Build to Enough

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Keila Hill-Trawick: Hello. You're listening to Build to Enough, a podcast for entrepreneurs who want to scale at their own pace. I'm your host, Kaela Traywick, and I'll be your chief storyteller and cheerleader in a world that glorifies endless expansion, we're tuning out the noise and discussing the beauty of enough. Each episode will dive into inspiring stories, practical insights, and strategies to cultivate sustainable success on your [00:00:30] own terms. So whether you're a solopreneur, small business owner, or aspiring entrepreneur, get ready for a refreshing take on the entrepreneurial journey. This is build to enough. Hello and welcome back to Build to Enough Now. This is the third in a series, so if you haven't listened to the first two, definitely go back and pay attention to where we are discussing how to make your second half of the year a success. Now you know that this podcast is all about growing your firm at a sustainable [00:01:00] pace. And we really want to talk about not just financial health and the importance of client reviews, but like tech efficiencies. We've all got tech stacks that we're using to really make the best out of the resources that we're using.

Keila Hill-Trawick: And I am super excited today to invite ignition to be a part of that conversation. Now, we at Little Fish take streamlining operations very seriously. As you know, we're a really small team. We try to make sure that everybody is being used to their best [00:01:30] and highest use, and we're not getting bogged down by the weeds. And so software and tools have been extremely valuable to me. And ignition has been a huge part of that in our road to $1 million in hitting our strategic goals, our pricing goals, and just making packaging an easy way for us to run our firm and interact with our clients. So I am excited to have a special guest from ignition with us today. Jenny Moore is a firm owner and partnerships marketing manager, American, and [00:02:00] I look forward to hearing her insights today on what ignition is doing, the foundational functionalities of the platform, and why this was important to build for accountants. So welcome, Jenny. You're our first guest since we moved to build two. Enough.

Jennier Moore: Oh, awesome. Well Kayla, thank you so much. It's always a joy working with you. And we love you here at ignition and everything that you're doing. So yes, I'm excited to be here and hopefully I can answer the questions that our audience is looking for [00:02:30] when it comes to building this amazing product.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Very much so. So before we kick off the product itself, tell us a little bit about your journey, about you as both a firm owner and as a member of the Ignition team.

Jennier Moore: Oh, awesome. Sure. So I do have more details. It is a Canadian based firm that does operate with some clients in the US. I've been going strong for 18, almost 19 years, if you can believe that. And I've always had a drive for [00:03:00] education and learning, so went through a lot of the typical issues that, um, you know, mindset alignment, uh, different types of tech changes from desktop to the cloud. And just wanted to continue on with that educational journey. And that's where I found a place with ignition to help my accounting peers really understand tools and technology, and that there is a better and fun way to be engaged with our clients.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Yeah, so [00:03:30] we've been using ignition for a while. We worked with you for a bit, but for those that don't know who are new to the product, tell us a bit about what ignition does and for whom.

Jennier Moore: Absolutely. So I like to think of ignition as a revenue generating platform. What we really do well is we take that beautiful proposal experience that speaks the client's language, because they don't necessarily understand what we're doing as accounting professionals. They're debits and credits might look a little different to them. So [00:04:00] what we do is we create that in their natural language by using different features like video, brochure and a really stellar proposal experience. Then we tie that in with a paywall experience, which is important for us as accounting professionals to ensure we are paid. And then we finish that off with the letter of engagement piece, which is that necessary compliance item that we require, but not necessarily what clients may fully understand. So that's why we bring all of these features together [00:04:30] in a nice package to ensure that you're compliant and paid as well.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Yeah, we love ignition for all the reasons that you mentioned. Anybody who knows anything about what we do here knows that branding is very important. We like things to be pretty and we want them to be effective and efficient. Right? Like, we don't want it to have a shiny outer case, but behind the scenes feel like we're duck paddling. And so I'm really excited to talk today about kind of going under the hood, more about what ignition is building, [00:05:00] what you have built already and like what that is going to look like for accountants as they use the product. So my first question for you is what functionality was important to build and why when ignition was getting started. And as it's progressed to where it is now, what were the core things that you wanted to make sure were included as a company, and what kind of led you down that path?

