Embark on an unexpected adventure in finance as we sit down with the founder of Brinser Consulting, an eight-year veteran in the outsourced CFO game. Discover the serendipitous moment that transformed a simple favor into a thriving business, offering a financial lifeline to small businesses entangled in the complexities of their finances. We peel back the layers of this fascinating journey, from handling the nuts and bolts of daily bookkeeping to navigating the strategic seas of financial planning, and how these services empower entrepreneurs to steer their businesses toward success. Our conversation doesn't shy away from the nuanced art of scaling a business while preserving the intimate advisor-client bond that is the heart of Brinser Consulting.
As we delve into the personal ethos driving the consultancy, our guest opens up about the vital traits of integrity and precision that are non-negotiable in the world of finance. You'll get an insider look at the role education plays in their mission, not only in balancing the books but in schooling business owners on the ABCs of fiscal health. Tune in to hear how passions like volleyball and golf play a pivotal role in our guest's life, underscoring the importance of leisure and physical fitness in maintaining a healthy work-life rhythm. And as we gaze towards the horizon, we chat about expanding the team, the influence of social media in growing the brand, and how these elements intertwine to script the next chapter of Brinser Consulting.
Embark on an unexpected adventure in finance as we sit down with the founder of Brinser Consulting, an eight-year veteran in the outsourced CFO game. Discover the serendipitous moment that transformed a simple favor into a thriving business, offering a financial lifeline to small businesses entangled in the complexities of their finances. We peel back the layers of this fascinating journey, from handling the nuts and bolts of daily bookkeeping to navigating the strategic seas of financial planning, and how these services empower entrepreneurs to steer their businesses toward success. Our conversation doesn't shy away from the nuanced art of scaling a business while preserving the intimate advisor-client bond that is the heart of Brinser Consulting.
As we delve into the personal ethos driving the consultancy, our guest opens up about the vital traits of integrity and precision that are non-negotiable in the world of finance. You'll get an insider look at the role education plays in their mission, not only in balancing the books but in schooling business owners on the ABCs of fiscal health. Tune in to hear how passions like volleyball and golf play a pivotal role in our guest's life, underscoring the importance of leisure and physical fitness in maintaining a healthy work-life rhythm. And as we gaze towards the horizon, we chat about expanding the team, the influence of social media in growing the brand, and how these elements intertwine to script the next chapter of Brinser Consulting.
Speaker 1:
My business name is Brinser Consulting and I am an outsourced or with a quite fractional CFO.
Speaker 2:
Okay, that's Chief Financial Officer.
Speaker 1:
Yes, it is.
Speaker 2:
That's hard to remember for me sometimes it's a mouthful and can you tell me what you do for your clients and what kind of services you offer?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so actually I've lived today or later. This week's actually marks my eight year anniversary of being out on my own.
Speaker 2:
Congratulations. Thank you.
Speaker 1:
I'm actually what you would call an accidental entrepreneur, so I really had no idea or no intention of going out on my own.
Speaker 1:
I was a CFO slash controller for a $10 million marketing company For about two years.
Speaker 1:
I was there for about four years and the last two years of that I was actually helping a friend of mine on the side who was a contractor, just sort of doing his books for him and doing his accounting for him.
Speaker 1:
And so I sort of went for a promotion and said if I didn't get the promotion I would leave. They didn't give me the promotion, they called my bluff and at that time I was thinking, well, if I did this for one client, I could do this for several others. So it turned into very much becoming sort of an outsourced accounting department, so paying the bills, making sure that the books are reconciled to really becoming a business consultant or that chief financial officer who was able to stop in once or twice a week. Talk to your clients, obviously, help them with their accounting, but obviously give them things like budgeting and cash management and forecasting and really just help them dive into the numbers, understand where their money is going and then how that correlates to helping them make better business decisions and allows them to be sort of like a once a week accountant for rent.
Speaker 2:
Wow, that sounds very important actually. Oh my goodness, can you tell me your story a little bit Like the beginning, how it started and how you got to this point where you are today?
Speaker 1:
Sure. So, like I said, I was literally helping a friend of mine. He was a contractor. I play volleyball as my sport of passion and, being typical guys, we would talk some day after we got done playing about. Well, what do you actually do for a living?
Speaker 1:
Because we're guys, we don't talk about much when those things are going on, when you're playing ball and he happened to mention that he was a contractor and I said, oh, we're looking to get our kitchen and bathroom modeled. And so he came over to give us an estimate on that and he happened to talk he's like, well, if you know anybody who does accounting, I said, well, believe it or not, that's what I do. So that's how the sort of the side hustle started. Obviously, I had worked up until that point for a good 10, 15 years with various organizations. Some of them were government contractors, some of them was a $100 million sports marketing company.
