Hidden Gems: Meet Laura Griffin of Bailey’s Bookkeeping and Accounting Services

Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Griffin.

Hi Laura, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Worked in public accounting for 4 years out of college, after being the first person that they offered a full time position to before graduation after my internship. I left public accounting, started working as a financial and plant controller for various small and large businesses. After the birth of our daughter, I wanted to start my own business so that I could be home with our daughter. I reached out to my prior CPA bosses for referrals and within 2 days, my business was born with my first client, in 2009. Since then, I have grown organically, through word of mouth, and over the last 16 years, helped countless businesses grow from the ground up, or helped train and streamline their existing staff. I hired some additional help a few years ago and together we have formed what we call TBAM. This stands for THE bad ass mamas. We have a few mottos that we take pride in…. “we gotcha” and “we’ll figure it out”

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Struggles have been growth, or too much work when I could not afford to hire anyone. It is also hard to get people that I can trust, or that I can take the crazy things in my brain and translate them to someone else. In 2024, my cousin NIcole and 2 other amazing team members joined with us and it is going well now. Lots of tough paths when it was just me.

As you know, we’re big fans of Bailey’s Bookkeeping and Accounting Services. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are a small boutique bookkeeping and accounting firm run my moms. We are all moms who have worked around our kids lives since we started this. When I started the company, my daughter was in Kindergarten and she is now a 5th year senior in college. I started with one client and organically grew to more than 50 clients through the life of the company. I did all of it myself and then in the last few years, hired some additional mom talent and we are looking to grow. We have had a variety of business types, a very wide ranging portfolio of clients. What I did not realize until I started this was how much I love to teach. What sets us apart is that we are willing and happy to help TEACH our clients, not just give them a script. I consider it a win when we come into a new client, clean things up, look for ways to streamline, and then train existing staff to where the client then ends up just needing us to look things over once per quarter. I love helping new businesses get off the ground, help train them in small business, help network for them and grow with them.

TWO thing that I DO take pride in are our 2 mottos, “we gotcha” and “we’ll figure it out”. We have a very dedicated team that work literally around the clock, we all have different schedules. This means that at least ONE of us available to work on your books. We have, in the past, stepped in to cover for AP and AR clerks for smaller companies that only have that one person doing it all, who is then afraid to even take a few days off because they will come back to chaos. We can step in, take care of your AP, your AR, your cash reconciliations, whatever your needs may be.

We have worked in many different system, Quickbooks, Net Suites, QT9, Peachtree, Sage. We are pretty good at figuring things out, most systems are pretty similar overall. We have worked with various point of sale systems as well, and integrating them into your accounting software if they are not fully integrated.

One of my favorite things to do is to “figure it out” and to “Columbo the heck” out of things. I really LOVE coming into a set of books that may have a bit of a mess in them and cleaning them up. Most outside accountants and bookkeepers tend to stay away from the mess, I LIVE for the mess. Once it is cleaned up, we love to show your staff how to keep it that way.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Alex Cross novels

Pricing:

• 85.00 per hour for most clean up
• 85.00 per hour for AP / AR Clerk work
• 85.00 per hour for Year end account reconciliations and work with your external CPAs
• 350.00 for Corporate returns
• 175.00 for personal returns

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.baileysbookkeepingandaccounting.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578737737844
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bailey-s-bookkeeping-services-llc-02a86b366