Empowering Female Business Owners: Pivoting from Bookkeeper to Coach
Female business owners? We love them! That’s why I stared this! Have you ever dreamed about doing something in business and it just took a lot of effort and work, but then finally, you got to release it, and it’s just so exciting? For me, that’s my podcast!
I’m going to share a little bit more of my story, what the heck even is a bookkeeping coach, and why I started a podcast.
A little about me
I’m Erika Millard. I am a mom to three little six, five, and one year old, and we’re actually pregnant with number four due in February. We are very busy with our kiddos. I’m also a wife to a medical resident and we just moved to Birmingham, Alabama this summer.
We’re still trying to figure out how to drive places without GPS and what all is exciting to do here. So if you’re familiar with the area, reach out and let me know.
But a little bit more about me.I am an Enneagram one. My strength finders are discipline, competition, responsibility, and belief. That gives you a little insight into my brain.
I have an accounting background. I went to college for accounting and honestly, I did that because I wanted to be in the FBI. At the time, they were heavily recruiting FBI special agents for white collar crimes. I thought that would be so cool. I’m this little five-two blonde girl and I could carry a gun and no one would suspect me. That is one big reason that I went into accounting. Also, I knew that when I started having kiddos, I was gonna wanna stay home. The flexibility of the accounting world really inspired me and drew me into that field.
I found that everyone says, “Oh, you must be really good at math.” Well, it’s really not math. It’s really more organizing numbers. I’ve always, ever since I was little, been just a natural organizer. Anyway, that is how I got drawn into accounting.
I did public accounting, and then I worked in private accounting. Then when my son was born, I knew I wanted to stay home with him. It’s funny looking back because at the time, my current job—I had asked if I could work from home—and they said, “No,” which has totally changed in this world. But in that world, not many people worked from home. And so I was like, “Okay, well maybe I can start my own business.” That is how I got drawn into being a bookkeeper.
Why female business owners?
I knew I had those kinds of skills and then just kind of through crazy circumstances, I started gaining clients. I had a couple of people approach me. The craziest story was when I was sitting in Starbucks with a girl that I had babysat when she was little. Now I’m a mom, so she’s older too, and she was going into college and thinking about going into accounting. We were just chatting about the opportunities in accounting, and this man leaned over and said, “Well, I could actually really use somebody, and I don’t care if you work from home.” He became my first client. That was just a crazy story that propelled me into being a bookkeeper and starting my own business.
Then, through some other crazy circumstances, I had a handful of clients. I was really thankful to be using those skills and working from home, but I started to just feel really unfulfilled. I started to feel like there’s got to be more for me. There’s got to be more purpose. I feel like I have some other gifts that aren’t being used. So I went to a retreat with SOBA—oh, shout out to the SOBA ladies—and through that retreat, they just really helped me realize that I wasn’t quite working with the right person that I wanted to be working with.
So I thought, okay, well, I’m going to now work with six-figure, high-level female business owners. When I started marketing that, what I really found is that I, for the most part, relate more to the newer female business owners and startup businesses, or those that have been in business just a few years. They all started coming to me saying, “I can’t hire a full-service bookkeeper yet, but could you just teach me how to use QuickBooks? Or could you just look at my spreadsheet and make sure I’m not missing anything? Or could you just teach me what these words mean because I don’t understand?” I thought, okay, well, I got four of those requests within six weeks. Maybe there’s something here.
I started researching—who’s out there helping this kind of person? I really couldn’t find much. So I thought, okay, let me just see if I could do a couple of coaching-type calls and find out if that’s something that helps them and that I enjoy. Every single one of those calls I got off of, I thought, oh my gosh, I could do this all day. It was just really cool to see that taking a few action steps based on what people were telling me they needed led to me feeling so much more fulfilled in what I was doing.
At that time, I didn’t even see anyone marketing those types of services, and I really struggled with what to even call myself. Eventually, I landed on a bookkeeping coach. It wasn’t to train other bookkeepers, but to teach women in business specifically how to do their own bookkeeping. Because there is a season of time when you can’t quite afford a full-service bookkeeper yet. I feel really passionate that it’s actually a good thing to do the bookkeeping in your business yourself for a season—you learn so much.
Now, I provide services to support and teach you how to do the basics of bookkeeping and really understand your numbers. I feel so excited to break down some of the barriers in the financial space. That’s my story of pivoting from being a full-service bookkeeper to becoming a bookkeeping coach.
