Using free resources, Misa Bacon expanded her network and connected with potential customers.
Misa Bacon grew the reach and revenue of her company with help from Verizon Small Business Digital Ready. Photo credit: Tom Sanders
When Dallas-based bookkeeper Misa Bacon discovered Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, she wasn’t expecting it to transform her business — but it did. By applying lessons from the online learning platform’s free courses and live networking sessions, she more than doubled her incoming leads and grew overall revenue by over 50%.
“I wish it was around when I first started,” Bacon says. “I probably would have done things differently had I known some of the information sooner.”
That growth is especially meaningful given how Bacon’s entrepreneurial journey began: with a simple desire to learn and help others do the same.
For Bacon, the path from corporate accountant to successful small business owner has been characterized by one thing: her endless curiosity. “I like to learn. I don't mind going and learning the information and figuring it out,” she says. Bacon traces her entrepreneurial spirit back to her mother, who left a government job to start her own day care service. “Seeing her, I knew it was possible,” she recalls.
Bacon began her career in accounting and climbed her way up the corporate ladder. After rising to a managerial level over a decade, however, she found herself at a crossroads. “I got to a point where I reached a ceiling,” Bacon says. Inspired by her mother’s model of independence, she began exploring ways to start her own business.
Bacon’s accounting experience had revealed a consistent pain point among small business clients: “Finance is always the area where business owners have fears — it’s just not their thing,” she says. Bacon decided to fill that need, offering bookkeeping services to help small businesses build a strong foundation for growth. “There’s a huge gap for [business] owners that need some level of support that isn’t really being met by the accounting industry,” she says.
After a couple of years taking freelance clients, Bacon was ready to offer her services full time, and launched Perfectly Kept Books in 2020. “Now I have the opportunity to actually impact businesses, watch them grow and help them navigate challenges on the financial side,” she says.
Bacon loves the person-to-person connection of working with fellow small business owners. Photo credit: Tom Sanders
As her client base grew, Bacon looked for new ways to scale and streamline operations. “I’m always seeking out resources, any kind of help that I can get,” she says. She found that help with Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, and says she was thrilled to discover the free online learning platform.
At first, she wanted to boost visibility beyond word-of-mouth referrals. After taking Digital Ready’s self-paced course, “Put Your Website to Work,” Bacon made adjustments to her website, such as using keywords and updating all of the content to optimize it for search engine results. Soon after, leads from search more than doubled referral traffic. “Someone reached out to me and told me she searched ‘Black bookkeeper in Dallas,’ and I was one of the top results that popped up,” Bacon says.
Next she focused on email marketing. After completing the “Creating a Winning Strategy” course, she added newsletter sign-ups across her website, increasing subscribers by 27%. “I use email to share my perspective on bookkeeping tips or just my thoughts on business — whatever I think would be helpful,” she says.
Bacon finds Digital Ready to be an outlet for her desire to learn that is yielding measurable results. Photo credit: Tom Sanders
For Bacon, Digital Ready has become both a learning hub and a community. She joins live Peer to Peer Check Ins to swap advice and meet new potential clients. “When people find out I’m a bookkeeper, they’re like, ‘Oh, I might need to talk to you,’” she says.
“It’s also a way for me to figure out what they’re struggling with,” Bacon says of her fellow entrepreneurs. “What do [customers] need? Then I can make sure to build services to support them.”
Bacon also uses Digital Ready’s accounting curriculum to keep her skills sharp. “I like to see what the accountants are saying, especially the tax professionals,” she says. “I try to stay as up to date as possible.”
Ultimately, Bacon says her favorite thing about Digital Ready is that it’s a place for small business owners to easily get answers. Over time, the insights she’s gained — from optimizing her website to expanding her email outreach and networking through live sessions — have added up to measurable results.
“These are experts that are [teaching] you. I don't know if people understand just how valuable it actually is, because you don't find resources like this for free.”
Bacon hosts remote “bookkeeping parties” to educate and onboard new potential clients. Photo credit: Tom Sanders
Bacon loves to see the impact she’s having on small businesses; she plans to keep expanding her reach, including in the local Dallas area where she can spend more face-to-face time with clients. “I really, really want small businesses to succeed,” she says. “As owners, we can get a little complacent, but things are always changing. You want to stay up to date with what’s happening, or maybe there’s something you can implement now that will put you ahead.”
Verizon Small Business Digital Ready is part of Verizon’s goal to support 1 million small businesses by 2030 with free resources to help them succeed. To sign up, visit Verizon Small Business Digital Ready. Visit CitizenVerizon.com to learn more about the company’s responsible business efforts. An individual user's experience may vary and results are not guaranteed.
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