Have you thought about hiring a bookkeeper but cost, timing, or a number of other factors have you putting it off?
Bookkeeping has a bad rap for being a nightmare task on any business owner or entrepreneurs to-do list. My wish for this article is to put those nightmares to rest by helping you decide if it's time for you to seek professional help.
Are you good at Bookkeeping?
Are your books correct and reconciled? Do you have negative balances where you probably shouldn't? Lastly, are you constantly making mistakes and then spending more time to fix them, or when you give your books to your accountant at the end of the year, do they need to spend a lot of time combing through them, asking questions, fixing mistakes, etc causing a rather large and expensive accounting bill?
Now don't get me wrong, I am the first person to go DIY in a heart beat. No project is ever too big and I can always take on the world with the best of them but there are just some things like bookkeeping that making even one tiny error can cause a huge headache and mess of problems. Sometimes just that one tiny problem can lead to bigger problems, a larger mess, and eventually more money out of pocket when you have to hire a professional to clean it up. If this sounds familiar then it might be time for you to start thinking about hiring a bookkeeper.
If you are still the DIY master, then why not look into training? Some bookkeepers, Zen Bookkeeping included, offer training programs that focus on teaching you how to do bookkeeping using QBO, which will allow you to have a better understanding of the program and of bookkeeping as a whole. This way you will learn the proper way to record your books but still remain in control of your bookkeeping.
Are your Books up-to-date?
Honest answers only, are your books up-to-date or are they a bit behind? How long? 5 months, 10 months….more? If simply reading that sentence gave you a headache then it’s probably time to hire a bookkeeper.
Now I'm not judging, you may have very valid reasons for your books being behind such as your business is growing and you thought you would have time, you don't quite know how to do it, or you are now just so far behind that you don't know where to start. The harsh reality of it is, that you more than likely have put it off because every time you sit down to review it, you end up staring at the computer beating yourself up and hating life until suddenly an hour has past and you are 10 cat videos deep into Youtube...
You might truly believe that one day you will sit down and bring your books up-to-date but it’s okay to admit that you dislike or even hate bookkeeping and that you don’t want to do it. Believe me, you are with the majority of small business owners and entrepreneurs out there. But by not doing your books you are actually doing a disservice to yourself and to the beautiful business you created. The positive side of this though is that there are people, like me, who do this as a career and would love to turn your messy books into clean files that are actually useful and beneficial for you and your business.
Is your business growing fast?
Is your business growing so fast that your everyday tasks like marketing, sales, networking, and producing are consuming all your valuable time? Are you growing so big that sending invoices, setting up payment plans, and paying the bills are becoming overwhelming tasks? Does it feel like more and more is slipping through the cracks each day?
I would never say that growth is a bad thing, in fact it should be something of a celebration but it can be very overwhelming at times. You should not be stressing out, losing sleep because you live and breath your business, or trying to remember what kind of business you created because you are so busy with administrative tasks. If you find yourself using up your precious time to do your books when it could be better spent selling product or providing a service that results in billable work, you could actually be losing money by staying on top of your bookkeeping. Who would have thought that being on top of things could be hurting you.
Don't think you are quite big enough for a bookkeeper? Most bookkeeping firms, like Zen Bookkeeping, will create customer packages to suite your specific business needs no matter how big or small. Freeing up time for you to focus on the things you love!
