Episodes

  • EP530: Ashley Jocic - No Time, No Problem: Building A Virtual Firm During Life Chaos

    EP530: Ashley Jocic - No Time, No Problem: Building A Virtual Firm During Life Chaos
    May 5 2026
    See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Ashley Jocic started Florida Keys Bookkeeping at one of the most turbulent moments imaginable: a separation, COVID shutdowns, and a career pivot — all at once. What followed was five years of growing a fully virtual bookkeeping firm while navigating a new marriage, a daughter, an international move to Serbia, and twins. This episode is a masterclass in building something real when life refuses to slow down. Chapters [00:00] Life chaos that sparked the business[04:18] Early career and Bookkeeper Launch[07:04] Finding the first clients[10:40] Newborn, new marriage, slow growth[13:28] Twins force a systemization sprint[18:35] Running a US firm from Serbia[25:11] Building referral relationships[32:10] Plans for intentional growth[40:55] Protecting your work time Starting From a Real Moment Ashley's path into bookkeeping started with her dad. She'd been handling his books and noticed something: "I remember seeing the relief on his face when he knew his bookkeeping and his bills were handled." That moment made her realize bookkeeping is more than data entry — it lifts a genuine mental burden from business owners. Combined with a background in government accounting and a timely refresh through the Bookkeeper Launch course, she had what she needed to start. Growing Slowly — On Purpose Ashley's early client growth was deliberate and unhurried, mostly driven by a professional website and a referral from her father's network. "If someone called me and wanted a bookkeeper, I ended up doing their bookkeeping," she says. There was no aggressive outreach strategy at first — and that was fine. Her constraints as a new stay-at-home mom meant slow, steady growth was the only kind that fit. She and her husband aimed for 20 hours of work per week. Sometimes she hit it. Sometimes she didn't. A Hard Deadline Forces the Right Decisions When Ashley found out she was pregnant with twins, she faced a clear choice: systemize fast or shut down. She chose to systemize. She leaned heavily on Pure Bookkeeping to document and standardize her processes, hired a team member in Serbia she could train before going on leave, and brought on a second person to review that work while she was away. "I did a lot of things a lot quicker than I would have normally because of that constraint, because of that timeline." The firm didn't just survive her maternity leave — it ran smoothly. Virtual-Only as a Filter, Not a Limitation Living in Serbia with a six-hour time difference from the US East Coast might sound like a recipe for client friction. Ashley sees it differently. Being unable to visit offices or meet for coffee filters out clients who aren't ready for fully virtual work — and those tend to be the wrong clients anyway. The right clients, she's found, don't need her physically present. They need her reliable. A CPA who works with one of her clients has since referred additional business to her, which she considers a strong signal: "He liked my work enough to refer me to someone else he was doing taxes for." Protecting Your Work Time Looking back, the one thing Ashley wishes she'd done sooner is treat her work hours as non-negotiable. "I would too easily say, 'Well, okay, I'll work later,'" she reflects. "I had to treat it like a business and not just something that fits in the in-between moments." That mindset shift — from flexible freelancer to firm owner — is something she says took time but made a real difference in how the business runs today. Now, with systems in place and a small team, she's turning her attention to intentional growth: more cleanups that convert to monthly clients, and deeper relationships with accountants who can send referrals. Links mentioned Florida Keys BookkeepingPure BookkeepingThe Successful Bookkeeper About the guest Ashley Jocic is the owner of Florida Keys Bookkeeping, a fully virtual firm she launched during the COVID shutdowns. With a background in government accounting and a passion for helping small business owners feel confident in their finances, she now runs her practice remotely from Serbia while raising three young children. She specializes in bookkeeping cleanups and monthly services for service-based businesses across the United States. About the hostMichael PalmerMichael Palmer is the host of The Successful Bookkeeper podcast and co-founder of Pure Bookkeeping and The Successful Bookkeeper. He started this work because of his father — a brilliant electrical contractor who worked twice as hard as he should have had to, because nobody on the financial side was in his corner. That gap is what The Successful Bookkeeper exists to close. His view: bookkeepers are the most undervalued force in small business — and every bookkeeper who builds a real business changes two families: theirs, and their clients'.
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    29 mins
  • EP529: Anne Napolitano - Stop Undercharging: How To Price & Sell Advisory Services

