Take charge.
That's Emily Thompson's mindset and it helps her be “The Boss.”She is the founder of Indie Shopography, which helps creative entrepreneurs build online businesses, and she is also a co-host of Being Boss, a popular podcast for creative entrepreneurs where she inspires, writes and curates content.
She is also a first time author with the release of Being Boss: Take Control of Your Work and Live Life on Your Own Terms.
During this interview, you'll discover...
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How to be a boss
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How to take control of your work and live life on your own terms
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How to understand your strengths and challenges as a side hustler, freelancer, or business owner
To learn more about Emily Thompson, visit here.
For Emily's Facebook page, click here.
For her Twitter, check this out.
For her Instagram, explore here.
To learn more about Being Boss and get a copy of the book, click this link.
To learn more about Indie Shopography, discover here.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION
Michael Palmer: 01:26 Welcome back to The Successful Bookkeeper podcast. I'm your host, Michael Palmer, and today's show is going to be great. Our guest is the founder of Indie Shopography where she helps creatives run online businesses and she's a cohost of being boss, a popular podcast for creative entrepreneurs where she inspires rites and curates content. She's also a first time author with the release of being boss, take control of your work and live life on your terms. Emily M. Thompson, welcome to the podcast.
Emily Thompson: 01:59 Thank you so much for having me. My goal. I am pleased to be here.
MP: 02:02 I am so happy to have you here and hopefully I didn't make a, uh, a jumble of your name. It's a very interesting name that you founded Indie Shopography. Yes, and that's a a cool name, but before we get into all of the cool things that you do, tell us a little bit about your business background and why you started being boss.
ET: 02:23 Sure. Oh, good question. And I'll try to make this link because as many entrepreneurs that may find, especially if you're starting out pretty young, your path can be quite windy. And mine was one of those pads. So I um, I had my first business when I was 18, I had the opportunity to purchase a tanning salon and it's a wild, fun story for sure. By ended up owning that business for about two and a half years, I ran it on my own. I had my first couple of employees I had to really get into like customer education and contracts and, and those sort of, and those sorts of things really, really early on. And not even like my business career, but like my professional or like adding value to the world career, like that time of my life. So my first, my first business experience was very early and I knew immediately that that would not be the last business experience that I ever had.
ET: 03:20 I absolutely loved it. I had been bitten by that work for yourself bug that I think many of us get bitten with. And I got bitten with it early enough that had absolutely shaped the entire trajectory of my education and my, you know, business experience after that. So I ran that business for about two and a half years. I ended up selling it so that I could finish college. And then I ended up starting, um, a couple of business and businesses in relatively quick succession after that as I was really figuring out what I wanted to do. So I think a lot of people early in life, you know, spend a couple of years sort of hopping from job to job, but because I had like gotten into business early, I sort of hopped from business to business for a little while in order to really figure out what it was that I wanted to do and really hone my skills and, and dive into businesses in a really cool way.
ET: 04:14 So as I was completing my degree in geography of all things, I, um, I started a jewelry business. So I had been making, I've made things my entire life and that was about the time that Etsy came around and was a popular platform for makers who wanted to sell things online and I was smitten by the platform. I love the idea that you could meet people all over the world. You could sell your, you know, crafts, I guess on the Internet, you could connect with these people. So I spent about two years selling jewelry on Etsy and learning a whole lot about branding and online positioning and curating, you know, a community online, these sort of very, very odd business experiences. You know, at this point, like 12 years ago or so. It's funny to think that I was in on like doing business online at such an early phase because we all know the Internet is going to be around forever.
ET: 05:15 And so I was selling jewelry on Etsy. I wanted to get off of Etsy into my own website. And so I took some skills that I had picked up in high school of designing and developing websites and I created my first e-commerce website and it was such a fun experience. I loved getting back into code and that way. And I soon had some of my community members coming to me saying, I love this website. It's super awesome. Can you make one for me too? So over the course of about six months, I sort of weeded out my jewelry business and moved into this website business where I spent 10 years in the websites is where Indie Shopography came from. And the name stems from this idea of being an Indian independent, independent business owner. Um, but also that sort of like Bohemian theme that is, uh, is conjured when you think of the word Indie and then Shopography being this idea of like really studying and diving into what it means for an independent person to build a business and sell things.