Speaker 1:
So I had dealt with businesses that were very large, dealt with businesses that were very small.
Speaker 1:
I had worked my way up the ladder from an accounting clerk's position to that of a CFO or a controller.
Speaker 1:
So I've sat in just about every season of accounting department, which gave me a pretty good broad understanding as to really how the whole back office accounting functionality should work.
Speaker 1:
And as I kept climbing the ladder, like I said, I was helping a friend of mine on the side and it morphed into sort of understanding that there's a lot of small businesses out there who are really good at what they do, but there's more to running your business than just saying, hey, I'm a good mechanic, hey, I'm a good craftsman, hey, I'm a good marketing person. As I'm sure you guys have discovered in your own business, there's a lot of moving parts that are going on behind the scenes, absolutely, and so someone like myself is able to come in and really take that burden of accountability crunching the numbers, back office functionality and just again taking that off of the owner's plate and allowing us to do that. I've got one person on my staff who handles a lot of the day-to-day transactions, so she frees me up to sort of be the overseeing or the overarching business consultant to the business while we're taking care of their accounting form behind the scenes.
Speaker 2:
Okay, how many employees do you have currently?
Speaker 1:
So right now I've just got the one. She's been with me now for about almost two years, okay, and, like I said, she handles most of the day-to-day transactions of interacting with QuickBooks, making sure bills get paid. I joke that I've got about 20 to 25 emails that we have to check every day, just because I try to keep as many things separate as I can. So if I'm dealing with this client, I'm looking at their email and their set of books and all of the Microsoft Office apps that go with it and things like that. So, yeah, we deal with about 20 to 25 clients on a monthly basis in some capacity.
Speaker 2:
Okay, have you ever thought about expanding, maybe for more employees, or is that?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it is. You know, when I first started out it was, hey, can I support myself? Got to the point where obviously a lot of business owners have determined that, yes, that is a resource that we need, someone that we can bring in and sort of alleviate that back office headache. And so it quickly became to the point where I got a little overwhelmed, so brought somebody on about two years ago and I do like to kind of grow at a more steady or slower pace and I am getting picky about who I work with these days. I'm able to do that now.
Speaker 1:
So, but yeah, there is thoughts of you know, do I have a team of two or three people who are handling some of those duties, and obviously that comes down to the client always wanting to talk to me. As any small entrepreneur knows, at some point you've got to get out of always being the contact person to where you're more working, you know, on the business, not necessarily in the business. So slowly but surely, you know, we're starting to bring on some more help and some more jobs. So that is a possibility that, yes, in the next year there probably could be another staff account added to the business.
Speaker 2:
Okay, very cool, very cool.
Speaker 1:
And how many listeners you have, I guess, Okay, well, y'all better be listening.
Speaker 2:
Challenge accepted, right? Yes, what kind of people would you like to? I know you said you're more picky about who you want to employ. What people are you looking for?
Speaker 1:
Well, looking for someone who, believe it or not, number one thing I look for is integrity. Obviously, when you are dealing with finances, you are dealing with a lot of sensitive information. We do payroll, so we have access to social security numbers, we have access to bank accounts, so integrity is actually something that's forced. That's first and foremost in what we try to do, because we are aware we're we have access to a lot of sensitive information and access to a lot of money.
Speaker 1:
There are numerous stories out there of accountants and bookkeepers who have embezzled from their own clients. That's just not how I want to sleep at night. So that's first and foremost. And then, obviously, attention to detail. There is a lot of moving parts, believe it or not, somebody who is a teacher? Because, again, part of our job is to instruct and to teach the business owners what they should be looking for, what they should be looking at, as well as helping them determine. Hey, here are some key things that you need to be considerate of, so a teaching component to that is also important. Again, attention to detail, things like that.
Speaker 2:
Okay, wonderful. What do you do outside of work?
Speaker 1:
Well, that is morphing into the older I get a few less activities than I used to do. My sport of choice is volleyball. So I actually grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania, fell in love with playing volleyball in around my college years, played competitively on a college club team and then for most of my 20s, 30s and a little bit into my 40s it was. You could find me on a beach somewhere between New Jersey and Virginia Beach playing every weekend for money. Wasn't ever tall enough or maybe good enough to win a lot of money, but still continue to play this day. There's a bunch of us that get together two or three times a week that will play two on two beach volleyball, and now my sons, as they're getting older and crafting into different sports. One of them got into golf, so that lets dad go golf a couple of times a month as well. And then just sports and fitness. Those are the hobbies, and wife and I like to go on for bike rides and things like that too.
