On the first Tuesday of every month, we’ll announce a new Female Founder, including a video interview of them sharing their business story. Want to be featured as a Female Founder?
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To learn a little more about the Scotiabank Women Initiative, and why they’ve chosen to sponsor this program, see the video below.
The next Female Founder we’re featuring is Cheryl Sarnavka, Founder & Executive Director at Alt Caret.
Cheryl Sarnavka is a dynamic financial executive with a strong track record of success in global finance, strategic management, and operational leadership. With expertise spanning financial oversight, capital administration, mergers and acquisitions, and technology-driven process improvements, Cheryl has consistently delivered results in complex corporate environments. She is a high-energy, results-driven professional known for optimizing financial performance, increasing operational efficiencies, and driving strategic growth initiatives.
Currently serving as the CFO at 3H Properties Group Inc., Cheryl provides financial leadership in property acquisitions, underwriting, and lender negotiations, ensuring regulatory compliance and investor reporting. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Alt Caret Professional Corporation, a highly technology focused CPA Firm operating across Ontario. Through the Firm she assists corporations, not-for-profits and small businesses with financial planning, tax compliance, compilations, reviews, audits, process optimizations and corporate restructuring that maximize return on investment.
With financial responsibility for portfolios exceeding $100 million, Cheryl has achieved record profitability increases across multiple organizations, streamlined operations to improve net operating income by 20%, and successfully led cost-reduction initiatives that saved organizations millions annually. A skilled leader, she has hired, mentored, and developed over 200 professionals, fostering high-performance teams that drive sustainable growth.
In addition to her corporate expertise, Cheryl is deeply engaged in real estate investment and development, holding a Mortgage Agent Level 2 certification and a Real Estate Broker license. She is the founder of therealtyden.com, altcaret.com and nuvues.com (her newest achievement in software development creating a SAAS CRM/Lead Generation and Accounting to help small businesses grow). Her passion for community-driven initiatives is evident in her involvement with affordable housing development programs and Sustainable Off Grid Housing Developments, which seeks to address housing shortages and provide cost effective living for home owners through sustainable housing solutions.
Cheryl holds a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation and an Accounting and Business Administration degree from Sheridan College. She is also an active board member of the Alzheimer Society of Waterloo Wellington and a proud supporter of CAMH and the Canadian Cancer Society.
Driven by a commitment to financial excellence, operational efficiency, and community impact, Cheryl continues to be a strategic force in the corporate finance and real estate sectors.
To learn more about Cheryls’ journey as a Female Founder, watch the interview below (or read the written format).
Tell us about your Business.
I started up a company called Altcarrot, and it’s a CPA firm. I know there’s lots of CPA firms, but for my business, because my background in mostly corporate, I’ve worked in corporate businesses for the last 25 years, I thought it would be great to start up an organization, a firm that is focused on small and medium-sized businesses, and not-for-profits as well, but really incorporating all of the experiences, the policies, processes, strategies, all of those things that came out of the corporate world, and putting those into smaller firms, smaller companies, helping them grow, helping them benefit.
I find right now there’s a challenge with small businesses really being able to grow their business and sustain their business, so I’m hoping to really leverage what I learned in my corporate world and bring it into the small businesses.
Where did your business idea come from?
Just seeing a lot of opportunities. When I got out of corporate world in 2019 as a CFO for a publicly-traded company in Toronto, I quit my job and got into really helping startups and small businesses.
Just focused on that, and I thought, I think it’s time that I really leverage that and focus on that as a business, and help as many companies as I can.
What were you doing before you started your business?
Yeah, so, well, start is, you know, I kind of always knew, well, I guess way back when in high school, I’m going to be an accountant. I didn’t want to be an accountant (laugh).
I wanted to get into fashion design, but I ended up going down this route, you know, because I had a family that immigrated into Canada, came here when I was eight. You know, we moved around a lot, and so I wanted stability, and I thought, hey, accounting, I can get stability out of that. So, went into that, but all of my jobs, I mean, I started in accounting when I was 21, but all of those jobs were kind of stepping stones for me.
I gained a lot of knowledge and skills, and every single job I’ve had, most of it having to do with, you know, reorganizing, restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, you know, finding, you know, implementing software, for example, just improving efficiencies within the company, you know, taking on different types of, you know, warehouse management and things like that. So, I gained a lot of knowledge. I was very lucky, you know.
I don’t know if it was luck or hard work, but I gained a lot of experience in different areas, so it was great for me.
What have been some of the highlights of your entrepreneurial journey so far?
