My aunt spent some time visiting us this past year. By trade, she is a bookkeeper, and a mighty good one at that! She knows the ins and outs of QuickBooks, how to create financial statements, prepare tax statements, do quarterly reports and just about anything else you can imagine when it comes to small business finances.
During her stay with us she really educated me about why small business owners need to hire a bookkeeper. I’d like to share some of the knowledge I learned from her with you.
Here are Some Good Reasons to Hire a Bookkeeper:
1. To Free Up Your Time
My # 1 reason to hire a bookkeeper for your network marketing business is to to free up your time. We all have a limited amount of time each day. Most people in our industry are working their business part-time while they do their day job. As an entrepreneur, you’re probably wearing ten different hats. I suggest you turn over the bookkeeping responsibilities as soon as possible, especially if it’s not your strong point. This will give you time to focus on the money producing activities in your network marketing business.
2. To Get a Better Assessment of How Your Business is Doing Financially
Another reason to hire a bookkeeper for your network marketing business is to get a better assessment of how your business is doing financially. I’ve found that most network marketers are really clueless about their business finances. They don’t do a profit and loss statement or balance sheet every month. As a result, they don’t know if they are making money or losing money. The last thing you want to do is wait until tax time to know where you stand financially. Having a bookkeeper prepare your financial reports each month is very helpful.
3. Tax Filings
A good bookkeeper will help you with your tax filings. This includes doing your quarterly tax payments, payroll taxes (if applicable), sales tax payments (if applicable) and helping you get prepared for your income taxes. Most network marketers have no desire to do these things themselves, so having a bookkeeper will really help out.
4. Less Stress
Personally, I enjoy doing my own books, but most of my entrepreneurial friends hate it. The idea of balancing their checkbook, keeping receipts organized, preparing reports, filing taxes and all of those other financial things are completely overwhelming to them. If bookkeeping is a stress factor for you, you should outsource it.
5. An Objective Eye on Your Business Financials
When you are working in your business day in and day out it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the minutia. One great reason to hire a bookkeeper is that you can have someone outside of your business looking at your business objectively. They can share patterns and trends with you and make recommended suggestions on what to do with your income and expenses.
I’m sure there are many other good reasons to hire a bookkeeper for your small business, but these are my top five favorite reasons. What I’d like to do now is give you a few tips for success when using a bookkeeper.
Tips for Success When Using a BookKeeper
- Even if you hire a bookkeeper that does not give you permission to neglect or ignore the finances of your business
- Never turn over the check writing or banking privileges to the same person doing your books
- Minimum once each month review the books and look for anything out of the ordinary
- Consider having a separate bookkeeper and CPA (good for checks and balances)
- Don’t trust anyone blindly, even if your bookkeeper is a friend, spouse or family member
- Ask them questions whenever you have a question
- Make copies of everything you give them and everything they give you
- Interview 2-4 different bookkeepers before you hire one
- Be sure to do a background check for your bookkeeper and check their references
Final Thoughts
In summary, I believe that many network marketers should have their own bookkeeper. This will allow them to free up their time, work smart, reduce stress, and accurately track the financial status of their network marketing business.
What are your thoughts? Do you use a bookkeeper with your network marketing business? Why or why not? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.
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Time and stress are the main reasons I invested in a bookkeeper. I found I was spending so much time trying to keep track of records that I was taking away from critical time needed to really build my business and assist my team. Also, I literally found myself getting migraines on a regular basis and that just wasn’t healthy or beneficial. One of the best investments I could have made.
Yes, having a bookkeeper will definitely save most people time and stress. I do my own books because I enjoy it.
Very good post Chuck.
I do not use a bookkeeper, but as busy as I have been as of late, I have strongly considered it. After reading this post, I find myself leaning harder towards the affirmative. My biggest issue is trust. I don’t even like telling my own Mother about my finances.
I guess I will have to work through that issue. Thanks for the info. It helped me open my eyes.
I think trust is what holds most entrepreneurs back from hiring a bookkeeper. That can be difficult to overcome, but the truth is if you try to do everything yourself you really limit yourself.