Speaker 2:
Good. I'm glad that you are also taking care of your hobbies and your physical needs as well. I know you're saying like I'm getting older or whatever, but it's still good to keep up with that for your mental health. On that note, how are you with boundaries? Are you good at setting them? What advice would you give to people who are struggling?
Speaker 1:
Well, that's always the crux, isn't it? If you're working from home and you're the business owner, you can always wander back into your office and there's work to do. I think it comes down to again certain those personal boundaries. Growing up, it was hey, from 6 to 8 pm I am playing with my kids. That's changed as they've gotten a little bit older. Now it's like dad, can I borrow the car keys? Dad, can I borrow some money? I'm out the door hanging out with my friends. So the wife and I are looking at each other, going well, now what do we do?
Speaker 1:
But yeah, it's hard as an entrepreneur to set those boundaries and the first several years you're just grinding away. You're just trying to get your business going. So certainly having an understanding family is key to that, because they know that, hey, you have to set aside certain times to sort of be a family person, but every other time you're probably consumed about the business getting it off the ground. As my business has matured and as I've brought people on staff, obviously the workload has lessened to where I am able to say hey, I'm just going to shut my brain off at 6, 37 o'clock at night and the rest of the evening is mine.
Speaker 2:
Good. So I think that's so important for business owners to kind of set those boundaries and just take a moment to reset, because if you don't have that right, I feel like everything will be very crazy. So where do you see your business in the next five years?
Speaker 1:
Like I said, I think in the next four or five years I'm going to be adding probably at least one, if not two, other people Again. When I first started out it was like, hey, can I? Oh, this week we can afford ramen noodles. And after a few more clients it worked its way up to mac and cheese. Now we're actually buying real vegetables and meat at the grocery store.
Speaker 1:
So I would like to see again. This sort of was not my first idea, but I've grown into the role. I'm never going back to working full time for somebody. I've had a few people of my clients who are like, hey, we'd like to have you full time. And I'm like, well, I really like the flexibility of obviously being my own boss. I get to work with a lot of different industries. At the end of the day, numbers are numbers, processes are processors. So no matter what industry I'm working with, I can apply a lot of the same principles for this client that I have for that client. So it sort of makes it the approach that I can do it for really anybody. And so again, at the end of the day, as we start to grow and we start to bring more clients on, I see a natural progression of there'll probably be another staff or accountant or two to bring on in the coming years.
Speaker 2:
Okay, good, good. So any marketing advice or tips for any of our listeners.
Speaker 1:
Marketing advice or accounting advice.
Speaker 2:
Marketing, like for your business, like how are you getting your clients? Are you on social media? Yep.
Speaker 1:
So social media is obviously a key to what I do. Everything that I do right now is word of mouth. I am involved with the Loudon Chamber of Commerce. I attend all of their social events in a couple of their meetings. B&i is another resource for me as well. Doing a good job for your clients will also get you mentioned around out and about. Several of my clients have now passed my name along to their friends. In fact, my biggest client became my second biggest client because he referred me to my biggest client. Okay, so, yeah. So doing a good job is the best word of mouth that you can do. Simply having someone who can sing your praises is probably some of the best marketing, but getting out and about speaking engagements, something like this, is another way to sort of get your story out there a little bit, make you easy to connect with, make you a little bit more personable and, again, just doing a good job is probably the best way to get your name out there.
Speaker 2:
I agree with that and definitely word of mouth is so strong Like that's the best referral or marketing thing that can help your business to get.
Speaker 1:
Yes.
Speaker 2:
Yes, it is. And growing up, did you always think that you were going to be an accountant?
Speaker 1:
Nope, well, I thought I was going to be a farm boy.
Speaker 2:
Oh my gosh, that's so different.
Speaker 1:
Yes, yes. And then one day, as I was sitting there scrubbing eggs to put them in an egg basket, my uncle said to me do you really want to do this for the rest of your life? And I thought you know he's probably right. I don't want to get up at 4.30 in the morning and milk cows for the rest of my life, as much as I enjoyed it at the time. Although I joke now I get up at 5.30 or 6.00 and go to the gym. So I guess there's some trade off there.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I had never really thought about going out on my own. I had always thought I'd have the career path of just sort of climbing the ladder. But the more I work with individual partners and individual owners, just having that variety every day is a different challenge with a different type of industry, sort of what's the appetite for having that competitive streak and I was saying, well, hey, here's a new problem, here's a new challenge. Well, you know what? This is a lot like another challenge that I did, so let's apply some of those principles. So, yeah, it's morphed into now sort of being that type of person that people can call up and say, hey, I've got a question or a problem and this is something I can handle. Or I think you guys should try to go down this avenue or contact this person and just sort of be that resource for other businesses.
