We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jacqueline Mercer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jacqueline, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.
The story of my first client is the grassroots of my passion and motivation for this business.
It all started when I came in for a routine visit for a personal self-care service. The personal care service I was receiving was operated by a local businesswoman. As I was receiving this service, she knew I was an accountant through the general discussions we had in the past. She proceeded to get my perspective on the challenges she was experiencing with putting bookkeeping in place and coming up with a good number to pay herself out of the business.
From the outside, her business ran like clockwork- friendly employees, beautiful aesthetics, and a seamless booking process. However, she wanted assistance with creating the chart of accounts, profit and loss statement, and spending budget to help her understand where her money was going and how much to pay herself out of the business. I started asking her questions such as “do you have an existing chart of accounts”, “do you have an operating budget”, “do you have a profit and loss statement”, “do you have a target salary”, “if yes, how do you calculate your target salary”. The answer to all of these questions was “no”, or “I have no set structure”. In accounting terms, her challenge was really with what is called “working capital”. Working capital is the money needed to run the day-to-day expenses of the business. She knew she was making money, but needed to understand the cash inflows and outflows because profit does not always correlate to the ending balance in the bank account each month. Once I explained some of the things she needed in place, she asked me how I can become her accountant!
At that time, I did not have a formal process for onboarding clients. I knew enough through my Corporate experience to draw up an Engagement Letter with legal terms and conditions such as “confidentiality”, “term of notice” and “cyber security” clauses that are important in this field because you are working with business owners businesses and personal finances. I presented her with a quote and contract and got started with creating a chart of accounts, profit and loss statement, budget, and trended performance reports for her business. Because this was knowledge I had, I also did not have accounting software in place. I created everything in Excel- which also means- I truly needed to understand the concept behind what I was doing. Her business was a six-figure business and trended stable. She felt good that someone could confirm that her business was indeed profitable, but pinpointed where the pressure points were to help with working capital and bring guidance to a reasonable owner’s draw amount.
When I received my first check, I was excited about the revenue, but I was more excited that I helped a local business owner in an area where she had challenges. It was at this point, I realized that there was a gap in my community and a need for accountants to provide services for small businesses in my area.
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 background and context?
I actually started learning about Accounting in high school. Quite oddly, it was the only subject that truly interested me during my senior year in high school. I enjoyed reconciling ledgers and making numbers “balance”. I was interested in what distinguished an asset from liability and the different financial statements companies used to show they were making money (or not). I knew this is what I wanted to go to college for. I started searching for accredited colleges in my area and selected North Carolina A&T as my college of choice. It was about one hour from my hometown, and I had several family members that graduated from there in the past. I received my Bachelor of Science in Accounting within four years and started my Accounting career shortly after.
I started working with a Fortune 100 Employer and held various accounting roles in Property Taxation, State and Local Taxation, Corporate Credit/Accounts Receivable, and Corporate Accounting/Ledger Accounting. I also served as Treasurer for my neighborhood Association board- where I was essentially the “staff accountant” preparing bills, matching payables, and creating the profit and loss statement and annual 1120 Tax Return.
As I was working for a full-time employer and earning a pretty good salary, I was just fine with servicing my existing clients that needed help with their business. However, I did want the opportunity to create additional revenue to help fund my daughter through college, so I started thinking about the future to build this business. I gave it the name “Baldwin Financial Services”… “Baldwin” is my surname and because I wanted my business to incorporate bookkeeping, taxes, and analysis – went with the broad term of “Financial Services”. I invested in a website, business cards, and other advertising tools.
Then the unbelievable happened- the 2020 pandemic.
With the 2020 pandemic, came government funding to assist small businesses. With the funding, came the need for small
business to “know their numbers”. It was at that point, my business started to “grow its legs”. I had a couple of clients by that
point, and they started referring me to others they knew. I also started marketing myself to put profit and loss statements in
place to support the questions and data the applications were asking for.
I started searching for software that will help improve efficiency. Since my experience is with a Top Fortune 100 Company, the software I was skilled in for over fifteen years, was not common for small businesses. So, I had to come up to speed with software that could accommodate small businesses. I tried popular software, and determine that it wasn’t a good fit for my business after hearing many complaints and price hikes. I became certified in software called “Xero” and also worked with a free software “Wave” that many of my clients enjoy today. I joined groups with other accountants where bookkeeping is their “side hustle” and we share commonalities and build networks. A lot of us work Corporate jobs with an employer full-time and dedicate a good portion of our free time to our business. There are vast differences in preparing the books for a Corporate company that holds stock and reports to the SEC versus privately held small businesses. The accounting treatment is different, the tax deductions and tax forms are different, etc…so it’s important to know these differences.
