Say My Name

This post covers two things:

1. Who is Coach Jacque?
2. Determine if you need a CPA or a Financial Coach.

If you don’t want to learn about my Intro, skip to “Do I need a CPA?” 

Introducing: Coach Jacque

My full name is Jacquelene Therese Graziano Bishop,

but you can call me Jacque.

My closest friends call me Graz, and I’ll answer to everything between J, Mrs. B, to Jacquelin.

(This skit tickled me so hard.)    

I’ve held resentment toward my mother, probably for my first 27-ish years, not only for naming me Jacquelene, but for spelling and pronouncing it as such (🔈Jack-LEEN). To all the Johns and Marys out there, I don’t think you get it. But to the Uneekes and Alemayehus of the world, I feel you. 

When you have to correct people all the time for the pronunciation of your name, it becomes a whole thing.   #inmyfeelins

My Mom brainwashed me to NOT allow anyone to call me Jackie. There is a very short list of people who can call me Jackie and not turn my stomach in knots. 

When I consider “Jack” and even “Jac” 🤷🏼‍♀️ it's just not me. I can't present myself to the world like that and my full name persists with the pronunciation/correction endless loop...

So here we are, I’m Coach Jacque.

Once Beyoncé released “THIQUE” I knew “Jacque” was it.

The easiest route would have been to settle with “Jack,” but the story has been told.

I'm going to take it back now, to the beginning,

and bring you through to the present.

• Being from Boston, moving to CA
• Work Experiences and comments
• Teaching
• Volunteering
• Starting my firm and Coaching
• More about me.

Where I'm from...

I’m originally from the South Shore of Massachusetts. I was born in Boston and grew up in the public school system of Weymouth. My memories and pride are delighted that for my last 3 years in the state I lived in the Italian neighborhood of the city, the North End.

I lived on one of the most historically significant streets in the City, Hanover St., which hosts a section of the “Freedom Trail.”  My other apartment was my favorite of the two, right around the corner from Dino's and the 24-hour bakery.

My maiden name, Graziano, my cooking, and my hand motions while talking, might clue you in that I have Italian heritage, but everything else says “Irish” (i.e. my very pale freckled skin & horrored sunburn stories.) 

Massachusetts will always be home to me, but

California has stolen my heart. Especially, the Bay.

I moved here at age 22, freshly unemployed after 2 intense years working at “Big 8” public accounting firm, and about to embark on my Master’s in Taxation at Golden Gate University.

For many years, I told people that going to GGU was why I moved out here. But now that we’ve been married for over 8 years (as of the original posting date), I can confidently share: it was for her.

^ My wife, Jenn, and I at a family wedding in MA.

My extraordinary wife also grew up in my hometown, and we both have families still there, but she moved to CA about 2 years before me. I came out for a visit as a pal, and came back 6 months later as her girlfriend.

Ok, I actually flew over...

My Career 

It started in High School...

(but you can skip to the Recap if you wish)

I’ve known I wanted to be a CPA since 11th in high school. I took my first Accounting 101 class and it was clear. I loved how debits had to equal credits. Then you learn the real work of an accountant is figuring out all of the messy stuff in between. I’ve been in the game for over 20 years now and I’m not going anywhere.

I had four different valuable accounting positions before entering college.

I started office work as a young teenager going to my Mom’s various jobs. Then, when she worked for a Police Uniform company, the owner gave me the opportunity to help with the bookkeeping in QuickBooks. I started with basic data entry and eventually, he sent me to a QuickBooks certification class. I think I was 17 years old at that time. 

During my senior year of high school, I had two different “school-to-career” opportunities. First, I worked at a local CPA office and learned about tax-season and how an office ran through that process. Then, I worked for my Uncle’s industrial cleaning product distribution business. I organized and maintained the office for the two salesmen, keeping the QuickBooks in order and developing systems for the operations of the office. 

Before I graduated high school, I started working for a family friend's telecommunications company. The cleaning business gave me the opportunity to set up the office, but here at the telecom business, there was another CPA who started to train me on more detailed tasks. Here is where I first realized I really enjoyed tax work even more than accounting.