Jennier Moore: Oh, that's a great question. And and being an industry now as a product for over ten years now and having over 7000 [00:05:30] customers globally, we certainly have learned a few things along the way as well. For many of you that don't know, Guy Pearson, our founder, created ignition out of a need for his own accounting firm in Australia. He wasn't able to find that functionality piece in order to operate his own firm. So we were actually born from an accounting firm, which I think is a lovely experience. But I would say today what we're really looking for, for that [00:06:00] foundational functionality, is to make it easy to define and create your services with ignition and provide that clarity that our clients are looking for. I think so many of us experience that situation where the client assumes something's included in the scope, or you assume something about the client. We really bring that clarity piece together. And of course, ignition is also built to make the whole experience of engaging [00:06:30] clients more seamless. We don't make it awkward. Like I said in the beginning, I like it. I find it fun and innovative. I didn't always find it fun and innovative because I was using a different process before ignition, which is the reason why I adopted it in 2016. But I'd say what's also really important when we look at that. You know, foundational purpose and why we're building is the constant need [00:07:00] for automation. There are so many things that are happening in our day to day lives as accounting professionals, that we simply just don't have time on our time bank. There's only so many hours in a day to do silly, mundane tasks, and I think some of us are feeling that right. It gets stuck in a rut on how to do certain things, and there's got to be a better way of doing it. And that's really what we look for is what are those pain points? What can we alleviate [00:07:30] to make ignition a revenue generating platform for your firm?

Keila Hill-Trawick: That's actually a good segue to my next question, because, you know, accountants have a lot of complaints. We have a lot of thoughts. We have a lot of things that we want software to fix. Um, I feel like I tell ignition constantly. I don't want to be the one that's like, just make me a button. Why can't you insert this link or add this thing? But that being said, accounts are so different and we want so many different things and we want it perfect and fast and, uh, reasonably priced and [00:08:00] all of the things that all small business owners want. How do you determine the prioritization for features and enhancements as you run down those long lists of what you all want to achieve and what we are asking from you, how do you put things in the number one, number two, number three slot and still make sure that you're meeting all of those things that you just talked about?

Jennier Moore: Yes. Well, I think feedback is one of the greatest gifts we can give and receive. And I feel that with ignition, that's truly what [00:08:30] we do now. Is it challenging? Of course. It's a global product with different nuances and different countries and all of us as accounting professionals, as similar as some of the work we do. We do, as you say, operate very differently and may have different needs. And so with ignition, what we really do is try to prioritize the features that we see very closely by analyzing the feedback. So we're constantly working with you as an example. Right. Taking that feedback and bringing [00:09:00] it into our product, whether it's through our council members, through our ambassador program that we have through our customers at events, and also our Cam team as well, we're working together to find the main features that maximize revenue generation. Now we can't be a one stop shop app. That's one thing that's very clear. We're going to focus on what works really well, and that's revenue generation. And the other things that get prioritization is anything to do with, [00:09:30] you know, efficiencies or solving a critical pain point. So that's where the prioritization with our product team takes place. We work closely together, all of us, to determine what is a need. Our product marketing then works within that product team to bring that to life and also beta test it back and forth with select individuals in our industry, such as Keela, to make sure we're on the right track. Not to mention hiring accounting professionals like myself to help build the product, because frankly, [00:10:00] we've been in the trenches. We know what needs to be built. Yeah.

Keila Hill-Trawick: That's actually yeah it is. And I'd like to dig a little deeper in that because, sure, all of the places that you've been and all of us that you've been able to talk to, I'm sure you've gotten a ton of feedback that actually got to come to fruition in the product. What input have you received from accountants that really influence some current features and enhancements that are available in ignition?

