April Stroink

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of an advanced materials company in Nova Scotia. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with April Stroink?

We need a firm to help us optimize our company's financial system structure. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

April Stroink designed a method to help us manage our money over the next couple of years. Their process began with a review of our current spending habits, analyzing our company's and founders' finances. 

The April Stroink team then identified areas that we could save money or be smarter about spending. They even suggested areas where we could optimize our spending on our credit cards to improve our spending benefits.

Part of the advice they gave was how to identify money that should sit in a bank account and accumulate interest — they also told us how to diversify our bank accounts to optimize our opportunities to earn money. 

They then walked us through setting up a new system and stayed with us for a few months to maintain the system to ensure we understood it fully. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with one teammate, but two teammates worked in the background, supporting our primary contact. 

How did you come to work with April Stroink?

I found April Stroink through another supplier I work with. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent over $7,000 CAD (approximately $5,500 USD)

What is the status of this engagement?

My company worked with April Stroink from February–August 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We measured the success of this partnership by the ease of maintenance of the financial system they implemented along with the spending data points the system then provided. I'd say April Stroink performed very well on both fronts. 

How did April Stroink perform from a project management standpoint?

April Stroink was very good at communicating via email what they were working on and when it would be completed. 

They relayed all of the information through a secure vault so there was no chance of a data leak; everything was very secure. We also had occasional video conferences.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've worked with other financial planners in the past, and I've never felt like they provided me with a quality system that caused a change in our financial behaviors, including our account management style. Those firms generally just told us our budget line items. 

However, April really dived deep and helped us understand our spending habits and how to optimize spending. We made a real spending behavior change to go along with her advice — I think that was important. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don't have any feedback. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Potential customers need to reach out to April Stroink as early as possible because there is a waitlist to work with her. Their company is more boutique and doesn't scale up to meet demand. 

Customers also need to dedicate time to the project. If they want April Stroink to provide quality advice, customers need to dive into their systems and be on the ball when providing April Stroink with information to ensure that they don't hold up the project timeline.