EP79 Bookkeeping Tips for Small Business and Entrepreneurs with Yaremi from QB Numbers

Many small business owners often overlook how important bookkeeping is and leave it until tax season. However, bookkeeping is crucial to run a successful and profitable business. Yaremi from QB Numbers explains the importance of keeping books updated, distinguishing between roles of bookkeepers and accountants, and offers actionable advice on hiring and maintaining financial health.

In this episode we cover:
• Why bookkeeping is important for a profitable business
• What is the difference between a bookkeeper and accountant
• Consequences of neglecting bookkeeping
• Tips for DIY bookkeeping using spreadsheets
• When to seek professional bookkeeping help
• Importance of regular financial check-ins and meetings
• How to choose the right bookkeeper
• Advice for aspiring bookkeepers

You can find Remi at:

www.qbnumbers.com

IG: qb.numbers

Chapters

• 0:01 The Difference Between Bookkeeping and Accounting
• 8:28 The Importance of Bookkeeping for Business
• 18:36 Selecting a Trustworthy Bookkeeper
• 26:59 Financial Fraud Detection and Bookkeeping
• 37:53 Streamlining Bookkeeping Processes

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hola, hola. So not doing your numbers correctly if you have a small business or you're an entrepreneur can really mess you up in the long run. You might be tempted to take like shortcuts and all that, but it is very important to make sure that you have your books in order, and with me today to talk about just that is Yaremi from Q&B Bookkeeping or Numbers Bookkeeping. So hola, yaremi, thank you so much for joining me today.

Speaker 2: 0:35

Hola, hola, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 0:39

Hola, hola. I'm so glad that you're here, and especially right now towards like the beginning of the year by the time this episode comes out, which is a perfect time to get your stuff ready. If you have a small business or you're just an entrepreneur or you plan on doing it, you want to make sure that you're keeping track of all your expenses and stuff like that. But before we get into that whole bookkeeping is our topic I want to talk a little bit about you and give you a chance to introduce yourself for those that may not know you and what you do.

Speaker 2: 1:16

Okay, so my name is Yaremi. Most people know me as Remy because people love to butcher my name, so I decided to take the last four letters of my name, which is Remy. So I am the founder of QB Numbers. I've been doing QB Numbers on my own for about six years, but I've been doing bookkeeping for a small business. I guess started at a small business actually when I was 17, fresh out of high school, graduated a little early and I got introduced to QuickBooks and I've kind of been doing that ever since I'm 35 now, so I've been doing it for a while. Yeah, I started with a QuickBooks desktop and that was my strength. I loved it until QuickBooks Online came to life and I was like what this? But now most of our clients are at QuickBooks online and, yeah, it's been a learning curve, owning your own business, especially this long. It changes every year, so, yeah, nice, nice L2 right now.

Speaker 1: 2:17

I don't know anything about QuickBooks. I think I opened it one time. I think I had it on a free trial or something. I think it's paid right, yeah, and I just wanted to try it out and I was like, yeah, nope, closing it back. So I started just using excel, but for the things that I needed. At that time I was just that was okay, I guess, and I was like, yeah, I'll just stick to excel right now because I don't know what I'm doing. So but I'm gonna pull like kind of a question from your Instagram so I'm cheating on some of the interview questions.

Speaker 2: 2:55

Yeah, I do want to say something about that. You don't know how many people I've met. They're like oh, I think I have a QuickBooks subscription and I'm like Okay, can I have access? Like what's in there? And they're like nothing. And I'm like so I always tell people it's like QuickBooks online is like a gym membership right, it's like you purchase that gym membership but it's unless you're going there using it, it's useless. You're literally just wasting money every month because you're not doing anything with it. You're not the first one, but I will say, if you're super small and starting up a spreadsheet is perfect because you're only going to have a few transactions on your income and expenses. It's going to be like very simple as long as you're keeping up with it, because people will just have a spreadsheet and they're like oh, I don't know, I haven't updated in five months, and it's the same thing like you just bought a gym membership but you're not physically going to the gym.