I don’t think I’ve achieved my full accomplishment, the thing that I really want to do, like my purpose, but I think, you know, I think achieving my designation was great. Starting up, you know, the real estate company, starting that up almost 10 years ago, I think it was a great accomplishment.
Obviously, getting into, you know, setting up a firm, a CPA firm, that’s, you know, that’s quite an accomplishment, I think. And then getting into software development, because it’s an area I’ve mostly in my career implemented software, done the implementation in companies, and did the recommendations, ROI, all that stuff, but actually, you know, developing something that small businesses can use to really streamline and grow their business, while giving them, you know, the accounting information, the business information that they need to make decisions on a daily basis. I feel really proud about that, because it’s helping, it’s really helping businesses grow.
What have been some of your biggest challenges?
The biggest challenge for me, and probably all of my businesses, and even today, is people, people, the biggest challenge. You know, I think when you start a business, when you, you say, I got an idea, something I want to do, I think having the support around you is important. Having, you know, people that are rallying, you know, they understand you, they can, you know, kind of contribute to what you’re doing, they’re like, you know, your cheerleaders, right? So there’s that group.
But there’s also, when you got the business done, like it’s set up, it’s ready to go, when you need people, right? So it’s the people, you know, finding people who are loyal, finding people who are hardworking, finding people who kind of treat the business, your business, like it’s their own, I think for me is, is challenging. I’ve been lucky, I know a lot of people. So I’ve been able to kind of get the right people in.
But it is, it is challenging. 100%. I would say it’s the most challenging out of everything.
Knowing what you know now, is there anything you would do differently?
Listen, I’m learning, every single day, I’m learning. The world is changing minute by minute, every single day, there’s a change. You know, we’ve got AI, we’ve got technology, you know, we’ve got political decisions, we’ve got all these things happening in the world that affect us, I kind of focus on is really, you know, being, you know, being, you know, having a company and having businesses that are diverse.
And when I mean diverse, I don’t just mean in people, I mean, in really products and services. So what am I doing? What am I selling? You know, and being agile, of course, right? So having, you know, systems and processes and, you know, tools in place that you can easily move from one thing to the next. As an example, you know, you know, a lot of CPAs, a lot of accountants, they do, they do tax returns, personal tax returns.
Well, along comes CRA, and CRA says, Hey, we’re gonna process those returns for you. So what do you do in that instance, you’ve got a business and your business has been, you know, Hey, I’m doing 80% of my businesses doing personal tax returns. Well, what happens when CRA comes in and says, we’re going to do it? Your business is, where does it go? So being able to, you know, keep in touch with what’s going on, the use of technology, how is it changing? And not just today, but how is it going to, how’s your business going to be affected? And how’s it going to look in a year, two years, three years, four years, five years? What is going to happen? What do you, what do you foresee?
You know, as an entrepreneur, we have to, we have to use those, those colored glasses or those, you know, those crystal balls and kind of, you know, kind of look ahead and say, Okay, this is what’s going to happen. This is what I think is, is the next steps and plan for it. So really, have a business, but look at that business, look at all the things that you can add to that business. If something happens, can you pivot? How quickly can you pivot into the next service? You know, and, and just be diverse.
So you’re not, you know, all your eggs are not in one basket because you don’t know what other people are working on, right? You only know what you know. But you have no idea what other people are working on. So somebody could be working on something that’s going to affect your business.
So be prepared.
What methods have you used to grow your business?
You know, just marketing and getting, you know, business development. I don’t find I have to do a lot to get business development because I built some things, put some things in place.
So for example, I obviously I’ve got a pretty good network. And so, you know what I call a referral network that I built, right? So that referral network is, you know, you’re referring clients within your network, right? So that they can build up their business and they’re referring clients back. And in totality, it helps the client, right? The client gains and, you know, they end up with, you know, better management of their money, better investment opportunities, all these different things to grow their wealth.
You know, and if it’s a company to grow their business. But, I think, you know, one of the first things I did and spent the time on was a good website, a very good website with search engine optimization built into it. SEO is so important and you don’t, it doesn’t have to be expensive.
You don’t have to spend tens of thousands of dollars for SEO. You can, you know, you can do it. I use RankMath, but there’s lots of other solutions out there, you know, and that can take you from, you know, somebody doing a search of, you know, you know, a CPA or me type thing from being page 30 to being page one or two.
So the power of that is, is extremely important. You know, using the technology is, is very, very important. But building up, you know, your referral network.
I do a lot of networking. I love networking. I’m, I’m more of an extrovert and I love people.
So I like to go out and meet people, meet new people and get together. I think it’s a great way to build your business and not just build your business, but you can meet some friends along the way too. Sponsorships.