    EP529: Anne Napolitano - Stop Undercharging: How To Price & Sell Advisory Services
    Apr 28 2026
    See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Anne Napolitano started her firm a decade ago as a solopreneur with an accounting degree, a background as a controller for Hermès of Paris, and a stint as a personal chef. Today she runs a 10-person firm with a specialty niche in food and beverage — and she has learned, often the hard way, how to charge what her work is actually worth. This episode is a practical, honest conversation about building advisory services into a bookkeeping firm, pricing with confidence, and communicating value so clients never have to wonder what you do for them. Chapters [00:00] Anne's Background and Firm Journey[05:03] Early Mistakes and Hard Lessons[09:07] Building Advisory Into the Practice[12:24] Tools, Confidence, and Clean Data[14:33] Selling Advisory to Skeptical Clients[18:20] Segmenting Clients for Higher-Tier Work[20:42] Packaging and Proposals That Work[23:34] Pricing Courage and Recovering from Undercharging[28:19] Communicating Value Before Clients Leave[30:29] Pivotal Moments and What She'd Do Differently From Bookkeeping to Advisory: It Takes Time to Grow Into It Anne didn't launch as a full advisory firm on day one — the advisory side evolved as her confidence and team grew. She credits closing the books fast (her target is the 10th–15th of each month) as the foundation that makes advisory possible. "The faster we can get the bookkeeping done, that allows us 2 weeks at the end of the month to meet with clients and to do the advisory type of work that we really enjoy." Without clean, timely data, there's nothing to advise on. Selling Advisory When Clients Don't Know They Need It Many clients assume advisory is bundled into their basic bookkeeping fee. Anne's approach is to start with bookkeeping, build trust, and then show — not tell — what advisory can do. She uses dashboards, charts, and graphs in prospect calls, sometimes pulling analysis directly from a prospect's QuickBooks file before they've even signed. "We have found that that has been a game changer." Visual tools lower the barrier for clients who tune out a P&L but respond immediately to a trend line. Segmenting Clients for Higher-Tier Services Not every client is ready for advisory, and Anne stopped pretending otherwise. She segments roughly the top 15–30% of her client base into higher-tier engagements based on revenue size, reporting complexity, or multi-entity structures — not just headcount. Clients who don't start there often grow into it. "Some of the other clients move themselves into advisory over time. Either they grow or become more complex, or we've shown them what we can do for them — and by then we have a relationship, so they trust us." The Pricing Trap: Being a Recovering Underpricer Anne is direct about the pricing mistakes she's still working through. She uses value pricing (no hourly billing), offers three-tier proposal packages, and spells out scope precisely to avoid scope creep and client assumptions. But the real obstacle is internal. "I'm a recovering underpricer. You need to be willing and able for them to walk away. Because if they're not going to pay your price, it's not a good client for you." She also anchors pricing against the cost of a full-time hire — converting monthly fees to an annual figure so clients can compare apples to apples. Communicating Value Before Clients Drift Away Losing clients not because of bad work, but because clients didn't understand what was being done for them, was one of Anne's hardest lessons. Her fix: overcommunicate. Her team now sends monthly summaries through their client portal covering what was done, errors caught, fraud signals flagged, and money saved. "We don't always communicate to a client, and we found that that was a big mistake." She describes it as an iceberg — clients see the surface, but the firm's job is to make the work below the waterline visible. --- Links Mentioned Anne Napolitano on LinkedInAnne Napolitano on Instagram: search Anne NapolitanoThe Balance Sheet — Anne's monthly newsletter (contact her via social media to subscribe)The Successful Bookkeeper Summit — this year's theme: Owning Your AuthorityPureBookkeeping.com — episode sponsorWoodard conferences and education (mentioned as a resource for advisory skill-building) --- About the Guest Anne Napolitano is the founder of Anne Napolitano Consulting, a modern accounting and advisory firm she has grown over 10 years from a solo practice to a 10-person team. With over 30 years in accounting — including a role as U.S. controller for Hermès of Paris — Anne specializes in bookkeeping and CFO-level advisory services for food and beverage businesses, nonprofits, and general small business clients. She is based in the United States and is active on LinkedIn and Instagram.
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    35 mins
  • EP528: Teresa Slack - From $18/Hour To Million-Dollar Firm: The Pricing Shift

