We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Marisa Snow. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Marisa below.
Hi Marisa, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Like so many others, my worldview was shaken during the pandemic. There’s nothing like a crisis to shift your focus from the day-to-day to the existential.
As businesses and schools were shutting down, executives and workers across the world largely experienced one of two scenarios – you were deemed either non-essential and sent home or essential, and your duties doubled. I was in the latter category; my job of 20 years sent the executives home as well as the hourly folks. For most of the early pandemic months, I went to an empty office building to run the company as the only boots on the ground. I was still supporting the sequestered board members while managing the jobs of every empty chair on top of my own.
My husband and three daughters were at home muddling through their own stress and homeschooling challenges. My phone would ring – “What time are you coming home?” Each one would call with their own question of the moment. Every minute I was at work, I wished I could be home with my family. Every moment at home, I worried about what needed to be done at work. My family was struggling, I was struggling, and we were absolutely exhausted.
By the following spring, some workers had returned to the office, but with each day that went by, I was increasingly disillusioned. I knew something had to change – and quick. I was headed for a crash.
I wanted to be in charge of my own time.
I wanted to be the one to set my priorities.
I wanted my family to be the main event, not the weekend gig.
I realize that not everyone gets to make these choices. For me, it was the only way forward.
We decided to take a leap to change our family’s future. I knew I wanted to start my own firm, and we were also aware that the cost of living in our state was extremely high. In order for this to work, we needed to dump our debt, reduce our living expenses and get these kiddos back into a healthier routine.
So – like many other families – we made the monumental decision to move from our hometown, halfway across the US to Texas, a place we had visited on vacation and had good friends ready to show us around.
We arrived in the Dallas, TX, area in July of 2021, and I officially hung my shingle in August. Snow Business Solutions just celebrated our two-year anniversary!
This is by far the biggest risk our family has ever taken, and it’s not without its challenges. It’s taken some time for each person to find their groove and establish a new normal. We still get homesick from time to time. But we’ve spent more time together as a family in the last two years than in the previous ten.
No matter what the future holds, this move has proven to be a pivotal experience for our family. Each day is a chance to remind ourselves that life is what we make it.
Marisa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
One of my first jobs during high school was working in the accounting office for a Vineyard Management company. It was the early 90s, and at that time, Quickbooks was fairly new. I was learning on the job and found that I was getting much more out of that education than my high school classes. I was able to apply for high school credit to attend work, and that was just the beginning of the accounting bug for me. Intuit was hosting training sessions nearby, and I may have been the youngest person attending at that time.
I continued working in different accounting positions as I made my way through college. By the time I graduated with my accounting degree, I was already the head of a governmental accounting department, reporting directly to the Council. During my 20 year tenure with that organization, I continued helping small businesses on the side.
To me, there is nothing more fun than taking a pile of receipts and turning it into meaningful information. Managing cash flow can be a make-or-break scenario for a small business owner; having good records is just the beginning.
When I was ready to take that leap into entrepreneurship myself, it was a natural fit for me to create a firm helping small and mid-sized businesses manage their bookkeeping. Even though I work with numbers, I’m a creative thinker and problem solver, and I love working collaboratively with other business owners and professionals.
With my firm, Snow Business Solutions, we provide bookkeeping and advisory services to small/mid-sized businesses of all kinds. Every business is unique and comes with its own challenges – and we use our expertise and our network to empower owners to feel more in control of their companies and their financial future.
Over the years, we’ve served clients in dozens of industries, from micro-businesses to billion-dollar enterprises. Our specialty is implementing workflow efficiencies within the accounting department and working directly with decision-makers to help you understand the story behind your financials, which helps you run your business more efficiently and prioritize things that matter most to you.
We offer monthly bookkeeping packages all the way to outsourced CFO-level services. As a small firm, it is extremely important to me that we meet you where you are and fit the service to the client. We are dedicated to delivering exceptional service with an emphasis on accuracy, confidentiality, and reliability.
Every day, I find new reasons to be proud of our team and our clients as we work together to create the financial roadmaps to sustainability. I’ve been so fortunate to be part of some life-changing transformations with some of my clients.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
As an introvert, working with spreadsheets and accounting software came easily to me. What I didn’t realize right away is the amount of networking involved in being a business owner. There is a saying, “Your net worth is in your network” and it turns out that this was true for me too. I was terrified to introduce myself to a room full of new people but as I got more comfortable attending networking events, I met so many great folks and it definitely got easier.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve continued attending networking events in my local community as well as online and some of those people have become clients, some have become referral partners, and many have become friends.
It’s amazing when I see a community request for a bookkeeper and MANY people comment to refer us. It’s how I know we are doing something right.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
One thing I always do is lead with service. My network knows they can reach out with a question at any time and I’m willing to help. I love making connections or referring services and genuinely helping my community with my expertise.
We’ve also built our service packages to ensure that our clients feel comfortable reaching out any time they need a question answered or some proactive guidance. We strive to develop meaningful customer relationships while delivering exceptional service.
In both of these cases, I have found that lifting up others is the best way to create a lasting impression of good will. And it feels good too.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.snowbusinesssolutions.com
- Instagram: @snowbusinesssolutions
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SnowBusinessSolutions
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marisasnow/