How to Dominate Your Niche with Kerrie Maynes

Kerrie went into corporate accounting after getting her accounting degree. She decided after 5 years that it wasn’t her cup of tea and opened her own business that lasted for a couple of years. A major move meant she had to find something else and she ended up working in a public school for 13 years. During that time, Kerrie’s husband developed a chronic illness and Kerrie knew she needed to find a job that gave her more flexibility. She discovered Bookkeeper Business Launch and that’s where it all started.

[5:05] You are always skeptical when you come across work-at-home opportunities online, but Ben’s course seemed to really stand out and offer a solution that Kerrie was looking for.

[6:30] Kerrie has two clients of her own, as well as three other clients she has done consulting work with. She started out with a few subcontracting jobs that she recently decided to drop as she figures out what she wants for her business.

[8:30] Bookkeeping is a great fit for anyone that has the ability to learn quickly and pays attention to details. Being a people person is an asset. If you want to have success as a bookkeeper, you need to be able to build relationships with your clients.

[10:35] When Kerrie first got started, she couldn’t decide on a niche, so now she finds herself constantly doing research to figure out a potential client’s industry. Finding her niche would really make her job less complicated and help her find clients. Right now, she’s focused on attorneys and becoming an expert in that industry.

[13:30] Vision is tough for Kerrie since she’s just getting started. Her ten-year vision is for her business to be running itself or she will sell it. For the next three years she wants to have a few subcontractors and staff in place so she doesn’t have to turn clients away. She would like to have more time to do the marketing and for meeting clients.

[16:25] The key question is, “How do I become known?” The first step is to pick a niche, but that doesn’t necessarily mean an industry. For Kerrie, she really enjoys working with a specific attorney.

[17:20] Kerrie’s favorite client has a lot of commonality with Kerrie herself. This may be an opportunity to drill down her niche even further beyond just attorneys. The next step is to serve the heck out of her client and figure out what really attracts her.

[22:10] Every niche and every industry has eyes that want to see something that brings them value. A good example is the podcast. How can you get in front of the audience that you want to serve and establish yourself as an authority? Is there an event you can speak at or a resource you can create?

[26:15] Don’t be worried about giving away too much free information in these forums. There will always be more value in accountability and hands on work. Everything you give away is a way to establish your identity in your target niche.

[28:10] Does Kerrie’s client have a software rep that she can talk to? They could give her a lot of insight into what attorneys need as well as be a possible source of referrals. Who are the people that already have a relationship with the clients that you want to establish an authority with?

[29:50] Given the stage of life Kerrie is in she may want to stay in BNI so that she can find more clients, even if they are not in her chosen niche. At this point, it may still make sense to keep her options open. Getting to the point where she no longer needs to take on clients to keep the lights on would allow her to be more selective about who she works with.

[33:10] Kerrie should get in with the one client that she has and learn everything that she can that has to do with bookkeeping, business, and taxes so that she can speak her language.

[33:45] You have to be intentional about your business. Schedule time to work on what you need to work on. Be careful about research though.The more time you spend learning, the less likely you are to act. Get in front of the audience you want to serve because there is no environment better to figure things out. Just don’t do it before you can speak their language.

[37:00] Don’t think about it as a chance to get clients, think about it as a way to give away value and help people. No one likes to be sold to, but we love to buy. Going into it with the giving value mindset will be a complete game changer.

[38:50] Kerrie’s next actions are to get in front of some Bar associations and decide if staying in BNI is the best use of her time. There is no wrong decision with that. She just has to be intentional and replace it with it something that will keep pushing her business forward.

[41:55] Becoming an authority is not an overnight effort; it takes time. If you’re looking to make money quickly, it is not the way to go.

Mentioned in this episode: Strategic Bookkeeping Solutions