Jennier Moore: Oh, yes. I think a couple [00:10:30] of ones that I've heard in the tours that I've had at conferences and just hearing it from individuals was we want to be able to provide discounts. I want to be able to put a discount but still show my value instead of just reducing the price. And that's very true in our product. Previously, we would just discount the price with the same value. But now with our new discounts feature, we're able to still articulate what our value is, but be able to show that gift of what that discount may be for [00:11:00] whatever reason. Now, I'm not a huge advocate in in discounting our services, but I would say that at some times we do want to pick our charity or pick the reason for a discount, and then be able to show that while still maintaining credibility to what our true value is. So I was really excited to see that push come forward as well. Of course, there's many things on our roadmap that I'd love to tell you about, but unfortunately would probably get a big old slap on the hands. But there's so many things that are coming [00:11:30] forth. The other thing I think that we really heard well was with regards to credit cards. Now, depending on some states, this isn't applicable. But for us as accounting professionals, We tend to be frugal and heck, I'm one of them too.

Jennier Moore: And I don't necessarily always like a client paying with their American Express Platinum card for the services and having that merchant fee. And I think one of the greatest services we've been able to bring forward as well is being able to [00:12:00] surcharge those fees back to the customer again, depends on your comfort level, depends on your state regulations. And that was a really interesting feedback as well. We also heard the issue with efficiency and time. I don't have time in my day to write out service descriptions, or I don't have time to do this time, time, time. So what we went and did. We were early adopters to artificial intelligence and AI because we wanted to [00:12:30] test it. We wanted to do our due diligence and always bring good quality features to our customers. And with that, with adopting time saving techniques. We've been able to have a new AI writer within our platform. So if it's 11:00 at night and you need to figure out how to write a service description for a reasonable compensation, simply put that in. And with our AI generator, we can help you with creating what that is in the client's language. So those are some key features that have come [00:13:00] out that I'm very proud of, that have really stemmed from listening.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Yeah, I mean, I, we love using ignition. One of the reasons is because it was really easy to set up. So when you were talking about like time and the, you know, we don't have space, for example, for accountants to learn a new tool. It was really easy for me to set up my ops manager to be able to kind of get in there, start getting us set up, and then actually getting it rolled out to clients really quickly. Even with just the [00:13:30] core things, the ability for us to get our packages in ignition already had some set up. We work a little bit differently from accounting firms. And so some of them we were able to use as templates, but even the ones that we made from scratch were really easy for us to do even without AI, because there was no AI in the product when we started. So that's really been helpful. So if you're on the fence, listeners of like, is this something that's going to take me a minute? Should I wait till the beginning of the year to turn it on? We were able to [00:14:00] do this really quickly, and it isn't a disruption to your clients. So one of the things that was helpful for us is it is a link or it's a direct email from the system. The client just sees something different.

Keila Hill-Trawick: So instead of it being a whole platform that they have to log into or, um, find a new way to manage, or if you're like our firm, we have to teach you how to use a new software. That wasn't something that we had to deal with with ignition. So getting paid fast is always the goal. We get paid [00:14:30] for everything in advance, and ignition makes that super easy for us. But another thing that's been helpful and kind of a game changer from us. From the old product that we use is renewals are really simple. And honestly, that's probably the biggest transition that we've been able to have in terms of where we were and then where we were after we started using ignition was at the end of the year when it was time to, like tell clients of pricing updates or service updates or even just saying, here's a new offer that wasn't here last [00:15:00] time you were here, or last time when you first signed on. This is something that's available to you now. It was really easy to push that to everybody at once and then see their acceptance come in. And I would say one of the things that we've really used this hand in hand with the personal communications, right? I think a lot of people are worried about AI and, um, automation really taking the humanity out of those relationships.

