We were lucky to catch up with Dawn Scott recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Dawn, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

OnlyTax was created to provide a welcoming community for Content Creators to have their tax returns prepared but as a resource for education so they can feel empowered through knowledge. It is a judgement free environment where creators can speak openly and honestly. We are female founded and discrete.

Dawn, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am the Founder of Gratiam Consulting, a boutique accounting firm that specializes in passionate entrepreneurs. Almost 10 years ago I set out to create a community that helps entrepreneurs feel empowered and supported in their tax and accounting. We focus on communication and relationships and understanding what makes our clients tick instead of billable hours. Through our journey, we have identified opportunities to better serve our clients and have added The Empowered CPA – a podcast and digital courses as well as OnlyTax – a tax platform for Content Creators.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

When I first started out like most people I was taking on anything that came my way. Up until this point in my career that is what had been modeled for me in the firms I worked at. There were always clients we dreaded and we were taught to put up with it and march forward and it never occurred to me that there might be a different way. In my own practice I had one client who was particularly challenging and the relationship started to really weigh on my life, both during and outside of working hours. There was one day, one meeting with this client that changed the way I looked at clients forever. The tone of the meeting because very tense and at one moment I actually feared for my physical safety, thankfully I was able to leave the situation safely but I promised myself that I would never put myself or any of my staff through something like that ever again. I immediately thought about what my ideal client looked like and put into place an onboarding process that would help eliminate clients who did not meet the criteria I outlined. It was terrifying when I fired that client, I worried about not being able to replace the revenue however I doubled the revenue within 30 days and have never looked back. That day will always be a reminder of why I set boundaries and why it is in my best interest to protect my physical and mental health.

How’d you meet your business partner?

In addition to my accounting adventures I am lucky enough to be a co founder of a blow dry bar called Glambar. I met Erin, my now partner, during a glamour photo shoot. If you know me, you know that leading up to this photo shoot I was full of nerves and thought of every single reason why I should not be spending my time getting all dolled up and having a stranger take my pictures but somehow I managed to get myself to the location. I originally found myself in this situation because I have long red hair and Erin was doing a model call and one of my friends tagged me in the post and like they say, the rest is history. We chatted while I was getting all done up, while she draped and pinned fabric all over me while fans were blowing my hair like a real life super model. A few weeks later, I was sent the photos and the entire process was complete, I survived, ha! Much to my surprise Erin called me not to much later and asked me specifically what I did for a living. She said she was interested in starting a business and didn’t have much experience with the business side and was wondering if she could talk to me about it. Years ago I made a commitment to always take those meetings and in this case it changed the course of my life. She came over with her husband, our third partner, and she told me about how she wanted to create a blow dry bar and that was all I needed to hear. As someone who traveled frequently for work I was already obsessed with the business model. It has been over 4 years since that date and I could not imagine my life without them or Glambar.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theempoweredcpa.com www.gratiamconsulting.com www.onlytax.com
• Instagram: @theempoweredcpa @onlytaxus @gratiamconsulting.com
• Facebook: @theempoweredcpa @onlytaxus @gratiamconsulting.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-scott-cpa-7b25a216/