James Faughtenberry of The ATA Group has only been using Canopy for a few months, but the software has already enabled him to add thousands of dollars in revenue. So we asked James about how he uses Canopy and how it makes such a big difference for his practice.
Tell us about the kind of work The ATA Group does.
We do some books and some payroll, but much of what we do is more strategic kind of work. We work a lot with clients on getting proper legal accounting and tax infrastructure in place, long-term tax planning, etc.
How does Canopy help you with that kind of work?
There’s a lot of moving parts to our work. I was trying to manage all it via text messages and emails, then keep track of it all in One Note. It worked, technically, but it wasn’t a good solution. It was way too easy for things to get lost or missed. I needed to centralize my communication and project tracking instead of having it scattered all over the place.
Which is where Canopy comes in handy.
Right. I’ve utilized Canopy in such a way that allows me to direct all of my business through Canopy. All of my client communications and project tracking are all in one place now, and it makes a huge difference.
Before I started using Canopy, just keeping track of everything cost me a lot of time. It was a huge struggle. Switching to Canopy was a game changer. After less than three months of using your software, I had streamlined my process so efficiently that I was able to add $10,000 in monthly recurring revenue.
What’s different now with Canopy?
It helps me prioritize better. It allows me to turn documents around faster. It helps me push more back into my clients’ court instead of me doing everything. Most important, Canopy lets me keep everything in one easy-to-find place. I don’t have to go looking for information or jump back and forth between programs. It just makes me more efficient.
Let me give you an example. I’m using the Tasks feature a lot, creating custom services for some of the services I offer most often. I compiled all my research on the process of setting up Corporations, LLCs and such, and set up a workflow that walks me through the steps. That allows me to onboard and set up a holding company and four subsidiaries in a week or less. That means totally set up, in place, registered with the IRS and whatever their state requires.
Before, when I was just using text messaging and OneNote, I didn’t even have a good way to track how long a case like that took me. But it definitely took me a lot longer—closer to a month to do that kind of case before Canopy. And honestly, I’m only getting faster as I get more comfortable with this software.
Want to read more about how Canopy has helped real tax pros increase their bottom line? Check out how Canopy helped Noble’s Bookkeeping triple their number of tax resolution clients.