Keila Hill-Trawick: But like Jenny said, those videos, I use them every time I send [00:15:30] a proposal to right after the call. Just record a video really fast that just says, first of all, thank you. Like, I'm glad that you're even considering us for this job. Um, and then it's a really easy way to give next steps. Hey, the next thing you're going to see is your proposal. You're going to go straight through that. Let us know if you have any questions. Otherwise it will direct you to your engagement letter and then your invoice payment. That is all going to happen right in this process. And so being able to do that and like a 92nd video [00:16:00] for clients whose only interaction with you so far is probably one call, has been a really cool client experience to that's allowed us not just to stand out, but also just give them another human touch. You know, getting an email that's like, hey, a reminder here is your proposal with the link to the original one that they got, and moving them forward feels like we're not like robots of using all of this automation and efficiency to make us better human beings to our clients. [00:16:30] So I think that those are really impactful ways that we've been able to use it alongside some of the things that you just mentioned.

Jennier Moore: Wonderful. Well, thank you for that, Kayla. That means a lot to us at ignition.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Of course, now, in addition to all of the things that you just talked about, there have been some very recent changes that you've made, like in the past 6 to 12 months, that have gone even leaps and bounds above what you were doing before that. Tell us a little bit about what those changes have looked like for us as accountants and for ignition [00:17:00] as a company.

Jennier Moore: Absolutely. So like I said, for us at ignition, what we do is we really do care and want to listen intently to what are the pain points so that we can help find these solutions for you within our product and within. The last 6 to 12 months have been really game changing within ignition. It's actually been challenging for me, even working for the company going, wow, that is an another update, or I'll go into my account for my practice [00:17:30] and go, oh, this is how this is so awesome. And so what are some of those things? Uh, I think for one is securing funds and scope. We know scope creep happens. It's the little monster that likes to come into our firm. Our clients ask us to do more because we really are financial superheroes. They just look to us to solve it and they expect a bill. I would say most of us just don't, Bill, because we we made it awkward before [00:18:00] in my opinion. So one of the greatest features we have is instant Bill. So what that is, is really it's a touch of a button. And I can instant bill for an additional out of scope item for a client that would normally protect the main engagement to say out of scope work will be billed at X or per, you know, some sort of rate card. But what I thought was really interesting in using it in our firm is we usually get the pick Jenny's brain fee or, you know, we call them optimizer [00:18:30] sessions, but usually it's just about more time with a team member than what's normally in the scope. So we would charge out 150 to $250 an hour. But we can easily do that now with instant bill. So we're not leaving money on the table. Yeah. And those those sessions are so important to the customer and they value them again, that's very much like financial therapy. And so this is just another way of being able to do that. That's that's one big one.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Yeah. [00:19:00] And I think that's important to you know, we're having all these conversations about valuing our time and making sure that we're getting paid for the things that we're doing. And I feel like this is a really easy way to do that without making people feel nickel and dimed. I think the other thing that's really cool about this is because all of the information for the client is already in there. It's an easy like add on link to be able to send to them. That doesn't start them from scratch. So I appreciate that when it comes.

