🚨 Nine years of messy books later… and guess what? They finally called a bookkeeper. 🙃
When clients come in with chaos, here’s the deal:
✨ Fresh Books, Fresh Start – Don’t dig through a decade of dust. Get what’s needed for the tax return and move forward.
💸 Charge What It’s Worth – Cleanups aren’t charity. Minimums matter. Yes, even $10K+ for the mess they created.
📝 ROI Reality Check – No one cares if that 2016 repair was “office supplies.” The IRS just wants the return filed.
👉 Bookkeepers: Don’t sell yourself short. Clients waited nine years — they can wait for the invoice too. 💥
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#BookkeepersOnFire #MessyBooks #ValuePricing
🔥 Bookkeepers, let’s get real... do we really need to sit around waiting for bank statements before entering transactions?
Spoiler alert: nope. Business keeps moving, and so should you. 🚀
Here’s the spicy takeaway from our latest Bookkeepers on Fire episode:
✨ 3 Hot Truths About Reconciling:
💻 Enter First, Reconcile Later → Don’t let missing statements slow your workflow. Keep the books rolling.
🏦 Bank Feeds Rule → If balances match, statements start to look like yesterday’s news.
🌟 Old School is Over → Statements are turning into nothing more than a dusty touchpoint for the curious accountant.
⚡ Keep it moving. Keep it accurate. Keep it fiery.
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#BookkeepersOnFire #AlwaysBePosting #AccountingHumor
🚨 Just landed your “first client”? Hold up… not so fast. 🚨
Here’s the real deal from our latest Bookkeepers on Fire episode 🎙️👇
✨ 3 Hot Truths:
💸 Prospect ≠ Client → Until there’s 💵 on the table (and a signed engagement letter), you’ve got a maybe, not a client.
🍔 Fries Still Cost Extra → Minimum pricing is non-negotiable. You don’t get a discount just because you don’t eat the fries.
🤖 Transactions vs. Transformation → Are you a keystroke-counter (AI bait) or the advisor who changes lives?
🎧 Catch the full episode where we spill the sarcasm and the strategy → #BookkeepersOnFire
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Bookkeepers are DONE playing small. 🔥
In our latest Bookkeepers on Fire episode, Deb and Donna sat down with Matt Tait of Decimal – a “recovering attorney” turned multi-business founder who's blowing up the traditional firm model and turning bookkeeping into a scalable, lifestyle-friendly business opportunity.
Here’s a taste of what we got into 👇
💥 Stop building yourself a job. Most firm owners stay stuck “doing the work” instead of building a business. Matt breaks down why founders should NOT be the ones in the GL…and what to focus on instead.
🧠 Cleanups, pricing & boundaries (aka: stop bleeding profit). From NOT selling cleanups first, to pricing in relationships (emails, meetings, Slack chaos), Matt shares how Decimal avoids the margin-killing traps most firms fall into.
🚀 Franchising bookkeeping as an operating system. Decimal isn’t just tech + offshore staff. It’s a full blueprint: vertical specialization, community, Philippines-based team support, and AI at the “tip of the spear” so franchisees can actually grow…not drown.
If you’re a bookkeeper or accountant who’s tired of being “just the back office” and ready to think like an entrepreneur, this convo is for you.
🔥 Subscribe to the : Bookkeepers On Fire Newsletter
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💸 Cash + Coaches = Chaos?
Sometimes bookkeeping questions aren’t about how to record… but why the heck it happened in the first place.
Here’s the hot take from this week’s Bookkeepers on Fire 🎙️🔥:
🚨 Red Flags Everywhere – Paying a “business coach” in cash? No invoice? No W9? Yeah… sketchy.
💼 Bookkeepers ≠ Police – Our job is to record, advise, and guide. Not cuff clients for bad decision.
💡 Transform, Don’t Tattle – The win is coaching clients toward smarter choices (not letting them spiral into IRS nightmares).
👉 Bottom line: You record the transaction, you flag the concern, and you keep the sparkle of professionalism alive. ✨
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#BookkeepersOnFire #CashIsn’tKing #BookkeepingWithAttitude
💡 Ever thought you needed a QuickBooks mentor to finally “get it”?
Here’s the truth (with a little tough love): nobody can make you learn. You’ve got to do the work. But the right communities can absolutely change the game.
✨ Here’s the real scoop:
🚀 F1 was my first mentor → yup, that little help key taught me more than I ever expected.
🎥 YouTube University FTW → Hector Garcia & Veronica Wasek mentored me for years before they even knew I existed.
🤝 Communities beat gurus → you’ll learn faster (and cheaper) by surrounding yourself with people who share knowledge than by paying someone to spoon-feed you.
👉 So stop hunting for shortcuts. Dive in, get your hands messy, ask questions in the right groups, and teach as you learn. That’s how you level up.
🔥 Question for you: Who’s been your “accidental mentor”?
🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.
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🚨 Stop scrolling. Let’s talk about why you’re stuck in analysis paralysis instead of building your business.
