Leading with Valor | Jayanthi “Jay” Ganapathy

increasing profitability by 20% + and reducing taxes by 47-100% to becoming the founder and CEO of FinAccurate LLC, an accounting firm helping Small Businesses increase revenue and reduce taxes legally. She also successfully manages her own Non-Profit in India to support students’ school and college education while actively participating in a non-profit which promotes peace, culture, and education.

Her achievements don’t end here. Being a steadfast leader, Jay inspires and empowers those around her by advising them to make mistakes but having the courage to own them, “I let everyone around me, and my team know that they can be honest with their conversations and fearless in sharing an idea, because that is what makes us different from others.” She’s passionate about helping small business owners understand the ins and outs of their business by explaining their critical financial statements and cash flow positions on any given day so they can make better business decisions. Her mission is to help small business owners increase cash flow, reduce taxes legally, improve processes, lower risks, and increase value by offering high-quality outsourced bookkeeping and accounting services.

Every day, Jay thanks her mother for motivating and setting an example for her to become one of the brightest leaders in the industry. Jay’s mother taught her to produce fire from damp wood, taking example from her own life filled with numerous hardships but leading it with determination. “I think of and lead my professional and personal life with that same conviction every day,” says Jay. The courageous leader sets an example herself with her exceptional qualities of being persistent, hardworking, transforming with times, setting courageous goals, and working relentlessly towards achieving them.

But, success did not come easy to this pioneering leader. Jay had no one to advise her on the rights and wrongs of business, nor did she know anyone in the United States when she began her business. She had to go through a failed partnership and dust herself up in order to culminate into the courageous leader she is today. She joined various networking groups, including BNI and ProVisors, to get in touch with industry leaders. She overcame her marketing challenges by understanding her flaws, including overspending in various areas from website to social media, ignoring sales challenges, and struggling to focus on referrals. But she once again fought through all her adversaries and surged towards enhancing herself and her company.

As a woman leader, Jay knew the road ahead was not easy, but she knew she had to think outside the box. She shifted her perception from “Have-Do-Be” to Be-Do-Have”, from complaining to taking action on the situation.  Speaking of her Entrepreneurial challenges Jay quotes “Entrepreneurship is Risky and Challenging, BUT it is more Meaningful and Complete.”

“It at least takes twice the effort for a woman to become a leader than it is for a man. With raising kids, the challenge even multiplies, but that is what sets us apart. Once you set your mind to something, the dedication will get you great results,” elucidates Jay. “My biggest achievement has been finding solutions for the traditional and old accounting problems through automation and technology.”

Jay has made it her aim to encourage the team to answer the questions they present to her before answering them. It is her goal to guide them into following and trusting their abilities. “There is a solution to every challenge—is the mantra that I share with the team. If you think of our business as building solutions, it becomes easier. Every member of my team comes with their own list of talents, and the way they think, they may come up with a unique solution,” she adds. “We need to harness all these different abilities and allow the team to come up with a solution which builds their confidence in making the next decision.”

Above is just one of the numerous examples explaining Jay and her team’s capabilities. For the days to come, Jay wants to focus on enhancing her services and equipping the team with the best technology to develop themselves and their clients. “I will also be concentrating on supporting a local, non-profit organization in her community that promotes peace, culture, and education thru dialogue. Alongside, I will be reading books on personal and business development not only to learn, but to improve myself and my skills constantly,” says Jay. “I want to empower employees to be true leaders, who will continue the Legacy of FinAccurate. They should be able to bring revolutionary change in the Accounting Industry and execute my life’s mission.”