Virtual CFO Services
ONGOING FINANCIAL SUPPORT
for your business
If you’re ready for your business to be thriving, profitable, and capable of supporting the life you want to live…
Then you might be a great fit for my Virtual CFO Service.
My Virtual CFO service provides ongoing support and guidance for the financial side of your business. As your Virtual CFO, I can help you manage cash flow, work to increase profitability, provide financial & operational analysis, help you develop new incomes streams, position you to scale, lay out relevant plans for repositioning (or pivoting) your services, provide projections & forecasts, create budgets, keep you GAAP compliant, track meaningful KPIs, create more efficiency, and help manage all the financial pieces.
And while these technical aspects are important, the largest benefit I can offer you as your Virtual CFO is peace-of-mind. You can be confident that the financial side of your business is fully supported. And you can also be confident that your business is healthy, sustainable, and aligned with your unique lifestyle and all your goals.
As a contract CFO, I have extensive experience helping small businesses in a wide range of different industries. I’ve worked with research companies, and I’ve worked with design firms. I’ve worked with stylists, and I’ve worked with therapists. I’ve worked with large businesses that make money on volume, and I’ve worked with high-end agencies that only service a limited number of (top-tier) clientele. I know that no two businesses are the same, and no two business owners have exactly the same goals. For this reason, I always use a customized, tailored approach with every one of my CFO clients.
Practically speaking, you’ll find that my role as Virtual CFO for your company incorporates (and sometimes eliminates) some other consultant roles like business coach, bookkeeper, tax strategist, tax filer, etc. Every client I work with is different, of course, so let’s talk about your specific business needs and goals.
My Virtual CFO service is designed for business owners who want ongoing support and guidance for the financial side of their business. However, if you’re ready to tackle your most pressing business financial challenges immediately, I invite you to consider VIP Business Coaching.
How does the Virtual CFO service work?
You and I will both meet in regularly-scheduled, virtual sessions where we will discuss the logistics of your business (including cash flow needs and forecasts, staff hiring and compensation decisions, important KPIs, tax strategy considerations, setup and implementation of different tracking & financial systems, suggestions to increase profitability, and more.) These scheduled virtual sessions will either be monthly or quarterly (the timing of our virtual meetings will be based on your business needs and business structure).
My prep work for all sessions includes running financial reports and modeling out different scenarios for any changes you are considering. I will send you an agenda prior to each meeting that includes touchpoints for our long-term projects as well as any issues that have come up since our last meeting. I will also provide a written recap after each session to make sure we are clear on the next steps we need to take.
In addition, I usually meet with my Virtual CFO clients for an in-person coaching and strategy workshop once each year. This in-person session will focus on your long-term goals and your vision for the business (including potential new offerings, the type of work you want to be doing, family considerations, etc.). My clients find these workshops extremely valuable and leave them with a clear sense of what we want to accomplish for the next year. This session can be held in Dallas, or in your city.
For many clients, my Virtual CFO service also includes filing their business tax returns as well as monthly QuickBooks bookkeeping and account reconciling.
The issues that I address most often with Virtual CFO clients:
Profit Margins:
- Gaining clarity as to your current profit margins
- Laying out options for how your profit margins can realistically be improved
- Providing a multi-step plan of implementation that will increase your profit margins
- Assessing the margins of what you can pay new hires, modeling out potential labor configurations, etc.
Pricing:
- Conducting market research on your direct and indirect competitors
- Assessing the positioning of your company
- Creating models for price increase possibilities (along with data-driven attrition rates)
- Developing a detailed rollout plan for price increases
Cash Flow:
- Financial forecasting that accurately considers all aspects of your business and personal finances (income, expenses, loan re-payments, draws, taxes, required payments toward past accrued debt, etc.)
