Episode 28: How to Build a Hands-Off Training System for Team Members with Ashly Lindberg

Aug 16

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Alyssa Lang interviews Ashly Lindberg, the Founder and CEO of Precision Advising and Consulting. She focuses on helping service-based small businesses and family farms understand their finances and how to be current and accurate so they can make sound business and financial decisions. In this episode they discuss making connections, building internal training programs and becoming work-optional.

In this episode you’ll hear:

Ways to create connection with others in the industry
The power of masterminding and community connection to drive your business forward
How she replaced her full time salary to go full time in her bookkeeping business
How to create a work-optional lifestyle to be able to take vacations as needed
How to create an internal training program for your team

Resources mentioned in this episode:

💻 Breakthrough for Bookkeepers & Accountants

💻 Kickoff with Asana for Bookkeepers & Accountants

🎫 In Person Retreats with Workflow Queen

⚙️ Clockify

🎫 BKX

📚 Make ‘Em Beg to Work for You by Dr. Angela E. Lauria

⚙️ Notion

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Today you get to meet Ashly Lindberg, an extraordinary entrepreneur whose journey led her to founding and owning Precision Advising and Consulting. This blog explores Ashly's path, highlighting pivotal moments, challenges she overcame, and the lessons she learned along the way. She’s been a member of our group coaching program, Breakthrough for Bookkeepers & Accountants since the very beginning and she’s here to share all of her experiences with us!

Today we will learn how:

How Ashly’s initial encounter with the Breakthrough community gave her the confidence to hire her first part-time employee.
How she ignited a powerful transformation in her now growing business.
The power of community over competition, and the need for a like-minded support system.

One BIG factor that lead to her success is the community support in Ashly's received in the program. My goal today is to show on-the-fence business owners how the Breakthrough community empowers us to shatter limiting beliefs, embrace our potential, and cultivate both personal and professional growth.

Let’s jump in!

Ashly’s Story: From Side Hustle to 50+ Clients

Ashly is from the Midwest, which just gives her a bit of that lovely charm. We’ve bonded over so many things, like our mispronunciations of words, her incredible break dance skills, and joining two words into one “fantabulous” word.

Initially, I met Ashly when she came to Nashville for our very first retreat where we first introduced the Breakthrough content. And at that retreat in 2021, she’d just barely started taking her business seriously. She agrees she was very old school and while she had been using Asana, didn’t have any real processes implemented.

(Also— if you’re reading this and are new to the Workflow Queen universe you may be thinking, “What the hell is Breakthrough?”. It's a six-month group coaching program meant for bookkeepers and accountants at the stage of where Ashly was, especially at the very beginning. It’s really not meant for newbies. We love the newbies, but this is just not the right program. It's really meant for people who are at that growth phase, who are all in on their business and really trying to grow and be work-optional.)

Ashly's journey has grown from managing 15 clients to overseeing a growing clientele of 50. She was still working full-time, and the first year brought in a revenue of about $75,000. Pretty amazing for a first year in business while working a regular 9-5!

In year 2 of her business, she quit her full-time job, came to Breakthrough, and hired her first part-time employee! And that employee and the knowledge from Breakthrough helped Ashly dial in and set up successful systems. That led to taking on more clients and figuring out onboarding. Her part-time employee turned into a full-time employee, and ANOTHER part-time person was hired!

Since then Ashly’s business has set up successful training courses to onboard all new clients. She has systems in place for employees to take time off for vacation, grandchildren, travel, and illness. In short, Ashly has been able to go from working for others to owning a thriving business for herself, and on her own terms.

The Benefits of Breakthrough on Your Business + Life

So I have to brag for a second. Because Ashly said something that has really stuck with me.

She said that Breakthrough was “life changing” for her. (Is there ANYTHING that can make a business owner feel better than hearing that?!)

