Special Guest Kristin Ingram - Her Journey to 3000 Students!

Hey everyone, this is Julie Chenell, and today I am with one of my most favorite humans. Kristin Ingram is a longtime client. She's a friend. She's also my money wizard. And I think that you guys are going to absolutely love this interview today because Kristin's journey has been just amazing to watch. And I think you're going to find yourself in her story.

Welcome to Million Dollar Grit, the podcast that dives deep into the world of entrepreneurship, where tenacity meets strategy and dreams meet reality. My name is Julie Chenell, and I explore the raw, often overlooked truths of what it takes to succeed in business and in life. It's not just about the glossy success stories. It's about the grit it takes to get there.

Kristen, thank you so much for joining me.

Oh, thank you for having me. I'm so excited.

So I want to go like all the way back in time, back to 2016, and I want you to tell my listeners what you were doing before what you're doing now. So like, how did you get in the online game?

So in 2016, I was kind of taking a whole bunch of different courses with people. I had my own CPA firm and bookkeeping firm. I was teaching full-time at a university. I had like a YouTube channel and a website that, you know, was making like money off of like ad revenue, but yep, we couldn't sell anything from it. And we were trying to figure out like what we wanted to do next. And so we were starting to get clients, um, for the CPA firm in the online space. And that's where I ran into you.

Yes. Okay. So you were, you were definitely a dabbler, right? You were a university professor, certified public accountant, doing bookkeeping and getting into the online game, seeing how you can make money and you started to find online clients for your CPA firm. And I remember I was in a Facebook group like, I need help, I need like an accountant. And someone tagged you and we got on a call and you, you became my accountant. And I just remember you had such a commanding, like, presence of like, I've got you, it's going to be okay. But also, woman, get your ish together. Like, you're doing your whole business on spreadsheets. This is ridiculous. Do you remember that?

Oh, the janky spreadsheet. Yes, I remember the janky spreadsheet. And I just remember, I think there's this like misconception by new business owners and even like my bookkeepers when they come into my course that they're like, oh my God, everybody knows more about business than I do. I can't possibly work with business owners because they just know all this stuff. Right. They don't.

They don't.

And that's like, and the thing is, that's for like those of you that are listening that have a business that are going, oh my God, I don't know anything. And for those of you that want to work with business owners that are like, I can't because I don't know business. Like none of us know what we're doing when we start this.

Yeah.

Even me that has a business degree, when I started my own business, it was not what they teach you in the textbooks.

Right.

It's completely different.

All right, so you became my accountant, and then soon after that you joined my mastermind. And for those of you guys who know, I run a mastermind, and twice a year we get together. And at the time it was a small group, and so everyone would present sort of what they had been working on. And so do you want to describe what it was like to present at my mastermind the first maybe 2 or maybe 3 masterminds?

It was grueling. There was crying. You made, like, you shot down every idea that I had in a, in a, in a, like, a loving but firm way.

You had a lot of ideas, to be fair.

Yeah, I was always like trying to figure out, like, what was gonna make money, right? What was gonna be the thing.

Yeah.

Yeah, so it was painful.

Yeah.

I notice we don't do those anymore.

It was hard, you know, I'd have all these people in a room and it would just be like idea central and then You know, people are like, oh, that's a great idea, that's a great idea. And I'm like, no, no, it's a shiny object, stop. But you, you definitely were someone that it took a while for you to like figure out what you were gonna do. You had all of these skills and you had all of this learning, but it was like we still hadn't circled the drain on the thing that would actually make money until one mastermind. You had an idea that I just got so excited about.

Yeah. So it was April 2019, we were in Hartford and I, it was like God was working, I think that day because like a whole bunch of people are coming up to me and they're like, hey, do you know any good bookkeepers? And I'm like, well, there's two kinds of bookkeepers, fully booked or terrible. Yeah. And that was really all there was at that point. And so, wait, I'm like, well, let me see, like, let me think about what I can, you know, if I know anybody. And we were driving back to our house 'cause at that point we lived like 15 minutes from where the mastermind was.

