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Episode 39: Stephanie Thacker - Keeping Up with Bookkeeping
150 Plays6 years ago
Today’s guest is Stephanie Thacker, the founder of Steadfast Bookkeeping, a company that provides full service bookkeeping, tax planning and preparation, and outsourced CFO services.
Stephanie shares about how to find a bookkeeper if you’re looking for one, tips for bookkeeping if you’re tackling it yourself, and what to do if you find yourself in over your head this tax season.
For show notes and resources, go to https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-stephanie-thacker-episode-39.
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Transcript
00:00:05
Speaker
It's great to have that person that you can really consult with and come to when you need that help.
Introduction to the Book Show
00:00:18
Speaker
Welcome to the Brands at Book Show, where we help creative service-based businesses build their brands and find more clients. I'm your host, Davy Jones.
Meet Stephanie Thacker
00:00:31
Speaker
Today's guest is Stephanie Thacker, the founder of Steadfast Bookkeeping, a company that provides full service bookkeeping, tax planning and preparation and outsourced CFO services. Stephanie shares about how to find a bookkeeper if you're looking for one, tips for bookkeeping if you're tackling it yourself and what to do if you find yourself in over your head this tax season. A quick disclaimer. The information in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and nothing shared in this episode should be construed as financial, tax, legal or any other professional advice.
00:01:01
Speaker
Be sure to check out the show notes at DavianCrista.com for the resources we mentioned during the episode, and I'd like to hear from you about what kind of content you'd like to see on the Brands That Book podcast as we move forward. I'd also like to know what episodes you've enjoyed most so far and why. To leave your feedback, head on over to the Davian Cristo Facebook page and send us a message. Now, onto the episode.
Stephanie's Busy Tax Season
00:01:28
Speaker
Welcome, Stephanie, to The Brancet Book Show. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule, especially around tax season. I'm sure things are just absolutely crazy for you right now. Yeah, no problem at all. I'm happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, so is this your busy season right now?
00:01:43
Speaker
It is. We're right in the midst of busy season. We're cranking out tax returns and working on closing out the year still for some of our clients. It is right in the middle of busy season. Again, thank you so much for taking the time. I'm excited to dig into everything that you do and everything that you offer and learn about some of the tips that you have for
00:02:05
Speaker
creatives managing their money a little bit better throughout the year so that this season isn't so chaotic for them as well. When they get to the end of the year, they know exactly what needs to be done for taxes and it's not something that has to be done last minute or something like that. Avoid the stress.
00:02:24
Speaker
Exactly, exactly. So I'm excited to dive into that with you.
Journey from Corporate to Entrepreneurship
00:02:28
Speaker
But first, I want to talk a little bit about your background. That's how we always start the show. And I'm really interested to hear about it because we actually did a webinar together back for Rising Tide Society. I don't even know what year now, but a few years ago. And I know that you, even in that time, and your business started well before that, but even in that short amount of time or relatively short amount of time, your business has grown a lot. So tell us how you got started.
00:02:52
Speaker
Yeah, so I actually got started in 2011. And really for about the first four or five years ran it as a solo practice, had a handful of clients that I worked with. And I was coming out of the corporate world working in accounting, and just really had the desire to help small business owners. I am in a family of entrepreneurs. So I always knew that I'd have a business one day, never really put two and two together that it would be an accounting business. That's what I went to school for. It's what I love doing.
00:03:23
Speaker
businesses that I had started prior to that were kind of like hobbies that I turned into business that just didn't work and then I realized you know there's such a need for this there's so many small businesses that need this kind of help but are you know doing it on their own probably and stressed intimidated by it frustrated by it
00:03:44
Speaker
And so, yeah, that's how I got started.
Growing Through Networking
00:03:46
Speaker
And then, like I said, for four or five years, I kind of did it on my own. And now we have a team of nine people. We I really decided after that four or five years, you know, I'm either just going to keep this business small and the handful of clients that I have or I'm really going to take it to the next level and grow it and start offering more and more services. And, you know, technology gives us the advantage and the ability to work with
00:04:11
Speaker
companies all over the us which is awesome so we don't have to be you know just looking within a certain a mile radius of where i'm located so.
