Tag Archives: logan square

Happy 22nd “Birthday” To The Dancing Accountant!

It’s been almost a year since our shindig with the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce, clients, and friends — celebrating 21 years of working with small businesses in our community. Today we celebrate our 22nd trip around the sun in this amazing neighborhood, and it’s high time we share all those great memories of the blow-out party that was.

Here are a few highlights — but there are so many more! Check out our photo album to view the rest of the festivities.

Many thanks to Gracie Hammond Photography for capturing so much joy in her photos that day. We treasure these memories. Again, catch the whole reel here (and if you’re a client, you have permission to download and use them for your socials).

Gratitude also goes out to cherished long-time client Vinejoy for the prosecco, Revolution Brewing for the beer, SipJeng for the CBD mocktails, Dill Pickle Food Co-op for the soft drinks, and the amazing Nick Connell for the balloon twisting and general merriment. We couldn’t have done any of this without the dedicated help of Sage Ferguson and her family, as well as the enthusiastic Candy Minx.

Most importantly, we have to thank our entertainers for the event: the best honky-tonk band in Chicago, if not the world — Wild Earp & The Free-For-Alls, with special guest Michelle Billingsley. We are indebted to them for their spirit, talent, charm, camaraderie, generosity — and patience, as the Chamber dealt with power and light challenges at the newly-activated Solidarity Triangle.

Speaking of the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce — this whole crazy event was dreamed up by their energetic Executive Director, who also invited our wonderful drink and food pop-ups, and we were touched that the two previous directors of the Chamber also attended (wish I’d thought to get a photo of all three of them together)! What an honor. Our neighborhood owes so much to LSCC, as well as their incredible Farmers Market.

A recap of the awards ceremony:

Many thanks to all our clients for contributing to the goodie bags, and especially to Jo Snow Syrups, Dill Pickle Food Co-op, and Soap Distillery for providing special prizes to the award-winners!

I could go on and on about what an incredible celebration it was — pretty sure I floated on Cloud Nine for weeks afterwards. Suffice it to say that having hundreds of clients, community members, friends and neighbors come together to commemorate the difference we’ve made together… feels really great. Thank you for letting us be a part of your neighborhood.


Happy 21st Birthday To The Dancing Accountant!

It’s true — our little CPA firm is officially old enough to drink, so let’s raise a glass to the wild ride it’s been. 🥂

To celebrate, we are planning an outdoor community event with the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce in early September — more on that in an upcoming post — but to mark the official date of first hanging out our shingle, we thought it would be fun to share a delightful interview with Mark Goldman, CPA on his podcast, “Where Accountants Go”. This episode was released just three days before our 20th anniversary.

Speaking with Mark was a truly gratifying experience — he was kind, organized, interested, and sincere, and asked great questions. As a sneak preview of a few good ones:

  • How did you end up being interested in Music from an education standpoint, and how did you end up moving towards accounting? 
  • At what point did you decide to further your education with the Masters in Financial Analysis and why that particular major?  Was it difficult to return to school?  
  • How has your practice evolved over the years?  I see you use the DBA The Dancing Accountant.  Was that always the case, or did that come later?  Is it related to a niche, or more about branding?
  • You’ve been listed on the 50 Top Women in Accounting list. Congratulations!  How does that make you feel?  Is it acknowledgement of hard work, even more responsibility, honor…?
  • What does the future look like for you if it goes exactly how you would like it to go?  When you look back on your career & life, what will you want to be able to say you accomplished?
  •  If you could go back in time and give your younger self just one piece of critical advice, what would that be?

We spoke for over half-an-hour and I felt like we could have gone on for days… his conversational style was comfortable and disarming. I enjoyed sharing personal stories, talking about the great folks I’ve studied and worked with, about how hard it was to go back to school while working, how much I love helping small businesses in my neighborhood, how much I hate saying “no”, how a client came up with my business name… and so on. Give it a listen — and raise a glass to our amazing team while you’re at it!

I would love to be remembered as someone who helped keep our communities vibrant by helping small businesses succeed. That’s the whole point of any of this, and my staff is a group of women who feel the same way. Our work really has meaning. ~Nancy McClelland, CPA


If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

WGN Features Dill Pickle Food Co-op In The News

Very excited to see a long-time treasured client get some enthusiastic press from WGN Chicago. And remember — I’m not just their CPA… I’m a co-op member and lender!

Logan Square co-op brings together thousands, creates vibrant food community | WGN-TV (wgntv.com)

For more information on grocery co-ops and The Dill Pickle Food Co-op in particular, check out these resources on cooperative principles, and why shopping at a co-op is special and important.


If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.