Case study: Musica Ficta brings order to creative chaos by partnering with Sleek
3 minute read
Read on to see how music-school entrepreneurs Dominique Lecocq and Vincent Cateigne freed themselves to work on the more creative parts of their business.
Tailor-made art and music tuition
Musica Ficta is a private tuition school offering private and group classes in music and the arts in a natural, enjoyable, and flexible way.
Business partners Dominique Lecocq and Vincent Cateigne originally started the business in August 2017 with children’s classes in piano, guitar, and painting and drawing. Since then, the two-man team have expanded to include adult workshops, corporate team building, and performances.
They deal in bringing out the creative side of everyone who walks through their doors.
‘Music is about collaboration, communication and emotion – we hope to share that with everyone we work with,’ says Dominique.
Creative chaos
As is often the case with small businesses, the creative partners were busy running the business and didn’t often have time to work on the business or the books.
‘We didn’t have a lot of time to do our accounts correctly – it was a big problem for us’, says Dominique.
Although he was diligent around keeping records of his expenses and kept excel spreadsheets and big folders with invoices and bills, there was room for improvement when it came to bookkeeping using software such as Xero.
Another common issue for small business owners who throw themselves into their business, the partners were withdrawing nominal salaries and then spending that money on supplies for the business.
‘If the classes needed it, we bought it – we didn’t think about what that would do for our accounts.’
Accounting for non-accountants
“When I send something, I have an answer very fast. It’s very important to me. Mary explains things clearly and in plain English. She takes the time to explain concepts and how Xero works.”
The pair had heard about Sleek from a friend who was using their corporate secretary services.
‘We originally came to them to have our compliance looked after but when we learned they also offered in-house accounting, we asked Adrien [Sleek’s cofounder] for help’, says Dominique.
Affordability and quality were deciding factors in choosing Sleek.
‘Our first company secretary was quite expensive for a small company like me, and that’s why I changed corporate secretary’, said Dominique.
I also thought I could do my accounting alone, but it’s quite difficult.’
Sleek’s reactivity is also key. ‘When I send something, I have an answer very fast. It’s very important to me. Mary explains things clearly and in plain English. She takes the time to explain concepts, and how Xero works – it’s all very interesting.’
With the Sleek team, everything is now digitised and available online – including all the bills, invoices, and receipts stuffed into his folder. Since he is on Sleek’s Slim plan, Dominique also received personalised tax structuring and planning advice for the business to help his business grow.
A bright horizon
Growth is top of mind for Dominique and Musica Ficta. ‘I want to hire more teachers for private lessons and focus more attention on developing corporate workshops and events that encourage cohesion and listening in the team.’
Now he’s not worried about the bookkeeping, he has more time to spend on value-added activities such as these. ‘I’ve already referred two friends and business partners to Sleek’, Dominique adds. ‘I’m very very happy with these services.’
Want to learn more about our featured business? Visit the website of Musica Ficta.
