原始文本

你是做什么的??

Shawndel Spader's relationship with SCORE began 20 years ago when she used a mentor to help set up her first business. 几十年后的今天, she is CEO of 斯派德集团 and a frequent guest presenter for the Twin Cities Chapter on 了解你的数字."

"斯派德集团 supports business owners with bookkeeping and administrative services. When you think of our team, it’s really thinking of that back-office support.  We've got a bookkeeping team and an administrative team. Each client gets their own dedicated account manager with additional layers of support."

是什么激励你创业的?

With over 20 years in accounting and office management experience, 2014年，Shawndel正式成立了斯派德集团.

"When you think of our team it is really a well-rounded backend catch-all, 提供结构, providing the information necessary to really know the health of the business, so our clients can make educated decisions and have those important metrics. 

“It's a really cool place to be able to support business owners. 我喜欢我们的工作."

你的生意有什么特别之处?

"We don't just say, 'here you go, here's this information, good luck.“我们真的和他们一起跳进车里. While we're not back seat drivers, we are helpful in the navigation process. 当有事情阻碍你的时候, 这是我们必须解决的问题, 我们将成为他们的思想伙伴, 并为需要发生的事情制定策略.”

What have been the high and low points of being a business owner?

"Nobody saw the Covid roadblock coming, and that was really eye opening for us too.  One example that comes to mind is client we were working with, 他的生意简直是一败涂地, 但他所在的行业受到了新冠疫情的严重打击. 我们检查了他, 像一张合法的福利支票, 他的回答是, “我想我一直躲在桌子底下, 吮吸我的拇指, rocking back and forth in tears for like three days'. 这是完全公平的. 今天我非常高兴地告诉你, 他很厉害, 而且超过了两年前的“粉碎”.  It's so much fun and cool to be a part of those journeys. 不是我们干的，是他干的. But we got to be a part of the conversation and it's just a really cool place to be able to allow them that safe place to cry and crumble and celebrate."

是什么影响了你向SCORE寻求帮助?

"My first contact with SCORE was with a business I started with a friend. 那是一家新开的建筑清洁公司. While both of us had accounting and office management backgrounds, 我们俩都不是白手起家创办公司的. 我们总是走进现有的公司, 成为你熟悉的办公室经理, 从这个意义上说，是在处理钱的问题.

“So, when we decided to do this together, we sought out a SCORE mentor. 我们的同事是一位注册会计师. 他在帮助我们整理账簿方面起了很大作用. 和他一起工作证实了我们所知道的, but also shed additional light and education on what we weren't super clear on.”

SCORE的帮助.

“我们俩都知道如何经营QuickBooks, but man did we probably avoid some sharp curves because we had our SCORE mentor in our pocket to be able to say, ‘嘿. 这些我们都做过了. 你能再检查一下吗? 很酷的. Thank you for, you know, finding these things that we need to change.“我们会改变它们. And then even months down the road after we were off and running and it came to tax time, 我们的导师会给我们建议该怎么做.  

“I will say part of my desire to do the educational pieces now with our clients is because I understand how it was so incredibly helpful to just know we had options and choices, 以及每种方法的优缺点.

“Today I teach a workshop for SCORE Twin Cities called ‘Knowing Your Numbers.’  We go through the importance and why behind having systems set up. 我还做了一个关于代表团的演讲. 在我的演讲结束时, I invite everybody to just jump on zero strings attached, just a conversation to talk through and brainstorm and strategize their business.  没有足够多的人接受我的建议. Because I do think that on some level, people just think there's string attached. 我保证没有. 但那些我们可以交谈的人, the conversations that I have with those after are really a lot of fun because it's with business owners that are really thinking forward in their business.”

What advice would you give to someone thinking of starting a small business?

"The initial investment to set up your bookkeeping and set up the innerworkings of your back office is invaluable. 它不需要非常昂贵. But what does become expensive are the corrections down the road.   I think it's a huge piece of getting you to that comfort level of knowing, 是的, 我可以接更多的生意. 不，我已经满了. 是的. I can make this investment, or I need X, Y, and Z to be true before I can make this investment."

What would you tell a fellow business owner about SCORE?

"I think it's so important to have that thought partner. I often see people who will speak to somebody you know, 妈妈, 姐妹, 兄弟, 朋友, 阿姨, 叔叔, 配偶, 无论, 这很好. 但如果他们不做生意，他们就不会明白. They also are less likely to tell you the hard things you need to hear.

What have you learned from your experiences as a business owner?

“你的记账, 你的财务, all of that is so much more important than just what you need to report to the IRS. It is really something that can be a tool in your business that you can make educated decisions, 你会对你要去的地方感觉很好. It shows you so many different things, such as whether a service or product is profitable.

“That was one of our greatest revelations from watching our own finances and bookkeeping was we used to do payroll inhouse. 这说不通啊. 第一个, 我们的净收入是零, which ultimately really did mean if I really looked at it, we were negative because all that time we were spending breaking even we could have been spending in bookkeeping or in admin where we were making profit. So essentially, we ended up outsourcing all our payroll services because that's what made sense. 不仅仅是对我们公司而言, but it also made the most sense for our clients because we couldn't serve at a level that they needed us to serve in, 以合理和有竞争力的价格.”

你的生意是怎么开始的?

“我们俩都知道如何经营QuickBooks, but man did we probably avoid some sharp curves because we had our SCORE mentor in our pocket to be able to say, ‘嘿. 这些我们都做过了. 你能再检查一下吗? 很酷的.