 Welcome to the Columbia Economic Development Rethink Business Podcast. I'm very excited. Today we have a special guest with us. Her name is Starlett Miller and she is an accountant and business consultant and the owner of Star Accounting and Business Solutions and I was going to talk to her a little bit about her professional journey and her path into entrepreneurship. So good morning. Thanks for being here. Thank you for having us. And so I was kind of checking out your LinkedIn page a little bit this morning and reading about your background and how you have worked for some other companies and have now recently I guess in the past year and a half branched off on your own and started your own business. So I was hoping you could tell us a little bit about your background, what got you started kind of in the accounting and consulting field and why you decided to start your own business after seven years working in that field. Sure. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here and it's always nice when you get an opportunity to share your story. It's just a journey so I'm still in it. In the field of accounting I initiated that field purely for the sake of numbers. When I knew it was time to get my degree business was a no-brainer. I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit. My mom is still an entrepreneur but was when I was a young child so I was working within a small business from a very young age so that birthed that within me. But when it was time to get my degree I was trying to find the best industry that would convert to money at the end of the day because I had to pay for college. I wasn't blessed to have a full-ride scholarship or parents paying for schooling so I checked BLS.gov to find out which industries paid the most and accounting was it and aligned with my skill set. Turns out philosophy degrees won't get you very far. So it was really that's where I initiated accounting for me and I've always been a working student since I graduated high school I had a full-time job at a bank and went to school during the day so it was really about the grind of making ends meet right away as well as furthering my education. So that started the journey within accounting fast forward to now and a few years back I was working for a bank and within the I was able to get a position as a management accountant at one of our banks here in Columbia and it was a great position a great opportunity but it was in that role that I realized that that type of accounting work was not for me. I would show up to work with tons of work to do GLs to balance and things to do but I was bored out of my mind. So at the same time I was also realizing and understanding myself as a professional and then just as a woman what made me tick and I realized that I needed to be a part of something greater. I needed to be had to have a seat at a table and make a great impact a visionary just naturally I love to be creative that's something I've always known I just didn't know how to channel it within my profession which was was in business so I was able to shift from that position I worked for a CPA firm and I was when I got my experience working with small businesses and it was there that it really allowed me to experience working with people and working within different industries as well as exercising the skill sets that I've already obtained within accounting but what it provided me was something that made me excited was working with people and different industries it was something different I had to be creative I was constantly relearning things and learning how it would apply to different people and that's what I lacked in the other setting and environment so starting my own company meant that I own my own time and that was important for me then it is still important for me now it just means something different when you are owning and operating your own company you own your own time so whether it's you're doing what you're supposed to you're not doing what you're supposed to is still on you but being a mom as well as working and furthering my education being there for her now is important and owning my time means that I get a chance to be there for field trips or be there for her after school versus working 45 60 hours a week outside of my home without her and for me that's a higher value for me personally and I realized regardless to what I was gonna do I was gonna work hard at it I rather do it in a in a way that it's it makes sense for my lifestyle and for me as a mom that's extremely important and I'm not gonna wait until 30 40 56 years from now to do what really makes sense for me so that is why I decided to start my own company and it started off by just trying to do bookkeeping and avoiding going to a nine to five and I realized there's a need for the services that I provide and I enjoy what I do so naturally it turned into a business yeah and I was gonna ask you a little bit about why you decided to start your own business but I think you touched on some of those points already but I mean what was how was that for you to go from you know there's it takes a big leap of faith to go from you know working somewhere where it's structured there's kind of that that regular you know getting paid every two weeks to now you you are really accountable for for bringing it in and delivering and then you know in some cases even making sure that you are getting paid by the client when you're done with the work so I mean how was that for you to kind of just emotionally just jump into that sure I'm still in my first 12 months of operating 100% on my own so I'm still figuring this out I mean the process of proposal engagement set in the stage for your clients and making sure that you are paid for your time and then shaking off the imposter syndrome of who am I to do this kind of thing as well so it it's something that I'm still learning to perfect as I grow something greater than myself because the goal is not just to replace the salary for myself the goal is to hire other people set a culture for my organization that'll help do the same thing as done for me for other women or men or whomever so that's really the greater purpose is not just about me but making the shift I it's kind of hard to explain it takes courage for sure but I know my backup plan is a position I'm over-qualified for the bookkeeping work of things that I've done and I know it's there but I just got fed up with not being able to own my time and personally I've I've gone through some changes in my personal life and I realized that now is the time to take control and that's what I decided to do and it was just a matter of recognizing that there's value there and I provide value through the feedback from the clients I've serviced working for someone else and it was just taking the jump and as soon as I did I gained support so that was confirmation that I was headed in the right direction so yeah and and I noticed through you know looking at your website so it's not just traditional accounting bookkeeping services like you are working with your clients kind of looking at their business processes identifying those