That Bookkeeper

I have worked as an independent bookkeeper since 2004. That Bookkeeper offers excellent small business bookkeeping, consulting, and support.

Owner

Scott's Music

Bookkeeper from 2005-2009.
Purchasing Manager from 2008-2009.
General Manager 2009.

General Manager, Purchasing Manager, Bookkeeper

The Recycle Bin

Bookkeeper, Office Manager

Your New Bookkeeper | Saving 🇨🇦 & 🇺🇸 Owners Time & Stress | Fully remote bookkeeping for solopreneurs & small teams

If you’re reading my About section, you’re likely 1 of 3 people. 

1. A business owner
2. A bookkeeper

3. You’re just trying to figure out if I’m the Eric Matthews 
you remember from school, work, jail, etc. 
Short answer: I’m probably not. 

If you run a business, here are a few ways I can help. 

DIY, DWY, DFY

DIY (do it yourself): 

If you want to do your own bookkeeping, I get it. 

Every owner should know their numbers. 
Doing the work gives you a deep understanding on how your business runs. 
If/when you decide to outsource the work, you’ll know what to look for 
and you’ll be able to understand the monthly financial reports.

If that’s you, I recommend following me. 
I share content that will help you understand 
what to look for in your numbers, and tips on running a more efficient business. 

DWY (do it with you): 

If you’re not looking for a bookkeeper but just need some advice, 
I recommend connecting with me. 

Send me a message and let me know what you’re struggling with, like: 

- how to set up your software
- what to look for in your reports
- how to improve cash flow

I can answer most questions right in the messages. 
For bigger topics, we can set up a consulting call.

DFY (do it for you): 

If it’s time to outsource your bookkeeping, 
we can book a call and find out if I’d be a good fit. 
Not all bookkeepers are created equal, and only certain ones 
will be suited for your business and your needs. 
The important thing is finding one right for you. 

If you’re a bookkeeper, here’s how I can help. 

Please consider following me. 
I write content that most bookkeepers can relate to.
It’s not all about bookkeeping tips. There are plenty of places to find that. 

My goal is to give you tips on running a practice. 
How to deal with the pressure of running one by yourself, 
and some advice on doing it in an efficient way without burning out. 

If you’d like to get a deeper dive each week, you’d like my newsletter. 
It comes out every Monday morning, and it provides more advice 
than you can easily fit into a LinkedIn post. 

And, if you ever have questions that I haven’t covered, please connect with me. 
Send me a message. 
I’m always happy to help a fellow bookkeeper. 
In most cases, I can give you a quick answer in the messages. 
If your question needs a bit more time, we can book a consulting call. 
On a call, you’ll be able to explain your question in detail, and we can work together to find an answer. Or, if you just want to spend some time venting about a client, 
we can do that too.

Eric Matthews

Chris M. Walker

8-figure businesses • Tips about Business, Entrepreneurship, Money, and Freedom • Freelancing advocate

If you're a business owner tired of wasting money on agencies that don't deliver results, I'd like to make you a crazy promise...

Having helped thousands of business owners take control of their growth without expensive agency retainers, including:

Small business owners who went from struggling to $500K+ in annual profit without hiring a single agency.

Marketing directors who were tired of managing unreliable agencies and now handle their growth in-house with better results and lower costs.

And entrepreneurs who found that agencies kept them in the dark while charging premium rates for mediocre work - who now run their marketing with full transparency and control.

I would like to promise you'll see clear growth in your business within 30 days of using the Legiit platform.

...Using our B2B growth system that puts you back in control: https://go.legiit.com/download

I'd like to promise you this so you can see I'm not just another guy talking big without backing it up.

My goal is for you to get so much value from our platform that you tell other business owners about it.

...And potentially want to explore the next steps of working with us to scale your business even faster.

So, give our growth system a try here: https://go.legiit.com/download

Just copy and paste that link into your browser and it's yours, free.

Once you've tried it, let me know if it does or doesn't work for you...

