Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimberly Brezik.
Hi Kimberly, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My parents moved to Texas when I was only six years old to pastor a group of people who were meeting in their house and praying that God would send them a pastor. My father had been a successful CPA in California when God called him into the ministry. My dad left his successful CPA practice to come to the backwoods of Conroe, Texas in 1979. By the time I was 17 years old, I started working for the church doing bookkeeping and office administration. My dad trained me on how to keep books and prepare Financial Statements for analysis. At the age of 24, I met the love of my life and got married. It was hard times financially for us as my husband made a guaranteed $300 a week at an auto mechanics shop and I was making $400 a week as a bookkeeper for a local company. I soon gave birth to my first child and continued working until I gave birth to my second child two years later. Two years later, I gave birth to my third child. We chose to send our children to public school for kindergarten to learn social skills and how to follow directions. I homeschooled them from 1st grade on. When my son (my 2nd child) was in 5th grade, he was still not able to read. I was spending all my time helping him, not leaving any time for the other two children. We ended up enrolling all three in a small charter school near us. When my oldest daughter was almost 15 years old (2013), we decided to put her in a Christian School. In order to cover the cost of her schooling, I had to go back to work. I contacted my previous boss who was a CPA to ask him to be a reference for me on my job applications. He offered me a job working for him out of his home office. I started out just doing his personal bookkeeping, but he soon trained me to prepare tax returns. I prepared tax returns for individuals, corporations, partnerships, non-profits, and sole proprietorships. I even helped him prepare the financials for an audit of a 501(c)(3). In 2019, he decided he wanted to retire, and he allowed me to purchase his client list from him. At that time, my youngest daughter was having difficulties in school and decided to come home and finish her high school at home. She enrolled into Lone Star Community College at 15 years old and took dual credit classes to get her high school diploma. Being able to work out of my house came the opportunity to help her and still run my business. I am just finishing up my sixth year of running my own business. Working from home has been great. My oldest daughter has found herself as a single mom, and I have been able to help with watching my grandson while she goes to work.
I enjoy serving my clients, but my greatest pleasure comes from teaching my clients how to do bookkeeping and helping them understand how their taxes work. I do not merely want to prepare taxes, but I want to work together with the client so that we both have a clear understanding of how the IRS views their business and the financial obligations of the company. If a client ever has to pay taxes, I like to help them understand the “why” behind the numbers.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Communication is the biggest challenge when it comes to bookkeeping and tax preparation. When I had more bookkeeping clients, it seemed like there were always the clients who would take days or weeks to answer an email or give me the additional data that I needed. This would prevent me from moving forward with their books or tax return. I would have to remember to come back and remind them that I needed the answers. Sometimes they would say that they lost the email or could not access the file I sent. I seek to answer whatever question my clients have, but sometimes is seems like they do not know what questions to ask to get the answers they need. I am always working to make things more clear and understandable.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I have been bookkeeping for more than 35 years. I have been preparing taxes for more than 10 years. I prepare tax returns for individuals, partnerships, estates and trusts, sole proprietorships, and S corps. I use QuickBooks Online and can help clean up the books to prepare them for a smooth tax preparation process. I work with my clients so they can understand what they can do to make their tax preparation process smoother and quicker. I charge by the hour, so whatever the client can do to be more organized will save them money in the long run. What I am most proud of is my ability to help the client understand what affects their taxes and what they can do to maximize their refund.
Though I do offer bookkeeping, it is my goal to train most clients to do their own bookkeeping. The client knows their business far better than I do and knows what each expense was made for. I consider my bookkeeping skills to be more valuable in the analysis of Financial Statements.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The most important lesson that I’ve learned throughout my journey is that everybody wants somebody to help them walk through the things that they do not understand. Understanding is power.
Pricing:
- $125/hr tax preparation
- $100/hr bookkeeping
Contact Info:
- Website: https://breziktaxservices.com