Honestly, I just want to say for the record—if you’re considering a pivot or you’re not quite feeling fulfilled, it’s not usually an overnight success. It took several steps. It took a few years, really, to formulate what these services were going to look like, what I enjoyed doing, and what people actually needed—at a price point they could afford. Really, it took a while to figure all of that out.
If you’re in that space of trying to figure it out, I just want to encourage you to keep going. Keep taking steps. It took those steps for me to realize, “Oh yeah, this is totally it,” or “This isn’t quite it yet.” Sometimes we get stuck in the “What is it?” loop—and sometimes you just need to take the next step and the clarity will come. That’s my little bit of encouragement if you’re in that “not really fulfilled, but not sure what else to do” space.
One—ask the people, because they told me what they needed. If it’s something that interests you, listen to that. And two—don’t be afraid to shift and change until you figure out exactly where that sweet spot is. I hope that story is encouraging and exciting, and reminds you that you really can take steps to figure out what can fulfill you even more in your business.
That’s something I truly love seeing in female business owners because obviously, we want to work with people who are excited to bring us whatever they’re offering. So anyway, keep going. Keep taking steps.
Why am I starting a podcast for female business owners?
You know, I talked myself out of it for a while, if I’m being really honest. I think I had some limiting beliefs. Can I make these topics not boring? Can I make the financial terms exciting and something people actually want to listen to? And then, of course, the big question—will anyone even listen to me? Then I started to feel that comparison syndrome creeping in. I thought, well, I’m not going to present the info like other people. I’m not this professional, polished financial person. It took a little bit before I realized—it hit me. Oh, that’s just it.
You’re not here because you want me to sound like the polished financial professional. You need things to be more simple. And that is what I’m really excited to be delivering. And so I realized oh, like this is exactly it. This is why the podcast is needed in this space—to really make it feel more approachable. If I’m being honest, I get a little fired up about it.
I want to create a different kind of community because I’ve heard just too many stories from female business owners saying, “I talked to my CPA and then I cried because I had no clue what they were telling me,” or “I’ve been trying to talk to this tax accountant and I have no idea what these words are that they’re saying.” Or even, “I went to the bank and they made me feel dumb, like my business was just small and insignificant, and it was really embarrassing.”
I want you to know—if you’ve ever had any of those experiences, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry that people have treated you that way. In this community, there is no crying, no shame, and no embarrassment. We are going to transform that shame, that fear, and that discomfort into confidence.
You’re going to hear from some of my clients and other guest experts we’ve worked with who have totally experienced transformation. I was just talking with one of them recently, and she said she’d be the first to admit she’s not a “numbers person.” But now, when she looks at her numbers, she gets excited—and she said it was actually fun. So if she can say that, then that is totally possible for you.
You’re going to get tips, best practices, client wins, and expert insights. But more than anything, what I want you to walk away with is the feeling that, okay, sure—there are some complicated accounting topics that might feel heavy. But for the most part, I can actually understand this. That’s what I’m so excited to bring into the world. There’s been a stigma in the financial space of “let’s just leave that to the professionals.” Me, I am not about that.
I truly believe that most female business owners—most of the stuff you need day-to-day to make smart decisions in your business—you can understand. I hope you feel encouraged like, “Okay, now I know what that word means,” or “Now I can go look at this and actually feel like I know what I’m looking at.”
That is exactly the picture I want for you: to walk away feeling like, “Okay, I understand the basics. I understand even more than the basics. I know what these words mean. And I can have a conversation that makes me feel empowered and confident—not embarrassed, not ashamed, not in tears.”
With that being said, if you have any topics where you’re like, “Erika, I really want to know what this means,” please DM me, send me an email or message—I want to hear from you.
A few other things you can expect
We’re going to go over definitions—like, what does this word even mean? What is this term? What is this report and why should I be looking at it?
I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed. Instead, I want you to feel like these are bite-sized pieces that I can take and implement right away. Like I said, if any of this resonates with you, I am so excited that you’re here.
As I mentioned, I want to hear from you! If you have any questions about something you hear or if there are topics you’d love for me to dive into, please reach out and let me know. I’m genuinely excited to hear from you, and I’m even more excited that you’re here. So let’s get going—and happy bookkeeping!
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