areas you know where they can be more efficient where they can streamline things so you're you're kind of looking at it from front to end and helping them streamline things and and get organized so that they can be more efficient and more productive and have better results as well so it's very focused on on you know their needs what are some of the major problems your people are encountering though I mean what do you kind of see from a general business perspective where people missing the mark and where can they be more productive at the average small business owners still working in their business so time is a huge huge problem having the time to work on your business is the biggest issue and most and I'm experiencing it as well I am all departments currently as a solopreneur but really having the mindset of creating efficient systems and processes preparing for your growth typically is not the mindset of the entrepreneur they're in business for what they're doing their service in your clients and they're bringing in people to help service the client but they're not working on building this machine of a business that will flow so that is usually the biggest issue and on top of that they're not looking at their numbers and often some people will see bookkeeping or accounting work as a means to your tax return because the iris will knock on the door every year without fail but that shouldn't be the only reason why you're looking at your numbers right if we want to be reactive sure and we know we need to follow our taxes but what about your business what's the five-year plan what is a two-year plan we understand the plan how we're gonna get there the only way you're gonna determine that is if you take a look at what's already happened and if you're a brand new business it's even more vital to set up those systems and be able to understand your numbers so what I help to provide is that quantitative data through their bookkeeping and then also looking at what's happening operationally when if you're in your own a landscaping plumbing type of business where your service and clients out in the field and you have technicians that are going from one place to another across the Midlands how you optimize in their time in your time if you're taking the call to dispatch these guys out into the field gals out into the field to service your customers we need to understand what's happening from point A all the way to point F and for me that naturally is just the way that my brain works so it really excites me when I'm presented with a client who has no clue because then that's a problem that I can really identify those gaps right and then once we identify the gaps what I love is to pair that with the technology that's already doing the job of streamlining it so there's so many third-party applications that help to automate your communication with your clients whether it is to send them a reminder about your appointment coming up to send feedback initiation or at least to check in because my I'm doing my job if I can help you as a business owner service your customer a client more efficiently and yes we want to do the job but we also want to provide great service and so you even help them identify that the technology that can help them with their specific industry so that you know they get they get tied in through that and they have automation and processes now yes why leverage technology for what it's what it's there for and there's so many options there so my job is to research and find the key features that'll pair up with the pricing that make the most sense for the business owner and this is service industry as well as other industries and that that's a that's a good strategy I think some people you either love technology and you really dive into that stuff or you're the person who's very technological reverse and you need someone like you to kind of come in and say this thing can really be of use to you and even internally so there are a lot of CRMs that'll help to maintain your customer's information internally and if you have a small team you all need to be able to communicate efficiently about your client your customer and even create your internal workflows so that's again we're all talking about time optimizing your time being more efficient and my goal is to have the small business owner that's working in their business transferred to working on their business and that happens when you create the systems in order to do that and then focus on growing their company there seems to be kind of a resurgence of activity in the entrepreneurial community here in Columbia of which you're a part of now and you know just a lot of energy from young up-and-coming business owners such as yourself who are getting more active involved and engaged in the community so from your perspective what do you what do you think's kind of driving that interest in activity and kind of how does it feel to be a part of that community here I think and this is this might be nationwide that the entrepreneurship has is grown and we since on a society level almost received permission that it's okay to take this route and we're dealing with a different generation who's taking control and what they're doing and thanks to social media and other platforms where we can be our own PR firm and market ourselves we don't need permission from the new station to tell our story it's really helped but here in Columbia I remember two years ago in 2016 I was a part of the savvy musician in actions kind of start up boot camp session and we sat in at City Hall and heard Mayor Benjamin speak about the vision that he has for our city and really wanting this to be a place where the talent stays there's innovation and there's entrepreneurship growth so I think not only are we pairing our generation with having permission and having the courage to just go ahead and do it we've got the the technology that's supporting us and giving us a voice where we can speak to other people but locally we have the resources that are put in place like like the co-working space that I'm a part of so cool and that's it is a huge huge help for me because that environment is what I was looking for when I compared my corporate America experience to working at a cubicle a nice big cubicle but it was a cubicle nonetheless not really working with people or tapped in and needing to wear my specific outfit just for the sake of of of uniform and performance but when I go into SoCo and I can just be who I am an artistic entrepreneur as well as an accountant and it doesn't make a difference what we're focused on is building something greater than ourselves and being creative and just sitting around talking about how we can take all of our businesses or what we're doing to the next level that to me for Columbia is vital so having the resources to help cultivate this and then pairing it with those that are going to be interested because I mean entrepreneurship is not for everyone I don't think that everyone needs to own their own business and it's okay to be an entrepreneur I'm one of those people I would not fare well with that environment and that's okay it's