In Conversation With Our CEO, Carleen Lamay
This month at C2 Accounting we are celebrating our incredible CEO, Carleen Lamay! Carleen has been in this industry for many years, with an interest in financial literacy being instilled in her at a young age. In conversation with our CEO, we asked Carleen to share some inspiration and wisdom regarding both bookkeeping and small business ownership. Here’s what she had to say!
Q: Tell me about your background. How did you first become interested in bookkeeping? And what steps did you take throughout your life to turn that interest into a career?
A: Interesting question. So I have a degree in business and finance. I grew up with a healthy financial education from my family who just modeled good financial habits.
I’ve worked in a variety of financial roles, from banking to lending to, obviously, bookkeeping and accounting. I worked for large companies like a major airline. And I’ve worked for small mom and pop shops. And I just enjoyed working for the smaller companies. You really got to be involved in all aspects of the business, and learn a lot more versus the small role you have when you work for a large company. I realized I had a passion for business ownership and entrepreneurship. And so I kind of married that to my financial experience with my passion for being an entrepreneur.
Q: How has building this business made you attuned to understanding the needs of other small businesses? In other words, what are some of the unique challenges faced by small businesses that your experience has made you uniquely qualified to handle?
A: Being a small business owner myself, I understand their frustrations around cash flow… Around managing their own clients expectations… Their frustration around, “how do I do it all?” and not be so overwhelmed. Which is one of the reasons why we say our job is to bring our clients peace.
I understand that you are wearing so many hats, and it can be extremely overwhelming. And there are days where you want to go, “Why am I doing this? Again, why don’t I just go back and get a job,” but for those of us that are entrepreneurs, it is kind of in our blood. It’s just who we are. It’d be very hard to go back to work for someone else. So I try to make it so that [small business owners] continue doing what they want to do, which is to be self-employed, to own their business, to grow their business.
Q: When you were building C2 Accounting, what were some things you wanted to offer that you were not seeing in the rest of the industry?
A: Education. I think that’s one of the things that we kind of pride ourselves in. I’ve had people come to me that say they have someone doing their books, but they still don’t understand. They don’t understand the numbers, or what they mean. I will say it’s a two way street, and that clients actually have to be inquisitive. They actually have to want to learn. But if they do that, we’re more than happy to hold their hands, guide them, explain, be very patient and speak in a way that makes the numbers understandable. We don’t ever talk down to any of our clients. We want to meet them where they are.
Q: What’s a bit of advice you might give to a small business owner who is passionate about their product or service, but nervous about handling the financials?
A: Outsource. Get someone to help you. If you are amazing at providing services, if you are amazing at creating products, if you’re really good at sales or marketing, do what you do, do what you love and outsource the rest. Find people who could support your business and your dream.
Q: What would you say to encourage other young women, particularly young Black women, to get involved in fields which are often mistakenly identified as “men’s” career paths?
A: Don’t ever be intimidated. As women, we tend to downplay our strengths. Someone says, “Wow, that was great!” We’re like, “Oh, well, it isn’t that big of a deal,” or “It wasn’t just me, it was the team.” Whereas men are like, “Yeah, you’re right.” And we have to, not in a way that becomes arrogant, but in a way that doesn’t diminish our light. Don’t let anything or anyone diminish whatever passion you have. And there’s no such thing as a men’s field.