00:04:21
Speaker
We're a fully remote team. We work with companies all over the United States, which is really awesome. Yeah, that's incredible. And especially, you know, growing from just you to now a team of nine people, really interested in hearing a little bit more about that as well. But I also want to know a little bit more about, you know, those early days, just getting started, you know, how did you find your first clients? Did you did you approach people? Or did people know like, okay, well,
00:04:45
Speaker
You know, Stephanie went to school for accounting. So I'm just going to ask her for help. And then it kind of grew from there. What did that look like? Yeah. So it's funny really to look back on it. I definitely approached people. So the people that knew that I did accounting, I was probably already helping them, family members or friends. You know, I was helping them on the side always, even when I was working in corporate accounting. And when I decided I was going to start my own business, like, I mean, it was 2011, you know,
00:05:13
Speaker
I think I threw up a website. It was horrible. So glad it's not still out there today. But honestly, I went on Craigslist and I started looking for people that were
00:05:23
Speaker
you know, posting that they were looking for a bookkeeper. And I would just reach out to them and say, Hey, I'm starting my own business. And I saw you're looking for a bookkeeper. And so I started looking locally. And so then I would like go in and meet with them. And so my first two clients that I really had until almost a year or so ago, when they got to the point where it was like, okay, it's time for you to get a full time bookkeeper in house, your business has grown that much. But I worked with them, they were local,
00:05:52
Speaker
although I still worked remote, I was able to meet them in person. And so that's really how I got my first few clients was just reaching out to people. I like printed business cards and went around to businesses, you know, my local area and just I just tell people, hey, I'm starting a business, you know, give me a call. And yeah, a lot different than we do it now. But no, but I admire that because I think sometimes we start a business and just think people are going to find us, you know? Yeah. So I really admire that.
00:06:19
Speaker
you went out to people. I mean, everything from Craigslist to passing around to going and passing out business cards. And so, I admire that that's how you started your business. And I think, you know, a lot of us when we're first getting started could take a lesson from that, you know? Because when you're first getting started and you put that website up for the first time, people don't magically find it. So, it's awesome that you actually went out to people and hustled a little bit and started picking up business that way. So...
00:06:47
Speaker
What went into the decision to grow? What did that look like? I'm guessing that you didn't grow from one to nine all at once. What did that process look like?
Business Expansion and Hiring Challenges
00:06:57
Speaker
I mentioned I had a moment of I'm either just going to stay where I am, just me with this handful of clients, or I'm really going to take it to the next level.
00:07:06
Speaker
And so I had the desire to grow it more. Fear really held me back for a long time, honestly, because it was like, how can I trust anybody to do this? My clients love me, not so and so whoever I'm going to hire, like how is this ever going to work? And so I kind of just went for it. Like when I kept getting
00:07:26
Speaker
people coming to me and I was like, there is no way I can take them on my own. I am to my max. I either keep turning people away or I do this and I'm like, I'm not going to keep turning people away. This isn't why I started the business.
00:07:41
Speaker
There are some people like that and that's fine. You have a money goal in mind or a client number in mind and that's great for me. I always want to take it to the next level. So it started slow. It started with just hiring one bookkeeper. She was local to me. She had all of the experience plus there were people that I knew that knew her.
00:07:59
Speaker
And so I started there. And from there, she was really worked with me just the two of us for probably a year. And then we added one or two more. And then here in the past year, we've, we've added quite a few. So it's really just keeps growing. I think the more that our name gets out there, which is honestly still word of mouth is our best. Like our clients tell people about us. That's our best, you know, refer referral source, really. And so as we continue to grow,
00:08:28
Speaker
You know, we're at the point where all of these years, you know, I put together like policies and procedures. This is how we do things. And while every client does look different because every business is different, it's made it easier to onboard a new employee, you know, orient them on like, this is how steadfast does it. And then from there, they can serve our clients. And so it definitely was not overnight at all. It's kind of been.
00:08:52
Speaker
a slow process somewhat, a fun one. Yeah, for sure.
Remote Services Nationwide
00:08:57
Speaker
And so at steadfast, what's kind of the breakdown about now of the different roles you have, you have more than bookkeepers. Now as well, you have some other positions. Yeah, so now we're also offering tax services. So we do tax planning and tax prep. And then we also offer CFO services. So we have bookkeepers. And then we have accountants that are CPAs.
00:09:20
Speaker
So they're offering, like I said, tax planning and tax prep. Obviously, like I said, we're in our busy season with that. Tax planning is more of an annual thing where we're really looking at their finances throughout the year to help them project for taxes instead of getting that big shock, you know, come March or April. And then our CFO services really came from our current client base asking us like,
00:09:45
Speaker
Hey, can you help me with cash flow projections? Can you help me with budgeting? I want to make four new hires this year. What is that going to look like? Or I want to add this product. What's that going to look like? How can I get to this number with my launch?
