Carving Out Your Niche And Discovering Your Mission with Geraldine Carter

Geraldine Carter started her business because she didn’t want to be an employee again. EVER. But when she discovered how much she loved coaching CPAs, she set a clear and compelling mission: helping overworked CPAs create the accounting firm and the life they have always wanted.

Geraldine joins me for a no-holds-barred conversation about business, money and impact: 

What to do when you have to make your business work because you never want to be an employee again.

How to find your people and zero in on your mission to serve them.

Why it’s easier to make your second $100,000 than your first.

What happens when your revenue crosses over to your personal definition of “enough”.

The costs and pleasures of committing to ruthlessly staying solo.

LINKS

Geraldine Carter | Website | Podcast | LinkedIn 

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

GUEST BIO

Geraldine Carter is a business coach for overworked solo CPAs and firm owners who want to go down to 40 hours without giving up revenue. Her clients routinely shave hundreds of hours off their to-do lists and get back above water, so they can reshape their practice into one in which they thrive. Her podcast, Business Strategy for CPAs has more than 100,000 downloads and is ranked in the top ten podcast for CPAs, by Apple Podcasts. 

Geraldine holds a BS in Engineering from Cornell University, is the co-founder and CFO of a company where her cashflow forecasting models resulted in millions of dollars for climate change efforts. In her free time, she can be found mountain biking forested trails or running after her two small children in her hometown of Ketchum, ID.

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TRANSCRIPT

00:00 – 00:28

Geraldine Carter: I’ve just stopped looking at the money, which is so not normal for me. Counterintuitive. At the risk of sounding however this sounds, I’ve almost lost track because it’s not the main thing that I think about in my business. The main thing that I think about is how do I delight clients? What is the delight that they want? And how do I delight them as fast as possible? Best possible results, least amount of time, best experience. Hello, hello.

00:32 – 00:56

Rochelle Moulton: Welcome to Soloist  Women, where we’re all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I’m Rochelle Moulton, and today I’m here with my pal Geraldine Carter, force of nature And business coach for overwork solo CPAs and firm owners who want to go down to 40 hours a week without sacrificing revenue. Geraldine, welcome.

00:57 – 00:59

Geraldine Carter: Hi, Rachelle. I’m so happy to be here.

01:00 – 01:22

Rochelle Moulton: Well, 1 of the many reasons that I am so thrilled to have you on the show is the way that you’ve established and grown your soloist business. I mean, I find it both aspirational and inspirational. And plus, we’re going to talk about 2 of our favorite topics, right? How to keep making more money without working more hours and staying solo.

01:23 – 01:24

Geraldine Carter: Ooh, I love it.

01:24 – 01:34

Rochelle Moulton: Okay. Great. Well, let’s bring everybody kind of up to speed. Let’s start with what made you decide to start your own business. Like was there a catalyst that sent you in this direction?

01:35 – 02:30

Geraldine Carter: I don’t want to say that I needed something to do, but I needed something to do. And I needed to put Cheerios in the bowl. And I had started a previous business with a friend that we had built and it was successful and I knew I wanted to go in a different direction and I knew that I was gonna start family and I was like okay now what do we do now what do I do what does this look like so when I started I actually wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I knew that

02:30 – 02:54

Geraldine Carter: I didn’t want to grow a giant company, or at least I thought I knew I didn’t want to grow a giant company. But I was like, all right, do I be a CFP? Cause I like money and I like managing money and investments and all that stuff. And I think my women especially need a lot of help with that kind of thing. But I went down that rabbit hole and I was like, oh, 2000 hour qualification, no thanks. And then I was like, You know, everybody says I make, I love making ice cream, sort of a

02:54 – 03:07

Geraldine Carter: terrible. It’s a, I love making ice cream and I make delicious ice cream. If we’re doing raw Geraldine, The name of my ice cream and I have labels for it is creamy cheese inappropriately delicious.

03:08 – 03:11

Rochelle Moulton: I can so see that. Oh my goodness.

03:11 – 03:17

Geraldine Carter: It turned out the minute that I wanted to turn that into a business and somebody said health department I was like I’m out.

03:17 – 03:18

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah food is tough.

03:19 – 03:46

Geraldine Carter: Yep and then at this point I forget what the other ones were, but at the end that left coaching. And I was like, well, this is the last 1 on the list, and it’s time to get some Cheerios in the bowl. So I signed up for a coaching certification program. And the minute I signed up the first class I was like, this is where I meant to be. I love this. And that was about 8 years ago. I was pregnant with my first kid. And that’s how I got into it. And I’ve just been finding my

03:46 – 03:48

Geraldine Carter: way exploring ever since.

03:49 – 04:08

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I know from some of our other conversations that it was kind of a twisty road that got you from there to here. So maybe can you talk us through what it was like entering the coaching space and especially finding your niche because you’re not a CPA and yet you serve CPAs. I’m just curious how you got there.