Speaker 1: 3:48

So yeah, yeah, it was probably me. And then I do it all at the end and right before taxing, just like just trying to remember everything. But I do want to kind of clarify what book a bookkeeper does versus an accountant, because, yeah, I kind of was the same way where I thought it was just two names for the same thing or whatever. One was a fancy name or maybe corporatey or whatever. What is the difference?

Speaker 2: 4:19

there's a huge difference. I don't like calling myself an accountant just because I don't. That's like a nurse calling themselves a doctor, right, in my opinion. I don't know a lot of people out there do call themselves like accountants, and to each their own, because you technically don't have to have a degree to be called that in certain states. I personally don't like to.

Speaker 2: 4:42

So bookkeepers, pretty much all they're doing is think of it, of a filing cabinet, right, so we're taking each and every single transaction and we're creating a folder and we're putting that transaction into the correct accounting folder that it needs to go, right, so that at the end of the year you have this like really pretty report that shows absolutely everything and it gives you your finances like in one sheet of paper and saying, like this is your income minus your expenses, this is your actual profit, right, that's, that's technically the simple term of what a bookkeeper is An accountant, accountant, a certified accountant, a cpa they actually went to school, they actually took a test to be an accountant and that's the person that's technically your doctor, right, they have the degree, they have like all the knowledge of, like all right, you take all this financials from a bookkeeper and then you apply it to your tax return or you apply it to investments or you apply it to something more than just at glance of where your finances are.

Speaker 2: 5:54

So that's what CPA is. There's also that middle person. So a lot of people don't know that. There's people that file taxes and they're not accountants, so they're like just certified tax preparers. So if you pay attention to your tax return, like on the bottom, it says who prepare your taxes? Right, because essentially a tax preparer. All they have to do is they have to get registered through the IRS, and I'm not sure to be, I'm not gonna lie, I don't know if they have to take like a certification or not. They used to have to. Now I don't know, things have changed so much, but they used to have to do that and they're just tax preparer. They're not actually CPAs or accountants.

Speaker 1: 6:40

So, there's.

Speaker 2: 6:41

Yeah, so there's a difference. I always tell people I like to call myself or prefer myself as, like the nurse, right, I'm the one doing all the charts, taking all the information to pass it on to that CPA that has all the knowledge. Because you got to remember, also CPAs, they have to stay up to date every year on the changes, like what change right, because they change the laws all the time of what's permitted. Like what changed right Because they changed the laws all the time of what's permitted. Like what's not. Like during COVID meals was 100% permitted, but before that it was only 50%. However, me on my bookkeeping, everything's going 100%. It's the CPA's job to split it and say only 50% is allowed this year. This year, 100% is allowed and that's the CPA's job to split it and say only 50 is allowed this year. This year, 100% is allowed. And that's the part that people don't understand that it takes a lot and that's why I don't do taxes. I stay away from them.

Speaker 1: 7:35

I understand a lot.

Speaker 2: 7:37

Yeah, it is, and you have to stay up to date. It's a nightmare. So during COVID they made changes after people were filing, so they were accepting, like tax returns, and then they change this thing and say, oh sorry, this is allowed. So a lot of CPAs had to go back and amend stuff. So I could not live with that anxiety. I would go crazy. So I stay away from filing taxes, doing anything. I like to stick with what I know, which is bookkeeping, and then pass it on because it's not for me. So I always tell people make sure when you interview you're asking the right questions. Are you a CPA? Are you certified? Are you just a tax preparer? What's your expertise? Are you just a tax preparer Like, what's your expertise?

Speaker 1: 8:24

What's your niche? Yeah, yeah, I couldn't do taxes either. The stress that my CPA is always during tax season is like ni la puedes, like really talk. She's always so quick during that time and I was like, ooh, I'm glad I don't do taxes. Like, here you go, my paperwork, and so I never thought about it that that way. Like the, that you're kind of like the nurse and getting all the paperwork and then you just give it to the CPA and like, all right, here you go, it's the, you figure it out.

