Not All Vegan Businesses Are Food Businesses – Tax Tips From a Vegan Accountant with Keith Lesser

Pivot! A Vegan Business Interview Series

Full Description / Episode Show Notes

Not long after becoming vegan for health reasons, Keith Lesser became just as passionate about the ethics of veganism–preventing animal cruelty, promoting sustainability and acting against climate change.

Keith decided to combine his career in accountancy and veganism to serve the vegan business community with quality accounting services. He acquired the Vegan Accountants brand, built a vegan team and re-vamped, re-launched and later re-branded the business with significant growth of 500% in the first 24 months.

In this episode of Pivot, the Managing Director of Vegan Accountants, Keith Lesser, joins us to share how his business helps vegan and ethical businesses with their accounts and tax compliance.

Keith's story is a fantastic account of how you don't necessarily need to change professions to become a vegan entrepreneur.

Get to know Keith and Vegan Accountants better here: https://veganaccountants.co.uk/

Quote:

If you have anxiety about taxes, it is a good thing to delegate and just focus on what you're good at. It all comes back to having an abundance and growth mindset, don’t try and do everything yourself and think, “Oh, I save, save a little bit on this.”

—Keith Lesser

Show notes timestamps:
🙋🏾‍♀️ [00:50] Vegan businesses are not only food-based: a vegan accountant is a must.
🤩 [05:52] Keith merged his vegan lifestyle and the family accounting business.
➡️ [08:52] The good balance: put quality at the forefront of everything and add ethics to it.
🤯 [12:15] Team of vegan accountants and connection with clients: you can't hide from the accountant.
⚡ [15:39] It’s easier to go to the mass market, but then you leave your mission a little bit at the door: yes, there are plenty of vegan businesses out there.
🎯 [17:25] Having an accountant on your side is important: shifting businesses with a good understanding of finances.
⏰ [21:01] When is the best time to get an accountant?
🆚 [21:45] Having accounting software vs. having an accountant.
✅ [23:00] Thinking about prices, value and scalability from day one.
🔢 [24:10] Emotional barrier and the value of the offering: understanding numbers.
💸 [27:00] Taxes in the USA and UK: people don’t count taxes in and break down the invoices incorrectly.
🧭 [32:02] Tax planning phase: business and personal tax planning throughout the year.
🗝️ [34:11] Relationship, connection and expertise are the key points for every business.
⚖️ [37:10] Reducing client base, tweaking process and improving balance in the business.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.