We had the good fortune of connecting with Charietta Hill and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Charietta, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I started my career in public accounting as an auditor, and quickly earned a reputation for the one who didn’t mind the messy audits. I’ve always taken the approach of rolling up my sleeves and getting in there when it came to my clients. There was nothing too messy or too complicated for me to sit down with them to determine a resolution. I enjoyed this part of my job. Being out at clients, learning their business, seeing how they do things, and then helping them make it better. This fueled my desire to start my own business where I wasn’t the auditor and didn’t have to worry about independence rules. I could come along side clients and simply work with them to make sure their business was successful. I’ve worked several industries, seen a lot of things, learned a lot along the way, and just want to pass that knowledge along to the next to help my clients avoid some common mistakes.
Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Elle Hill Consulting is dedicated to being knowledgeable and collaborating with our clients. Our approach is to partner with you, learn your business, and add value by making accounting for small businesses easier to understand. We enjoy empowering entrepreneurs to feel confident and at ease with their finances! We teach accounting in a way that is approachable because we want clients to build the business of their dreams.
Starting Elle Hill Consulting has been the business of my dreams. Thankfully, I’ve always had people close to me who could see the potential in me and continued to call it out of me, even when I wasn’t so sure of it myself. Since starting my career, I would provide accounting services and tax advice to friends and family on the side and would often hear, “Why don’t you just start your own company? You would be so good at this.” I kept pushing the idea off and saying to myself that I would eventually, and then came the pandemic. Like many others during the pandemic, I was reminded that layoffs can happen to anyone. I begin to shift my focus to what I needed to do to start my own business now. No time was going to be the perfect time nor would I feel fully prepared, but I just needed to do it. So, I went for it, made some mistakes, and learned a lot along the way, but it’s mine and that’s what I’m most proud of.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is don’t listen to people who had never done what you want to do. Feedback, mentorship, and advice is so important. Especially when you’re considering starting a new business or strategizing how to grow and scale your business. It’s just as important to be intentional in who you receive your advice from. Surround yourself with the right people. People who elevate you, encourage you to think bigger and bigger, people who genuinely care and who have stood in your shoes. The other biggest lesson I’ve learned is that I’d rather be consistent than perfect. In my personal life and in my business, if I keep showing up and doing the work, the results will come.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Houston has so much to offer, that whenever I’m in this situation, I never know where to start! I’d probably try to see at movie at Rooftop Cinema Club Uptown, go to one of the rooftop lounges downtown to take in the view, visit some of my favorite food trucks and vendors at Houston Grub Park, along with Blk Mkt Birria (so good), a nice brunch at Taste Bar + Kitchen, and then dinner at Kiss or Steak 48.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are too many to name! God has perfectly orchestrated all apart of my circle in different seasons of my life, and I am so thankful for them and the roles they have played in shaping who I am. However, the most impactful would be my parents. They laid the foundation by grounding me in faith first and then encouraging my sisters and I to define our own version of success.
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iyuliphotograph