I worked for one more accounting firm, the summer before college. This firm conducted governmental audits and because we did audit work, you have to physically go to the client to review and test their documentation. I remembered my delight to get paid to drive around to find these various locations, and then look under the hood of our town halls, utility departments, and public entities. This experience I always hold dear to me because we did things “old school,” like huge paper ledgers, by hand. Computers were only in the office but there were no laptops that came to the clients. Everything was on paper with colored pencils to indicate the various tests we’d perform. For my age, there was a very small window of time that there would even be a possibility to understand that computer-less paper system. Of course, everything is digital now, and for the better. I still appreciate the fundamentals I obtained during this position. 

For college,

I went to a local University, Bridgewater State, to enter their Accounting Master’s Program. During my time in college, I started my “big firm” experience, in both audit and tax departments and even some work for the risk department. I learned a lot there. 

Turns out, I despised my professor who held my fate at my school. He was my professor for two important core classes and he was the honor’s advisor for my department. I was quickly motivated to complete my bachelor’s degree in three years, including one year I did “abroad,” through a student exchange program, at Suffolk University. 

Graduating early gave me the chance to start working full-time at the “big” accounting firm and afford my own apartment in Boston. This was a time in my life I’ll hold fondly forever.

As happens in big firms, and to fresh college grads, I got laid off immediately after slaving my life away for them during busy-season. At this time, I was applying for Master’s programs and I added GGU, Golden Gate University, in San Francisco to my application list. I was quickly accepted and immediately made plans to move from East to West.

Moving West

Once I moved out, originally to Oakland, I both worked part-time jobs, entered my Master's program, and studied for my CPA exam.

I finished my CPA tests right around the same time I graduated with my Master’s in Tax. I still am quite proud of myself for being in the top 5% of people who pass all four sections of the CPA exam all in one attempt.

Both during and after my schooling, I had the most amazing opportunities of work:

• a small private consulting firm specializing in tax provisions,
• a classic traditional established San Francisco firm with famous clients,
• a “disrupter” tech accounting service firm introducing me to an enormous connection to hundreds of Silicon Valley tech companies,
• and finally, another private firm specializing in international tax and provisions. 

Teaching

Teaching has long been a part of who I am. It comes naturally to me and I very much enjoy it. This can be in any setting, not just academic or even professional.

I don’t have memories of teaching as a child but the reports back tell me “bossy” was the more appropriate adjective. 

I guess my first job was teaching. From 5th to 7th grade I performed in a child safety group. The main character of the group was an iguana, “ ‘Lil Iguana ” actually was his name. During live performances, he was very comparable to a Barney the Dinosaur costume except of course, he’s an iguana, who was actually most often filled out by a small woman who would have to wear ice vests to survive some of our performances.

We sang, and performed short skits, to younger children about basic safety principles like buckling up, stranger danger, wear a helmet, and stay clear of the train tracks. Towards the end, we even recorded a full album of our songs. This was certainly a formative experience for me as we were too young to legally hold most jobs and the fact that the four of us in this kid group, selected by our school music teacher who wrote the songs, got paid!

Many weekends we’d go to state fairs or during the week might perform for schools. Certainly, it is very representative of me to share my experiences of being a singer. It wasn’t exactly the coolest gig, after all, we were little kid performers, but we were pretty cool. I’ll always appreciate my teacher for seeing my potential and providing this opportunity.

My first memories of specifically teaching, that are not in song, are in Jr. Highschool in Math class.

Skip forward to my post-graduate school career,

I had three different teaching experiences:

• 2011- 2012 taught CPA-exam prep courses for Becker. Absolutely loved doing this but I would teach 4-hour classes after working an 8-hour day at my employer’s firm. It was not sustainable at this time of my career but I loved the experience.
• Tutoring - did this for about a year my first year being self-employed. 
• 2016 - 2018 taught 3-day CPE classes for Top 50 U.S. accounting firms around the country. I don’t like to play favorites but this gig I really adored. CPAs must maintain Continuing Professional Education (CPE) to keep their licenses. Firms would hire 20-20 Services to provide the curriculum and learning execution for cohorts in these large regional accounting firms. Most of the students would be 1-3 years into their licensure or a few students would still be studying to pass the exam. 

