Community Highlights: Meet Katharine Hill of A Small Biz Wiz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katharine Hill.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My mom had an exclusive distributorship with Novartis home health and she needed help keeping track of her business income and expenses so we bought the quick books program and I got started. This was when I was in high school. I worked for Brinker corporation when I was in my 20’s and I managed multiple stores. A big part of my job was controlling food and labor costs and I responsible for the monthly P&L, balance sheet and cash flow statements. I quickly understood how much these reports impact a business and my ability to make good financial and management decisions. I took some time off after I was married to raise my two daughters (19 and 14 years old currently) at the start of the pandemic I realized I needed more. I took some online bookkeeping courses and got Quickbooks Pro certified. The first client I took was a charity and I worked for them for a year for free so that I could get some good experience and refine my workflow. I then started taking clients, and my business grew mostly just by referrals. I have a wide range of clients including industries like civil engineering, general contractors, all sorts of tradesmen, photographers, interior designers, lawyers, doctors, sales people, nurses, software engineers, store and restaurant owners etc. I love what I do and feel that I offer a unique service by being able to cater to business that would ordinarily be too small for a CPA firm. I provide good value by being much cheaper than going with a CPA firm and I am super responsive to my clients questions or requests.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There have been plenty of struggles along the way, Learning to market myself has been difficult along with working alone. Many bookkeepers start out working for a CPA firm and that way they have someone to ask if they have a question. I have always worked alone so I had to learn how to figure out how to utilize quickbooks support in order to fix any issues within the program. Many of my clients use support programs for things such as keeping track of inventory or payroll and I had to learn how to use these programs myself with no support. Also, work flow items such as file keeping and client communication/ requests all needed to be designed by me– they have been adapted many times and I have a very good system now. I am always looking for ways to make the process easier for my clients and more streamlined for me so I can’t say that my process is final I’m sure it will evolve more over time.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about A Small Biz Wiz?
I provide a boutique bookkeeping service to small businesses that would otherwise be too small for most CPA firms. I am able to take a meeting at short notice in person with my clients and I accept phone calls day and night when they have questions or request. I don’t have a specific industry that I specialize in, in fact, one of my favorite things about my firms is the variety of clients that I have. Accounting is the language of all business and I am able to adapt my workflow to accommodate all types of businesses. I am known for being easy to work with, to get ahold of and I am very customer focused. I believe this is what has made me successful and has helped me to grow my book as almost all of my clients came to me via referral. I am most proud of the value and level of service that I am able to provide to my clients. They get a lot for their money. Most of my clients who come from other firms come because they have very poor service and attention from their current bookkeeper.

What makes you happy?
I get emails and notes from my clients thanking me for helping them to understand the financial side of their businesses better. This helps them to make better business decisions and ultimately earn more money. It also makes me feel proud when they refer to me as part of their team and not just an external service provider.

Pricing:

• book keeping for as little as $100 (based on transaction volume) or $45 an hour for other services

Contact Info:

• Website: https://asmallbizwiz.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-hill-357735335/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/small-biz-wiz-mission-viejo?utm_source=ishare

Image Credits
CHENIN BOUTWELL