ET: 06:14 So there's a lot that went into that name, probably more than there should have been, but I spent 10 years making websites and for anyone who knows anything about websites for businesses, you know that you're not just designing and developing a website. I learned very quickly that in order to really do a good job for my clients, I couldn't just design and develop a website. I had to understand their business models. So I spent 10 years diving into the business models of many creative businesses, whether they were, you know, makers doing jewelry like I had started out doing, or if they were a t shirt designers or if they were wedding invitation designers or people who made stationary who also wanted to do wholesale or Yogis. I was diving into so many different creative entrepreneur business models. It gave me some legit expertise and what it was like to be a creative who wanted to build a business in the online world.
ET: 07:15 And in some cases also the offline world as well. Because many of my clients were also brick and mortar store owners who wanted to grow their presence into the online realm. So it was that expertise and some of the community building that I had done along the way that led to the creation of being boss. I had met my friend Kathleen, who is my cohost of the podcast on the Internet before it was cool to meet people on the Internet and we started having these business bestie conversations as we were calling them about what it was like to be a working creative building, an online business. I had my web design studio, she was building a branding studio with her sister and we were having these conversations about what it was like to show up and do the work and to, you know, deal with clients over the Internet and what it was like to, to find a work-life balance whenever you work from home.
ET: 08:09 And these conversations were very valuable to us. We were having them probably every, every month for about two years before I had what I describe as like a big magic moment. There's a really great book by Elizabeth Gilbert called big magic where she talks about these moments of creativity and how they just like come to us and they're almost like these their own like living, breathing entities. And the idea to start a podcast I think was one of those big magic moments where I sent my friend Kathleen an email was like, we need to share these conversations with the world because we find them valuable. We think other people will as well. Are you in? And she said yes. And that was the beginning of being boss.
MP: 09:00 That is so cool. You know, the, the, your journey is such an interesting journey and an inspiring journey I think for just discovering and taking, you know, along your, along your journey, taking and picking up things that you might not use right then, but it's like, oh yeah, Hey, I've got this experience where I, I, I learned about this in high school. More pie it here. I think that's such a valuable trait of an entrepreneur to be able to just make use of whatever is in your, your arsenal, I guess, uh, of life experiences. And business experiences all sort of jumble I end up together that you've used along the way. You know what, listening to you, your experience of diving into business models and understanding business models. I am almost certain that our listener right now is going, hey, if you really know a lot about the business models and how to communicate and do a great job of presenting yourself online, what would be your advice to them around their own thinking that needs to go into their own Shopography if you will, and thinking about their business.
ET: 10:10 I love that. So one of the things that I say all the time that I feel is just across the board good advice and can and should be applied to everything that you do, especially online but offline as well, is that consistency breeds legitimacy. And you can think about this in terms of the graphics that you share online. So whether it's your website and pairing that with your Instagram feed or your Twitter feed or your Facebook feed, like is there consistency with the graphics between the two? Because if there isn't, then you're not going to look legitimate. If there is, you are making yourself look more legitimate. You can also think about it in terms of the words that you use whenever you talk to a client in person. Are you talking to them the same way as it reads on your website? Are you using the same words, the same tone, those sorts of things?
ET: 11:02 Because again, if someone sees here a website and reads the words that you have there and then have a conversation with you, they'll sense a disconnect and you will therefore it look a little less legitimate. So that's one of the lessons that I've definitely learned in terms of the kinds of businesses and it doesn't even matter the kind of businesses. It's the businesses regardless of the kind that make it are the ones that really grasp onto this idea that consistency breeds legitimacy and everything that you do. And that means, you know, graphics and words. It also means always showing up. Um, you know, if you have a newsletter, make sure it goes out every single Tuesday or whatever it may be because people will expect that. And whenever you stop, whenever you start breaking that consistency, people will sense it.
MP: 11:49 Mm. So great.
ET: 11:51 And it has me thinking I need a police officer to go through and check all of our stuff. And I'm sure, you know, we're, as we're building often building things in the building the plane while it's in the air, sometimes it's like, oh yeah, we forgot to Polish up, put that door back there. We need that door in the back of the plane, Right?
