Today we turn our attention to Carrie Kahn, entrepreneur and successful businesswoman. From yoga classes in the morning to advising small businesses in the afternoon, Carrie takes multi-tasking to a whole new level.
Carrie describes her professional practice as, “Helping small businesses, consultants & ProAdvisors purchase the RIGHT QuickBooks product at the lowest price and offers a team of experts that can provide high-level customer services all over the US as well as internationally; so that they use QuickBooks® the way it was intended. With the many offerings from online to desktop to hosting, we understand the benefits and limitations of each option to help customers find the right solution. We have been supporting and selling QuickBooks for over 25 years.” She goes into further detail explaining, “We provide many resources around educating our QuickBooks community. Our Complete Business Partner Program mentors ProAdvisors so that they can excel in their profession, collaborate with other partners and feel confident in selecting the best QuickBooks products; as well as extend our lowest pricing options for their customers.” You can easily find more about Carrie’s consulting through other online webinars, “Our education is available to the QuickBooks community in blogs and classes. I am a very active blog writer and teacher for ABBO Facebook group, Scaling New Heights, School of Bookkeeping, CPA Academy, Intuit’s Firm of the Future, CBG Blog and the lead QuickBooks Author for the Accountex blog.”
The two words that Carrie said best describe her daily life are “BUSY” and “ORGANIZED.” She goes on to explain, “While juggling a family of six kids and running my own business, there is always something going on. We seem to have graduations every year, and now we have weddings to plan for. Meanwhile, growing my partner program keeps me very busy answering questions, using various means and technologies. My challenge is to keep up and focus on the task at hand. There is a lot of demand to stay on top of a large family and managing a business.” She continues, “Although I don’t always feel like I’m 100% organized, I strive for accomplishing tasks and keeping things moving. I have automated much of our company’s workflow and it has made us 10x more productive. I stay on top of my daily tasks using a CRM. I love the feeling of tackling a task and marking it done! It makes me feel accomplished. Without our systems in place, things would fall through the cracks. I am able to stay caught up on my business and have a high-level view on what my team is doing at any time. Work-life balance is important to me, so by keeping my business organized, I can avoid working during my family time on nights and weekends.” When it comes to Carrie - there really isn’t much she can’t do once she sets her mind to it!
Carrie says her family helps her to stay motivated and goal-oriented, “My husband and I have a blended family of six kids. It is our wish that we raise them to be successful and independent adults. As each one goes through their different stages in life, we are coaching them along the way. We want them to follow us in a happy marriage, successful career, and to value education. So far, four of our kids have finished college and two are still at home.” She continues explaining the drive that pushes her to succeed, “We feel that it’s important to work hard and play hard. We cherish family vacations and creating memories. We are saving for retirement and looking forward to the many more freedoms that it will bring.”
Working as hard as Carrie does, both in her professional and personal life, it’s no wonder she needs to ‘treat’ herself every once in awhile, she says her favorite form of relaxation is traveling to new places, “The locations and timing vary from year to year and how often we go depends on what else is going on. Owning my own business comes with blessings and challenges. As an entrepreneur with a team, I have support; but there are always emergencies that come up so I feel like I can never let my guard down. I try to unplug and have minimal distractions by relying on my team when I am away. I love to get my nails done and get therapeutic massage once a month. To manage stress and take care of my health, I attend sunrise Yoga classes a few times a week.”
Carrie keeps up on her busy life through a few easy tricks, “I use Insightly CRM, Gmail and Google calendar reminders to keep me organized for both work and personal appointments. I plan my day by tasks in Insightly. I can prioritize my tasks to ensure the most important things are done first. I also manage my day on my calendar. My calendar reminders ensure that no appointments are missed.” As we’ve already established, organization is something that Carrie takes very seriously!
With only twenty-four hours in a day, it seems impossible Carrie can do as much as she does; but she uses technology to ensure her productivity is at an all time high every day, “I use technology to work for me. When tasks seem redundant, I work with my technology experts to design automatic workflows with the many apps we use from Wufoo, Zapier, Caspio, Gmail, Zoom, Schedule once, Insightly and much more. Each task that is automatically created and saves us extra steps is a lifesaver. Another time saver is writing blog posts. If a client or partner asks me questions and I feel like this could help someone else, I create a new blog post. When asked the question again, I can just send the link to the article on the topic. This saves me from explaining the same topic over and over. As far as the home front is concerned, I 'hire it out' so I can spend more time with my family. I use a white noise machine so I can sleep better. And finally, we created 'no cell phone' zones during family dinners and other special times.”
Carrie gives great guidance when it comes to working in the accounting industry, and working within a niche particularly, “Within our industry, there are different areas and niches. When you think about what past projects you enjoyed the most, think about what was different about them. Was there a particular industry you enjoyed working with or a certain part of the project, like setting up the payroll? Think about those clients that make you smile. They will help you figure out what it is that you love to do. Go find it and do what you love!” To Carrie - being successful is as simple as finding what you love and making it your career.
She explains the importance of work relationships, “Work life is more enjoyable when you find others in the industry that you can collaborate with to solve issues for your clients, rather than trying to figure out everything on your own. Being a solopreneur can be overwhelming at times. In the QuickBooks World, technology changes fast and it’s impossible to be an expert in supporting every product. Instead, it’s better to partner with others so that you can solve the client’s need and refer work to each other. We are all better together especially if you enjoy what you are doing.”
Carrie ends this interview giving some very positive advice for others in the accounting industry, saying, “I feel that one of the most important things to do in life is to discover your passion and do what you love to do. When you find your specialty, you will naturally enjoy your life more and work doesn't feel like work. Even better, you feel like you are making a difference, which makes your life fulfilling. It’s so important to find your community, quality over quantity.” We should all take a bite out of life the way Carrie has and use ourselves to better not only us but everybody and everything around us.
A special thank you to Carrie Kahn for taking the time to visit with us and share her story. Insightful Accountant is thrilled to be starting Women in Accounting Wednesdays again, so if you would like to participate, fill out the questionnaire linked below and submit your responses!