Navigating Unfamiliar Territory

Client Success Story:

Brian C., Software Entrepreneur

Challenge:

I’m from Melbourne, Australia, and working on building my third software business. This time we were starting up the company in the United States.

We needed help with bookwork, dealing with tax compliance, and bridging the gap between the business office, our family office, and the accounting and business management side of both. I needed someone who understood U.S. federal and state tax and could help with employment and company registrations while also understanding the day-to-day business.

I had this idea of having somebody to help us with the financial side, but I needed to figure out who I was looking for.

Ideally, we’d find an in-house financial advisor who could fill the CFO role while also helping build up our family office to do more investing. We needed help with regular accounting, compliance, governance, and finding peace of mind that we were doing everything correctly.

Finding this is tricky because it’s different from getting on Google looking for this person. You make these connections through word of mouth, relationships, or networking events.

Options:

The traditional accounting firm route didn’t appeal to me because they aren’t typically involved in the business. They offer help at tax time, but they must be familiar with the everyday responsibilities.

I’ve started two other businesses and have often managed many of these responsibilities independently. But the reality is piles of paperwork all over the house and constant worrying about getting everything taken care of, from bill pay to tax compliance.

It was undoubtedly overwhelming to establish a business in the U.S. as someone from Australia. The constant interruption of understanding new compliance or accounting tasks takes away the ability to develop your business and spend time with your family.

That led me to look for someone we could trust so I no longer had to worry about the accounting and execution side of the finances.

We did consider a traditional wealth management firm, but, firstly, they can be costly, and the communication can be inefficient. I’ve had many larger firms make major mistakes because people were overconfident about their work rather than focusing on what they knew and could do to help me. Additionally, you aren’t dealing with one person or one group. You would typically need to work with different professionals for each task. For example, for tax, you work with one group. For employment, you work with another group. It felt like you had to hire five or six other groups within the accounting business to get things done.

That option created numerous issues regarding coordination and communication within the firm. It was exhausting and frustrating.

In our past businesses, we would hire a full-time general manager or office manager. Generally, they would outsource services to other professionals. They might use accountants and other specialists as needed to build a team. The risk to this is that the manager is not necessarily experienced in finances or business management, and there is plenty of opportunity for them to miss compliance deadlines or find accountants without the skill to manage a complex set of books. Hiring this one person can cause a tremendous amount of damage.

Plus, this is a significant commitment when you’re a small business.

The Solution:

Ideally, we were looking for someone who could handle the accounting and financial complexity of our business that we could trust, knowing they had it under control. Freeing me of worry and allowing me to focus on the parts of the business and family office that I excel at and enjoy the most.

A business partner said, “I have this woman, and she has this group, and they help as a virtual CFO of my business; maybe she could help you.”

I liked the idea of having someone with the expertise I was looking for and with whom I could use their services as needed.

The Plan:

Patricia understood what we were looking for very quickly.

She has an outstanding balance between telling you what you need to do versus what you should and should not do while also listening and letting you work at your own pace. You never feel it’s about the sale with her, but rather about the client relationship and understanding what is needed to get the job done!

She’s incredibly humble and respectful and lets us conclude her proposition and decide what’s most important to us.

One thing that stands out is her ability to adapt what her business does to what we need, as most accounting firms aren’t as adaptable. This customized model is highly flexible, which is desirable compared to the outsourced solutions that could not be customized to my needs.

Results:

Patricia Bässler is an excellent listener who keeps her promises. If she says she is going to do something, she does it. Patricia’s team is very conscientious of working with your communication style and when they should follow up with you and when they should not.

Bässler Group has made my life super easy and allowed me to focus on the things that matter. They’re reliable and trustworthy. You can give them something to look after and know they have it. They allow me to offload parts of the business that I will not have as much of a positive impact on.

I can say, “You guys focus on all the boring stuff like banking, accounts receivable, getting money off to people, regulatory compliance, taxes, and reporting, and I’ll focus on the fun, good stuff.”

The best part is knowing that it will get done, it’s such a relief, and their work is excellent!

If your goal is to free up time to develop your product, expand marketing, or make your business sales grow, then having Bässler Group handle the finance, reporting, and compliance side of the business is a no-brainer.

They truly have my back when I call, and their attention to detail brings a new level of confidence to get after whatever I need or want to do.

Avoiding Failure:

I’m pretty good at some details, but doing that alone makes it hard to be disciplined and consistent. Keeping track of all that stuff makes it easy for me to run out of energy.

Bässler Group is super detailed and highly organized. They picked up on tons of mistakes I would have missed and followed through on what I wasn’t getting done.

Transformation:

They’ve given me back a tremendous amount of time, but it’s more than that. Before working with Bässler Group, the responsibilities they now handle would sit on my do list daily and always stayed top of my mind. It was a constant interruption, and when you must worry about all that, it’s like lingering things that never quit.

And now I don’t even look at it.

I don’t have to think about finances anymore unless I want to. I don’t have to worry about what I need to do or didn’t do at tax time. They’ve got it.

Bässler Group has freed me up both mentally and from a time perspective. They’ve significantly reduced a burden that has given me a lot more space and energy for the creative things that bring me joy and allow me to focus on growing the business and family office.

Having someone like Patricia isn’t a cost, it’s a gain. I wonder if she realizes how good she and her team are and how many people need them. If she remains as humble as she is now and keeps it all about the client, she will continue with her success.

This team has made my life a lot easier. I spend more time with my wife and kids. I’m not spending Saturday nights reconciling accounts, and the stacks of paper are gone.

I look back at the years before, when I didn’t have someone like Patricia, and I think I was just absurd. If I had met myself ten years earlier, I would have told myself to try and find someone like this. I could have been spending my time differently, more time with family, or making a better product for my business.

Services:

• Accounting Services
• Financial Statement Preparation, Review, and Analysis, Verbal and Written (Monthly)
• Bill Pay
• Strategic Consulting
• Tax Planning
• Investment Structuring and Coordination
• Estate Planning and Coordination
• Entity Structure and Management
• Cash Flow Planning
• Day-to-Day Business Management
• Ad Hoc Reporting – Per Client Needs
• Third Party Advisor Coordination such as Wealth Managers and CPAs