MP: 12:15 You know, and that's being us being a small and growing business, all of our listener would appreciate that. And I think it's something to embrace. It's that whilst we want to go for the consistency, it's give yourself a break to say, hey, wherever it is, it can only be always be polished and improved. Um, and, and your journey is kind of sounds like that you constantly reinventing and looking at how to, how to look at your business and how to do things that make you excited and, and that you're passionate about.
ET: 12:40 I really, I'm really interested in Chicago. Gruffy I think that is, you know, the way you presented it, first one I read Indie Shopography I was like, you know, what is that like, you know, it sounded like music, but now just hearing you, it's, it's the, it's both an art, a science. It's something that people could be interested in. You know, this whole concept of shopping and, and presenting yourself to people and being, you know, consumable, I guess if you will, is, is, is an art. It's a science. There's a lot to it that I don't think many people think about when they go about running their business.
MP: 13:15 Absolutely.
ET: 13:16 And that's definitely one of the things that I've found is that, you know, it's not just, you know, getting a premade logo, opening up a Facebook account and expecting people to throw you cash. I'm like, that's, that's absolutely not how, you know, the Internet works and it's not how business works ever. There have, you know, obviously been some cases that have found that a little more easily, but those that have sticking power have to put significant more energy behind it. You know, a lot of times people think, oh, I'll just start an internet business and online business because the barrier of entry is lower and it's cheaper to start up. And one of the things that I found is in many ways that's very much not true. Um, you have to put just as much energy and you know, resources and whether that is time, money or energy, you have to put all just as much into starting an online business if you want it to have the kind of traction that say a brick and mortar would have or you know, of legit like brick and mortar consulting agency or you know, for you guys it's having that physical place where you're showing up and meeting with clients and doing your work.
ET: 14:22 Like the overhead is different, but the overhead is still there. It still requires just as much thought and intention as you know, a traditional quote-unquote business. Um, business has. You have to do all of that for your online business as well. And that's definitely one of the things that I found. I started an online business because it was flip it into end easy. Um, and it's been 10, 12 years of the hardest education ever in that you can easily get on and make a couple of bucks for sure. But if you want to actually build a sustainable, profitable business, it takes just as much art and science and you know, resources as anything else.
MP: 15:04 That's very interesting. And I, you know, there, there a lot of listeners would be thinking about either starting a virtual bookkeeping business. We, you know, that these words and this language is, is really the, you know, there's not a lot of clarity around it, but when we say virtual it's like, yeah, they're there, there isn't an office, you're not going out to see a particular person. You want to do it and you know, from whatever region and have clients all over all over the place and not have geography be in the way. Now that's like you say a great idea and there's lots of opportunities there, but there are other challenges that come with it. And I think you're alluding to that and that your business, what you put into your business and what you give your business and where EEO is what you get back.
MP: 15:48 And so if, if it's just online and we just want to have like online relationships, well those come with certain conditions, right? At an online relationship I think is different than a relationship where you have, where you've met somebody, you have shaken their hand, look them in the eye, you know, and so there, there has to be thought brought into the human aspect of what humans want, what they're willing to pay more for. You know, if you want to be the lowest cost online, 24 hours, seven days a week shop, well you're going to get a certain type of client. Talk a little bit about your, your journey in terms of, you know, who shows up based on the site you build, the, the business you build, whether it be virtual or physical.
ET: 16:31 For sure. I mean this is a vast subject for sure because you know what it is that you put into it both like energetically but also like what type of energy that is will absolutely be the return that you get. So you know, I've definitely found that if you want to throw up a really quick cheap website with just some basic stuff on there, you're going to get the type of client who um, who is going to expect you to be cheap and basic as well. Basically, because that's what you're putting out there. And that's that consistency breeds legitimacy. You know, if you're putting out a presence that is different from what who you are and what you expect, there will continue to be a disconnect between the type of person that you want and the type of person that you actually attract. And so just as much thought and energy has to go into how it is that you're presenting yourself on the Internet because there is a direct correlation with the types of people that you will attract.
