How Katherine started her own bookkeeping business & became a money mentor

Katherine and I initially connected online. I loved Katherine’s bubbly personality from the start. When I needed someone to look at the numbers of a start-up I was building, she’s the one I turned too. I felt so supported knowing that she was on the team. Katherine does have a way with money! Ever since, it’s been a joy connecting with her, and watching her revolutionize the accounting world one business at a time. Here’s the story of how she started her own bookkeeping business and became a Money Mentor.

What was your big dream, and what inspired you to go after it?

It’s my mission to help 3 million people retire rich. Which is ironic, since I never cared about money when I was younger. Instead, I was focused on making an impact with my art, and talents as an actress and director. 

When I started pursuing this dream professionally, however, I felt I’d been lied to. The work itself was fulfilling, but not one of my mentors had prepared me for the financial challenges of being self-employed. I soon discovered my mentors couldn’t have prepared me because they struggled with these things too! So, I set out to learn about money. The more I did, the more ambitious I became.

I learned that money is a language to master, that it has the creative energy to build on itself, and that it’s possible to stop fighting money and instead make it a teammate. I learned this process was surprisingly easy and enjoyable, but no one – and I mean no one – gives you this critical education in school. Which is why if you pull back the curtain, almost everyone, in every industry, is struggling with money.

That’s the most important thing I learned: money problems aren’t limited to creatives! So I decided I’d had enough and wanted to tackle this problem head on.

That’s why I started my own accounting firm. I wanted to move the needle just 1%. I want to help a mere 1% more Americans (the only country I’m licensed to work!) kick their money woes and retire comfortably. 

At the time I made that goal, 1% of America was 3 million people. That’s how my big dream of helping 3 million people retire rich was born.

Did you always have this dream?

No way! As an artist, I always wanted to inspire hearts and minds, but I never dreamed that a single topic would inspire me so much or that I’d change my life’s work to pursue it.

What was one of the first things you did to get you started?

I invested in my education. I’m a graduate of Ben Robinson’s Bookkeeper Business Launch. I credit Ben with how I think about bookkeeping and client relationships. All my tax work, writing, and coaching have grown from this bookkeeping foundation.

What were the biggest challenges you faced in working toward achieving your dream?

When I started, I really, truly thought that I was going to acquire all this tax knowledge, teach it to my clients, and “BOOM!” the problem would be solved and we’d all have successful, profitable companies to brag about.

But education is not implementation. My first clients had cleaner books but weren’t changing their money habits.

Changing money habits is hard to do! Money is an emotional topic for many people. We not only need to master an outer monetary system, but also master our inner thoughts and emotions about at. This inner relationship with money becomes ingrained in us as children, and every friend, partner, and the bill we pay either reinforce this relationship or will bring us into conflict with it.

Owning up to this relationship and learning to tackle my own “money blocks” was the first step. Then, I had to learn how to pair money mindset coaching with my growing financial expertise. This was how the Chaos Money Framework was born.

The Framework keeps us accountable. Because it’s challenging to accept that “wealth” and “success” are not static achievements. I need the Chaos Money Framework to help me choose and walk my wealth journey every day.

What do you wish you would have done differently? What would you warn others about?

I wish I had slowed down.

I made the new business owner mistake of focusing only on growth and income. This meant I chased every shiny tool, coach, or course who could take me to the “next level.” (All the while telling my clients to act differently – the hypocrisy!)

But if I had focused more on the clients in front of me – if I had treated them as the only important thing in the world – I would have achieved better results overall. I would have figured out some things faster. Most importantly though, I would have helped more people.

I would caution others who are looking outside of themselves for answers. 

Copying other people’s business only encourages comparison and imposter syndrome. It’s better to slow down, focus on the work at hand, and develop your own system with the resources available to you.

I’d encourage them not to chase income, but rather measure metrics that support your own mission and values (like repeat customers, profitability, or the success you help clients achieve). Only look to change your system when it helps you improve one of these metrics and stop caring what caring about what’s “expected” in your industry.

Would you say you’ve achieved your big dream yet?

Uh oh! Remember what I said earlier about achievements?

In all seriousness, yes. I’ve achieved some incredible things since I started.

As my impact grows, my clients’ impact grows, and as their impact grows new jobs and new investments are created. Each one gets me closer to the 3 million marks!

What do you think helped you achieve it?

Oh, my Money Map! Definitely!

That’s what I call the unique mix of financial reports you use to lead your business. Everyone’s Money Map will be different and that’s actually the purpose of the Chaos Money Framework. The Framework helps you break down big goals into actionable milestones. Then we turn those milestones into – wait for it – a map! You can follow this Money Map to reach your goals.

I’m my own customer here because Money Mapping really works. I also have an incredible coach to hold me accountable, a team to support the work I do, and I’ve invested heavily in my marriage and personal relationships. 

Everything’s harder if you’re trying it alone!

What’s the best advice you have for others who want to follow their big dreams?

Set a big, scary goal. You have permission.

But don’t try to tackle that goal everyday. It’ll be too overwhelming. Just let the big goal float around in the back of your head.

Instead, slow down. Ask yourself “What’s the very next step?”

Also pick out the smallest, tiniest, so-simple-it’s-easy next step. (Like clicking send on that email or taking that receipt from your purse to your desk). Do only that step.

Then identify the tiny step after that. Do that. Identify and execute each tiny step, over and over, until you’re getting to work naturally and you don’t have to think about it anymore.

