Learn how retailer Patriot Welding Supply pays vendors quickly and easily by using Melio
Meet Patriot Welding Supply
Patriot Welding Supply was founded one year ago by Leo and Jenny Hernandez in Sebring, Florida, to provide machines, helmets, tools and more to the welding industry. Leo Hernandez has 25 years of experience selling welding supplies. The couple decided to open their store after moving to Sebring to be closer to their daughter and her husband.
“Being a small business owner is so much better to me than working for any other company I’ve ever worked for in my life,” says Jenny. “There’s that aspect of actually getting to know people, being involved in their lives, being part of the community, being able to pour back into your community.
“The amount of time that Melio saves me is invaluable. It gives me more time to spend with the customers.”
The challenge
Patriot Welding is a small business without an accounting department. As a brand new business they have to balance the need to become profitable while remaining competitive and providing their customers with the best price possible.
At the same time, Leo and Jenny want to devote themselves to helping their customers, not to back-office tasks. “My husband and I are old school, we have that mentality that people should be treated really well,” says Jenny. “We pull out the red carpet, we’ll stay late, we make deliveries for free and do whatever we can to get them the products they need.”
Therefore it was crucial that the couple adopt a system to help them manage their payments as smoothly, quickly and efficiently as possible.
The solution
The couple’s son-in-law is an accountant who helped Jenny learn how to use accounting software. Jenny had never done bookkeeping before.
“He told me from day one, you have to use this billpay app called Melio. It’s amazing. It’s really fast to set up, you just fill in all the blanks and then you’re up and running,” says Jenny. “I get so frustrated with technology because it’s supposed to make things easier and simpler but sometimes it makes things more complicated. Melio is the easiest, simplest, cleanest app I’ve ever used.”
Besides saving Jenny time and money, Melio is very convenient, she says, noting that all of Patriot Welding’s vendors have been very happy with the service. Melio has also helped Jenny keep her books organized.
“When I started I was confused between accounts receivable and accounts payable,” she says. “So the ease of the page where you can see all your payments that you’ve sent out, and you can click on them and see the status, was huge for me. I would just keep a list of the reports and that would help me do my checking off.”
With Melio, it takes Jenny less than a minute to pay a bill, much faster than writing and mailing checks and manually adding payments to her ledger. Moreover, Patriot Welding’s vendors receive their payments within three days, twice as fast as it would take to get paid without Melio.
Join the thousands of small businesses across the country who, like Patriot Welding Supply, are saving time and money by managing their payments online with Melio.
