After buying his first The UPS Store in 2019, Steve Bjorkman grew his footprint in the Boise, Idaho, market at a steady clip. Before long, he was managing multiple locations, and the business looked very different from the one he started with. Growth brought opportunity, but it also brought more complexity, especially when it came to the numbers behind the operation.
The shift came as the business moved from a single-store operation to a much more layered one. More locations meant more accounts, more reporting and more decisions tied to timely financial information, all at a point when Bjorkman’s attention was needed elsewhere in the business.
“I did the books myself for the first store. I know how to do it, but it just became a time thing,” Bjorkman said. “Once we got to three stores, I just could not keep up with everything. There is no way, as a six-store owner, I could even attempt to do the books myself. My time is better spent working on the business or in the business, depending on the day.”
That pressure led him to look for outside support, though not without some trial and error. After a poor experience with another bookkeeping provider, Bjorkman was referred to MCO Bookkeeping through another franchisee. MCO Bookkeeping is a specialized brand owned by BeanSquad and built specifically to serve The UPS Store franchisees. While BeanSquad provides bookkeeping support across the broader franchise space, MCO Bookkeeping focuses on the needs of The UPS Store owners, giving Bjorkman access to a service designed around his business model.
That shared structure mattered less to him than the practical results. What stood out was accuracy, responsiveness and a communication system that made it easier to manage questions across multiple locations without creating even more work on his end.
“The portal is extremely efficient for communication. I can post a question, get a response quickly and have a record of the back-and-forth,” Bjorkman said. “Anytime I have a question or want to talk to somebody, it is very easy to get someone on the phone, and they are very knowledgeable. Of all the vendors I use with The UPS Store, I would say MCO, or BeanSquad, is one of my favorites.”
For Bjorkman, the value of that support goes beyond getting the books done each month. Clean, organized financials have given him better visibility into how the business is performing and where changes can make the biggest difference. That has been especially important as he has worked to improve margins across stores and use financial reporting as a tool for decision-making rather than just recordkeeping.
“They do reports in addition to the P&Ls, with some analysis, trending and things like that, and that has given me more of a monthly rhythm,” Bjorkman said. “Without MCO Bookkeeping, I would not have the right data to make adjustments. As a UPS Store owner, gross margin is probably one of the most important financial metrics there is. I’ve had a couple of stores where I’ve been able to improve the gross margin from the high 50s to the low 60s. I want to get to 65. Without these regular reports and all the data I get from MCO, it would be really hard for me to do that.”
That kind of visibility has also helped him uncover opportunities that might have been harder to spot otherwise. In one case, better reporting led Bjorkman and his team to rethink inventory management across the business. They centralized inventory for all stores and added a small warehouse, a move he said helped them reduce costs and operate more efficiently. For a multi-unit owner, that is where bookkeeping shifts from an administrative function to a growth tool.
The biggest benefit, though, may be the way outsourced bookkeeping has changed Bjorkman’s role as an owner. With confidence in the numbers and trust in the team supporting them, he has been able to spend less time buried in financial tasks and more time focusing on strategy, operations and the bigger picture of how the business grows.
“Bookkeeping is very important, but it is not the most valuable way for me to spend my time,” Bjorkman said. “I trust what they are producing is accurate, so I can focus on higher-value things. I am working on my business much more now than in it. Long term, that is how I see MCO Bookkeeping helping me. I can have really good data and great reporting so I know what I need to do from a business standpoint with very little effort on my end.”
That kind of operational clarity becomes even more important as franchisees add units and complexity increases. Multi-unit growth depends on more than strong sales. It also depends on clean financials, consistent reporting and reliable systems that give owners confidence in what they are seeing. For Bjorkman, that support has helped turn bookkeeping into something more useful than a back-office necessity. It has become part of the infrastructure that helps him scale with more discipline.
To learn more about BeanSquad's bookkeeping services for franchises, please visit https://1851franchise.com/beansquad.
