Today we’d like to introduce you to Ginna Neel.
Hi Ginna, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Like many millennials, my career has taken a few twists and turns since graduating college. I began in marketing and advertising, but when my second daughter was born, I decided to stay home for a season. I quickly realized that SAHM life was far more demanding than it looked and I wanted a little outlet, so I created an LLC and started taking on freelance work during nap times, preschool hours, and evenings.
One of those “odd jobs” was operations management for an author and podcaster. It was the perfect mom job—but the part I unexpectedly loved most was the bookkeeping. I’ve always been a personal finance nerd (I even ran a blog years ago called My Pretty Pennies all about saving money and paying off debt), so diving into the numbers felt natural.
Around that time, I noticed many of my creative entrepreneur friends were struggling with the financial side of their growing businesses. I realized it was something I not only enjoyed, but had a real knack for. I took a bookkeeping and accounting program to formalize my skills and officially launched my business in 2022.
Since then, I’ve been helping service-based business owners get clarity, confidence, and calm around their finances.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the biggest challenges was simply getting my business off the ground. Bookkeeping involves sensitive, private data, so clients need to really trust you. That means word-of-mouth referrals are crucial, and that process was slower than I expected.
At first, it felt like all my networking and promotional efforts weren’t working. But gradually, I started getting one client, then another. Once I proved myself as a trustworthy, reliable bookkeeper, word spread. It reminded me a lot of popping popcorn: slow at first, then suddenly things start popping one after another!
We’ve been impressed with Dogwood Digital Bookkeeping, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At Dogwood Digital Bookkeeping, we help small service-businesses take the stress out of their finances so they can focus on what they do best: creating and growing.
We specialize in streamlining financial systems, making sure every detail is accurate, and helping entrepreneurs plan for sustainable growth without hustling 24/7. My services range from diagnostic reviews, where we evaluate your current books and provide actionable recommendations, to full bookkeeping, where we tidy up messy books, get your systems up to date, and prepare for tax season. I also help set up QuickBooks for those who want to manage their own books but need expert guidance.
When you think of bookkeeping, you might picture a stuffy boardroom or a boring financial report. Sure, the reports themselves may not be thrilling, but how I help clients understand them, use them to plan for profit, and ultimately feel confident about their business decisions.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I think AI is going to play a huge role in bookkeeping over the next 5–10 years, especially when it comes to automating manual data entry and routine tasks. That will free up time for bookkeepers to focus more on advisory services—helping business owners understand their numbers, plan for growth, and make smarter financial decisions.
That’s the direction I’ve been moving in with my own business: I provide quarterly video summaries of financial reports to help interpret them, along with forecasting projections and cash flow analyses. My goal is to give business owners the clarity and confidence they need to make strategic decisions, rather than just handing them a spreadsheet and hoping it makes sense.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dogwooddigitalbookkeeping.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dogwooddigital/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginnaneel/
