While at QuickBooks Connect I got to sit down with Tanya Hilts of Cloud Business Services, this winner of Intuit's 2018 Global Firm of the Future contest. With over twenty years of bookkeeping and income tax experience, Tanya is in so many ways, 'just like many of us.'
Source: Intuit
Tanya Hilts 2018 Firm of Future Winner
Her firm is similar to many of our own firms. She has less than five employees, a handful of clients and works virtually at least a few days each week. Sounds familiar right?
That is exactly the reason for my excitement. It’s like Intuit reached out across the Globe and found a small firm like most of ours and looked at what they were doing so right to make her, her team and her clients so happy.
One of the things that makes Tanya's firm stand out is 'training!' She reaches into the local community to find her talent and then uses her developed curriculum to train and support them in how her firm serves their clients.
She also offers more 'advisory services' for a limited number of clients which translates into more revenues generated from 'enhanced services'. I venture to guess that the majority of us would like to be earning more by providing enhanced advisory services to our clients.
Another thing that really stood out was her 'family devotion.' I suspect that the majority of us juggle our work and family requirements, but we realize that 'family must come first.' Well, one evidence of that family devotion comes in the form of Tanya and her daughter having a unique experience every year with their favorite TV cast members. It’s a super fun idea.
Want to know why I am so happy that Tanya Hilts won this year's Firm of the Future contest?
It's because she is just like so many of us!
I know you read Tanya's bio in the article Insightful Accountant published announcing the 2018 Global Firm of the Future Winner, but my sit-down will hopefully give you a better idea of how Tanya's approach is the way that so many of us are pursuing. So please, read on to find out more.
Liz: Let’s dig right in, tell me about your firm Cloud Business Services and how it started.
Tanya: I didn't want to have a daughter being raised by other people. When she was 6 months old I started my own firm as a solopreneur. It's been built slowly, for the first 2 & 1/2-years I was just doing taxes. Then I moved to doing more bookkeeping using QuickBooks Desktop. When QuickBooks Online came on board, things really started to grow.
Liz: How many employees do you have now and where do you work?
Cloud Bookkeeping Services of Canada
Tanya: We currently have three employees. We transformed my garage into an office. Three days a week we office there. I did not want to go brick and mortar because I wanted everybody to feel the comfort of being at home. The other days my staff work from their own homes. I think most people don’t want to be boxed in a traditional office. Right now, we have the best of both worlds. A home office with all the comforts, plus we also like being around each other. In the summer Sandra works from home a lot so she can be with her kids. The flexibility also allows us to work from home if the weather is bad. Canada can get really cold winter weather with bad road conditions.
Liz: It sounds like the personal lives of you and your employees are of upmost importance.
Tanya: It's funny but I was really scared at first. Now we have learned to not reply to clients on the weekends or evenings. You need down time and we have found that our clients react just fine to our boundaries. Because we are now a cloud-based business it's easy to work too much if you don’t set limits.
Liz: How have you found such good employees?
Tanya: We have a community college with an accounting program. We train them with our accounting system which gives them good experience and allows them to make more money. Some of those students stay and become employees. One of the differences they find working with us is they only need to work 35 hours a week and they don’t have to punch a clock. We just ask them to, 'get their work done.'
Liz: It sounds like the way you treat and respect your employees is just as important as how you perform your client duties.
Tanya: I value my own work-life balance and I know our team feels the same since we are all mothers with children eager to see us.
Liz: So are there some specific apps you use to perform task more efficiently?
Tanya: Well of course QuickBooks Online is at the center of our business, and then we also use Receipt Bank and TSheets. We are currently learning more about Chata.ai because we can custom build the reports and use them over and over. We see a lot of potential there for being a proactive advisor.
Liz: What else have you done which has helped your firm?
Tanya: This year we looked at our 100 or so clients and then downsized to just 39. I wouldn’t have believed it before, but our income actually doubled. We changed our service offerings and began offering more consulting services. Now we have a closer and healthier business relationship with our clients.
Liz: What are you doing to find clients?
Tanya: Most come from client referrals. Others are from the local chamber of commerce. We are also involved with some of the women business networking groups.
Liz: What can you tell me about your team and the things they do for fun?
Tanya: Leanna is a lover of animals to the point where she has had as many as 12 at one time, including more exotic pets such as a hedgehog, a ferret and a turtle that she has had for 16 years which has a life span of about 30-40 years. Sandra and her daughter like to re-enact dancing with the stars routines.
Liz: Tanya, tell us about some of the things that you do for fun?
Tanya: When people are in my office, they always ask if my pictures are 'photoshopped' because my daughter and I are into unique experiences with our favorite cast members of our favorite TV show. During past Thanksgiving holidays we have spent our time with the cast of Supernatural. It's an expensive convention but we have gotten to spend time with the cast of both Supernatural and Vampire Diaries. It's really cool, and you get some really great interaction with the cast including a three hour pizza party with them.
I personally want to thank Tanya for taking time away from the Conference to visit with me. It's all too fitting that the rest of us can learn from this Firm of the Future winner. And, all of us at Insightful Accountant would like to extend our congratulations to Tanya, and her team at Cloud Accounting Specialists for not only being this year's Global Firm of the Future Winner, but in making the impact they do in the business lives of their clients.