I think sponsorships are important. You know, like you can sponsor business events, you can sponsor children’s sporting activities, anything that kind of, you kind of relate to. I love art.
So I, you know, would sponsor more art and music type events because, because I just relate to that. But you can do anything, right? Just putting yourself out there, but not only, you know, Hey, I’m going to do this for my business, to grow my business, you know, to get more leads or whatever, do it and have some fun with it, right? Because going out and, you know, being at an event is kind of fun. It’s exciting.
You’re going to learn something and you’re going to meet people and, you know, you know, just being out in the open, I think is good.
How do you define success?
I don’t see success as a material thing. Like I don’t see it as oh, I have this car, I have this house or I have this or I have that, right? That’s, I don’t define success that way.
I define success more as a feeling. So, so I think, you know, in, in regards to success and have I been successful, I define it more as how many people have I helped? How many businesses have I helped? How many people have I impacted positively by something I did or me being in a particular place, right? Or giving some advice or speaking or whatever. But, but I’ll tell you, I really do feel that success is a feeling.
And I think, you know, when I wake up every day, I felt pretty good. So, I think I’m pretty successful then, right?
What are some of the core values of your business?
Core values, CPA firm, you kind of think things like integrity and honesty and all those, and those are very important, very, very important in our business. But for me, probably number one is loyalty.
That’s probably my number one, you know, aside from, from integrity and honesty, you know, I think loyalty probably is number one on my list. I value that. I really value people’s loyalty and it’s how I am with other people, other businesses.
I think doesn’t get a lot of attention, but reciprocity, reciprocity is very important to me. If somebody’s going to help me with something, I want to be able to help them back.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m going to do something with a thought that I’m going to get something in return.
But it, you know, it’s just having that reciprocal value is important.
What inspires you?
I don’t know, life? Living that inspires me, the world, you know, the moon, the stars, the sun, pretty much all of that is I find inspirational. Energy, people’s energy inspires me.
I get up every day and I want to do good things. I want to, you know, help. I want to do my business, get through my list of laundry list of things I need to do.
it’s really just, just living in it and having fun. Right. Like I, I feel like it’s not life isn’t just all about work.
I think you need to have some fun in there, but I do genuinely enjoy, you know, all the things that make up the universe, right? Like all the things that are around us, including energy and music and all these, the sun right now that’s coming in and all these things that are inspirational to me.
What advice would you give to other aspiring business owners?
I think if you’ve got an idea – an idea in your head pops up and you go, Oh, that’s a dumb idea.
You need to, you need to do something about that idea. Right. So, so definitely if you have ideas, pursue them. If you, you know, don’t know how to do that, come talk to me, or reach out to somebody, right. Anybody, just bounce it off of somebody, you know, but I think, definitely, you know, pursue your ideas.
I think if you’re, you want to get out of sort of, you know, you’re working for a company and you want to start your own business. And you’re thinking, Hey, I don’t know about this. I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t feel very confident because many, many people are going to feel the same way. They’re not going to feel very confident. You know, the advice that I can give is if this is something you want to do, start it, because there’s a process that you go through that everybody goes through, right? When you start your own business, there’s certain things that you, you’re going to learn along the way, right? Even just setting up a business, setting up a corporation, setting, doing this, doing that, right.
You’re going to be talking to accountants, lawyers, you know, but you’re going to be going through different steps and every single step, you are going to become more knowledgeable. You’re going to become more experienced. And every single time you gain more knowledge and experience, you build your confidence.
Right. And so you get to a point where you’ve gone through all these steps and now you have the confidence that you didn’t think that you had to even start the business, right? Because what builds confidence is knowledge, your ability, know what you’re doing, know what you’re talking about, know your business, become the expert in it. You don’t have to be, you know, a hundred percent expert, but know what you’re doing.
And once you learn and you know what you’re doing, you will be, you will have that confidence that you need for that business to succeed. I think right now, a lot of people, a lot of companies where I see is that, you know, many people don’t go through that, those steps, right? They may purchase a business, they purchase the business, and maybe it wasn’t their expertise. So they don’t necessarily have the confidence because they didn’t go through all those steps.
They didn’t go through the startups and the, you know, the beginning stages that where they would have gained the experience and knowledge and they would have built in their minds. They would have built up that confidence. Hey, I know this like the back of my hand.
Where can we find out more about your business?
Alt Caret is located at 20 Hanson Ave #5, Kitchener, ON N2C 2E. 1-877-258-0070 is my company phone number, or you can email at Cheryl@altcaret.com.