I created a business account, EIN number, and LLC all in 2020. My employer started offering a remote workplace, and although the work did not slow down, my schedule was much more flexible with commute times, getting dressed for work, and virtual meetings, so this offered additional time in my schedule where I work my business early morning hours, evenings, and weekends.
I am also in school working towards my Master of Accountancy degree.
I primarily service entrepreneurs and solopreneurs in the preparation of their financial statements (balance sheet, cash flows, and profit and loss) and identify tax strategies and deductions in the preparation of their tax returns. My clientele currently consists of marketing agencies, virtual assistants, novelty businesses, boutiques, lawn treatment service providers, candle makers, health care researchers, consultants, attorneys, beauticians, spa owners, personal organizers, towing services, and trucking services. Most of my clients reside in Tennessee and Mississippi , but I also have clients in California, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Barbados
To date, my service offerings are:
– Monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual bookkeeping
– Creation of Profit and Loss Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statements
– Bank Reconciliations
– Preparation of Federal tax returns for Schedule C and SCorp entities
– Entity Consulting (does it make sense to be an LLC, Scorp or Sole prop?)
– Annual 1099 Filings
– Annual Operation Budget Preparation (business, not individual)
–Proforma Forecasting
– Should Cost Modeling
– Preparation of local tax returns (some states may not apply)
– Payroll (partnership with ADP)
All bookkeeping services come with complimentary reviews where I discuss the numbers and highlights with the client.
The feedback that I hear from my clients is listed below and what I believe sets my business apart from others. . Feedback is generated through formal surveys, testimonials, or informally as a “thank you”.
– “You are very detailed with my numbers and provide full transparency”
–” I need an accountant and I can trust and I trust you”.
– “Your customer service level is high and you put the customer first”.– “Your systems work and when I use them, I see my business flourish.”
I am most proud of helping business owners to make sure their financials are prepared, their tax deductions are high (and legal) and profit is number one, managing cash is number two, and lowering the tax liability is number 3 three- and all possible through my services! I am also proud that my clients refer me to others. This confirms to me that my work is valuable and useful.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
– Social Media, my website, clients referrals, and partnering with tax firms!
– I use Instagram business and Facebook social groups to help get my brand out there.
– I started my business Instagram page in 2020 and I would first say that posting weekly content really helped me. I would also say that you should NOT focus on the number of likes- focus more on what you post. The posts should express your knowledge and address a solution. I have received a good portion of clients through Instagram, but you’ll never know it by the “number of likes”. Trust me- they see you..but you have to post. I believe the content I post has helped my reputation. My business page has absolutely no personal information on it- there is nothing about my family, friends, dog, etc. It is strictly accounting and tax guidance. This content has helped clients and future clients know ” I play by the book”…this industry has a reputation and presents an opportunity to report false data and my content helps guide in the right way to do accounting and taxes. I also provide FREE useful tips like- “how to prepare your business for a tax audit- before the tax audit even occurs”, software and receipt management tips, why financial statements are important, and which ones your business need.
– For Facebook, I participate in several networking groups. The largest group one that has helped with my reputation is a local group where Facebook users search for local services within the community.
– My website was a worthwhile investment. It was not a quick “Wix” or something I created quickly. It was a true investment. It truly brands you and if it is not professionally done, it could quickly stop business before it starts.
– Client referrals…I find that my clients typically know other business owners with similar needs. My clients have referred me to their clients, which creates a pretty awesome network. However, the key is “confidentiality”. I never share data their data with the person referring services.
– I have also started partnering with local tax firms. Most local tax firms focus on individual firm filings but have a need for someone to help provide bookkeeping services for their clients that need sSchedule c C deductions.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
1. I keep in touch with clients by offering them monthly or quarterly reviews for the reports and data I provide.
2. I publish an annual newsletter highlighting wins from the year, upgrades in software or processes, a listing of new clients ( by industry, not names) that the business is working with, and goals for the business in the upcoming year .
3. Distribute annual Christmas cards, with a coupon to use for future services.
4. Distribute the “BFS Client Spotlight” -periodically, I highlight one client and distribute an internal publication out to the other clients to let them know how that client is utilizing bookkeeping and accounting and how they are utilizing my services to meet their financial goals.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://bfinancialservicesco.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baldwin_financial_services/
Image Credits
Photographer for Professional Images of Jacqueline: Michael Butler Jr.