Ringing in a new year, big picture goals are often on our minds alongside a natural, healthy desire to take stock of the last year and see how things added up. For small businesses and nonprofits, Missoula Bookkeeper, founded by Amy Esp in 2017, is here to help do just that. Esp discusses running her business, managing a small team, and maintaining a sense of balance, whether in life or in finances.
Tell me about Missoula Bookkeeper! What services do you offer?
We are a full-service bookkeeping firm for small businesses and nonprofits. We offer basic bookkeeping services along with payroll. We also do advising and analysis to plan for future financial decisions.
We offer some personal finance consulting, which is similar to what we do for businesses—track spending and income, pay down debt, look at both business and personal finances to make a plan that makes the most sense for everything as a whole. Business and personal finances are so entwined.
Do you offer any support beyond traditional bookkeeping services to help your customers manage stress and maintain a healthy work environment?
We see a lot of connections to people’s overall wellbeing in working with their books. We don’t want to be a traditional old-school bookkeeping firm where we just plug in numbers for taxes and send you on your way. We want to be seen as a resource to help navigate challenges and goals as a business owner. If a big change is coming—having a baby, thinking about moving, getting ready to retire—we can help manage the business through those transitions.
One theme that comes up a lot is shame around our finances. We work really hard to bring a nonjudgmental approach, recognizing that we all have full, rich, chaotic lives that mean things don’t always look perfect.
How does maintaining organized financial records contribute to the overall wellness and success of a business?
Business owners have an intuitive sense of what’s happening in their business, but it’s not always based in reality. When you have actual numbers and data to look at, you may be in a better spot than you think, or worse spot, but you can make a choice based on the reality of the situation. If you’re not looking at those numbers, you’re not doing that.
Running a business sounds demanding. How do you personally maintain work-life balance?
A big piece for me is having definite times when I close my computer. The other thing is, with a team of people I’ve been able to delegate different duties that aren’t the best use of my time, but still really need to happen.
How did you decide to be an all-remote team?
It made sense with the work we do—a lot of it can be done around our other obligations. It’s a big part of what makes this work for both myself and my employees. That was a really big driver for me starting a business. I went through a divorce and the idea of working in an office 40 hours a week while managing all the kid stuff felt super overwhelming. I did some exploration of what was out there. I actually sent a survey out to friends asking what am I good at, what should I avoid, what’s something you want to pay someone to do so you can avoid it? And this presented itself as a gap in the market.
What would you say to convince someone that hiring a bookkeeper is a smart investment?
Is the work that you’re spending your time on the most important work? Doing your books every month is super important but it’s not making more money or bringing new clients in. So, if you’re spending time doing your books and running out of time to do the thing that actually builds your business, that’s the time to bring in a bookkeeper.
Contact Amy at MissoulaBookkeeper.com.
"Business and personal finances are so entwined." - Amy Esp
"Business owners have an intuitive sense of what’s happening in their business, but it’s not always based in reality. When you have actual numbers and data to look at, you may be in a better spot than you think, or worse spot, but you can make a choice based on the reality of the situation." - Amy Esp