As a financial coach, I teach skills allowing us to progress with technical financial knowledge and skills.

However, I think it's my skills to help us learn ourselves, and grow as people feeling happier and more elevated in our lives, that's what allows for real transformation.

Volunteer Work

Being a volunteer is also something that is core to me.

My earliest memories of volunteering is with my Dad, as a young kid, as he was always a Rotary member for as long as I could walk. We would deliver Christmas gifts around the community or cook pancakes at an annual fundraising breakfast. My Dad walked the walk as far as expressing “Service over Self” and much of that has burrowed within me.

In high school, I was a member of the Rotary Interact Club and in my senior year was the president. Both years I was in the club we did an annual trip to the Appalachian mountains to complete home-repair projects for low-income families. One year was in Virginia and the other in Kentucky. Not only did I learn how to drill up siding to a house, drywall, and humility of service, but I also saw parts of the country that showed me not everything rolled like Boston did.

During my first year in CA, my graduate school shared the volunteer opportunity to do free tax preparation for low-income community members of the Bay Area through the work of Tax-Aid, a local non-profit. I loved my first year of volunteering and given my professional pursuits, advanced quickly into managing volunteer sites. I’ve volunteered every tax-season with Tax-Aid since 2010.

I’ve now been sitting on the Board for Tax-Aid for 13 years and it is one of my most coveted positions. On the board with me are other Partners at big accounting firms and small, City officials, Professors, and a few individuals in industry. It is a joy to share space with like-minded people who know that personal success has less meaning when you fail to give back to your community.  I’m super proud of the work Tax-Aid accomplishes.

The tax issues we work out for Tax-Aid clients are entirely different than the clients of most accounting firms. It’s been a great honor to support this community with my professional skills and provides me with an even greater appreciation for the work that I do.

With Tax-Aid, I was a “Super-Coach” which was one of three coaches who was leading our efforts to provide financial coaching to our client base. We were trained by the incomparable Saundra Davis. She brings a wholesomeness to financial advice that is not all that common to come by. I also was the chair on the board of this coaching program.

We trained dozens of volunteers to be financial coaches and reached many clients. Unfortunately, we found a consistent issue with the coaching for this group. Most clients were looking for a quick fix and didn’t realize they would be putting in the effort to achieve the results they were looking for. After realizing the journey would not be short to transform their financial life, most clients got distracted by the encompassing noise of everyday life and would stop their coaching. After all, you cannot make someone decide what they will do with their money. They have to be the ones willing to evaluate their choices and land on which option is best.

After several years of running the program, the City of San Francisco started their own Smart financial coaching program. When this program started we realized they were better equipped to serve our community and we ended this service line in our organization.

Another volunteer role I held, which was also an honor, was serving as the board Treasurer for two of my three years for San Francisco LGBT Pride. 

This experience really opened doors I never would have been through had I not taken on this volunteer work. Further, the people I got to work alongside became like family and remain some of my closest friends. In my final year on the board, I served as Board President. As much as I can get down on the mic (as a singer or presenter), serving as Treasurer was my favorite, versus being “the face” of the organization. 

Although... two highlights as President were:

• this time I sang Sister Sledge at the Pink Triangle, here pictured with my Mom and Wife,
  
• and running down Market St with a trans flag cape.

My Own Firm  

It was during my “tech” period that I met my benevolent benefactor. Don’t get me wrong, I charged for my work and did a lot of it, but this particular client not only gave me an unforgettable experience, they also encouraged me to start my own firm. 

Eventually, this client would grow to be a unicorn. After about two years, they were so big that I realized for the sake of my own small business, it was “them or everyone else.” It was so obvious to me; I love to work with small businesses and lift them up. I treasure the personal relationships I grow with my clients. I never wanted to, nor want to, become “too big” that I can’t connect on a human level.

Encouraging and assisting this big client with the transition to a life without me was actually way scarier than when I started off on my own with them. But, I did it. And maybe about every other year in the last 8 years, there’s another scary decision you need to make as a self-employed person. I keep going through them and each time the “scare” both becomes more manageable and shows you that there is always more to learn and more ways to expand.

