Bookkeeper Success Story

Business Coaching Bookkeeper Success Story

Lynn Milano was a single parent with 3 kids, a bunny and a bird renting a home in Petaluma.  She went through a tough divorce, they lost their home in foreclosure and she had to ask her parents for financial help.  She did have a job, but it didn’t pay well and the company was going out of business – no fault of hers.  Two of her children were in college and she had no monetary help from her ex.  She was obviously concerned about how to pay her bills.  She was wondering how the heck she was going to make a living and support her family.

We started working together and I helped her expand upon her idea of starting her own bookkeeping business.  She knew she was not going to get assistance from her ex so she would have to go it alone.  This was a scary jump for her.  My job was to help her make the “jump” into reasonable steps.

She had the experience and knowledge, is a very caring and detail oriented person and learns quickly.  She planned on getting work by undercutting the competition in price at $30 an hour.  I helped her realize that she’s one of the best in the area and should charge what she’s worth at least $50 an hour.  She’s not one of those people who just plugs and chugs numbers, she thinks, makes sure the numbers make sense and when appropriate, gives the business owner advice or a heads-up.  She was nervous, but agreed to try it.  She started spreading the word, and her first client came from a friend’s referral.  Everyone she talked to accepted her rate without blinking!  That’s a 67% raise.

Then she was able to hire me to build a website for her http://www.petalumabookkeeper.com/ (I can’t believe that domain was still available) and some search engine optimization that resulted in her being in the top spot in Google within 3 weeks.  She then started getting phone calls and clients asking for her help.  This was much easier than her initial outreach and networking.  In one year, she was totally booked and charging $60 an hour (still well worth it).  She was able to buy her own home and support her kids in college!

She then met an accountant CPA who referred business to her.  She got too busy and we worked together to help her add a team of highly qualified part time bookkeepers in her business.  She marketed, interviewed, hired, trained and did quality control and supported them.

She was so good at her work, she got an offer she couldn’t refuse.  One of her key clients asked her to come on full time with medical benefits (only 4 days a week) with a 25% increase in pay.  A year later, she got another offer for double that amount as an executive CFO and now she’s increased her savings and investing for true financial freedom.

Even with the incredible new job, she’s able to keep running her business due to her excellent team and smoothly running business processes.