Lynn Ailsworth
Editor's Note: This is another installment in our ongoing series highlighting this year's Insightful Accountant's "Top 100 ProAdvisors." Over the remainder of the year, we will introduce you to our winners, getting their insights on a wide range of topics, including what it is like to be a leader in their profession, how to stay on top and what the future holds.
Several months ago Ailsworth Accounting & Software Solutions worked with its 1,000th client. It was a remarkable achievement for its founder, Lynn Ailsworth, who started her firm 10 years ago so that she could help give other entrepreneurs that extra advantage in their businesses.
The secret, Lynn says, is to put her clients at ease, listen to their needs, and then teach them everything they need to know to stay one step ahead in today's competitive landscape.
After more than 20 years as a bookkeeper with several other firms, Lynn stared her Virginia Beach, Va., firm in 2007. Before opening the doors, she logged time with two local public accounting firms – Eason, Lawson & Westphal in Hampton, Va., and then Goodman & Company in Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
Working with and teaching QuickBooks and Peachtree since 2000, she helps scores of business owners learn the importance of maintaining accurate and up-to-date accounting records.
What does it mean to you to be recognized out of more than 200,000 ProAdvisors in the world?
I am very proud to be an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and getting enough votes from my clients and business contacts makes me feel very loved. (PUBLISHER'S NOTE- The vote is one of many items taken into consideration when selecting the Top 100. Certifications and training are the leading drivers in being selected as a Top 100 ProAdvisor)
Your first thoughts on getting news of the honor?
I couldn’t wait to share the news with my clients, business contacts, and family and friends.
How has your ProAdvisor practice changed or evolved over the last couple of years?
It has changed in that we do more training remotely. Several months ago we worked with our 1,000th client. We also recently had a party to celebrate our 10-year anniversary. We started on 1/1/07. I began a referral group in the fall of 2014, and also mentor bookkeepers and refer them on a regular basis.
Why is continuing to enhance your skills and acumen critical to staying one step ahead of the curve?
I love to learn and love sharing what I know. Business owners are looking for people to help them who are current with the software and technology.
What do you do?
I provide consulting and training services primarily on-site, but often times remotely. I recommend the QuickBooks products I feel would benefit them. I focus on three main areas: teach how to input or sync the data specific to the client’s needs, teach the importance of reconciling bank and credit card accounts, and teach the clients how to read financial statements and other important reports.
Give us a snapshot of today's accounting landscape.
Clients are wanting to streamline their data entry process, but the need for an accounting professional is still critical. I find that a business owner has worked for someone else and, at some point, decided to start a business but really doesn’t understand the importance of accounting.
What was the best piece of advice you ever received?
When I asked a business colleague what he thought about starting my own consulting business, he immediately said, “Yes, you’ll never look back.”
What is the story that best describes how you help your clients?
A prospect will call, usually with reluctance and embarrassment that they need help. I can quickly put them at ease, listen to their needs and sit down with them to teach them the things they don’t know and clean up issues they may not have been aware of in their QuickBooks file. I do not talk over them; I work with them at their level.
I was a bookkeeper for over 20 years, so I can relate to them easily. I don’t do the work for them, I have them sit in the driver’s seat so they’ll learn better. I often provide homework of specific things they need to fix in their file. I circle back around and check on them and am available when needed. My goal is to teach them everything I can so they don’t need me.
How do you create balance in your work and personal life?
This is a hard one for me. I love my work and my clients. My work doesn’t feel like work, it’s fun and it’s addicting. I have made hundreds of friends who are also clients. My husband and I moved to the country two years ago to be in a slower-paced environment, which has been very therapeutic for me. I spend more time with family and friends, travel with my husband, enjoy walking, bike riding, kayaking, golf cart riding and started a Bunco group last year.
What does your to-do list look like thru the rest of 2017?
Keep providing great customer service while having fun.
Special thanks to our program sponsors, including Canon imageFORMULA Document Scanners, ADP, Finagraph, "Scaling New Heights" and Intuit's QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program.