{"id":384,"date":"2015-12-02T22:48:24","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T04:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com\/?p=384"},"modified":"2016-07-27T22:42:03","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T03:42:03","slug":"meet-the-difference-makers-melissa-cottrill-cpa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accountants.intuit.com\/taxprocenter\/client-relationships\/meet-the-difference-makers-melissa-cottrill-cpa\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Difference Makers: Melissa Cottrill, CPA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">It\u2019s not often that a tax professional agrees to accept a few children\u2019s toys as a form of payment. But, Melissa Cottrill is not your everyday tax professional.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Melissa\u2019s story of helping a visually impaired client keep his retail store dreams alive was one of the grand prize winning entries in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/proconnect.intuit.com\/difference-makers\/\" data-wa-link=\"body_mtdm\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Meet the Difference Makers Contest<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight:400;\"> in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">\u201cI was visiting a client who told me about a bookstore owner who was struggling,\u201d recalls Melissa. \u201cHe was frustrated with his impaired eyesight. I said that I would do whatever I could to help him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">First, Melissa learned how to put barcodes on books so that her new client could get his inventory accounted for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">\u201cI ordered the QuickBooks<\/span>\u00ae\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Enterprise POS with a scanner,\u201d she says. \u201cTogether, we cataloged his entire book collection.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Later, when the client moved to another location to open a toy store, Melissa helped him import his information and create email lists. To understand and facilitate the client\u2019s special needs, she worked directly with the Ohio Bureau of Services for the Visually Impaired.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">\u201cWith an enlarged monitor and instruction sheets prepared by me in extra-large type, he was able to operate his store.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Once up and running, the client called Melissa for help with his taxes. This was after his toy business failed and he was struggling to close the business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">\u201cHe wanted to pay me, but I couldn\u2019t accept. I said, \u2018How about you pay me with toys?\u2019 I got two puzzles for my niece.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">A full-time tax professional for the past eight years, Melissa works on her own with a mix of business and individual clients, providing services that include payroll, bookkeeping, quarterly tax reviews, full service accounting, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/quickbooks.intuit.com\/accountants\/quickbooks-accountant\" data-wa-link=\"body_qboa\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">QuickBooks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight:400;\"> on-site training and tax preparation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">As a naturally helpful person, Melissa had several client stories from which to choose from, when submitting to the Meet the Difference Makers Contest, including one in which she assisted a disabled person.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">\u201cShe\u2019s still struggling but her story isn\u2019t finished,\u201d Melissa says. \u201cI care about my clients. I didn\u2019t think I was doing anything special. I just like to help people. Mentors have taken time for me. You never know if you\u2019re going to be that one person who will make a difference in a person\u2019s life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">To nurture the 40 to 50 client relationships in her practice, Melissa chooses <a href=\"https:\/\/proconnect.intuit.com\/tax-online\/\" data-wa-link=\"body_ito\">ProConnect\u2122 Tax Online<\/a> and\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/proconnect.intuit.com\/lacerte\/\" data-wa-link=\"body_lc\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Lacerte<\/span><\/a>\u00ae<span style=\"font-weight:400;\">, citing their price and functionality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">\u201cI think the pricing for Intuit Tax Online is great compared to other products, which means I can be more competitive with my pricing,\u201d she explains. \u201cAnd, Lacerte allows you to export K1, which is the best part about it in my opinion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">\u201cI like to research the law and help people with compliance,\u201d adds Melissa. \u201cI like to look for any break I can give them, so they can put money into their business to grow their business.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">The difference that Melissa made for her visually impaired client \u2013 and her own grand prize win \u2013 are examples of how, with a little determination, dreams can come true. Melissa looks forward to fulfilling one of her own aspirations when she travels to San Jose for QuickBooks Connect.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">\u201cHonestly, I\u2019m a small town girl,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m a bit shocked that I won but it makes me feel good. I\u2019ve never been to the west coast before. I cannot wait to get to California.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s not often that a tax professional agrees to accept a few children\u2019s toys as a form of payment. But, Melissa Cottrill is not your everyday tax professional. Melissa\u2019s story of helping a visually impaired client keep his retail store dreams alive was one of the grand prize winning entries in the Meet the Difference<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104275893,"featured_media":386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rkv_browse_by_id":0,"rkv_cta_id":0,"rkv_optimize_for_pagespeed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"useModifiedDate":false,"customPublishDate":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[561584],"tags":[327585],"intuit_collection":[],"intuit_series":[],"coauthors":[509474241],"class_list":["post-384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-client-relationships","tag-make-a-difference"],"header_image":"","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Meet the Difference Makers: Melissa Cottrill, CPA - Tax Pro Center | Intuit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/accountants.intuit.com\/taxprocenter\/client-relationships\/meet-the-difference-makers-melissa-cottrill-cpa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet the Difference Makers: Melissa Cottrill, CPA - Tax Pro Center | Intuit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s not often that a tax professional agrees to accept a few children\u2019s toys as a form of payment. 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