💡 Ever thought you needed a QuickBooks mentor to finally “get it”?Here’s the truth (with a little tough love): nobody can make you learn. You’ve got to do the work. But the right communities can absolutely change the game.✨ Here’s the real scoop:🚀 F1 was my first mentor → yup, that little help key taught me more than I ever expected.🎥 YouTube University FTW → Hector Garcia & Veronica Wasek mentored me for years before they even knew I existed.🤝 Communities beat gurus → you’ll learn faster (and cheaper) by surrounding yourself with people who share knowledge than by paying someone to spoon-feed you.👉 So stop hunting for shortcuts. Dive in, get your hands messy, ask questions in the right groups, and teach as you learn. That’s how you level up.🔥 Question for you: Who’s been your “accidental mentor”?🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.Join us here: Bookkeepers On Fire CommunityBookkeepers On Fire is proudly ad-free and 100% listener-supported, so we can bring you unfiltered conversations without outside agendas. If you enjoy the show, consider donating to help keep our mics hot and our mission independent.🔥Donate with Venmo🔥 🔥Donate with PayPal🔥
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Race To The Bottom
🚨 Stop scrolling. Let’s talk about why you’re stuck in analysis paralysis instead of building your business.Too many new bookkeepers are:🤯 Comparing prices to $200 “McBookkeeping” shops (spoiler: it’s a race to the bottom)📝 Counting transactions instead of transforming clients’ businesses (transactional = cheap, transformative = premium 💎)🌐 Obsessing over websites instead of landing actual clients (newsflash: your first five don’t care about your homepage 🚫)💡 The truth? You’re not competing with bargain-bin vendors. You’re building something bigger. Premium. Impactful. You.🔥 Stop waiting. Stop copying. Start transforming.🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.Join us here: Bookkeepers On Fire CommunityBookkeepers On Fire is proudly ad-free and 100% listener-supported, so we can bring you unfiltered conversations without outside agendas. If you enjoy the show, consider donating to help keep our mics hot and our mission independent.🔥Donate with Venmo🔥 🔥Donate with PayPal🔥
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🔴 Bookkeepers On Fire | Live with Randy Crabtree
Bookkeepers on Fire is LIT today 🔥I got to sit down with the legendary Randy Crabtree — partner at Tri-Merit, creator of Bridging the Gap Conference, host of The Unique CPA podcast, and powerful mental health + anti-burnout advocate in our profession.Here’s your sneak peek into this 🔥 convo:💥 Burnout is NOT a badge of honor – Randy shares how a stroke completely reshaped his career and why he’s on a mission to help accountants & bookkeepers stop glorifying 80-hour weeks, constant dings, and “I have to answer every email right now” culture.🤝 Big firms, small firms – we need each other – From outcome-based pricing to deep processes and KPIs, Randy breaks down how larger and smaller firms can actually learn from each other instead of staying in separate worlds.🧠💪 Mental health, movement & community are strategy – From hotel gyms and home workouts to Pilates and daily walks, we talked about how caring for your body fuels your brain — and why conferences, road shows, and communities like Ask a CPA, Bookkeeping Buds, and Bookkeepers on Fire are lifelines, not luxuries.If you’re a bookkeeper or accountant who’s done with burnout and ready to lead with heart, power, and purpose… this episode is for you. 🔥Bridging The Gap Conference: https://www.btgconference.com/Tri-Merit: https://tri-merit.com/The Unique CPA Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-unique-cpa/id1484824707🔥 Subscribe to the : Bookkeepers On Fire NewsletterBookkeepers On Fire is proudly ad-free and 100% listener-supported, so we can bring you unfiltered conversations without outside agendas. If you enjoy the show, consider donating to help keep our mics hot and our mission independent.🔥Donate with Venmo🔥 🔥Donate with PayPal🔥
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32:51
Define Audit Again
🚨 Ever had an insurance provider, mortgage broker, or workers comp auditor throw around the word “audited” like it’s free candy? 🍬 Spoiler alert: it’s not the same thing we mean in accounting.Here’s the real talk:🔹 Audited ≠ Audited – Capital “A” audit means third-party, deep dive, $15K+ bill 💸 … small “a” audit means “does this look okay?” 👀🔹 Push Back – When they demand “audited” statements, ask them who’s paying. (Hint: not you, unless they’ve got $15,000 burning a hole in their pocket) 🔥🔹 Clarity Wins – Most of the time, they just want standardized financials. Send your year-end statements ✅ and call it a day.👉 Next time someone tosses the word audit at you, remember: definitions matter.Would you pay $15K just to make your insurance agent happy? 😂🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.Join us here: Bookkeepers On Fire CommunityBookkeepers On Fire is proudly ad-free and 100% listener-supported, so we can bring you unfiltered conversations without outside agendas. If you enjoy the show, consider donating to help keep our mics hot and our mission independent.🔥Donate with Venmo🔥 🔥Donate with PayPal🔥
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Favorite Client Fails
💸 Favorite clients can still fail… and it’s not your fault. Sometimes, tough love is the best kind of bookkeeping.🔥 Here’s the hard truth we don’t like to admit:☕ Starbucks ≠ Sales. If your client spends more than they sell, no spreadsheet magic can fix it.💳 Loans for payroll? That’s not strategy, that’s survival mode (with interest).🚪 No sales, no business. A website doesn’t pay the bills—customers do.At the end of the day, you can love your client… but you can’t fund their denial. Sometimes, letting go is the real act of service.👉 Bookkeepers, have you ever had to give a client the “tough mom” talk?🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth.Join us here: Bookkeepers On Fire CommunityBookkeepers On Fire is proudly ad-free and 100% listener-supported, so we can bring you unfiltered conversations without outside agendas. If you enjoy the show, consider donating to help keep our mics hot and our mission independent.🔥Donate with Venmo🔥 🔥Donate with PayPal🔥
Where bookkeeping meets bold ideas, disruptive strategies with a whole lot of laughter. Donna with her genius in Systems, Processes, and Optimization and Debbie sharing Quick Wit, Funny Insights, Resolute Belief in people, break down what’s working - and what’s not.
Unlock the brilliance behind every episode. Experience the heat, the laughs, and the hard truths of virtual bookkeeping—come see what actually works.
Join us for the fire, the laughs, and the unfiltered truth about running a bookkeeping business today’s AI World.
Meet Your Hosts:
✨ Donna Reade
Visionary behind the award winning firms Team Reade and NextGenBookkeepers
Champion of AI-Native workflows and subscription pricing models
Known for mixing strategy with storytelling (and just the right dash of sarcasm)
✨ Debbie Kilsheimer
Founder of Behind the Scenes - A firm that redefines client relationships.
Speaker of Uncomfortable Curiosity - pushing boundaries, stirring deep thinking and meaningful change
Humor that slaps: cutting, honest, light-hearted
Together, Donna and Debbie light up conversations that Inspire, Educate, and Empower bookkeepers and accountants everywhere to build profitable, joyful, and future-ready businesses.
🎙️ Subscribe, tune in, and get ready to Turn Up The Heat on your bookkeeping journey!
Listen to Bookkeepers On Fire with Deb & Donna, Informed Decisions Independent Financial Planning & Money Podcast and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
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