04:08 – 04:42

Geraldine Carter: Yeah. So Twisted Road is exactly it. And I, you know, like many business owners who hang their own shingle thought that I could just sell coaching. And doesn’t everybody want mindfulness coaching? Doesn’t everybody want to think better thoughts? Well, maybe, but it turns out it’s really hard to sell that by the session. So I had to do my own exploring to figure out what it is that I was offering and how I could benefit people or how that skill set could benefit people in a way that made sense for business. And simultaneously, I was having conversations

04:42 – 05:19

Geraldine Carter: with colleagues and we would always shocker, wander into the money because that’s where I was so at home. And we’d start talking about the money and I’d be asking them questions about whatever and it was on their balance sheet and they’re like, I have no idea. And they didn’t know, they knew very little about the, they knew very little about the state of their money. So I just sort of followed my nose and I started helping business owners understand their financials. And I would ask, where’s your accountant? Where’s your CPA? How come they’re not explaining this

05:19 – 05:42

Geraldine Carter: to you? And they would say, oh, they don’t have time for me or they talk over me or they talk down to me. And I was like, huh, that’s not like what’s going on there. And then simultaneously, I had a couple of CPAs reach out and they were like, hey, you know, I’ve heard about the work that you’re doing and I think I’m wondering if you might be able to help us. And that was a real head scratcher for me because I thought, wait a minute, you guys are CPAs, you’re exposed to business all day, don’t

05:42 – 06:15

Geraldine Carter: you guys understand business by osmosis? And once I got behind the curtains, I was like, oh, you guys are business owners just like everybody else and you have a skill and a craft, but that doesn’t mean that you can turn that around and point it at your own business and be a super duper awesome business owner. We all get sucked into the craft of our business and have a hard time seeing how to run and operate our business from the outside looking in. And so that was how I got into coaching CPAs and you know we’re

06:15 – 06:39

Geraldine Carter: like I’m snug as a bug in a rug because I have an engineering degree. So we talk money, numbers and math and we do spreadsheets all day long and it’s super fun. Whereas with the, you know, the physical therapist and the license, whatever the, the, the family therapist, there was more money and number aversion. So it just wasn’t as easy. So I feel like I landed right where I was meant to be with the numbers people.

06:40 – 06:57

Rochelle Moulton: There’s also a word you use that I love, which is easy. It’s Like, you know, when you find that intersection of what you love with the people who really need it, there’s that sense of ease that comes from that. Did you ever feel like you’d have to like get a CPA?

06:58 – 06:59

Geraldine Carter: Oh, no.

07:03 – 07:05

Rochelle Moulton: You don’t have to be 1 to understand the business.

07:06 – 07:08

Geraldine Carter: Well you don’t have to understand tax,

07:10 – 07:10

Rochelle Moulton: right?

07:11 – 07:15

Geraldine Carter: Right. And tax gives me hives. The minute someone says 1120S I’m out.

07:16 – 07:19

Rochelle Moulton: But I don’t even know what that is. So I’m with you.

07:20 – 07:55

Geraldine Carter: So I know I have learned some of these things, but tax still honestly gives me highs, but it’s not, I don’t need to know tax. I need to understand the business and the business model. And especially because accounting and tax and CPA and so on come out of an hourly billing space. There are all the classic problems, downstream symptoms in their businesses that are mostly born of hourly billing and the mentality that comes with hourly billing. And even though they maybe half, not quite, probably have moved off of hourly billing as a pricing mechanism, there’s still

07:55 – 08:09

Geraldine Carter: the mindset that is lagging, if you will. It’s still an hourly billing mindset, even if the pricing mechanism is different. So we’re doing more the high-level Business model business strategy and I don’t go anywhere near tax

08:09 – 08:42

Rochelle Moulton: You know, it’s interesting though is I think you said this earlier is that you know, these are CPAs. So they’re presumably people who are logical thinkers and plan things. And your engineering background feels like it would be simpatico with that. And I mean, that’s another thing I think that’s really helpful when we’re trying to figure out, you know, what’s our niche, who are people is where we think like our audience and then where we’re different because the difference is usually the part of the Venn diagram where you are observing them. Yeah.

08:42 – 08:53

Geraldine Carter: And that has been super helpful because we think alike enough, we get each other, but we don’t think exactly the same. And the differential between the 2 is of enormous value.

08:53 – 09:01

Rochelle Moulton: It’s kind of like saying, well, what if what you think you see isn’t really what you see? I mean, it’s a fresh set of eyes.

09:01 – 09:27

Geraldine Carter: Yeah. And there’s so many things in the accounting space that have just been done this way for years. It’s just every space has this, right? Every industry has its culture. And accounting tax is no different. So there, I wouldn’t say they’re sacred cows, but there are a lot of things that are just taken as a given as this is how we do things. And like you say, it takes a fresh set of eyes to come in and be like, wait, what you do this? How? How now?

09:27 – 09:28

Rochelle Moulton: Why do you do that?