I started my “self-employment” in 2015, right after I got married. For the first few years, I built up my client list so I would be able to afford to hire someone in particular I had my eye on.

In 2018, I brought on my teammate, Jessica Saphiphack, to collaborate with me on our tax services to clients. She now manages our tax department.

Jessica and I worked together at the “tech start-up.” I think we had some trauma bonding together as we certainly went through some deeply stressful experiences. As soon as I went off on my own, I knew it was my goal to have her join me again. 

It’s our joy and pleasure to complete tax compliance for small businesses and their owners. There’s generally no short supply of other issues that arise which we assist our clients through.

Coaching Begins

In 2021, with Jessica at the tax helm, I launched my formal offering of financial coaching. Getting to this point feels like all of those experiences were meant to place me here; equipped to consult, comfort, educate, and uplift (financially and emotionally) our small business community. 

At this point, I’ve been a coach for years, but not in the way I knew I could serve people best. Now I was, what felt like finally, established to take on the projects where I can provide the most value. Through being a financial coach, I not only get to use all those technical skills I’ve learned to apply to a variety of situations, but I also get to guide clients through the curation process of their best financial life.

Woo! Do you know how fun it is to release your debt, increase your income, negotiate your expenses down and realize “I’m good with money!”?

"Whoever said money can't solve your problems
Must not have had enough money to solve 'em" 

- 7 rings, Ariana Grande

It’s fun to become financially liberated. It’s also a privilege. 

I want to acknowledge that for too many people in the United States, the vast accomplishment of increasing wealth is constantly choked out by the crippling trap of poverty. This trap too often captures already under-represented communities. 

My long-term goal is to participate in policy change (‘cause this shit in the US is whack!), but in the meantime, I’m helping one person at a time declare themselves remarkably valuable and do the work to make their bank account match. 

My values are rooted in what I prioritize: environmental protection and preservation, justice and equity, and living a life free from poverty should be a civil right.  

Career Recap:

• Started accounting positions during my high school years. Had 4 different accounting or tax department positions before entering college gaining tremendous experience.
• In college had 2 and 1/2 years of working for a "Big 8" accounting firm.
• In 2009, I moved from Boston, MA to Oakland, CA and started my pursuit of my Master's in Tax and my CPA license, which I finished in 2011.
• During my 5 years of employment in CA, it was mostly split between two different firms. At all three locations I worked, I had access to the most incredible and diverse range of clients and technical opportunities.
• I’ve held various teaching positions all related to CPA technical education requirements.
• I’m a long-term volunteer and board member of Tax-Aid, providing free tax preparation and assistance to low-income community members of the Bay Area.
• In 2015, I started my own business through the encouragement of my client. In 2018, I named our work " Balanced Practice. " 
• 2018 is also when I achieved my goal of being able to hire my favorite teammate, Jessica Saphiphack, who now is our Tax Manager.
• I served on the SF Pride board of directors from 2016-2019, serving as the Treasurer for two years and as President in my final year of my 3-year term.
• As of 2023, I have 20 years of experience in various accounting and tax functions and roles and 8 years operating my firm.

Summary:
I graduated high school in 2005, and since even before then, and consistently and diligently since, I’ve been helping small businesses and their owners with their tax and accounting.

Being able to reduce the stress in people’s lives has an obvious, significant impact. For me, witnessing and contributing to that transition is why I show up each day.

Not only can these business owners sleep better at night, but they avoid costly audits or errors, stay in business and level up. 