    EP528: Teresa Slack - From $18/Hour To Million-Dollar Firm: The Pricing Shift
    Apr 21 2026

    "There were times I remember having to pull money out of our retirement savings to cover payroll. We weren't sleeping, we were stressed. We didn't know where to turn, and it was so stressful. It was not a good scenario." -Teresa Slack In this episode, Canadian bookkeeping expert and million-dollar firm builder Teresa Slack shares the hard truth about pricing and what it really costs when you get it wrong. She breaks down her journey from charging $18/hour and burning out to building a profitable, scalable firm using value pricing and better systems, along with the key mistakes to avoid and what actually drives growth. In this episode, you'll learn:

    • The difference between fixed pricing & true value pricing

    • How to raise your prices without losing your best clients

    • Why identifying your ideal client changes everything

    To learn more about Teresa, click here. Connect with her on LinkedIn. Time Stamps 01:05 – Teresa's journey from struggling firm to success 04:00 – Early pricing mistakes & mindset challenges 07:01 – How poor pricing led to financial stress 09:42 – The turning point: systems & value pricing 17:36 – Where most bookkeepers go wrong with pricing 19:28 – How to raise prices the right way 21:42 – What happened after repricing clients 24:08 – The compounding effect of better pricing 28:10 – Finding your niche & ideal clients 36:09 – Why action builds confidence

    Your expertise has more value than you think, so Own Your Authority at The Successful Bookkeeper Summit 2026! It's a high-energy two-day virtual experience for bookkeepers ready to lead with confidence and elevate their impact. Join inspiring leaders on November 4th–5th to gain actionable strategies, powerful tools, and the clarity to shape the work you want, not just keep up with it. Don't miss this incredible opportunity! REGISTER TODAY!
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    43 mins
  • EP527: Justin Atherton - The Clarity Advantage Most Bookkeepers Ignore

    EP527: Justin Atherton - The Clarity Advantage Most Bookkeepers Ignore
    Apr 14 2026

    " When you start speaking to yourself with more precise and definitive language, it changes how you show up for yourself. Think about how your clients and the people that you work with, it impacts how they see you." –Justin Atherton In this episode, former law enforcement detective, SWAT operator, and leadership coach, Justin Atherton breaks down a skill most bookkeepers overlook: precise communication. He explains how the words you use every day either build trust or quietly destroy it, and shares how vague language creates confusion, missed deadlines, and weak client relationships. If you've ever felt frustrated by clients not following through, this episode will change how you speak, write, and lead. In this episode, you'll learn:

    • How "stop action verbs" sabotage your results
    • How to replace "I'll try" with language that drives action
    • How to communicate deadlines clearly & avoid confusion

    To learn more about Justin, click here. Connect with him on LinkedIn. Watch Justin's TEDx Talk: The Suspect Within.

    Buy his book, How To Get To The Damn Point at this link.

