Host Arlia Hoffman is joined by Marika Ponton, an accomplished businesswoman and profitability coach, who shared her inspiring journey from a CPA to a successful business owner.
Marika discussed her transition from auditing to owning a business, the challenges she faced, and how leveraging Office Angels' virtual support was pivotal for her success. She stressed the importance of financial literacy, creative problem-solving, and understanding one's financials to achieve business success.
Marika also talked about her role in coaching small business owners to improve their financial health and operational efficiency. Her message to women entrepreneurs centers on being unafraid to take risks, seeking help when needed, and always staying on top of their financials.
About Marika:
Born and raised in Nevada, Marika Ponton achieved her CPA license and started her public accounting career.
For the next 15 years Marika earned technical expertise by auditing hundreds of public and private company financial statements and assessing their internal controls. Always seen as an outlier in the auditing industry with her trademark outgoing Marika personality, she bridged the gap between external auditors and client teams that didn’t always feel comfortable sharing all the details of their financial statements.
She went on to purchase her own company and grew it to a highly profitable location. Owning a small business proved to be significantly harder than being a CPA, she utilized Office Angels for administrative and human resources support, and the flexibility that came from as-needed Virtual Professionals transformed the efficiency and operations of the location;
She now leads Office Angels’ continuing strategic mission to help small businesses flourish!
It was a natural progression for Marika to become a Profitability Coach. She is able to analyze and assess financials and operations and she thrives on being a Secret Weapon behind the scenes.
She acts as liaison between clients and their financials and coaches’ others on how understanding them can help them achieve their goals!
Combine a CPA’s in-depth accounting background, the outgoing personality of a business development professional, and an unwavering drive to help small business owners command their businesses to achieve growth or exit goals and you have Marika E. Ponton (MEP).
Connect with Marika:
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:30 Marika's Journey in Accounting
01:08 Transition to Business Ownership
05:53 Challenges of Small Business Ownership
09:55 Financial Management and Coaching
13:53 The Importance of Budgeting
17:35 Identifying Financial Missteps
18:06 Coaching Business Owners on Financial Literacy
18:53 The Importance of Role Alignment in Business
22:36 Flexible Solutions with Office Angels
24:49 Becoming a Profitability Coach
25:52 Empowering Women in Business
26:55 The Value of Financial Awareness
29:32 Lessons from Grandpa: Embracing Mistakes
31:57 Final Thoughts and Contact Information
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