I'm always here if you need help taking control of your business growth without getting locked into agency contracts.

You can follow me across all socials: @ChrisMWalker

Let's put you back in the driver's seat of your business growth.

Chris M. Walker
Founder, Legiit

It's building multiple 7 and 8-figure businesses through trial and error. Every system I share has been tested in my own companies first.

What makes my approach different:
- I don't make you dependent on agencies or consultants
- I give you the exact tools and systems that work
- You stay in control of your marketing, not at the mercy of others
- You get access to quality freelancers without the agency markup

"Figure out what you want. Figure out what it takes. Do the work."

That's my story. What's yours?

Owner & Founder

Superstar SEO is a 7 figure SEO, Internet Marketing, and SaaS Agency specializing in small, medium & large scale businesses grow via the internet.

He borrowed $50 from his dad and built a $50 billion empire.

Phil Knight was 24 years old.

Fresh out of Stanford business school with a crazy idea.

Import cheap running shoes from Japan. Undercut Adidas. Build something.

Everyone thought he was wasting his MBA.

“You went to Stanford for this?”
“Selling shoes from your car?”
“Get a real job.”

He didn’t listen.

Here’s what Knight understood that others missed:

Good running shoes were too expensive. Athletes needed better options. Someone had to fix it.

So he flew to Japan. Met with Onitsuka Tiger. Convinced them to let him distribute their shoes in the US.

One problem.

He had no company. No credentials. No business.

He made up a name on the spot. Blue Ribbon Sports.

The shoes arrived. He stored them in his parents’ basement. Sold them at track meets from the trunk of his car.

Made $8,000 his first year. Kept his day job as an accountant because $8,000 doesn’t pay rent.

Worked all day. Sold shoes at night and on weekends. For years.

His old track coach, Bill Bowerman, became his partner.

Bowerman obsessed over better shoes. Constantly testing and improving.
One morning, while making waffles, he saw the pattern.

He poured rubber into the waffle iron. Ruined the kitchen. Invented the waffle sole.

Running shoes changed forever.

But here’s the part people skip.

Knight almost lost everything. More than once.

Banks rejected him. Cash flow was brutal. Suppliers didn’t trust him.

In 1971, Onitsuka tried to cut him out and sell direct.

Knight chose to go independent.

At 33, with a wife and kids, he bet everything.

Started making his own shoes. Needed a new name.

An employee suggested Nike. Goddess of victory.

Another employee designed the swoosh. Knight paid her $35.

Nike launched in 1972.

He nearly went bankrupt again in 1975. Loans called. Almost done.

Except he wasn’t.

Found new backing. Kept going.

By 1980, Nike owned half the US running shoe market.

Today, Nike does $50 billion a year.

All because a 24-year-old refused to get a normal job.

He sold shoes from his trunk.

Worked a day job while building at night.

Got rejected over and over.

Almost lost everything.

Because he understood this:

Starting small isn’t failing. It’s starting.

Working two jobs isn’t weakness. It’s commitment.

Almost losing everything isn’t the end. It’s the test.

Knight started with $50 and a car trunk.

Bowerman built prototypes in his kitchen.

They kept going anyway.

Stop waiting for perfect conditions.

Start with what you have.

Borrow the $50. Sell from the trunk. Build at night.

Think Big.

CEO of Legiit - Helping business owners own their growth without paying expensive agencies that don’t get results. - go.legiit.com/download

He borrowed $50 from his dad; Built a $50 billion empire.

Warren Buffett gave her one piece of advice. She turned it into a licensing empire.

Kathy Ireland was 39 years old.

Kmart was her only retail partner. Her entire revenue stream.

Then they filed for bankruptcy. The largest retail bankruptcy in history.

She had 37 employees depending on her.

Everyone said she was done.

“You started with socks. That was your mistake.”
“Models don’t build real businesses.”
“Just go back to what you know.”

She didn’t listen.

