Liberating Wealth

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of One Foot Proudctions LLC. We produce live, televised music and entertainment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Liberating Wealth?

I was looking for an accountant/bookkeeper. I handled most of the accounting myself, and my personal accountant would help out on the occasional question.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

He does monthly bookkeeping, handling our expenses and tracking, coding, and reconciling our payments, credit cards, and invoices. He does all of our reporting, including our yearly taxes and filing 10-99s. When we have to make a decision, he’ll advise us on the financial implications. He also consults on expense-tracking best practices. He’s not a fully-fledged CFO, though.

What is the team composition?

It’s him, and, at most, an assistant. I don’t know if he still has an assistant.

How did you come to work with Liberating Wealth?

I was sent an advertisement by an accountant willing to do 30-minute reviews of businesses to help steer you in the right direction. I took him up on that offer years ago and I really liked him.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $4,000 a year with him.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since August 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

He definitely saves us time. He’s also a resource when we have questions about how best to allocate our resources when they come to expenditures. We’ll ask him about the tax advantages of spending money on one thing or another.

Additionally, he holds us accountable. Before we had him, I would let expenses and reconciliations go for months at a time, and then I’d be reconciling things that happened six months ago. His monthly check-ins keep us on top of that.

How did Liberating Wealth perform from a project management standpoint?

I usually have a monthly, one-hour check-in. We talk a little more around tax time. If I give him a deadline, he’s pretty quick. I’m not as good with deadlines he gives me, but he follows up and is patient with me.

What did you find most impressive about them?

He’s very patient with business owners like me who can be a bit flighty and overwhelmed. His bedside manner is also excellent. He explains things clearly and is patient with us. He never makes us feel stupid if we don’t understand something.

Finally, he’s skilled at automating processes. We were having big trouble with our expenses, tracking our employees spending at shows, and he’s always on the lookout for a better system and a better approach. There’s a desire to continually iterate, and that’s really important.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I haven’t ever asked him this, but I’d love him to help us a little more with forecasting. We’d love to have him help us review larger trends over the past five years and look at the analytics. I don’t know if that’s something he does, but it would be nice.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You have to be okay with working remotely, as well as be flexible and interested in automating processes via technology. If you’re someone who saves receipts in a shoebox and expects to send them off, I don’t think he’s that kind of guy.