Learning with LIBBY: A Discussion with Student, Grisell Cano
Jul 10, 2023
I have a treat for you all today! Please welcome Grisell Cano, an active member inside my Life By The Books bookkeeping course. We’re going to go over her bookkeeping journey, from what life was like before, during, and after the Life By The Books bookkeeping course. Let’s get started!
Meet Grisell!
Katie: Do you want to tell us about what was going on before you joined my bookkeeping course?
Grisell: Well, I started my bookkeeping business in 2020, just before the world went crazy. I still had a full-time job, but I was on maternity leave with my second child, and I did not want to go back. I was bound and determined not to return, whether that path led to my own business or a different job. I just needed to be out of where I was. I worked for the local school district, and while the job was fine, the administration had changed, and it was just too much for me.
I've always had the entrepreneurial spirit, but I always thought I needed a product.
My husband has had a few businesses himself, so I just kept bugging him about what problem we could solve for others. And at the same time, I was looking for a different job. I really wanted something part-time, and we know that down the line, we're going to do real-estate related work.
So I started out looking for a real estate office job to understand the inner workings of it all, but I also was doing some bookkeeping already—and you know how Facebook is always listening—so I ended up getting a bunch of bookkeeping courses advertised to me.
I ended up finding one, listened to some of their free videos, and thought, “I could totally do this.”
So my job was bookkeeping, but at the school board level. I wasn't using QuickBooks. I was doing the bookkeeping for all of the custodial departments, so I was managing a lot of money, but it was mostly inputting orders, paying invoices, that kind of thing.
It was supposed to be a very analytical thing, which I really wanted to be doing, but that's not what ended up happening. Still, that's where I learned debits and credits and fund balances and all the basics of accounting and reconciliation. and that kind of stuff.
This bookkeeping course, however, was QuickBooks-centered, and it was only a thousand dollars. It was around Christmas time, so I told my husband I wanted it for Christmas. We invested in the bookkeeping course, I started my business like January 4th…and I had my first client January 20th!
A lot of people do the BABs course first, but since I had all the basics down, I did Life By The Books first. I followed you on Instagram, and at the time, you were doing a lot of late-night stories all talking about how your business exists to support the life that you want.
I wanted that, too. So I kept listening to your podcast. I kept following you, and eventually,
I actually took the plunge into your bookkeeping course. Even though I had a background already, I learned so many more valuable lessons within your bookkeeping course than I did on my own.
I definitely learned a lot on my own, but the Life By The Books community and having you in Voxer made it easy. I can take actual real-life stuff that's happening and tell you what's going on and get some help and support.
Learning With Life By The Books
Katie: I love what you said about Life By The Books making it easy, because when people ask what we do inside the Life By The Books bookkeeping course, I tell them that I mostly help you simplify all of the things that you so effortlessly overcomplicate.
We tend to overcomplicate by nature. We don't even think about it. We look at a thing and go, “How can we make this hard? How can we make this fancy?” instead of, “How can we boil this down?”
I always picture simplification like simmering something on the stove to concentrate it. Like, how can we get rid of all the other unrequired fluff that's there so that we can get down to the thing that really matters the most and focus on that?
We need the ability to simplify, especially when time is tight, when we're trying to grow the business while still doing the things that we need to do, when there's overlap because we're not out of our job, when we haven't left the demanding clients, when we're still worrying about how to pay the bills, or even when we’re just home with little ones.
We don't have enough time to make this bookkeeping thing that hard.
Grisell: I love the exercise that you gave us once upon a time. I still have the Post-It at my desk that says, “Make out your to-do list and pick out the simplest thing that will be the biggest needle-mover.” I still apply that. Pretty much every Sunday night, I look at my calendar, I look at what I've got to do, I make my list, and I go with the simplest action that will spur the most forward movement.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
Katie: I just want to highlight some of the things that you said. I love how you said that you had an entrepreneurial spirit, but you thought you needed a product.
That's so interesting, because I've been entrepreneurially curious, but I don't know that I ever thought that I would actually do something on my own. I was just interested in it; I thought it was interesting to see what other people did, but I always had more questions than answers in terms of what that life actually looked like.
I think because we're so analytical, we can see the risks that other people don't. You may have this really cool business that's in-person, but what does that look like? Are you stressed? Because it looks stressful to me. Now, it looks cool, too, but there are so many different factors that I don't want to be in your shoes.
In contrast, there is such an appeal to a service-based business, even if you invest in it.
For instance, the thing that I've been focusing on most in my messaging for my programs is that we're not trying to have profitable bookkeeping businesses, because that's almost a guarantee. We don’t have to try. You get like a client or two in the door, and you're profiting no matter what you're investing in.
If you get one client in the door and you have invested in both of my programs, then you're still going to profit.
That's a huge draw to this business. There aren’t a lot of barriers to entry or a struggle to profit once you take on one or two clients.
The thing that you then need to focus on is making sure you can do the work.
Ready to Simplify? Join Life By The Books!
Grisell: I love Life By The Books. It’s an incredible bookkeeping course. It comes with an amazing support group. I like it because, especially during tax time when things for bookkeepers are so hectic, it helps because you are not the only one dealing with this type of client or this type of problem. It helps you to not feel alone, which is amazing, because business ownership can feel very isolating at times. You tend to think it's all on you, but it's not.
Katie: Thank you so much for saying that. And thank you so much for coming on to chat!
If your books need a bit of a check-up, good news—Grisell’s your girl! To find out if your books are ready for tax season, follow the link below to get a check-up from Grisell.
WORK WITH GRISELL:
https://www.busygbooks.com/offers/Eac3raAF/checkout
CONNECT WITH GRISELL:
https://www.instagram.com/busygbooks/
WORK WITH KATIE:
If you're looking for more tips for bookkeeping, insight on how to become a bookkeeper, and how to say hello to a more confident business model, enroll in Become A Bookkeeper (BABs).
To learn about the programs and get a peek behind the curtain, head to www.katieferro.com/6-secrets.
Learn how to take your bookkeeping skills and turn them into a business that allows you to replace (or surpass) your corporate salary, be present for your life, and profoundly impact your clients without selling your life in the process by joining Life by the Books (LIBBY).
If you have enjoyed this post, head on over to Instagram, share your IG stories, and tag me: @orderlyaccountingbykatie
CONNECT WITH KATIE:
Website: https://www.katieferro.com/