And she isn’t wrong. We all know the value of feeling like you’re part of a community. To be around other business owners, to see how they operate, and to gain that confidence in my business in processes and systems. Breakthrough taught Ashly that even though we think we're supposed to do things in a certain way — the textbook way isn’t always the ONLY way.

The most incredible part of this program is the fact that it’s based on proven concepts that leave room for you to customize and adapt for your business. Sure, there’s tons of templates and resources for you to use, too. But mostly we just collaborate. We talk through things in the Facebook community and the weekly coaching calls, and I always walk away with incredible wins myself.

One of the absolute perks, and one of the best parts of my business, is knowing that people genuinely find some of their best friends inside the program. Ashly was getting ready to do all this CPA stuff, and a few of those people she met in Nashville are CPAs and have taken the test. They mailed her books, so she could use them and offered her tips and tricks on what they would do if they took the test again. And how do you put a price tag on that? That’s priceless.

Other perks of Breakthrough?

The brainstorming sessions allowed Ashly to hear how other people do things. More like-minded brains are all focusing and channeling their energy towards similar goals.
Creating a business that allows you to be work-optional!
We introduce our tech stack, all carefully curated so there’s nothing you don’t really need (I’ve done so much work to find the exact tech stack to support a thriving business, one of which is Notion— which I could talk about for hours.)
I give you soooooo many templates. (Ashly specifically mentions the daily outtake form, which will help so much with training. This form is asking trainees to specifically describe what they learned, what they have questions about, what is still unclear, and what could be added to the training for the next hire.)
The onboarding template that is provided is a game changer. Don't have the capacity to create this because it does take time to film the loom videos, outsource it, upload it, create it, put this thing together? No problem. Take this one and tweak it.
THE CONNECTIONS! (I said it once but it’s so worth saying again.) Even I get connected with the people that are my own students, which is great. They introduced me to the social media management company.
There are “golden nuggets” galore — you just have to get in there to see for yourself!

Embracing What’s Possible in Breakthrough

You probably already know that success isn’t just measured by revenue. Has her company grown and added employees, and allowed her to quit her other job? Hell yeah! But she has succeeded in so many other ways.

When Ashly did her values breakdown, Family First was one of her biggest Core Values. And that extends to all the people in her business. So when one of her employees, Grace, had a baby, Ashly was able to give her the entire month of June off with pay.

And for her, Ashly wanted to be able to say “Your priority right now is your family. Do not even think about the company. This is not what's necessary.” And I think Ashly being able to give that option to someone who works for her, and that she cares about as it aligns with her value— that’s another reason we love each other.

As Ashly and her team continue to make strides in their business, the future looks bright. How do I know this? Because:

Ashly has a commitment to personal and professional development, as she learned and implements new ideas
Ashly shows dedication to creating a supportive work environment through the support of employees and attention to family time.
She has an unwavering pursuit of excellence, ensuring that Precision Advising and Consulting will continue to thrive and make a meaningful impact in the business world.

If you’re ready to make impactful changes, as scary as they may feel, embrace what’s possible by joining Breakthrough for Bookkeepers & Accountants. Don’t be afraid to invest in yourself and your business!

Ashly’s just ONE example of the incredible transformations we’ve seen in our Breakthrough community, will you be sharing your story with us next??About our guest:

Ashly is the founder and CEO of Precision Advising and Consulting. She focuses on helping service-based small businesses and family farms understand their finances and how to be current and accurate so they can make sound business and financial decisions. Ashly loves to help others, especially other small business owners. She is passionate about the work and talent of each client and enjoys being her clients’ “go-to” person for all small business accounting, advising, and consulting needs. Outside of growing into her role as a rock-solid business owner, Ashly is a visionary for new ideas and thinking outside of the box. She is all things organizational and motivational, and after braving the storms of being a small business owner for several businesses over the last 20 years, she now pours life into her clients and friends.

Connect with Ashly Lindberg:

Connect with her on Instagram (Personal): @ashly_the_accountant

Connect with her on Instagram (Business): @precision_advising

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