Financial A-Team Q&A: What’s an Online Financial Manager? Should You Have One on Your Financial A-Team?
Amy Bradbury is the CEO and Founder of Empowered Profit, a financial for-profit business geared towards women and helping them create their own businesses with the assistance of accountants. Amy will be answering questions about her Financial A-Team and Big Financial Goals.
What is your title? How did you earn the title? What does it mean?
I am the CEO and Founder of Empowered Profit. However, instead of my title, I am going to focus on our team of Online Financial Managers (OFMs) because it’s a term you might not be familiar with. This is our term that we created (and own) to better describe the bookkeeping and accounting work we do that specifically supports online businesses.
How do you help your clients achieve Big Financial Goals?
We start by exploring, together, their money story and how it formed, which impacts how they view money because that is the most important foundation of our work. Without this foundation, fancy spreadsheets cannot help. From there, we go through our onboarding process, which breaks things down into bite-sized chunks; this is how the client is able to digest what they are learning and putting into practice. Our signature, holistic, proven process supports clients from every angle, no matter where they are in their business journey (ex: $1 years to having multiple millions of dollars years).
What are some of the questions people should ask an OFM before they officially join their Financial A-Team?
Of course, you will want to have a conversation with anyone you want to hire. You also want to make sure that you feel comfortable talking with them and that your business practices/values are aligned. This is going to (hopefully) be a long-term relationship and you want to feel comfortable, supported, and confident with them.
BUT, before you start the process of looking for a bookkeeper, there are some questions you need to ask yourself to make sure you are hiring someone who will be a good fit to provide you with the support you need, in the way you need it. The biggest thing that you should know going in is that you are going to have a more successful relationship with your accountant if you actively participate in the relationship. You can’t ‘outsource’ this and just expect them to figure it all out themselves. You have to be involved, answer their questions, provide information, etc. so that they can provide you with the support you need.
The biggest thing that you should know going in is that you are going to have a more successful relationship with your accountant if you actively participate in the relationship. You can’t ‘outsource’ this and just expect them to figure it all out themselves. You have to be involved, answer their questions, provide information, etc. so that they can provide you with the support you need.
– AMY BRADBURY
Ask Yourself:
What support do I really need at this stage of my business? What bookkeeping tasks am I able to take on myself and what am I either not doing or don’t want to do?
If I could wave a magic wand, what would good financial support look like?
How do I like to communicate? Am I a talk things out, quick Slack message, or email-only type of person in this relationship? Do I require phone calls?
How comfortable am I with systems and spreadsheets? Do I need someone to take it all over and tell me what I need to know or would I like to get in there and get my hands dirty?
What is the monthly budget that I want to invest in for this support?
How much time do I have available to spend on my money each week?
Ask Them:
How do you communicate with your clients in your different packages? (Does this match what you identified as your needs above)?
What ROI (return on investment) can I expect with the investment into your services?
Are you familiar/an expert in my industry?
Do you have a team? Who will we be working with directly, and do you have a plan for sick/vacation time so that we still have coverage?
Are you more of a compliance accountant or a strategic accountant?
What contract is required/what happens if we aren’t happy with the services?
How much time will we be required to invest each week in our work with you? What will you need us to do as part of this relationship?
Then, as you continue working with them, there will be questions you’ll want to ask each month (depending on their level of support) as well. This will ensure you aren’t developing a lackluster, useless, “report only” relationship (they send the report, then you say thank you and have no idea what it means).
What are some red flags that an OFM may not be the right fit for someone?
We hear a lot of complaints from our new clients about how they were treated in the past. For example:
They talk down to you, don’t treat your business as a real business, and think because you are a female entrepreneur, your business is just a “cute little side hustle.”
They don’t ACTUALLY understand what you do in your business (hello, they think the only coaches are on the athletic field).
They don’t want to be available whenever you have questions or all year long.
Their support doesn’t include explaining what the reports actually mean and how to use them to make decisions in your business.
We truly believe that any small business can benefit from our OFM services, as long as you are willing to show up, do the work, and partner with us. Great accounting support is possible!
Who is on your Financial A-Team?
Our Financial A-Team at Empowered Profit is filled with wonderful women! We work with our own assigned OFM and tax accountant, as well as a financial advisor who supports our retirement plan and other investments. We also have a wonderful leadership and mindset coach, whom we feel completely helps our company to be more successful.
To connect with Amy, you can visit her company’s website https://empoweredprofit.com/. You can check out Empowered Profit’s Instagram @empoweredprofit. To book a call with Empowered Profit or learn more, visit https://empoweredprofit.com/book.
