Business Boost Initiative: Brigette Beathea

Brigette Bethea is the owner and lead strategist of ULEAD, a consulting firm specializing in workforce and leadership development and community engagement. While her business experienced rapid growth, maintaining consistent financial practices became a growing challenge: “The biggest thing I was having trouble with was being busy and not having the capacity to look at my finances”.  Through BBI, NCDF connected Brigette with financial expert Teri Hayes, owner of Small Business Solutions, a consulting company helping small businesses with bookkeeping and accounting. For three months the two worked together to build stronger systems and routines for Brigette and her business, ULEAD: “This program gave me a dedicated person for dedicated hours to really look at my finances and support that work,” Brigette shares.

After the program, Brigette recognized the value of bookkeeping support and brought Terry into her operations, reducing her workload and strengthening her decision-making. BBI helped her build internal capacity, implement new financial systems, and transition to preparing quarterly taxes. “You’ve got to stay ready, so you don’t have to get ready,” she notes. With up-to-date financials and stronger systems in place, Brigette is now able to make confident, strategic decisions. “If I always have a profit and loss on deck, a balance sheet ready, and projections up to date, it allows me to make better financial decisions.”