My Story: Growing a Million-Dollar Bookkeeping Firm

From day one, my sister and I had a clear goal: to build a million-dollar-a-year bookkeeping firm.

We didn’t stumble into entrepreneurship or “accidentally” grow a business. We were intentional — even if, at the beginning, we didn’t yet have the skills, confidence, or systems to match the vision.

We launched our firm as a virtual bookkeeping business from the very start, long before remote firms were common. My sister brought strong tech skills and five existing clients. We offered bookkeeping, tax services, QuickBooks training, and business consulting — and we charged $18 an hour, simply because that’s what she had charged when bookkeeping was still a side business.

What we lacked in pricing confidence, we made up for in hustle.

Through networking, partnerships, and working with Intuit to deliver financial literacy seminars, the firm grew quickly. Five bookkeeping clients turned into 30. A handful of tax returns became more than 100. Consulting engagements increased. We hired staff and felt like we were finally on our way.

But behind the scenes, the numbers told a different story.

Even after raising our rates to $35 an hour, we couldn’t cover payroll. We weren’t paying ourselves. We were stressed, exhausted, and questioning whether our million-dollar goal was realistic — or naïve. From the outside, the firm looked successful. Inside, it was barely holding together.

Everything changed when we attended our first QuickBooks Thrive conference (now QB Connect). That’s where we were introduced to value pricing through a session led by Mark Wickersham — and for the first time, we realized our biggest problem wasn’t workload or clients.

It was pricing, mindset, and systems.

We went home and created fixed-price packages, and our clients loved the predictability. But we quickly learned an important lesson: fixed pricing is not the same as value pricing.

At the time, we didn’t truly believe in the value of high-quality bookkeeping. We told ourselves things like, “No one will ever pay more than $200 or $300 a month.” So that’s exactly how we priced our services.

Then came one of our toughest lessons: hiring too early, without the right structure.

Work that took my sister or me 2–3 hours was taking team members 5–10 hours. Clients were paying $200–$300 a month — and we were sometimes paying our staff more than that just to do the work. The math didn’t work. We were broke, discouraged, and had no money to invest in coaching or programs that could help.

So we did the only thing we could: we learned relentlessly.

We consumed every free resource Mark shared. We attended webinars. We studied. And eventually, we made a bold — and uncomfortable — decision: to invest in ourselves, even when it felt risky.

Around the same time, we discovered Pure Bookkeeping. For the first time, we saw what was missing: documented workflows, consistent training, quality control, and a proven way to deliver bookkeeping services profitably and at scale.

We made some hard but necessary changes. We let our staff go. We joined Mark’s mentoring program. We adopted Effective Pricing. We became licensed users of the Pure Bookkeeping System. Slowly — then steadily — the firm transformed.

Value pricing turned out to be a journey, not a switch you flip. It required mindset work, confidence, better systems, and a deep understanding of the real value bookkeeping provides to business owners.

And it worked.

We built a profitable, scalable firm with an incredible team of 10. My sister and I both earned salaries. The business supported our lives — not the other way around. Most importantly, we achieved the goal we set from the beginning.

In October 2025, we successfully sold our bookkeeping firm.

Why I Now Help Other Accounting Professionals

Selling our firm gave me clarity.

I realized the work I love most isn’t just bookkeeping — it’s helping other accounting professionals build businesses that give them options. Businesses that are profitable, well-systemized, and valuable enough to sell one day — if that’s their goal.

I know what it’s like to:

• Work harder every year but feel stuck financially

• Struggle with pricing confidence

• Hire team members and feel more overwhelmed, not less

• Wonder if your firm will ever truly work for you

I’ve lived it. I’ve made the mistakes. And I’ve done the work to fix them.

Today, I help bookkeeping and accounting firm owners build strong, profitable, sellable businesses through better pricing, clear systems, and confident leadership — without burning out or sacrificing quality.

Whether your goal is growth, freedom, or an eventual exit, you don’t have to figure it out alone.