Real Results
Every business we work with starts somewhere different.
Cleaning Company That Had Never Filed a 1099
The Problem
A commercial cleaning company had grown from a one-person operation to a team of 12 independent contractors over three years. The owner had never filed a single 1099. She was paying contractors through Zelle and personal checks with no paper trail and no tracking system. Her books were a year and a half behind, and she had recently been asked by a property manager client to provide proof of insurance and financial documentation before renewing a major contract.
She didn't have financial statements to provide. She didn't even know her annual revenue with certainty.
What We Did
We started with a full catch-up of 18 months of bookkeeping. We reconciled her bank accounts and credit cards, categorized every transaction, and separated personal spending from business expenses. We set her up on QuickBooks Online with a chart of accounts built for a cleaning business, including categories for supplies, contractor payments, transportation, and insurance.
We also prepared and filed 1099s for all 12 contractors for the prior year and set up a system to track contractor payments going forward so filing would be straightforward at year-end.
The Result
She renewed the property management contract because she could finally produce the documentation they required. Her CPA was able to file her overdue tax return without guesswork, and the 1099s went out on time for the first time ever.
More importantly, once she could see her numbers clearly, she realized two of her cleaning contracts were barely breaking even after paying her crews and covering supplies. She renegotiated one and dropped the other. Her take-home pay went up even though she was doing less work.
She now gets monthly financial statements and never has to worry about year-end scrambling again. When a second property manager asked for financials during a new bid process, she had everything ready within a day. That contract alone more than made up for the one she walked away from.
Trucking Operator Who Couldn't Tell a Good Load From a Bad One
The Problem
A small trucking company running three trucks out of Hunts Point had been in business for four years but had never set up proper books. The owner tracked revenue in a notebook and paid bills from his bank balance. Fuel costs, insurance, maintenance, and loan payments all came out of the same account with no categorization.
He was accepting every load offered to him because he assumed more work meant more money. But at the end of every month, there was barely enough to cover the truck payments.
What We Did
We built his books from scratch in QuickBooks Online. We categorized a full year of transactions and set up expense tracking by truck so he could see what each vehicle was actually costing him. Fuel, tolls, maintenance, insurance, and loan payments were all broken out individually.
We calculated his true cost per mile for each truck and created a simple monthly report comparing revenue per load against actual operating costs.
The Result
One of his three trucks was consistently losing money. The maintenance costs on that vehicle had been climbing for months, and the loads it ran were shorter routes with lower rates that barely covered fuel and tolls. He sold the truck, paid down the loan, and focused the remaining two vehicles on the routes that actually generated profit.
His monthly net income improved even though he went from three trucks to two. He now reviews his cost-per-mile numbers with us before committing to new contracts and has turned down loads that looked attractive on paper but would have lost money once deadhead miles were factored in.
He also started setting aside money monthly for truck replacement based on the depreciation schedule we built, rather than getting blindsided when a vehicle needs to be retired. He told us he finally feels like he is running a business instead of just hauling freight and hoping it works out.
Restaurant Guessing on Payroll and Late on Sales Tax
The Problem
A family-owned restaurant with 10 employees had been handling payroll internally using spreadsheets. The owner's daughter ran the numbers every two weeks, but tip reporting, overtime calculations, and New York's tip credit rules were causing constant errors. Employees complained regularly about incorrect checks, and trust was slipping.
Sales tax filings were consistently late on top of everything else. The owner had received two notices from the state and was worried about what would happen if a third one came.
What We Did
We moved them onto a payroll system that handled tip credit calculations, overtime, and tax withholdings automatically. We filed the backlogged sales tax returns, addressed the outstanding notices, and set up a process to reconcile POS reports against actual deposits so sales tax collection was accurate going forward.
We also took over their monthly bookkeeping so food costs, labor, and overhead were properly separated in their financials for the first time.
The Result
Payroll errors stopped completely. Employees are paid correctly every period, and the awkward conversations about wrong paychecks are gone. The state notices were resolved without additional penalties because we demonstrated the business was now current and had proper systems in place.
The bigger discovery came from the monthly reporting. The owner was surprised to learn that his food cost percentage was nearly 40 percent. Industry benchmarks for his type of restaurant suggested it should be closer to 30. Once he could see the numbers clearly, he renegotiated with two suppliers and adjusted portion sizes on his highest-cost dishes. Within three months, food costs dropped to 33 percent. That difference alone was worth thousands of dollars per month.
He told us he had suspected the problem for a long time but could never pin it down without the numbers in front of him. He now reviews his P&L with us monthly and catches cost increases before they eat into his margins.
