 After graduating from Westervelt College with Honours in Business Accounting, Payroll, and Executive Administration, Nicole Derbyshire started Nyxluna Business Services in 2022 and began working as a subcontractor bookkeeper in June of 2022 for a local Aylmer business, Lambert Cook CPA. Nicole got to work, getting clients books sorted, and along the way gained a wonderful mentor and supporter in Lambert. “I have always loved accounting and related services,” Nicole said with a smile. “I always received very high marks for those courses in school, and I find it’s something that comes easily to me. I just see numbers differently.” Encouraged by her mentor, education, and experience, Nyxluna Business Services began to accept clients in June of 2024. Starting her own business, subcontracting, and then accepting clients has felt like a whirlwind, but each opportunity was one that Nicole felt she couldn’t pass up. As a full-time mom and small business owner, the adjustment period has been hard, but Nicole isn’t one to shy away from rolling up her sleeves and working hard. In fact, she has sort of become known for her hard work – especially when it comes to not backing down from big books and messes. “My main focus is full cycle bookkeeping and tax preparation,” Nicole explained. “I seem to be becoming an expert in fixing messy books and back logs,” she said with a laugh. Her client’s range across different businesses and services, from non-for-profits to partnerships, corporations, and sole proprietors. She has experience working with businesses who are established and have been around for years, and with businesses that are just starting out. “I’m finding my niches are [not limited to certain industries, but rather] cleaning up big messes,” Nicole chuckled. “It’s not ideal, but someone has to do it, and it’s nice [for businesses to know] that there is someone that can do it.” It can be hard to reteach and retrain, but Nicole is always willing to put in the work and provide explanations to her clients to help walk them through different aspects of tax preparation, accounts, invoicing, and more. “My goal is to streamline your businesses financial processes, ensuring accuracy and compliance, so owners can focus on growing their businesses with confidence,” said Nicole. Starting out wasn’t easy – after graduating she got hired by a company in London, but it wasn’t what she was looking for. Her experience solidified her desire to work for herself and to start her own business but bridging the gap from school to being an entrepreneur was difficult. She began to look around the St. Thomas area for accountants and bookkeepers who might need assistance and sent plenty of outreach emails. That was when she met Lambert Cook, and his mentorship was game changing. “He was the only one that answered [my outreaches], and he has been incredible,” Nicole said with a smile. “He refers me to clients and if I have questions, anything, even small stuff, he is always willing to answer. He’s amazing.” With a strong personality, Nicole is honest with her clients and wants them to know that although bookkeeping is something many people try to do themselves to save money, it doesn’t pay off in the long run. “When you are first starting out your business it’s going to cost more because there’s a lot of setups to hire a bookkeeper, there are lots of intricacies,” Nicole explained. “But in the long run, it’s going to save you money and take big headaches off your plate. Having proper financial records is also going to help your business because you can see exactly where your business is really sitting, not just an estimate. Proper records and bookkeeping are going to be important if you need to apply for loans, navigate government remittances and rules, regulations around payroll and ROE’s, and the list goes on.” It might seem like an upfront cost, but in the long run it will save you money, time, and worry as business owner. Peace of mind is worth the investment, and having someone on your team who is knowledgeable, organized, and helpful can be invaluable. As an example, Nicole said she has had clients who have had bad bookkeepers or have tried to do their books themselves, resulting in her having to go back to find and fix two or three years of issues, which costs them thousands of dollars to fix – all of which could have been avoided by investing in proper bookkeeping early on. Even her business name speaks to her hardworking attitude – a combination of her nickname and Luna, a female alpha wolf. “I’ll come in, take charge, and get things figured out for you,” she said. “I’ll lead you down the right pathway.” As for what sets her apart from other bookkeeping services, Nicole takes pride in having strong relationships with her clients. “It’s very important for me to get to know the person and their business,” she explained. “As much as it’s a business, it’s also a relationship. It’s very important to me to keep that going, and to make sure people know I care about them and their businesses beyond just their books.” If you go
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