What to Expect from Joy Accounting’s Services

Catch Up -> Keep the Pace -> Breakaway: What Do You Want For and From Your Business?

Cycling is a passion for us at Joy Accounting. At the age of 47, I recently took part in my very first gravel biking race, an undertaking that included 44 miles and roughly 5,000 feet of elevation gain, much of which was over a chunky set of hard and pointy nuggets composed of a combination of limestone, granite, and basalt.

To many, such an event would be considered Type 2 fun, which is described as “an activity that is difficult, miserable, or uncomfortable at the moment, but feels rewarding or enjoyable in retrospect.” For me, however, the thought of partaking in a real race was thrilling. I even had visions of placing in the top 3 for my age bracket.

The early summer day finally came, and I had butterflies in my stomach as I lined up alongside my training partner, Ben. But these were quickly replaced by a feeling of sheer panic as the entire peloton started pedaling and I was literally stuck in the mud at the starting gate. Although I was able to dislodge and follow on the back of the bunch for a bit, my friend and I were quickly left in the dust, never to see the group again.

My thoughts of “I’d like to place in the top 3” were quickly replaced with “I just want to finish in one piece”. I lowered my expectations and had a great time doing just that, despite the ride itself being grueling as the sun rose and hit peak heat in the early afternoon. In retrospect, it was type 2 fun even for a gravel enthusiast like me.

But our cycling obsession doesn’t stop there. In the last year Terra and I watched all the grand tours including the Tour de France and many one-day races like Paris Roubaix. We watched Idaho boy Matteo Jorgenson win the Paris-Nice one week race, we were glued to our TV when Mathieu van der Poel beat Tadej Pogachar to win his third consecutive Paris-Roubaix race, and we were clapping all year long as Pogachar completed arguably the greatest cycling season of all time. Mostly, though, we came to fully understand and appreciate all the tactics and effort that are required to have success in what is probably the most grueling and unforgiving sport in the world.

It’s no wonder that, when it came time for us at Joy Accounting to think about how to explain our wide-ranging services, we thought of them in terms of cycling. In cycling, like in small business, you need to think about every detail, planning with your ultimate goals in mind at every step.

Our services we offer are in three distinct buckets - “Catch Up”, “Keep the Pace”, and “Breakaway”. From our first contact with potential customers we assess where in this progression they should start, and as we work together, we can help visualize and work collaboratively to execute the next step.

Joy Accounting “Catch Up” Services

Where you are: Off the back
Where you want to be: Drafting in the peloton

In cycling, there are several reasons why you could find yourself ‘off the back’, which means that you are behind the main group, which is known as the peloton. It could be for good or neutral reasons, like you need to take a nature break, or you’ve been asked by your team to go back and get water bottles. Sometimes team members fall off the back because they’ve already done their job. Or it could be for negative reasons, like you were in a crash, had a flat tire, or simply can’t keep up with the pace of the main group.

In case you are a cycling newbie, the peloton is the main, large group of riders in a road race. Riders stay together in the peloton to save energy by drafting (taking advantage of the reduced drag from the riders in front), which allows the group to maintain a faster pace than a lone cyclist.

If you are off the back for a negative reason, you become laser-focused on getting back to the peloton. If you’re lucky, your team members will come back to help you, but no matter what you will be expending a significantly large amount of energy to get back to the main group, where you (relatively) will be able to coast.

How do you know if you are ‘off the back’ in a business sense? You are behind in everything, from how you feel in your daily scramble to being months or years behind in tax filings. You know you’re in the wrong place, but you don’t have the wherewithal to muster the effort to catch back up.

This is where Joy Accounting can become your teammate and come alongside to help you catch up. We analyze your books and develop a plan for you to get to where you need to be. This could include catching up your books or even reconstructing them by starting anew. This could also include identifying what you owe to various cities or entities and designing a plan to re-pay them.

I’m going to be honest with you. This takes a monumental effort and there will be moments when you question whether you have the energy to make it all the way back. But with Joy Accounting pacing you back to the peloton, you absolutely will make it. We have numerous businesses that we’ve helped make it back.

If you feel like you are ‘off the back’, give us a call or drop us a line. We can get you paced back to the main group in no time! If you are interested in our “Catch Up” services, head to our Services page and fill at the form at the bottom. We’ll be in touch!

We can pace you back into the race!

Joy Accounting “Keep the Pace” Services

Where you are: Struggling to keep pace with the peloton
Where you want to be: Moving to the front of the peloton

Anyone in the professional cycling ranks will tell you that keeping the pace within the peloton is not easy at all. In addition to not having the juice to keep up, there are all sorts of random things that can and do happen. Sometimes cyclists get so close together that they have what’s called a “touch of wheels”, which could result in a domino effect causing many riders to come down in the crash.  

This is no different in the business world. You could be doing absolutely everything correct and still be on the receiving end of a “touch of wheels” in the form of a surprise tariff announcement or a downturn in the economy which specifically affects your business. But fear not, even in such a volatile and unpredictable world there are ways to protect yourself from surprises so that, even if half the peloton goes down in a crash, you can continue the race.