Barbershop With Booth Renters, Cash, and No Paper Trail
The Problem
A barbershop in the Bronx had four booth renters and two employees on payroll. The owner was collecting booth rent in cash, depositing it alongside his own service revenue, and paying his barbers through a mix of checks and cash. No 1099s had ever been issued to the booth renters. No clear records existed separating booth rental income from service income.
His CPA warned him that the IRS could reclassify his booth renters as employees if he couldn't demonstrate the arrangement properly. That would trigger back payroll taxes and penalties he couldn't afford.
What We Did
We set up QuickBooks Online with income categories that separated booth rental revenue from the owner's own service revenue. We created a tracking system for cash received from each renter and matched it against signed booth rental agreements.
We prepared the missing 1099s for the prior year and set up a process to track payments throughout the current year so filing would be simple going forward. We also took over payroll for his two employees to make sure withholdings and filings were handled correctly.
The Result
The owner finally knows exactly how much the shop earns from booth rent versus his own chair. He discovered that one of his renters had been consistently short on monthly payments, something he hadn't noticed because everything was lumped together. That conversation was uncomfortable but it resolved a cash leak that had been going on for months.
The 1099s went out, and his CPA was satisfied that the booth rental arrangements were properly documented and reported. The reclassification risk dropped significantly. His two employees now get clean, accurate paychecks every two weeks without the owner having to calculate anything manually.
He told us the biggest change is that he actually understands what the shop makes now. He used to assume busy days were good days, but once he could see booth rent, product sales, and his own service revenue broken out separately, he realized how much of his income was dependent on his own time in the chair. That clarity pushed him to raise booth rental rates for the first time in three years, which his renters accepted because the shop stays full.
Property Manager Mixing Tenant Deposits With Operating Cash
The Problem
A small property management and building maintenance company managing 30 residential units was running all money through a single bank account. Tenant security deposits, rent collections, maintenance fees, and the owner's operating expenses were all mixed together. He had no idea how much of the money in his account actually belonged to him versus what was held in trust for tenants.
A tenant dispute over a security deposit return made him realize how exposed he was. New York law requires security deposits to be held separately, and he was nowhere close to compliant.
What We Did
We helped him open a dedicated trust account and separated every dollar that belonged to tenants from his operating funds. We went back through the prior year to identify all security deposits received and created a ledger tracking each deposit by unit and tenant.
We set up his books in QuickBooks Online with class tracking so income and expenses could be viewed by property. We also took over monthly bookkeeping and bill payment so the separation stayed clean going forward.
The Result
He is now fully compliant with New York's security deposit requirements. The trust account is maintained separately, and every deposit is documented and traceable to a specific tenant and unit. The dispute that triggered all of this was resolved quickly once he could show exactly where the money was.
Beyond the compliance fix, the property-level reporting changed how he thinks about his business. He discovered that one of his buildings was consistently more expensive to maintain than the others because of aging plumbing. He had been absorbing those costs without realizing how much they dragged down his overall margins. With that information, he adjusted his maintenance reserve for that building and started planning the capital improvement rather than reacting to emergencies quarter after quarter.
His monthly financial statements now show a clear picture of each property's performance. His accountant has everything needed for tax season without the usual back-and-forth, and he no longer worries about a tenant dispute turning into a legal problem because the money is where it is supposed to be.
Catering Business That Needed Numbers Before It Could Grow
The Problem
A catering business had doubled its revenue in two years but the owner felt like she was working harder with less to show for it. Her books were six months behind, she had no budget, and she was making purchasing decisions based on instinct rather than data.
She wanted to hire two full-time kitchen staff and lease a larger prep space, but she had no idea if the business could actually support the added costs. Her bank asked for financial projections and she had nothing to give them.
What We Did
We caught up six months of bookkeeping and organized her financials so revenue, food costs, labor, and overhead were clearly separated. We set up her chart of accounts to reflect how a catering business actually operates, with categories for event-specific costs versus fixed overhead.
We then built a budget and a 12-month cash flow forecast that modeled the cost of the new hires and the lease. We showed her exactly what revenue level she needed to sustain the expansion without running into cash shortfalls.
The Result
The forecast revealed that the expansion was viable but only if she maintained her current booking pace through the slower winter months. She used the projection to negotiate a lease start date in spring when her revenue was strongest, giving her a few months of cushion before the quieter season.
She presented the full financial package to her bank and was approved for a small line of credit to cover upfront costs. The bank told her it was the first time a catering business had come in with that level of documentation.
She hired the two kitchen staff and moved into the larger space. Within six months, the increased capacity allowed her to take on larger events she had been turning away. Her revenue grew another 30 percent that year. We continue to handle her books monthly and update the cash flow forecast quarterly so she always knows where she stands and can plan the next move with confidence instead of guesswork.
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