Here’s what Ireland understood that others missed:

She hadn’t built her business on Kmart.

She’d built it on trust with busy moms who needed quality and value.

One failed partner wasn’t the end.

So she went back to work.

She pivoted hard. Expanded beyond fashion into home furnishings.

Because Buffett told her something simple:

Fashion changes fast.

Home products last.

Here’s the part most people forget.

Ireland was never supposed to be a businesswoman.

She was a supermodel. Thirteen Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues. Three covers.

When modeling slowed, someone asked her to model socks.

Model them. Not own them.

She said no.

She wanted to build the brand.

Launched Kathy Ireland Worldwide in 1993.

Started with socks because they were the test.

If moms trusted her with socks, they’d trust her with everything.

She was right.

After surviving Kmart, she kept expanding.

Home goods. Furniture. Jewelry. Weddings.

She listened. Built relationships. Took feedback seriously.

Today, her company licenses over 17,000 products.

Generates billions in retail sales worldwide.

Forbes called her a “Super Model turned Super Mogul.”

All because she refused to stay in a box.

What career are you treating like it’s over instead of a setup?

What opportunity are you playing safe instead of owning?

Ireland started with socks because everyone said it was stupid.

She survived bankruptcy because she understood trust and resilience.

Stop letting your past define your future.

Start thinking like Kathy Ireland.

Find your socks. Build your brand. Survive the test.

Think Big.

Buffett gave her advice. She built a licensing empire.

I got 8 million views and made $5,000 from a picture of Mark Wahlberg in his underwear.

Here’s the one thing most people get wrong when they try to use content to grow a business.

They forget that their customers are human beings.

Complex, diverse, human beings.

Instead they treat them one dimensionally…

…and that’s why they LOSE.

Let me explain so you can put this into action.

Say you sell SEO services or software. Here’s what most people do.

They optimize their profile for SEO. Put a GMB grid in their cover photo. Post about Google reviews, debate whether schema works, share case studies.

They think because their ideal customer is interested in SEO, that’s all they should talk about.

Here’s the problem: they never reach the majority of potential customers who will never know they exist because all they do is talk about boring SEO stuff.

People interested in SEO also care about business, sports, motivation, health, and a hundred other things. But this creator only talks shop, so they never get seen by those people.

They are only making bottom of funnel content. That’s why they are losing.

When you create content strictly about tips and optimization, you are providing Utility. Once the user gets the answer, they leave. And AI can now provide that same utility, making your content less valuable.

When I talk about entrepreneur stories, biohacking, or mindset, I am targeting Identity. I am connecting with the type of person who does SEO, not just the task.

Think about your real friends. You don’t hang out with them because they are good at their jobs. You hang out because you share values and interests.

If someone agrees with your take on sports or respects your dedication to health, they transfer that trust to your business expertise. If he thinks like me on X, I trust him on Y.

From a platform perspective, this is mathematically superior. The number of people searching for GBP optimization today is tiny. The number interested in success stories or health is massive. Broader content gets higher engagement, which signals the algorithm to push your content further.

The solution is an 80/20 split.

80% broad: entrepreneur stories, mindset, lifestyle. This casts a wide net and builds affinity.

20% narrow: your specific expertise. This proves you actually know what you are doing.

Now let me clarify something important.

You should still talk about your niche. You should still have a way to bring people into your business. You should still give them every opportunity to pay you.

Going broad will pull in people who will never buy from you. That’s fine. Their engagement still gets your content seen by people who will.

Just make niche stuff the minority.

This is why I can post a story about Mark Wahlberg in his underwear and generate more leads than people will make in a year of posting Google Reviews tips.

Think about the whole person. Think about everything they might be interested in. Give it to them.

Think Big.

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He got rejected by his own company. Then he bought it. Now it’s worth $100 billion.

He built a $100 billion empire selling coffee. But he wasn’t in the coffee business. His business was…

“The Third Place.”