ET: 17:28 And that goes right along, you know, with like the language you use, the graphics you use, I mean a lot of people like to sort of dismiss this idea that, you know, my branding doesn't matter because it's just a logo. I mean similar to similarly to how people feel about the way they dress. Like people should just love me for me and not, you know, not care that my shoes are dirty or whatever they may be. And yes, I think in an ideal world that's absolutely the case where we just all, you know, except each other based on all of our wonderful like personality characteristics. But that first impression is an absolute real thing. And that doesn't usually come from the words that come out of your mouth, but how it is that you look and doing business online is all about that first impression.
ET: 18:11 And it's about having, you know, cohesive presence. And that doesn't mean that you have to go spend a lot of money doing it because you don't, it's very possible to, you know, get yourself a nice, like quick little tax-based graphic logo with a very simple website. And you know, Squarespace these days is really wonderful for giving you beautiful functional websites pretty cheaply and was very little effort. But even then, whenever you get to a time in your business, when it's time to start upgrading those simple things, stop working as easily. If you want to start upgrading your clientele, then you have to start upgrading everything about how it is that you're presenting yourself as well.
MP: 19:00 Beautiful. Such, such interesting dialogue for that's provoking for thought around the website and, and different stages of business. You know, it's, it's pure start with this and then keep improving it. And I love this whole concept of upgrading your clientele. Uh, you know, and we start off in business. It's often, hey, we'll take anybody with me.
MP: 19:22 And, and I think for the first year that is so important. I think you, I think, and that is one of the things about the Internet that I do love, is that it does really have such a low barrier of injury. Like you can just set up a Facebook page and call it a day and start getting people in. But, um, but the quality may not be exactly what you want, but I don't think that matters in the first year. I think in the first year if you really want to dive into it, say yes to everything, you're going to not probably lie because most of the experiences that you have, but you will learn so many valuable lessons that will just take you further.
ET: 20:00 Yeah, absolutely. And I think listening to podcasts like yours being boss, where you can hear somebody who spent, you know, 10 or 15 years making a bunch of mistakes and having a lot of success in different, different along the journey is a great, is almost prerequisite for starting your business. So Listener, if you're listening, you know, and you're just getting started or you want to upgrade, I mean this is a great opportunity. Another great channel of content that can help you navigate through all of these things. And on that point being boss podcast, I'm really curious to know, you know, you share things, your journeys, your, you have the, the, the knowledge, the things that you were discussing with Kathleen along the way would have been kind of those, uh, hot topics. Everybody's like, oh please do more about that. That's what we're really interested in.
MP: 20:52 I love that because I feel like this is really relevant for your crowd. Cause it's money and people love to talk about money. I wouldn't say right me neither. And Kathleen and I weren't expecting that. You know, we started the podcast with a couple of different topics that we wanted to like dive into quickly and really like get out and start defining what, you know, what kinds of things we would be talking about. Money was one of the first episodes that we did. It was like, um, how to start freaking out about money or something like that. And what we have found is that our crowd, like creative entrepreneurs, the people who just want to make some money doing what they love, they freak out about money a lot. And in a way that I think also stifles their creativity, which if they're stifling their creativity, they're also stifling their ability to make money.
ET: 21:40 Would you just like this negative feedback loop of awfulness basically. Um, so money is one of those things that our people want to talk about. They want to talk about how to attract more clients. They want to talk about how to price themselves, how to sell themselves. They want to talk about managing money, um, and they want to know what to do with it once they have it. So what is it like to invest as a creative entrepreneur? How are they going to figure out how to get, you know, the benefits that they're going to have to provide for themselves because they're opting out of traditional employment. So money is one of those names that we find ourselves talking about a lie or at least people wanting us to talk about it more often. But we also do have some, what we call, you know, the pillars that are, I guess they're actually the foundations of being boss.
ET: 22:27 And this idea that all the bosses that we've talked to, and these are like industry leaders or thought leaders or just working creatives, they have these things in common, one of which is a boss mindset. So they, you know, they believe that they can do the thing that they want to do and they do it regardless of whether or not they know how to do it. They're willing to show up and give it a try. Um, also boundaries. So you know, bosses for us have really strong boundaries. They know what they're going to say no to and what they're going to say yes to. Um, also habits and routines. They know how to show up and do the work and they also are putting some effort into defining work life balance and work. Life balance doesn't necessarily mean that they're half and half. It means it's whatever you need it to be in that moment.
