work per month. Really great. $250 per hour, amazing, really, really good. So that is 24 hours per year for $6,000. Now, in order for me to make the same amount of money in zip capital, in order for me to make six thousand dollars, I need to lend sixty thousand dollars because right now I make about ten percent on average. This is just for educational purposes, of course. I'm right now on average, my own zip capital, I'm making about ten percent. Easy numbers, rough ballpark for this explanation. One year, that's six thousand dollars of profit. But here's the interesting part the amount of time required to do one loan in zip capital, probably I don't know, four hours. So I can work instead of 24 hours to make six thousand dollars, I can work probably four hours in zip capital and make the same amount of money. As soon as I realized the leverage and the scalability of zip capital, hard money lending, real estate lending, investment fund management. As soon as I realized the scalability and the leverage that I had running zip capital, it was a no-brainer. Harrisburg Bookkeeping, incredibly profitable, amazing business. Zip capital is my main focus. 100% the main goal. The the scalability, the potential for zip capital. Here's the thing. I think both companies could be a $10 million business. I think Harrisburg Bookkeeping, if I hire the right people, grow the company, absolutely. $10 million regional accounting firm, zip capital, absolutely. $10 million local Pennsylvania hard money lending investment fund. But the interesting part can't happen simultaneously. They can't both be a $10 million business with Zach Pascarello being the CEO of both companies. Just not possible. If I'm spending half of my time on Zip Capital, half of my time on Harrisburg Bookkeeping, I can't do it. I can't make both companies into a $10 million company at the same time. But I could focus on one and make one of them a $10 million company if I focus 100% of my attention on one company. So that is why I have decided, and this isn't just an overnight decision that I made. This has been brewing for three years. Ever since 2023, I've been building up to this moment. And 2025 and 2026, I've slowly been shifting away from Harrisburg bookkeeping and toward zip capital. If you follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, I'm sure you've seen all of my posts. I never talk about Harrisburg bookkeeping. I am actively removing clients, transitioning away from Harrisburg bookkeeping, going all in on zip capital. So I hope that explanation makes sense. I'm sure some people still won't understand why I made that decision, but I just want you to know it's not an easy decision. I've been thinking about it for a long time, but I think it's the right decision for my future. So that's reason number one, focus 100% on the main thing. Number two, burnout. It's just not genuine. It's not my interest anymore. Talking about bookkeeping was fun for three years: 2023, 2024, 2025, a little bit of 2026. It was fun. But now it's just not what I'm doing daily. It's not what I'm focused on right now. It's not genuine. It's not really what I'm interested in anymore. So I'm transitioning away from the bookkeeping videos. I'm not transitioning away from the education content. I'm going to continue making videos. They're just not going to be specifically about how to start a bookkeeping business. I believe authenticity shows through. Excitement, interest can't be faked. At least it can't be faked long term. So today, August 12th, 2026, this is my first video going in the new direction. August 13th, 2026. Last month was absolute chaos. I funded 16 loans in Zip Capital. It was an absolute record month. I have never funded that many loans in a single month. And month and close for bookkeeping happened at around the same time. So for about a two or three week stretch, the last two weeks in July and the first week in August, total chaos. Super stressed out, so much work that needed to be done. There simply weren't enough hours in the day. I was pretty overwhelmed, not gonna lie. As an entrepreneur, as a business owner, I'm sure you have felt very similar in the past. Let me tell you the numbers. I probably shouldn't do this, but I just can't help it. It's so exciting. I love talking about it. And if I can be honest, I don't really have anybody else to share these numbers with. So I really appreciate you all on my YouTube channel, on my podcast, tuning in, listening, giving me the opportunity, giving me the space to share what I'm building, to share what I am experiencing. That's why I started my YouTube channel in the very beginning because I so badly wanted to share what I was experiencing. Entrepreneurship is unique. So let's talk about the numbers. As of today, 8.7 million dollars lent out in Zip Capital, Pennsylvania only real estate. Almost 10 million dollars. I just started Zip Capital in January of 2025. I had a few hundred thousand dollars lent out in the beginning of 2025. Now, 18 months later, close to 10 million dollars. Pretty crazy. And it's all because I have raised 6.7 million dollars, almost $7 million raised investor capital. Other people, specifically accredited investors, have invested into zip capital. So other people can give me money, can invest money into my company. Crazy concept. I had no idea this was even possible two years ago. Other people can invest into zip capital, and then I use other people's money to lend to Pennsylvania real estate investors. Now let's talk about something that I definitely should not talk about. Let's talk about revenue and profit. This is the crazy part. So not only was last month a record month for loans funded, it was also a PL record month. Top line revenue, bottom line profit across the board record month. So last month alone, July 2026, $205,000 of revenue, top line revenue. And then I paid $55,000 to zip capital investors. They earn fixed returns anywhere from 8% up to 12%. It all depends on how much they invest into zip capital. And these returns are not guaranteed. No private investment will ever tell you that they will never legally tell you that their returns are guaranteed. You're not allowed to say it. Nobody can say it. No returns are ever guaranteed. So let me just get that out of the way. But I offer fixed returns as long as zip capital continues to be profitable. That leaves $143,000 of profit just last month in zip capital. By comparison, Harrisburg bookkeeping $28,000 of profit. So I don't know what the math is. Maybe six times more profitable zip capital than Harrisburg bookkeeping. Pretty crazy. $28,000 last month in Harrisburg bookkeeping, 143. I've never, I've never made that much