Lina De Luca is a Toronto accountant with over ten years of experience in public accounting. Her firm provides tax and accounting services for small businesses, as well as personal tax services for self-employed individuals and others.
- When did you open your business?
We opened in September 2018.
- What prompted you to open your own business?
I decided to open my own business as a way to work with smaller business clients on a more personal level. I was also drawn to the flexibility of working for myself.
- Tell us a bit about your business (products, services). What makes you unique?
I like to stay local and work with clients in the neighbourhood. I am really geared towards small businesses, entrepreneurs, self-employed individuals and personal taxes. The great thing about being a small firm, is that I can focus on relationship building and customer service.
I really love creating a unique customized accounting solution for each of my clients. Basically, I create a system for each of my clients that automates as many of the accounting processes as possible. The system is something that my clients use on a day to day basis. It ensures that they are tracking the right data, and makes the whole accounting process streamlined, simple and cost effective.
- What is “a day in the life of a small business owner” like for you?
My average day is a balance between client meetings and calls. I often travel to clients, so that I can get to know their business processes and assess their needs.
The rest of my time is spent doing the actual accounting work for my clients and working to grow my business.
- What has been your biggest success as a small business owner?
My biggest success has been how quickly my business has grown. I have been in business for less than a year, and already have plenty of clients. Most of my clients have been referred to me by word of mouth, which has been very gratifying. It’s really great to get recommendations from happy clients.
- What has been your biggest challenge as a small business owner?
The biggest challenge is just finding balance between all of the daily tasks of a small business owner and my personal life. Working out of “The Office” on Jane St. has really helped with that because I am able to work locally in a professional setting without the overhead of renting a full space.