Speaker 2:
Okay, and now something a little bit off topic. Are you a football fan?
Speaker 1:
I am.
Speaker 2:
I hear that fantasy football no, it's okay.
Speaker 1:
No, I've given up the fantasy football because at the end of the day, you end up on multiple fantasy football and you end up competing against each other. Now I'm a I'll probably lose a few listeners in the DMV area, but I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan.
Speaker 2:
It's okay, my husband is too, so you're gonna lose me.
Speaker 1:
We've struggled a little bit over the years to get over the hump, but every year we have the faith.
Speaker 2:
That's right. You're brave for saying that. Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:
So but yeah, no, it's. Yeah, fantasy football is fun to play.
Speaker 2:
Yes, good, I'm glad you have that other little avenue to have fun in. And then, if you could give any advice to listeners as far as accounting goes, what strategies or trips tricks would you have to offer?
Speaker 1:
Sure, I think you know one of the most important things in business owners get pulled into a lot of different directions. So if you are the owner of a business, you are probably the chief salesperson, the chief marketing person, you may be the chief doing person. Obviously, if you have staff you have to worry about, you know getting payroll done. Every decision has to get run by you. Then every question that the vendor has or a supplier has or a customer has ends up on your lap as well. So one of the last things that you need to really worry about at the end of the day is the money situation. So hiring, you know, or outsourcing to some type of a bookkeeper or an accountant, I would really recommend to a lot of different businesses. Number one if you're not really good at it, as most of us have learned, learn to outsource it. So, more importantly, if you work with someone like myself and my tagline is business possibility through financial simplicity you know we really try to make it very simple and very easy to understand your financials because, again, you're looking at a lot of different reports. If I give you a financial page that's three pages long, most business owners will look at the top line number, they look at the bottom line number and that's really all the time they have to give to it.
Speaker 1:
One of my clients and I tell this story a lot. We figured out, you know, what his target needed to be every month in terms of a sales goal. He knew once he met that sales goal, all of his bills would have been paid, all of his payroll has been met and obviously there's some timing issues to it. But he knew and he carried around a sticky note in his truck and every sale that he made he crossed off the number and said, hey, I now have to worry about this new number Once a month. Obviously we sat down and went through the numbers with him but he was able to sort of singly focus on this is the only number I have to focus on for much of the month to make sure that I get to that goal and once I get to that goal, anything on top of its gravy or icing on the cake.
Speaker 1:
So definitely, getting yourself a good accountant, a good bookkeeper, somebody with integrity that you can actually trust, with a lot of sensitive information and a lot of your obviously banking data and things like that, I think is key because again, it just takes that burden off of you, the business owner, to know that somebody else is looking at your numbers, somebody else has your back, somebody else has your interests at heart. And then, a couple of times a month or once a week, you sit down with your accountant or your bookkeeper or your outsourced CFO person and say, hey, how is my business doing? Am I on track? And again, having somebody who can kind of check in with you and say, hey, I think you're getting a little off course here Again just allows you to go out and do what you do best and let the so-called experts handle the money.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that's sound advice, I think. Where can people find you?
Speaker 1:
Yes, so I actually have a website. It is wwwbrinserconsultingcom. Obviously, you can look at me on LinkedIn and some things like that as well. Or any Wednesday morning you want to come to a free breakfast? We actually meet here in downtown Leesburg with my B&I group and you may find me floating around the chamber event as well.
Speaker 2:
Perfect. And then, just to wrap things up here, if you could leave our listeners with one piece of advice. It could be about anything. It could be about your industry, life, sports, anything.
Speaker 1:
You've heard this a lot If your goals don't scare you, they're not big enough goals, and I think that's true, I think a lot of us. Life throws all sorts of curves and challenges at you. Having a positive attitude is the best thing that you could probably do just rolling out of bed every day, going, I don't care what's coming down the pike, I know I'm going to be able to handle it. I may get knocked down, but I'm going to get back up. So just not being afraid to challenge yourself and always, constantly moving forward is the best advice I can give anybody really.
Speaker 2:
Awesome. Thank you so much for your time and for being here on the podcast. I really appreciate it.