Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Serena Shoup. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Serena, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start on the operational side – do you spend more of your time/focus/energy on growing revenue or cutting costs?

I think when you’re growing a company, you could be cutting off your nose to spite your face if you put too much focus on cutting costs than growing revenue. A savvy business owner pays attention to their costs and understands the value of each necessary expense while keeping spending under control (you can only do this if you know your numbers). We try not to be frivolous with spending, but rarely do we focus on cutting costs. If something isn’t giving us a return on the investment I’ll absolutely reevaluate and cut that expense. But most of my focus is on creating efficiencies and growing revenue.

For instance, a couple times a year I dig into some of the higher spend categories and evaluate each line item, asking the question: are we using this? If so, is it giving us the results we expected? I recently cut a software we were trying out, which should have had a direct relationship with bringing in sales, but after about 6 months we weren’t seeing any sales come in after consistent use. So we cut it.

In many businesses, wages & personnel are the highest spend category, so it’s important to understand and measure return on your investment in team.

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 started my bookkeeping business (Of Course Financial) as a Sidehustle to motherhood after I left my corporate controller position to stay home with my kids. A couple years in, I decided to start freelancing and helping small businesses with their accounting, soon to realize these business owners could benefit from the expertise I’d gained from building an accounting function in a startup company that eventually went public.

As I was building my business, I was in communities of other bookkeepers and accountants trying to build a business and began helping others solve problems I’d found solutions for in my own business. So I started a second brand (The Ambitious Bookkeeper) to mentor and educate other bookkeepers and accountants.

I’ve been serving small online businesses since 2017 and mentoring bookkeepers since 2020 and I’m passionate about sharing everything I know, helping businesses grow and understand their numbers and teaching bookkeepers the same so we can have a wider reach and help even more businesses.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Over the past couple years, I’ve been focused on speaking: teaching financial workshops at retreats, guest teaching in virtual programs and courses and podcast interviews.

By doing this I’ve been able to really build trust and rapport with potential clients and have gotten really quality leads this way.

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

I love books and podcasts when it comes to learning new things, but one book in particular had a lasting impact on me—all the way back from college. Our Business Management professor assigned us a book that ended up being the most memorable and impactful leadership book I’ve read to date: Leadership & Self Deception.

It’s a quick read, and well worth it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.Ofcoursebookkeeping.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/ofcoursebookkeeping
• Linkedin: LinkedIn.com/in/serenashoup
• Youtube: YouTube.com/ambitiousbookkeeper
• Other: Ambitiousbookkeeper.com

Image Credits
Brianna Kinsley