Sum Of All Numbers | Holly Devito

About Holly Devito

Holly’s goal is to provide reliable, accurate and cost-effective accounting solutions for each of her clients through her demonstrated knowledge, professionalism, and trustworthiness, attention to detail and passionate commitment to customer satisfaction.

A Certified QuickBooks Pro Advisor, Holly brings more than a decade of business experience in a variety of industries including: Property Management, Financial, Clothing Design and Real Estate

Before Sum of All Numbers, Holly was the Chief Financial Officer for the American Red Cross, where she managed a full accounting staff and worked closely with the Board of Directors in making financial decisions for the organization. She understands firsthand the hardships and successes small business owners face and has used this knowledge to help hundreds of clients launch their own businesses.

The primary focus of Sum of All Numbers is to provide small business owners with the tools they need to effectively manage their own business financials. Holly and her team provide simple solutions for gathering financial data to guide business owners to sound financial business decisions. Her passion for assisting small businesses led to the establishment of Sum of All Numbers.

Holly studied International Business Management at Brigham Young University – Hawaii and Utah State University.

 

Transcript of: Sum Of All Numbers | Holly Devito

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Holly Devito. Holly is the founder and the owner of the some of our members. Holly. Welcome to today’s show. Thanks for having me, Alan. So Holly, can you give me your background of how you got to where you are today?

Holly
Absolutely. I started my company in 2006. I started as an independent bookkeeper, just working out of my home, I wanted something that I could work from home, because I knew someday I would have a family and I wanted to be able to be there for my kids. So I started it in 2006. And grew it to where it is today.

Alan
And how many offices do you have?

Holly
I have about 10 offices. We’re a virtual company. So we have employees all around the Bay Area. So we consider each one of those as separate office.

Alan
Now, why did you decide to start your own company?

Holly
I started my company because I knew I didn’t want to work for somebody else. I’d been working as a in the mortgage business as a mortgage broker. And then when the market was starting to fall apart, I decided to do something else. So I started my business, so that I could work from home, raise my kids and do something that I really enjoyed doing. And I had been doing accounting and bookkeeping work in the past. So I decided it was a good transition.

Alan
So you’re really looking for a different balance to your life, then absolutely wanted something the family work environment. And, and so when you ventured out to do this business, how did it feel?

Holly
It was scary, it was a little bit scary, as intimidating. I had moved recently to the Bay Area. So I didn’t know a lot of people here. And so it was intimidating to go out and have to go network with people and meet people that and talk to people that I didn’t know. And so it was a little bit intimidating and scary.

Alan
So you really started from scratch, then just coming in new.

Holly
Yep, absolutely. It was completely from scratch.

Alan
How, when you when you were you’re going through the process of acquiring a client or trying to get establishing relationships? How did you go about that?

Holly
Lots of networking, it was chamber meetings, networking groups, talking to people meeting new people asking for introductions to other people meeting a lot of CPAs people that could refer us business, so and lots of networking. And when you got that first customer, how was it? It was exciting. My first customer kind of came to me. That’s how I started the business actually, is that he had asked me if I would help him do his he was a web developer that I knew through the mortgage business. And he said, Would you help me with with my bookkeeping? And I said, Sure, I can help you. And so he. So I started helping him and he started to refer me to a few different customers. And soon I had five customers. And so I was like, Alright, this is a decent business that I could continue this. So. So it was really exciting that just by knowing somebody, he was able to get me started and get me going on it.

Alan
And when you started this, the sum of all numbers, by the way, how’d you come up with the name?

Holly
My mom came up with the name my mom, she’s a school teacher, she’s very creative. I’m not creative. I’m a bookkeeper. We don’t do creative things. So she came up with the name sum of all numbers.

Alan
And then when you thought about this, initially starting, did you just want to say one officer, was it always your vision just to kind of expand this thing, virtually.

Holly
It wasn’t actually it was my, I just intended to do it as a job that so that I could work from home and you know, have that work life balance, but actually, it was my husband, who believed in me more than I believed in myself, and he saw this and he thought, You know what, this could be a great, a great opportunity to, to grow it and expand it. So having somebody there that’s, you know, that’s your support that can push you along the way really, really helped.

Alan
And when when you’re doing a virtual office today, what what are some of the things that you had to think through?

Holly
Oh, lots of them. There’s a how do you communicate with your team members? How do you get people to be connected to each other to our clients to have a centralized? Where do we keep everything? How do we keep things secure? How do we connect with each other on a personal level? It there’s a lot to it’s, it’s a balance, having a virtual office and making sure that our employees feel like they’re part of a team that’s really important to me to make them feel like that they’re part of a team and they’re not working as independent bookkeepers out of their own homes.

Alan
Do you meet with him on a regular basis, by phone?

Holly
We have a Monday morning conference call every morning with the team every Monday morning with the team where we discuss client issues and talk about what they’re doing for the week what they were doing last week, what they finished up what’s still outstanding, we just discuss, you know, state of the clients. And then at once a quarter we get together for an all day retreats where we discuss you know what’s happening for the next quarter wrap up last quarter when we get together just to be able to connect personally and then we try to have lunches dinners and when people are around, we try to get together and go out and do fun things as well.

