Meet Hailey Fernelius

We were lucky to catch up with Hailey Fernelius recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hailey, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

My resilience comes from knowing that I want to live a life worth remembering. My biggest fear in life is to live like it’s groundhog’s day. From a very young age we are told that we have to go to school, do well, graduate, get a job and get married. You will probably work that job for the rest of your life, just moving up the latter. You’ll buy your forever home and your forever car and you’ll spend the next 3/4 of your life being comfortable because you set yourself up for success when you were young. That’s the “dream” we are sold. That was never my dream, that dream sounds like a snooze fest. Whenever life gets tough, I remind myself that I am building something worth the effort. I am building a life where I don’t have a boss that under values me, a life where I can get up and move or travel whenever I want, a life worth remembering. Don’t get me wrong, being challenged on a daily basis is not easy. And sometimes I think about how “easy” life would be if I bought into the dream, but then it wouldn’t be mine.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

My name is Hailey and I am a bookkeeping expert for wedding professionals and creative businesses. Your life is full of color schemes, floral arrangements, the perfect playlist, and executing the best day of your couple’s lives. My day is full of numbers, profit & loss reports and making sure you feel confident and knowledgeable about your business’ financial success. I kept hearing stories about how business owners were scared of their finances, confused about what is and is not a deduction and feeling worse about their finances after looking at their accounts. That ends now! I am the bookkeeping bestie that cheers you on, translates your numbers into plain English and NEVER uses shame or condescending language. I help business owners at any stage – from getting you set up with the right system to automate and track your finances and teaching you how to keep up with your bookkeeping on your own. To me handling and managing all things organization, tracking. The goal is always to save you time, money and stress!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1. Resilience. Being successful means taking risks, starting over and finding what works best for you. I have renamed my business twice and pivoted from being a virtual assistant to being a bookkeeper. There have been so many times that it would have been “easier” to quit and go back to my waitress lifestyle, but that life wasn’t enough for me.
2. Love of learning. Every day I learn more about my clients needs, how to market myself on social media, and how to be a better bookkeeper. None of this would be possible if I wasn’t open to learning opportunities or if I believed I already knew everything.
3. Networking/asking for help. Don’t only follow/chat people who you believe are your “ideal customer” follow/chat with service providers that share your ideal client and people who’s services you may need or want. You’d be surprised how many people are willing to do trades or are just willing to recommend you because you’ve had a conversation with them.

My advice to you is, acknowledge and celebrate every win. You’ve named your business, celebrate. You opened a business bank account, celebrate. You created your first reel/TikTok/pin, celebrate. Too many business owners believe the only thing to celebrate is money, but I’m telling you there are at least 100 steps to celebrate before you even make your first dollar. Get really good at looking at yourself in the mirror and telling yourself how proud you are that you’re doing this, that you are successful because you were brave enough to try, and that any set back is just preparing you for what’s next. Believing in you is the first and most important step to every day, every project, every client and yes, every dollar.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

If you avoid looking a your business bank account because you have no idea what’s going on. If you are so busy that you don’t have time to organize your transactions. If you’re excited to look at your numbers but just don’t know what they mean, I want to work with you! Having a bookkeeper means having someone who keeps your finances tax ready year round. Having me as your bookkeeper means having a bestie that is here to keep you organized, raise your confidence and communicate your numbers to you in a way that empowers you to make the best decisions for your business!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://haileyannco.com/
• Instagram: @haileyannco

Image Credits

Jaci Brands – First two photos in the pink shorts