“Unless you are well-versed in accounting, it’s worth your investment to outsource it”.
This is what Mike Taylor of The Smoke Bloke recommends to other business owners who are struggling through doing the accounting themselves.
When we first met Mike he was running The Smoke Bloke on his own. He was the bloke, smoking. After years of working in prominent restaurants at home in Toronto and abroad in Australia, he decided it was time to follow his passion and strike out on his own. As well as providing fine smoked foods to restaurants, bakeries, private clubs and retail stores all over Toronto, his products are available to buy online.
Mike was doing all the accounting himself while trying to expand his business
Although he was getting along okay, doing all the accounting had become incredibly time consuming for Mike. He was starting to feel the pain.
- Reconciling his accounts was taking up a lot of time and it was tedious.
- When he came up against issues, it was even more of a time suck.
- He knew if he made mistakes it could cost him big.
As a Type A entrepreneur I know you may have got this far doing the accounting yourself because you’re driven to achieve. Many of our clients come to us aware the numbers are important for their success. They’ve persevered because they know it will benefit them.
I also know you value honesty. Trying to make yourself an expert in all things – tax, bookkeeping, marketing, technology, human resources… is a recipe for mediocrity at best and failure at worst. As you begin to scale, your transaction volume only increases and the accounting becomes more difficult.
An outsourced accounting service means you can focus your energies on innovating, growing your business, and building enterprise capital and not on filing tax returns or handling payroll.
Mike recognized this. The Smoke Bloke was beginning to expand and take on its first employees, and he knew he needed to outsource some things so he could grow with confidence and control. He was becoming concerned he would miss something and he knew the government wouldn’t be lenient if mistakes were made.
First, we gave Mike his time back
To start, Mike reached out for help with his personal and corporate taxes. Our tax preparation services are seasonal and the process is simple:
- Book a 15-min call to confirm your needs.
- Look for and accept your proposal.
- Submit your documents.
- Review your tax forms.
- Receive a copy of your filed taxes, all squared away.
The cost depends on your needs, laid out here on our tax services page, but it really is that simple.
Mike got support from Titanium on a monthly basis, so he could rely on good accounting habits and stay compliant with the CRA. He felt safe, knowing he had an expert taking care of it.
Talking about that security, Mike said: “I hand Jamie a folder of files and then that’s IT. I don’t have to deal with any of it”
The first freedom for Mike was being unchained from his accounting. With the right systems and support in place, he was able to spend much less time working on the accounting stuff. We kept him on top of the numbers and out of trouble.
With a good relationship in place, we were able to advise Mike on key business decisions
When we got to know Mike and his business better, we were able to advise him better.
With his accounting in order, we could help him:
- Make decisions on equipment purchases and expansions
- Get serious about tax planning so he could be proactive with his taxes
- Setting up a savings program for taxes
- Set up his payroll so he could take on and pay staff
Doing the initial work and taking the accounting off his hands had freed up Mike’s time to grow the business. As a result his profits, hires and investments increased.
We call this gaining momentum with your business and finances. You’re out of the new business phase, and you’re building your confidence with measured steps.
You don’t need all the accounting support in one go. Mike began in the Gear Up up phase, and needed to be unchained from the stresses and complexities of his accounting in order to grow.
As Mike’s business grows, so do his accounting needs. On our how we work page, you can see what kind of accounting support an ambitious entrepreneur needs in each phase of their business.
What could you do with 10 more hours of time?
On average, a business owner can save 10 hours a month by outsourcing their bookkeeping and accounting. For Mike this meant more time to grow the business, more profitability and more free time for his family.
What could you do with more hours? What do you need to change in your business and accounting practices to get there? Book a diagnostic review to skip the guesswork. Get real feedback on how your accounting is functioning and get actionable steps to make it work for you. A simple 2-min questionnaire gets you started.