Speaker 1: 8:55

I did this part. I got all the receipts and documentation and whatever. He now pass it on to the CPA, and that's the important part as well. So people will be like, oh, I could do it myself or whatever. But let me tell you it's a. Tell me that. Or, like you, you forget. Like me, I have freaking habit of being a procrastinator, so I'm doing it now. I got a lot of stuff done this year and now I'm having to go back and remember. It's like what was that thing that I spent money on, and so I have trying to put everything in, and so I want to talk about that. The importance of bookkeeping as a small business. I can talk about this, for hours.

Speaker 2: 9:40

But it's just so. It's crazy because it's, I think for me it's just so. It's crazy because it's, I think for me it's the most important part and it's the one part that 95 percent of business owners ignore. Um, it is not sexy like accounting, bookkeeping. It's like it's even I struggle with, like social media, because it's like how do you make this look pretty, how do you make this be exciting? It is not like I want to be like what's like my expenses, what's my? Nobody cares. I get it because I'm a business owner, my husband's a business owner, so I get it. But it's so important because it's just like being sick, right. Like when you're sick, you're like oh no, no, no, I don't know, I don't know, and then you keep ignoring it. You keep ignoring it, right. And then it goes on and on and on, and it's like when you're to the point where it's like, all right, you can't, you're struggling, you gotta go. At that point you're it's gonna be bad, and that point it's going to be bad. And that's how it is with accounting, right. So just think about it.

Speaker 2: 10:49

If you don't do your taxes one year, then there goes another year and now you have penalties and now you have late fees and now you have all this stuff. Your taxes can't get done unless you have your bookkeeping done. Because what's going to happen is, if you don't have your bookkeeping done which is like all your financials they're going to ask you for all your statements, they're going to ask you for all your receipts. So now you have this person right, like you say, your CPA on tax season. That's super stressed. That slam is trying to get the stuff done for the people that already have their bookkeeping, because it's simple. They're like okay, I can spend two hours on this and be done. Where, when you turn in your statements and they're adding, subtracting each line item for 12 months, first, it's going to cost you money, it's going to take longer and most likely they're going to miss things because that's a whole year. They got to put together in a matter of a month, if not less, right, or you got to pay extension. So that's one. Because people want to do their taxes Like that's their number one priority, right, yeah, the other side to it is it's not just the taxes.

Speaker 2: 11:59

That's what people always focus on, because it's mandatory and you have to do it right. So that's what business owners are always like I need it for my taxes. I need for my taxes. Well, the other side to it is growth. So if you start small, everyone starts as a small business, as a startup. But the goal of business? Nobody starts a business to have a hobby. Let let's be real. So you want growth, you need to know where your money is going, you need to know if your money's coming in and how much of it. Not just that, but like people focus, especially social media.

Speaker 2: 12:36

I see all these people posting I have a million dollar business, I have a it's. Do you have a million dollar business? Is that your profit or is that just your income? Because it is, let's say, $10,000, and your expenses are 15, then do you really have that? No, you don't. You're losing money. So that's the biggest part. Business owner Smith is just because you're getting $10,000 doesn't mean that you're profiting $10,000. You can either be making money or you could be losing money, and you only know that if you're doing your bookkeeping up to date every month, because then you get to look at those numbers.

Speaker 1: 13:15

Yeah, yeah, you're right, because, like, how do you expect to make educated business decisions if you want to like push more product or whatever, if you're not tracking of your expenses and how much money you're bringing in and stuff? Like, yeah, like, how are you gonna know that if you're not on top of the stuff and esperando, like me, or last minute you know you can't make good decisions?