Howard Schultz was a salesman in New York, hawking kitchen equipment. He noticed a small Seattle company ordering an unusual number of drip coffee makers. He flew out to see what was going on.

What he found was a shop selling whole coffee beans. No drinks. Just beans. The founders loved coffee as a product. Schultz saw something bigger.

The Italy Trip (1983)

Schultz visited Milan on a buying trip. He saw espresso bars on every corner. But people weren’t rushing in and out. They were gathering. Talking. Lingering.

The bars were community hubs. A place between home and work. Schultz realized the product wasn’t espresso. It was the experience. The ritual. The belonging.

The Rejection

He went back to Seattle and pitched the idea. Turn Starbucks into an Italian-style coffee bar. Sell the experience, not just the beans.

The founders said no. They wanted to stay in the bean business. They didn’t want to run restaurants.

The Pivot: Il Giornale

Schultz left and started his own company. Italian-style espresso bars called Il Giornale. They took off.

In 1987, the Starbucks founders decided to sell. Schultz bought the company for around $3.8 million. He was in his early 30s. He merged his coffee bars with the Starbucks name and never looked back.

The Model

Starbucks wasn’t selling coffee. It was selling a “third place.” Not home. Not work. Somewhere in between.

That’s why the chairs are comfortable. That’s why the WiFi is free. That’s why nobody rushes you out. You’re not buying a latte. You’re renting a feeling.

Competitors sold caffeine. Schultz sold an environment. One of those is easy to replicate. The other isn’t.

The Result

Today, Starbucks has over 35,000 locations worldwide.

The Takeaway

Most entrepreneurs compete on product. Schultz competed on something harder to copy: how customers feel when they walk through the door.

He didn’t sell better coffee. He sold a better place to drink it.

Think Big.

Graduated second to last in his class. Now worth $1.7 billion

Jimmy John Liautaud was 19 years old.

Undiagnosed dyslexia. Struggled with ADD. Felt like an outsider.

His dad gave him two choices: Join the Army or start a business.

No backup plan.

His father loaned him $25,000 for 48% of whatever he built.

The catch: If it wasn't profitable in one year, Jimmy had to enlist.

He wanted to open a hot dog stand. Spent months researching.

Then realized $25,000 wouldn't cover it.

So he pivoted. Found a sandwich shop. Saw the margins.

On January 13, 1983, Jimmy John's opened in Charleston, Illinois.

Four sandwiches on the menu.

Zero customers walked in the first day.

Zero.

Jimmy grabbed samples and hit the streets. Knocked on dorm rooms. 

Handed out sandwiches to anyone who would try one.

Word spread.

Year one: $154,000 in sales. $40,000 profit.

By May 1985, he bought out his father and became sole owner at 21.

By 1994, he had 10 stores. Zero debt.

Then he started franchising.

By 2002, around 200 stores. But 70 were failing.

Most people would have walked away.

Jimmy stopped selling franchises. Left his wife and three kids at home.

For 18 months, he traveled the country. Store by store. Retrained owners. 

Fixed systems. Worked the line.

Turned around 63 stores. Closed 7 that couldn't be saved.

By 2016, 2,500 stores. He sold a majority stake to Roark Capital. Deal valued around $3 billion.

Today, over 2,800 locations.

Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.7 billion.

All because a 19-year-old who graduated second to last refused to let his story end there.

Your circumstances don't determine your outcome. Your response does.

Graduating last doesn't make you dumb. It makes you hungry.

Having zero customers doesn't mean you failed. It means you start knocking on doors.

Stop waiting for perfect conditions.

Jimmy turned a $25,000 loan and an ultimatum into a billion-dollar empire.

Not because he was special.

Because he refused to stay down.

Think Big.

Graduated next to last in class. Now worth $1.7 billion

Red Bull wasn't invented...

...It was copied.

Then made better.

Red Bull sells over 12 billion cans a year. But it started as a knockoff of a Thai truck driver's drink that nobody in the West had ever heard of.