Yeah.

And I was scrolling through Facebook and a friend of mine had posted that she was crying in the parking lot of her son's daycare. She was dropping him off for the first time and he was 6 weeks old.

Yeah.

And I don't know about you, but like, like daycare didn't even like pop up on my radar for for our son. And I think at that point he was, um, not even 2 years old. He was about 18 months old.

Yeah.

And it just like broke my heart. But then like, but the light bulb went off and I'm like, wait a minute. Like I trained my husband who failed accounting how to do bookkeeping. I can totally train these moms to do this, make really good money and not have to make, like not have to make that decision.

Not have to make that decision.

And so I came in the next day, which happened to be my hot seat. That's why I think God was working on this one. And I said, all right, Julie, I'm gonna teach moms how to become bookkeepers while their kids are napping.

And I was like, yes, yes you are. That is it. That is the idea. Oh my gosh. I remember, I remember, I think I like raised my hands in the air. It was just like, it, it was like, it was church. I was so excited that there was like an idea that like, I was like, yes, you can plant your flag there. And that first launch was super, super tiny. You remember you, the first time you launched Bookkeeper Training School, which is what it became, you had a list of a couple hundred people, if that, and they were from all these random spots, right? Yeah.

So we had like, uh, so we had a mailing list from Accounting in Focus, which was my accounting website. Um, we had a, we had a podcast for a while, so I had a list from that. And I just kind of went out to my like Facebook community and I'm like, hey, I'm doing this thing. I'm going to build this course. Come be a bookkeeper. We offered 50% off the first time and we built it as they took the course. So we pre-sold it like you recommend. And I know people think it's crazy, but trust me, you don't want to build a course that nobody buys.

Exactly. Exactly. How many students did you get in that first round? It wasn't too many. It was more small little class, right?

Yeah, it's about 40.

About 40. So I always tell people, like, even though 40 sounds small in the online game, if you're in a college classroom, you have 40 kids in front of you, it's, it's a good, it's a good audience. Like, it's a good set of students for sure.

Well, and it's much better to get paid to make a course than to not get paid to make a course.

Exactly. All right, so Bookkeeper Training School, it was 50% off, you pre-sold it, you got the 40 students, we got that market validation, and then it was time to do a webinar and you were going to run ads and we were going to try to do like an launch, and I'm always trying to manage people's expectations because a lot of people are like, I'm going to get 500 people on this webinar, I'm going to get 1,000 people on this webinar. And I'm like, you're probably maybe going to get 60 people on this webinar. So like, just settle down. So you started that process and Oliver is here to participate in this podcast. So you were getting ready to run ads and just tell everyone what happened.

So we ran ads and we got 6,000 people to sign up for the webinar.

Your ad went completely viral.

It was crazy. Like it was, if we're sitting there watching this, it's like, I'm starting to like freak out a little bit.

Yeah.

From this, 1,200 people showed up to the webinar and it was like, by the way, hold on, just pause.

You do not want your first webinar to have 1,200 people. You may think you want it. You do not want it. It is so stressful.

Yeah. And so everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. Like our webinar software broke. We had to like go live in the Facebook group. Like my, you know, Jeff is trying to like get people in to the Facebook group so that we can do this and we're teaching and we're pitching and, you know, and it was, and people like still thought it was great and it was great information. And by the end of the call, you know, 1,200 people showed up, 7 people bought.

I will never forget the Voxer message that came in because, I mean, it's like I'm like managing your expectations. Then the ad goes viral, then you've got thousands and thousands of people signed up and we're like, oh my gosh. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And then 7 sales.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. And, and I was just like, like I'm sitting there going, okay, well, we're going into tax season. Like I can, like, I'll, I'll pay all this off and then we'll, I don't know what we're gonna do, but we're like, okay, it's done. Like it was just doom and gloom. It was over. And you, you talked me off the ledge. You're like, no, you're gonna put on your big girl pants. You're gonna go live, you're gonna write emails, and you've got, you know, we have 5 days until the cart closed. Yeah. And so we just, I mean, I went live sometimes multiple times a day and we're answering questions and like everything we possibly can. You, you—

I never saw someone work so hard that week. You were just determined. You didn't let the doom and gloom maybe last for like 10 minutes and then you're like, Enneagram 8 kind of came out and you're like, all right, let's do this. And she was in that group answering questions hours, just like helping all of this super, super cold traffic trust her, believe her, solving for objections. And how many sales did you end up with at the end of that week?