Too many new bookkeepers are:
🤯 Comparing prices to $200 “McBookkeeping” shops (spoiler: it’s a race to the bottom)
📝 Counting transactions instead of transforming clients’ businesses (transactional = cheap, transformative = premium 💎)
🌐 Obsessing over websites instead of landing actual clients (newsflash: your first five don’t care about your homepage 🚫)
💡 The truth? You’re not competing with bargain-bin vendors. You’re building something bigger. Premium. Impactful. You.
🔥 Stop waiting. Stop copying. Start transforming.
🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.
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🚨 Ever had an insurance provider, mortgage broker, or workers comp auditor throw around the word “audited” like it’s free candy?
🍬 Spoiler alert: it’s not the same thing we mean in accounting.
Here’s the real talk:
🔹 Audited ≠ Audited – Capital “A” audit means third-party, deep dive, $15K+ bill 💸 … small “a” audit means “does this look okay?” 👀
🔹 Push Back – When they demand “audited” statements, ask them who’s paying. (Hint: not you, unless they’ve got $15,000 burning a hole in their pocket) 🔥
🔹 Clarity Wins – Most of the time, they just want standardized financials. Send your year-end statements ✅ and call it a day.
👉 Next time someone tosses the word audit at you, remember: definitions matter.
Would you pay $15K just to make your insurance agent happy? 😂
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💸 Favorite clients can still fail… and it’s not your fault.
Sometimes, tough love is the best kind of bookkeeping.
🔥 Here’s the hard truth we don’t like to admit:
☕ Starbucks ≠ Sales. If your client spends more than they sell, no spreadsheet magic can fix it.
💳 Loans for payroll? That’s not strategy, that’s survival mode (with interest).
🚪 No sales, no business. A website doesn’t pay the bills—customers do.
At the end of the day, you can love your client… but you can’t fund their denial. Sometimes, letting go is the real act of service.
👉 Bookkeepers, have you ever had to give a client the “tough mom” talk?
🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.
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🎓 School told us confidence comes with a degree.
😅 Reality handed us dusty ledgers, 100° fields in business suits, and office supply “theories” that no one uses.
Here’s what we actually learned:
📚 Theory is nice… until you’re sweating through your blazer counting grain silos in Bakersfield.
🤯 Confidence tanks fast when your shiny diploma doesn’t match real-world chaos (spoiler: it never does).
🚀 Real growth happens when you mess up, fix it, and keep showing up. No permission slips required.
🔥 So, are you still riding the stagecoach of “education only”… or are you piloting the supersonic jet of experience + guts?
🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.
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🔥 Elite? Please. Let’s set the record straight.
Being a top-tier bookkeeper isn’t about some fancy title. It’s about how you show up.
Here’s the truth 👇
💪 Confidence Counts → Stop acting like a vendor. Walk in as the expert you are.
💸 Costly ≠ Expensive → You’re not “too expensive.” You’re an investment. Cheap mistakes cost way more.
⚡ Deliver or Don’t → Bold promises mean nothing if you can’t deliver. Do the work. Every. Single. Time.
✨ You don’t need permission to call yourself an expert.
You just need the guts to own it.
🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.
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#BookkeepersOnFire #ValueNotCost #ExpertMindset
💥 Business owners writing checks to “Cash”? Let’s talk about the chaos that follows.
Because what you think saves hassle actually invites headaches (and maybe an IRS fan club).
Here’s the breakdown:
💸 No shortcuts → Writing “Cash” doesn’t erase 1099 obligations. The IRS still wants its slice.
🤯 Chaos guaranteed → Try explaining “mystery cash” when applying for a loan. Spoiler: banks don’t buy shenanigans.
🧾 Bookkeepers aren’t magicians → If you hand us “Cash,” don’t expect it to vanish. It ends up in Owner Distribution. Period.
👉 Sometimes the right thing costs more upfront—but it costs way less than the wrong thing later.
🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.
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#Bookkeeping #SmallBusiness #TaxTruths #BookkeepersOnFire
🚧 Contractor or Coworker? That is the very expensive question.
Before you hand out reimbursements like party favors, you might want to tune into this one 👀
💥 Here's what we unpack:
🧾 Why every penny you pay a contractor—including that “harmless” mileage reimbursement—could blow up your 1099s
🧨 The one word that can turn your independent contractor into a full-blown employee (hello, audit 🧑⚖️)
📬 Why “just send an invoice” might be your new favorite phrase
🔗 Listen now before the IRS does.
🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.
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Bookkeepers On Fire is proudly ad-free and 100% listener-supported, so we can bring you unfiltered conversations without outside agendas. If you enjoy the show, consider donating to help keep our mics hot and our mission independent.
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#BookkeepersOnFire #ContractorLife #1099Drama #AuditThis #QuickBooksQueen #SpicyAccounting #BookkeepingTruthBombs
🧾 LAW FIRM LUNACY isn't just a vibe... it’s a full-blown cautionary tale when attorneys think Essentials can handle trust accounting. 💀
📢 Bookkeepers, don’t get caught holding the gavel:
🔹 Trust funds ≠ play money — Mixing accounts? Hello, disbarment! 🙅♀️⚠️
🔹 $35 too much? 🚫 If your client won’t pay for LeanLaw, tell them “I rest my case.” 🙃💼
🔹 Three-way what? If they can’t reconcile, you can’t represent. Period. 📉👩⚖️
👏 Big props to @Linda Artesani & @Sarah Prevost — queens of legal accounting chaos control over at Accountants Law Lab.
🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.
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#LawFirmBookkeeping #TrustIssues #BookkeepersOnFire #ClientRedFlags 🚩 #QuickBooksQuirks #NotMyProblem #AccountingWithAttitude
🌎✈️ Taxes Across Borders… because why make it simple?
Bookkeepers, ever notice how Canada just has to do things differently? New logins, new rules, new banking systems… Meanwhile, we’re over here arguing about whether it’s a sub, hoagie, or po’ boy. 🙃
Here’s the takeaway:
🔹 QuickBooks ≠ Magic Wand → Want Canadian tax done right? You need the Canadian version. Period. 🧾🍁
🔹 Spoiled in the US → One language, one currency… and we complain about barbecue styles. 🍖😂
🔹 Perspective Check → Other countries juggle multiple languages + currencies daily. Maybe we’re not as “busy” as we think. 🤔💡
🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.
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Bookkeepers On Fire is proudly ad-free and 100% listener-supported, so we can bring you unfiltered conversations without outside agendas. If you enjoy the show, consider donating to help keep our mics hot and our mission independent.
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#BookkeepersOnFire #GlobalAccounting #QuickBooks #TaxesWithSarcasm
🚨 When a deposit from October 2024 is haunting your 2025 bank feed... it’s time for tough love:
Exclude. Breathe. Move on.
This 🔥 episode of Bookkeepers on Fire is serving up reality with a side of sarcasm:
💡 Materiality ≠ Perfection – It's not $1M... it's ✂️ snip-snip time.
🧠 Bank Account Roulette – Pick an account, any account. 🎲
📬 Uncashed Payroll Checks?! – Say hello to escheat law 🏛️ and goodbye to your patience 😵💫
💬 You can't fix stupid — but you can exclude it.
🎧 Tune in, laugh, and reclaim your sanity.
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#BookkeepersOnFire #ExcludeAndBreathe #AccountingDrama #BankFeedFails #EscheatThis 💅
🔥 Bookkeepers on Fire x Meg Wheeler (CPA, sailor, & founder of Equitable Money Project)
From Harvard endowment halls to all-women yacht racing—and building a shame-free money community. This convo had laughs, life jackets, and legit money talk. ⚓💸
🧠 Superpower > Perfection: Meg keeps it real—debt, late retirement saving, career zigzags—and turns lessons into judgment-free education for creators & small biz owners.
⚓ Race Day Truths: Communication > everything. Seven women, one boat, clear roles, and you can cross first and still “lose.” (Life and money, anyone?) ⛵😅
🗣️ Normalize Money Talk: Safe spaces beat silent struggles. Financial literacy for women & marginalized founders isn’t optional—it’s power. 💬✨
Catch Meg here: Equitable Money Project • YouTube • Disrupt Your Money podcast
🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.
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Bookkeepers On Fire is proudly ad-free and 100% listener-supported, so we can bring you unfiltered conversations without outside agendas. If you enjoy the show, consider donating to help keep our mics hot and our mission independent.
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#BookkeepersOnFire #SmallBusinessFinance #WomenInFinance #FinancialLiteracy #CreatorsEconomy #JudgmentFreeMoney #WomenWhoSail #CPAInsights #MoneyMindset
🚨 CLIENT RED FLAG ALERT 🚨
Just because they smiled on the sales call doesn’t mean they belong in your books.
Here’s your Permission to Disengage when:
💬 They say “Why am I even paying you?” (Oh honey… that’s your cue to exit left.)
🤡 They think jokes at your expense are "just funny" — hard pass.
💸 Your gut said “Nope,” but your invoice said “Yes” — refund and reclaim your peace.
🔥 You don’t have to keep “dating” bad clients. You’re not desperate — you’re booked and brilliant.
🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.
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Bookkeepers On Fire is proudly ad-free and 100% listener-supported, so we can bring you unfiltered conversations without outside agendas. If you enjoy the show, consider donating to help keep our mics hot and our mission independent.
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#BookkeepersOnFire #ClientBoundaries #GutCheckApproved #KnowYourWorth #DisengageWithDignity #BookkeepingBusiness #PermissionToDisengage
💥 Stop selling yourself short. 💥
Bookkeeping isn’t about clocking hours or “what clients can afford.” It’s about VALUE.
Here’s the raw truth we see every day & ✨ 3 Spicy Takeaways:
🚫 Stop guessing clients’ budgets — let THEM decide what they can pay.
🧨 Meetings aren’t “optional fluff.” They’re where the real strategy (and value) happens.
💎 Clients will pay for outcomes, not hours — but only if you position yourself as more than a checkbook babysitter.
🔥 Bookkeepers, you bring more to the table than reconciliations. Stop shrinking. Own it.
🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.
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Bookkeepers On Fire is proudly ad-free and 100% listener-supported, so we can bring you unfiltered conversations without outside agendas. If you enjoy the show, consider donating to help keep our mics hot and our mission independent.