MP: 23:13 So cool. You know, there's some gold there and I know a lot of our listeners are actually working for somebody else right now and thinking about making the leap into business. And it is, it's one of those to formula for your mindset, your, your courage, your, you know, your belief in yourself, not just around how much money you're going to need. A, so that would, I'd love to link to that episode. I think our listener would get a lot out of just listening to that episode as well as the foundational sound. So great terms of giving our listener, you know, just information, ideas, inspiration really to help them navigate through their life and this whole work life balance. I think Ivan Meisner, the founder of business networking international, he's been on the podcast a few times and he, he says he talks about work life harmony, which I just absolutely love and I think that's what you're alluding to when you say it's not what, you know, this amount of this or that amount. It's like harmonies are constantly changing and what harmony means today might mean something different tomorrow.
ET: 24:19 Yeah, for sure. It's fluid. It's very, very fluid. You know, I definitely have weeks where I'm more focused on, you know, making sure my life is in order. Whether that's because I have family coming in and I need to make sure my house is clean and I have like cooked food in the refrigerator, um, or you know, if I have, um, if I just need to spend more time with my immediate family or if I need to just spend some time on myself or whatever it may be, there are definitely days or weeks or even whole months that are more focused on my lights and then my work and then vice versa. There's also plenty of days or weeks or a month when I'm more focused on my work because the demands there are higher or maybe just because my life demands are lower and I want to get ahead or whatever it may be.
ET: 25:04 I do think that that like half and half work life balance is a myth and I also think that you're missing out on the opportunity to live an interesting life. Whenever you think about I'm going to hit nine to five, you know, five days a week for work and then not think about work after that. I know as a creative, my creative moments can come in the middle of the night or you know, before nine and definitely after five as well as sometimes I want to go to yoga at noon or whatever it may be. I think that, I think that there's much more, much more pleasure and joy that comes from, you know, building a life that you find interesting when you break that, you know, um, that societal rule that you have to have either work life balance or, or work life division and really figure out how to blend them in a way that actually serves you and no one else.
MP: 26:08 So, so refreshing and an absolute, it is a design of life and that's the, the blank canvas. And, and I think it does take, it does take that mindset to say, my canvas is blank. If I so choose to, to say whatever age we are, we can always reinvent and create from nothing every single day. And so, you know, I, I've, I've always searched for myself, searched for where I can do, so wake up every day and do something that I love. Like I, that was literally 15 years ago, I had a coach and it was like, you know what the big, big theme. I was like, well, what do you want? It's like, you know what, I just want to wake up everyday and feel like I'm going to leap out of bed to go do what I want to do. And, and I wasn't living that at that time, not to make the thing I was doing wrong, but it wasn't for me.
MP: 27:05 And so that was the beginning of where it's like, okay, well what, what's that got to be? And that took a while for me to figure out. And I think a lot of our listeners have already figured that out. They're doing it in their life or they're moving towards it. And it's really helping small business owners understand their money, understand their finances, and help small businesses grow from the financial aspects, which is really exciting. And that's the, that's the flame. I want to disc, just completely ignite and fuel a, because it makes such a big difference in our communities and for these small businesses. But for me helping our community go and do that, everyday I wake up and like you say, it's like a creative thought. I'm always working, but it's never feels like work. It feels like I'm doing something like a hobby almost, which you know, I don't want to say we all need to make money, right? But a lot of the times I would do what I do for free. It's sad that, and so I think your message is so refreshing and that it can be whatever you want and have the courage to take the canvas, clean it off, and start drawing it in a way that's powerful for, for, for yourselves. Now you, you have written a book, you're first time author being boss, take control of your work and live life on your own terms really sounds like what we're talking about. So tell us a little bit about the book.
ET: 28:27 For sure. And I do have to say, I still like do a happy dance whenever people say things like, yeah, that's okay. We got the happy dance. Go ahead and have a happy dance. We love it. This has been one of those long term dreams too. For whatever reason. I've always wanted to write a book. And so this is one of the is this is exactly one of those things where, you know, I didn't go to school to be a writer. Um, I've never written a whole lot though. I've always felt I was a good writer. I, Kathleen and I had talked about it a ton and it was just one of those things that regardless of anyone's expectations, I was going to write a book one day and it was going to be a beautiful business book. And when have you ever heard those words all put together in the same sentence? Um, so for us it was, it was definitely practicing what we preach in order to just get this book out into the world. We were going to do something new and kind of weird, but we felt so energized around it that we knew it had to happen.
