We had the opportunity to interview Isaiah Grant from Dream Fitness Client Academy. Read about his journey as a small business owner and how his past health issues inspired him to create the thriving business he has today.

Tell Me About Dream Fitness Client Academy

We have been in business for four years. Initially, we began as a digital agency; working with local businesses and with online coaches from a broader perspective.

Fast forward, we decided to go very niche in regards to working with fitness and health coaches. We have a 13-week implementation program to show the coaches how to go from being a person who has a hobby and turn that hobby into an online coaching business. A business that enables them to have time and financial freedom.

Our motto is helping folks get off the coaching hamster wheel so that they can ultimately have the freedom to work when they want to work.

We leverage systems, people, and different products and processes to help them actually scale and drive more impact to their audience.

What Inspired You to Start Dream Fitness Academy?

I was born and raised in a single-family household where my mom was personally disabled. At an early age, I had to be resourceful and learn how to build meaningful relationships with people and ultimately learn how to execute and get things done.

From an early age, I was an entrepreneur. As you can imagine, in middle school, I sold everything: pencils, erasers, CDs. Ultimately, fast forward to eighth grade, I was sitting in my science class, and I was doing a year-long project on diabetes and ironically was diagnosed with diabetes during that class year. This was a pivotal stage in my life. I decided to get my own health and wellness coach, who helped me get rid of diabetes and helped me see the importance of being physically, mentally, and spiritually fit.

After spending 5 years in the corporate world, I was ready to become a small business owner. I decided to leave and start my own agency. I was inspired to impact other financial or fitness and health coaches, like the individual who impacted me in eighth grade.

What’s the Best Thing About Being a Small Business Owner?

I think it’s the discovery and the process of developing as a leader and realizing that you’re your biggest bottleneck to your business. The more you can fire yourself from each of the different core departments like marketing, sales fulfillment in your business, the bigger you’ll grow.

So for me, it’s been a lot of the personal development associated with being a small business owner that has been the most enjoyable. From outside the business, the impact of being able to see these fitness and health coaches grow tremendously in terms of being a business owner. That drives me to be even more of a leader for my company and for the people we serve.

What are Some of the Challenges You’ve Faced as a Small Business Owner?

A huge part of my company is systems. We live and die by systems and numbers. Prior to this year, we weren’t crystal clear in regards to our numbers and our KPI.

We’ve become more clear on our value chain which is marketing, sales, and fulfillment. We’ve identified the top KPIs in each of those buckets. One of the huge parts was figuring out the right people who can manage those systems. It was hard for them to figure out what those numbers were without understanding the true health of our finances.

That was one of the reasons why we ended up with FINSYNC. We saw that you guys offer cash flow management and a concierge service that would help us with the people planning of our business.

It has been super easy working with you guys to hire a bookkeeper who is almost playing a CFO role for us at a fraction of the cost and investment. She’s helping us with budgeting, forecasting, and also seeing our actuals for cash flow expenses.

What Prompted Dream Fitness Client Academy to Start Using FINSYNC?

During the earlier days of COVID, we were in the process of applying for several different loans and grants and that’s when FINSYNC was recommended to us as a great financial tool.

FINSYNC gives you clarity around your cash flow, business expenses, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and also helps with managing your books. One of the things that stood out to me was the ongoing support.

Did you Consider Any Other Software Prior to FINSYNC?

We were previously using QuickBooks but found it to be very challenging. Their software was not as user-friendly as FINSYNC. At first, it was a helpful tool, but it didn’t necessarily stay up-to-date. We constantly had to sync our accounts.

What are the Biggest Benefits Dream Fitness Client Academy Has Experienced Using FINSYNC?

We have been able to get more clarity around our numbers and most importantly the user-friendliness of the tool. Getting rid of the accounting jargon has been great and the ongoing support.

I would say the value that’s given at the price is great. In addition, having our bookkeeper, who is serving as not only a bookkeeper but also almost like a CFO, the investment into her, and into our business is very reasonable. With FINSYNC, you see the value and the investment are completely reasonable.

What Advice do you Have for Those Who are Thinking About Owning Their Own Business?

1. 1. Fall in love with creating systems, they help you replicate yourself and delegate out to other people who are just as good as you are.
   2. Become in love with the numbers. Numbers are important to learn about the growth and bottlenecks in your company.
   3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. When searching for a new tool for our cash flow management, I asked FINSYNC for a demo. I was not sure what to expect, but it turned out to be an amazing tool with an amazing support group.
   4. Invest in yourself constantly, so that you can continue to become a better leader, meet people, lead systems, and impact the overall growth of your company.

If you’re looking for more helpful tips, the FINSYNC blog is a great resource. Maybe your successful business will be featured one day!

We had the chance to connect with Mike Fuller, who spoke to us about his journey to business ownership and his passion for helping others become successful in their careers.

His company, Elite Source Solutions is a recruiting company founded in 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee, and Tampa, Florida. They provide talent ranging from professional services to technical staffing or IT recruiting services. As the business has grown, their focus has become the Southeast while they periodically work in other markets as well.