Speaker 2: 13:40

right, right and at the end of the year. And the other part is let's hope, you are profitable, you're making a lot of money and but at that point then you start falling behind because not all that money. Instead of either investing or moving it right to your roth or paying yourself whatever, you're leaving it there. Now you're paying taxes on that money, right, but if it's past, if it's january, it's too late, because whatever was in that bank and whatever net profit you made in december, that's what you're paying out on. So that's the other part that gets missed. It's like you have to learn to keep what you earn, otherwise it's all going to the irs.

Speaker 1: 14:24

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's a hard lesson that a lot of us in our community we have to learn.

Speaker 1: 14:32

Yo también, like cerca, I want to do all this stuff and then I forget about it. You don't, I don't have the time and I can't even imagine and mine is just like simple, like it's the podcast and little and stuff like this. Right, I can imagine a business, get like a restaurant or pushing some type of product that this constantly. You're busy all day to try to like make sure that you're doing the bookkeeping and all that stuff.

Speaker 1: 14:57

But I was just no, we don't want to let go or delegate or something and want to do it on our own and everything, and we kind of like touched on it a little bit earlier. But so I want to kind of go back to that question, because you like me, that goes. So it says you're gonna get the DIYers, so I do want to give them some tips and at least, or maybe, like you said, they're not ready for the bigger bookkeeping. So, yeah, what kind of tips do you have for them?

Speaker 2: 15:27

um, so definitely do something. So if you don't have the money we all know when you start you barely have money. You are doing a hobby. When you start, right, you're like yeah, and trying to make it work. You're wearing all the hats for the business, like it's fine, but you have to create something that works for you.

Speaker 2: 15:48

So, like right now for yourself, you have a spreadsheet um, and I actually have a spreadsheet um that it's pretty much like a P&L. It gives you a P&L at the end of the year. So, again, you just have to stay on it. So I'll share the link um with you. So it's pretty much you entering, okay, what you made in your income, right, what were your expenses this month, and then it'll give you a total. So it already adds, it has all the equations and it adds everything for you. And then I created tabs. So each tab is like a month. So that way at the end of the year it just adds it up and it gives you the total. I say, if you're just starting up and you don't have money to hire someone is create yourself a spreadsheet, right. If you're, every business is a little different. But, for example, yourself, you're like I do the podcast.

Speaker 1: 16:45

And then you said you do one other thing besides the podcast. I'm starting to sell products on my course and many things, and then eventually maybe do like sponsorships or speaking events or whatever.

Speaker 2: 16:53

Right. So on that spreadsheet, what I would do is I would literally create three income lines and say podcast, and then products and then partnerships, right. So whenever you get income, then you put in that specific income line so that you start getting on a habit. So when you do have a system, you split it. That way you know exactly where your money's coming from and then you can know at the end of the quarter which one's profitable, which one should.

Speaker 2: 17:21

I focus on more things like that expenses same thing. You know where your expenses are, right, internet, right internet, I don't know whatever it is. Make sure you put those categories in there. So then when you're doing it every month, it just becomes easier. So I'll say that create your own spreadsheet. I'll share mine, but if it's yours and you want to be simple, understand it, just do that. Right, but make sure you stay on it every month.

Speaker 2: 17:45

The other thing is, if you are techie, right, and get on QuickBooks and pay someone a one time fee that you don't know how many times I've reached out to people to be like, hey, I just need to jump on a one on one, show me x, y and z, I'll pay you for your time, right Most. A lot of people do get back to you. So it's like same thing Shoot, find five bookkeepers. And then you're like hey, can I pay you for a one hour and you can show me tips and tricks on, like, how to do it? Just a little bit, if you have it, to pay someone just to show you a few simple tricks of this is how you do it. If you want to do it yourself, I'll show you. Let's spend an hour, dive into your business and I'll show you. Now it's just your job to do it. That would be my biggest thing.

Speaker 2: 18:36

Like I do it all the time. I don't. I think that's the one thing I enjoy the most. Honestly, I don't enjoy the day to day. I've been doing it for too long. I enjoy more of the educational part Because I think for me, especially like Latinos, right, or Latinas we're such hard workers Like we are invented to.