Alan
That’s an important part of it businesses absolutely being connected. .

Holly
Absolutely it’s critical.

Alan
I’m visiting here today with Holly Devito. She is the founder of the sum of all numbers. It’s a bookkeeping business that has 10. Basically locations throughout the Bay Area. And, Holly, we need to take a quick break. But when we come back, I want to talk to you more about some of the challenges and opportunities that you’ve seen as you love your business’s point. We’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Holly Devito. She is the founder and the owner of the sum of our members. It’s a bookkeeping practice located here in Silicon Valley. It’s virtual with 10 locations. Holly, we’re talking about getting the business going and bringing you to this point. But what are some of the greatest challenges that you faced, as you grew from one office to the 10 virtual locations?

Holly
I think our greatest challenge is cashflow and managing the growth and being able to fund it because we’re completely bootstrapped. We haven’t had I’ve been able to grow this without any debt without any investors. I think here in Silicon Valley, there’s the thought that you have to have venture capital money or startup money in order to grow up in order to start a business. But I’ve been able to do it all on my own. But at times, that’s challenging. It’s there’s been months when I haven’t taken a paycheck because I needed to put it back into the business or to hire somebody. And so I stopped paying myself for a while so that I could hire somebody new to help grow the business more. So that’s been the biggest challenge is how do you fund it and continue the growth?

Alan
You know, as it says, The joys of owning a bit. realized as you are, you’re the last to get paid? Absolutely. Yeah. So what opportunities have you seen, by the same token as you’ve grown, in other words, you were one business now you’re 10, Why?

Holly
Amazing opportunities have been opened up for us. As we’ve grown, I’ve been able to, I’ve just acquired my third independent bookkeeper, that I brought their clients until our client says, as we have grown, we’ve used acquisition to grow, I’ve met amazing people, I’ve been able to have the life that I wanted to have, because I’m not working for somebody else. And I’ve also provided that to my employees that they get the flexibility to be able to be with their children be able to work from home be able to grow as they want to grow, as you know, they’ve been able to move different places on our career path and take on different challenges for them. And that’s been exciting to me to be able to support other people in that way.

Alan
As you develop the brand, as some of our members would have some of the things that you’ve done to help strengthen that.

Holly
Something that’s as you know, that’s big in the accounting and finance department or failed is that a lot of companies come out with their names, you know, something and associates or you know, with the name and so we’ve developed our brand as some of all numbers specifically to take me out of it so that the clients aren’t tied to me. And so as we’ve developed that brand, it’s really created a name of its own and it’s a catchy name, so people remember it. So it’s helped a lot as to just you’ll people will be like, Oh, I’ve heard of you before I remember that name. So that’s been exciting.

Alan
In some odd numbers. Are you partnership, sole proprietorship?

Holly
I’m actually an S corp.

Alan
S corp, okay, and just singles owned, or do you have,

Holly
My husband owns 10% of the business. Okay. He wants more. For now he owns 10.

Alan
So, what do you see for the future for the growth? Do you want to continue to do what you’re doing? And the manner that you’re doing it? Do you want to stay local? Do you want to go beyond the boundaries of local winter? What’s what’s in the works?

Holly
No, I I want to have huge growth. I’m I say I take over the world, one bookkeeping client. So we’re we acquisition is a huge focus for us. Because there’s a lot of independent bookkeepers out there that are burnt out, their clients are, you know, as they grow, they have a hard time keeping up with their growth and their clients get left behind. And we really are focused on a scalable solution for both clients and bookkeepers that are tired of doing all of it themselves. And so acquisitions is definitely our growth plan for the next 10 years or so till we get we want to national recognized brand.

Alan
Well, I’m visiting here today with Holly DeVito. Holly is the founder and the owner, some of our members. It’s a virtual bookkeeping service with 10, basically 10 locations throughout Silicon Valley. And Holly, I’d like to talk to you more about some of the opportunities and challenges that you see happening here in Silicon Valley. But I need to take a quick break. We’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back. I’m visiting here today with Holly DeVito. Holly is the founder and the owner of the sum of all numbers. It’s a virtual bookkeeping service located here in Silicon Valley with basically 10 locations. And, Holly, you mentioned that in part of your strategy for growth, you did it through acquisition of other bookkeeping companies, what are some of the challenges that you have found as you’ve acquired other clients, as someone else’s clients.

Holly
There’s always the challenge of the clients are tied to the person, the person that was doing it before. And so that’s been a big challenge is to get them sold on what we do. And how we do that is making sure that they understand that as sum of all numbers, we’re not one person we’re not, they’re not tied to one person, they have an account manager that they work with, but we’ve got a team of people behind them doing the work. And so the clients are really happy about it. Once we once they discover that that’s how it works. But the challenges are always, you know, switching systems over when the clients are used to doing it a certain way. And they don’t come to us because they’re unhappy with their service, how we acquired normal clients, you know, they’ve come to us buy these acquisitions. And so we have to make that transition as easy for them as possible. And so that’s a little it’s a little bit challenging, and we just acquired one. So we’re dealing with that right now. I like to take to get them settled in about three months, after about three months of them understanding that things haven’t changed, they’re getting better if they are changing. And then they really feel like they’re tied to some of all numbers. And they are on board with us.

