It’s very easy to say that you are different; whilst behind the scenes being pretty much identical everyone else.
At Fresh Financials, we have never set out to be different from the other bookkeeping businesses, but we seem to have ended up that way. From the moment Emma decided to move away from QuickBooks desktop and over to a Xero exclusive business, the ongoing question of “what can we do better?” has continually pushed us forward and down quite an exciting path.
Pretty doesn’t have to mean superficial
A quick glance at our website and our branding will shower you with a rainbow of colours. We never wanted an overly blue site with stock photos of people in suits looking at printed out pie charts because we’re not a blue, suited bookkeeping business. And we will certainly never print out a pie chart. Fresh Financials is paperless for a start.
But please don’t let the colours distract you. Our bookkeeping team are all fully qualified through the AAT or IAB. We are Xero Gold Partners and won the Xero Bookkeeping Partner of the Year award. You can browse our blogs and case studies if you’d like. We know our bookkeeping stuff.
We’re task-based and not time focused
It’s not about how long you spend at your desk, it’s about what you do whilst you are there.
The bookkeeping profession has traditionally been very time-focused. You complete a timesheet you work long hours, you are chained to your desk.
We work with a different mindset at Fresh Financials because this focus on time can often restrict growth and change.
Our team all love bookkeeping. We all love Xero and technology. We adore a system. But our favourite thing in the world is helping our clients to run their businesses better. It is this passion and this inquisitive nature which drives us all to research the latest apps and available updates. It’s what motivates us and pushes Fresh Financials forward.
It’s the reason we can have a team of five, be a Xero Gold partner and still update every client’s bookkeeping daily without going mad.
You can plan all you want, but life will happen
Our team is based in our office in East Sussex, but our clients are dotted across the UK. Whilst a lot of our client meetings take place online we have made sure that our office has a lovely coffee machine and comfy chairs, and all clients are welcome to visit and have in-person meetings if they are local enough to do so.
But we also have systems in place so that our team can work from home. This is because sometimes children and pets create unexpected challenges and we never want our team to feel these are an inconvenience.
We are aware that having the opportunity to work from home doesn’t suit everyone. It can require a level of discipline and a quiet work area that not everyone has. But for our team who can embrace and mix and match the office and home working; it has enabled them to flourish.
You spend a lot of time at work, so you need to enjoy it
The culture and atmosphere at work is so important and it’s something that we are continually investing it. We ensure that every team member is a name and not a number.
Any potential employee has an informal interview to begin with. This is so we can get to know them, and they can get to know us as it is important that we are both a good fit. The perfect employee relationship is one where we would happily go for a drink after work together. If you want to rush away as soon as the working day is over, then something isn’t right.
We apply the same rules to our clients. You need to like us, and we need to like you. Otherwise, your bookkeeping will feel like a chore and you won’t want to meet with us to discuss your financials and that would prove to be a massive shame.
If you would like to find out more about how we have worked with businesses like yours, you can read our case studies here: http://freshfinancials.com/case-studies/