Jennier Moore: I would say most times our clients are wanting to pay us more. We just we make [00:19:30] it difficult. And so by leveraging technology like ignition makes it simple to keep that relationship right. And I'd say another thing that's really important to all of us should be doing this, at least on a yearly basis, is automatically increasing your prices. Now, I don't know about your audience members, but I tend to see a trend every year with prices going up for my own home, right? For for running my business. And my employees want to be paid an increased amount each year. So prices [00:20:00] change on the bottom end. But if we don't, you know, stop and think about bringing in more money on the top end. As a firm, we can run into some problems. There's only so much you can cut before you, you know, need to really face that dragon head on. And that is a, you know, attacking that top line revenue and keeping it easy. So we actually make it quite easy to do price increases now within ignition, where you just automatically increase it per percentage. Obviously, the higher the percentage [00:20:30] you increase it for, the more risk of churn or a client leaving you. But you would have to assess that on your own, right. So I would recommend a regular increase is good. And we actually use this feature for the first time in our firm this year. And we didn't lose a single client, which was great. And I think it's just important for us to be able to continuously. You see it with your other subscriptions, right? With its Netflix or whatever it is. There's always, you know, a little bit more that one I'm really proud [00:21:00] of.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Yeah. And that's really exciting too, especially specifically as part of this series of like when you're doing this check in in the middle of the year and trying to determine, hey, what things should I be thinking about? Even if you're not making that price increase right now, you have time to reflect to see what you think that price increase should look like at the end of the year. What are the clients that you already think might say no? Who's on the ledge that you may need to have a conversation with, because you know that this could be a churn risk. Like, what are the [00:21:30] things that we can be looking at mid-year in order to prepare us for the end of the year so that when we go to raise the price, we are really effectively reinforcing the value that we bring to the client. So I think that's an incredible like add on to a service that we already know and love. So as we come to a close, for all of the things that we've talked about today, first of all, I want to say thank you, um, for just taking this time to walk us through how we can use ignition, how we're [00:22:00] able to make changes to our firms that like our very feel like small changes with a really big impact, which is something that we obviously take very seriously here at Build to Enough. So before we end, I would love for you to give some insight as to what makes ignition different. There are, you know, software and resources and tools constantly competing for our time and our dollars, and they all tell us that they are the best one for the thing that we need. Why do you think that? And why would you say that? Ignition is different? [00:22:30]

Jennier Moore: I'd like to think of ignition as the app that makes us money, and I think that that's really important when you're looking at your tech stack, is what is the return on investment for investing into something? Savings time is great. We obviously save time that that is true. But for me ignition is really that revenue generating platform. And that's what we need to address as accounting professionals is [00:23:00] sustaining our business model with a good top line. So of course efficiency but making more money is is really important. And I would also say just being able to offer, you know, unique capabilities for automation, whether that's with the client engagement itself, syncing it to amazing platforms like QuickBooks Online or Pro Connect. Anything with a zap. We have a gusto integration as well. These are, you know, non [00:23:30] siloed products. Now we actually have core integration. So we're looking for that efficiency and that relationship end to end between other app partners which I find is really intriguing because when us as app partners work together we are of a greater benefit to you, our customers as well. So I would say between securing that top line as being a revenue generator is the most important one. Efficiency. Of course, you're always going to find that. [00:24:00] But the biggest thing for me is show me the money, show me the apps that will make it.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Yeah, very much so. And I'll just add into that too, as everyone is thinking about their tech stack and we have some tech based conversations coming up on the podcast, too, I think it's important to think about what an overhaul would have to look like when you have all in one product. So really cool to have these integrations with other systems so that when you are changing pieces one at a time, it doesn't feel like you're [00:24:30] blowing up your firm in the meantime. So we will definitely talk more about that. But that's a really cool aspect of ignition, to just being able to talk to some of the other things that you're already using. So, Jenny, thank you very much for joining us today on Build to Enough. What would you say are the takeaways that people should be thinking about as they like? Consider ignition as their next step?

Jennier Moore: Yes, I would certainly say revisit the pain points that you're already feeling within your organization, and I hope you'll consider using ignition. [00:25:00] But really identifying the pain points, I think, is the first thing, and making sure you have the right app that will fill that gap for you. And I can't wait to be able to have a conversation with anybody from this audience that has embraced this journey, as well as Kyla and myself, and share some of the success stories.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Yeah, absolutely. We will have some links in the show notes for a free trial to move forward with ignition, as well as some additional information, maybe some visuals that you all can see and get [00:25:30] used to. Ignition. Not just from us talking about it, but being able to see it in practice. But Jenny, thank you so much for joining us today on behalf of ignition. We appreciate you.

Jennier Moore: Oh, same wise kilo. We appreciate you as well. Thank you so much for your constant feedback. Keep it coming.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Build to Enough. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate and share the love with your fellow entrepreneur friends, and make sure to sign up for the Build to Enough newsletter. The link is in the show notes. Stay [00:26:00] tuned for more episodes as we continue to redefine success one intentional step at a time.