In this FINSYNC Spotlight Interview, we sit down with Ali Megan Wagner, the owner of Pottinger Realty Property Management. Based in Southern Arizona, Ali manages a thriving real estate brokerage that spans multiple towns, from Tucson to Nogales, specializing in residential property transactions and management.
With a passion for helping people buy and sell homes, Ali’s journey into property management began when she took over her Aunt Nancy’s business. This led her to seek an efficient accounting platform to keep her operations seamless. Here, Ali shares her inspiring story, the challenges of running a small business, and how FINSYNC has played a pivotal role in her success.
Tell me about your company and what inspired you to start.
My business is real estate, and I own a brokerage in Southern Arizona called Pottinger Realty Property Management. I cover many different towns, from Tucson South to Nogales. I help people buy and sell Residential Properties.
I also manage properties. When my Aunt Nancy, who was in real estate, decided to retire, I took over her property management business. As a result, I really needed a good accounting platform to keep everything organized.
What prompted you to start using FINSYNC?
What attracted me to FINSYNC was primarily the strong endorsement from WaFd Bank. When I opened my brokerage company in the fall of 2022, I was at the bank to open my real estate accounts. I was first at the WaFd Nogales Branch, talking about what I needed for my accounting. They, as well as two other branches, all suggested FINSYNC.
What about the FINSYNC Platform that attracted you to it?
I just hit it off with the people that I was talking to at FINSYNC, which means a lot to me because I’m a big communicator. I like to learn things. What I needed was complex to set up because I’m not selling goods. I don’t have an inventory that people are buying.
Money flows through my business, so I have a lot of moving parts, but they all have to connect, and that was probably one of the biggest challenges. However, FINSYNC’s personal approach and its platform’s capabilities to handle my complex tasks made FINSYNC a perfect choice for me.
What are some of the challenges you’ve faced as a small business owner?
Property management requires a lot of time, paperwork, and accounting. I manage a little over 50 properties. There are a lot of ins and outs, and my accounts need to equal zero every month. I just jumped into the deep end and went for it.
Initially, I used QuickBooks, which was what my aunt used, but she had no idea how to help me with the latest version of QuickBooks Online. It was a lot to learn, their customer service wasn’t all that great, and it required entering data multiple times. Eventually, the price doubled, and I realized that I just needed more from a platform.
While switching platforms initially posed its own set of challenges, what truly impressed me was the extraordinary level of customer service FINSYNC provided during the initial setup—a level of support I hadn’t experienced with QuickBooks. This personalized attention, coupled with the ability to discuss and troubleshoot issues directly with FINSYNC representatives, proved to be a better fit for the unique demands of my business.
What are the biggest benefits your business has experienced using FINSYNC?
What I really love about the company, one hundred percent, hands down, is your customer service, and they have just been extremely helpful.
They are very supportive and take the time to listen to my needs. Then they try to help improve things, or maybe there is something that I’m not fully understanding; they take the time to educate me, teach me, and walk me through it step by step. I am able to move forward, and that’s the big thing.
How does having FINSYNC connected to your accounts make your business life easier?
Your Onboarding team really helped me with my journal entries for money that’s being held to roll over into the next month. Which was wonderful because it was driving me crazy. I was wondering how I could get rid of this. What do I do with this? Someone said, “It’s okay, we’re gonna talk about journal entries,” and that was a big lifesaver for me, especially when I’m reconciling every month. That was really great.
How FINSYNC Can Help
There are 3 primary ways FINSYNC helps business owners. (1) CO.STARTERS courses through FINSYNC can help turn your business idea or side hustle into a thriving business. (2) On our website, you can also apply for a business bank account. (3) In addition, the FINSYNC software allows you to run your business on One Platform – invoice customers, pay bills, process payroll, automate accounting, and manage cash flow. To learn more about how we can help your business start, scale, and succeed, contact us today.