57: What Bookkeepers Do On A Daily Basis Whether You Want To Start A Bookkeeping Business, You Want
57: What Bookkeepers Do On A Daily Basis Whether You Want To Start A Bookkeeping Business, You Want To Grow Or Scale Your Bookkeeping Business, Or You Are A Virtual Assistant Looking To Add Bookkeeping Services
If you are thinking about starting a bookkeeping business, and you know that you have what it takes to be a bookkeeper, but you are just not quite sure about what you would do as a bookkeeper, this episode is for you. Being a bookkeeper may sound intriguing to you, but do you ever wonder if you would be able to do the tasks required of a bookkeeper? Do you wonder what each of the responsibilities are? Do you want to know what a typical day as a bookkeeper would look like? Well, if you are thinking about starting a bookkeeping business, you already have a bookkeeping business but want to grow or scale your bookkeeping business, or you are a virtual assistant and you want to add bookkeeping services as a high-end service to your business, finding out what is all involved is definitely a good idea. You want to make sure you are as prepared as you can possibly be for this change. Today, I am pulling back the curtain on my bookkeeping business and I am going to go through what a typical day can look like for me in my business. I’ll be giving you a peek inside what your schedule could look like as a bookkeeper, and you’ll see just how flexible your work is so that you are in control of your calendar and can take the time off you need for those important things in your life. Listen in so that you have an understanding of what a day in the life of a bookkeeper looks like, and I’ll be giving some tips to make sure each and every day goes smoothly, and you are able to get more work done in less time with efficient processes…
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Show Notes:
If you are thinking about starting a bookkeeping business, and you know that you have what it takes to be a bookkeeper, but you are just not quite sure about what you would do as a bookkeeper, this episode is for you. Being a bookkeeper may sound intriguing to you, but do you ever wonder if you would be able to do the tasks required of a bookkeeper? Do you wonder what each of the responsibilities are? Do you want to know what a typical day as a bookkeeper would look like? Well, if you are thinking about starting a bookkeeping business, you already have a bookkeeping business but want to grow or scale your bookkeeping business, or you are a virtual assistant and you want to add bookkeeping services as a high-end service to your business, finding out what is all involved is definitely a good idea. You want to make sure you are as prepared as you can possibly be for this change. Today, I am pulling back the curtain on my bookkeeping business and I am going to go through what a typical day can look like for me in my business. I’ll be giving you a peek inside what your schedule could look like as a bookkeeper, and you’ll see just how flexible your work is so that you are in control of your calendar and can take the time off you need for those important things in your life. Listen in so that you have an understanding of what a day in the life of a bookkeeper looks like, and I’ll be giving some tips to make sure each and every day goes smoothly, and you are able to get more work done in less time with efficient processes…
Welcome Back…I’m glad you’ve joined me in this special podcast series specifically for individuals who are interested in starting a bookkeeping business. Bookkeeping is considered one of the most profitable businesses you can start, and this was true for me and my bookkeeping business. I started my bookkeeping business over 15 years ago, and I still enjoy working with clients and the work that I do on a daily basis, and that is exactly what I want to talk about with you today. I am sure you already know that a bookkeeper is in charge of tracking all the money coming in and going out of a business. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, for the most part, it really is.
Let’s start off with what the typical bookkeeping tasks are. Like I mentioned, your responsibilities are to record all money coming in and going out of a business. We’ll start with money coming in. This would include tasks such as invoicing customers, collecting payments, receiving payments and making bank deposits. When you look at the money going out of a business, you have items you need to record such as checks, credit card charges and automatic deductions. You may be in charge of paying bills and even processing payroll. These are the main responsibilities of a bookkeeper.
Next, I want to talk about what makes a really good bookkeeper. I see bookkeepers all the time who just enter transactions in and that is it. They don’t do anything additional, but this is where you can really excel as a great bookkeeper. You can take all the information that has been entered and once every transaction from the business is recorded properly, you will reconcile each account to ensure accuracy. This is a very important step that gets missed more than you would think. Ultimately, once you have reconciled your accounts and verified the accuracy, you are then able to generate reports that you can give to the business owner. By taking these additional two steps, you are raising the quality of your services to the top and helping your client obtain the timely and reliable financial information they need to make smart business decisions.
When you are doing the bookkeeping for the client, you are giving them peace of mind knowing that their books are up to date, and they have the information they need to stay in compliance with their tax and other reporting requirements.
