We recently connected with Megan Evans, CPA and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Megan, thanks for joining us today. Is there a lesson you learned in school that’s stuck with you and has meaningfully impacted your journey?

One impactful lesson I learned in my college tax class was that you don’t have to have all the answers to your client’s questions in real-time; and they don’t expect you to either. It is okay to pause, think about their question, let them know that you need to further research the topic, and get back to them with an answer.

Early in my career I felt a lot of imposter syndrome when I didn’t know all the answers, but the reality is that even extremely seasoned finance professionals are not robots and don’t have the tax code memorized. Each situation has its complexities, and it is best practice to source verify before providing advice or guidance.

The words from that professor still play in my ear from time to time, especially since starting BTR Bookkeeping.

Megan, 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 a virtual boutique bookkeeping agency based out of Lincoln, CA. My early career started at a tax firm in the Bay Area, where I got to work with everything from high net worth individuals to big corporations (I even got to work on Reddit’s tax return!). After realizing that the public accounting grind of 60+ hour work weeks were not my thing, I left to gain experience in private accounting.

Soon after, God threw me a couple of curve balls, like getting laid off in 2020. I knew that I had more to offer than what I could at a 9-5. I had big aspirations to do SOMETHING more, but it wasn’t until after my wedding that I discovered what that was.

My husband and I are both CPAs and when my wedding photographer found that out, she jokingly pleaded with us to help her with her business finances. I immediately got flashbacks to my tax return days and laughed off the comment, but it stuck with me. A couple months later I asked Maddi if she could use help with bookkeeping. She already had a tax pro in her corner, but she still felt extremely lost and confused when it came to the day-to-day management of her business finances.

I finally found clarity on my purpose; bridging the financial education gap between female entrepreneurs and their CPAs. She became my first client and is still one today!

The name Born to Roam came from my desire to explore the outdoors and travel, but also to empower our clients to do the same. All of our client’s businesses are female founded. Many of those females are the “breadwinners” in their families, and their business financially fuel their lives. My team and I thoroughly enjoy having a front seat to witness this.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

We got our start from referrals exclusively!

Most of our client roster were referred to us from current clients, family, or friends. Our clients are some of the best humans and we love when we get to partner with other people in their circles.

Any advice for managing a team?

People come first, work is second.

The best manager I ever had demonstrated this to me and it changed the way I viewed management. You have to see your team members as humans and not machines. Acknowledging them for their hard work (even if they weren’t perfect), asking about their personal life, taking a genuine interest in their hobbies, developing them professionally, and rewarding them with raises and promotions are all things that will make your team want to invest their time and energy into the company and do good work.

Also, make it fun! Create a team culture that people are excited to be a part of.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.borntoroambookkeeping.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/borntoroambookkeeping/

Image Credits
Jo & Lyndon