00:09:57
Speaker
So that's not really bookkeeping. That's not what we had been doing. Really that service came though because of so many people asking for it. And so now the accountants that work as really outsourced CFOs for our clients are providing the next level of service from bookkeeping. So bookkeeping is very much in the nitty gritty details of the numbers and the CFO is able to come in and look at their business kind of from a bird's eye view and look at things and really
00:10:27
Speaker
Plan and project rather than just get into the actual data entry of their numbers.
00:10:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. Tell us a little bit more about bookkeeping and what bookkeeping is. That's awesome that you were able to add these tax planning and tax services and then the next level of that, the outsource CFO services as well. Tell us for most people who come to you, or maybe it's not even most people now, maybe it's a pretty even breakdown, but in the beginning when people come to you for bookkeeping, what does
The Role of Bookkeeping
00:10:57
Speaker
that look like?
00:10:57
Speaker
Yeah, and it still is. Most of our clients are still bookkeeping. Most people still come to us because they're looking for bookkeeping. So bookkeeping is really the process of recording their transactions. So any money that's coming into the business, any money that's going out of the business needs to be recorded properly.
00:11:17
Speaker
because it really it kind of starts there, right? If you don't have your bookkeeping, you really can't have accurate taxes or you're going to be stressed at tax time because you're like, I don't you know, you try to go a year back and you're like, I don't remember. What did I buy there? What was that for? It's really hard to go back. Yeah, you just see in the like in your bank transactions, it just might say check, you know, like check written, but you know, it's not always easy, especially if you've let a lot of time go see, you know, an image of that check and remember, okay, what did I write that check for and
00:11:47
Speaker
So hard to remember. So that's really what we're doing is keeping up with it on an ongoing basis.
00:11:52
Speaker
we're in their books each week. So we use QuickBooks Online. It's super easy for us to access. It's easy for the clients to learn how to get in there and do as little or as much as they want, really. They can look at their dashboard and see where their numbers are at. And by keeping that up on an ongoing basis, the client can see where am I at as far as revenue goes, where am I at as far as expenses go, and then you don't have to do that
00:12:22
Speaker
guessing game of like you said, you're looking at the statements like check 1400, $2,000, I don't remember what that was for. So by doing that on an ongoing basis, we eliminate all of that. So the bookkeepers will, if it's something that they're unsure of, so same thing, they might just see a check number and maybe the bank doesn't allow us to see the image of the check.
00:12:43
Speaker
we'll ask the client that week hey check fourteen hundred came through quick books we don't know what it was for can you let us know it's on the top of their heads that they can tell us right then and then we can enter it and so.
00:12:55
Speaker
just having your bookkeeping done ongoing like that eliminates so much stress and worry and frustration. Sure. I'm assuming that at the end of the year after all the transactions are categorized properly and all that, do they get some sort of report where they can bring that to either just give that to you all for taxes to be done or to bring that back to their accountant? Yeah. We actually provide a profit and loss and a balance sheet each month. Then after the end of the year, we'll do the same thing.
00:13:25
Speaker
When we're putting in the transactions each month, we go back and reconcile. Your bank statements are released usually after the end of the month. Credit card statements might be throughout the middle of the month, but we go through when those statements come out and make sure that literally every transaction that hit all of those accounts
00:13:41
Speaker
is in QuickBooks so that you know it's all accounted for. So we do that throughout the year and then at the end of the year, if their CPA requests more than the profit and loss or balance sheet, we'll provide that to them. We'll really do what we can to close out the year. Sometimes they have a CPA that's just doing the taxes and then they'll come back to us and tell us to do some journal entries to match what they did for the taxes.
00:14:04
Speaker
Yeah, ongoing and then definitely at the end of the year, there's a little bit more work. Really, it's the beginning of the year because we're working, you know, on the prior year, but yeah, more work involved there for sure.
00:14:15
Speaker
Yeah. For people trying to keep track of their books, do you recommend QuickBooks Online, which is what you all use? I know that we use Wave. I'm not really sure what the differences are. Wave, I know, though, is free. Do you have a certain preference? Really, when I decided QuickBooks Online was going to be the tool that we use, it was the best option at the time. Of course, now I love it.