- Predicting cash flow for different scenarios you’re considering
- Pinpointing money leaks
- Budgeting
- Help with management of cash-on-hand
Owner Compensation:
- Assessing the ways you’re currently compensating yourself through your business and helping you potentially reconfigure this so you’re supporting all your goals
- Incorporating payroll, draws, distributions, retirement contributions, medical insurance, HSA contributions, and more
- Creating processes within your business that prioritize owner compensation
Pivoting and/or Re-Positioning of Offerings:
- Conducting market research
- Developing a transitional schedule and plan to pivot and/or re-position one of more of your service offerings
Scaling your Business:
- Determining the ideal size for your business (based on services you want to offer, the amount of revenue you realistically want to bring in, the ROI on different roles/positions within your business, etc.)
- Modeling out different timeframes for the process of scaling (to determine how fast you want to move)
- Helping put a logistical framework in place for the business to scale
Expansion:
- Analyzing the cost & labor out-puts needed to open a new location
- Forecasting & modeling the cash-flows and timelines for the new location to be cash-flow positive
- Helping you financially assess changing leases and/or the purchase of your own building
- Researching and financially modeling the addition of new income streams to your business
Tax Strategy:
- Assessing your business’ tax status and strategy
- Helping you determine which legal business structure makes the most financial sense from a tax perspective
- Assessing and projecting owed taxes for savings, profit, and cash flow purposes
- Optimizing your business tax deduction strategy on a continual basis (most business owners are leaving tens of thousands of dollars on the table each year by failing to strategize in this way—and as you grow, this strategy should continue to evolve)
- Calculating estimated quarterly tax payment requirements as needed
- Some IRS and state audit support
- Filing your business tax return
Staff:
- Helping you determine & develop key new positions in your business
- Providing insight on pay scales for new hires, needed pay increases, bonuses, and more
- Developing employee incentive structures and commissions
- Tracking meaningful employee ROIs and KPIs as helpful and relevant
- Resolving any federal or state payroll tax issues
Accounting Records:
- Cleaning up your QuickBooks Online file (or getting your business switched over to QuickBooks Online)
- Streamlining (and clarifying) the way your business is capturing different income & expense streams
- Instructing your staff on needed accounting procedures
- Creating any needed, regular Journal Entry templates
- Making custom report templates
- Creating a system that differentiates multiple entities’ finances from each other in a GAAP compliant way
- Monthly bookkeeping and/or reconciling of your QuickBooks account (depending on our agreement)
If this service sounds like a potential match for you & your business, click the button below to request a free consultation.
“I honestly cannot think of a better or more important investment I have made in my business—or in myself.”
It really is difficult to say enough about Erin, the quality of her work and the way she goes about it. After somehow managing to survive in business for over 30 years with almost no professional financial guidance, Erin came in and 1) helped me put things in the best possible professional order, 2) opened my eyes to resources and opportunities I had no idea existed, 3) helped me to a much better understanding of a number of issues related to my own mindset/self-imposed limitations around my business and money, and 4) supported me emotionally and intellectually as I made important decisions about growth and investment. You will find that she is both smart and proactive. If she commits to working with you, she will be all in and expect no less from you. I am better in more ways than one for my association with her, and I honestly cannot think of a better or more important investment I have made in my business — or in myself. If she seems a good match for you or your business, I cannot recommend her highly enough.
–Barry Nash, Barry Nash and Company
“Bringing Erin on was the biggest blessing for me personally and the business.”
I had the pleasure to work with Erin during a time when I considered my business to be at a “low”. The compounding struggles of the pandemic had me feeling defeated, and bringing Erin on was the biggest blessing for me personally and the business. Erin embraced ALL facets of business ownership – the tangibles (finance, operations) as well as the intangibles (beliefs, morale, personal emotions). In doing so, she managed to validate, educate and empower me as a person, which in turn empowered me as a business owner. She has laid the foundation for CLEAR and EFFICIENT financial strategies to help not only bring the business out of the “low” – but now speeding into a new “high”. I am feeling extremely confident with where the business is heading. THANK YOU, Erin. My gratitude is endless.
–Joyce Bertulfo, Revyve
“Thanks to Erin we are in track to have our highest grossing year ever!”
