Palo Verde

Founder of Palo Verde Botanicals – curated gift boxes for plant lovers 

Jillian runs Palo Verde Botanicals, a small business with a thoughtful mission: to make gift-giving more meaningful through beautifully designed, plant-inspired gift boxes. Each box is carefully curated with products from independent makers, many of them women-led and California-based, offering a unique alternative to generic, mass-produced gifts.  

Whether it’s a single box for a loved one or a custom corporate order, Palo Verde is known for getting the details right and delivering joy. 

But beautiful gifts don’t assemble themselves and Jillian’s hands were already full. As the orders grew, so did the behind-the-scenes pressure. Invested behind all that thoughtful, creative work is a lot of time, care, and coordination. But that kind of focus on your core responsibilities as a founder isn’t possible when your hands are full with everything else.  

Like many early-stage founders and SMB owners, Jillian wore every hat, including managing the books. But as orders picked up and the business became more complex, staying on top of the numbers got harder. She knew she needed expert assistance with financial management to keep her numbers on track and grow her business, but wasn’t sure whom to trust with her books. 

 
That’s when she found CoCountant. 

The problem: No clear financial foundation and no one to trust with the books 

When Jillian found CoCountant, she wasn’t just looking for someone to clean up her books, she needed a reliable partner. As a founder juggling everything on her own, she was hesitant to hand over something as sensitive as her finances. Her concerns were grounded in these core areas: 

What Jillian needed: 

Trust in outsourcing the accounting function 
She needed to know her financial data would stay secure, accurate, and handled with care. 

Accurate and timely bookkeeping 
With growth picking up, she wanted to feel confident that every transaction was being recorded properly and on time. 

Visibility into where money was going 
Jillian needed someone who could not only track the numbers but also highlight areas of unnecessary spending and guide cost-saving decisions. 

Clarity on profitability and performance 
Regular reviews and financial insights were key to helping her understand how the business was doing and where it could improve. 

What was missing: 

Incomplete reconciliations across key accounts 
Without full reconciliation of bank and credit card statements, her QuickBooks data didn’t reflect reality. She couldn’t track progress or rely on her numbers for data-driven decisions. 

Inconsistent expense categorization 
The same expenses were being recorded under different chart of accounts from month to month, making reports confusing and unreliable. 

No usable reporting or analysis 
Because the books were incomplete, CoCountant couldn’t immediately create any financial health reports or benchmarks. The first step was simply identifying what was missing and where things had gone off track. 

Without a clean accounting system in place, Jillian didn’t have the visibility she needed and she was spending valuable time trying to make sense of it all on her own. 

The solution: Cleaning up the books and building a solid financial foundation 

CoCountant began by going straight to the source: identifying exactly what was missing, what was misclassified, and where the structure had broken down. 

Here’s how we got the numbers back on track: 

• Full reconciliation of bank and credit card accounts 
  We made sure every transaction was accounted for and matched with actual cash movement, so the numbers represented the true state of the business.
  
• Consistent categorization across all expenses 
  We reviewed how different types of expenses had been recorded in the past and standardized the chart of accounts, making reports accurate and easy to understand.
  
• Fixing misclassifications and filling in gaps 
  Any items recorded under the wrong account or missed entirely were corrected. This helped give Jillian a clean slate and a much more accurate view of her business finances.
  
• Providing a clear, actionable report 
  Since the books were incomplete at the start, we didn’t generate financial metrics or health reports right away. Instead, we focused on transparency by delivering a detailed report on what was broken, what had been fixed, and what needed her attention. 

With the foundation restructured, Jillian had what she hadn’t had in a long time: her books representing the reality of her business health and good data for smarter decisions. 

The results: Real savings, smarter planning, and a clear path forward 

With accurate books in place, CoCountant moved from fixing the past mistakes to helping Jillian plan for the future. We began by digging into her monthly expenses to identify areas where she could cut unnecessary costs and use her resources more efficiently. 

Key insights and improvements: 

• Costly line of credit flagged 
  Jillian had been using a line of credit which charged a flat monthly fee, regardless of how much she borrowed. We highlighted how this was creating a high, fixed cost of capital and recommended more cost-effective options. 

• Credit card interest brought under control 
  We flagged high interest charges across her credit cards and offered guidance to manage them more strategically, helping reduce financial strain. 

• Smarter purchasing decisions 
  With monthly financial reviews in place, Jillian was able to plan purchases (like ordering gift boxes in bulk ahead of the holiday season) based on actual cash flow and sales cycles. 

• Year-end strategy support 
  By understanding her numbers in real time, she could offer discounts to corporate clients ahead of the year-end rush, boosting sales at just the right time. 

These weren’t just one-time fixes. With monthly updates and regular reviews, Jillian gained ongoing visibility into her books and a way to make decisions backed by real data. 

Beyond the cleanup and cost-saving insights, what Jillian appreciated most the CoCountant team’s proactiveness 

Any time a new type of expense came through or something looked out of place, we reached out right away, making sure it was recorded correctly and handled with care. 

That kind of consistency, reliability, and availability gave her peace of mind that the books were being looked after so she could focus on her core duties as a business owner. 

Today, Jillian has: 

• Clean, accurate books she can rely on 

• Better insight into where money is being spent 

• A trusted partner to review reports and flag issues 

• More time to focus on customers, product, and growth 

As she put it herself: “CoCountant helped me with setting up QuickBooks, detailed bookkeeping, building custom categories specific to my business so I know where I’m spending to improve cash flow, and monthly calls to review transactions.” 

Jillian finally had time to focus on what she does best, and it all started with a conversation. Yours is also just a click away.