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Five services, and most owners start with one. If you are not sure which, that is exactly what the first conversation is for.
Most owners cannot answer a simple question about their own business: where did the money actually go last month. Not because they are careless, but because nobody has been keeping the books in a way that answers questions. I keep them current, categorised and reconciled, and then I tell you what they mean. That second part is the part almost nobody does. If you are spending too much in one place and starving another, you should hear that from me long before you ever feel it in the bank.
“I do not actually know where my money is going.”
Business and personal returns, prepared by someone who already has your books in front of her. That is the whole advantage of doing both in one place: nothing has to be reconstructed at the last minute from a shoebox and a bank feed. If you are behind, say so and nothing about it will be a lecture. Three years behind is a Tuesday around here. Before you leave, you will know exactly what I need from you and when the work is coming back.
“I am behind, and I have been putting off saying so.”
There is a correct order to opening a business in Tennessee, and the cost of getting it wrong shows up years later when something does not match. I handle the formation, the EIN, the Secretary of State filing and the Department of Revenue registration, and I tell you which fees are mine and which are the state's before you pay anything. If you have been running as a sole proprietor on your own social security number and you want an LLC, that is the same conversation.
“I want to do this properly and I do not know the order.”
A business you stop paying attention to does not quietly go away. It keeps accruing obligations, and the state keeps expecting to hear from you. Closing one properly takes a short conversation, a filing, and making sure it is actually closed on TNTAP as well as with the Secretary of State. People miss that second half constantly and find out about it much later. It is one of the least expensive things I do and one of the most relieving.
“I need to close it and I do not want it hanging over me.”
Your registered agent is the address the state uses when it needs something from your business. If that mail goes somewhere you do not check, or to an address you moved out of, you can lose your business without ever seeing the letter. I have watched it happen to someone who simply forgot an annual report. When I am your agent the notice comes to me, I tell you plainly what it is, and it gets answered long before it ever turns into a problem.
“I got something from the state and I do not know if it matters.”
A commissioned notary public serving Rutherford County. Useful entirely on its own, and genuinely handy when we are already working through your paperwork together and something needs to be executed correctly while it is in front of us.
“I need this signed and witnessed and I do not know where to go.”
Written procedures are the difference between answering the same question forty times and answering it once. I write yours in language your people will actually read, covering what genuinely comes up in your business rather than a template that could belong to anybody. The test is a simple one: could somebody brand new read it on a Monday and do the job properly on Tuesday.
“I answer the same five questions every single week.”
That is normal, and it is the easiest thing in the world to fix. Tell me what a week looks like for you, and I will tell you exactly where I would begin.