EP512: Sharrin Fuller - Scaling Smarter: Why Systems Matter More Than Headcount

Michael Palmer: So in my company last year, I told, I think we had 12 people and I told them, I said, before the end of the year, nobody is going to have a job here unless you are client-facing, relationship-based. If there is a part of your job that can be outsourced or done by technology, I'm gonna have to let you go. So come to me, I'll create a department, we'll create a service, whatever it is, you have to take that initiative. You're listening to The Successful Bookkeeper with your host, Michael Palmer. Listen each week as inspiring guests share their secrets of success to help you increase your confidence, work smarter, and build a business you love. This episode of The Successful Bookkeeper is brought to you by purebookkeeping.com, the proven system to grow your bookkeeping business. Welcome back. Welcome back to the Successful Bookkeeper Podcast. I'm your host, Michael Palmer, and today's show is going to be a fantastic one. Our guest is known for helping accounting professionals build scalable, saleable businesses without burnout, and she is the author of Unfollow the Rules: The Messy Truth About Burnout, Bad Decisions, and Building It Until It Worked. Sharon Fuller, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Yes, well, welcome. And I know we've, we've had you on before, and for those listeners that don't know you yet, they can go and search and find the other episodes, and we'll have those in the show notes. But for the ones that are here and just want to get to it, tell us a little bit about you and your career journey leading up to this point and writing this book.

Sharrin Fuller (January 13th 2026): Yeah, actually, that's a whole entire book, right? Um, that's It is, it is a journey of how I got to where I am. And it, I started out honestly in sales, customer service, and then ended up with an accounting firm, grew that, sold it, decided to leave, started a new accounting firm. Thought I learned a lot from the first one and just started making the same mistakes over and over again. And to the point where I was like, what am I doing? I teach this, like I teach this, I go to conferences and I get paid to teach this. Yeah, I am doing it. So I took a step back and said, okay, I'm going to be my own client. And within, I think it took about, I would say about 3 to 6 months, we turned everything around and I was like, oh, well, cool, it works. At least I'm not full of it. So that's kind of where I am now. And I just sold my firm again. I know I