Jared Frost and Todd Newman, both seasoned CPAs, and David Stone MBA, have embarked on a new venture as BooXkeeping franchise owners in Las Vegas. With a rich background in accounting and a partnership spanning over a decade, the trio recognized a significant gap in the bookkeeping market. Their solution? BooXkeeping, an accounting franchise that allows them to provide top-notch bookkeeping services while focusing on their primary expertise in tax planning and compliance. 

“The franchise world is nice because there is a framework, resources and support to start a business, making it much easier than doing it on your own,” said Newman. “When you do it on your own, piecemeal and ad hoc, you don’t have all the pieces in place. A franchise helps you know what you don’t know, which is a huge benefit.”

1851 Franchise spoke with Frost, Newman, and Stone to learn more about their franchising journey, why they chose BooXkeeping and their plans for the future. 

1851 Franchise: Frame your personal story for us. What did you do before franchising, and how did you decide franchising made sense for you?

Todd Newman: Jared and I are both CPAs, and we worked for one of the Big Four accounting firms until about 18 years ago. In a roundabout way, we started our own firms and ended up merging our firms together in 2011. We’ve been partners since then as CPAs, running mostly a tax firm but doing a bit of bookkeeping out of necessity. From there, we realized that people need good bookkeeping, but it’s not the best use of a CPA’s time. So how can we solve this problem?

1851: What was your perception of franchising prior to becoming a franchisee, and what do you want people to know about franchising now that you are in it?

Newman: Jared and I both became franchisees with Gamesday Men’s Health, a testosterone replacement franchise organization that uses BooXkeeping as the accounting provider. When we were getting on board there and founder Max Emma found out we were CPAs, he suggested we look into BooXkeeping as a franchise. We saw a problem in our own firm that we didn’t have a solution for. The more we talked to Max, the more we realized we had the support to address that issue.

We both came from the corporate world, where it’s a pyramid. Our plan was always to just stay lean and mean, low overhead and have a comfortable life. But we’ve both managed to complicate that a little bit by franchising. It was kind of accidental entrepreneurship, but it feels natural to our skillset.

1851: What made you pick this brand? What excites you most about this company?

Newman: Our higher rate per hour is on the tax side, not the bookkeeping side, so we needed to push it to a more efficient environment. We also know from other colleagues that they have the same problem, so we think it’ll be a solution for CPAs all over town. 

Most of my focus is on our tax planning and compliance efforts. We don’t do any audit or insurance work; we are a tax firm that reluctantly does bookkeeping. BooXkeeping allows us to still be involved and shepherd the process while having others do the actual work. It’s hard to get good people and train them on bookkeeping, so BooXkeeping, which has offshore bookkeepers who can plug into our system, makes it much easier for us.

1851: What do you hope to achieve with your business? What are your plans for growth?

Jared Frost: We are hoping to connect with other CPAs who want to push to the higher rate per hour. We can provide them with good data so they can still do excellent tax planning. We can scale based on those relationships. We also have connections with payroll salespeople and other industry professionals who are always looking for bookkeeping services. We hope to scale that side bigger than we ever imagined.

1851: What is the one thing about your story you want us to know?

Newman: A lot of CPA firms reluctantly take on bookkeeping and build out a team for it, but most local smaller CPA firms aren’t well equipped for it. Your options are either a CPA who doesn’t offer bookkeeping or someone without much of an accounting background. Jared and I are both CPAs and will be very involved in this franchise, ensuring the quality of the product. That’s a plus for us and for any CPAs like us researching the brand. BooXkeeping provides an alternative to having a non-specialist handle their accounting. We can do it at a reasonable price point, from startups to mature companies. We bring a skill set and offering for businesses at all levels.

1851: What advice do you have for other people thinking about becoming a franchise owner?

David Stone: The franchise world is nice because there is a framework, resources and support to start a business, making it much easier than doing it on your own. When you do it on your own, piecemeal and ad hoc, you don’t have all the pieces in place. A franchise helps you know what you don’t know, which is a huge benefit. At the same time, it’s still a grind, and you’ll have to work hard. Nothing falls into your lap. Anybody interested or with an entrepreneurial spirit who is willing to bet on themselves will find that doing it with the help of a franchise has a much better potential outcome than doing it on your own.

For more information on franchising with BooXkeeping, visit: https://1851franchise.com/booxkeeping/info.

ABOUT BOOXKEEPING

BooXkeeping is a bookkeeping franchise that combines professional expertise with genuine human connection to provide cutting-edge bookkeeping services for small and medium-sized businesses, franchisees, franchisors, CPA firms and more. Founded by Max and Elena Emma, two entrepreneurial immigrants with in-depth experience in finance and accounting, the brand’s journey spans over 20 years. Today, with 11 franchise locations across the country and one corporate location, BooXkeeping has emerged as a unique player in the bookkeeping industry, emphasizing a human-driven approach and personalized service.