Alan
When you acquire practices that you often acquire that that help with it, or do you transition it into other people.

Holly
Both I’ve I acquired one last year that she only had one employee and she was doing the business owner was doing most of the work. And so I transitioned I had to transition a lot of that work into my people, which is a good way to grow as well, because it filled my, the extra hours that my people had. But then the one I’ve just purchased a week ago, two weeks ago was she had four employees and two contractors that were working and doing all of the work. So we have different challenges with both of them. But it’s definitely easier if they have somebody else. It’s working with them to do the work.

Alan
What are the pros and cons that you’ve found to date of being your own entrepreneur?

Holly
The list is many, I heard somebody say once that an entrepreneur is somebody who will quit a 40 hour a week job to work 80 hours a week and not get paid. And that’s kind of the basis of it. It’s it’s been interesting to see as we work with our clients as well that I love working with entrepreneurs, because we’re passionate about what we do. And we’re so good at what we do. But running the business part of things tends to be a little bit difficult. I have a I have a finance background. And I have a numbers background. So I can focus on that part. But the sales for me is a harder is a harder part the sales and marketing. That’s not where my focus is. And so trying to learn how to balance everything. And you know, we have clients that come to us because they don’t understand the finances, because they’re entrepreneurs, they want to you know, sell their widgets or make their ice cream. And so they come to us to help them support them in that side.

Alan
So are you big on online technologies with bookkeeping solutions?

Holly
Absolutely. As a virtual company, we have to everything we do is online. We use a QuickBooks hosted solution. We are moving into the new Xero accounting solution that’s coming out. We’ve got all of our project management online, everything we do is online. So it’s you have to be.

Alan
I understand that. Yes, technology moves. It’s a challenge to kind of keep up with it is everything changing too?

Holly
And you worry that you’re going to you’re going to get behind you know, as we get caught up and doing our business and just doing the day to day things in running the business. You worry about that that you’re going to be left behind because what you are have works but it may not be what’s going to be there in a year or two from now.

Alan
So Holly, will you take any client coming to you Have?

Holly
No, we have very specific clients that we work with when and how you define that. So we work with clients that are on a growth path for sure. Usually between 500,000 and 5 million in revenue, we work with people, business owners that are passionate about what they do. And they’re excited to grow their businesses, but they need the support of an accounting department. And so we provide accounting clerk, account manager, controller and CFO services to them. And so we help them as they grow their businesses move forward. And so that’s people that are on a growth path are really exciting for us to work with. We work with a lot of pre revenue startup clients, we work with actually a lot of startup companies around the world, actually, so. But they’re pre revenue, but they’re on that growth path. And that’s exciting for us, the clients that are really moving forward are perfect clients.

Alan
So you do see it post services, then

Holly
Yes, we do and what we deal with those, as we contract those with, see outside CFO, you know, there’s a lot of virtual CFOs. And so we contract those with them, for our clients.

Alan
So how do you feel? What do you feel has helped you, in your success to get to this point?

Holly
Having a support system behind me, you can’t do it on your own. I’ve had, in fact, the business that I just purchased, the reason that the business holder owner sold the business is that she has a husband that worked 80 hours a week and wasn’t around. And so she didn’t have that support system to take care of the kids. And you know, everything that we do is as women and moms and to have the support system, not just with my husband, but with my employees, other people in the community that are there to help us along the way. It’s it’s critical.

Alan
Now, if you had to start your company again, what would you do differently?

Holly
I don’t know that I would do anything different, except being aware of where my profitability numbers are. And I’m big on like I said, I’m a numbers person. But there’s that point when it’s, you know, how do I hire somebody, when when is that point to make sure that the company is profitable before you hire people. And it would have been nice to know that, you know, seven years ago when I started the business instead of in the last two or three years, because I think there was a lot of money lost. And the other thing would have been, that I’ve learned now is when you think you need to let somebody go, you need to let somebody go. That’s been a big learning lesson for me, the people person and I feel bad, but sometimes it’s best to cut your ties.

Alan
So if, if a person’s looking at, I need a bookkeeper, how do I get ahold of holly? How do they reach you at some phone numbers or?

Holly
Websites, www.sumofallnumbers.com. They can give us a call 888-564-5777 and just tell them that you’re interested in finding out more about our services, and we’ll have somebody get in touch with you. Why don’t you give that one more time? 888-564-5777?

Alan
And what are some of the things they should be prepared for when coming to talk to you?

Holly
What we do when they first come into us is we actually do an evaluation of their accounting system. So we need to have access to their if they’re using QuickBooks file, their previous years tax returns and their most recent bank statements. You do tax returns to or we don’t we don’t do any tax returns or audits. We’re not CPAs we work closely with CPAs for that. All right.

Alan
I’m busy here today with Holly Devito. She is the founder and the owner of sunwell numbers. Holly thank you for being on today’s show. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. We’ll be right back after these messages.

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This transcript was generated by software and may not accurately reflect exactly what was said.

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