As a small business owner, Sarah (Sidell) Seagraves '09 knows the challenges her clients have faced throughout the coronavirus pandemic.  Her bookkeeping service, 67b Bookkeeping, has been a crucial element in helping her customers keep their doors open.

What are your job responsibilities and duties?

I own 67b Bookkeeping business, and I specialize in helping entrepreneurs in the marketing and creative industries learn, figure out, and manage their business finances. Day-to-day, I’m working with companies to either manage their books for them, or I do consulting and teach entrepreneurs how to keep their books and finances organized so that they can better understand their financial position.

How did you assist your small businesses clients with the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) application process during the coronavirus pandemic? 

When the coronavirus happened, and all of the PPP (information) came out, I have had to learn it as quickly as it happens and be super flexible because it’s Congress, and things are going to change.

It was so beneficial that I had clients set up and ready to go with all of their financial information organized and ready. All of my clients that I had been working with prior to the pandemic received PPP loans.

What does it mean to you as a small business owner to be able to provide this service and help people keep their livelihoods?

It’s incredibly important to me!  When you shop at a small store, or you order from a small, mom-and-pop shop or local business, that is supporting their livelihoods, and that can affect whether or not they can buy groceries at the end of the week.

I love Target and Starbucks as much as the next girl, but I have renewed my energy of going to the small, local coffee shop and buying as much as I can from smaller, local, family-owned businesses because now, being a small business owner myself, I understand how critical one or two sales can be to someone.

What are the lessons you learned at Carroll High School that are helping you give back to Dayton entrepreneurs? 

Often, entrepreneurs may not have been given the resources or lessons on what you can do to help your neighbor like we did at Carroll. Being in an environment where Catholic Social Teaching was so instilled and part of every day at Carroll definitely has impacted my business. 

I’ve given presentations to the Dayton Entrepreneurs Center’s Fast Track program for Dayton entrepreneurs on the basics of bookkeeping, how to manage your finances and keep records, and use all of that data and information to really analyze your business. So, being able to give my time and really help local Dayton entrepreneurs figure out how to manage their business is awesome. 

For readers interested in starting a business in the Dayton area, what other resources are available?

There are definitely resources for people that want to start a business, are thinking about branching out on their own, are expanding on a hobby, or want to have a good, solid foundation and education (for bookkeeping). There are resources from the Dayton Entrepreneurs Center, Launch Dayton, the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, and other organizations.

Most of these resources are free or very inexpensive, and they have programs that are built and were created to help the Dayton Community to grow and to give back.

Business owners and those interested in learning how to manage their books can contact Sarah to book a discovery call and get a personalized quote at 67b Bookkeeping.