After hanging my own shingle, I’ve worked with a wide range of clients: 

• Tech manufacturers, developers, and firms
• Publishing with US foreign subsidiaries
• Yoga Studio and business owners
• Therapists
• Consultants of all types, Marketing, Strategy, Political Campaigns 
• Designers, web and interior 
• Medical businesses, like Wearable Devices and Testing Manufacturing and Sales
• Doctors, Lawyers, and Environmental Specialists
• Hair Salon Owners
• Retail Shop Owners
• Wineries, Vineyards, Distribution
• Metaverse developers
• Hospitality and Events
• Construction
• Creatives and Writers
• Rental Properties
• Mortgage Companies
• Automotive Tech & Service
• Digital creatives-developers
• Advertisement & Film making
• Seniors and Widows starting their financial literacy at over at 70+
• Non-profit organizations
• Issues with:
• IRS and state audits, notices and resolutions 
• Business formation and maintaining compliance
• Fixing disastrous accounting systems (trust me you can’t show me worse anymore)
• International businesses and individuals
• Divorce
• Widowed
• Large corporations with multiple rounds of funding and stock activity 
• Just starting your business and you have no idea what to do (*this is really my specialty)

Maybe this is a humble brag or an overt one, but I feel very confident in asserting I’ve seen a vast diversity of businesses, individuals and accounting workplaces. This confidence transfers to my strong desire to help small business owners gain their lives back by reducing their stress around money.

What Else Besides Accounting? 

Other than being an accounting nerd, music is everything to me.

I do love to sing, but currently only do so in the shower, the car, and an occasional karaoke night. My instrument skills (guitar and piano) are rudimentary. Playing an instrument on study breaks during my CPA exams kept me sane. Practicing for open mic nights in Boston retained my stability through working the disgusting schedule of tax season at a “big” firm.

I have a particular soft spot for R&B, hip-hop and jazz. Give me more bass! And the nastier the lyrics, the better. I’m still figuring out the massive conflict of my morals and the lyrics I thoroughly enjoy, so, I’m not saying it’s right. But I love it.

I didn’t start to listen to Beyoncé and Rihanna until their 2011 albums. But once those dropped, the love and admiration has only grown every year, every day. They are my top two role models, no doubt. 

Heros

Here is a pic of my wife and me at the Renaissance World Tour this summer because you don’t think your accountant just sits around all day with an abacus, right?

My love for music, these artists, and a few more activities I love helps me empathize with other clients by having my own experiences of pursuing joy. I encourage that we highlight the activities in life that bring us the most joy; our joy should be nourished and grown in our budget plans. 

The first week I moved to the Bay, I enlisted in two weeks of extensive sailing training becoming a certified Skipper.

This is us back in 2009, taking out a J-24 for the day. On this particular day, the Blue Angels were here for Fleet Week.  

For my first three years, sailing hugged my heart with warmth as I reestablished a community after moving 3,000 miles away from home. Ultimately I allowed my career to steal me away from this glorious activity, but I’ll be back. In the meantime, every time I see the Bay’s waters, from out of my front bay window, on a walk, bike ride, or driving about, seeing the water fills me with satisfaction and reminds me of my time living in Boston.  

^ all pics my wife took that day. We probably chartered J-24s a dozen times over 2-3 years before I took hiatus. This boat pictured is not us but they are in a similar boat to the ones I sailed.

I love dogs!! My wife and I had 2 four-legged fur children for 14 years.

After a short break, and just days before this original post date, we got a puppy! This is Sandy. 

We also love wine and my wife, Jenn, even makes her own! My cousin has a vineyard in the city of Napa, Crane Family Vineyards, and Jenn’s family’s vineyard is in Napa as well, on the other side of town. As of the date of this original post, The Bishop family vineyard, Terra Solis, sells most of its fruit to AXR. However, since 2018, Jenn and her Dad have been making their own small batches. Our sweet niece does the artwork.

Napa is both a city and a county, like San Francisco. So we’ll often refer to the location of both family vineyards in “Napa-proper” to indicate location more specifically. 

We love to be outside, and especially enjoy it with friends. We love to cook and entertain in our home in the hills of the East Bay. We’ve spent every year in our home improving it and we take on most of the projects ourselves. We joke/are serious about starting a YouTube channel to share how we’ve made all these improvements. But for now, it’s just a pipe dream. To be continued!

I will say that when clients and I connect on a deeper level, clients report back higher satisfaction from the work we're able to accomplish together. This is why I’ve shared all this about myself. If you’re still reading, we’d probably be a great match. We don't need to be best pals, but you should be comfortable in investing in our relationship with the purpose of hoisting up your financial life. Those who work with me for coaching have to have some level of vulnerability when we dissect your net worth statements and your every bank transaction. Since you might be sharing all that with me, the least I can do is share about myself.