    Time Stamps

    01:03 – Justin's background in law enforcement & leadership 05:06 – Why communication problems exist in every industry 06:25 – The danger of vague, abstract language 14:32 – The Wave Method explained 15:27 – Stop action verbs & how they weaken your message 19:10 – Awareness & catching your language in real time 30:06 – How to write clearer emails that get results 36:18 – Using accountability to change communication habits 41:30 – Justin's book & practical tools Your expertise has more value than you think, so Own Your Authority at The Successful Bookkeeper Summit 2026! It's a high-energy two-day virtual experience for bookkeepers ready to lead with confidence and elevate their impact. Join inspiring leaders on November 4th–5th to gain actionable strategies, powerful tools, and the clarity to shape the work you want, not just keep up with it. Don't miss this incredible opportunity! REGISTER TODAY!
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    46 mins
  • EP526: David Homan - Why Networking Feels Broken & What Actually Works - Part 2

    EP526: David Homan - Why Networking Feels Broken & What Actually Works - Part 2
    Apr 7 2026

    "This is how you look at success. It is only a narrative of people to people, to people. Why else wouldn't you wanna spend your time doing that more purposefully and intentionally?" -David Homan In the finale of our two-part series with community building strategist and author, David Homan, he will show you how to turn everyday interests into real connections and why the opportunities you're looking for are already closer than you think. You'll learn how to move past hesitation, stop overthinking networking, and start building relationships that lead to real trust, referrals, and long-term opportunities. In this episode, you'll learn:

    • Why asking for help is less effective than offering it
    • How to overcome intimidation & connect with anyone
    • A simple habit that strengthens relationships & builds trust

    To learn more about David, click here. Connect with him on LinkedIn. Get a copy of Orchestrating Connection at this link. Time Stamps 01:00 – Turning everyday interests into connection 04:48 – Why gratitude calls create unexpected opportunities 07:42 – Overcoming intimidation & imposter thinking 12:09 – Shifting from "me" to "how can I help?" 17:17 – Reconnecting with people you've lost touch with 21:47 – How real opportunities are built through people 24:14 – Why small actions create bigger impact than you think Your expertise has more value than you think, so Own Your Authority at The Successful Bookkeeper Summit 2026! It's a high-energy two-day virtual experience for bookkeepers ready to lead with confidence and elevate their impact. Join inspiring leaders on November 4th–5th to gain actionable strategies, powerful tools, and the clarity to shape the work you want, not just keep up with it. Don't miss this incredible opportunity! REGISTER TODAY!
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    29 mins
  • EP525: David Homan - Why Networking Feels Broken & What Actually Works - Part 1

    EP525: David Homan - Why Networking Feels Broken & What Actually Works - Part 1
    Mar 31 2026

    "There's all that magic that seems to happen by those who are born with relationship privilege, but we can all build it. It just starts with how you can become more purposeful and intentional with what you want out of not just your life, but the people around you that form your purposeful community." -David Homan Community-building strategist and author of Orchestrating Connection, David Homan challenges the way you think about networking. He explains why traditional networking often feels forced and ineffective, and shows how shifting toward intentional, trust-based relationships can open doors you didn't think were possible. David shares how vulnerability, curiosity, and generosity create stronger connections, and why building a purposeful community matters more than collecting contacts. In this episode, you'll learn:

    • Why most networking fails & what to do instead
    • How to turn your existing network into a supportive community
    • A simple way to create opportunities without asking for anything

    To learn more about David, click here. Connect with him on LinkedIn. Get a copy of Orchestrating Connection this link. Time Stamps 00:56 – Why traditional networking feels forced 02:08 – David's background & early exposure to relationships 09:34 – Network vs. purposeful community 11:40 – Using vulnerability to build trust 19:19 – Real connection vs. transactional conversations 23:29 – The five principles of meaningful relationships 29:16 – How to start building your community today Your expertise has more value than you think, so Own Your Authority at The Successful Bookkeeper Summit 2026! It's a high-energy two-day virtual experience for bookkeepers ready to lead with confidence and elevate their impact. Join inspiring leaders on November 4th–5th to gain actionable strategies, powerful tools, and the clarity to shape the work you want, not just keep up with it. Don't miss this incredible opportunity! REGISTER TODAY!