Mike was kind enough to share some thoughts with us about starting and running a business:

What inspired you to start Elite Source Solutions?

I always had a passion throughout my career to start something of my own. Previously, I worked for another staffing company. After 12 years of working there, I felt like I was ready to take on a new challenge. I was ready for something new, and I knew I wanted to build something that I could be proud of.

What are some of the biggest rewards of running a small business?

It is extremely rewarding to watch people grow in their careers. I enjoy being able to mentor and directly help and watch others achieve success.

Several of our recruiters and entry-level positions come right out of school with no prior work experience other than their degree. Watching them grow and achieve success and maturity in business is by far the most rewarding thing.

Watching the company grow is so rewarding as well. It is incredible to see how we started with nothing and as time has gone by, we have gone from crawling to walking, and hopefully soon one day we will be running. It is so satisfying to see that.

What are some of the biggest challenges of owning your own business?

You never know what your day is going to hold. When you start off you are doing a little bit of everything. At first, I was running the business on my own. I found myself doing everything from accounting to sales management. It is also challenging when you have no revenue coming in at first.

There is always so much going on. You really have to learn to prioritize and master time management in order to run a successful business.

Why did you choose to start working with FINSYNC?

FINSYNC was the option that had the best value for the cost. I looked at several other payments platforms and FINSYNC offered the best overall value. If I ever had an issue with anything, I knew that I could call and a real person would answer the phone and could help me through it. The quality you get for the cost was a no-brainer. I would recommend FINSYNC to any small business.

Has FINSYNC made running your business easier?

It definitely has. A lot of small things that are needed are easily accessible. For example, when I need certain documents, I know where to find them. The reporting, creating an invoice, and payroll are all located in one place. We are able to gather reports quickly and efficiently. The software is very user-friendly and easy to navigate.

What advice do you have for those who are thinking about owning their own business?

Nowadays it’s common culture for people to come directly out of college and want to become an entrepreneur and start their own business right away. I think this is great, but I feel like learning is so important. If you have the opportunity to work for another company and really get to know the business and work your way from the bottom up, I think that is very valuable. This is a great way for you to learn what to do and what not to do once you build your own business. Learning about challenges and how to overcome them is so valuable. Success takes time.

If you’re looking for more helpful tips, the FINSYNC blog is a great resource. Maybe your successful business will be featured one day!

Darren Smith spoke to us about finding the right balance of visibility and control over accounting and admin tasks while staying focused on running his startup, Traipse.

By FINSYNC

The mobile app startup Traipse guides users through streetscapes, historic landmarks, and locally owned businesses while challenging them with scavenger hunts and puzzles. When Founder and CEO Darren Smith aimed to solve the puzzle of accounting and payroll, he found a guide in FINSYNC.

We spoke with Darren Smith about how Traipse got started, the challenges and successes he’s faced as a startup, and how he’s found the right balance of oversight for his accounting.

What inspired you to start Traipse?

I started with a background in urban planning and have a passion for the historic business district as an important piece of the economy, and of our society. That was the underlying thing for me.

Then, for about ten years the Washington Post ran an annual event called The Washington Post Puzzle Hunt which brought thousands of people downtown to solve puzzles they had set up. Before that, my hometown radio station used to do a treasure hunt where clues would be posted in local stores.

So the idea was a combination of those things — a way to engage local merchants and to get people out exploring and learning about different places, whether or not they live there.

That got my brain thinking about how something like that could be built to run at any time. I set out to create an app that lets people in a neighborhood or business district solve puzzles built around things that are always there: signs, statues, etc. 

What are some of the biggest rewards of running a small business?

The flexibility is nice. There are things that I never anticipated in terms of what it does to your psyche. To always be thinking that you need to be working to build the business. But, particularly early on, for the first years of my son’s life, I was able to be home with him three days a week and work on the early stages of the business. That was great to be able to do that.

In terms of the business itself, it’s really cool to create something and then hear from people who have used and enjoyed it. We hear from people who have walked through an area hundreds of times and never knew or noticed something. Or to hear from local merchants who are able to increase business from the added foot traffic. That piece is unique to our business and makes it really rewarding.

What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a startup? 

For someone who had not done this before, and didn’t come from a business background, there was a lot of learning I had to do and mistakes that were made. Things that if I had known six months ago I could have avoided. But there’s no instruction manual.

Some of the challenges related to capital, especially with a business like this where you’re trying to build a user base while making sales. Our model is we have contracts with local tourism and business development organizations. So we’re trying to please a lot of people. Sometimes the things you need to do to build a user base versus a client base can make it difficult because you are allocating resources to two different areas. It is the challenge of a B2B2C business. 

Why did you choose to start working with FINSYNC?

We’ve been FINSYNC users for a long time. I hadn’t done really good accounting of the business to that point and I was about to start getting everything into Quickbooks. When I heard about FINSYNC, it sounded like it was more tailored to the needs of a startup and had other tools that no other provider had at that point. It was very appealing to me.

