Why a Bookkeeper is Absolutely Your Best Early Hire as a Coach
Why a Bookkeeper is Absolutely Your Best Early Hire as a Coach
A professional bookkeeper saves you time and minimizes money-wasting errors.
When your coaching business starts taking off, there are many moving parts to consider and manage.
One of the most critical decisions is when to bring in outside experts to assist you with some of the operational functions that go into running your business efficiently.
The financial aspects of your business integral to your success; making sure you net enough money to support business growth and pay yourself appropriately are equally important. While you may not want an accountant straight out of the gate, you should at least consider a bookkeeper to help you keep your books in order. Someone has to do it — it can be you — or you can bring in someone whose sole purpose is to manage it for you.
Since you didn’t become a coach because you were dying to keep business books here are 8 reasons why you should definitely consider making a bookkeeper one of your first hires:
1. Stay in your zone of genius
Your business and your clients need you to do whatever it is that you do best. Your focus and attention should be on growing your idea and methodology into a viable program or service. That means that, as the leader, your time should be devoted to strategy, marketing, delivering on your brand promise, and other key areas that require your attention, rather than the daily operational tasks of running a business.
2. Lead by Example
Not many coaches have backgrounds in finance or even a working knowledge of bookkeeping and taxes. It’s better to use professional who took courses and was certified in these areas handle those aspects of the business.
When you ask people to hire you as a coach, you are positioning yourself as a trusted expert, and asking them to put their faith in you. Unless you are also an expert in finance, you should trust a professional to manage your finances.
Prior to starting my business, I not only got A’s in accounting, but I was also a fully certified financial planner and advisor. Managing my books was still the first job I outsourced. I didn’t want to fall behind on tasks that weren’t my primary focus, plus when showing clients how to structure their backend systems I recommend they outsource bookkeeping, so I did, too.
3. Make Time for Yourself
Doing everything yourself will only take you so far… at some point, you’re going to need help. You will max out your time, your income, or likely both pretty quickly unless you bring in some support. Bookkeeping is an inexpensive and easy way to start working with support staff. The key is to take the time saved and use it wisely.
Make yourself a top priority. Schedule time for yourself, friends and family, and your hobbies. Not doing everything yourself prevents you from burning out and that means you will get more done in less time.
4. Get an Outside Perspective on Your Business
You have put a lot of time and effort into developing your business and you should be working with a coach, participating in a mastermind, or similar development, but you still need someone to take an in-depth look at your finances.
Your bookkeeper can put your financials in order and run reports showing how you are doing each month or quarter, where funds are going, and how your efforts are paying off (or not). They will give you clarity through numbers and data.
5. Pay and Get Paid On Time
Between marketing, sales, delivering on your promise, and all the other critical tasks required to keep your coaching business moving forward, something most likely gets overlooked along the way. You don’t want that thing to be your bills.
Your personal and business credit can be impacted by late or forgotten payments, so put a bookkeeper in charge to give you the confidence that everything has been handled correctly and on time. When things get busy, it can be hard to keep your personal and business transactions separate, but it’s critical to maintain separation to protect you and your business.
6. Accurate and Timely Taxes
The last thing you want is to get audited or get penalties just because you forgot quarterly or annual tax filings. Depending on the type of business structure you’ve created for your business, you will have various tax requirements, including estimated tax payments, corporate tax payments, 1099s for contractors or freelancers, and other filings. It’s a lot to keep track of for sure.
It’s ideal to find a bookkeeper who can handle taxes or works closely with an accountant. Eventually, you will want to have a CPA help you with tax preparation and planning in addition to your bookkeeper, but you may not need that level of support immediately.
7. Create and Maintain Cash Flow
Because you are so busy, you may not realize that there are outstanding payments from your clients. Any late payments or dropped subscriptions here could hinder the cash flow you need to keep your business thriving.
With a bookkeeper working for you, they can stay on top of payments and send out reminders to make sure your cash flow remains optimal. This will also look good when it’s time to make a major purchase because you can show positive cash flow you might not have been able to show without that assistance.
For example, when you’re ready to purchase your next home, lenders will calculate how much house you can afford based on the history of cash flow and profits you can prove.
8. Tie Your Activities to Your Goals
With so many choices and so many things to do for your business, it’s important to prioritize your activities. Both your business and marketing plans should have clear timelines and monetary goals tied to them. There’s a lot to keep track of and having professional help will keep you on track.
Initially, you may think you save money by doing everything yourself, in reality enlisting the help of key people at strategic points in business can mean meeting your goals faster.
Your time is the most valuable and only non-renewable asset, so investing money into human help is a smart move to keep your business running and bringing in the revenue to level up — whatever that means for you.
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Posted by Laura Pence Atencio
36 minutes ago in Business , Systems and Structure
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As Founder and CEO of Social Savvy Geek, LLC., Laura Pence Atencio is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and business owners meet and exceed their goals. She is committed to providing the most engaging and effective strategies in online marketing by combining traditional business networking and marketing fundamentals and best practices with current and engaging online marketing methods and tactics. Laura has worked with some of the top names in Internet Marketing and has consulted with entrepreneurs, businesses, and nonprofits in the US and abroad. She is the author of the popular article, 10 Tips to Build Your Twitter List Now, which has been published both online and in print in the US, Australia, and New Zealand. A lifetime student herself, Laura has achieved certification as a Computer Administrative Specialist at Beta Tech and has studied Art Education, History, Art History, and Criminal Justice at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is fascinated by learning, sharing and growing, not just in business, but in life. She participates in US Masters Swimming and has ranked in the top 25 nationally in her age group in both the 50 and 100-yard backstroke. She served in the VA Army National Guard as a Combat Engineer in the 229th Engineer Battalion. She never meets strangers, only friends not yet made– an attitude that serves her extremely well in the networking world, both online and off. She currently lives in Denver, CO with her husband, 3-year-old daughter, and German Shephard.