00:14:39
Speaker
because we use it all of the time. As I was growing, we used to offer services in QuickBooks Online in Xero and Wave, and I realized it's really hard to train the bookkeepers that are coming in on all of these different softwares. So we decided we're going to be dedicated to really one software that we can be experts in it. So all of our ongoing training, it's always in QuickBooks Online.
00:15:02
Speaker
We know about the feature updates before they're released. We get to test them out before they're released. So that's really why we choose that. I think it's really easy for people to learn, even if you have no accounting background. I think WAVE is too, you know, and WAVE has come a long ways, you know, when it started at first, not to get like too nerdy of accounting talk, but it didn't have double entry accounting, which is huge for an accountant or a bookkeeper. And now it does and it syncs with so many banks and
00:15:31
Speaker
So it's great. I always tell people, all of these places offer free trials. Like you said, WAVE is free until you want to add payroll or some other type of feature. Use the free trials, test them out, you know, for a couple of weeks, make sure your bank sinks fine. Any other softwares that you might be using if you're using something like, you know, a honey boat, Debzado, if you're taking square or stripe payments.
00:15:55
Speaker
sync that, see what works better, see what you just feel comfortable with and then choose that option. Yeah, no, I think that's great advice but I think it's totally true what you were saying about Wave when it first came out. I think we started using it about around the time it first came out and at the same time, our business was really young. We started using it back in like 2010. So at the time, accounting was fairly simple back then. That's I guess how I put it.
00:16:23
Speaker
Yeah, and then in addition to that, it was free. So, you know, didn't have to deal with another monthly subscription, which was nice. But QuickBooks, you know, one thing that I sometimes think like, oh, I kind of wish I was using QuickBooks only because it syncs with like everything. Like if, you know, like whatever CRM you're using, if they have like some sort of accounting integration, QuickBooks is probably the first one that they build out.
00:16:46
Speaker
So, you know, for instance, like we used upsado and I think they're working on a wave integration, but they already have a QuickBooks one, you know, QuickBooks is like the default one they go to. Yeah, it's true. And that's, that's another reason why we'll recommend it.
00:16:59
Speaker
not been many times that someone throws something out there that they're like, well, I use this software, do you think it sinks? And like it probably does. And if it's not between those two softwares, you know, directly, there's probably some type of third party software that someone has developed. But again, they are they're going to QuickBooks
00:17:18
Speaker
So, you know, you look at QuickBooks, it's been around forever, you know, it's into it, you can look at all of the Intuit products, you know, QuickBooks desktop, I don't know, it's been around for probably 30 something years. So it just depends if that's not something that you have to have, though, and free is better.
00:17:34
Speaker
Or if you've been using it and you don't want to make that switch, then there's definitely other options out there that work just fine. Yeah. And we have, we've been really happy with wave. And again, I think one of the, one of the key things that's missing for us right now is that Dabsado wave integration, but you know, enough about that.
00:17:52
Speaker
As far as so, for instance, like we have always done our own books, we've worked and I think we're, I'm fortunate to have a wife who is very, you know, type A and organized and, you know, something that she was diligent about tackling, you know, from the day that she started the business.
When to Hire a Bookkeeper?
00:18:09
Speaker
So we worked closely with an accountant each month.
00:18:11
Speaker
But in general, she goes in. It's the first of the month as we record this. And one of her tasks today is to go through last month's transactions, reconcile everything, make sure all's good there. And you can tell how little I know about all this because she handles it. If I had to handle it, it would be the first thing that I outsource.
00:18:31
Speaker
So I guess the question is, at what point do you think creatives are ready to hire a bookkeeper? Is this something that they really should start doing in the very beginning? Or do should they wait until they hit a certain scale? Like, what's your advice there? That's a great question. So I really, my opinion is that I really don't think there's like a magical
00:18:52
Speaker
number, whether it's like revenue or a number of clients or anything that gets you there. I really think it's like what you were saying. At what point is it going to be too much or frustrating for you to do? We have people come to us that say, I'm launching my business next month. They've done all of the work and they're like, they're finally putting it out there next month. And they're like,
00:19:12
Speaker
I know from day one that I don't want to do the bookkeeping. It stresses me out just thinking about it. And so I've already budgeted for it. But then we have people that come and say, I've been doing it for the last five years and I'm finally to the point where I can do it. You know, it's in my budget. It's whatever. So I think it's, I always say,
00:19:31
Speaker
If you are putting it off, that is great that Krista has it on her calendar, she sticks to it and she can do it. Some people will have it on their calendar, their list, never get to it. It's always the thing that gets pushed to the bottom. And then before you know it, it's six months, 12 months, however long, and it's like, whoops, I never did it. I'd say if that's you, then it's probably time to go ahead and outsource it, see if you can work that into your budget because it's so important to have it done.