189.

189 sales. And how much was Bookkeeper Training School?

$497.

$497. So you ended up with like, you were like inches from a six-figure launch.

Yeah.

Yeah. So that was like, that was an unbelievable, watching that whole thing, like it's one of my favorite stories ever. Um, so, okay, so that was in like late 2019, early 2020, right? Right before COVID hit.

Right.

So now here we are and it's 3 years later and how many students have you put through bookkeeper training school?

Over 3,000.

Over 3,000. How has that journey been?

Uh, it, at times it's stressful, but I think for us we just have a lot of, I can't believe like this works. I can't believe it still works. I mean, because we, like, we've done some crazy things with our ads and it just, it keeps working. I mean, we just, we just closed out October. Um, we did a six, we had a six-figure month in October.

Six-figure month. Yeah. Now I want to point out something really interesting because I think this is a really good story and you had this idea of I'm going to teach moms how to become bookkeepers while their kids are napping. And so many people are afraid to pick a hill to die on. In fact, you were a person who was afraid to pick a hill to die on for like 18 months. And some people might say, well, that's too specific. What if it's a mom who has an empty nest? Or what if it's older people? Or what if it's mom with school-aged kids? Like, why is your statement, I help moms become bookkeepers while their kids are napping? Because it seems like you're cutting off some of the ideal avatar. Can you tell people what, what actually happens?

So what we see in our numbers is about— it's funny because it keeps like swinging, but somewhere between 40 and 60% of our members at any given time do not have kids, do not have little kids, right?

So even though they don't fit that demographic, they— you have about 50% of your audience still buying because it's such a strong specific tangible visual example that someone reads that and they immediately feel something and can see something. And so that copy is so powerful that it's attracting people even if they don't have napping kids.

Well, and that's the thing, it's like we have older women who come in who are like looking to retire and are like, well, I don't remember my kids didn't nap much, so this has gotta be a really part-time thing, you know? And they know other people come in and maybe they got teenagers, maybe they don't have kids at all. And it's funny, I had a comment on an ad yesterday. It's like, what about a dad? Can dads join? And so I love when I get that comment because people are like, wait, this is, is this like an exclusive thing? Like, do I have to be a mom with kids? So it's almost like people want to get into the club.

Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's the power of specific emotionally driven copy. And this was your mission. Like, this wasn't just like something you made up. This was, this was based on your, on your own, like, emotional, like, connection to your friend who had to make that decision and to the fact that you had had a son and, like, couldn't imagine putting them in, in him in daycare, right?

And so when we, when we put that message together, like, even for us, like, we knew Eric doesn't nap a whole lot. If you can build a business in less than 10 hours a week and make a full-time income doing that?

Right.

That's incredible. And so that's always been our mission when people buy is to take them on that, that journey of a— and it, it's funny because I think is, you know, as business owners, and this is even something I struggle with, but like, how do you put a limit? Like, what do you, what do you want to accomplish? And then how are you gonna get there? Right. And so saying like, look, in 10 hours a week, you can really make that full-time income that you want. Right. So focus, right?

Okay. Yeah. Okay.

It's your desk. Get out of your desk.

So a lot of people who listen to this are in the online game and they struggle with ads. And I see people struggling with ads a lot because they either hire an agency that's really expensive and they don't have a lot of sense of what's happening. Is it working? Is it not? Is this money worth it? Or you have people who, um, you know, just they hire like a, a VA. And I honestly have watched the way you guys have handled ads, and I recommend whenever I see couples who are like, who have a spouse or someone, who I, I say you should do what Christian, uh, Kristen and Jeff have done. Because tell people like how you kind of got into the ads game, because you know, that's driving a lot of your sales these days.

