How to Make Everything Come Up Roses

This month’s newsletter tells a story about a young woman who moved to a city she loves (which happens to be a mile or so above sea level) and who purchased a flower shop. Only six months after having earned her college degree, this budding entrepreneur learned the ins-and-outs of the new city while delivering flowers and becoming acquainted with her clients and employees. Born and raised in southern California, she even rejected the dark side of professional sports loyalties and became a big-time Bronco fan. What could be better?

As many of my business-owner clients also know, the young woman quickly learned that business school didn’t teach her how to run a business. “It’s different when you’re actually living it,” she says. “What you learn from school is just a lot of theory. Nobody teaches you how to deal with customer service or anticipate cash flow needs in the real world.” She also learned that every business decision directly affected her personal life – both her schedule and her finances.

Joanne Llaury-Marks, founder of LLJ Group, LLC, owned her flower shop for two years and credits the experience – and enduring the stress of tight finances – with setting her on the trajectory toward opening LLJ Group and offering virtual controller and accounting department services. “It imposes a heavy burden on your personal life when your business finances aren’t straight,” she says. “I’m blessed to have experienced this life-lesson early.”

In addition to her flower-pushing experience, Joanne has served in professional services firms and publicly traded corporations. She has earned two more degrees. While her family was growing, Joanne also grew her consulting business and her passion of helping small businesses grow and prosper. “It’s personal,” she says of this crusade. “I’ve seen how destructive the stress of coping with financial difficulties can be to a person’s life.”

LLJ Group has been in business since 2012, but Joanne has been consulting with clients in varying capacities since 1999. A “virtual accounting department”, LLJ Group can help with everything except annual income taxes. They fill the void for companies that don’t need or can’t handle an in-house accounting department.  They also support clients by helping find insurance, investment, and estate planning consultants. Getting to know clients on an intimate, personal level and solving their business and personal financial problems sets LLJ Group apart.

Most clients start working with Joanne and her team to resolve cash-flow issues. Clients often don’t know where to start to gain control of their company’s finances. Joanne and her team kick things off with a thorough assessment, and then they create a plan using the “Profit First” system. The assessment and implementation of the plan help clients anticipate their needs, accumulate funds in advance, and satisfy their cash requirements. This gives the client a chance to “catch their breath.”

Breathing normally may seem like a cure, but the work’s not done just because the client’s face has returned to a healthy color. After the initial clean-up phase, Joanne and her team perform a profitability assessment and develop a follow-up plan for the next six months to a year.

In one case, the clean-up work revealed that the client’s biggest expense was payroll – no real surprise there – but a large part of this client’s payroll expense went to payroll processing. Joanne’s team saw that the client was overpaying for payroll processing and helped find a better solution that was priced about 75 % less. In addition, the replacement payroll provider’s system is more automated and tracks employee hours, paid time off requests and use, and other payroll administrative functions without extra charge. This client says that if Joanne and her team had done nothing else, their engagement would still have been more than worthwhile.

Another client, who is perhaps a too familiar example to a lot of readers, left a full-time, salaried position as an engineer and enjoyed success offering consulting services. However, not long after the start of his second year in business he was surprised to learn that he had to write a check to the IRS for his entire income tax bill in one lump sum. He had grown accustomed to having his employer withhold taxes and to receiving a refund check from the IRS. The “rookie” self-employed consultant didn’t know how to anticipate or plan for his tax liabilities when he was on his own.

Joanne’s team came to the rescue and created a system to calculate the consultant’s tax liability on an ongoing basis and, more importantly, to routinely set aside funds to pay the tax. No more surprise tax bills! Even though this client has doubled his income every year, he has never again had to worry about how to pay his tax bill. Instead, because Joanne helped him create the systems to take care of taxes and set aside funds for other interests, he uses his energy planning where to vacation every year.

When he’s not vacationing, this client calls Joanne and her team frequently to check in and get feedback. Much of this client’s success is based on his willingness to take Joanne’s recommendations and to do his part to implement the recommendations. As clients become familiar with Joanne’s work, they often expand the relationship to include most aspects of both their business and personal finances.

Joanne actively looks for clients who are not afraid to call her or to be involved in the process. “I tell all of our clients we’re here as much or as little as they want us to be,” says Joanne. “No question is too small. I would rather give a client advice they didn’t need rather than have them regret not asking. We’re their partner, not just their accounting department.”

The system Joanne’s team implements is behavior-based, rhythmic, and systematized. “When I needed help, I asked friends who they would use and then read their client reviews.” Joanne recommends looking for a provider who offers a live person as your point of contact and who will support you with a team. You don’t want to be stranded if the person who is assigned to your account happens to move on. You should also ask the consultant how often you can contact them and how often you should expect to hear from them. “Business owners need somebody who’s going to respond,” she says. “All our clients have my cell number, and I call back the same day.”

When looking for help, many people first find the Profit First book, and the book leads them to Joanne. “Read the book,”, she recommends. “Learn from the mistakes of others,” she quipped, “because you won’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” Other books she recommends are The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur and Clockwork.

Joanne is passionate about helping business owners succeed. She welcomes the chance to discuss the basics of business and personal finance and to let others “pick her brain.” If you’d like to learn more about Joanne and her team’s services, please call or email me. I’d be honored to connect you.