just really figuring out so all of my assessment for other people and for myself has been started internally I recognize that this is what I needed and not to say that there's not a company that would value my skill sets and allow me to sit at the table I decided to do it on my own but for some people they need that but we can't go far we can only go as far as the resources will allow us and thankfully Columbia is is on the track to provide those resources for entrepreneurs like ourselves and even having events like today what we have here we're relocated and there's resources coming together and saying how can we help so I'm glad to be a part of that for small business owners to say how can I help you and when I reached out to our community partners and say well what is the real need for small business owners here in Columbia now my services are not stationary to a physical location I will work I've got clients in other states and I work remotely constantly but I'm interested in serving the community that I'm a part of because that that's what I enjoy and I think technology has certainly enabled the younger generation you know folks who have embraced it more to the barriers to start your own business or lower than they used to be and the ability to reach out to people and tap into your potential market or customers or even just people who would be interested in here and what you're doing is greater than it used to be because you've got apps and social media platforms and websites are easier to make people are doing them their WordPress and on their own so the tools are there but you still need those traditional things you know you're still going to want to have a solid business plan you're still going to want to understand you know how are you doing your marketing who are you marketing to and why are you getting to that target market you know having access to people like yourself who can consult and kind of give you that third-party neutral view and say hey if you considered this thing over here they could help you know some of the old ways are still good but you know the technology is definitely allowed people to kind of ramp up what they do and when they do it and now they can a lot of people are doing it from home or from the co-working spaces so it's pretty awesome to see that now just this past month you got the opportunity to do a business pitch to Michael Bloomberg and a group of venture capitalists that he brought in to take a tour around the city of Columbia so how was that you nervous at all like what was that experience like I mean first I want to say it was a great honor to have the experience when I got the invitation to be in the room or be in the space when he was coming out that was all really just a billionaire I mean that's there's no pressure the dude's just got more money than right it's combined so so when I got asked to share my story in two minutes by the way share my unique story and give some information about the business that's not hard at all no did you sleep at all the night before the thing is rehearsing I only had that night before to prepare for it and this is something that most people don't know I actually came off of the stage performing I had a dance performance right before I met with my so not to say that I'm not juggling a whole lot but I am but the experience itself once it was actually happening was great I mean he is very personable he seemed like a really nice guy what was more intimidating was venture capitalists and I was really impressed at the diversity that stepped off with that bus I mean there were men women from all backgrounds and it was it was really nice to see and what kind of helped me to relax was that I knew I wasn't pitching for anything I wasn't looking for anything returned besides the experience and to meet them and to share my story so it was a little easier for me because of that but I was more nervous about the venture capitalists and anything because they listen to these pitch they understand business on they can compute things so quickly when it comes to your model how you scale what you're doing what you're not doing so once it was happening and it was done it was nice because I got a question from Michael two questions from Michael when we're getting some advice and then the venture capitalist Patrick who gave me some advice actually connected with him and he's followed up with me connected that's really cool a EVP at Salesforce in California so that might be a great connection he's given me some advice so again I didn't go there for a picture looking for anyone's money but it was a great experience to have to even within a quick turnaround share my story and I had to ask myself well what is my unique story because often we go through our lives and things happen and we persevere through things and we're juggling so much and we don't think it's that impressive until you share your story with someone and like wow you're going through all of that plus you're building a business so I had to really sit down I wrote out three or four pages of notes to prepare my two minutes that's what it takes to you you got to start big and really distill it down to the high value stuff so yes and they I was more excited to hear the stories of the other entrepreneurs who spoke the other three so it was just a great experience and I was honored to be there so I didn't really go there expecting too much besides the experience in the present so it was great definitely it was and even from my perspective it was definitely cool to just participate in and be involved in you know not every day you get that you know something like that happens in your hometown so you you talked a little bit about your dance background and I'm always really fascinated by people who are you know owning and operating their own business but who also have that that cultural or social aspect you know to their lives and what they bring to the table and so you've got experience and dance and performing arts and you even started your own performing arts program called I am art back in 2015 so tell us about that just because I think that's cool and fascinating so the arts is a passion of mine naturally I knew from a child that I was creative my mom gave me the freedom to create things so my room looked an entrepreneur who's creative there's no correlation right so I am the idea came out of an accounting class actually so I was interesting yeah the assignment was to come up with a fictitious business to develop the financial statements for we had to write a one-page paper and the financial statements of course and writing is not my thing I would clean the house I'll do laundry I'll probably take the leaves off the roof before I have to sit down and we're talking about a paper I can write a mean email and proposals are getting better too but for me writing wasn't something I was interested in so I figured I need to do this create this business and something that I'm interested in so it one of being a creative arts center and I called it the Northeast creative arts so the idea was for it to be a creative arts center offering dance music and visual art classes