Speaker 2: 18:56

We're always starting businesses, we always have ideas Like we work our ass off, but we always lack the fact of investing into learning, investing into let me learn how to do this so that I can be better at this. We work hard, not smart, most of the time. Yeah, because that's how we were raised. It's like you want to work harder. It's always been that. So I think for me, even with all my clients, I'm like I teach them how to use QuickBooks, like I show them what we're doing, because for me, you need to know where your money's at. Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of clients come to me because they've had bookkeepers steal money from them and I'm like, yeah, because half of the time you're handing your stuff off and you're just like here you go and then you don't even know how to get to your reports, and that's super important. So I would say, definitely invest either one, the money or the time, and if you can do both, do both.

Speaker 1: 19:55

Yeah, yeah, which is basically the next question, since you brought it up of now. There's going to be a point in time that you're going to need a bookkeeper and you're going to have to go look for one. So what are some maybe interview questions or how to make sure that you get a good bookkeeper that's not going to scam you?

Speaker 2: 20:17

Yeah. So I would say first get references, if you can. So anyone that you interview, at least interview three people, because you have to find somebody that speaks your language first, and I'm not just speaking like Spanish or English, but there's a lot of people out there in accounting that use like all this, like crazy terms that you're like what are you saying? Right? Same with CPAs. You have to get on a call and make sure that they understand you and then you understand them when you ask them a question and then they answer you and, if you don't understand, say can you explain that to me? That's the number one thing. The number two is ask for referrals, say okay, can I speak to two of your clients? Would you mind sharing their information? Because I can tell you right now if you are a good bug keeper, you have clients that will be more than happy to speak to somebody and say, yeah, like I've been working with X amount of time and this is what they do for me, whatever.

Speaker 2: 21:18

I've had to do it a couple of times with people. They came over because their last bug keeper stole from them and I had to go through the woodworks and I get it. They're coming from a place of not trusting. So I had to build that relationship. So I had to. I think they spoke to two or three of my clients. I had to send them a resume and I was like I haven't done a resume.

Speaker 1: 21:42

I don't know how many years. Yeah, I was scared too. How much did did they lose? I think it was like fifteen hundred dollars.

Speaker 2: 21:52

Oh okay yeah it was either between 1500 or 2000.

Speaker 2: 21:56

It was a while ago, it's almost three years um, but so what happened was the bug keeper was writing checks to random people. So they wrote two or three checks to friends or family or whatever, and that's how they were stealing money pretty much. Because that's the other thing you have to remember with the bug keeper in a CPA, most of the time they have access to your account numbers, your routing numbers. So you have to be very careful with who you're hiring. And not just that, but you have to learn the system. You don't have to know the ins, just that, but you have to learn the system.

Speaker 2: 22:28

Like you don't have to know the ins and outs, but you have to be able to jump in there and say, like, just glance it and say, okay, my bank account looks good. Like I see the transactions, like you know just simple stuff like that, Just like looking at your bank account, you know what you spend. Like you know, just jump on your bank account and see what transactions are happening. It's the same concept. I think people just get nervous and they feel like it's more difficult than it is. But it's really not. It's just dealing with the feeling uncomfortable part.

Speaker 2: 22:59

So, yeah, references, make sure they speak your language. And just honestly for me, I always go with my gut. And just honestly for me, I always go with my gut. Yeah, there's not whether it's this industry hiring people anyone like. If something feels off 99% it's something's wrong.

Speaker 1: 23:19

Yeah, I agree, because that's one of the things too is like, how do you like say that it's like it's vibes, but it is is is take the time to talk to them and everything like uh, and you'd be surprised like how much they uh one. If they don't want to like they're too busy or not wanting to talk too much, well off there, you already know they're like gonna be. It's gonna be a pain in the ass to try to get them to help you to or explain anything. But if they're willing like today with my insurance agent, I think they spent like 30 minutes and he was going through everything and explaining things to me. I learned more stuff today. I was like dang, I didn't do that for my last two properties. He said I was like now I know, yes, they, but so things like that, that they took the time to just have a conversation with you and I'm assuming it's the same thing with the bookkeeper like just have a conversation, ask them the questions. Yeah, what kind of vibes they give you?