ET: 29:21 So yes, this being boss book is, um, one of the funnest things. It is actually the funnest thing that Kathleen and I have ever done. We've had a blast putting it together. Writing the book was so much fun. Even though everyone told us that writing the book would be the worst thing that we had ever done, let alone together. Um, we had a blast doing it. And it's really the place where we've, everything that we've learned along the way. And for me, you know, even like since that first business that I owned when I was 18 all the way up until actually writing the book. So all of the conversations we've had on the podcast, all the conversations Kathleen and I have had together privately or even with other bosses, and we've distilled it down into the being boss books. So it's those, it's those foundations that I talked about earlier.
ET: 30:07 It's mindset, it's boundaries, it's habits and routines. It's your life and work. And it's also another foundation that we didn't give. We didn't give it its own chapter because it was one that we could not separate from any of the chapters. And that was around your tribe and how important it is to have people in your life to support you and who you support. And how that is sort of the common thread that weaves itself throughout everything that is that we talk about and people with whom we speak because they're always talking about their support systems or their mentors or their peers or their friends or whatever it is, the people who help them out along the way because we talk a lot. I think about, you know, being a solo preneur and I think it's becoming more and more evident that that's a little bit of a myth that you can't actually happily do these things all by your lonesome and it's that fact that has created being boss.
ET: 30:58 It's because there was a mass of other creative entrepreneurs just like Kathleen and I who were in the world feeling the exact same way that we were, that the podcast came about and it was the fuel that got us to write this book. It's what made us sit down and think about these bosses that we've met, met, even very particular ones that we've met thinking we want to write a book for these people. The kind of book that they can sit down with anytime, pick it up, get a bit of inspiration, a little bit of a confidence boost, remember why it is that they are here doing this really hard thing, whatever it may be and keep on doing it because I completely agree with you. I think there is something very inspiring and moving about this idea that we're all deconditioning ourselves from thinking that we have to take this traditional route, whatever that may be, and really giving ourselves the opportunity and grasping onto the responsibility to do something at new and fresh and innovative and fulfilling because I think that's the piece that that has been missing maybe always from like the human work condition is this idea that work can be fulfilling and it can and should be for everyone, not just the rare few who figure it out.
ET: 32:17 We have room in our lives and tools at our disposal to really figure out like take the time to figure out what it is that we want to do and then make the decisions we need to make to put it into action.
MP: 32:34 Absolutely. You know, it is, it's delicious conversation. And I think that if we think about it, number one, we have to be thinking about it. So the exciting part is we have listeners listening right now and they may be living the life that they have. You know, the life of their dreams and they, and there's some that are not going to be living their life, their dreams. And guess what the life you have right now, all of us, we actually created it and it's ours. And we set the table, we sat that table. And what we're having for dinner tonight is the life that we have. So what's exciting is let's set a new table, let's get prepared to have a wonderful meal and have that meal keep going on for the rest of our lives. And you know, what are you gonna put on that table? So it was quite clear the table off and start preparing your life as if you're preparing your table for the wonderful life that you want to lead.
MP: 33:29 Just absolutely lovely concept. And I want everybody, you get a copy of this book and start listening to this podcast. I think it's going to help our listener in their business. And uh, and before I know we're running at a time, but before we do that, I, before we, we started recording, we're having a little bit of a conversation and we talked about your bookkeeper and I just absolutely love having the voice of the customer, the eye of the customer, the mind of the customer because you're not a bookkeeper but you have a bookkeeper. And so yeah, I'd love to hear about your bookkeeper and what you like and what you know, what that experience has been like for you.