in addition to having an event space for evening type of things so in my mind I that's what I saw a brick and mortar offering classes and then what made it really different from dance studios or a music program is that the goal was to intertwine the discipline so a child would get dance classes as their core and then also have visual art classes or music classes what that has morphed into is a company that creates developed creative arts programming partnering with the organizations that are already here so I partnered with the art museum one year I have a partnership with ideology where and this is the program we're currently running we pair technology and creative arts expression we've done two years of week-long summer camp the first year they taught their students how to code sound so they created and produced music for our performance as well as LED lighting for e-textiles so they put the lights on our shirts and coded some of the robots to move in our performance my role was to direct it what I taught my students at the art museum so we had dance class at the art museum was contemporary technique improvisational technique so learning how to move on the spot from your own body and we also learn how to collaborate so how to work with others for a common goal and these are leadership skills that these students nine to fifteen are learning how to work with each other and peers and we worked four days to work up to a performance on the fifth day of the camp so it's so they had to learn a lot in a little bit of time yes it's a full all day summer camp eight eight o'clock to five full day just like real adult life we're gonna do this thing and we want it done yesterday so knock it out but believe it or not they they eat it up because as as young children they can learn so much and we that we give them credit for then we give them credit for so this year what we focused on was something similar but the students the technology students learn how to code images so we took made it really simple for them and creating these programs is in collaboration with itology so we came together December of last year what's the theme what's the goal for this current year their students learn how to code stick figures pretty much like animation so they had to make the stick figure move and my students learned how to take the movement that they were seeing and paired with their own movement so by the end of our camp we had moving figures that the middle schoolers coded and what we were able to do was go in and speak and give them language to creative movement so doing something like this and turning your head is a lot of lines of code that they had to learn and really understand how to fluidly put in place I mean these are people that are getting paid how much money to code animated figures on TV so these are skills sense that they can take and move forward and the greatest takeaway for me with this year's camp for the technology students was that they realized and what I my job was to help them realize they can be creative without being creative so most the average tech person feels that they have no creative bone they're just their technology and they're writing lines of code after all lines of code right well when I talked to one of the students he showed me his little piece of animated figure doing very simple set up a static movement and then he showed me something he did when he had free time and this two figures fighting hitting each other flipping moving so much movement around the screen I said well hey what happened to our dancer why is the dancer standing in place moving their hands up and down did you know that flipping doing the split turning is also movement and his dance is expressed like oh okay so he implemented that into his next together yes so to me that's the greater purpose yes we had a performance but really I am artist about the process and my goal with I am our is just to create these programs and connect with the dance studios connect with organizations that are teaching our students throughout the year the technique and then give them the platform to express and see what they come up with so it's really about creating the program that they can have a say in as well and as of right now I am artist a one week the dance and collaboration is a one week program throughout the just for the year because that's what I can manage operating two businesses but it's it's a passion project yeah it's not a heavy lift just doing both of these things over here and raise it my girls but with what with what we have with that one program is so rich it's too rich for me to just let go so I'm okay with where it's at is manageable it's a summer camp and hopefully I can hire some folks to come in and really take ownership and love it just as much as I do so that it'll bring on some relics well I think what you're doing with both of your endeavors but your your business that you're running on the day-to-day and your performance arts is like really good and a lot of people have trouble just you know juggling the one job much less doing that so it's really awesome that you're you've got both of these things running and it sounds like you know they're both moving in a really positive direction and growing too so I hope you know over the next year we we get to see more growth in both of those things and you continue to take those to the next level it sounds like they're both really awesome thank you and I'll be honest with you I struggled with the identity of the two so I feel like I had to hide one in certain settings and not another so over the past year and a half I've become more comfortable when we're in both hats and it being okay I would show up in a business professional accounting setting mentioned the arts and like oh the arts nonprofit that's cute but really taking ownership of both sides and finding the best way to marry my skills so that the love for the arts as well as my business sense and my accounting world that owning my business seemed to be the perfect spot so I appreciate being able to speak about both and it'd be okay well you know and yeah and even from the economic development perspective what we see you know companies want talent education and jobs and you know there's capital investment in those things but they still look at cities and your cultural amenities and your quality of life you know it's not just a one-sided equation anymore people want to go to locations you know where you can make a good living wage but there are things to do in the evenings and on the weekends and places to take your family to so you really kind of have to have that that balance overall as well as a city overall so but it's pretty cool that you found like a successful way to play in both spaces and and still manage to make it work and keep your sanity at the same time so it's pretty awesome hope to hear more great things from you over the next year on both of those fronts but um thanks a lot it's great having you and I appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to come in here and just talk with us and share about what you've got going on so thank you it's my pleasure