Maria McWhirt, CEO of Empower Me, reached a point where the growth of her business was being held back by the very systems meant to support it. As operations expanded, so did the weight of bookkeeping, compliance, and administrative work that landed on her plate.
“I was focused on making our technology great and serving our population, and that meant I was having to do all of the administrative tasks.”Over the span of five years, she went through more than a dozen hires trying to stabilize her back office. Even after bringing in a local bookkeeper, the support was limited to only a few hours a month and lacked consistency. Mistakes were still happening, details were missed, and Maria remained stuck in the day-to-day. Instead of leading the company, she was cleaning up its books.
The Solution: From Chaos to Scalable Financial Operations
Everything changed when Maria implemented the Outsource Access Specialist Model. Rather than hiring a single bookkeeper, she stepped into a system that provided a vetted, trained, and managed accounting specialist supported by a full infrastructure. With a clear playbook of tasks, a dedicated Specialist, and ongoing support from a success coach and account manager, execution became consistent and reliable. Maria was able to assign work at the end of her day and return the next morning with completed deliverables.“I give them assignments at night, I go to sleep, I wake up in the morning, and they’re done.”That shift allowed her to reclaim more than 20 hours every week. Instead of spending time on reconciliations and corrections, she focused on leadership, strategy, and scaling the business. Her internal team also benefited, as they were no longer tied up in administrative work and could concentrate on revenue-driving activities. 👉 Quick Win (Playbook Insight): Write down every bookkeeping and finance-related task you handled in the last 30 days. This becomes your delegation playbook and reveals exactly where your time is being lost.
The VA Interview: Jesseca, Accounting Specialist
Jesseca serves as an Accounting Specialist and is certified in both QuickBooks and Xero. With over 15 years of experience, she brings a high level of precision and consistency to Empower Me’s financial operations. Her role includes managing month-end close, handling reconciliations, tracking invoices, and monitoring expenses. What sets her apart is her attention to detail, which has repeatedly protected the company from missed revenue and unnecessary costs. There have been moments where invoices were about to be overlooked, but Jesseca caught them in time. She has also identified subscriptions and payments that were no longer needed, helping reduce waste across the business.“If not because of how detailed I am, we may have missed that invoice and that collection.”Maria describes her impact simply. Jesseca has saved the company more than what they pay for her. For the first time, financials are accurate, organized, and delivered on time. This year, taxes were completed by the deadline without extensions, something the business had struggled with in the past.
The Resource: How Outsourcing Works
To better understand how to close the capacity gap and protect profitability, watch the webinar How Outsourcing Works led by Brad Stevens.
In this session, you will learn how to eliminate operational bottlenecks, avoid costly bookkeeping errors, and build a finance function that supports growth.