As a 15-year owner of a design and branding agency, I’ve experienced many successes, but with that also comes opportunities for support and growth. I wanted to be more in control of our finances and intentional with the money we made. I truly felt like my team and I had taken as far as we could on our own, and we were lacking the clarity needed to know what actually was the “right” next moves. It was time to bring someone in that could give us a deeper understanding of the “numbers” that could help take my business to the next level. Most importantly, what they meant, how to interpret them and how we could actually use that information to better plan for the future. That’s where Erin comes in. She works with us on regular basis to make key decisions that impact our business in day-to-day operations, helps us make informed (and smart) decisions based on our long-term financial goals and set new goals for the future based on opportunities we would not have seen otherwise. Overall her communication, guidance and insight have exceeded our expectations. I would highly recommend her to anyone with a business that isn’t quite large enough to hire an in-house CFO, but still wants the peace of mind, expertise and direction that a CFO can provide. It has made a world of difference in my business, and my money mindset. Thanks to Erin we are on track to have our highest grossing year ever!
–Kristin Moses, DesignGood
“There’s no doubt in our minds that having her on our team has allowed us to earn more money, stress less, and create a clear vision for the future.“
We’ve been working with Erin as Virtual CFO for more than a year, and she’s been a huge asset to our company as we’ve been working through some major transitions (not to mention COVID!). She’s been our biggest cheerleader, our financial guru, our rock, and our accountability partner. There’s no doubt in our minds that having her on our team has allowed us to earn more money, stress less, and create a clear vision for the future. She’s made financial decision-making simpler and has helped us focus on the big picture instead of getting lost in the details. Erin offers an experienced outside perspective that would have been impossible for us to attain otherwise. We feel lucky to have had the opportunity to work with her and know that she will continue to be a part of our major business decisions as we move forward.”
-Thriving ATX Business Partners
What results can you expect?
With me as your Virtual CFO, you can expect the financial components of your business to be clear, organized, and efficient. You will have a firm idea of where your business stands financially, and where it is headed. And as we work together, I will help you make the long-term and short-term changes that will bring your business in line with your vision and your goals.
In addition to these specific goals, my overall aim is always to increase your profitability. Because I believe that profit—not revenue, or growth—is the most important marker of your business’ financial health. (For example, it doesn’t do you any good to increase your revenue, or to move into a bigger space, or grow your workforce if your profit stays the same.)
To give you a specific idea of what you can expect in terms of profitability, over the past two years, the average year-over-year profit increase for my one-on-one clients has been 399%. And the median year-over-year profit increase for these clients over the same period has been 476%.
Since I began offering my Virtual CFO service, every CFO client that I’ve worked with has recouped far more than their investment into my services.
Some additional important details:
- My Virtual CFO service tends to be of greatest value & fit to service-based business owners who are currently generating at least $250k per year.
- The average cost for my Virtual CFO service ranges from $3,000 to $6,000 per month, but it could be more or less than that depending on your needs.
- I only partner with a few clients in the role of Virtual CFO each year, and I value the personal interactions that I have with these clients. I have a small team that helps with things like administrative tasks, market research and bookkeeping, but I’m the person who will be directly working with you.
- My availability to take on new Virtual CFO clients fluctuates. Most of my clients work with me for at least a couple of years, so I can only take on a new client when I have an opening.
- Hiring me is a significant investment. I am proud to say that I have a very high success rate in making businesses more profitable (in most cases—significantly more profitable).
MEET YOUR VIRTUAL CFO, ERIN
Erin Armstrong is a Chief Financial Officer, Business Coach and Tax Strategist who is on a mission to financially empower business owners. Her unique, comprehensive approach integrates all the financial aspects of your business (such as profitability, cash flow, budgeting, tax strategy and accounting practices) with an emphasis on developing a positive money mindset so you can move forward in a confident, proactive and empowered way.
Over the past 12 years, Erin has worked with hundreds of businesses across the country as a Virtual CFO, Accountant, Tax & Financial Consultant, Business Coach, and Speaker. She’s also led business financial workshops in many major cities throughout the US. Erin is an Enrolled Agent licensed by the IRS. She lives with her husband and daughter (and their two dogs) in the Dallas area.