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

Nicole, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

I am relentlessly grateful for my mother allowing me to stumble in life (many times without a safety net). As a parent myself, it can be a difficult feat to watch your child(ren) struggle especially knowing you can solve their problem at any instant. Looking back now, I understand my mother was giving me so much more than instant and temporary gratification. She was giving me the tools to be resilient, innovative and persistent. These very same principles are the core foundation that drives my business forward every day.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have been in the Accounting & Finance industry for approximately 15 years supporting various major corporations. While I enjoyed the challenge of high volume accounting, I found that my greatest joy in any role I was undertaking was the ability to “win for the little guy”. Throughout my career, I would watch how small business owners would stress over not understanding their financial statements, deplete their resources so they would not lose their advertising spots while managing to juggle various other roles to keep their businesses afloat. I had an up close and personal view of the daily struggles of a business owner. Tugging on my heart strings of seeing the people behind the products/services, it became my mission to use my knowledge, skills and abilities to support the “little guy” in any capacity I can. Moreover, understanding small businesses make up the overarching foundation of our economy, I was determined to do what I could to keep someone’s dream a reality. With support of family & friends coupled with a new outlook, XCEL BUSINESS SOLUTIONS was born as an affordable solution to every day small business owners. Allowing them to have the expertise from a Corporate Accountant without breaking the bank.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I truly believe what has helped to build my reputation is my transparency and determination to save the customer money even if it is at risk of me “losing a sale”. As a professional bean counter, my goal is to ensure I am educating small business owners with tools and resources that can turn liabilities into assets.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Although this may sound a little cliche, I would say the most effective strategy that has allowed me to continue to grow my clientele is consistency. At times when you are growing as a small business owner, you begin to lose the personal touch from once you began. Your focus becomes more about survival while scaling upward. It was an imperative goal for me to avoid any lapse in service to any customer we support (despite how often). As such, I have implemented a process to block off my calendar at least twice a month setting aside “We’re In this together” meetings. A casual conversation apart from business objectives that allow my customers the opportunity to provide feedback and desires of which direction they would like to see their businesses thrive and how I can support this objective.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.xcelbiz.solutions