It seems easier to manage as a business with investors and various revenue streams. We haven’t really taken advantage of a lot of the FINSYNC features. I hope to be able to do that in the future. We’re currently laying the foundation needed to do some of those more advanced things. I’m looking forward to getting to the point where we’re able to take advantage of the different possibilities.

What challenges has FINSYNC helped solve?

I feel like it’s the right place on that spectrum of hands-on and hands-off. It is the most affordable solution that I know of that allows me to manage accounting, payroll and other administrative tasks that as a startup founder I don’t want to be dealing with. I also don’t want it to be a black box that I’m not aware of at all times. To me that was the biggest advantage.

Do you have any advice for other small business owners?

You need to figure out early on where on that spectrum you want to be. Also where you can be in terms of how much you want to manage your own accounting and how much you want to or are able to turn that over to someone else. Most startups can’t afford to pay a full-service accounting firm to do all this stuff for them. FINSYNC allows a founder to affordably turn some of that over to other people who know what they’re doing. It allows you to have some automated processes, synced accounts and other features that allow you to generate reports very easily and create the types of things you need as a founder.

My advice is to figure out early on how you’re going to address your accounting and payroll as a business. Then, figure out what tools are out there. Focus not just on the functionality they offer, but where on that continuum they allow you to be to suit your needs.

Neisha Casey had already been working for years as a CPA. She began to sense that her need to focus exclusively on a niche industry might make her professionally unmarketable outside of that particular niche.

As a lifetime learner who thrives on variety and acquiring new skills, she decided it was time to turn her focus to other opportunities. Ones that would allow her to leverage her skills while gaining exposure to new industries and perspectives.  

We had the opportunity to catch up with Neisha to discuss her journey. Also, get some takeaways for small businesses and independent contractors. 

How did you decide to become an independent CPA?

I decided to become an independent CPA because of the variety of work and flexibility. I enjoy variety in my work and the opportunity to gain new skills and exposure. FINSYNC affords me the opportunity to take on clients within various industries. Also, independently manage the workload to meet the client’s needs.

Flexibility is also a major advantage, especially because I have decided to further my education. Although my new career path pivots into analytics, I am able to continue to utilize my accounting background and expand my skills. 

What are the benefits and rewards of being an independent financial professional?

The benefits of being an independent professional are the flexibility and exposure to different clients and industries. When I’ve taken on different roles in my profession, it was always with the intent to diversify my skillset: What can I learn from this opportunity that I did not necessarily learn in my last opportunity?

Sometimes, the best way to diversify a skillset is to gain exposure to multiple industries. The added benefit of working independently is flexibility. I set my own schedule to complete work within the specific timeline communicated. 

What’s the most challenging part about being an independent contractor?

Sometimes, communication can “get lost” in the context of an email or text and even by phone. Verbal and nonverbal cues play a major part in communication. It becomes very important to become cognizant of every written dialogue. Also, provide clarification if communication is even the slightest bit unclear.  

What inspired you to join FINSYNC’s services network? How has joining FINSYNC impacted your career and career trajectory?

I was still working as an accountant when a FINSYNC representative contacted me to discuss a remote opportunity. My first thought was: How am I going to be able to manage the workload of two jobs?

After giving it more thought, I decided that now was the right time to pursue career interests while also continuing to hone my skills as an accountant. My long-term career trajectory combines both my finance and accounting backgrounds as an entrepreneur. Working with the FINSYNC Accounting Program allows me the opportunity to balance my goals while also making the full breadth of my skills available to clients.  

What company were you paired with, and what do you do for them?

My first client through FINSYNC’s network is a prominent photographer based in the Atlanta area. Therefore, I handle their bookkeeping and reporting.

What’s your working relationship like with the client?

I like to keep it professional but also personable. We keep the lines of communication open and work together to meet deadlines. 

How does FINSYNC’s platform make your job as an accountant easier?

FINSYNC’s platform is very user-friendly. As a result, it helps to streamline and optimize efficiency for all parties involved. 

Would you recommend FINSYNC’s virtual assistance network to other independent skilled professionals?

Absolutely, yes. I highly recommend FINSYNC’s virtual assistance network to other skilled professionals. The entire FINSYNC team is very interactive and makes certain each engagement runs as smoothly as possible. I’ve never met a more supportive and encouraging work group. In addition to flexibility and diverse work opportunities, the FINSYNC team is what makes the network unique. Allowing for an even more rewarding experience.

Any advice for other independent professionals out there?

If you desire variety and flexibility within a supportive virtual team environment, look no further than FINSYNC. 

FINSYNC Accounting Partner Program

We understand accounting professionals’ critical role in a business’s success. This is why we have designed the FINSYNC Accounting Partner Program. Where a dedicated Account Manager will help you achieve your firm’s goals. FINSYNC’s platform consolidates all financial operations into an all-in-one system, ensuring smooth financial management while connecting businesses with the right financial experts.