00:19:59
Speaker
And if you're never doing it, then it's time to have someone do it. I get it because there are so many things like that in my business that for however long was just like it never got done because I dreaded it. It's not my wheelhouse. I don't enjoy doing it. And I just got to that point where it is much better for somebody to do this because just seeing it on my list stressed me out. I just didn't want to do it.
00:20:25
Speaker
So that's my opinion is that if that's you if that's how you feel about the bookkeeping if you're doing it and you feel like question you're questioning yourself every month like i just don't know if
Cost of Bookkeeping Services
00:20:36
Speaker
it's right and seems wrong my balances are always off reach out to someone and.
00:20:43
Speaker
You know, it's probably a good sign that it's time to have someone do it for you. Yeah. And I think for me, the problem would just be like, like you said, it's on my list, end of the month rolls around, but it's not something that I absolutely have to do until the end of the quarter when we, you know, make, you know, whatever tax payment that we make, you know, so it'll always get pushed back to that date. And then it would just be this much bigger project than it has to be. Right. And like you said, having to look back and remember, you know, what's what? Yeah.
00:21:08
Speaker
So as far as like when people are searching around for a bookkeeper, is it important that they work with somebody in their industry? Like what tips do you have for people reaching out to a bookkeeper and just kind of ballpark? What should people budget either per month or per year to pay for a bookkeeper?
00:21:25
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good question, too. So I feel like when you're looking for someone, definitely talk to a few people. Look for someone that, yes, has worked in your industry, especially for creatives or online businesses. We talked about all of the different apps and softwares that you can use and that they're probably using. Make sure that the person has used those or knows about those and can say,
00:21:48
Speaker
Yes we should think that to your accounting software it's going to be beneficial or it's not but i could probably tell you countless stories of people that you know chose someone for whatever reason that they weren't familiar with even things like square or straight. And they're like they just didn't know what to do and so it's all messed up and it's duplicated so talk to people tell them hey this is what i use do you have experience in this.
00:22:12
Speaker
And look for people that have maybe on their website you know testimonials or maybe they have like a portfolio of clients that they've worked with look and see are they the same type of people you know maybe they're offering the same thing online businesses or e-commerce creative businesses.
00:22:28
Speaker
And then the budget, I mean, it's kind of hard, obviously, there are, it really depends on what you're looking for as well. So just to go into that a little deeper, we are what we call full service bookkeeping. So there's definitely bookkeeping out there that's strictly data entry that they might take your bank statement at the end of the month, they'll categorize it to the best that they can.
00:22:50
Speaker
and then send you reports back. For that, you can probably get a larger firm to do it for $200, $250 a month. If you're looking for more specific and really good categorization and implementing those different softwares or apps that you might be using,
00:23:09
Speaker
someone who's going to work with you throughout the month. Like I said, we're in there every week. So we're communicating with our clients every week, talking to them about their expenses, answering their questions. If you're looking for that level, I'd say probably budget more around $500 a month, depending. If you're a seven-figure business and you've got 10 bank accounts, maybe you have credit card accounts for your employees, all of those things are going to play in.
00:23:37
Speaker
Every bank account that has to be reconciled is more time. If you've got credit cards across employees, then it's more transactions, it's more time. It's kind of hard. You could really go way up there, just depending on the size of the business. But I'd say a starting level would be $500 a month if you're looking for really customized bookkeeping for your business that's ongoing and not just the once a month data entry level.
00:24:06
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think that's a I think that answer is really, really helpful. As far as the next step, so somebody's found a bookkeeper, they hired them, what can they do to set that relationship up for success, you know, so that they're working well, having maximum impact, working alongside that bookkeeper.
00:24:24
Speaker
Communication is the biggest thing. So talk to the bookkeeper. If you're adding a new service, if you have a launch coming up, if now all of a sudden you're accepting strike payments instead of square payments, talk to them. If the bookkeeper reaches out with questions, respond to them. I know that sometimes it's like, well, I'm outsourcing this because I wanted someone else to do it and the amount of time
00:24:50
Speaker
Communicating with them i can assure you is way less than you would spend doing it on your own.