Speaker 2: 24:16

yeah, so yeah yeah and anything, because I'm telling you the amount of calls I get and they're like oh man, I've been, I feel dumb, asking this question and I'm like, why? And I, one of my strongest, saying and my dad told me this like my whole life and I'm like, oh man, like now I'm saying things that my dad used to say to me, but he will always be like la pregunta tonta es la que no se hace. And now I always tell that I'm like man, I'm a señora, like I'm literally saying things that my dad used to tell me now. But it's true, there is no such thing as a dumb question, except for the one you're not asking, because it's like how do you know if you don't ask? And, honestly, I wouldn't have a job if it wasn't for people that are not doing their finances, that are not doing their bookkeeping, you know.

Speaker 2: 25:06

So that's what I'm here, so like just ask, and if I don't, if I don't know the answer, I'm like super honest, I'm like, oh, I don't know, but I'm like I can find out, like I have like part of a big community, so we all help each other. If it's something that I don't know, but it's just ask questions, anything you can think of that. You may think that is dumb or you may think that it's like super complicated or small. Just ask and then see what answer you get and, like I said, interview at least three, because then you are able to say this person didn't tell me this and this person didn't tell me this, but this person said that you're able to make a decision, that you're not just going blind but you're making an educated decision. At that point and, to be honest, at some point two of the people should be telling you almost the same thing. If they're the right.

Speaker 1: 25:55

True, you know that's true so yeah, yeah that's true. I wonder how long did that person take to realize that they were stealing from them?

Speaker 2: 26:10

I want to say so it's a crazy story. So that was they had a company that were doing all their fine. It was it's an HOA business, so they have 140 condos. So they had gone from one company and they had really bad customer service. So they moved on to this company that they were referred to. So they were transitioning to them and then they were like onboarding them, getting them on board and things like that. So within the first six months that they were doing the onboarding them, getting them on board and things like that. So within the first six months that they were doing the onboarding and getting all their stuff up to date. And that's typically when you get all the information, because that's when you get all the accounts. That's when you get the like everything.

Speaker 2: 26:59

The first six months the property manager caught it because she had been living there for 20 plus years and then she became the property manager of the property and was getting paid. So she knew all her vendors, she knew all the tenants, she knew, like all the names. So when she questioned them it was like what are these checks for? And the person was like they're for your vendors. And she was like they're for your vendors. And she was like no, they're not, those are not our vendors.

Speaker 2: 27:30

And she's the one that brought it up and started questioning the company. And that's when I was referred to her and that's when I came on and it was just, yeah, it was just a mess. And then we went through it. It was only three checks that they had written and they did get cash. We didn't get our money back because it was um, so they have insurance and they could have fought it, but because it was under a certain amount, they were like it's much more money to try to get that money back than just like letting it go. But yeah, it was actually the property manager who caught it oh nice, like wow wow.

Speaker 1: 28:10

I wonder how many, how many other companies she was sneaking money off.

Speaker 2: 28:15

Wow, yeah, that's crazy and that and that's what's so wild and, honestly for me. Anybody that works for me, I do a background check Because if they have anything that deals with money, like if they had debt, if they have anything like that, I'm like it's a red flag. For me it's a no, absolutely no, because you're dealing with people's finances like you're and I also have a lot of safeguards where I'm the only one that can access the bank account and things like that. But I feel like nowadays there's so many scams and just so many things that I'm like you can't trust anybody nowadays so, yeah, everything could get scammed.