So we originally hired an agency to, you know, help us with that first launch. They were doing their ads and yeah, and the thing with agencies is a lot of agencies, they wanna show you how like inexpensive your lead cost is. And they're not looking at, well, are they actually converting? Are they good leads? Right? And so I, it's gotta be what, like maybe a year and a half, 2 years now that Jeff took over our ads. And Jeff's a storyteller, right? Like he's, he's like the Dungeons and Dragons, you know, tabletop role play, designs his own worlds and writes his own languages. He's a storyteller.

Yeah.

And so he takes my live videos and strings them together to tell this story. Like, it's funny cuz Our lead ad that we use to get— it's funny because we've been running this ad, I think, for 2 years and it's our top performing to get cold traffic into our cycle is literally a video talking about how I need to do a 24-hour urine test and I can't figure out how to get Quest to give me the stuff I need.

Are you serious?

Yes. And it's like, and it's like all about like, you know, how we build things up and we make things so hard. And all the anxiety that goes with it. And I'm literally telling the story about like trying to figure out like, how do I sign up for this test? Like, how do I get somebody on the phone? Like, how do I— I don't know what to do. And finally, I just walked into the Quest and I, you know, clicked the tablet and somebody came out and helped me. But I asked guys like 2 weeks.

But this is—

so this is a 15-minute video where I'm telling this story and I'm like, why do we make things so hard?

Right?

And that if people watch that video, We retarget them with our webinar about that in our secret class for like 2 years.

Oh my gosh. But, you know, I mean, it has all— I mean, it's, it's relatable. It's so friggin relatable. Like, we all know what it feels like to be having to do something like that and being stressed. It's a pattern interrupt. It's like, why am I watching this video of this woman talking about a urine test? You know? So I think people, they think marketing has to be this super produced, you know, super slick. And you have proven that showing up authentically as yourself has been better for than any other marketing that you could have done.

Yeah. And that's, that's just kind of the approach that we took is that we wanna be relatable. We wanna show people that you don't have to wear a business suit, you know, to be successful from home. And it's been, it's been amazing.

Tell people a little bit about the scholarship you run and how that helps, not only helps women who want to become bookkeepers, but also helps your bottom line as well.

So every December we run a scholarship application and we give away between 3 and 7 scholarships every year. I think we've given away like 20 or 25 scholarships since we started.

Yeah.

And we, it's a really big thing. Like the entire month of December is a launch for us. So we're, you know, we're talking about the scholarship, we're teasing the application. We have people sign up early so they can get the questions before the application opens. So that's kind of like, you know, the, the thing to get them to opt in. The application's open for like 5 days. Like people share it out like crazy. Last year we had almost 400 applications. Wow. With no ad spend.

With no ad spend. Damn, that's amazing. And so then you give out these application— I mean, you give out these scholarships. Obviously it's amazing for the, you know, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 people that win. But then you run a sale on the back end, right? So for people who didn't get it and you give them a discount discount?

Yeah, so everybody that applies for the scholarship gets a discount. Um, and then like this year we're going to do a goal planning session on December 28th to plan for, you know, 2024. Um, we're really talking about like the kind of my theme for 2024 at Bookkeeper Training School is going to be simplicity and simplifying your life. And so that's going to work through the goal setting process that we're having. We open the cart for a week. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Yeah.

You know, I have lots of different hats and ears and things and, you know, great.

Yeah. So you basically, you get, you get sales through your evergreen webinar where Jeff, you know, sends ad dollars to your urine test drama. You get people into your webinar and but you have an amazing community. I mean, let's not, let's not make this sound like it's as easy, you know, as easy as 1, 2, 3 because you guys spend a tremendous amount of time nurturing your community. I know you've done open houses and you do all kinds of like— you're very present for your, for your audience.

