How Bean Ninjas CEO Meryl Johnston built a global virtual powerhouse
Virtual Success Show
Want the transcript? Download it here.
Episode breakdown
In this episode, Matt and Barbara speak to Meryl Johnston, the CEO, and founder of Bean Ninjas.
- Meryl’s journey from a consulting firm to global, systemized, online business and the perils behind bringing in virtual contractors before you have your processes in place.
If you’re a business owner, you’re in the business of business building… you’ve got to get out of technician mode.
In this episode
00:00 - Intro
The Virtual Success Show helps entrepreneurs streamline their businesses through outsourcing. Hosts Barbara Turley and Matt Malouf interview Meryl Johnston, founder of Bean Ninjas, a bookkeeping and education business. Meryl shares insights on building virtual teams. She’s also a chartered accountant, podcast host, and avid surfer based on Australia’s Gold Coast. This episode offers real-world tips for business efficiency.
01:20 - Meryl Johnson the founder and CEO of Bean Ninjas
Meryl Johnston founded Bean Ninjas, a scalable, global bookkeeping business, after struggling to grow her consulting firm. Seeking recurring revenue and efficient processes, she combined her accounting skills with a scalable model. Launched in just seven days using Dan Norris’s method, Bean Ninjas quickly gained traction. Four years later, it has a team of 15 and continues to grow.
03:38 - The power of systems and processes
Meryl Johnston explains that Bean Ninjas was virtual from the start out of necessity—her co-founder was in Sydney, she was on the Gold Coast. They built scalable systems early using tools like Help Scout, Trello, Google Drive, and Xero. Five months in, they hired their first team member, having already laid the groundwork for remote collaboration and business growth.
04:29 - Building a business to scale
Meryl Johnston and her team started Bean Ninjas with a clear vision: a scalable, global, process-driven business. They bootstrapped with just \$500 each, hiring their first bookkeepers—one in Australia, one in the U.S.—five months in to remove themselves from operations. Though the U.S. market wasn’t their initial focus, early referrals led them to test it, and it became their largest market.
08:38 - Key Tools or methods to manage your team
Meryl Johnston shares that Bean Ninjas has a global team across six countries, including Australia, the U.S., UK, Serbia, and the Philippines. They use Zoom for regular video meetings to foster connection and culture. Weekly one-on-one check-ins with managers help monitor workload and well-being. Team meetings focus on both productivity and maintaining a strong company culture across time zones.
10:24 - Wrike
Meryl Johnston explains that Bean Ninjas uses Slack for internal communication and Help Scout for client emails. They transitioned from Trello to Wrike for project management and CRM, handling everything from client onboarding to ongoing bookkeeping. Wrike also supports resource planning, helping monitor team capacity and trigger hiring. Its reporting features track task completion and service delivery, ensuring smooth operations.
12:06 - Systems, tools, and processes as the front driver
Barbara highlights that many struggle with virtual teams due to unclear workload visibility, especially across locations. She praises Meryl’s approach of building strong systems first, then plugging the team into them. Meryl agrees, sharing how process-driven planning helped avoid overload and ensured consistent quality. Bean Ninjas focuses on people, but builds success through repeatable, scalable systems that ensure reliable service delivery.
13:30 - The Strength of the machine
Barbara emphasizes the importance of building a strong, well-structured business system before hiring. She explains that when the “machine” is solid—through processes, systems, and tools—team members can be plugged in easily without risking disruption if someone leaves. This approach protects against losing critical knowledge or momentum when key staff, like a support assistant or bookkeeper, moves on.
14:01 - Team meetings
Meryl shares how Bean Ninjas fosters remote team culture through structured meetings across time zones, including weekly or fortnightly team check-ins and monthly “lunch and learns.” To manage global availability, key sessions are run twice. She emphasizes intentional relationship-building, encouraging one-on-one connections to strengthen trust and collaboration, helping remote team members feel seen, valued, and comfortable working together effectively.
17:07 - Concept of the lunch and learn
Matt praises Meryl’s use of “lunch and learn” sessions as a powerful way to build culture and provide training in a virtual setting. He emphasizes that, despite not sharing a physical office, tools like Zoom make it possible to replicate the experience. He encourages entrepreneurs to stay open-minded about creating meaningful team interactions remotely and commends Meryl’s effective adaptation.
18:02 - Virtual Christmas celebration
Barbara asks if Meryl has hosted virtual team celebrations. Meryl shares that while full-team virtual events are rare, they’ve done in-person meetups and plan a retreat. Barbara describes a successful multi-location virtual Christmas party using Facebook Live. Meryl loves the idea. Matt then shifts the conversation to team location strategy, asking if Meryl hires locally for roles needing regional expertise.
20:43 - Local knowledge vs Overseas knowledge
Meryl shares that early outsourcing to India failed due to weak systems, despite thinking they were ready. Skilled local staff had masked process gaps, but managing offshore work became time-consuming. This led her to pause outsourcing until systems were refined. Only later did they successfully add team members in places like the Philippines, using structured onboarding and delegating training to experienced staff.
24:39 - Training guide procedures
Meryl’s team spent two years refining processes using Trello for checklists, SweetProcess for training guides, and Wrike for reporting. They created 100+ procedures to systemize work, enabling successful offshore hiring in the Philippines. This foundation is beginning to boost profits and free managers to focus on customer experience and growth. The investment in structured systems is proving valuable for scalability and team morale.
29:27 - Highlights of the show
Matt stresses building strong, scalable systems before rapid growth. Many rush and blame virtual teams or location issues. Meryl took responsibility, refined processes patiently, and prioritized long-term stability over quick revenue. This allowed Bean Ninjas to operate flexibly across six countries with engaged remote teams, proving that patience and solid infrastructure are essential for sustainable business growth.
33:14 - External leverage
Barbara emphasizes that while marketing and client acquisition are important, a strong internal infrastructure is essential to sustain growth. Without solid processes, a business can collapse under increased demand. Building these systems is challenging and often neglected due to time constraints, but investing in this “hard work” early is crucial for eventual freedom, growth, and the ability to focus on more rewarding aspects of entrepreneurship.
35:09 - Top 3 learnings working with virtual teams
Meryl’s top three learnings for working with virtual teams are: 1) Establish and maintain strong systems and processes as a core part of company culture, continuously improving them. 2) Hire a skilled project manager early to execute vision and organize the team effectively. 3) Prioritize and intentionally build a strong remote team culture with regular communication and inclusive collaboration tools.