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    33 mins
  • EP524: Gina Cotner – The Simple Accountability System That Gets Work Done

    EP524: Gina Cotner – The Simple Accountability System That Gets Work Done
    Mar 24 2026

    "High performers liked to be with high performers. So if you start to train yourself as a manager, as a boss, as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, in holding people accountable, you will notice who doesn't mind that, who kind of thrives around that, and those kind of people attract more people like that." –Gina Cotner In this episode, founder and CEO of Athena Executive Services, Gina Cotner shares a practical framework for holding your team accountable without creating tension or fear. She explains why delegation alone is not enough, how accountability builds stronger leaders inside your firm, and how small shifts in communication can dramatically improve follow-through and results. In this episode, you'll learn:

    • What to say when deadlines are missed & how to fix the real issue
    • The simple question that drives ownership & initiative
    • How asking "when" changes your team culture

    To learn more about Gina, click here. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

    Read about her company, Athena Executive Services at this link.

    Time Stamps

    00:57 – Gina's business growth through rapid expansion & market shifts 13:08 – Why delegation without accountability fails 21:40 – Shifting ownership: "What do you need from me?" 23:36 – The power of asking "when" in every meeting 27:42 – What to do when work is not completed on time 29:14 – The million-dollar question: "What got in the way?" 35:11 – Why caring deeply gives you room to hold people accountable 41:15 – Negotiating deadlines without lowering standards This episode is brought to you by our great friends at BILL!

    They're hosting Bookkeeper Appreciation Week from March 30th to April 3rd—dedicated to recognizing the real work you do and giving you tools you can actually use to free up time for more strategic work.

    Get ready for 5 days of practical resources delivered straight to your inbox, plus live, CPE-eligible webinars!

    Register now at bill.com/successfulbookkeeper! Don't miss it!
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    47 mins
  • EP523: Spotlight - Joe Woodard - How To Stay Relevant In The AI Era

    EP523: Spotlight - Joe Woodard - How To Stay Relevant In The AI Era
    Mar 19 2026

    "At some point in the future, somebody's going to be watching a movie about our era and there's going to be a human bookkeeper. And they're going to turn to their parents 20 years from now, and they're gonna say, 'Bookkeepers used to be people? That's so weird. I thought they were always artificial intelligence. I thought they were always computers.'" -Joe Woodard In this spotlight episode, founder of Scaling New Heights, Joe Woodard shares a clear view of where the bookkeeping profession is heading as AI reshapes the industry. He breaks down how service models are evolving, why advisory must be structured differently, and what practical steps you can take today to stay relevant and valuable plus much more! In this episode, you'll learn:

    • How to use AI safely while protecting client data
    • The difference between AI-enabled tools & native AI platforms
    • How to structure your services using "swim lanes" instead of pricing tiers

    To learn more about Joe, visit his LinkedIn profile here.

    To get your ticket for Scaling New Heights, click this link. Time Stamps 00:53 – Introduction to Joe Woodard & what's new since his last visit 02:15 – Why advisory is becoming the core value in bookkeeping 04:20 – Moving from pricing tiers to service "swim lanes" 06:04 – Breaking down transactional, controllership, FP&A & outsourcing 08:26 – How subscription models change pricing & scope conversations 10:16 – Why managing scope is harder than managing profitability 12:11 – How to handle scope creep using swim lane language 15:23 – Pricing differences for small versus larger clients 16:22 – The impact of AI on bookkeeping & accounting 18:03 – Book recommendations to understand the future of work 20:14 – The "Hidden Figures" lesson every bookkeeper should understand 22:18 – Two paths to adopt AI in your firm 25:41 – Native AI tools versus AI layered on existing platforms 28:34 – How to protect client data when using AI 32:21 – Practical advice for using tools like ChatGPT safely 35:36 – Scaling New Heights conference & what to expect Your expertise has more value than you think, so Own Your Authority at The Successful Bookkeeper Summit 2026! It's a high-energy two-day virtual experience for bookkeepers ready to lead with confidence and elevate their impact. Join inspiring leaders on November 4th–5th to gain actionable strategies, powerful tools, and the clarity to shape the work you want, not just keep up with it. Don't miss this incredible opportunity! REGISTER TODAY!
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    39 mins