Tag Archives: accounting services

Is your business ready for a disaster?

The historic storm on the east coast brought this question back to me. Think about it. If everything in your office were lost to fire or flood, how would you continue your business? By everything, I mean all computer, files, and papers.

How would you pay your employees or vendors?

How would you know which customers you owed orders to? Or how would you communicate to your customers that you are still in business at all? How would you get replacement inventory?

How would your employees know whether they still had a job?

If your business is leveraging cloud technology, these questions are easy to answer if you take the time to do some preparation. Paperless timesheets and online payroll processing make paying employees on time a breeze.

Whether using your online banking on the “pay now” button on vendor invoices, paying vendors on time is a breeze. If you have a higher volume of transactions, there are a number of other options to pay vendors electronically.

Using cloud-based accounting, project management, and CRM solutions will ensure you and your team can work from anywhere. Cloud-based email such as Office 365 or Gmail means you stay in touch with employees and customers.

They key to seamlessly keeping your business operating during a disaster is planning. Now is the time to get the right tools in place and prepare a disaster recovery plan that is communicated with your employees. Don’t let a disaster be the end of your business.

When to Hire an Accountant

There are many articles written regarding when to hire an accountant, and opinions vary. Here’s my take on when and why you should hire an accountant.

Setting up accounting software

There are some tasks involved with running a business you should not attempt on your own and this is one of them. What are the most common problems I come across?

  • Adding an excessive amount of income and expense accounts (categories).
  • Not entering beginning bank and other account balances.ID-100200640

Most business owners complain about doing their own accounting but set up an overly complicated system when attempting it on their own. Be nice to yourself and keep it simple! Better yet, get professional help. Continue reading

The Hidden Value of Networking

networkingThere are thousands of articles written on how to make the most of networking events. Most of the articles offer advice on how to find clients at those events.

Here’s another reason to network: finding future consultants, partners, and employees to help grow your business. At some point you will need to hire a virtual assistant, accountant, project manager, etc. How will you find the right person/firm to hire? Let me tell you, it’s much harder than you think.

Before you begin your search for the right person to hire, you must narrowly define the mission, vision, and ideal client for your business. Why does this matter? Because the consultants and employees you hire can’t help carry out the mission of your business if they don’t understand it. Continue reading

People don’t buy what your business does; they buy why you do it.

I recently watched a Ted Talk given by Simon Sinek called ‘How Great Leaders Inspire Action’.

The main point Simon made was that people don’t buy what your business does; they buy why you do it. That got me to thinking about why I do what I do.

I accidentally started my business in early 2010 after losing my full time job two weeks before Christmas. As that was in the midst of the recession and I live in a small town, there were no jobs to apply for. So I started responding to ads on Craig’s List posted by small businesses needing occasional help with their bookkeeping. I also stumbled on an opportunity to serve as a mentor at Northern Arizona Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (NACET) that brought in clients as well. Work also came along in the way of part-time jobs, mostly temporary. Somehow I made ends meet. And suddenly I had a business. I made mistakes along the way of course, and learned many things along the way. Continuing education is something I engage in every week in the form of podcasts, webinars, and lots of reading. My business slowly evolved from just wanting to earn a living to looking for the best ways to serve my clients.

Child with learning difficultiesMy goal is to take the confusion and frustration out of small business accounting by providing training and ongoing accounting services. Small business accounting isn’t just about QuickBooks any more. Cloud based software offers many tools for running a business. I believe in choosing just the right tools, balancing necessity and cost, to streamline all of the administrative tasks (including accounting) of a business.

As I continue on the journey of being a business owner it is my hope that I find more and better ways to serve the small business community.

Why do YOU do it?