Episode 14 – Jennie Schottmiller is helping entrepreneurs so they can help others.
About Jennie
Jennie Schottmiller is a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) and licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Pennsylvania. She operates a private practice in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
First Phase
In 2007, Jennie left the accounting world after personal events required focusing on health and family. She pursued helping couples and families and became a therapist in 2010. She opened her private practice in 2016 and came to realize that many of her peers in private practice struggled with accounting, tax, budgeting and cash management issues. Jennie now runs a thriving coaching business, Simple Profit. Simple Profit offers free resources as well as coaching and educational courses to support and empower small business owners.”
Second Phase
Through her business, Simple Profit, Jennie is helping entrepreneurs who are busy helping others. She helps them so that they can help others. Jennie realized that as a therapist, her peers were in their businesses to help others and the last thing they wanted to do was accounting and bookkeeping. She identified a need and created the solution.
The longer people put things off, the more stress there is around that task. Jennie’s advice is to not put things off. Look at the numbers every month. As doing so will alleviate stress and allow for making better business decisions.
Jennie is helping entrepreneurs by summarizing IRS information and presenting it in a way that people can understand without spending a ton of time on it. Her blog is a wealth of information and she has three Facebook groups that are open to the public and tremendous resources. She also offers online courses that will educate students on how to do the taxes and necessary data recording on their own.
Tips and Tools
A few tips and tools Jennie recommends to make your bookkeeping quick and easy.
Quickbooks – available as a web-based program or for Mac and PC
Excel
Go Daddy
Record revenue and expenses monthly so that you can easily track the data, catch errors, and plan accordingly.
Make categories for profit and loss statements so that you can easily keep track. Lump similar things together for easy tracking based on your business.
What Not to Do
The one mistake Jennie says she made when starting her business was not getting pictures taken for her brand. She was afraid of being in front of the camera but really regrets waiting so long. Having an online business she needed to have photos of herself so that people could get to know her. Using her professional photos made a huge difference in her website and how her business looked.
Mentors were a huge help in creating her online programs. She’s learned from others and from her mistakes. One thing that really made a difference for her was providing answers for free.
Just Do It
Jennie is a firm believer in just doing it! Learn what you need to learn and just act on it!
Jennie’s Book Recommendations
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg
Learn more and connect with Jennie:
Website: www.simpleprofit.com
To learn more about your host, Robyn Graham, click HERE.
