You want to run a successful business but doing your bookkeeping is using up a lot of your valuable time and energy. You have thought about hiring a bookkeeper in the past, but something holds you back. Are you ready to hire a bookkeeper? Is hiring a bookkeeper more effective than doing the books yourself?
Hiring any outside consultant for your business is never an easy decision. You want to make sure you get all the benefits and none of the stress. If you are hesitating to hire a bookkeeper for your business, here are four benefits worth considering.
Bookkeepers give you time back
We have written in the past that hiring a bookkeeper gives you more time to focus on things that are important to you. What does that mean? If you had more time in your week that was not spent on bookkeeping, what would that look like? Consider a real-life example:
A little over a year ago, we had a client come to us with books that were over three years behind. In addition to serving over 100 customers in the field, he was receiving numerous past due tax notices. He was doing his best to be diligent with his books, but he admitted that he was completely overwhelmed. The situation was sapping his time, his energy, and even impacting his health.
It took some time, but after cleaning up the books for the prior years, we set up this client on an effective ongoing service plan. Instead of spending days working on his books, our client now spends only a few hours a week completing a shortlist of tasks. The time he saves not doing his bookkeeping allows him to focus on other aspects of his business. In a recent meeting, he told us that he loves working for his customers again. And he got to take a well-deserved vacation!
If you hire a bookkeeper, what benefits would you gain from having more time?
Bookkeepers help you regain your focus
If you are constantly being pulled away to handle your accounting tasks, your focus becomes divided. Being distracted in this way can cause other aspects of your business to suffer. Hiring a bookkeeper is an effective way to stay focused by eliminating anxiety over compliance issues.
A real-life example of the benefits of regaining focus comes from one of our clients. Matt Cameron is the CEO and Sales Leadership Principal for SaaSy Sales Leadershop, a Sales Management training and leadership community located in Silicon Valley. Note what he had to say about this topic:
“More than the actual time [Beyond] has saved me, I value the headspace that is cleared from worry. Issues of compliance and completeness relating to payroll, taxes, and reporting have been a distraction that no longer exist. Now I focus on spending more time enabling the team and thinking about what is next, as opposed to what should have been done last week.”
If you hire a bookkeeper, what areas of your business could you give more attention to?
Bookkeepers turn your numbers into action
We believe that the numbers in your books tell a story. You just need to be able to “read” it. For many business owners, this is a struggle. Financial reports are good to have, but if you don’t understand them, they cannot help you take actionable steps. Hiring a bookkeeper is like hiring an “interpreter” for your financial reports. How so?
Since a bookkeeper reviews the day-to-day transactions of your business, they can spot trends that you may not be aware of. As you make changes in other areas of your business, they can show you how these changes impact your financial health. They also can spot signs of danger well before you do and help you create a plan to reduce or eliminate them.
Many business owners have non-financial indicators that they use to track their business growth.They may look at growth in customers, customer satisfaction ratings, or visits to their website. Can a bookkeeper help with these indicators? Absolutely! By combining your goals with the financial data, a bookkeeper can help you determine when and where to implement your vision for the future and outline the best steps to get there. It’s like having an advisor in your back pocket!
If you hire a bookkeeper, what actionable steps could you take to grow your business?
Bookkeepers provide services beyond bookkeeping
Many think of bookkeeping as simply data entry. However, that view is changing. More bookkeeping firms are offering services that go well beyond data entry and compliance.
Our belief is that you’re not just any other business, so we don’t treat you like any other business. While ongoing bookkeeping services are the foundation for all of our clients’ service offerings, we offer additional services that go beyond compliance. Here is just a sample:
- Cash flow analysis and forecasting
- Year-end projections
- Strategy sessions
- Spending consulting services
- Budget tracking
- Job costing
Small business owners need more than data entry. They need specific, effective advisory services. A proactive and qualified bookkeeper can provide the advice you need to help you reach your goals.
Interested in learning what effective advisory services look like? Visit our Advisory Services page to learn more!