Batavia Chamber Member Insider - Meet Jessica McGrail

Welcome to our feature – the Member Insider! We are excited for you to learn more about your fellow Batavia Chamber members. We are beginning the series with our hard-working Board of Directors. To gain insight into our esteemed members, we are asking them to answer a total of 20 questions.

This week, we’ll learn a bit more about Jessica McGrail, who has owned Dollar & Sense Bookkeeping, Inc. for more than 11 years. An accounting expert, Jessica’s firm has been a Batavia Chamber member for five years. She’s been on the board of directors for four years, serving two years as the board’s chairperson.



First up, is to explore Jess’s thoughts about the Chamber. Here are a couple of her responses:

Question: What makes our organization’s mission powerful for you?
Answer: Bringing community and families together through its small businesses and organizations, which helps make Batavia a great place to live and raise a family.

Q: Why did you join the Batavia Chamber?
A: A recommendation from a successful business owner (Jamie Saam), I am beyond thankful to her.

Q: What is your favorite Chamber event to participate in and why?
A: Inspire – I love the energy of the event. The award winners inspire me in how they have contributed to the community, and how selfless they are. It furthers my goals!

Q: If you had unlimited resources, what is the one thing you as a board member would like to do for our business community?
A: Provide them with the anything I know that they don’t know and help them find what they need if we both don’t know!

Q: What does the Batavia Chamber do better than anyone else?             
A: The staff works tirelessly to have every possible idea and resource available to every business owner whether they ask for it or not… amazing!
Moving on, we asked Jessica about her work life and motivation. Here are the answers to the questions that she selected:

Q: What motivates you to work hard?  
A: My kids, my husband and my community. I want my kids to learn that if you work hard you achieve your goals and can help others at the same time. My husband always lifts me up when things get tiring, work/life balance seem out of sorts or when tasks seem “impossible.”  By the Grace of God, there is always a way to give to those in the community that are in need while giving your family all the love you have and have it be good enough.

Q: What is your favorite thing about your career?
A: Helping clients achieve goals and see their finances in a positive way.

Q: What’s the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever received? 
A: Join your Chamber, be active in the downtown partnership, volunteer and give as much as you can and be a part of your City’s growth!

Q: What's the worst career advice you've ever received?
A: That trust is not possible in business and that it is not possible to grow your business and keep a connection to all your clients.

Finally, Jessica chose the following five hard-hitting personal questions to answer, giving us even more insight to this valued Chamber member:

Q: If there was one question that never really gets asked that you would like an honest answer to with no recriminations, what would it be?
A: How can we end all hate, hunger, suffering and devastation in the world?

Q: What makes you laugh the most?
A: My kids and my husband make me laugh constantly, my team and I laugh all day at the office, and I love a good standup comedy show!

Q: What are two of your pet peeves?
A: Laziness and selfishness

Q: What could you give a 30-minute presentation about with no advance preparation?
A: Accounting and QuickBooks Online!
  
Q: What's one thing that can instantly make your day better?
A: My family, good news, or a compliment!