00:24:55
Speaker
We see it as we really come alongside the business owner. We are partnering with them. So we want to know what's going on because if you have a big launch coming up, we might be able to prepare and say, okay, let's get this ready. Let's set up these accounts ahead of time before all these transactions start coming in and we don't know where to put them. So communication really is the biggest thing. If you're communicating with your bookkeeper, you can probably really be, other than that communication piece, you can be completely hands-off for your bookkeeping.
Partnering with Your Bookkeeper
00:25:24
Speaker
just letting them know what's going on in your business responding to maybe questions about what a transaction might be other than that you can just really rest assured and rest easy knowing that it's done so that's my biggest piece of advice is just be ready to communicate with them see them as a member of your team as a partner to your business.
00:25:44
Speaker
Yeah, so I would assume too that when you're hiring a bookkeeper, I mean, to me, that would be one of the biggest things is just that I could feel like I could communicate with the bookkeeper, right? You know, just this concept that if I reach out with a question that I don't feel like, you know, I'm annoying them or whatnot.
00:26:01
Speaker
That's nice that you're saying, no, we want our clients to reach out. We're really partnering with them so that they get maximum benefit. I really appreciate what you're saying on that level. Let's shift gears a little bit though and talk about people who either like Krista, they're handling their bookkeeping right now and maybe they
00:26:22
Speaker
They feel like they're doing a good enough job or people who are just not in a position maybe to hire a bookkeeper. What tips do you have for them so that come January 1st of the next year, they're not super stressed out thinking, okay, I have no idea what happened in my bank account this past year. And I have no idea what I need to do to get ready for taxes coming up. Yeah. So consistency is probably my biggest
00:26:48
Speaker
recommendation there. Like you said, Krista does it at the beginning of the month. That's, that's a great thing. Have it like recurring on your calendar, whether you're using the calendar on your phone or a planner, make sure it's on there. So whatever that looks like for you, if you can do it once a month and remember what happened that month and you don't really have a need to see those numbers throughout the month, then that's great. You know, do it once a month. Maybe it's the first, the fifth, whatever it is. If it's every week, I'd say schedule a time.
00:27:18
Speaker
You know, don't choose Friday at four to put it on your calendar because you're going to be like, forget this and it's never going to happen. So choose like a Monday morning or maybe a Wednesday morning, choose time that, you know, this is my time to do it. And then once you do it, you know how much time it takes. I'm sure Krista knows every month this is going to take me about this long. So she knows to schedule that into her day. If you're doing it every week, it might be less. So if you can say, okay,
00:27:44
Speaker
I can do this. I can spend an hour a week or whatever, depending on the size of your business. Consistency is really going to be key because again, we've talked about it. You're going to remember what happened when it comes to tax time.
00:27:57
Speaker
You've got to do that one last month, and then you're good. In January, you'll have your reports ready. So it's not going to be April 10th when you're scrambling and trying to get it all together. Come January, you've just finished December, and you're ready to go. I think, like you said, consistency is what makes it successful. Chris is in there. As far as schedule time on our calendar, she's in there twice a month. Once mid-month, just to make sure everything's good, that there's not something
00:28:22
Speaker
you know, wildly out of the ordinary going on. And then if she has time, she goes and starts categorizing some of the expenses from the first, you know, through the 15th of the month. But then really when she's actually making dedicated time to go in there and do the work of categorizing those those expenses or those transactions rather, it's at the end of or the first of the following months or the if it's if it's like a Saturday, it would be, you know, the following Monday.
00:28:46
Speaker
But I admire that about it because if it was me, I'd probably be calling you and saying, hey, listen, we need to get this off my plate because it would be like six months later and I wouldn't have done it. Yeah, but like you said, if you're that person where you enjoy doing it where you're just like, I can do this and it's not the worst thing that I have to do or you don't have room in the budget yet,
00:29:08
Speaker
That's really the biggest thing is put on your calendar so if that works first in the fifteenth do that if it's every wednesday do that just be consistent with it so that it just becomes something that you do even if you dreaded a little bit it's just one hour whatever it takes you're doing it and you're done and it's it's not that much when you're not doing six eight nine months at a time.
Pre-Business Consultation Benefits
00:29:30
Speaker
Yeah, and I think one thing that we did well when we were starting our business, which we didn't even realize at the time, but we reached out to an attorney and we reached out to an accountant before we ever got started just to figure out what we needed to be doing.
