I recently lost a client.
And that same client is the reason I have a new one.
Let me tell you how that happened, because it changed how I see this whole profession.
If this is the first time we've met, hi, I'm Kyle Nelson Omac. I've been a virtual assistant bookkeeper for almost five years, and I now run my own practice focused on systems and software. This is the story of how losing a client turned into gaining one, and what it taught me about the one skill nobody trains us for.
The Job That Looked Made for Me
Earlier this year, I went looking for a full-time VA role. I came across a post in a Facebook group: a bookkeeping firm needed a full-time real estate bookkeeper.
I read the job description and thought, this is me. The firm's niche was real estate. Every one of their clients was in that world: build-and-sell, construction, rentals. For the past four years, almost all of my own bookkeeping clients had been real estate too.
So I went all in. I submitted my résumé, wrote a proper application letter, and cleaned up my entire application for the agency handling the hiring. When the agency interview came, I passed right away.
On paper, I was exactly who they were looking for. The years of experience, the software expertise, the real estate niche. I honestly expected to sail through to the final interview. The only real challenge I set for myself was this: how do I close this client in the very last interview?
For context, I already had a lot of agency accounts at that point. Many of them were pending, and I had passed almost all of them. All that was left was being matched with the actual client. Most of the time, I was the one declining or skipping final interviews, because I already had work and I always let the agencies know I couldn't take on additional load.
This one, though, I wanted.
The Final Interview That Caught Me Off Guard
Final interview day. I joined the meeting fully ready to impress. This was it, one step away from landing the client. I had my answers lined up.
The first thing my client said was, "Hey Kyle, how are you doing?"
I said I was fine, the usual.
Then, right away, they started talking.
"Kyle, I'm sorry my table is so messy. There's so many things going on this morning."
They showed me the mess on their desk. They showed me the cabinet behind them they were organizing. They walked me through everything they had to do that day.
And I froze a little inside. Why is this client like this? I came ready to perform, and instead I was being let into someone's morning.
There was a reason they were so busy. Their book organizer had just submitted the final copy from Amazon of the book they'd been writing. They picked it up and held it to the camera.
"Kyle, this is my new book."
Here's the thing. Around that same time, I had also just published my own book. Some of you reading this already know that. You can search me online; I really do have one.
So I told them: I have a book too. I told them what was in it, and I shared my personal vision for VA bookkeepers here in the Philippines.
That's when we clicked. We found common ground and landed on the same frequency. They could feel that I dream big too. We were doing almost the same things: they created content, and so did I.
They never asked me to tell them about myself. They never asked about my software expertise. They never asked if I graduated with an accounting degree. Not one technical bookkeeping question.
The entire final interview was personal.
And they hired me. Not because of my résumé. Not because of my qualifications. They hired me because we built a personal connection in that very first meeting.
Take note of that. Not every client is looking for the most excellent person or the most experienced one. That was the first time I realized: relationship matters.
How We Actually Worked Together
Our weekly meetings were mostly not about bookkeeping.
Around 30 minutes of conversation, and maybe 10 minutes on bookkeeping, because that part went fast. We knew our workflows. We had our own system and procedures. The personal stories ran long; the reporting catch-up was short.
They always showed up. They always gave updates. We always talked.
Until one day, they didn't.
The Silence
The first time my client missed a meeting, it surprised me. Then it made me nervous, because they didn't send a chat either.
So I waited. And kept waiting. I kept sending messages and updates. Since it was a firm, the work had to continue, so I kept the accounting cycle moving. But eventually, tasks started piling up as pending, because they needed my client's approval or advice before I could go further.
Two weeks went by. Payroll came. They paid me.
But still no reply. No email. No chat. No show at any of our scheduled meetings.
A third week passed, another payroll, and they paid me again. Still nothing. Complete silence.
My hours kept getting shorter, because there was less and less I could actually finish with so much stuck waiting on them. I stretched my understanding as far as it would go. I tried my best to give them the benefit of the doubt.
But I knew something was wrong.
When the next payroll came, I didn't bill them anymore. My hours were so short, and nothing was moving. It felt like I was working into thin air. No objective, nothing happening.