Speaker 1: 28:59

Yeah, yeah, that's cool. So with that, like I I did, I saw like on your instagram that you mentioned of that you usually have like monthly meetings with your clients and stuff, and with those monthly meetings, is that what you recommend, like a monthly meeting or whatever, and what kind of questions should they be asking? One they should be checking in because you're not stealing, or whatever, right? So what other questions should they be asking? One they should be checking in because you're not stealing, or whatever, right? So what other questions should they be asking during these meetings?

Speaker 2: 29:26

So typically in our monthly meetings what we do is we send them financials. So we're already before a meeting. They get an email with their P&L, which is their profit and loss, and email with their P&L, which is their profit and loss, and that's pretty much a document just showing, like what you made your income, all the expenses and then your net profit. And we sent that, we sent their balance sheet and there's other reports depending on the kind of client we have. But pretty much that's where you, that's where we go in line by line item through our meeting and then we're just like all right, this month this is what you made, this is what your expenses were, this is where you pay your subcontractors, like all those little things, and then this is what you made, right? So that's typically.

Speaker 2: 30:14

Nobody knows their business Like like nobody does like, you know, you know where your income's coming from, you know where your expenses, right, you know if you bought a car this year or all of that. So when you look at that report, that's when you start going line item, right. So I would suggest printed, if you can grab a ruler, and as you're going through your meeting, you're like literally going down the list just being like, oh yeah, this looks about right. Yep, this looks about right. If you have a subcontractor, you pay them every month and you pay them every month $1,000, right, yeah, if your P&L shows that you pay subcontractors $10,000 that month and you're like, wait a minute, I only have one subcontractor and I only pay them $1,000. Like, where is this $10,000?

Speaker 2: 30:57

That's where you start asking questions. That when in the meeting then you say, okay, can you open that line item because I don't think I paid that much, they open that item and then you can see what made up that 10 000, right, what made up that 1 000, and it could be as simple as okay, it just got put in the wrong filing, right. Like I was saying, it got put in the wrong folder and then we may just have to move it, or is one of those things where somebody wrote a check to Joe Schmico, right? And then you're like and then at that point you're like, wait a minute, that's not my check, like, where did that come from? So those are the things that you start asking questions off of the financials that your bookkeeper is sending you. Okay, yeah, or, if you like, if you bought a car, right, you bought a car last year and you forgot to tell me, like most, most of my clients did, and then you don't see it in there and then you're like, oh, where's my car? And I'm like, what car Did you buy? A car, right? So those are the little things that in our monthly meetings, most of the time we catch because business owners are so busy that they're like, yeah, who I got to tell her what, until those financials come, and they're like, oh, my deduction is not there for X, Y and Z. And I'm like I never got the paperwork for this car that you bought. I didn't even know so little things like that.

Speaker 2: 32:15

Those are the things that you have to pay attention in your meetings. Make sure that you're getting reports. Make sure that you're getting reports, make sure that you're asking. If you're not getting them, say okay, where? How do I show me how to get them, in case I want to jump in their middle of the month and pull them? Make sure you know when you're getting them. Are you getting them on the 10th of the month, on the 15th of the month? Ask those questions so that you're not just sitting around expecting something and not getting it.

Speaker 1: 32:43

Yeah, yeah, awesome yeah. So so, for those that do want to move forward and start looking for a bookkeeper, what kind of services do you provide? Or we kind of mentioned one that you do kind of like a one on one call as like training, but yeah, like, how can they work with you?

Speaker 2: 33:03

so I work with two types of businesses. One is HOAs and then the other one is service-based businesses. Those are the two things that I like to stay within. That's just what our niche has been. I only work on QuickBooks. So if you want to use any other system like zero wave or whatever is out there now, I don't work with any of them. I only do QuickBooks. Like I said, I like to stick to what I know. So QuickBooks online. I will still work with desktop only because I love desktop. It's how I learned bookkeeping, but I would definitely advise to move over to online.

