We were lucky to catch up with Christie Saxer recently and have shared our conversation below.
Christie, appreciate you joining us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?
In May of 2021 I finally decided that I was done working for someone else and making them rich while at the same time being taken advantage of like so many other employees out there in the working world. When I first decided to open my business, I sat down and thought to myself: Okay, you know no one out here in Denver (I’m originally from Illinois) so how are you going to get yourself out there? Here’s what I know: I know that I not only saw my mother attend, but often times tagged along with her to the Chamber of Commerce events back home and I know that that’s a great way to meet the right people that can help you grow in more ways than one. So, I reached out to the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and joined them and also joined a Leads Group. I then began diving into every single networking event I could get to. Every club, every organization, I joined them all! I was the Leader of my Leads Group, the Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Denver Northeast, and I was also attending some other networking events here and there when someone was kind enough to let me know about them or shoot me an invite. That was all great! I was meeting people, networking, getting my business out there…but eventually I became worn out from the busy schedule and I had to cut back a bit. The greatest tool that’s been used for me expanding my business is word of mouth. I have some very powerful girlfriends out here and they ALWAYS throw my name in the ring when they hear of someone needing a reliable and honest bookkeeper and for that I’m so appreciative! My biggest pieces of advice for a new entrepreneur that needs to get themselves out there is: 1. Network 2. Don’t stretch yourself too thin. 3. Find a good group of people to surround yourself with. 4. Don’t EVER give up! It gets super discouraging and it’s not easy to build a business by yourself from the ground up, but if you keep going and be resilient and persevere, it will pay off ten fold!
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’ve been in the accounting industry for 17 years now. My mother is an accountant in Illinois and owns 2 of her own accounting firms there. I started working for her when I was just a kid and could only answer phones, I remember being put on payroll around 15 years old and have been learning since then. I used to want to go to school to become a cosmetologist, but they didn’t make enough money back in Illinois and I’m really good at accounting and it’s great money so I switched my major, My business (Saxer Business Solutions) specializes in: Account Reconciliation, A/P, A/R, Data Entry, Financial Reports, Organization, Payroll, Payroll Taxes, Quality Control, and Sales Tax. The thing that excites me the most with my clients is a bit of a bittersweet thing actually. A lot of my clients come to me with their books in shambles and needing someone to help them get back on the right track while also educating them on the things that they could do to save some money and help their business prosper. I love being the hero for them and their business!
How did you build your audience on social media?
My best advice for building a social media presence is: 1. Work on it a little every single day. 2. Create good content (Whether it’s pictures or free tips for potential clients and your following base) 3. Find people that you admire or that also create really good content and follow them for ideas for your page!
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
All of my clients have my personal cell phone number along with my email address and we do regular check ins! Making every client feel like the only client is really the white glove approach we try to take!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @saxerbizsolutions
- Linkedin: Christie Saxer
- Yelp: Saxer Business Solutions