Resources for You

Caroline thought she'd solved her bookkeeping problem. She runs operations at a 22-person consulting firm in Denver. For the first two years, she handled the books herself, along with everything else. Last spring, she finally hired a part-time bookkeeper — someone...

When Nathan started his strategy consulting firm in 2018, he knew exactly where every dollar went. He had to. With four colleagues in a co-working space and a single QuickBooks login, the financial side of his business fit on one Excel tab. He'd reconcile accounts on...

It's 9:47 on a Thursday night. Rachel, who runs a 22-person consulting firm in the Pacific Northwest, has the kids asleep, a glass of wine poured, and QuickBooks open on her laptop. Again. She's reconciling with June. It's October. Her current bookkeeper is fine,...

You spent weeks vetting your bookkeeping provider. You compared pricing, checked reviews, and asked about software integrations. But here's the question most consulting firm owners never think to ask: who else can see your books? Think about what's actually sitting in...

The invoice arrives on a Tuesday morning, right when you're prepping for a client call. You open it expecting the usual number — the one you've mentally budgeted for — and it's $380 more than last month. No explanation. Just more hours. You pay it, because what else...

It was a Tuesday afternoon when Marcus realized something was wrong. Not catastrophically wrong — just the slow, expensive kind of wrong that's easy to ignore. His office manager, Dana, had spent most of her morning re-entering last week's expenses from a spreadsheet...

Picture this. You're sitting across from a prospective investor. Your consulting firm has a strong team, happy clients, and a growing pipeline. Everything feels right. Then they ask to see your financials. You slide a basic profit-and-loss statement across the table....

Picture this. It's Sunday evening, and you're sitting at your kitchen table surrounded by a small mountain of receipts, printed invoices, and bank statements. You've got a shoebox of expense slips from last quarter that still need sorting. There's a filing cabinet in...

Picture this. It's Monday morning. You sit down with your coffee, open your laptop, and pull up QuickBooks. But something's wrong. The screen doesn't look right. Your data's gone—or worse, locked behind a ransomware message demanding payment in cryptocurrency. Years...

Picture this. You're reviewing your quarterly numbers, feeling pretty good about things. Your biggest client—the one you've poured countless hours into—looks like it should be your most profitable relationship. Then you dig deeper. Factor in the partner's time on...

It's 11 PM on a Thursday, and your phone buzzes. It's a client—one of your biggest—asking if you've seen the news about the data breach at a firm similar to yours. "Our board wants to know about your security protocols," they say. "Can you send documentation by...

Marcus thought he'd cracked the code. By handling his consulting firm's payroll himself instead of paying a service, he was saving $600 a month. Or so he believed. Then the IRS letter arrived. Most of his payroll taxes had been filed incorrectly. The penalties alone...

You check your bank balance: $12,000. Then you glance at your outstanding invoices: $87,000. Sound familiar? This is the maddening reality for thousands of consulting firm owners. You're profitable on paper—your P&L looks fantastic—but you're sweating payroll next...