Matt Wilhelmi is CEO and Sr. Consultant at Strategic Voyages Business Consultants; providing outsourced CFO services to companies focused on growth. He joins Tony Arce and The Face Of Chicago Business at the roundtable to share the power of having a trusted advisor for your business.

The author of “Taboo Business Questions,” Matt breaks down his strategic approach to identifying the root cause of each of his clients’ unique situations, to provide a customized solution for them. 

Which as he points out, can be confusing for a business owner to do on their own, depending on who they ask.

“There’s a lot of businesses that are at that breaking point where they know they need some advice. They’re scared of hiring a full-time CFO and they don’t know what to do. So, they go to their bank. Sometimes, they’ll talk to their loan officer or their banker. Maybe, they’ll go to their CPA or their accountant, and they’re getting all kinds of financial advice. It’s very conflictual.

The advice from the bank is almost always different from the advice of the CPA. They speak these different languages. So, with my background, working at Chase and US bank, and then in small business, I’ve been able to translate that into words and terms a business owner can understand.”

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Having worked as consultant, before starting his own company and seized the opportunity to learn of the problems and questions common to most businesses and business owners. Yet Matt continues to pursue knowledge through reading and encourages his clients to do the same. 

“It’s that kind of mindset of continual learning and continual growth and being able to think about your business as something that is a project that you’re working on. To improve instead of just showing up every day, and punching the clock, and making some money, and paying your people and going home.