Cate Rocchi

19 December 2019

Adapters: Perth’s Jackstar Bookkeeping Services Thrives Sorting Small Business Accounts

Cate Rocchi

19 December 2019

Jackie Roufail of Jackstar Bookkeeping Services

A determined Perth mum and self-proclaimed 'numbers girl', who has been running a successful contract bookkeeping service for more than 15 years, says the secret to her success is hard work and building long-term connections with customers.

Jackie Roufail, owner of Jackstar Bookkeeping Services, began her business in 2004. Then, she was unexpectedly single and needed an income to support herself and a new baby.

Ms Roufail had studied accountancy and worked in the industry but did not complete final exams. But she had bookkeeping skills so she launched her company and has made an excellent living since, knocking into shape the accounts of many Perth firms.

“I wanted the flexibility to be a full-time mum, but still earn an income,” she said. She was fortunate with her business timing. A tariff – the Goods and Services Tax – had been introduced in Australia in 2000 and was causing admin difficulties for small businesses.

“A lot of people were in a position in which bookkeeping was something that was quite daunting,” Ms Roufail said. “I found that there was a niche for people to have a contractor bookkeeper, especially with the smaller businesses that couldn’t afford someone full time.

“And it worked really well because I would have clients come and drop off their paperwork to me at home. While my daughter was napping, I’d be able to do their books and then they would come back and pick it up.”

When she was studying accountancy, ledgers were commonplace. Her career evolved with software packages replacing pulp. She noted, too, how her business evolved with demands of a growing child.

“As my daughter got older – she was one at the time – she started going to day care. When that occurred, I started getting clients where I’d go to their offices for a day,” Ms Roufail said.

About 10 years ago, she received another fillip when the Australian Taxation Office began registering bookkeepers who worked on business activity statements. Some older hands quit, unwilling to undergo accreditation tests. She expanded into spaces they vacated.

This year, her daughter turns 16 and Ms Roufail has more than 60 clients.

One thing never changed: Ms Roufail continues to run Jackstar Bookkeeping Services from home, though fully-fitted business premises are within her scope.

The rapport she built with local firms – in one case she works for the daughter of longstanding clients – is personally important.

“I think my greatest achievement is the friendships and relationships that I form with the majority of my clients,” Ms Roufail says. “I don’t even class them as clients, they’re all friends. I go to their family parties, I’m part of everyone’s lives.”

Clients can spend more time with families if she does their paperwork, she argues.

The work is varied. One day she works in the diamond industry, the next with a builder, the day after that a hair salon and then a nuts and bolts business. “Everyone’s ultimate goal is their family,” Ms Roufail concludes. “So, if I can do what I do best, and the people I work for do what they do best, everything just works out better.”

That philosophy frames her advice for people doing their own accounts.

“Sometimes we take on things thinking we’re saving money by doing them, but, in the long run, they can end up costing us money,” she warns.

This article is one of many featured in 'Adapters', a series in WABN exclusively for Perth Media clients, profiling news of innovative small businesses, start-ups and not for profits. Jackstar Bookkeeping Services contracts for Perth Media.

Cate Rocchi

28 October 2019

Perth Media Testimonial: Strategic Media Mentoring Sessions

Cate Rocchi

28 October 2019

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Cate Rocchi

24 September 2019

Adapters

Adapters: Perth Skincare Manufacturer – Marina’s Ambrosia – Plans Sustainable Shift to Eco Packaging

Cate Rocchi

24 September 2019

Adapters

Perth businesswoman Marina Herlihy is rebuilding her thriving skincare and cosmetics firm after realising that her company must take responsibility for eco-friendly social change.

Ms Herlihy wants to appeal to a new market, despite returning annual profits of 20 per cent year on year from Marina’s Ambrosia, the brand of organic personal care items she launched a decade ago.

“Each day I get between 10 and 20 customers who want to know if I use biodegradable packages,” Ms Herlihy says. “These customers are generally in their early 20s to mid-20s and many of them won’t buy if the packaging isn’t sustainable.”

She identifies these inquisitive young people as drivers of future business growth and has decided to meet their demands or risk being wiped out in today’s new world of environmental awareness.

“I’m budgeting for my products to be made in biodegradable packages for a relaunch in the new year,” Ms Herlihy says.

Her range of organic products will be offered in organic packages, including bamboo. “My products come from the Earth and soon you will be able to return them to the Earth,” she says.

Ms Herlihy said plastic harmed the planet and everyone must work against it. A sustainable business must have sustainable products, she reasoned, and cancelled her existing packaging order.

“If I don’t do this now, then changing to biodegradable packages later will become a huge demand that will be overwhelming. And if my products don’t shift off the shelf there won’t be an income. And that is where brands fall down.”

Some customers wanted refills instead of repackaging but that approach was costly, inefficient, impractical and did not always work for mail order items.

Initially, she planned to offer organic packaging within 10 years but was acting now because of a sense of urgency driven by a new generation of customers.

Redesign costs surprised her. She retains a designer in South Africa having been intimidated by quotes for work in Australia. “I couldn’t afford in Australia the calibre of the work that I will get in South Africa,” Ms Herlihy says.

Customers can expect products packaged in bamboo and cardboard. Old labels in black, white, silver and green are likely to be displaced by biodegradable ones in earthy bamboo tones.

Products would either be recyclable or biodegradable.

Ms Herlihy says the need for change was driven by plastic – a cheap, ubiquitous product that was hard to break down. She hoped scientists could one day produce a chemical bath that could dissolve plastics acceptably. “We cannot stop plastics, but we must slow their advance,” she says.

Some recyclable products posed problems. Glass, for example, was disliked for skincare and cosmetics packaging because, if dropped in a bathroom, it could shatter or break a tile.

Similarly, cardboard could be compromised by moisture. Marina’s Ambrosia was successfully selling deodorant in cardboard tubes with waxed-paper linings. “Everybody loves it,” Ms Herlihy said.

Bamboo packaging held great promise because, like wood, it was recyclable. Ms Herlihy had found a supplier in Indonesia who farmed sustainably and did not employ child labour.

Ms Herlihy, a mother of four who trained in naturopathy, founded her company after inventing what is now her bestseller, Organic All Over, a body lotion that successfully treated her bad skin.

Marina’s Ambrosia has a catalogue of more than 100 products with a global customer base.

For more information go to: www.marinasambrosia.com

This article is one of many featured in 'Adapters', a series in WABN exclusively for Perth Media clients, profiling news of innovative small businesses, start-ups and not for profits.