Why You Don’t Have to Choose Between Impact and Freedom– How I Built Nimbl to Thrive While I Sleep

In my recent spotlight on Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur, Brian Lofrumento, Entrepreneur, Speaker, and Author interviewed me on how I built Nimbl to intentionally have a big impact and create more freedom, for me personally and our clients at Nimbl. In 2015, I asked myself a simple question that changed everything: “Why can’t you have both?”

That challenge—from Brandon Craig , my then-coach—shattered the myth that growth always comes at the expense of health, family, or sanity. It lit a fire under me to build something different: Nimbl, a modern accounting firm designed to give founders back their time, clarity, and confidence.

From “Chief Everything Officer” to True CEO

For years, I was the only face my clients knew. I juggled bookkeeping, payroll, tax filings, and  CFO strategy—you name it. Then came the moment every founder dreams of: I handed off my last client as primary contact.

Seeing my clients embrace a growing, trusted team without needing “Dave” in the middle was transformative. That handoff marked my shift from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur—the architect of a self-scaling company built on strong systems and leaders.

The “Secret Sauce” Tech Stack

At Nimbl, every engagement starts with Ignition:

• Auto-generated proposals that capture scope and e-signatures
• Auto-charged fees on the 1st of each month—so cash arrives before payroll
• No receivables, no invoice chasing, no hourly billing headaches

The result? Growth funds itself, our team focuses on value delivery, and hundreds of clients run smoothly on near-autopilot.

Lessons from My Biggest Face-Plant

I once “freed” myself by hiring a client-facing teammate too soon, without proper training or documented playbooks. Clients began canceling. It was a brutal lesson: delegation without process is just abdication.

Since then, every hire goes through a structured onboarding, clear performance reviews, and ongoing coaching. That discipline has let me exit day-to-day client work and focus on building the system, not being the system.

Three Principles Every Founder Needs Today

1. Design for Both Impact & Freedom Start with your lifestyle vision—and reverse-engineer the systems to get you there.
2. Document Everything Loose expectations become painful misunderstandings. Write down agreements, revisit them, and iterate.
3. Build Leaders, Not Followers Your goal isn’t to do the work forever—it’s to empower a team that can. Invest in people, processes, and culture from Day 1.

If you’re stuck choosing between growth and balance, remember: you can have both. The systems you build today will fund the freedom you crave tomorrow.

🔹 How are you designing your business for impact and freedom? Let me know in the comments!

#Entrepreneurship #Leadership #BusinessSystems #Accounting #FoundersJourney