In 1982, Dietrich Mateschitz was a toothpaste salesman traveling through Thailand. Jetlagged and exhausted, he tried a local energy tonic called Krating Daeng. It was syrupy, uncarbonated, sold in small medicine bottles, and marketed to blue-collar workers.

Most people would've finished the drink and moved on. Mateschitz saw something else. He tracked down the creator, Chaleo Yoovidhya, and proposed a partnership. They each put in $500,000. Split the company 49/49.

The Pivot Mateschitz didn't just import the Thai drink. He rebuilt it.

> New Formula: Carbonated. Less sweet.
> New Look: Replaced the medicine bottle with a slim silver can.
>New Positioning: Shifted from "Blue Collar Tonic" to "Premium Lifestyle."

He spent three years on development before selling a single can.

The Launch Red Bull launched in Austria in 1987. Not in grocery stores. In nightclubs and bars. Not through traditional advertising. Through sampling, sponsorships, and word of mouth.

Everyone in the beverage industry thought he was crazy. The taste was polarizing ("medicinal"). The price was double the competitors. The product category didn't even exist yet.

They weren't selling a drink. They were creating a market.

The Result Today Red Bull is worth over $16 billion. They own soccer teams, racing teams, and a media empire. All from a drink that started in Thai pharmacies.

The Lesson Adaptation beats imitation. Mateschitz didn't import Krating Daeng. He reimagined it for a different market with different expectations. Same core product, completely different positioning.

Krating Daeng still exists in Thailand. Still sells to truck drivers. Still in those small bottles. Red Bull took the same basic idea and built a global empire by refusing to copy what already worked.

Think Big.

#branding #marketingstrategy #positioning #cpg #redbull #businesshistory

No money. No connections. No backup plan. 300 million records sold

A taxi ride with $35 led to becoming the best-selling female artist in history.

Madonna Louise Ciccone was 19 years old.

She landed in New York City with barely enough money for cab fare.

No contacts. No connections. No safety net.

Everyone back home said she was crazy.

“You’re just a girl from Michigan.”
“You can’t sing well enough.”
“You’ll be back in six months.”

She didn’t go back.

Here’s what Madonna knew that everyone else missed:

Talent is common. Relentless reinvention is rare.

So she got to work.

Waited tables. Posed for art classes. Did whatever paid the bills while she chased the dream.

Auditioned for bands. Got rejected. Auditioned again. Got rejected again.

Record labels passed on her. Said she wasn’t commercial enough. Said her voice was too thin. Said female artists were a risk.

She kept showing up anyway.

Finally, a DJ at a club started playing her demo. People danced. Labels noticed.

In 1982, she released her first single.

By 1984, she had become one of the biggest stars on the planet.

But here’s where most artists would coast.

Madonna didn’t coast.

She reinvented herself over and over. New sound. New image. New controversy. Every few years, a completely different version.

Critics buried her a hundred times.

“She’s done.”
“She’s too old now.”
“Nobody cares about her anymore.”

Every time, she proved them wrong.

Four decades later, she’s sold over 300 million records worldwide.

Most successful touring female artist in history.

Still selling out stadiums in her sixties.

All because a 19 year old with $35 refused to let rejection define her.

She turned having nothing into fuel for building everything.

She proved that your circumstances don’t determine your ceiling. Your refusal to quit does.

What rejection are you treating like a verdict instead of just another opinion?

What dream have you abandoned because someone said you weren’t good enough?

Madonna arrived in New York with less money than most people spend on lunch.

Got told no more times than most people ever try.

Reinvented herself when everyone said it was impossible.

Because she understood something most people don’t.

The people who tell you no don’t get to write your story.

You do.

Stop waiting for permission. Stop needing approval.

Find your version of that taxi ride. Bet on yourself with whatever you’ve got.

And never let anyone convince you that where you start determines where you finish.

Sometimes the biggest careers come from the smallest beginnings.

Because when nobody believes in you, you only need one believer.

Yourself.

Think Big

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