ABOUT US
About Greg Rohler
Greg Rohler, Outsourced bookkeeping and CFO
Small business was bred into me.
As early as age 8, I tried my hand at entrepreneurship, selling seeds, greeting cards, and even Fuller
brushes door-to-door. I also tried my hand at a mail order business while in high school.
Talk about small business at the dinner table was part of growing up in the Rohler home.
My father’s first venture was a restaurant, but later he went into real estate. He loved that business and
was a realtor in the small university town where I grew up, for the rest of his working life until his death.
When I was 9, he also became a small business owner when he and two partners decided to leave their
boss to start their own real estate agency.
Business and family are never far apart.
For my dad and our family, being a small business owner was more than a career choice, it was a life
style. Even a world view. For most of my clients, it is as well.
I also saw first-hand the risks of being in your own business.
My dad’s business got pummeled by the crushing recession of the late 1970’s and early 80’s. It was one
of the factors that has influenced my thinking for a lifetime. I always think about how to help my clients
and my family avoid being completely vulnerable to economic downturns.
Success and survival are no accident.
Building a business that many hope to pass on to children, providing stable employment to faithful
employees, earning a good living that allows for college expenses, vacations and retirement savings are
all fruits of a successful business.
None of these happen without planning, perseverance and consistently good decision making, guided by
reliable data. Taking the time to understand what the numbers mean is a responsibility I take seriously.
About Greg Rohler, Inc.
Since GRI’s first days in 1999, I have learned two things about small business and entrepreneurs:
1 – The numbers don’t lie
2 – Many entrepreneurs struggle to act on the numbers
Often, we refuse to believe the data. Other times, we are afraid to take the necessary action.
What demons lurk in our minds that hold us back from the success we could have?
At times I have also failed to act on the data. Why is that?
I have often puzzled over this. Why do we so often ignore the numbers?
What I have learned is that we as humans are hopelessly confused about objective reality unless it’s
measured. We think we spend more time and money on what matters and greatly underestimate what
time and $$ we do spend on things that don’t.
All of this serves to prove that the 80/20 principle is alive and well in our world.
It also proves that without focused effort, we as humans continue to ignore it 80% or more of the time.
What does this have to do with financial management? Unless we know what’s really happening, we
are likely to spend time and money on the wrong things, with disappointing results at best.
Clients count on me to help them uncover the 20% that is producing the 80%.
Together we look for actions that lead to getting more with less –
- More profit with less work
- More results with fewer inputs
- More productivity with less time
I still can’t explain human nature or why so many of us avoid acting on data.
What is my role for clients?
What I can say is that I walk alongside my clients, supporting them with solid numbers and insights to
help them take good data-driven action.