Yeah, we do a weekly video newsletter that I do on my page, and usually there's some coaching and then we talk about like the schedule and what all the calls are for the week. We do like open houses, we do Q&As, I mean, we really try and one of the things like our webinar is also really educational.

Yeah.

So if you watch our webinar, we show you how to get your free QuickBooks account. We show you how like the pricing structure works, like the basics of it, and we teach you how to start your marketing.

Yeah. And there's value just attending the webinar even if you don't buy.

Yeah, absolutely. And then we do, we do a challenge every year. We do a Money Smart Mama challenge where we teach women how to manage money better. We just did like a bookkeeping basics. We did a flash email sale where we kind of ran like a little mini challenge. So we try to do a lot of education. My goal is to help women improve their money knowledge, whether or not they buy from us.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's— yeah, you have, you have a layered mission at this point and you, you know, your numbers speak for it. I mean, you, you told me that your completion rate for people who go on to get QuickBooks certified is higher than the industry standards, right?

Yeah. So the certification average for QuickBooks Online is about 50% and ours is over 90%.

Over 90%.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, so what would you say to someone who is the Kristin back before 2019? The Kristin that is, you know, they're in that same soup. What would your advice be to them as they're trying to figure out what it is they, you know, want to do? In this world.

So I think figure out what the market need is, right? So look at all the skills that you have and then say, what is something that is really needed in the marketplace? And don't, you know, make sure that whoever, whatever need you go after, that they actually have the funds to pay you. Like, there are lots of college students that need to learn how to study, but they don't have any money, right? Right. That, yeah. And trust me, we tried that.

You have that. Yes.

But when you decide to sell that thing, be authentic, be yourself, and show up.

Yeah.

I think one of the reasons that Bookkeeper Training School does as well as it does is because like our support is crazy. Like the amount of support that we provide for our students, um, is really amazing compared to the other courses that are out there. But the thing that I've done is I have, I've outsourced everything else. Like my team handles everything else in the business so that I can focus on curriculum and support. Right.

Where your, where your zone of genius is. Yeah. All right. A couple rapid fire questions for you here as we wrap up. First, if people are listening and they're like, wait, I need a bookkeeper. Uh, oh, do you help business owners find bookkeepers?

Yeah, I actually have a website for that. They can go to bookkeeperhireform.com.

Okay. And bookkeeperhireform.com.

Yeah. And that connects us, that connects them with one of our certified bookkeepers.

Okay. And obviously if there's someone listening that's like, well, I would like to be a bookkeeper while my kids are napping, that link where they can go to learn about your bookkeeper training school, it's bookkeepertrainingschool.com.

Okay.

All right. Well, what's your favorite vacation spot?

Oh, anything that I can get to on a cruise ship.

On a cruise ship. So that's one thing that you have started doing since your whole life changed. You guys are on cruises all the time, it seems. I'm like, wait, they had another one?

So in the last year, we started in October of last year, we went on 5 cruises, and I've got— 3 more books between now and March.

Damn.

All right, well, they're up in the school now, so it's, you know, it's cramping my cruise style.

Yes, school cramps lots, lots of things. Yeah. Um, all right, well, I appreciate you so much. Um, oh, and I— one last question: do you still do taxes and, and CFO strategy for people or not? Because I know that question too.

No, I don't.

I didn't think so. I was like, I think, I think she's not open business today. But you can get a certified bookkeeper from directly from your program, which means they have been, you know, mentored by you, um, at thebookkeeperhireform.com. Yeah. All right. Awesome. Kristen, thank you so much for joining me.

You're welcome. Thanks.

All right. Talk to you guys soon. Thanks.

Bye. And there you have it, folks. Another dose of Million Dollar Grit. I hope today's episode has left you feeling inspired, equipped, and ready to face your own entrepreneurial journey with resolve. Remember, until next time, embrace the struggle, harness your grit, and keep pushing forward. You're stronger than any challenge you face. I'm Julie Chenell, and this has been Million Dollar Grit.