We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Julie Shopa. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Julie below.

Julie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

I chose to call my company Clarity Finances because I wanted business owners to have financial information that was clear and easy for them to understand so that they could use it to grow their businesses.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have been doing bookkeeping all of my adult life. Before I had my own business, I was the Quickbooks expert for a small CPA firm where I also did business tax returns and assisted with audits. My favorite part of the job was talking to business owners about how they got started and what their hopes for their businesses were. When I started Clarity Finances, I chose to focus on the bookkeeping piece not so much because I love putting the numbers together but more because I love the story the numbers tell. After some years I added profit maximization services and money mindset work because I realized that I was already doing that with my clients as we discussed the numbers each month. Most of our clients have experienced significant growth during the time we work together but the thing I like hearing the most is when clients say they feel so much more confident about their financial data.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki was influential early on. I remember playing the Cashflow game with my children and their friends when they were teens.

Profit First by Mike Michalowicz had a big impact as well.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

It was hearing Mike Michalowicz speak at Scaling New Heights 2016 that caused me to take a deeper look at my business leading me to lay off my team and move from Philadelphia to Tampa in less than a month after reading Profit First. I finished the book on the flight back from the event which was in the Bahamas that year to Philadelphia. And while I had been tracking where are my money was coming and going, I had not taken the time to analyze the results. Turns out the profit that I had the year before was completely gone due to the expense of paying my team. I realized I was working for free. I had visited Tampa earlier that year and thought it would be nice to live there. When I saw that I wasn’t making money in my business I thought “I might as well close the doors, move to Tampa and get a job.” My next thought was “surely it can’t be so bad that I have to get a job!” As it turns out, I was able to take my bookkeeping business completely virtual over the second six months of 2016 commuting to clients one week month from Tampa during the transition. I had always thought it would be fun to pack up whatever fit in my Honda Civic and drive off into the sunset. I pretty much got to do just that!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.clarityfinances.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clarityfinances/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julie.shopa/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julieshopabookkeepingetc/