Client Case Study
Pam Bowman
After 30 years in business, this full service bookkeeper has now filled the missing “gaps” in her business foundations that allow her to confidently be the breadwinner in her family. Here’s the story ⬇️
Pam is a full service bookkeeper who specializes in supporting Property Investors and Developers. (See her work here.)
She joined EXPAND because even though her business was well established and, in her words, “doing well,” she didn’t have a real plan or even ideas for how to grow it.
During her journey through the program, we built each of the six elements of her Sustainable Success System, with a particular focus on Audience, Offers, and Messaging.
By the end of her journey in EXPAND, Pam had found a high-value niche doing work that she truly loves and is getting paid at a level that provides her the mental space to be truly present with her family and personal life.
First, a bit of context…
In addition to being an amazing bookkeeper, Pam is an expert in time management, and her goal was to be able to financially provide for her family even more than she already was, without that coming at the expense of her presence in the day-to-day moments with the people she loves.
Plus, she knew that she planned to continue running this business for another 15-20 years, and wanted to be really intentional about how she grew and the types of clients she brought on. (And “not just warm bodies that end up being more challenging than they are worth financially.”)
Prior to joining EXPAND, Pam had sampled a few vendors to see who she “wanted in her ear.” As part of that exploration, she joined both a free workshop here at WholeCo as well as a live round of our since retired course, Magnetize Dream Clients. Seeing how Carly interacted with clients and members of the WholeCo community through those events, she followed her gut instinct that EXPAND was where she was “meant to be” and stepped in.
There were three specific areas that Pam saw she had opportunity for growth:
Defining who her Right Fit client truly is
...something she had never really done as she had relied on referrals for her previous 30 years in business—so that she could stop trying to be “for everyone,” toning herself down in the process, and subsequently make more confident decisions about who to invite into her work.
Building specific offers and/or packages
...that present her as the true expert she is whilst compensating her properly for the work that she’s doing. (Goodbye, random pricing and haphazard increases!)
Learning how to speak directly and exclusively to a Right Fit client
...across her website copy, in conversation, and even in marketing (something she had never done before).
How we supported Pam to build Sustainable Success in her business
From the moment Pam joined EXPAND, she was wholeheartedly committed to building out each of the six elements of her Sustainable Success System: Audience, Offers, Messaging, Marketing, Lead Generation, and Sales.
At each step in her journey, she particularly appreciated our step-by-step approach which made it simple to stay “here” and not get ahead of herself. (She also loved the 1:1 feedback and coaching she received after each of her Module Check-ins as well as the support available to her in the WholeCo Facebook community and through our monthly Client Q&A.)
Here’s a closer look at what she accomplished with the support of EXPAND and Team WholeCo:
Identifying the true Right Fit client
For years, Pam had been attracting prospects who wanted her services, but who either weren’t yet in the place to be able to take full advantage of them or couldn’t afford her rates. She used to react to that by trying to figure out how she could “bend [her]self to be able to serve them.” But after completing her first core module in EXPAND (Audience) and defining the four foundations of a Right Fit client—which we share more about in The Sustainable Success Starter Kit—she not only was able to identify who her true Right Fit client was (for the first time ever!), she had also found a niche she was genuinely excited to work in: Property Investors and Developers. This, despite the fact that “typical niching ideas don’t work for” her.
And surprise! Soon after she got her first client in that niche and went on to bring in several more throughout her remaining months in the program – all of whom will be yearslong, high-ticket clients.
Building a Sustainable Offer Suite
Even though Pam had been offering full service bookkeeping for 30+ years, she had never taken a moment to define what she actually wanted to be doing or where she “drew the line” in the type of work she would take on. Pricing was also a sticky subject, with her often feeling internal pressure to cater more to the stated budget of the client than to what was genuinely sustainable for her. This approach often left her feeling drained, not only financially, but energetically as well.
This all began to change in our second core module (Offers) where she learnt the differences between the two core types of offers, how to build offers and packages that reliably facilitate their intended results (without having to go out of scope to achieve them), and to then systematically price her services so that they were sustainable for both her and her Right Fit clients. She even created a whole new automated onboarding process that made the transition into her services feel simpler for her clients (people who tend to be overwhelmed by all the numbers from the get go!).
Uncovering the Words (Messaging, Marketing, oh my!)
One of the main reasons Pam had never ventured into the world of messaging and marketing was a fear that she’d have to be salesy and pushy if she did. She’d also sometimes get frustrated, because while she knew that clients needed a specific thing, sometimes they wouldn’t know that—which led to her either having to acquiesce to their vision or convince them that they needed more (which in and of itself felt salesy!).
