Oct 8, 2026 · 34 min · 11 segments
Can you actually take a month off every year as a bookkeeper? We discuss the systems you need to build a sustainable business. In this episode, we sit down with Matt Essam to look at what it really…
Zoe WhitmanHost
Jo WoodHost
We talk so much with bookkeepers about niching and, you know, really identifying where can you make the biggest impact, and often that goes back to what were you doing, what do you know really well that you can then apply those skills to.
From the life coaching point of view, I'm really interested in this, were you just working with business owners in life coaching or other...
So what kind of problems and challenges were people facing that maybe we don't even see as problems and challenges that we're facing?
I feel like I know myself very well, and I really think that there is a benefit of knowing yourself, understanding your behavior, and when you change things, and sometimes having the, the courage and the confidence of somebody who's outside of your situation to support you with that change.
Just wondering, like, what kind of things did you come across that you, you thought, "Oh my gosh," like, this is, this is why you need somebody's outside perspective, because th- this does sort of mirror with what we do in business coaching as well.
The value, I think, in coaching isn't telling people what to do or asking the right question, it's first and foremost uncovering what's the actual block.
What's standing in your way? And I would say nine times out of 10 when I have a conversation with someone, it's never the thing that they bring to me.
And so I came up with this concept in my recent book called phantom loops, and a phantom loop is basically, like, this subconscious pattern that's running your life and business, and often we're just not even aware of it.
And so you talk about therapy, I've found personally that your business is really just an amplification of you, who you are, and so all the things that typically play out in your business are usually related to your own, I don't wanna use the word childhood wounds or trauma, 'cause it sounds a bit extreme, but your own kind of childhood patterns.
We talk so much with bookkeepers about niching and, you know, really identifying where can you make the biggest impact, and often that goes back to what were you doing, what do you know really well that you can then apply those skills to.
From the life coaching point of view, I'm really interested in this, were you just working with business owners in life coaching or other...
So what kind of problems and challenges were people facing that maybe we don't even see as problems and challenges that we're facing?
I feel like I know myself very well, and I really think that there is a benefit of knowing yourself, understanding your behavior, and when you change things, and sometimes having the, the courage and the confidence of somebody who's outside of your situation to support you with that change.
Just wondering, like, what kind of things did you come across that you, you thought, "Oh my gosh," like, this is, this is why you need somebody's outside perspective, because th- this does sort of mirror with what we do in business coaching as well.
The value, I think, in coaching isn't telling people what to do or asking the right question, it's first and foremost uncovering what's the actual block.
What's standing in your way? And I would say nine times out of 10 when I have a conversation with someone, it's never the thing that they bring to me.
And so I came up with this concept in my recent book called phantom loops, and a phantom loop is basically, like, this subconscious pattern that's running your life and business, and often we're just not even aware of it.
And so you talk about therapy, I've found personally that your business is really just an amplification of you, who you are, and so all the things that typically play out in your business are usually related to your own, I don't wanna use the word childhood wounds or trauma, 'cause it sounds a bit extreme, but your own kind of childhood patterns.
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