Speaker 2: 33:45

So I do monthly bookkeeping for the most quarterly bookkeeping. If it's a smaller business, it does make sense to charge them this like huge fee for monthly when you only have five transactions a month or something crazy like that. So we either do monthly or quarterly. We also set up accounts. Right now especially, I'm like there have a bunch of clients that don't have quickbooks, don't have anything, and now we got to do all of 2024. So we do set up all. We set up everything from like scratch. We set up the filing cabinet, as I like to call it, truly called a chart of accounts, but we set everything up, so that you're just pretty much giving us the information we set, we put it in there and you have your financials.

Speaker 1: 34:35

Nice, nice and I guess my last. Well, I'll have all that your information linked, but I guess my last well, I'll have all that your information linked. But I guess my final question is for those that are interested in becoming a bookkeeper what's your advice for them on how to get started?

Speaker 2: 34:51

First, you have to learn bookkeeping, so do not do it through QuickBooks. Quickbooks is great as a system. The problem is, when you go in there to learn, they're showing you how to use their system. They're not showing you how to be a bookkeeper, how to do the counting side of it right. So I would say, definitely find a program that shows you how to do bookkeeping. I know there's one, I can't remember the name. It's been mentioned in our community that people have done it. So when they have like junior bookkeepers that are just starting, that's kind of what they make them go through. But yeah, definitely learn bookkeeping.

Speaker 2: 35:35

And then the other two is find community. That, for me, has been huge is find community. That, for me, has been huge. I did it when I first started and I will never go back. It was like the biggest game changer.

Speaker 2: 35:47

Having a community, having somebody that you can talk to when you have this either difficult clients or when you have a client that you're like how do I do this? Because they may have a different CRM system right that you don't know how it connects, or things like that. Just community in general. It's huge for business, for bookkeeping, anything. So definitely find community, educate yourself and pick one system for accounting. Do not pick the shiny object and, oh, let me try this one, Let me try this one. Don't do it. It just that would be me. Yes, find the one you like and stick to it, because every year they come up with all these different accounting systems and it's it's like, oh, this one's better, that's. It's just like social media oh, instagram is better than face is the same thing with accounting and all these accounting softwares. So pick one, learn it, become an expert in it and stick to it.

Speaker 1: 36:46

Yeah, that's good advice, especially for me, because that's my, I guess, goal for next year is to just focus on one or two things, because I had a habit of like starting too many projects and then it's like I didn't really do the best with any of them, so now it's like all right. Next year, no, I'm just gonna focus on one or two things. One or two social medias, because I was trying to do everything tiktok countries like youtube and all that stuff.

Speaker 1: 37:13

So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna pick two, and I guess one might be gone.

Speaker 2: 37:17

Tiktok, I just saw that today, yeah, but they said last year, didn't they. Yeah, they, yeah they did.

Speaker 1: 37:26

So we'll see. But yeah, I'll put two of them. But yeah, thank you so much for coming on here and sharing. The importance of bookkeeping and giving your tips and tricks is that I'm gonna, like I said, I'll have all your information below and, uh, follow your social media because she's gonna put some. I'm gonna, like I said, I'll have all your information below and, uh, follow your social media because she's gonna put some I'm trying to work on like not diy, it's more like tips on.

Speaker 2: 37:49

This is how you do stuff. Social media is not my friend. Yeah, I dread doing it and I feel like it frustrates me because it's like I feel like it takes me forever, and that's why I think I like bookkeeping because it's like I know what I'm doing. I could just jump in here, do me. Because it's like I feel like it takes me forever and that's why I think I like bookkeeping, because it's like I know what I'm doing. I could just jump in here do it.

Speaker 2: 38:07

So I'm trying to get better at doing more content of just teaching people what to do, what not to do and things like that. So definitely start following so you can see all the tips, and tricks and stuff that people don't even pay attention, like the BOI report that everyone's asking about and half of the people are like what is it?

Speaker 1: 38:26

So things like that, you know, yeah, awesome. Well, again, thank you so much for being here and I will see everyone in the next episode. Thank, you so much for having me Bye.