You Don't Have to Know What You Need Before You Call a Bookkeeper

Behind on your books? QuickBooks driving you crazy? Starting a business and not sure what you're supposed to be doing? You don't need to figure it all out before you call me.

One of the biggest things I want small business owners to know is this:

You do not need to know what bookkeeping services you need before you call a bookkeeper.

Seriously.

You don't need to know whether you need monthly bookkeeping, cleanup, catch-up work, job costing, payroll support, QuickBooks help or something else.

That's part of my job.

You can simply call me and say:

"Jes, my books are a mess."

"I'm behind and tax time is coming."

"QuickBooks makes absolutely no sense to me."

"I started a business and I'm not sure I'm doing any of this right."

Or my personal favorite:

"I don't even know what I need."

That's enough. We can start there.

You Started a Business to Run a Business

Most of my clients didn't go into business because they were excited about reconciling bank accounts, categorizing transactions, collecting W-9s, dealing with payroll or spending their evenings trying to figure out QuickBooks.

They're good at what they do.

The bookkeeping is just one more thing that came with owning a business.

And when you're busy taking care of customers, getting jobs done, managing employees and trying to actually make some money, the books are pretty easy to push aside.

Until they're not.

Tax time comes around.

Your tax preparer wants reports.

Your bank account doesn't match QuickBooks.

You're not sure how much money the business actually made.

You get a notice in the mail.

Or you finally open QuickBooks and think:

What the heck happened in here?

That's usually when people call me.

And that's okay.

First, I'll Ask About Your Business

I don't believe every small business needs the same bookkeeping package.

A contractor with employees, payroll, multiple jobs, several credit cards and equipment purchases has very different needs from a one-person service business with one checking account and a handful of transactions.

So I'm going to ask questions before I start telling you what you need.

What does your business do?

How do you get paid?

How many bank and credit card accounts do you have?

Do you have employees or independent contractors?

Are you already using QuickBooks?

How far behind are we?

Are there any tax, payroll, sales tax, workers' comp or other issues going on that I should know about?

And most importantly:

What's stressing you out right now?

Because sometimes that's the best place to start.

If You Have QuickBooks, Let Me Take a Look

If you're already using QuickBooks Online, I'll usually have you invite me through Accountant Access.

Then I can poke around and see what's actually happening.

Sometimes someone calls me convinced their books are a complete disaster, and they're really not that bad.

Other times they think they just need a few transactions cleaned up, and I find duplicate entries, unreconciled accounts, old balances, personal and business expenses mixed together, payments applied incorrectly or other problems hiding underneath.

That's why I like to look before I give you an estimate.

I'd rather understand what I'm dealing with and tell you what I actually think needs to be done than sell you a big package of services you don't need.

And Please Don't “Fix” Everything Before I See It

I know it's tempting.

You're about to give a bookkeeper access to your QuickBooks and suddenly you notice all the things you've been meaning to clean up.

Leave it alone. 😂

You don't need to make your books pretty for me.

Messy books don't scare me. They're kind of the reason people call me.

And sometimes trying to fix things when you're not sure what happened can make a relatively simple problem much harder to untangle.

Let me see what's there first.

No judgment. We'll figure it out.

I'm More Than Someone Who Categorizes Your Transactions

When I'm working in your books, I'm paying attention.

If something looks unusual, I'm probably going to ask you about it.

If an account suddenly doesn't reconcile, I want to know why.

If I notice something that could become a bigger problem, I'm going to bring it to your attention.

And small business owners know that not everything fits neatly into a category called “bookkeeping.”

You may get a payroll notice.

Have a workers' comp audit.

Hire your first employee.

Start paying independent contractors.

Get a sales tax notice.

Buy a truck.

Open another credit card.

Change payroll companies.

Or receive some official-looking letter and have absolutely no idea what it means.

Send it to me. Ask me.

If it's something I can help with, we'll deal with it.

If it needs your CPA, tax preparer, attorney, insurance agent or another professional, I'll tell you that too.

I'm not going to pretend something is in my lane when it isn't.

But you don't have to figure out whose lane it belongs in before you ask me.

Good Bookkeeping Should Make Your Life Easier

Your books shouldn't exist just because your tax preparer needs them once a year.

Good bookkeeping should help you understand your business.

Are you making money?

Where is the money going?

Are your expenses getting out of hand?

Are your jobs actually profitable?

Is something sitting on your books that shouldn't be there?

Are your records ready when your tax professional needs them?

You don't need to become a bookkeeping expert.

You need a system that works for your business and someone paying attention to it.

Maybe You Don't Need as Much Help as You Think

This is important too.

Calling me doesn't automatically mean you're signing up for some giant monthly bookkeeping package.

Maybe you need ongoing monthly help.

Maybe you're several months behind and just need to get caught up.

Maybe QuickBooks needs to be cleaned up.

Maybe you're starting a business and need help getting everything set up correctly.

Maybe you're doing most of it yourself and just need someone to help straighten something out.

Let's figure that out before you pay for things you don't need.

That's why I offer a free initial call.

So... What Do You Say When You Call Me?

You don't need to prepare anything fancy.

Try:

"Hi Jes. I own a small business and I think I need some bookkeeping help."

Perfect.

I'll take it from there.

We'll talk about what's going on, I'll ask some questions and, if you're using QuickBooks, I may have you give me Accountant Access so I can take a look.

Once I understand what we're working with, I'll explain what I think needs to be done and give you an estimate.

You don't have to know what you need.

You just have to know you could use some help.

Ready to Figure It Out?

Whether you're behind, overwhelmed, starting something new or just wondering whether you're doing things correctly, give me a call.

There is no bookkeeping test before you're allowed to talk to me. 😂

We'll start with where your business is right now and figure out what makes sense from there.

Bookkeeping Stress? Call Jes.

Bookkeeping by Jes
Small Businesses • Contractors • Trades

Call or Text: (916) 730-7054
Book a FREE Call: CallJes.com/Get-Started

Bookkeeping by Jes provides bookkeeping and business support services. Tax, legal and other professional matters may require assistance from your CPA, tax professional, attorney or other qualified professional.