Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Desiree Tyree. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Desiree, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How do you think about cost-management? Growing a business is always exciting, but often businesses run into issues when costs grow faster than revenue – have you experienced such an episode? Any advice for other operators around how to keep costs in line?

As an accountant, I know how important it is to keep a close eye on costs. As an accounting firm owner, one of my jobs is to inform business owners about how costs impact their bottom line. As a small business owner, I have to manage my own costs too! I understand how difficult it can be to keep up with the financials when you’re busy trying to provide great service to your customers. So, a lot of times, costs aren’t managed properly. This is often overlooked in the busy season when the cash is flowing in. When business slows down, you can find yourself in trouble. I found myself in this position just recently! The busy season for most accountants is the first few months of the year when most people need their taxes done. Just like any other business owner, you’re using all your energy to keep up with demand, and little is left over to handle your bookkeeping. So, yeah, my books were a few months behind, and, just like anyone else, I found some charges that I couldn’t remember what they were for. I also found some recurring charges for services I no longer needed. I noticed that I’d been spending a lot on advertising and wasn’t getting a lot from it. This was all money I could’ve saved if I had been keeping my books up to date! Another issue I came across was that I didn’t know how the slow season would impact my business. I ending up overspending and was cash strapped a few months after the busy season. I really had to dig into my costs to see what I could drop and what I needed to keep. I also created a cash flow forecast to see if I would need to get additional financing in the future. This is only my second year running my business full-time, so I didn’t have a whole lot of history that I could use to catch these trends beforehand. But now I know! One of the things I wish I had done before was create a cash flow forecast for my business before I started spending so much money. It was definitely a lesson learned and one of the tools I encourage other small businesses to use.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m an accountant, CPA, EA, mom, wife, and small business owner. I provide bookkeeping, accounting, and advisory services to small business owners. I’ve been working in accounting for 10+ years. I love accounting! It touches just about every aspect of a business. I like seeing how business decisions impact the numbers. I also like working with the creative individuals who come up with great business ideas and use their unique talents to impact the world. Talking to business owners is inspiring, and I feel like I can provide a great service in helping these individuals succeed. I started my own business after working as an accountant and seeing how large businesses use the information provided to them by accountants to run their businesses more efficiently. Small businesses should be doing the same thing! Many people view accountants as a necessary evil – sometimes just someone you need to get your taxes done. However, accountants are partners and are often underutilized. We can analyze the numbers and give you information that you can use to grow your business. Just about every business decision you make can be measured to see how it affects your profit. I provide basic financial reports to my clients. In addition, I analyze the numbers to let them know where I see improvements and setbacks. I ask questions about things that owners should look into. I help business owners understand their numbers and advise them changes they can make to help them succeed.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I had a lot of doubters when I first started my journey. At first, I worked full-time and worked on my own business on the side. After doing this for a while, I got burned out from working. Then I had to make the decision on when I would have to quit my full-time job. There will always be doubters who don’t think you will succeed. You also have to deal with your own self-doubt. You have to have a strong backbone and confidence within yourself to overcome objections and keep going in the rough times.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

To fund my business, I used money I had in Savings. I also worked full-time and worked on my business on the side for several months. I didn’t have to use the money I earned in the business while I worked full-time so that money built up over a period of time.

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