00:29:47
Speaker
We didn't have those questions at the end of the first year where all of a sudden you're making more money than you thought you were and you don't know what's going on. I would encourage you, if you're listening to this and maybe you're in a similar spot, maybe you started a business recently or you're getting ready to launch a business,
00:30:03
Speaker
reach out to a bookkeeper or accountant or a lawyer, whoever you need to, of these things that feel stressful and scary. And Stephanie, I don't know if you'd agree, but I feel like bookkeeping isn't that scary once you have a system in place. And even the legal side of things, and I did a podcast episode with Christina Sclera a number of episodes back. Even the legal stuff, I don't think is that scary. It feels scary. It feels stressful. But if you start off by talking to a lawyer and saying, hey, what do I need to know?
00:30:33
Speaker
All of a sudden, all of it feels a lot more manageable. Yeah, that's so good. It's so true. We actually have a service that we call Set Sale because we're all about the nautical terminology around here. But it's really like we set up their QuickBooks account for them and train them how to do their bookkeeping specifically. There's tons of tutorials out there. QuickBooks has free tutorials.
00:30:54
Speaker
But this is specific to their business. And so I'd say, yeah, do that. Go and talk to somebody and say, this is what I'm using. This is how I accept payments. This is how I spend my money. How should I be doing this? Because sometimes the free tutorials don't touch every point of your business. And so I think if you talk to someone, yeah, I like the legal stuff. Christine has helped me a ton. And, you know, when you can talk to someone and they're like, oh, it's not as big as you think it is. We just have to do this, this and this.
00:31:24
Speaker
Oh, okay, that's not that bad. Yeah, I can do this. We've got this. So I think especially when you can tell them the specifics of your business and then that way you've got that contact, you have somebody, if something changes, maybe you were service based and now you're offering products, you can go back and say, hey, how does this change what I'm doing? What should I do now? And they can kind of help guide you.
00:31:47
Speaker
It's great to have that person that you can really consult with and come to when you need that help. So yeah, I think that's a great recommendation.
00:31:56
Speaker
So the last kind of person that
Organizing Financial Records
00:31:59
Speaker
I want to talk about. So we've talked about the person who is going to go the bookkeeper route and kind of things that they should look out for and how they should go about hiring a bookkeeper. And we've talked about the person who maybe is going to do it on their own. Let's talk about the person who in 2018 finds themselves in that boat where they haven't paid attention to their bank account at all. And in 2019 here, filing day is coming up.
00:32:26
Speaker
What advice do you have for people in that position to get back on track and to get started for 2019 on the right foot? Yeah, that's a good question. So if that's you, if you're listening right now and that's you, you're not alone, trust me. There's probably other people out there right now saying yes, raising their hand, that is me. But if you're listening to this and realizing that, that's the first step.
00:32:51
Speaker
From there i would say definitely start getting stuff in order if you have a shoebox or something full of receipts start going through it start laying them out if you really have like physical receipts and papers i always say to start putting them in piles like this was meals this was travel.
00:33:10
Speaker
then start doing the same with the receipts that have come into your inbox or take your statements go to your bank statements i am we really run our firm paperless but when it comes to like doing catch up stuff like that i am a paper person so i say look at it see it touch it feel it so
00:33:28
Speaker
Print out your statements, get out some highlighters and just, you know, start saying again, just like you would if it was paper receipts. Okay. Green was meals. Yellow is travel. Really just go through and to catch up for 2018 or for the year past, however many months or years that might be, maybe put it into a spreadsheet and just put those numbers there. Okay. This was all of my income. Then this was my meals. This was my travel. This was office expenses.
00:33:54
Speaker
It's a lot of work to go back and put transactions into a software so if you're really looking at just a year. If you might be able to go and put it back into quickbooks just be ready for like the work to do it because you can think your bank accounts but quickbooks will only bring in the past ninety days so if you got a full year than you know you're probably really looking at a full year like full twelve months that you would have to put those transactions and manually.
00:34:22
Speaker
So if you don't have the time or you don't want to spend the time doing that, like I said, take your statements, your receipts, whatever, start categorizing them and then put them into a spreadsheet. You can go to a CPA with your statements in a spreadsheet and say, okay, here's my statements. And then I took everything that was on there. I put it into the spreadsheet for you. And this is what it was. You know, this was my income. These were all my expenses categorized out. Taking in a shoebox of receipts, they're going to, I mean,
00:34:52
Speaker
They might do it. They'll probably charge an arm and a leg because you're going to have someone going through those receipts for you. So schedule out some time. You know, if you're busy during the week, just say, okay, on a Saturday morning, I'm going to spend a few hours going through this, whatever that looks like for you. And then now that you've done that, get on that consistent schedule. So stop and think about how hard it was, how much time it took to do that. And then say, you know what? It took me this long to do that for the whole year. I could just spend this little bit of time every month doing it.
