Today we’d like to introduce you to Daliah Fritz.
Daliah, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
After 8 years in different kinds of sales, I worked as a corporate controller for two different small businesses…one was a start-up manufacturing business and the other was a more established consulting business. For the start-up, I led the implementation of all the financial and inventory systems for the organization including accounting, treasury, inventory management and financial reporting. It was fun and interesting and I learned a lot. The job gave me the opportunity to become both a QuickBooks and day-to-day financial management expert. The consulting firm was basically bleeding when they hired me. I created systems for expense and invoicing management and was able to turn them around from barely breaking even to 20% profitability in about a year. Without a significant increase in revenue. It was a great opportunity to make a big impact in a short amount of time. But after I had plugged the leaks and the systems were in place, it was boring and I became an overpaid bookkeeper.
That was 2013 – medical cannabis was on its way to Illinois. Once I parted ways with the consulting firm, I embarked on a journey to open one of Illinois’s first medical cannabis dispensaries. I spent a year learning about that industry and trying to find a place but it was impossible. You needed hoards of cash just to get through the application process. And there was nothing happening in the industry until well into 2015. I needed money. And I had about a half dozen bookkeeping clients that I had worked with for extra money. I had a few opportunities to pick up some larger clients and that helped me make ends meet. By 2016, I gave up completely on cannabis and decided to focus 100% on my accounting consulting business. I stopped applying for jobs, chose a company name and joined Business Networking International.
Two years later I have over 30 clients and just hired my first employee. I get referrals or phone calls from potential new clients several times a week.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
My “adventure” has definitely not been smooth sailing. It’s always hard to start a new venture. There’s no paycheck that comes every two weeks. Clients come and go for different reasons and people are sensitive with money. In my role, the bigger clients have bigger problems. They have lots of moving parts and many entrepreneurs have a hard time saying organized. I’ve lost one client per year since I started. One was having cash flow issues and thought I was the problem – but she was spending $500 a month at Starbucks. One permanently paused the relationship after the 2016 tax return was submitted because their investor took over the accounting. The last one I actually terminated. It was a toxic environment and the client was rude and disrespectful. I on-boarded about 8 new clients in the two months after I ended that relationship. Talk about a win! There have been a lot of ups and downs.
Please tell us about My Small Business Pro.
Our company provides client accounting services. Our goal is to help clients create transparency and financial accountability so they are empowered to make sound managerial decisions. We handle the day-to-day financial management so that company owners can spend more time connecting with customers and selling their products and/or services. We also make sure that we communicate regularly with clients so they have the tools to run their businesses. MSBP specializes in start-up companies and small businesses up to about $3m in revenue. We’re often referred to as “the bookkeeper,” yet we do so much more than just entering transactions.
I’m mostly proud of the relationship I have with my clients and the impact I’ve made on their businesses. I’m considered a trusted adviser by most of my clients and they count on us, not only to deliver accurate financial reports, but also to help guide them through challenging financial decisions that are based in reality and not made off the cuff.
How My Small Business Pro is different from other “bookkeepers” or having your CPA do your bookkeeping is that we focus on accurate monthly financial reporting for clients with the goal of providing an important management tool. Many (not all) bookkeepers record transactions and reconcile accounts. Let me tell you how many thousands of dollars my clients have paid me to clean up after an inexperienced bookkeeper who has no real accounting or management experience. If a CPA firm is providing bookkeeping services, it’s often with the tax return in mind. Accounting for management and accounting for a tax return can look vastly different. Your CPA does your TAXES. They don’t help you manage your business.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I probably would have focused on retaining more, smaller clients instead of relying on larger clients with a lot of financial issues. I was lazy about business development because I wasn’t comfortable talking about myself. It’s never a good thing to have most of your eggs in one basket. Each client relationship that has ended was my largest client in that billing year. It was really challenging to build up that amount of business again. Now I have a lot more confidence in the services I provide and the value that our approach brings to clients. Business development no longer feels like selling. And there is no single client that I rely on to pay most of the bills. Not that I’m planning on my clients leaving – but if one does, it’s not a shock to the bank account.
Pricing:
- Basic QuickBooks Online set-up is $300.
- Minimum monthly reconciliation fees for ongoing services is $160/mo
Contact Info:
- Address: 401 N Michigan Ave Fl 12
Chicago IL 60611 - Website: www.mysmallbusinesspro.com
- Phone: (312) 804-2979
- Email: daliah@mysmallbusinesspro.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MySmallBizPro/
- Twitter: @MySmallBizPro
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