In the past, I thought as an accountant I needed to be "buttoned-up" and only allow most people to see one single side to preserve my "professionalism."

After 20 years now though, it's clear that all that buttoning up comes off as intimidating and limits the ability for truth to be shared in conversations between us.

How can a coach help you transform if you're partially pretending because you don't want to admit something, either a lack of knowledge or a debt or whatever it is?

I often hear from new clients that they worked with other professionals in the past but they never really understood what they were talking about or the old CPA didn't want to explain anything. Or, someone wanted to ask about something they didn't understand but were too embarrassed so missed out on opportunities. My point is, I'm here to tell you there is a large amount of collective shame in our population over our financial ignorance which can compound into delusions or outright refusal to even try to learn how to be better with money. Let's move past that.

So, are you ready for financial coaching?

Do you need a CPA?

Do I need a CPA or a Financial Coach?

(skip to Financial Coaching)

Whether you punch the clock to help keep a business booming or you own your own business, there’s no avoiding it: tax season is coming, year over year. Some of us look forward to this time of year - big refund equals big cash to splurge, pay off bills or book a vacay.

For many small business owners, this time of year equates to stress, piles of paperwork, tracking down and making sense of receipts and expenses… all ingredients for a whopping headache. It doesn’t have to be this way. A trusted and talented accountant could be your solution to relieve some of the painful parts of running a successful business. If any of these scenarios have you nodding your head, a CPA could be the prescription for your woes.

1 ) I keep getting odd notices from the IRS - are they real or a complete scam?!
Unfortunately, the world we live in can be a dubious place. Scammers are out there and they’re working hard to prey on business owners, especially those who are new to the entrepreneurial scene. Not only will a CPA help decide which phone calls and letters need to be acknowledged, and which to be ignored, they can also help communicate for you with the IRS and state tax authorities.

2 ) I spent hours choosing an accounting software, but I now have NO IDEA what to do with it.
We get it - choosing an accounting system was taxing enough. Now you’re trying to learn what it can do and how it can help you run your business… WOOF. The last thing you want to do is watch tutorials and YouTube videos, or spend time on the phone with the company’s customer service rep just to get the dang thing set up! Learning an accounting tool and applying it effectively is certainly not on the list of reasons why you started your business. If you’re giving yourself a pat on the back for figuring out how to publish an income statement, you should be! But now you have to figure out what you’re even looking at. By enlisting a CPA, you’ll outsource the work that needs to be done and enlist a partner to help you make sense of the cents, and ideally, dollars. Lots of dollars! A CPA can guide you through the growth changes that will happen over the next few years, or for a lifetime.

3 ) I just took a look at the tax form instructions and they might as well be written in Swedish.
Did reviewing those instructions bring back memories of the last time you tried to put together a piece of IKEA furniture? Yeah, I get it. The guidelines to file your own taxes aren’t written for the average Sue. One misstep could result in a lot worse than a just a lopsided bookcase. Accounting and tax errors can result in lots of corrective work on the flipside or even costly penalties that could take months or years to bounce back from. Leaving it to your accounting partner takes all the guesswork out of these often confusing instructions, protecting your business and bank account both short term and in the long run. Also, if an accountant messes up for you, you can have some recourse with the accountant. If you mess up on your own, that’s it, you’re in the hot water alone.

4 ) I own a [insert your business here], and I don’t know what I don’t know.
Working with small business owners, I hear one single phrase more than any other - “I don’t know what I don’t know.” And they’re 100% spot on. We here at BP know the intimate details of tax code. So many small business owners live and die by what they hear chit chatting at networking events from other entrepreneurs loving to impart sage advice to their newbie counterparts. While most of these folks are completely well meaning, these little “tips” could lead you into murky waters. Having a trusted CPA on speed dial will help you in the long run. Not only will they separate fact from fiction, they’ll keep you abreast of what you absolutely NEED to know to run your business, and handle the rest without causing you to skip a beat.

