Arriving in America from Hungary with $50 in her pocket and an entrepreneurial mindset in place: Alex Mic Podar truly discovered the keys to success as an entrepreneur.
As the CEO of Backyard Bookkeeper, and for years before that from her upbringing, she has learned every skill you need to run a successful business as well as picked up insightful world knowledge. Join us as we uncover it ourselves…
What are three things every Entrepreneur should know?
The number one problem that Backyard Bookkeeper is solving is shining a light on the importance of numbers when it comes to making decisions in a business.
If you don’t understand how much money is in your business bank account then you can’t make decisions on how to spend that money effectively. At the end of the day, it comes down to things like understanding how to read a balance sheet or a finance statement, and grasping the difference between today you spending money that’s only going to show on the bank statement three days later.
Essentially, they aim to educate entrepreneurs – small to medium-sized business owners – on finance and number-related matters of running a business. Cash flow is key! This we know. “Business is nothing else but a numbers game, if you don’t know your numbers you’re not able to grow,” Alex elaborated.
What problem does your business solve and who are its customers?
The number one problem that Backyard Bookkeeper is solving is shining a light on the importance of numbers when it comes to making decisions in a business.
If you don’t understand how much money is in your business bank account then you can’t make decisions on how to spend that money effectively. At the end of the day, it comes down to things like understanding how to read a balance sheet or a finance statement, and grasping the difference between today you spending money that’s only going to show on the bank statement three days later.
Essentially, they aim to educate entrepreneurs – small to medium-sized business owners – on finance and number-related matters of running a business. Cash flow is key! This we know. “Business is nothing else but a numbers game, if you don’t know your numbers you’re not able to grow,” Alex elaborated.
What inspired you to become an Entrepreneur?
Alex considers herself to have been an entrepreneur all her life. While she hasn’t been a business owner her whole life, she believes there’s a difference between being a business owner and having an entrepreneurial mindset.
She elaborated by saying that as an entrepreneur you can do everything by yourself; you become a business owner when you start hiring people because then your business is growing without you.
Alex was born in Romania, but grew up in Hungary – and not in the best environment. Her parents struggled financially so she had to find ways to buy the things she needed for herself. Really, she had to have an entrepreneurial mindset from a young age. Alex noticed that old phone cards were quite a trend with kids at school so she began collecting them to sell.
That’s how it started for her: learning what people need and selling that. When it comes to whether or not she would do it all again, Alex answered that she absolutely would. Not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, some people are more comfortable getting their paycheck and going home.
Alex wants to be the person that gives them their paycheck.
What would you have done with a million-dollar investment when you first started your business?
Earlier on, Alex mentioned that if she did have to do it all again she would learn to work smarter, not harder. When it came to the million-dollar question, Alex believes that working smarter would mean knowing how to invest that money from the very beginning. When they first started Backyard Bookkeeper (now a 7 figure company) they had zero money.
Their marketing budget was about $49 to boost an ad on a local website. Alex learned how to do everything she needed to do in order to run a business. Had someone invested money into her business when she first started, she would have been able to invest that money in her marketing, SEO, web development, and everything else she learned to do herself along the way.
What is your proudest accomplishment as an Entrepreneur?
Alex considers herself to be a motivational speaker or mentor for people. She loves connecting people and has made some deep connections of her own that have turned into serious business for them.
That being said she believes her proudest accomplishment to be creating a company that people love to work at with a culture that her employees support and are dedicated to. It’s a huge responsibility, but she loves giving people opportunities that they may never have thought they would get.
The simple answer is that Alex is proud of creating jobs.
What big goals are you looking to achieve?
In 2024 the big goal that Backyard Bookkeepers is going to accomplish is to grow 200%. Each year they have consistently grown 15%-20%, so their goal for 2024 is a big one.
The market in the bookkeeping industry is doing very well because when people start to lose their jobs, they start their own businesses. We saw this in the pandemic when a wave of unemployment birthed a wave of new businesses being born. Therefore, Alex believes this goal to be achievable.
Also on the horizon, Alex would like to launch a bookkeeping academy where they want to disrupt the industry and teach people that bookkeeping is not just data entry. Your bookkeeper can be your best friend in your company. If you listen to them and have the right one: you will grow.
The end goal is to be a credited university by the end of 2024.
Alex is proof that the “American Dream” can and does exist. Her story truly is an inspiring one and we can’t wait to see Backyard Bookkeepers and their university grow.
What inspired your own entrepreneurial journey? Contact us today so we can chat about that and more as we uncover (and cover) your own Entrepreneur Story.
