If you have booked time on our calendar, it’s likely because you have some accounting stuff that you really want to discuss about your business. We are excited to chat with you and want to make sure our time together is productive for you. 

Here’s what you can expect during our discovery call. After you read this, be sure to check out our blogs, Who is a Good Fit for Patrick Accounting? and How Much Do Outsourced Accounting Services Cost with Patrick Accounting? 

Step #1: It’s a No-Pressure Phone Call to Learn About You 

If you’ve scheduled a call with us, we’ll plan to call you at the number you provided. You’ll get two email reminders ahead of time, and if you need to reschedule our meeting, we’ll include a reschedule link for your convenience. We try to be respectful of your time so we will plan for a 15-minute chat with you, and when it makes sense, we can schedule additional time to go over all the ins and outs of your business. Our big goal for you during this conversation is to learn:  

• What’s your story and what are your business goals for the next five years? 
• What’s painful for you today when you think about bookkeeping, payroll, accounting, or tax? 
• What fears, worries, or concerns do you have when you think about growing your business? 

Why Goals?  

First, you have to have an idea about where you want your business to take you.  

Now, you might find yourself grappling with immediate concerns such as meeting payroll, navigating staffing issues, uncertainty about how much money you’re actually making, or the looming anxiety of a substantial year-end tax bill. We understand that you’ve booked time with us because you likely have a big concern that you’re interested in solving. And rest assured, we will get to that, BUT first!  

We are going to ask you about what your business means to you and where you want to go in the next five years. If we have a vague idea about what is most important to you, it helps us determine what the right type of service is for your business. (Whether that’s working with our team or someone else.)   

For example, if you want to sell the business in a year – that requires very different financial objectives than say, the owner who is looking to spend more time with their family and get out of the day-to-day operations.  

So, as you look toward our meeting, ask yourself:  

• What does my business really mean to me?  
• In a perfect world, if I had partners solving all the pains and opportunities of managing and operating your business, what would I be doing or NOT doing in my business? 

You may not have had loads of time to ponder this question just yet, so to provide you with some inspiration as you think about your own goals, here are the top 5 goals our current clients have as small business owners.  

1. Spend more time AWAY (with family, not at work, or being able to take a month away without the business falling apart.)  

2. Make more money (Be as profitable as they can be, as fast as they can.) OR Growth (adding new service lines, new locations, or revenue expansion)  

3. Buy a beach house (Seriously!)  

4. Grow the business to sell it  

5. Working ON the business, not IN it  

Step #2: Asking Questions to Understand What You’re Wanting to Solve  

There are major mistakes small business owners make when they first get started, and one of those is not having a system for financial recordkeeping and tax strategy. This can get you in big trouble when you need to obtain a line of credit, want to invest in your business or get audited by the IRS, so you may have booked time with us because you’ve got something going on. We’ll get to the heart of that, we promise.  

We plan to ask a few critical questions about your sales, your expenses, and fears you have around compliance. We can discuss the pros and cons of do-it-yourself bookkeeping, payroll, and taxes, and when it’s a good time to outsource. We will ask a few other questions too, and of course, leave you time to ask us any questions you have. 

Step #3: Schedule a Next-Step Meeting & Request Details from You  

If at the end of our fifteen-minute call, you think it makes sense to move forward, we’ll want to assess your current financial and tax situation and come up with pricing for your business. We’ll need lots of things from you like:  

• Your most recent business tax return  
• QuickBooks online access or most recent financials  
• Couple months of bank statements  

For a complete list of items we’ll need, check out our guide here.  

Here is a quick overview of different service options for you: 

Our services are bundled into monthly services starting at $750/month which includes monthly bookkeeping, payroll, and tax services. (It’s important to note that we require payroll services to help you with accounting services, and we can discuss WHY that is in our call!) If that’s not something you’re willing to consider, we’re not going to be the best partner for your small business.  

For reference, most of our clients pay us between $1,000-$1,500/month for these services but that could include outsourced A/P services, or additional accounting services.  

We are looking forward to talking with you and discovering what’s important to you about your business, and possibly removing some of those pesky admin, bookkeeping, and stressful tax tasks off your plate.  

For more information, click here if you’d like to review the items we’d need to put together a service proposal for you or check out How Much Do Outsourced Accounting Services Cost with Patrick Accounting?