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How a Ridiculously Young Entrepreneur Grew His Cloud Accounting Firm

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Going Concern is partnering with Xero, the innovative cloud-based accounting platform for small businesses, accountants and bookkeepers, to bring our readers content about entrepreneurs who are starting their own firms. We hope you enjoy and welcome your comments.

Nick Pasquarosa is the type of guy you’d like to have a beer with. Speaking in a light Long Island accent, he says things like “I want to make the world a better place” without a drop of irony or cynicism.

He tells you he “genuinely loves accounting and helping people.” And maybe it’s the calm confidence of his speech, or maybe it’s the geeky-yet-sociable way sentences fly off his tongue, but for whatever reason, you believe him.

Just five years ago, however, you couldn’t have taken him out for drinks. Not legally, anyway. Pasquarosa is 25-years-old (“26 in July,” he assures us). And with some help from Xero, he runs his own cloud accounting firm.

Humble beginnings

Pasquarosa started his firm, Bookkeeper360 (which is currently hiring, if you’re interested), when he was still in college. Working part-time as a bookkeeper for a few small clients in the Long Island area, he realized there was a serious gap in his customers’ financial capabilities.

“There was a tremendous need for technology and accurate financial information which I saw early on with every single client I dealt with,” he says. “If business owners are not getting knowledgeable information, they can’t grow.”

Pasquarosa quickly found that technology was the answer to this disconnection, and identified cloud accounting as the logical solution to the problem.

“With cloud accounting, small business owners can collaborate in real-time with their accountants” he says. “There’s no delay for information or data. You can access your clients’ financial information whenever, wherever.”

And so Pasquarosa made the leap from freelance accounting to cloud firm operator. But the decision wasn’t solely one of financial opportunity–he was also interested in coaching his clients to leverage technology to become better business owners. In order to do that, however, he first had to learn how to do it himself.

Enter Xero

With Bookkeeper360 still in its infancy, Pasquarosa realized QuickBooks Online wasn’t adequately meeting his or his clients’ needs. Looking at his alternatives, he turned to Xero, and soon found himself operating a firm on the cutting edge of accounting technology.

“Xero helped me scale, they’ve helped me grow,” he says. “And they’ve given me the opportunity to better service our clients.”

With Xero, Bookkeeper360’s employees are now able to work from one common data set. They can operate from anywhere on any device. And they utilize Xero’s unmatched reliability to seize business opportunities faster and create better experiences for their customers.

Thanks to Xero, Pasquarosa is now able to employ services that were once exclusive to businesses with six-figure IT budgets.

“They’ve definitely opened the door for smaller organizations to run and grow like a Fortune 500 company,” he says.

A larger community

While Pasquarosa initially sought out Xero for technological reasons, he describes the benefits of its community as “icing on the cake.”

“People probably don’t understand the power of the Xero community,” he says. “You would think any other bookkeeper or accounting firm that’s using Xero is our competitor. It’s completely the opposite of that. We’re all using each other’s information, and there are plenty of opportunities for everyone to succeed. They have created a community of collaboration versus competition.“

Advice for future entrepreneurs

Asked what he would say to someone considering the launch of his or her own cloud accounting firm, Pasquarosa cautions that the work will be difficult. But Pasquarosa contends that the benefits of running your own business far outweigh the sacrifices.

“I don’t have a ‘job.’ I have something that I love and I enjoy,” he says. “At the end of the day, the work is worth it, because we’re helping our clients grow.”

Unlike some cloud accounting firms, Bookkeeper360 maintains a physical office. You can find Nick Pasquarosa working there most days–you know, if you want to buy him a beer.

Be like Nick and provide better experiences for employees and clients through cloud accounting. See how Xero can help you power your practice now.