Bookkeeper Begins Banking Bonus Income

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

Remember, it's not just what you say, it's how you say it. As we begin looking at messaging in the context of crafting compelling offers, let us look at a case study in the thrilling topic of bookkeeping. I know, just try to contain yourself. But listen, how do you make bookkeeping sexy? It sounds like a bad Justin Timberlake outtake or a rejected song.

But that's what the administrative assistant in today's story sets out to do when her boss asks her to learn QuickBooks. What seems like a rudimentary undertaking ends up becoming the gateway to a new career focused on financial empowerment. At the end of the episode, we'll look at marketing to a specific group based on a shared identity. In this case, one that often feels excluded from the mainstream. So the story is called "Bookkeeper Begins Banking Bonus Income." That story is coming right up.

When Andi Smiles entered the workforce in her early 20s, she never dreamed she'd become a business owner. Far from it. In fact, she figured she'd stay in that workforce for decades. So she dutifully began her first job as an administrative assistant. One day her boss asked, "Can you learn QuickBooks to do our bookkeeping?" QuickBooks, if you're not familiar, is a common bookkeeping software for small businesses.

They've also been a sponsor of our show in the past. Andi, never being one to back down from a challenge, said, "Sure," and then totally freaked out because she had no idea what she was getting into. Luckily, she was tech savvy and good at learning. She went about studying up on QuickBooks and all things balance sheet. At first, it was difficult, but her tenacity and willingness to learn paid dividends.

A while later, she left that job and was hired as an assistant elsewhere. The main reason for landing the gig was while she now knew QuickBooks inside and out. She must have been doing something right because when it came to tax time, her new boss's tax advisor raved about Andi's bookkeeping prowess. In fact, the advisor loved Andi's work so much that she recommended her to her son, another tax preparation expert. He in turn recommended her to a customer of his.

And soon, Andi had her very first freelance bookkeeping client and what became a truly word-of-mouth driven side hustle. She thought it would be a one-and-done deal, a part-time client with the chance to make a few dollars on the side. But it didn't stop there. The same tax preparer continued to refer more clients, who referred their colleagues. She was cashing in at the word-of-mouth bank.

In fact, Andi had such an influx over the next few years that by the time she entered her mid-20s, she was able to quit her job and go all in with her unexpected hustle. Interestingly, she did it all without any marketing or even a website. And then she kept working smarter, not just harder. After quitting her job, Andi realized that service-based bookkeeping work had a ceiling. There were only so many hours in a week and therefore only so many clients she could serve.

Therefore, rather than provide ongoing bookkeeping services for an hourly or monthly fee, she put together short-term training packages, offering financial tune-ups to educate clients on how to better handle their business. Soon it was time to make another choice, either continue the way she was going with the respectable small business earning a good income, or admit that she had hit a cap and worked to grow that business in new ways. She reminded herself of the time she first learned QuickBooks. It was scary and unknown, but she got through it and thrived. This situation was no different.

So like Scrooge McDuck in his Money Pit, Andi decided to dive in and swim further into the world of finances. The first thing to do was launch an actual website. It had been over six years since her first client and she still didn't have one. And she would need it if she was going to succeed in this new plan to sell digital courses and offer services online. She registered the first domain name for her business, AndiSmiles.com.

She blogged about the types of things she knew her clients struggled with and marketed the posts using SEO and Pinterest. Slowly she gained a small following. A year later, she launched her first online course. Unlike finding her first clients, this time was no fluke or accident. Andi put in considerable effort to produce high quality content and market herself.

Since then she's launched several courses, all while continuing to offer consulting to small business owners that discover her through the site. So how much money can a QuickBooks expert make while Andi's business now brings in a comfortable six-figure income, a sum large enough that she's recently been able to purchase a home with her partner. What started as an accidental side hustle built by word of mouth is now a lucrative website and consulting service. Someone that has Andi needing to do more bookkeeping, but this time she's doing it for herself. All right, so let's talk a bit about marketing to a specific group based on a shared identity or from a source of shared identity, in this case, one that often feels excluded from the mainstream.

Now, I didn't go into this in the episode, but Andi identifies as queer. And if you go to her website, she's got this very vibrant personality that she's kind of showing off. It's not just a personality. She also talks about how she is a queer woman with tattoos and purple hair. So it's very visual as well.

And by her own admission, probably not what you expect if you go to a website about bookkeeping or about learning to manage your small business finances. And she is doing this very deliberately. In fact, she has a mission statement right on the homepage that says, "I help super rad self-employed folks, embrace their inner money badass, stop all the overwhelm, and grab everything you need to take control of your finances for free." And that's essentially her incentive to get you to join her email list, grab your Biz Finance Survival Kit. So rather than hide who she is, or not necessarily hide, but just kind of allow it to recede into the background, Andi chose to be forward facing with this identity, I think because she suspected or recognized that a lot of people with a similar identity or expression might feel more comfortable, hearing from someone like her, who again is forward facing with who she is, but yet is also clearly an expert in the world of small business finance, bookkeeping, QuickBooks, etc. And she has all this experience to show for it.

So there is a lot we could take from that. Perhaps we could sum it up with something she says. Andi says, "My advice is to be authentic, not perfect. I don't talk in fancy language. I don't even care about sounding authoritative in my niche.

I just try to show up as myself. And I found the right people, the right clients that appreciate my voice and brand." Strong words of advice there. I will leave you with that. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/1149.

That is 1-1-4-9. I'll be back tomorrow as we begin a new week. We're going to continue this emphasis on messaging, understanding who you're really trying to reach, what the most powerful message you can present and put forward might be. All right. Thanks so much.

This is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.