I had been working at an old, traditional accounting firm, dealing with most of my clients through email and phone, says LiveCA's co-founder Josh Zweig. If I'm not even seeing most of clients, I can do this online, he thought, which pushed him to launch LiveCA his partner Chad Davis in January 2014.
The two created a model that works efficiently: Chad focuses on the tech side, whereas Josh focuses on the client side of operations, creating a package of both tech and tax.
The two had very little startup costs, allowing them to get right to work. There wasn't much funding that we needed other than creating a good website, which they're still working on upgrading, Josh says. The only thing we had to do was set up a website, we talked to people on Skype, so it was a very lean startup model.
The idea of remote accountants is not new, but Josh and Chad have streamlined the process and are looking to expand in the future.
When it comes through the website, one of us'either me or another CPA'hops on Skype and talks to them, he says. We talk about their business, get a bit of background, and then we get the detailed process'how they invoice, how many clients they have, are their invoice recurring, are they billing, how are they getting paid, what kind of expenses do they have, how are they keeping expensesdo they have inventory, do they have payrolls. Essentially everything an accountant needs to know to properly help a client.
The tech team, with a background in development, then takes over and reviews the information. From there, they recommend apps to use to streamline business, followed by a demo and implementing the strategies. There are different levels of support and plans the businesses can choose, which each cost more time and money.
More and more professionals like accountants are working remotely, seeing the advantages of working from wherever they want.
We believe that there's a lot of advantage in working online, says Josh. From a client's perspective, it means we're much more accessible. We have clients that will ask us a question at eight at night; we hop on a Skype call for 10 minutes and we solve the issue.
Josh mentions that his staff travel and promote excursions, doing work from away. (When I conducted the interview with Josh, for example, he was in Tel Aviv while I was in Toronto.)
Our team can take workations, he says. I know we've had two guys go down to Florida for a month and they work down there. Tyler from our team is in PEI right now with his family, and we have Shelby working from the cottage, so we very much encourage people not to be confined to an office and to work from wherever they find inspiration to work.
Even the most forward-thinking owners and progressive work-life balance can't avoid certain challenges that every business has. Josh says that learning what clients work with can be problematic.
As connected to the way we work, which is virtual, we're not going to convince anybody why the internet is a good thing. This means if you're not sure about using the internet, if you're not sure about cloud accounting software, we're not going to come and sell you on that. That's not our job.
Essentially, LiveCA works for companies that are good communicators, have a positive attitude, have a willingness to learn, and know a thing or two about the web. You don't have to be tech savvy, but you need to be open to working in different ways, he says.
Josh and Chad's goal is to push LiveCA to be the largest virtual firm in Canada by focusing on the why rather than the what, taking inspiration from Simon Sinek's talk Start With Why and Apple's innovation.
You know how we do it, what we provide as services'fixed price plans, unlimited tax and tech support, structured follow-up procedures, he says. Our why, now articulated, is that we're challenging the traditional accounting and providing value to our clients to improve both their lives and our own. So that's really why gets us up in the morning.
Photos: LiveCA