money in one month. Absolute crazy. Okay. This week feels completely different. So the last three weeks, total chaos. But now, month end close is finished. Most of Zip Capital's money is currently deployed. So I'm not really funding new loans right now. I'm waiting for either new investors to join Zip Capital or current loans to be paid off. So these are all short-term loans. Six months, potentially 12 months. So all of these loans are constantly recycling every six months. I'm not advertising for new loan requests because I don't have much capital left to lend. So right now I'm just maintaining Harrisburg bookkeeping and I'm still trying to grow zip capital, but I'm not funding new loans. So this week just feels crazy because the last three weeks were so busy, and now it's the 180 total opposite. This week just suddenly feels empty. It's such a bizarre feeling to go from swamped for three straight weeks to now all of a sudden just nothing's going on. Entrepreneurship is just incredibly volatile. As an employee, it's different. Your workload changes. Yes, of course. Employees have busy seasons. I used to work at an Amazon warehouse. And so every peak season, Black Friday, I'm sure you've heard of it, Black Friday, and then the holiday season, Christmas, total chaos, super busy. But then after that, January, February, things slowed down. So yes, as an employee, you have busy seasons, you have slow seasons, you have volatility in your workload, but your paycheck doesn't usually change. Usually you're paid hourly and you work 40 hours a week, maybe overtime here and there, or your salary, and then your paycheck definitely doesn't change. As an employee, it's different. But when you're an entrepreneur, your workload and your income can have dramatic swings. And that is difficult to manage emotionally, mentally, physically, financially, very difficult to manage. Busy weeks and slow weeks are just a part of entrepreneurship, just a part of running a business. I experienced it Harrisburg bookkeeping. I'm experiencing it now in Zip Capital. I've been through this before. Back in 2023, my bookkeeping business had a slow summer. I forget exactly what was happening. Maybe I lost a couple clients. Maybe I had some free time. Maybe I had more time on my hands. And so I was just thinking, what else can I do to drum up some more money? How can I make more income? I panicked. I'll just be honest. I panicked and I did something crazy. I got a full-time job. I got a full-time remote accounting job in the summer of 2023 because I thought something was wrong. I thought I got to change something. I gotta make more money. I have too much free time. I gotta be busier. What can I do? I'll just get a full-time job. That seems like a good idea, right? It was fully remote, so I was able to continue running Harrisburg bookkeeping. It was fully remote and I was a staff accountant. So it was relevant to my bookkeeping business. I would be able to apply some of the things I learned in my bookkeeping business and I was taking college classes. So I was able to apply the knowledge that I had learned into the staff accountant job and vice versa. I was able to learn some things as a staff accountant that were super applicable to what I was doing in my bookkeeping business. Looking back, it wasn't necessarily a business problem. I think I overreacted. It was just a normal, slow season. So looking back, would I have done it again? Probably not. Probably wasn't the best idea. But I also learned a lot. I learned to embrace the roller coaster. I learned that every business has ebbs and flows, peaks and valleys, slow seasons and busy seasons. Slow periods don't always mean that you're failing. It's so hard to understand this because when you have a couple good months, you want to chase that adrenaline. You want to feel that feeling again. And so when you have a slow month, you just think your world is crashing down. You think your world is coming to an end. But slow periods don't necessarily mean that you're failing. Sometimes they could just be a result of a successful busy season. Like me, in July, I deployed all my capital. I worked super hard in July. Or maybe for bookkeepers and tax accountants, maybe March and April, super busy. You've done all your work. You filed all your all your taxes for your clients, and then May and June, super slow, and you're like, what's going on? I I want to chase that feeling of accomplishment. I want to scratch that itch. I want to feel that adrenaline rush of the busy season. Sometimes slow seasons are simply a result of a successful busy season. And you gotta keep that in mind. Also, sometimes it's not always the result of a successful busy season. Sometimes slower seasons are just a really great opportunity to do one of two things: either relax and recover. Maybe you're just being blessed with a slower season so that you can focus on other things. Maybe it's an opportunity to focus on your family or your faith or your fitness or anything else that you have going on. We can't all sprint 100% of the time. It's impossible. You can't go 100 miles an hour, you can't give a hundred percent effort for 10 hours every day, five days a week, 52 weeks in the year. It's just not possible. So to wrap up this video, sometimes the slower weeks are good for one of two things: rest, relaxation, and recovery. Or maybe not that, maybe it's an opportunity to plan, to think creatively and prepare for what's going to happen in the next season. That is the big takeaway. That's what I am trying to embrace. Years ago, whenever I got that full-time job, looking back, now that I've learned my lesson, what I should have done instead, I should have taken instead of filling my free time with busy work, I should have filled my free time with creative thinking, with vision planning, with high-level strategy. That is where we can really unlock the next level. So the next time you feel like you have free time, or the next time you feel like you're in a slow season, it's not a bad thing. It's an opportunity, it's an incredible opportunity to plan for what you have coming up next. Maybe that is creating more marketing content, or maybe that's coming up with processes and systems and SOPs for your current business. Or maybe you need to hire some people for your company. Maybe your company is growing rapidly and you need to plan to hire five new employees in the next 12 months. Next time you have a slow season, don't overreact. Don't fill it with busy work, don't get a full time job. Focus. Think strategically, think long term. What is your vision? What is your plan for your business? Use that slow season to prepare for what's coming up next.