Happy New Year! I woke up on January 1st and thought to myself, whoa… 2017 is the fifth year I’ve owned my own business. I stopped to reflect on that and thought I’d share my story.
I wasn’t your typical entrepreneur. I grew up thinking I would work for a company. I didn’t have aspirations to go out on my own. But life pushed me in that direction.
I spent over 25 years in the corporate environment, and then in 2011, I had a number of circumstances come together at the same time that changed my entire path. I was laid off twice in 12 months from those corporate jobs, I was putting two kids through college, I was newly divorced and I had a mortgage I needed to pay by myself.
I went through the job search game and found nothing. I had no idea how I was going to pay for life. Then something inside me clicked. I realized my skills were valuable and maybe I didn’t need to find a job, maybe I could create one.
On January 12, 2012, I formed my own business: FinOrg4U (a cute take on FINancial ORGanization For You) a company that helped seniors pay their bills, transported them to various medical appointments and helped businesses and individuals get organized with their finances.
The problem: I wasn’t excited about it. I created it out of need and didn’t do research or create plans that set me up for success. I developed my own website and took any client that came along. No one knew how to pronounce the name of the company and I wasn’t making enough money to pay my bills.
I decided to adjust my service offerings, beginning to like the idea of what I was creating and started to feel those butterflies when you know you’re on the verge of something great. The company began to grow.
In the spring of 2014, I changed the name of the company to Andersson Productivity Solutions. I paid for a professional website and multiple companies quickly became clients. I found automating business processes and improving the financial aspects of companies was what I really enjoyed.
I hired a Virtual Assistant (thank you, Denice) who took care of all the back-end operations and systems in the business. I started using systems, such as Contactually for a CRM, Trello for Project Management, AWeber for email blasts (such as this one) and a password management system and they changed the way I worked.
I started hiring bookkeepers to assist me, so they could focus on the detail work and I could work with clients and on the growth and development of my own business.
Last year, I solved the last piece of the puzzle. The one thing about my business that needed an upgrade….the name. People could pronounce the existing one, but they couldn’t spell it!!
I rebranded (terrifying, but needed) and our new name, Price Turner CFOs, just fit what we do. Third time’s a charm, right?
CFOs can tell you your profitability by store and location. They analyze numbers like revenue, rent, hours and expenses to advise you on opening a new location or the need to change the pricing model. They assist with questions on return on investment for sponsorships or networking, shipping costs, retail versus wholesale, etc. They provide the data that makes all the difference in your growth and expansion plans.
Price Turner CFOs provides Chief Financial Officer services to companies and individuals! We do the detail accounting for the company and allow the CEO to do the strategy, the product development and delivery, the business development and everything else.
We are a partner with the CEO so he/she knows their financial records are correct, accurate and they have the financial knowledge they need for planning, without doing the detail transactions. We assist the CEO to create the budget, the financial strategy and to accomplish the goals of the company.
At this time, we have 40 clients, 7 bookkeepers (thank you Lisa, the other Lisa, Alison, Ann Marie, Tracy, Laura and Erin), 1 Operations Manager (Denice), 1 Copywriter (thank you Tara for writing everything for me) and continue to grow every month! In fact, I am looking for a senior accountant as my next hire, so contact me if you are interested or you know someone!
I never thought I would go out on my own. At times, I felt like I was going backwards. At times, I thought it would be easier to get a J-O-B. At times, I thought I must be crazy jumping into this entrepreneurial lifestyle.
I’m so glad I stuck with it. It allowed me to grow personally, professionally, meet amazing colleagues, friends and coaches along the way, assist clients and watch them grow and thrive and I can honestly say, I am happy. I am fulfilled. I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing.
Happy 5th Anniversary to Price Turner CFOs and we hope 2017 is your BEST year yet.
Did you know I hold a monthly workshop at Headroom? It would be great to see you there. I cover juicy financial topics every month like budgeting, expenses, taxes and a lot more. To see all topics for the year, click the button below.
