Small Business Advisory Program Helps Saul Bookkeeping Expand And Grow With Purpose

Solutions & Results

Pam attended the SBA program in 2020 and developed a five-year plan that included growing her business to 100 clients. While she continues to grow organically, with very little marketing, she also faced a global pandemic decimating some of the small businesses she had acquired as clients. Pam needed to hone in on what she was offering to help her clients and be valuable to them during a time when many were cutting costs and staff. Despite gaining and losing clients, Pam continued to experience growth during the pandemic, and by 2023, she had grown to 83 clients. She feels confident that her company will continue to expand and that she will reach her goal of 100 clients soon.

This rapid growth caused her to add additional staff. Growth Solutions helped her focus during this time on who she needed to add to her team to serve her client base best. Now she has nine employees, which include an HR person, five account managers, a project manager, and an administrative coordinator. She offers her staff a fully remote work environment, which has served her well, not having office space to maintain and manage. Additionally, her team spans six different states and can complete their work on their own time. Her account managers have the flexibility to work an agreed number of hours, and as she adds clients,

Pam can divvy up that work accordingly. Her administrative coordinator serves as a liaison between the account managers and the clients, providing a single, readily-available point of contact for the client. This further streamlines the efficiency of her account managers, as they don’t spend time chasing information from clients.

“The SBA program changed my focus from skill-based business tactics to that of a business owner,” commented Pam. Saul Bookkeeping and Farm & Equine Business Services still provide general accounting services, and her account managers handle all that. “I’m now focused on the strategic consulting needs of my clients, helping them address and fine-tune their businesses,” she said. “Helping small and start-up businesses succeed allows me to use my expertise and experience to show them different ways of operating their business. It’s gratifying,” remarked Pam.

This year, Pam is working on changing her business model’s billing strategy from hourly rates to value-based (package) pricing. Regarding accounting services, some months, like January, are costly for clients with tax needs, etc. Packaging the offerings will give her clients a monthly fee based on their needed services. It helps her and her clients budget accordingly without having surprise bills. “And it helps me too. I can project revenues much more effectively this way,” she said.

ADDED BENEFITS

• By Pam offering consulting and strategic services as an added benefit, her clients are experiencing growth as well. “Taking timeconsuming bookkeeping tasks off the plate of an attorney gives him time to get back in the courtroom and win a case,” she remarked. They can take something not their forte and put their efforts into revenue-generating tasks.
• She has learned the value of networking and referrals. She routinely refers clients to GST and offers her clients a networking resource on her website. She lists all her clients so they can cross-reference and find providers as needed. If one of her equestrian facilities needs a lawyer, they can search on her site and see the ones she works with. If one of her landscapers needs a construction company, they can find services there, and so on. “Networking may not generate immediate income, but at some point, one of those people might need my services, and then they’ll remember that I helped them out,” she said, “it’s a Win-Win.”
• Pam admits that she used to be very tactical but now finds a lot of joy in her work offering consulting, strategic planning, cash flow projections, budgeting, training, and other things that she would never have had the ability to do if she wasn’t thinking like a “business owner.”

CONCLUSIONS

Working with the Growth Solutions Team has helped Saul Bookkeeping be more strategic daily. As an organization, it operates more efficiently than ever, and continues to grow. Pam is currently working to revise her five and ten-year plans. “I often say to myself - What goals should I be focused on now,” she commented.

She used to describe herself as ‘I’m a bookkeeper.’ Now she says, ‘I’m a business owner’. “It’s a different mindset to see what value I can provide them. I’m proud of how much I’ve changed my business in just a few years. I only wish I had found GST sooner. It’s like Bootcamp.