Jenny James – Bryte Bookkeeping Belinda and Gary Robinson –

By Onyinye Vivian Ulinwa Photo contributed

BRYTE BOOKKEEPING

Jenny James Bryte Bookkeeping Charlottetown, PEI (902) 629-2125 www.brytebookkeeping.com Email: jenny@brytebookkeeping.com

When Jenny James moved to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, from Vancouver, she thought she would easily find an accounting job. When she couldn’t, she created one. James, 41, wanted to live in a small city she could call home. She conducted all the necessary research needed and found Charlottetown. What she didn’t know was it would be tough finding a job. “In coming to Charlottetown, I realized it’s a different world,” James says. “In Vancouver, I really didn’t have to look for work. I’d just call a recruiter if I needed something and then sat back and waited. I would pick from what was available to me.” She dreamed about being employed by an accounting organization and worked in the accounting industry for 14 years before starting her business, Bryte Bookkeeping, in 2019. James applied to various accounting firms she wanted to work with on PEI but wasn’t selected. She kept searching for seven months until she could no longer wait. She took up a job where she sold tickets at the driving park and eventually took a bartending job. “I was having trouble paying my bills at that point and I needed a way to support myself. I never anticipated looking outside of the accounting industry to find work.” At her job, she began to network and meet new people. “Even behind the bar, I let everyone under the sun know I’m an accountant and that my intention was to someday get back to it.” Six months later, one of the people she had connected with had a contract for her. Eventually, her client list began to grow. James decided it was the right time to start a business where she could offer bookkeeping services. She operates her business from her home, where her office is located. She helps both small and big businesses stay organized and handles payroll, business record keeping and bank reconciliations among other financial services. She says starting a business isn’t always as glamorous as it may seem. “It was extremely challenging for me to get everything going, organized and selling myself for what my skills are worth. At first, I thought ‘I’m great at doing accounting work and I will just do that as if I had a regular job,’ but it turned out that’s not reality. I have to do all the accounting work times the number of clients I have.” James is happy her business has grown. She’s working to develop a software package she can use to manage and keep her business organized. She pays for different software to share clients’ documents, communicate with her staff and track her work progress and she finds it expensive and challenging. She says she wants to develop a software application that can offer all these services without having to buy multiple programs. “We are looking to find a way to merge all these business needs into one basic platform to link all our clients and staff together. I don’t want to use 17 different things just to run my business every day, because by the time we are done logging in to all the apps it’s already 11 o’clock.” James says it’s been tough trying to achieve this business goal. “One thing I did not anticipate is how slow it would be funding this project. The best options out there are designed for much larger companies,” she said. “One is an excellent very low-interest rate loan, but you already must have a revenue of a half million dollars or more. I’m trying to get my business to that margin. It’s a little unusual because I am a bookkeeper and I’m not really in the technology industry. It’s not the type of project that most bookkeepers would be looking to take on.” James believes it’s overwhelming finding organizations that can help small businesses, especially from a minority group. Recently, she found the Black Business Initiative, saying they have been very helpful. “After I met with BBI, I realized they do a lot of other things. They can help with business plan writing and I need to do that. They put me in touch with someone who can help me do some website updates, which is phenomenal. I knew I needed someone to assist with my website, but if they hadn’t told me about this particular company, it would have been on a long list of things I need to look into.” James hopes she can develop the software soon, with the help of the BBI.