Zerby Group is a CPA-led firm helping small businesses in St. Charles and the greater Chicago area put AI to work and keep their books in order. One group, two services, run by the founders who do the work.
Zerby Group brings together the two sides of a modern small business under one roof: putting AI to work, and keeping the books in order. Start with the service you need most, or lean on both. Serving small businesses across St. Charles, the Fox Valley, and the Chicago suburbs.
We put AI on the work that quietly drains your week: chasing leads, booking appointments, answering the same questions, and pushing paper. We build it on tools you already use and train your team to run it.
Clean books, on time, every month, plus the executive-assistant help that keeps the back office moving. Run by an experienced accountant, with a CPA on the team, so nothing slips and nothing is guesswork.
The tools we build on
The busywork is different in every trade, but the fixes rhyme: capture the lead, book the job, answer the question, handle the paperwork. We tailor AI and clean books to how your industry actually works.
Instant lead response, quoting, booking, and review requests for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and contractors.
Client intake, document drafting, and inbox triage for law, insurance, real estate, and financial firms.
Scheduling, reminders, and patient intake that cut no-shows and free up the front desk.
Reservations, online-order questions, reviews, and social content handled automatically.
Product listings, customer chat, and email marketing that scale without adding staff.
RFQ and order handling, document processing, and sales follow-up on autopilot.
Booking, service reminders, and review requests for repair shops and dealers.
Donor communications, grant drafting, and admin, so more time goes to the mission.
We learn your business, map where time leaks, and pick the work with the clearest payoff.
We implement the automations, assistants, or bookkeeping systems, scoped and priced up front.
Your team learns to run it with plain playbooks, not a manual nobody opens.
We stay on to refine, reconcile, and keep everything running as you grow.
A licensed CPA stands behind the financial work, not a template and a login.
Over a decade running real e-commerce, marketing, and operations before we ever pitched you.
You work with the people doing the work. No handoffs to a junior you never met.
We measure success by systems that run after we leave, not decks that sit in a drive.
Cade leads AI implementation, training, and accounting oversight. A licensed CPA with over a decade of hands-on e-commerce, digital marketing, and operations experience, he designs practical AI systems small businesses can actually run and keeps the financial side rigorous.
Kate leads bookkeeping, accounting, and the executive-assistant and operations work that keeps clients' back offices running. With over six years in accounting, she owns the full monthly close, reconciliations, and reporting with the kind of accuracy that only comes from doing it every day.
Two things. We help small businesses put AI to work through automation, custom assistants, and hands-on training, and we handle bookkeeping and accounting so the financial side stays clean, current, and tax-ready. You can hire us for either or both.
Small businesses and owner-operated companies that want the leverage bigger companies get from technology and want their books handled by someone who knows what they are doing. If you are drowning in manual work or chasing your own numbers, you are who we built this for.
We are based in St. Charles, Illinois and work in person across the Tri-Cities and Fox Valley, including Geneva, Batavia, Elgin, Aurora, Naperville, and the western Chicago suburbs. Because both sides of what we do are digital, we also work with clients remotely.
It depends on scope, which is why we price every project up front after a short discovery call. Most first engagements are a defined, fixed-price project focused on one or two high-impact workflows, not an open-ended retainer, so you know the cost before any work starts.
It varies by industry, but the highest-return uses are consistent: capturing and responding to leads instantly, booking appointments and sending reminders, answering common customer questions, and automating invoicing, data entry, and review requests. We apply these across home services, professional services, healthcare and dental, restaurants, retail, and manufacturing.
Every engagement starts with a short, free conversation. From there we scope the work and price it up front, so you know what you are getting and what it costs before anything begins. No open-ended retainers you cannot predict.
No. We build on the tools you already pay for and know, whether that is your inbox, your CRM, your spreadsheets, or QuickBooks. We only recommend a change when it clearly earns its place.
Yes. Your data is treated as confidential and handled with care by a licensed CPA and an experienced accountant. We are happy to walk through exactly how your information is stored and accessed before you commit.
A short, free conversation. No pitch deck, no obligation. Just a clear read on where AI and clean books could help your business.