So I sent an email. I told them I would finish out the month and then formally resign and depart from the organization. I told them they could reach out to me anytime, that I enjoyed the moments working with them, and that I learned a lot in that company.
I left on good terms.
The Message
About three days after I sent that email, my client messaged me personally on Facebook. We were friends there.
It was a long message.
They apologized. Something had happened in their personal life, something they couldn't tell anyone. They couldn't even post about it on their own social media, because it was too personal and too dark to share with just anyone.
And then they said this:
I already told one of my clients, who is also my friend, to hire you personally.
The very next day, that specific client from the bookkeeping firm reached out and hired me directly as their bookkeeper.
So even though I'm no longer with the firm, I still have a client.
I kept asking myself: why did it matter so much to them that I wouldn't be left without work? Why write such a long message, apologize, and try so hard to explain, all because I'd lost my job at their firm?
"This Client Thinks So High of You"
I found my answer during my first meeting with my new client.
They told me, "Kyle, I really had no intention of hiring you." They weren't planning to hire an additional bookkeeper at all. It wasn't even on their mind, because they only trusted their friend, my original client.
But here's the part they couldn't figure out. Listen to this carefully.
This new client had their own Filipino VA, an executive assistant I had already worked with personally. Back at the firm, I needed documents from that VA, and we collaborated to get the work done. And that VA also wanted their boss to hire me.
My new client couldn't understand why their own VA was pushing for me, or why my original client thought so highly of me.
"This client thinks so high of you," they said.
So I told them my story. Where I came from. What my vision is. What I want to accomplish, and why I became a VA bookkeeper in the first place.
And that's when everything made sense to them.
That moment brought my spirit back up. I had thought my original client was the only one who looked for a personal relationship. It turns out there really are other clients who are looking for exactly that.
It's not even about the accomplishments. It's not even about my almost five years as a VA bookkeeper. It's not even about my specialty. Those are a bonus.
It's how I communicate. My vision. My beliefs. How I build personal relationships with other people. That's what makes clients stay, and that's the reason I haven't run out of clients.
Skills Are Now the Baseline
This isn't only true for foreign clients. I treat my local clients the same way.
Being a bookkeeper who can install a system is basic now. That's the baseline.
What's hard now is building a real relationship with your client.
So let me ask you:
Can you become friends with your clients?
Can you share your principles with someone without breaking the relationship?
Can you be personally close to your client?
That realization is what's changing me as I move forward, both as a VA bookkeeper and as someone self-employed in real business. Personal relationship. It's the very first story I told when I came back to TikTok and went live again.
There are so many talented people out there. So much tenure. So many trainings. We all know the technicalities. What nobody teaches us is how to build relationships with our clients and the people we work with.
What Referrals Actually Came From
You've probably heard the advice: just do great work for your client, and they'll refer you to others.
Here's my honest experience. With some of my recent clients, I was excellent. Truly, glory to God for that. But they didn't refer me. They didn't hand me a new customer. No new connections came from them.
My referrals and additional clients only came through word of mouth when I genuinely tried to build a personal relationship with the people I worked with. The kind of friendship where, in our meetings, it's not even about the work or the scope. It's about how we're doing in our lives and how we resonate with each other. Five, ten minutes and the work part is done. The rest is just two friends talking.
Value relationships. And when you combine excellent work with a real relationship? That's when you hit the jackpot.
It's Not Just Business
Why am I sharing this?
Because I believe that, as people, we don't actually want to talk to each other with only work on the agenda. Where all you're after is their money, or all they're after is yours. Pure transaction.
I want the kind of exchange where there's joy in giving the service, and joy on their side in paying for it. That only happens when there's a personal relationship, because it's not just about business. It's about relationship.
The enemy here is treating everything as transactional. "It's just business, nothing personal." That's the wrong principle. You can apply it, but your life will be very boring. You can apply it, but your professional experience will feel empty.
Personal relationships are what connect us to each other.
Losing that client didn't cost me a client. It proved the point.
Want to talk systems, bookkeeping, or building better client relationships? Join our Discord community. You'll find the link on my website.
To know more about my services, writings, connect with me here. Here's my website: https://www.kylenelsonomac.com/
Faith without action is Fiction.