EP216: Twyla Verhelst - Why You Must Get To Know Your Bookkeeping Clients

Michael Palmer: That classic version was not an accounting system. It was an invoicing system as it was originally designed to be. To the business owner, they thought it was an accounting platform, but to an accounting professional, we knew that it wasn't. And so it was in 2016, a brand new platform was released, and since 2016, that there's been numerous product features built out in the platform that have made it even more robust as an accounting software. 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 to the Successful Bookkeeper Podcast. I am your host, Michael Palmer, and today's show is going to be a fantastic one. Our guest is recognized as one of the top 50 women in accounting. She is the head of FreshBooks Accountant Channel, and I'm very happy she's on the show today. Twyla VerHelst, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much. I'm, I'm really thrilled to be here. It's great to have you. And, you know, I know quite a bit about you and seen you at conferences and involved in all sorts of great things and, you know, very active on social media and doing lots in the industry, but I want to make sure our listeners know who you are. So Twyla, tell us a little bit about yourself. So we can get to know you.

Twyla Verhelst: Yeah, sure. Thanks, Michael. And you're right, we have met a number of times, and I hope that we can meet again soon in person once conferences resume and are no longer virtual. But I'm a CPA. I certainly am not a traditional accountant. Truth be told, I never became an accountant to be an accountant. I always just thought accounting would be my plan B, my backup plan in case I needed something to fall back on when entrepreneurship didn't work out for me, or if it didn't work out for me. And, you know, I grew up in an entrepreneurial home. My parents were business owners, and so I stepped into accounting thinking it shouldn't be a miss no matter where I go in the business world. Once I got my designation, I spent a year as a controller inside of a manufacturing company, and when that was kind of coming to a close, I then my career took some, a real meandering path. I started my own business at that point, then