My name is Brian Robinson. I’ve always worked for small businesses. I’ve learned a lot from them, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Between seeing what the owners and managers did and doing bookkeeping for even more businesses, I’ve learned a lot about running a small business that we now use to serve our clients.
I grew up in Northern Virginia. My first job was in a small pet shop that I worked at during high school and college where I got a bachelor’s degree in biology.
After that, I worked at an aquarium store, then an animal hospital. While there, I started my own pet care company. This was a big turning point for me because I realized how much more I enjoyed the background, administrative tasks than I would have ever guessed. So I went back to community college to get an associate’s degree in accounting, but once I got my bookkeeping certificate, I decided to see what jobs I could get. I ended up becoming a file clerk at an employment law firm. That’s where I learned a lot about managing employees, human resources, employment law in general, and much more.
But that was in Northern Virginia which is busy, crowded, has incessant issues with traffic, and is expensive. So I moved to Charlottesville to get outside of Northern Virginia while still staying close to family.
My first job in Charlottesville was at an accounting firm. I learned a lot about many types of businesses. We had clients in retail, restaurants, handymen, etc. But the work schedule was more than I wanted for a good work-life balance so I had to move on.
My next job was in-house accounting at a vacation rental company. That’s where I learned the limits of QuickBooks, that I don’t like Microsoft Great Plains (Microsoft’s accounting software), that switching accounting systems can be a nightmare, and what it looks like to burn through employees faster than you can hire and train them. I left after 11 months at which point I was the most senior employee in the entire accounting department under the Senior VP of Accounting.
I had to get out of there and ended up working for a wealthy couple doing their personal accounting (also called family office), property management (which I enjoyed a lot), and worked with them as they started a restaurant. Many of their tenants were commercial tenants, some I was even able to help even without doing their bookkeeping. In the end, the fit wasn’t right for me there and I moved on.
I’m now doing bookkeeping on my own where I can serve my clients best. I enjoy it a lot. What’s most rewarding to me is helping people run their businesses better and seeing their business improve because of our efforts. Working with them to give them the knowledge and feedback they can actually use to improve their business is very rewarding. Even just watching TV, I’m drawn to shows such as The Profit and Startup both of which give great insight into what makes some businesses work and what holds back others. Being able to do that even in a small way is something I’m very grateful for the opportunity for.
In my free time, I enjoy hiking, cooking, reading, gardening, and spending time with my kids.
Please reach out today so we can discuss what we can do for you. We always offer a free one-hour consultation to make sure we’re a good fit, so you have nothing to lose.