ET: 34:07 Sure. Well, I'll even tell you a little bit of story because I used to be my own bookkeeper and I did a really good job of showing up like as a, you know, a small solopreneur as, as it were or as I thought I was and I would show up every Friday and I would do my own bookkeeping. That was like one of my weekly routines that I did. I did that very well for a very long time and it worked out perfectly fine until my work and life started getting a little busy and once they started getting it started getting busier. For me, that was one of the things that stopped happening. And I remember, I guess it was probably five or six years ago now, sitting down just before tax time as you can imagine, trying to do the bookkeeping for not one but two businesses for like six months and sitting there with multiple screens up in tears like absolutely in tears because bookkeeping was hard and I didn't love it and it's not my core genius is not what I wanted to be doing all day.
ET: 35:08 I have great respect for it, but not what I should have been doing with my time. And My, my life partner walked into the room, sees me crying and wants to know how he can help and I hired him that day and he has been my bookkeeper and now pretty much CFO for not only Indie Shopography but being boss as well ever since. And so he has, he also has an education and geography, but he has done some training before that he wanted to be a financial advisor. That's what he wanted to do with his life. There's even some funny stories around some pictures he drew as in like a daydreaming session and like our early college class of him sitting next to a pool surrounded by a pile of money. That's what he wanted to do when he grew up in whatever. Everyone was supposed to draw out what they, what they wanted their profession to be because he wanted to manage wealth basically.
ET: 36:02 And so he always imagined that he would do that for some guy somewhere one day. And what it's turned into is that he's actually doing that for himself and for us and for the businesses that we run. And so he is our bookkeeper and it's taken off a load from my shoulders and allows me to really just focus on the creativity side of what I do or I'm also, I'm also actually the super practical one between especially Kathleen and I at a, at being boss, I'm the one who is super systems-oriented. I, I'm able to give Kathleen the space to be a little more creative. So I'm tend to be even the bridge between the two of them to really be able to, to really be able to have someone though who can look at the money, who can understand everything that's happening, but also have such a close connection to not only me but the businesses to really give us, you know, really healthy feedback and really knowledgeable feedback is, is monumental.
ET: 37:02 And we also, it's funny too because we've been working with a lot of vendors over the past couple of months for the book launch and, and some other things that we have planning. And in all occasions, everyone mentions how much they love working with us as a business because our money is on lockdown because it's so refreshing for them to know that an invoice will be paid within 24 hours. Always. Like that is just always the case or um, you know, W2's always gets, or 10 99 is always gets sent out immediately. Like as soon before anyone else's does. I'm having someone on board who allows our companies to look that much more professional and who has, you know, vendors wanting to come back again and again to work with us is invaluable. It is invaluable for the type of business that I want to be running and the type of experience I want to be having in my own business.
MP: 37:57 So great. You know, it's a, is some, some really gold nuggets there that can be gleaned in terms of just from, from our audience perspective as he, and hearing this, and I think it speaks to number one, when you're working with a business, the, the characters and the, you know, the personalities of those people. I mean, you have a part, there's two of you, there's a partner and you're both different and you're gonna expect different things. You're gonna transact differently than each other. And so it's really understanding your customer and what they need and what's gonna set them free. But that's, that's the positioning for most small to medium-sized businesses is to set a set, the owner set the entrepreneur free so that they can go and work on their, you called it genius. What was it?
MP: 38:43 Your core genius.
ET: 38:44 Yes. My core genius.
MP: 38:45 Your core genius, which is such a wonderful, wonderful way of putting it is to focus, enable you to focus on your core genius. And I think you definitely have a place in our hearts being a system driven person and building systems and process. Our audience will love that part of you. And so do I. And so this is, this is just been great. So thank you for sharing that and, and awesome that you are, your life partner is, is taken care of the numbers because that's helping you do the great work that you do. Now, Emily, this has been terrific. Uh, I feel like we could just keep on chatting and we'll likely want to have your back at some point. But before I let you go, can you tell, tell our audience where they can find more out about you and the book and the podcast?
ET: 39:29 Absolutely. You're going to find everything you need at Beingboss.club.
MP: 39:35 Perfect. That's so simple Beingboss.club and we will, of course, have that information on the show notes as well. Emily, thank you so much for being on the show.
ET: 39:44 Thank you so much for having me. It was an absolute pleasure.
MP: 39:48 It's another episode of The Successful Bookkeeper podcast. To learn more about today's guests and to get access to all sorts of valuable free business-building resources, you can go to Thesuccessfulbookkeeper.com. Until next time,
MP: 40:00 goodbye.