5 ) I’m trying to stay lean - can I save by doing my own taxes, or will it ultimately cost me?
Remember that time in college when you felt empowered to color your hair all by yourself? It was around the time that deep reds were popular, and a box of DIY dye was just $5.99 at CVS - yahtzee! We all know how this story ends - two hundred dollars and three hours later in a salon. Neon orange (or magenta) just wasn’t the color you were going for, and you needed a pro to help you rectify your new ‘do. Now imagine this same scenario, but for your business. The stakes are much higher than a fashion faux pas. If you’re trying to keep overhead low, it usually means you’ll need to make investments upfront to protect yourself from penalties or corrective fees down the road. Going at it alone may help you run lean in some aspects of your business, but trying to keep up with your books and satisfy government requirements all by your onesies is not only risky, but time consuming. Let the pros handle this. It keep your liability low, and give you the chance to grow your business in the meantime.

At the end of the day, a CPA can be the light at the end of a dark tunnel for so many business owners. Accountants go through years of schooling to speak a language that most entrepreneurs can’t begin to translate. Let them handle the scary, mundane and confusing aspects of running your business, so you can focus on whatever it is you went out on your own to do!

What about Financial Coaching?

Before I go into the specifics of a financial coach, I’d like to step back a bit more broadly.

Anyone can call themselves a coach. I am also a CPA. Misrepresentation as a CPA comes with consequences. Our CPA licensure binds us to ethical and educational recurring requirements. Anyone can say “I’m a coach.” Therefore, the coaching industry can get some negative associations. But fear not, this industry wouldn’t also be thriving if it didn’t provide real value.

For those wanting to dedicate themselves to a credential, and elevate how they can represent themselves, coaches get to obtain various levels of certification through the International Federation of Coaching, IFC.

The IFC defines coaching as

“ partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”

A financial coach is someone who will not only provide financial knowledge to you in the context of education and empowerment but will also prompt you to actively develop the values, guidelines, and plans around your financial life that support the goals you want.

This year, I attended a webinar put on by the woman who I first learned financial coaching from, Saundra Davis. She jested “Anyone who has paid a bill these days can call themselves a financial coach.”

From the perspective of communicating to the public how I can help them, it is a downgrade, in my opinion, to highlight “coach” over CPA. But,

being a coach, as a CPA, is the highest value I can offer to others at this stage in my life.

I’ve adored doing this work. Now that I’ve focused on coaching for the last few years, I feel all of that technical nerdy experience was meant to inform me as a coach. I have the experience to know what people are dealing with when they share their financial vulnerabilities with me.

For maybe 5 years or so, once I was self-employed, I was consistently getting feedback that I was helping people sleep better at night just from doing their annual business tax return. I could hear the deeper problems when I spoke to my clients, but they didn’t hire me to tell them how to manage their budget, they hired me to complete their tax return. The work we do coaching is much different than what is required to complete tax filings.

This deafening internal horn blew inside saying “There’s something more you’re meant to be doing; not just tax returns!” After already having served as a financial coach from a charitable perspective, it was time for me to make sense of how coaching would be my focus.

I can confidently say I’ve seen people’s lives transform from their financial coaching journey through the work we complete together.

I know how good it feels to transform your relationship with money because I’ve done it myself. Assisting others to level up too is simply the best job I’ve ever had.

But are you ready for a financial coach?

You might be saying to yourself:

• I’m stressed about my money.
• I wish I had more clarity around how much is OK for me to spend on my favorite things?
  
• I’m willing to put in extra work now to help my retirement, but I’m not sure how to develop this plan in the right way.
  
• I want my business success to fund my goals in the right way but I’m not sure how.
  
• I want to have a system to feel in control of my finances.
  
• I wish I had a trusted advisor who could educate me on what’s relevant to my facts.
  
• I’m ready to put in some upfront investment time to create as easeful reguarlty recurring money routine.

If you can relate to any of these statements - book an Intro Call with me!

If you aren’t saying “I’m good with money,” I know there is a better way for you.
Let’s do it.

Love,

💜 Coach Jacque