As promised, I mentioned I would give you a peek inside my bookkeeping business and how a typical day looks. I am going to start off with saying that every day looks a little different, depending on the day of the week and different projects that come in from day to day, but I am going to give you a snapshot of what some typical days look like. I love the variety that bookkeeping brings me each and every day. For me, since I have payroll services that I perform for my clients, I normally tend to have payroll processing towards the beginning of the week. You will notice as a bookkeeper that you will have certain engagements which will have a specific deadline. When you process payroll for clients, you need to be very sensitive to the pay dates and ensure that you are processing the payroll in time for the employees to get paid. Most of my payrolls have pay dates on Friday, which means that I usually process the payroll on a Monday or Tuesday so that the client is able to review all the reports before the employees get paid. This also allows for the employer to make sure they have sufficient funds for the payroll.
A typical Monday for me would start off with going through my emails and corresponding with clients about any inquiries. Then I send out email reminders to clients for them to submit their payroll information if I don’t already have it, and I spend the remainder of the day working on any additional client work. This would include going through client’s bank statements and making sure all their transactions have been recorded, reconciling their accounts and generating financial statements for them. Depending on the client, I may be able to do a couple of these projects in one day, and others may take the full day, or multiple days.
Tuesdays are normally reserved for processing payrolls for clients as I would normally have all their payroll information in and can work on the same type of work all day. This ensures that I am working as efficiently as possible to maximize every minute of the day so that I can take more time off to spend with my family.
Wednesdays through Fridays are normally very similar to Mondays as I correspond with clients on any inquiries they may have and then I work on client projects. These days tend to be much more flexible since my payroll deadlines have already been taken care of toward the beginning of the week. My schedule is also pretty open so that I can take time off if needed and I don’t have to feel guilty or pressured about working during the typical workday.
You can see that most of my days have the same type of schedule, but what I love the most about my business is that even if I am doing the same type of work like recording checks, credit cards, sales or deposits, every business is different. I never feel like I am doing the same thing over and over because of this. I really try to focus on what my client’s needs are so that I am providing the most value I can to them so that they can focus on what they need to do to run their business. When I mentioned earlier about providing peace of mind to your clients, this is one of the things I love about my business the most. Knowing that I can help alleviate some of the stress that most business owners have is a really amazing feeling.
You will find as you start taking on clients that each client is different and what they ask you to do may be different as well. One of the benefits to owning your own business is that you get to choose what you want to do in your business. If you are not comfortable with offering payroll services, you just don’t list it as a service you do for clients. You are in control of your business, and you get to choose what your business will look like, as well as how much or how little you want to work in your business.
Well, what did you think? Bookkeeping tasks are pretty straight forward, and the ways you can set yourself up to go above and beyond what most bookkeepers do is easily obtainable. Next week, I’ll continue with this series by talking about how much it costs to start a bookkeeping business. If you still have questions about bookkeeping, I’d love for you to join the community I created for bookkeepers just like you. It is a great place where you can ask questions and get advice from others who are going through your same experiences. You can join us by going to www.FinancialAdventure.com/bookkeepercommunity when you join, introduce yourself and let me know you heard about it from this podcast!
As you may already know, I am the creator of The Elevate Your Bookkeeping Business Framework, and I am looking forward to helping you create your own profitable bookkeeping business with valuable information for you just like today’s podcast. I’ll be holding a Jumpstart Your Bookkeeping Business Workshop on Monday November 22nd, 2021at 6:00 PM Central Time. In this live workshop, you’ll learn 3 major mistakes to avoid when starting your bookkeeping business, exactly what you need to do to set up your bookkeeping business, how you can get your bookkeeping software for free, and the necessary equipment and other start-up costs you may incur when starting your own bookkeeping business. I’ll also be revealing my Black Friday Holiday Bundle Promotion during this workshop, and you’ll have the first chance to grab one of the limited spots available. You can go to www.FinancialAdventure.com/Workshop to sign up. I’m looking forward to seeing you there. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at www.FinancialAdventure.com/Contact-Us - I personally respond to all my messages. I’ll post links to these and other valuable resources for you where you are listening to this podcast and in the show notes.
And, you know I’m going to ask…what’s at least one thing you will take away from this episode that will help your business succeed and grow your bottom line? If you need some accountability, join our PRIVATE Facebook community and post your action item, we’d love to support you.