09:28 – 09:36

Geraldine Carter: Yeah, why do you do this? Why do you not plan out your tax season and who your clients are going to be and know how much room you have and shut the door when you don’t have room for more? How come you don’t close your door when you’re full?

09:37 – 09:40

Rochelle Moulton: That just boggles the mind right there. But okay.

09:41 – 10:02

Geraldine Carter: I mean, they have rationale for it. And if you follow it, it makes sense. You can follow their logic. And yet it leads them right into the same trap of being overworked but it’s just how they do things in the accounting space so it takes the non accountant to come in and be like okay hold on a minute this makes no sense and not only does it not make no sense I

10:02 – 10:02

Rochelle Moulton: mean it makes sense in the

10:02 – 10:27

Geraldine Carter: way that you think about it. But not only can we find a better way, that way is imminently doable, you will like it better, and you will make more money and you won’t have to work as many hours. But because they’re because the force of history is so significant, and they look around and they don’t see other people doing it in a new way. All they have is evidence for the other way. It feels really risky to try anything different.

10:27 – 10:34

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, risky especially in a profession that is generally risk-averse. I mean, you want your accountant to be the steady

10:34 – 11:03

Geraldine Carter: man. They say that they are risk averse and they love this thread. I’m just gonna pick it up for half a minute. They love saying that they are risk averse, but they work long hours and risk missing their lives. They under price and they risk having to work extra hours in order to make up for it. They are generalists and risk having clients who are all over the map. Accountants love to say they are risk averse, but honestly, I can find a list of 10 ways that they are taking risks with their lives and with their

11:03 – 11:05

Geraldine Carter: business and with their profits and with their time.

11:06 – 11:14

Rochelle Moulton: I love that so much. I’m thinking of all the CPAs I’ve ever met and it describes a lot of them right there.

11:18 – 11:23

Geraldine Carter: I’m not going to any friends by saying this, but honestly, the phrase, well, we’re accountants, we’re risk averse is like a webby.

11:23 – 11:52

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, yeah, I know. I hear that. It makes sense. Well, and truthfully, they’re not that different from the rest of us, if you think about it, because we’re all risk averse when, when we think there’s only 1 way to do something because it’s the only way that we’ve known. It’s kind of like coming out of corporate and starting consulting and saying, okay, So I’m going to have an hourly rate and then I’m going to take what I used to make. I’m going to throw in the benefits. I’m going to divide by however many hours I think

11:52 – 12:00

Rochelle Moulton: is right. And that’s going to be my hourly rate. I mean, you just have to start thinking differently and experimenting, right, until you find the right thing.

12:01 – 12:35

Geraldine Carter: I think 1 of the things about my audience is part of being a soloist and being inside your niche is really understanding how they think in ways that are different than how I just assume people think. And as an engineer kind of background, scientist-y kind of background, I don’t have any problem experimenting. I learn by breaking things and trying to put it back together. So that to me, that way of doing things seems to me like the normal and of course you would do it this way kind of way. But the thing that I needed to

12:35 – 13:00

Geraldine Carter: come to appreciate about the way that my people think is that they really like guidance, they really like rules, they want to do a good job, they want to do the right thing, and they need the guidance, the in-air quotes rules in order to be able to do a good job. And it provides them some ballast, if you will, to know that they’re in the right lane.

13:00 – 13:01

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah.

13:01 – 13:37

Geraldine Carter: So, I have to appreciate where they’re coming from and be able to appreciate their way of thinking about things so that I don’t just barge in with my own sort of like let’s just experiment what’s the big deal kind of attitude because it won’t work. It won’t be effective for them. And I think if I come in with that, it might kind of, I don’t want to say scare them off, but they might be more reluctant. Rather than if I come in kind of appreciating how they view changing things, going against the grain, in air quotes,

13:37 – 14:09

Geraldine Carter: risk, and doing it in a way that feels safe, that doesn’t feel like they’re gonna blow a hole in the boat of their business. Doing things in a way that does feel like, okay, I can just run a swatch test on the segment of clients to see how this goes. And if it goes horribly, nobody will know. So there’s, I think, real value in being different from your niche, understanding, being the same as you’re, like, in some ways similar to your niche in some ways different but also really appreciating how they view the world and not

14:09 – 14:14

Geraldine Carter: assuming that your worldview is doesn’t everybody have this worldview.

14:14 – 14:45

Rochelle Moulton: Yes and I think that’s important to insert into your point of view and then you fold that into the practices that you create to actually do your work. I mean, when you were describing it, the word that kept flashing in neon for me was coach. I mean, because what you’re doing is you’re meeting them where they are, and then figuring out where they want to go and helping them to get there. It’s like you’re building the bridge, or maybe you’re bringing part of a bridge that’s already built and then you build the rest together.

14:46 – 15:18

Geraldine Carter: Yeah, and the thing that I’m, the thing that I love doing the most is help them get where they want to go, but even...