She Tried to Leave Accounting. It Wouldn’t Let Her.

Ashley Love didn’t plan to build a back-office platform. She wanted to open a spa.

“I’d signed a lease. Had an SBA loan ready. I was about to build out the space,” she says. “But then this other thing took off. It wasn’t what I planned—but it was working.”

That “other thing” was a growing list of businesses asking her for fractional CFO support—especially franchise operators. And those weren’t random leads. They were referrals from people who’d worked with Ashley before. People who trusted her.

She followed the momentum.

In less than two years, that pivot became something much bigger: Acctivator, a full-service back-office partner built for multi-unit franchisees and property managers. What started as consulting hours is now a tech-forward team of ten—handling everything from bookkeeping and budgeting to reporting and financial analysis.

But Ashley didn’t set out to be the founder of a modern accounting firm. In fact, she’d spent most of her career trying to get out of accounting.

She chose the field at 16, not out of passion, but practicality. “I literally searched Yahoo Answers for the best career path if you want to become a CEO,” she laughs. “Someone said, become an accountant—you’ll see how the business works. That was enough for me.”

And she was good at it. At 19, she had her CPA. At 22, she was auditing Fortune 500s. By her late twenties, she was leading finance teams and working in M&A at Driven Brands. She climbed fast. But she never stayed in one lane.

“I was always poking around,” she says. “Even when I was in accounting roles, I didn’t stay in the silo. I wanted to know how everything worked—systems, processes, customer journeys.”

That mindset made her stand out. But it also meant she couldn’t stay comfortable.

She eventually took a leadership role at a franchise business—one that turned out to be more stressful than expected. “There had been theft. I uncovered it. And I had to resign,” she says. “It was the only time I’ve ever quit a job without a plan.”

That moment became the push.

She’d just become a mom. She was reevaluating everything. And with time on her hands, she decided to pursue a dream she’d delayed for years: opening a wellness business. It felt like the right move. Peaceful. Grounded. Different from the stress of corporate finance.

But as she moved through the loan approvals and construction quotes, something else happened—people started calling her again for help.

She said yes.

And then said yes again.

Soon, she was at capacity. She had to hire. The spa buildout was still on the table—but she hit pause.

“There was just too much momentum with the consulting work,” she says. “And I realized—this is scalable. This is needed. And I’m good at it.”

She launched Full Fraction in 2023, focusing on fractional CFO work. But the model had limits. She could only serve so many clients herself. She tried to hire other fractional CFOs. It didn’t work.

“Finding someone with strong finance skills and the people skills and the desire to sell—it’s rare,” she says.

So she evolved the model.

Instead of trying to replicate herself, she built a team that could deliver ongoing back-office support at scale: accounting, financial systems, reporting, and strategic analysis—especially for franchisees and property managers who’ve been left on their own to figure it out.

That became Acctivator.

And now, Ashley is doing the work she always wanted to do: building a business that runs without her doing everything.

“I don’t do much client work anymore,” she says. “My job is to duplicate myself—to enable my team, scale our systems, and keep making this better.”

Her vision isn’t about headcount. It’s about leverage.

“We’re a team of ten—but we’re built to be powerful,” she says. “We use AI and automation wherever we can so that our people can focus on what actually matters—thinking, analyzing, helping clients grow.”

And she’s proud of how far it’s come.

Her two first hires are still with her. Her clients trust her team with the financial infrastructure of their businesses. And she’s building something that can scale without bloat.

It wasn’t the plan. But it’s the right path.

“I kept trying to leave accounting,” she says. “But it just kept calling me back. Now I realize—it’s not the subject matter. It’s the impact. And this is where I can have the most.”

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