EP449: Kimme Lafayette - Overcoming Barriers in Bookkeeping Business

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Kimme Lafayette has been running Beyond Bookkeeping Business Services for over a decade — and she'll be the first to tell you the early years were built on a shaky foundation. In this episode, Kimme walks through the full arc: an accidental business launch, a pricing model she inherited rather than chose, the fear that kept her from changing it, and the decisions that eventually multiplied her revenue more than tenfold. If you've ever felt stuck between knowing what you should do and actually doing it, this conversation is for you.

Chapters

• [00:00] Intro and Guest Welcome
• [01:35] Kimme's Path to Bookkeeping
• [04:32] Why Bookkeeping Over Accounting
• [07:10] An Accidental Business Launch
• [10:20] Hitting the Hourly Rate Ceiling
• [13:40] Letting Go and Switching to Value Pricing
• [18:00] Facing the Fear of Change
• [21:00] Making Time to Implement
• [24:40] CPB Canada and Finding Your Tribe
• [28:20] Staying Adaptable With Technology

An Accidental Business With Inherited Pricing

Kimme didn't set out to start a business. Her employer — a landscaping company — converted full-time staff to contractors, and she chose to make the leap rather than accept reduced hours. Her first client came built-in, but so did her rate: her former employer simply divided her annual salary by 40 hours a week. "They basically took my annual salary, divided it by the 40 hours a week that I had been working and said, this is going to be your hourly rate." Starting at $20–$25 an hour in Toronto, with her value measured in time rather than outcomes, the ceiling on her growth was baked in from day one.

The Wall Every Hourly Bookkeeper Hits

Within a year and a half, Kimme had hired her first team member and was gradually shifting clients to QuickBooks Online. But growth stalled in a way she hadn't anticipated — her team worked from her home, and she was simply running out of space. She was also running out of energy. "Being just one person, having that rush hour traffic to deal with, having limited hours in the day, I very quickly reached a maximum cap of what my earnings could possibly be with that type of format." When her senior team member resigned to pursue a career in the stock market, Kimme made a bold call: let the remaining team go, drop some clients, and rebuild from scratch on a value-pricing model.

Fear Is Part of the Process

Kimme had been aware of value pricing for years — she'd followed Ron Baker, Mark Wickersham, and Rhonda Lynn, even briefly joined an academy — but hadn't acted on it. She's honest about why. "I was afraid. You tend to sit in a pool of comfort when things are running well without problems." The shift wasn't just operational; it was mental. She kept motivational notes on her mirror and worked on changing how she thought about what she was selling. When she rejoined Mark Wickersham's Academy and committed to it fully, the results came — not overnight, but steadily. "I started making more money. I started working less hours. My revenue was more than 10 times what it had been."

Making the Time to Save the Time

One of Kimme's most practical pieces of advice for bookkeepers eyeing the switch: stop waiting for the perfect window and start with small blocks. "I would block off just a half an hour or an hour after the session to take some notes. Even if I just changed one little piece of wording in my service agreement or in my pricing model, I made a little change." She's clear that the investment is time, not just money. Buying a program, joining Pure Bookkeeping, accessing free resources — none of it works without the owner carving out the hours to actually implement it.

Community, Adaptability, and Playing the Long Game

Kimme is an active member of CPB Canada (formerly IPBC) and credits the professional community as a pillar of her growth. "CPB Canada — one word: tribe. It's my people." Beyond the certification and education components, she points to the conference and peer network as irreplaceable for bookkeepers who often work alone or in very small teams. Her other big recommendation: stay adaptable. Technology and AI are moving fast, and bookkeepers who dig in against change will find themselves falling behind. "Being ready to change your processes or adapt to processes, finding new efficiencies — that's a constant growth, even if you're happy with your revenue level."

Links Mentioned

• The Successful Bookkeeper website
• Pure Bookkeeping
• Mark Wickersham's value pricing training and YouTube channel
• CPB Canada — Certified Professional Bookkeepers of Canada
• Beyond Bookkeeping Business Services — contact via Kimme's website (link in episode notes)

About the Guest

Kimme Lafayette is the owner of Beyond Bookkeeping Business Services and a Pure Bookkeeping licensee based in Canada. After 20 years in another industry and a six-month bookkeeping program that reignited her love of numbers, she built her firm from the ground up over the past decade. Today she focuses less on day-to-day bookkeeping and more on teaching, mentoring, and coaching — including one-on-one work with bookkeepers and training within Mark Wickersham's value pricing program. Michael and Kimme first met at a live seminar just north of Toronto in late 2014.