Mel Telecican started Loyalest back in 2014. They work with professional service companies, such as accounting firms, law firms, engineering, and architectural firms. They essentially help them learn how to leverage their already good reputation and scale it to get more of the market share.
Like many others, she thought she wasn’t a “numbers person.”
“I guess I put myself into the category of being not a numbers person and more of a literacy-focused person because I had so much success there and didn’t seem to have any gaps and understanding,” says Telecican. “So, that really shaped, I think, who I am, or as a young adult at least, in business.
I was always aware of it. And so, it wasn’t catastrophic for me, but it was definitely not helpful in terms of projecting things into the future. I was never entirely confident, clear, or sure about where things were necessarily headed from the strategy perspective.”
This lack of confidence in her numbers led her to sign up for Bean Ninjas’ Financial Foundations DIY Course. She wanted to be able to properly read her accounting reports, understand her numbers, and then use this information to make decisions based on data instead of purely gut intuition.
“I am going to become a numbers person,” says Telecican. “The next three or four months are looking good, and there’s definitely that clarity in place that wasn’t really there beforehand.”
In addition, another big value add was being able to go back and reference specific sections later on.
“For me, it’s actually the ability to go back and revisit those sections. To be able to draw the notes around it and sort of fill those gaps in and then move forward,” says
Telecican. “So, I’d say that’s the biggest piece of gold for me now.”
She used this newfound information to build out processes to ensure that their bookkeeping records were accurate, up-to-date, and that she was being paid on time.
“Now, things are up-to-date,” says Telecican. ”It’s clearer, and we’re getting paid on time because everything is organized with what the schedule says. I think that was the biggest thing is having the bookkeeper’s timetable in play so that those things have been crossed off daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, etc.”