In cycling, it’s extremely rare to see the best in the world, Tadej Pogachar, go down in a crash. The reason for this is that he and his team work extremely hard to always stay near the front of the race. This requires extreme focus along with impeccable teamwork and communication. It’s not easy to stay at the front, as there are only so many spaces and nearly everyone would prefer to be there over languishing towards the back.

Each cycling team is typically comprised of eight racers, all with various specialties and tasks. Pogachar could not stay towards the front of the race without his team. For example, he often sends one of his comrades to the team car in the back to grab water bottles and snacks. The teammate drops all the way back, grabs and stashes a ridiculous number of items in their jersey, and then tries to get all the way back to the front of the race. Impressive! In the meantime, a few other teammates are ahead of him setting the pace, which means that he must put out less effort to keep up. This is valuable so that later in the race Pogachar has the energy to go ahead of everyone and win the day.

Again, think of Joy Accounting both as your teammate and coach. You are the star of the show, and we are your supporting cast. We will both pace you and go back to get water bottles. We will design the overall strategy and help you adjust and deal with surprises along the way. We will support you at the level that makes the most sense for your business. This could involve setting goals around profitability, creating processes around invoicing and estimating, establishing a chart of accounts that will help ensure you are taking on the right type of work, selecting the right software and building an ecosystem for you that seems seamless, and so much more. And then, once you’re set up, we continue to pace you at the front of the race by managing your monthly accounting needs from start to finish while continually identifying and implementing process improvements in your business. You won’t be alone in this race! If you are interested in our “Keep the Pace” services, head to our Services page and fill at the form at the bottom. We’ll be in touch!

We can help you keep the fierce pace of the peloton.

Joy Accounting “Breakaway” Services

Where you are: In the peloton
Where you want to be: In the breakaway all the way to the end of the race

As noted previously, every team has eight members with their own unique skills and specialties. The ones who can ‘do it all’ are called General Classification (GC) riders. GC riders like Pogachar try to win entire stage races and sometimes do so without winning any individual stage. The business equivalent of a GC rider would be one of the big technology giants, like Meta or Google. Sprinters are another kind of rider, and they are somewhat of a one-trick pony. They don’t have the right body composition to hang with the GC riders, but they have the quickness required to win in a sprint finish. The small business equivalent of a sprinter would be a company that is meant to be spun up and sold very quickly.

Teams often orient themselves in a race towards helping either a GC rider or a sprinter. More wins equal more attention, which leads to better sponsorship and more money to spend on improving the team.

But there is a third kind of rider – the breakaway specialist. 99% of the time these special riders don’t even show themselves, as they are focused on helping their GC or sprinter win a stage. Occasionally, when the mood strikes them and all the right factors line up, they will try to establish a breakaway, which is a small-ish group ahead of the peloton. Often several mini breakaways will form and fail to establish themselves before the true breakaway of the day is formed. A true breakaway specialist determines 1) which attempt to actually go forward on with the breakaway and 2) a day where the breakaway could win. Did I mention that the breakaway only wins about 23% of the time?

Who is the equivalent of a breakaway specialist in the business world? The answer is YOU – the small business who is trying everything possible to have long term success in a world where most businesses fail to last. You don’t have the resources of a GC rider, so you are forced to get creative and sometimes even scrappy. 

The ideal ‘breakaway’ customer for Joy Accounting is a business who has already figured out how to keep up with the peloton. Your day-to-day operations are running well, you have some time to plan and think about the coming year, and both you and your employees are generally happy. But you don’t necessarily have the end game in sight.

If you fit this bill, Joy Accounting can help define your end state goal. Are you able to sell your business when it’s all said and done? And do you even want to do that? What types of improvements would you need to put in place so that you could walk away and the business could still continue? Or is your goal to simply raise your profitability so you can work less in the meantime?

Once we help you define your goals, we can then articulate what projects and areas of focus you need to work on, and craft a plan so you can get started. As a certified PMP (Project Management Professional) – a bonus skillset which does not typically exist in an accounting company - I can manage some of your projects that we identify. If you are interested in our “Breakaway” services, head to our Services page and fill at the form at the bottom. We’ll be in touch!  

We can help you find the winning breakaway!

Conclusion: Your Small Business - Worth the Big Effort?

At the end of the day, you started and are managing your small business because you thought it would be worth it. It won’t feel like that every day. Whether you come down with a cold, suffer a “touch of wheels”, or wake up on the wrong side of bed, there are many reasons why every small business venture will have its share of ups and downs. But the journey must be worth the struggle, and we at Joy Accounting can help you make sure that it is.

If needed, we at Joy Accounting can help you with any or all three of these areas – from catching back up to the peloton to keeping up with the front of the peloton and on to the breakaway. Or we can help you with two or even just one of these areas. But you don’t need to do this alone.

So whether you want to get ahead, or you just want to catch up – give us a call and we will get you there. Start pedaling!