Ultimately, the messaging work Pam did in EXPAND ended up feeling way simpler than her fears had told her it would be, especially because the trainings provided her a step-by-step approach full of very specific questions and examples that triggered a plethora of ideas, insights, and clarity. It even helped her to break the “get-it-perfect-before-I-start” thinking that she’s sometimes prone to falling into. In Pam’s words: “I have gone from ‘I have nothing in specific that I say’ to ‘I have a plan and a format.’"
When it came to utilizing her newfound messaging in marketing, Pam realized that having detailed structures for both how to come up with relevant content topics and then turn that idea into a piece of publishable content made the process way easier, even though she’ll be the first to admit that writing content doesn’t come naturally to her. As she shared in one of her Module Check Ins, “If I have the words in place, I can easily use them in both written and spoken activities.” The in-depth, entirely personalized feedback Carly gave on her messaging and marketing content was also deeply clarifying, showing her where she had opportunity to really pinpoint her language to specifically attract Right Fit, ready-to-buy leads.
All of the above helped her to meet her fears around putting herself out there “too strongly” or wondering “what people will think.” She even began publishing content on her blog!
Generating Right Fit Leads & Selling (without sleaze!)
Pam’s the type of person who, once she gets the conversation going with a prospective client, she can sell (and do so without feeling salesy). However, the WholeCo Media approach to sales gave her that strategic and authentic structure that means she no longer has to wonder if she is coming off “professional” enough in these calls.
The most unexpected discovery from her work through the Sales and Lead Generation modules was that her role in a sales conversation is not actually to sell, it’s to facilitate the conversation that allows her to identify whether this person is a Right Fit for her work. And then, if they are, to invite them into that next step—AKA working with her! This shift in perspective around sales and selling helped her to see that previously, she had taken people saying “no” to mean that they didn’t like her. But now she knows: if someone says “no,” it’s because they weren’t ready (or they weren’t actually someone she wanted to work with in the first place, and so she doesn’t even issue an invitation to them to start with!).
Because of Pam’s unique business model where clients tend to come in and then stay for years, she didn’t actually need to do much lead generation by the end of her journey in EXPAND. (What a treat!) Being the diligent and committed human that she is, she chose to move through the Lead Generation module anyway, walking away with a specific, tangible “script” for how to talk about what she does in a way that sets her apart. Not only that, this module clarified for her how everything she had been working on all fit together in one cohesive ecosystem—The Sustainable Success System!—instead of everything in her business feeling like separate ‘things.’ In her words, “Everything is really clicking together for me. Client focus-wise, messaging-wise, etc.”
The most important ingredient: Self-Trust!
Here at WholeCo, we regularly remind our clients that in order to become the true leader of their business, they need to build up the capacity to trust themselves first, foremost, and always (yes, even more than they ever trust us!). There were a few core moments throughout Pam’s journey that she upleveled the amount of trust she has in herself:
- In Challenge #1 (the Get Your Next Client Challenge), Pam realized that even with no email list, she actually had more people in her network who might be interested in her services than she expected. She trusted herself to reach out to them and gently invite them into a next step, and built up immense self-confidence in the process as she proved (to herself!) that she is someone who will do what she says she’s going to do. (Even if it’s initially uncomfortable!)
- In the Offers Module, one big ah-ha for Pam was that she is not responsible for making her clients succeed, but rather that she is responsible for creating the conditions within which they can succeed. As she shared: “Since the work of bookkeeping is on my shoulders, that translates for me into making them financially successful, which is way beyond my ability. I can advise, give ideas, be a listening ear. However, in the end, they are the only ones that can make the decisions, big and small, that change the trajectory of their business. I’ve never really thought about it that way before.” Goodness, you can feel the pressure release from here!
- Throughout all of EXPAND, Pam learnt to prioritize what she wants and is willing to do. Previously, she would sometimes find herself making decisions around what she thought the other person wanted or needed (e.g. lowering her price point in order to fit in their budget). Now, Pam has found real confidence in being able to say, “Here’s what I can do for you, here’s how much it will cost. If we’re a good fit, great. If not, I understand.” When asked how this new depth of confidence makes her feel, her response was simple: “Peaceful.”
“Even though I’ve been in business for 30 years, I am a different business owner now from when I started EXPAND.” — Pam Bowman
“By going through EXPAND, I’ve been able to think through what I want to do and who I want to do it with. This process filled in gaps in my learning and thought processes. These days, I’m loving the clients I’m working with, I’m loving the work I’m doing, I know that I’m bringing high value to my clients. I’m just feeling really good.
Before working with you, I had a lot of confidence, but not specifically around ‘why someone would pay me this much money to do this work.’ Now I have a system in place to make sure that I’m properly pricing my services, which has given me more mental space because I know that I’m financially supported. The other day I made two offers to prospective clients and, even though they’d both be great to get, I just don’t care [about their answer]. I don’t have to be desperate for the sale. Even though I’ve been in business for 30 years, I am a different business owner now from when I started EXPAND.”