00:35:22
Speaker
And I won't ever have to do this again. So go back, get it organized, put it in a spreadsheet if you have to, then decide what software do I want to use going forward and start your consistent schedule now going forward with that. Yeah. And sometimes the, if for instance, like you have a bunch of checks that you put in the bank and you forget what they were for, you can actually go to the bank, sit down with somebody and sometimes they'll actually print that stuff out for you. They might charge you a little bit for it, but usually it's pretty nominal as far as the fee goes. Yeah.
Catching Up on Past Finances
00:35:51
Speaker
Is it too late at that point to hire a bookkeeper and say, hey, do bookkeepers generally work on maybe a project basis like that? Like, hey, I really messed up here this past year. Is it possible to hire somebody and be like, can you figure this out for me before tax time? Yeah. We do that all the time and because we're nerdy about numbers and stuff, we love it. You mentioned going and getting the statement.
00:36:16
Speaker
We had somebody come to us that was like, I've really messed up and I haven't filed my taxes since 2013. I haven't done my bookkeeping since then. So we had to start at 2014 going back to her bank and they literally FedEx me like overnight, a huge box of years of statements. And I started going through them. So yes, we can, we certainly can do that on a project basis. So it's not too late.
00:36:42
Speaker
there's a lot of time involved in it. So you would definitely have to be to that point of, I realize that I need this and the value to have someone else do it for me outweighs me having to sit down and do it, but it's not too late. So we got all of her numbers caught up. We put everything in, we filed taxes for three years, and then now we're on track to file 2018 on time. So it's never too late. So don't feel like it's too far gone because
00:37:12
Speaker
What happens when your business keeps growing? What happens when you get the letter in the mail from the IRS that says you haven't filed a tax return in three years? What's going on?
00:37:21
Speaker
Even though you're behind, you can be proactive about it now. You can go back and get it. If it's a bank account that's closed, you can usually still go back to them. You do have to pay a little bit, but it's usually just a few dollars per statement. They'll print the checks on there so you can see because there's no way you're going to remember what check you wrote three years ago. There's just no way. When you can see it, you can see the name. You're like, oh yeah, that's the person I was paying me to help do this or that, whatever.
00:37:49
Speaker
It's never too late. Yeah, and I think at the end of the day, if you are in a position like that, the amount of time and stress that will be required if the IRS were to come knocking on your door is going too far outweigh what you would pay a bookkeeper just to get you on the right track, get you up to date, and then get you started here in 2019 on the right foot.
00:38:13
Speaker
We really appreciate your time. Again, especially during your busiest time of year to make some time for us and share about just how we can be healthy financially.
Contact Information for Steadfast Bookkeeping
00:38:24
Speaker
If people want to follow along with you, Stephanie, where should they go?
00:38:27
Speaker
Yeah, they can find us. Our website is steadfastbookkeeping.com. And on Instagram, we're at steadfastbookkeepingco. And we're on Facebook as well. We're not the best at social media. That's, you know, probably our weak point. As long as you're good at numbers.
00:38:46
Speaker
That's definitely something that when it is being done, it's because I'm outsourcing it and someone else is doing it for me. But yeah, that's where you can find us. Our website has a ton of information, a ton of blog articles you can search and maybe find something that's, you know, related to your business or relating to your business. And you can contact us through our website as well.
00:39:05
Speaker
And you work with businesses all around the US, right? Correct. Yep. Are you currently accepting new clients? We are. For tax season, if for an on-time filing, probably by the time this airs, no, not for an on-time filing. That's certainly okay. We can always file extensions, but we're always accepting new bookkeeping and CFO clients.
00:39:26
Speaker
And again, if you're looking to get 2019 off to the right start and you need a bookkeeper, I encourage you to reach out to Stephanie. Stephanie, thank you again, and we hope you have a wonderful weekend. Thank you so much. Thanks for tuning in to the Brands That Book Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving a review in iTunes. For show notes and other resources, head on over to dvandchrista.com.
00:40:05
Speaker
you