Shiloh Property Services: (Randy and Joakim pictured to the left)
I cannot tell you how much I love it when one of my clients refers me to another. What made it even better was that they were both a part of Detroit’s Goldman Sachs 10K Small Businesses program*. Randy from Shiloh Property Services and Ted from Fusion Fabricating had an amazing experience and were exposed to rockstar mentors, top notch business intelligence and a common goal: graduate, improve their business operation, increase revenue and create jobs. They worked insanely hard to develop insights into their business. They build detailed business plans and bonded together with their team peers. Even after they graduated, they continue to reap the benefits of their network. They call upon each other for inspiration, information and resources. More about the program and its benefits later.*
Lori Collick is an organizer and a team player to her husband Randy. She saw a news release with Warren Buffet announcing that Detroit would be the next city to participate in the Goldman Sachs 10K Small Businesses program and signed Randy up. After that, it was the excitement that the program created through relevant education and determination that kept Randy engaged. These two people are always up for a challenge. Randy called on me for QuickBooks help, but then we were on to documenting other barriers to growth and made a plan of attack. We started with some data file cleanup, migrated to QuickBooks Assisted Payroll and reconciled any and every account. We solidified the processes of accounting and retained the services of John Fioritto, CPA to make sure we had our tax ducks in a row.
Best of all, we onboarded some automation for Shiloh Property Services for their time tracking. Yes, Lori was up for that change as she had spent hours and hours, week after week, shaking down the employees for their timesheets and then entering the data manually into QuickBooks. When she heard the features and benefits of TSheets Time Tracking, she couldn’t put it in place fast enough. We had an employee meeting to install the app and sign everyone in. We had training on the app and then instructed the employees to keep up a dual system for a week. We schedule another meeting to compare their manual sheets against the app information. One week later, we asked the employees how they felt about the new time tracking method. One employee said his wife was thrilled that she didn’t have to retype his timesheet. Everyone was in for their new time tracking app. And their manual timesheets? No one even bothered to fill them in after the first day. They found true love with TSheets.
Our next leap is uploading Randy’s business plan to his new LivePlan account. Once we synch his account with QuickBooks, he will be able to track his progress and get the visual statistics on his budget, forecast and cashflow. How epic will that be to go back to your group and show the progress made. Shiloh has also been awarded a loan from the Downtown Development Fund, which will subsidize their growth milestones. They have hired a new manager, an office assistant and have the plan in place for their new technology infrastructure. We can track their loan or budget to buy equipment on LivePlan as well. No doubt, they are on the move. Next up will be uploading their jobs to a project management tool called Smartsheets which will be the link between the customer, their new web site and QuickBooks. Randy is creating a roadmap of processes and his goal is to systematize Shiloh so he can work on his business, not in it. Technology In A Box is thrilled to be a witness to these two amazing people and their vision for growth. We look forward to seeing great things happen for Randy and Lori!
What tools are you using to automate your business and track your growth? Let us know what tools you need to automate, track and/or store your information. Contact us, we’re up for your challenge.
* The Goldman Sachs 10K Small Businesses program is an entrepreneurial education experience that gives a small business owner the tools, knowledge and resources to improve the operation, focus and success of their dream and passion. This all results in increased revenue, profitability and increased work force. This is definitely a win, win situation for everyone in the community.