Big goals create too much pressure, but tiny tasks are easy. Tiny tasks also add up fast! It’s getting started that’s the hardest.

More about Katherine – www.bookkeepingartist.com

Katherine is a money mentor for creative entrepreneurs. She can transform you from a stressed solopreneur into the money-savvy CEO of your own online empire. She specializes in Taxes and Business Entities, Profit Strategy and Business Growth, Bookkeeping, Workflow, and Productivity.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch with Katherine! She loves connecting with women from around the world. You can do so through her website at bookkeepingartist.com 

Katherine’s favourite quote is:

Imagination is only intelligence having fun.
– George Scialabba

Katherine’s big dream for the world is:

To persist joyfully along my unique path of creative and financial freedom. To lead and inspire others to do that same.

If you want more inspiring stories, I’ve got great news for you! This story is part of an interview series, you can find all entries here.

Is your money mindset affecting your dreams?

We all think we know what money is, and we all feel confident that what we think we know is true. We hardly ever question the beliefs that we have around money or the money mindset that comes with it – even though we don’t know where they come from. A perfect example of this is the belief that many of us have – me included – that making money is a hard thing to do. We start out in life believing this to be true, even before we experience it for ourselves.

My story and mindset about money began with that exact belief. For many years it rippled into everything I did, including how I approached my dreams and tried to achieve them. Because I believed making money was hard, I also believed achieving my dreams had to be.

And it was. Our mindset can be our worst enemy as much as it can be our best friend.

We don’t always think about our mindset this way. In fact, many people go through life without ever questioning what their beliefs are. As the student of my own mindset for many years now, and the witness of the amazing, positive changes that occur in my clients when they change their mindset about money, I’ve come to realize that understanding the true power of your beliefs is one of the most fundamental ways to find more flow, happiness, and courage in your life – and to achieve your dreams!

Our beliefs influence the way we think, but also the way we feel, and the way we act. In a way, you might say that everything comes down to your mindset:

• How you perceive the world

• Your level of self-confidence and self-esteem

• How much you think you’re worth

• Whether or not you believe you can do something

• …

All of these thoughts, feelings, and characteristics are guided by your mindset. If you believe that making money is hard, it will have an effect on your dreams.

You might think building your dreams is expensive, and since you believe making money is hard you’ll never get there. Or as you’re building the career or business of your dreams you might fall into the trap of relentless productivity and overwork like I did. Because way you think about money has a direct influence on the way you think about all the activities that produce money.

The good news is that, even though our beliefs control us, we can take control over what we believe. This means that you are in control, and that no matter what your situation may be today, you have the power to change the world you live in simply by changing how you think about it.

You start this process by asking questions.

• What do you think about when you think about money?

• When you think about money, how do you really feel? Calm, excited, happy, afraid, stressed out?

• What was the relationship your parents had with money? Were they savers, spenders? Were they relaxed about money or always worrying?

• In what financial situation did you grow up? How much money was available to you then? Was there enough to go around, or was making ends meet a challenge every month?

• Who do you think you need to be in order to make money?

• How much do you think you’re really worth? How about your time? And your work?

Exploring these questions will help you to find out more about your relationship with money, and what your money mindset is.

Whether you’re conscious of it or not, beliefs about money were all around you when you were growing up. And they are still all around you today. Everybody has them, and often they’re rooted in the culture that you’ve been brought up into. For instance, do any of these money stories sound familiar to you?

• You have to suffer to make money.

• People want to steal your money away from you.

• You have to work hard to make money.

• The best things in life are free.

• Money is the root of evil.

• Money needs to be saved.

• It’s selfish to want a lot of money.

• People with money are greedy, evil, bad.

• Money doesn’t grow on trees… (although this statement is true, what it implies is still a belief about money)

All of these statements were part of my inherited beliefs about money. As long as I kept on to them they worked like self-fulfilling prophecies. Even though making money was never the issue, the way I felt about it and how I spent it were.

The stories I believed about money shaped the way I felt about it, how I looked at it, and what I believed it to be. Essentially, I was afraid of money. I was afraid there wouldn’t be enough of it in my life (since it doesn’t grow on trees, you see!), I was afraid I would have to work really hard all my life to have even a little (well, because you’ve got to work hard for money), I hated wanting money (because it’s selfish), and when I had money, I often felt bad about it (because it’s the root of all evil). What a mess!

I don’t believe any of these statements anymore. Money is not good or bad, doesn’t require hard work, doesn’t make you evil, and it’s certainly not selfish to keep the money that you’ve worked for for yourself. It’s just an instrument that is required in life to get a lot of the things we want.

The thing is nobody teaches us this stuff. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. The tyranny of our inherited dreams keeps us locked up in these suffocating beliefs about money. They have been passed down from generation to generation, transformed on the way down by the experiences of those who end up giving them to us.

Wherever they come from, what most of your beliefs about money are is – simply – beliefs. Yes, many of them probably find their origin in some truth, but not the kind that you need to live by today.

Unconsciously or consciously, we all live by many of the money beliefs that we’ve inherited and are surrounded with. And that limits us. Sometimes in a good way, like when we realize money doesn’t grow on trees and so we don’t spend it all. But most of the time our money stories aren’t that helpful. Like when we’re afraid to invest in our dreams because, well… money doesn’t grow on trees.

In order to achieve your dreams – and to live a life aligned with your soul – you need to create your own beliefs about money. And guess what, you have the power to do just that!