Beansquad
SPONSORED
As his UPS Store portfolio expanded in the Boise area, Steve Bjorkman needed cleaner financial visibility, stronger reporting and more time to focus on the business.
After buying his first The UPS Store in 2019, Steve Bjorkman grew his footprint in the Boise, Idaho, market at a steady clip. Before long, he was managing multiple locations, and the business looked very different from the one he started with. Growth brought opportunity, but it also brought more complexity, especially when it came to the numbers behind the operation.
The shift came as the business moved from a single-store operation to a much more layered one. More locations meant more accounts, more reporting and more decisions tied to timely financial information, all at a point when Bjorkman’s attention was needed elsewhere in the business.
“I did the books myself for the first store. I know how to do it, but it just became a time thing,” Bjorkman said. “Once we got to three stores, I just could not keep up with everything. There is no way, as a six-store owner, I could even attempt to do the books myself. My time is better spent working on the business or in the business, depending on the day.”
That pressure led him to look for outside support, though not without some trial and error. After a poor experience with another bookkeeping provider, Bjorkman was referred to MCO Bookkeeping through another franchisee. MCO Bookkeeping is a specialized brand owned by BeanSquad and built specifically to serve The UPS Store franchisees. While BeanSquad provides bookkeeping support across the broader franchise space, MCO Bookkeeping focuses on the needs of The UPS Store owners, giving Bjorkman access to a service designed around his business model.
That shared structure mattered less to him than the practical results. What stood out was accuracy, responsiveness and a communication system that made it easier to manage questions across multiple locations without creating even more work on his end.
“The portal is extremely efficient for communication. I can post a question, get a response quickly and have a record of the back-and-forth,” Bjorkman said. “Anytime I have a question or want to talk to somebody, it is very easy to get someone on the phone, and they are very knowledgeable. Of all the vendors I use with The UPS Store, I would say MCO, or BeanSquad, is one of my favorites.”
For Bjorkman, the value of that support goes beyond getting the books done each month. Clean, organized financials have given him better visibility into how the business is performing and where changes can make the biggest difference. That has been especially important as he has worked to improve margins across stores and use financial reporting as a tool for decision-making rather than just recordkeeping.
“They do reports in addition to the P&Ls, with some analysis, trending and things like that, and that has given me more of a monthly rhythm,” Bjorkman said. “Without MCO Bookkeeping, I would not have the right data to make adjustments. As a UPS Store owner, gross margin is probably one of the most important financial metrics there is. I’ve had a couple of stores where I’ve been able to improve the gross margin from the high 50s to the low 60s. I want to get to 65. Without these regular reports and all the data I get from MCO, it would be really hard for me to do that.”
That kind of visibility has also helped him uncover opportunities that might have been harder to spot otherwise. In one case, better reporting led Bjorkman and his team to rethink inventory management across the business. They centralized inventory for all stores and added a small warehouse, a move he said helped them reduce costs and operate more efficiently. For a multi-unit owner, that is where bookkeeping shifts from an administrative function to a growth tool.
The biggest benefit, though, may be the way outsourced bookkeeping has changed Bjorkman’s role as an owner. With confidence in the numbers and trust in the team supporting them, he has been able to spend less time buried in financial tasks and more time focusing on strategy, operations and the bigger picture of how the business grows.
“Bookkeeping is very important, but it is not the most valuable way for me to spend my time,” Bjorkman said. “I trust what they are producing is accurate, so I can focus on higher-value things. I am working on my business much more now than in it. Long term, that is how I see MCO Bookkeeping helping me. I can have really good data and great reporting so I know what I need to do from a business standpoint with very little effort on my end.”
That kind of operational clarity becomes even more important as franchisees add units and complexity increases. Multi-unit growth depends on more than strong sales. It also depends on clean financials, consistent reporting and reliable systems that give owners confidence in what they are seeing. For Bjorkman, that support has helped turn bookkeeping into something more useful than a back-office necessity. It has become part of the infrastructure that helps him scale with more discipline.
To learn more about BeanSquad's bookkeeping services for franchises, please visit https://1851franchise.com/beansquad.
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